Over the holidays we had an open house with a lot of people in and out of the train-room. I laid out the room without much thought of visitors - narrow aisles, a lot of mainline, "Streets, and delicate structures very close to the layout edge, etc.
So while we had a good time at our open houses, there is the matter of the missing Studebaker pickup, a new WBB 'Streets sedan that somehow exited a road a full foot from the layout's edge and wound up on the floor, where, inevitably, it was stepped on, and then the terrible crisis of the elbow meeting 3751. Neither elbow or 3751 were damaged, but still . . .
Hence, this removable layout edge fence, which I thought I would get out of the way now even though the next open house is probably months if not nearly a year from now. I've seen something like this on other layouts, but mine had to be: removeable (I'm not going to have it in place most of the time), and if not attractive, at least respectable looking, with see-through so kids can see . . . and easy and quick to build. It is: the first foot took two hours to build, mostly discovering how. Eventually my "mass production line" could produce 20+ feet an hour. It takes about three hours to install (or remove, I suppose) at 66+ feet I have to mount one foot at a time. I used .04 Lexan, bought in 12x12 inch sheets and cut in half to make a 6 inch high "fence" along with thin wood glued together for columns and such (see last photo). Total cost per foot is about $1.75.
Overall, I am pleased with the look, the protection it will provide, and the ease of installation/removal.
It really looks nice and neat. The framework adapts to mild curves, as you can see.
The section of road where the WBB sedan succumbed to enthusiasm is now just a little bit safer for my traffic (and the cows).
A kid's eye view of 3751 . . . . the owner-operator, 3751, and presumably any kids will all be a little more comfortable with the fence in place.
Reflections are not a bad problem, but they are a downside. This is about as bad as it gets - and the camera slightly exaggerates what the eye actually sees.
Materials include .04" Lexan, bought from Amazon in 12 x 12 inch sheets and cut in half, 24 yardsticks I cut into three pieces for the horizontal structure. Columns I glued together out of front and back pieces of 4 or 5 mm plywood cut into 1 inch strips, and 1/16 bass wood to make the notched profile. The first foot of fence took two hours to make, figuring out how to make everything efficiently. After that my "assembly line" could make about 20 feet per hour. It took a bit more than three hours to install - and I assume the same time to remove and place in a box for storage (later this afternoon). Lower part of the photo shows the profile of the framework as completed.
