My new smaller Railroad - YES! Change Can Happen If You Let It!

I like the dark look of the table and the shelves for display.

Charlie

I like it !

I do like the dark wood! Best of luck with your new layout!

I'll second (third/fourth?) liking the effect of the dark wood.  When you first said old layout tables in the first picture, I was wondering where they were! (until I saw the last pic with the re-assembled bench work).

-Dave

STANGTRAIN, I like the dark wood. Down sizing is better then no down sizing. When you get your trackplan done it is going to be a nice layout plus you have many shelves for display........Paul

Looks great. Please continue posting pictures of your work.

Shaping up very nicely! I can foresee an excellent layout feature for a future issue of the magazine. Just keep me posted and let me know when you are ready.

I also like the look of the dark wood. Looking forward to seeing the finished product. 

The dark wood makes your benchwork look like a piece of furniture. Well done.

Change.....the only constant........good luck!! 

That looks great so far and nicely done! Is that stain or just dark wood and can it be/was it purchased from Mianne that way?

You're cramming an amazing amount of stuff in a 9x9 space, I should have you look at my new track plan!   Looking forward to seeing the track plan.  I couldn't see any way to fit a TT in mine, and I have a lot more space.

BTW, you might consider mounting that TV on the wall, I did that with the 65" one here above my fireplace.

Very interesting, can't wait.

Thanks to all for your kind words!

Here is my first draft for the new track plan:

Simply three loops of track, including an elevated loop. I look forward to having some nice trains on the move sometime soon.

The Mianne Benchwork was stained prior to assembling my prior layout, after the move from PA to CA four plus years ago. Following Tim Foley's advice, I lightly sanded, applied pre-stain (water based) followed by stain (also water based), followed by polyurethane. A tedious task to be sure, but important to get the look needed to (be allowed) to build in the home living space.

Build It and They Will Come:

Update: Now that the display unit is complete and the 65" new TV has been mounted to the wall, engines are starting to appear! A few even made it to the shelves on the new layout even though plywood has not yet been attached to the top! It is really nice to see them out of their boxes again. The boxes are now being stored behind the shelves in the display units. This will free up important closet space that is at a premium here in California.

It looks great! Yea you right; the only constant in our universe is change!

I like the look of the old layout but the new one will be an interesting new project that you will enjoy. I wish that I would have space for a model railroad in our family room.

MELGAR

Looks great, I must be missing the boxes and storage unit, how does that work?

gorgeous!

Very nice work!

Very nice, the darker color gives it a rich look, and Its in a very nice room. Great idea, keep us posted.  Happy Railroading 

Very nice. I like the stained benchwork too. More furniture looking than just a train table. The storage shelves in between the legs is a nice feature too.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Well to be honest those leather swivel chairs look very comfortable.....

That looks great, I love they way the shelves fit into the base.

Just one question.  What's the purpose of leaving the base hanging on the bottom of the TV, any reason you didn't take that off?

You're preaching in your thread heading...so an "Amen" on this Sunday is in order. 

Now family and friends can enjoy trains more often and the ones that don't really care for them can at least pretend while watching T.V.

Dave

John:

That is actually a shelf installed below the TV for the Direct TV "genie" unit. I will likely also put a DVD player on the shelf as well under the "genie". Wires are hidden behind the panel:

HOKIE71: Each of the three units can slide out for access and storage is underneath. The holes drilled in the i-beams proves that these parts were re-cycled:

Interesting, here I thought it was the base.  Makes a lot more sense in the closeup.  Love the dark stain, wish I had thought to do that before I put all the benchwork up, it would be a lot harder to do now on carpet.

Very nice work!

I thought at first you meant something like this....

  Truly a man with a plan.  B R A V O !  

Great idea and thanks for the pictures- that Mianne bench work does it all!

Stangtrain,

I always said your previous layout looked like fine furniture with the way you stained the Mianne benchwork and added the train shelves. Now you have made real furniture out of it and it looks great! Personally, I have always thought one could make several different pieces of very practical furniture out of the assorted Mianne pieces available. You have provided us with a very nice example of that here. 

Spectacular!

Peter

More trains out of hibernation to fill the new shelves:

Your foundation is cracking under the weight of all those trains.  You need to jack up the right side pronto. 

Seriously, that looks great! 

Looks quite nice, but it always saddens me when someone takes down a large layout and replaces it with a smaller one. I know of one person that went from a basement-filling O scale layout to a four by six (might have been eight) N scale layout.

EXCELLENT!  

Waiting for a train!!

I finished installing the plywood top on the benchwork after putting two coats of paint on all sides in order to seal the plywood and prevent odors in our living space. Now ready for a test track and work on the final track plan. My turntable is waiting patiently for a train to arrive, or at least an engine!

Wow, that is simply beautiful.

The dark wood is really attractive, but the aluminum shelving gives it a a really nice accent. 

Alan