Mianne Benchwork

Indeed. I took a dip in the Mianne pool a few years back. Excellent, well-made product, easy to assemble, and the Mianne folks support you after the sale.

Buying Tip: Full disclosure in that I'm not sure if this is still the case, but if you buy from them at York they waive the shipping. That's quite a savings on what is a very heavy package.

I use Mianne use as well. It's great. Quick, easy, and I'm not the best at carpentry. Terry

I liked what I saw at York and have been thinking of using it to support the layout I'm building right now.

Thanks for the photos Peter.

I've been working with Tim myself on getting my initial 4x8 setup done.  He's very good to deal with.

Yes, that means that I'm no longer doing the 36x80 HCD that I told everyone a week or so ago that I was committed to. 

A versatile, high quality, well thought out product line with unlimited possibilities. Helpful, imaginative  support staff and a good value. I have a basement full of Mianne product as well as a good friendship with Tim.

I also use the Mianne benchwork.  And, as others have said, Tim is great to work with.

I've had the benchwork set up for a few years, and I am only now getting an operating O gauge layout running.  The upper level will be for G gauge.  At this point I just have G gauge track laying up there.

Peter.....it looks great!!  Their benchwork system is top notch!

Alan

I would also recommend Mianne bench work. I am using it too and am also a big fan of it. I have a similar setup to Putnam Division's pictured above. I don't have the upper shelf, but I do have lower shelves that I currently use for storage only. It's great system, very easy to put together and goes together very quickly with only a #3 phillips screw driver.

After about 8 hours total time, my 6'x16' kit was ready for track. That included a trip to Home Depot for 3 sheets of 1/2" Sandply plywood and having them cut it into smaller pieces that I could handle.

I had talked to Tim about the lower shelving when I placed my order. He added holes in each leg for an extra layer of shelving below at no extra charge. About a month after getting my original kit, I ordered the Mianne parts to complete the shelving below and also ordered a transformer cart which he added an extra shelf to as well.

I have an addition in the planning stages and want to at least double the size of my original kit. The other great thing about the Mianne system is that you can add on to or re-arrange your layout and still make use of your originally purchased items. It's all very easy to re-configure and they will help you with it. Can't say enough good things about it.

My wife likes the looks of it too. It is very nice looking stuff. She has mentioned a couple of times that she would like a table made from it. Hasn't finalized her plan, but we may have a Mianne table someday. I think it would also make a great craft table for your wife and/or kids. You could get any height you want and configure it accordingly, add storage or whatever you want. Very good product with many uses.

What types of wood is used? solid and particle board?

Can the wood be stained using wood stain/poly?

All solid wood (majority of the framing) is Poplar and the panels in the cross braces are Masonite (cross brace panels are the only thing that is not solid wood). No reason you couldn't stain/polyurethane it, but it looks really nice unfinished as it comes. You have to supply the top, so that can be anything you choose. Exception being the transformer cart. it comes with 1/2" plywood for the shelves, I believe it is Sandply, looks like it anyway.

I don't have the upper level that Putnam Division has and is shown in the pictures above so I don't know what the upper shelf braces are made of. Looks like Birch plywood to me, which I am guessing at, but I really don't know? 

Great product; easy to assemble and very solid, especially after fastening the plywood on top. Tim definitely knows what he's doing and he's a great guy to work with.

I have been in contact with Tim. He is great to work with. I sent him my layout plan and he is now designing the benchwork I need. I should be getting the design any day now to take a look at it. Then the fun begins. It is a versatile product. 

I didn't comment enough in my first post! Tim is great and I have his motorized walk thru module so I don't have to get down and crawl under the benchwork to get inside my around the room layout. Works smooth, was easy to install and I've now had it a couple years. I'm getting ready to move my design around, and because of the module style of his product, it's a breeze to do. Terry

I would be curious to see how you ran track in an around the room layout so it doesn't just run in circles or does it? 

joe

dobermann,

Mostly big circles but I have turnouts for freight delivery, passing lanes so I can run 4 trains, etc. You are in the middle running everything, so it doesn't seem like just circles. It's about 18 feet long so lots of straight running. Terry

Thanks Terry

I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of a Mianne 12 x 24 x 30 around the room with the lift ordered 3 or so weeks ago. It's hard to visualize anything other than circles. Coming from HO I have trouble with how much space everything in O takes.

While waiting to move one last time into a house with a basement I've collected a lot of stuff and sitting here looking at it all I'm thinking I need to expand already.

A slip of the throttle here could be a bad thing.

Another vote for Mianne. Tim was super-easy to work with. My simple 8x12 went up in just a few hours with nary a scrap of sawdust anywhere. I've been up and all over the top of it, and it works great.

.

John wrote:

      A slip of the throttle here could be a bad thing. 

Pile the poly on thick around the perimeter of the Masonite in the panels of the cross braces and you would probably be ok. If you are out of direct contact with rain or water it would probably last a long time that way and with the stain and poly probably even a lot longer.

Slightly different situation, but our last house had garage doors with Masonite panels. Well primed, oil base and two coats of paint. They didn't last long at all.

Another beautiful thing about Mianne Benchwork is that you can take it apart and move it and then reconfigure all to your new space. This is exactly what I did last year when I moved from Pennsylvania to California. 

Since my amazing wife suggested that the layout be built in the Great Room, I needed to stain all parts to go nicely with the hardwood floor, etc., trim down the legs so as not to block windows, etc. My biggest treat was to add the lift gate!

Here are a few pictures in PA and CA:

First is the PA basement train room, then the empty room after packing up trains and benchwork for the move, then the new CA setup with views of some of the work in progress.

I was able to install shelves (Glenn Snyder's) along the long side to block seeing under the table and provide a great spot to store trains when not in use.

As others have said, this is a great product to work with and I am so glad I chose to use it on my PA layout!

In addition, it was quite neat and clean to install in the finished space.

By the way, the new name for the room of course is The Train Room, even though Great Room still fits very well as a description!

That looks great, and I love the shelves with all the stuff neatly stored, nice touch.

Would you happen to have a couple of close up pictures of how you added your Glenn Snyder shelves? Material used in their construction for the sides and backs and any other construction details you might provide would also be appreciated. I think your shelves look very nice and I think I would like to do the same on my Mianne layout. I currently have 2 levels of shelves for box storage under mine. Adding the storage shelves to the perimeter would look very nice and hide all the boxes at the same time. That is really a good idea you have there.

I went with the Mianne for many of the same reasons you describe. Wanted to start out with something to run trains on now and be able to expand later, with the possibility of re-configuring things when I change my mind on my layout plans.

I had thought it looked great unfinished, but after seeing yours stained I think that really added a lot to the appearance. It looks even better stained. As I said before, my wife has even mentioned wanting a table made from the Mianne bench work. She may be more insistent on that when she sees yours all stained and set up in the living area of your house. The wood floors in our house are of a similar color to yours, they look very nice together. She wants a new dining room table and had jokingly mentioned the bench work for that as well. We will see where this end up...

Good job on the stained bench work. Looks great!

GRJ - Thanks for your nice comments.

rtr12:

The Glenn Snyder shelves were attached as follows:

I attached 1X2s to the rear of the table legs in order to get the correct depth for the shelves, then attached (from the rear), 1/4" plywood to the 1X2s and then screwed the shelves to the plywood. Quite a simple project. It did take a while to decide exactly how to do it.

The stain is a water based product by Minwax. First, as recommended by Tim Foley (Mianne Benchwork) I sanded the legs and I-Beams, applied a pre-stain, then the stain. Needed to work fast as this stain dries pretty fast and keeping a wet edge was a challenge at times, particularly on the MDF portion of the I-Beams. Last was a coating of water based polyurethane. Nice about these water based products was no odor in the living space.

I will try to post a few close up photos tomorrow.

Good luck with your project!

Stan

Thanks for the extra info. I was thinking the shelves may have been made something like that, but it looked like you had a very nice looking setup there and I didn't want to goof mine up.

My wife also liked the stained Mianne. She liked the lift bridge too and the stain. I told her it would really look nice with our wood floors (meaning her table idea, I'm perfectly innocent here). After I said that and she looked at the pictures for a while, she said "Don't get any ideas about moving your trains upstairs!" She really does like the bench work though.

I'll be watching for pictures, much appreciated, and thanks again!

Rtr12:

Here are a few pics of the shelf installation.

In addition, I was able to install a rotary switch in the side of the benchwork to send power to the tracks around my turntable. I didn't want a control panel sticking out, so I came up with this idea. The toggles control power to the track on the table and power to all of the tracks around the table so that when turning the rotary switch, no track will be active until this switch is "on".

included also are a few pics of my power distribution center, transformers as well as a mini control panel that I built to control the freight yard. All of this is on the side of the table that is not easily seen by visitors, but is eassily accessed by the "chief engineer".

Happy Railroading!

Stan

Thanks for the extra pics. You have a really nice setup there. Looks to be very well thought out. I got a Mainne transformer cart for all my track and accessory power. I have some switches and things mounted to the cross bracing like you have done with your turntable rotary switch. Yours looks much nicer than mine. Also really kind of wishing I would have thought more about staining mine before assembly...

I like the way you have the little square pieces around the switches next to the rotary switch. I had a hard time finding switches with enough threads to mount directly to the hardboard in the cross braces. What I have just barely fits. The way you have done it, you could mount them to a thinner piece and use just about any switch. I also like your control panel for switches and it looks like sidings too. I have one of those too, and again yours looks much better.   

I am new to all this layout stuff as of about 4 years ago (since I was a kid anyway) and I am still figuring things out. Still not exactly sure what I want to end up with? I do want to expand though, just can't decide on a final plan. When I was a kid all I ever had was a 4'x8' or so layout, pretty simple, but the trains were a lot simpler back then too, not near the selection, detail and everything else we have today.

Thanks again for all the extra info, I really do appreciate it.

Great job on the multi-level layout, Peter - I like it a lot.

Stan, thanks for sharing how you incorporated your Glen Snyder shelves under the layout - I am in the process of building a new layout and that is something I will strongly consider.

Happy railroading!

3 yrs ago I had Mianne make me up a U shaped table for my small bedroom.

It was 8 ft X 12' ft with a 26" aisle down the middle.  It came in 2 HEAVY Boxes. The table was approx. $400.00 for Minane and $ 400 for shipping.  I set it all up in 8 actual hours.No screwing or sawing. It went together easily for a 75 yr old guy.

I would do it again if I wanted a train table.

Thanks Tim Foley for this great table. In my condo apt there is no way I could saw and move lumber around.

Very Nice !!!  If I ever move I will go  with Mianne on my next layout.  I am amazed every time I pass their booth at York