Blackwater Canyon Line - April 2, 2025, Brick Street Extension Planning

Mark Boyce posted:

I made some more progress.  I installed the front facia boards from old wood as can be seen.  Now the whole framework is rock solid.  I can't shake it or move any of it even a smidgen.  I extended the boards on the next side that will support the risers and roadbed.  Supported every 16 inches and on one side they should work.  I did not make the special cut for the back curve in the corner because it started raining, and I had to bring the saw and horses inside.

 

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To answer why I didn't just make a complete tabletop, I want to do as much wiring as possible standing up.  I will run the wires above the brackets that are on 16" centers and tie them in to the sides of the flat baseboards, so that after disconnecting the wiring between each module, the module will lift off the wall brackets with all wiring coming with the module.  It's hard to mock up, so we will wait until I get to that point.  I'm pleased with the progress.

Mother Nature and that "rain" thing getting in the way 

Great idea on the wiring format Mark.  Can't wait until the day I finally get to a round the room layout.  I get to stand constructing my ceiling layout, but my neck is still at a 45-degree angle.  Ugh.

Thank you everyone!  Yes sitting on my little roll around seat to put in the screws from underneath that hold the modules to the frame is enough under the layout work for me.   

I have had a lot of time to think this out.  I just can't seem to put my ideas on paper to show you ahead of time, so I'll do it with the mock ups.

Kevin, Yes my Ceiling Central Railroad was a literal pain in the neck!!  Putting it over the 6' 8" doors with a ceiling at 7' 6" high doesn't give much room to work.  That is why I never neatened it up.  Once it was running, I just left it.  

Mark, this is fantastic, great work, great progress.  Keep the pictures flowing. Stay healthy, stay safe, have fun working on the Blackwater Canyon Line... Amazing.

Keep up the good work, Mark - even a little a day and it'll be done in no time !

Mark, your doing a great job! See the slow and easy method sure makes life a little easier on the body! I wish I would have done more planning but its to late to go back and start over! LOL

Thank you Larry, Richie, Mike!!

All three of you gave the good advice to take things slow and good things will come.    Last evening I disconnected the wires to the Ceiling Central RR and removed the TIU and terminal block board from the wooden roll around cart I built two winters ago.  Some may recall that was intended to be a rollout section for a turnback loop, but became a cart holding all the boxed Christmas trains and my two sets of Western Maryland passenger cars when not in use.

Today, I moved the cart in under the family room layout build that is on hold until more of that room becomes available.  That may never happen, but that's okay.  I am happy to be working on this new plan in the 11 x 11 original train room.    It now gives me more working space since it does get a bit cramped moving 4-foot pieces of lumber around now that I have 30-inch deep shelves on two sides.  

I'll get some photographs up after I clean the room up a bit.  Right now I'm listening to my wife's piano playing since she is laid off.  I guess we are two old folks since she may never work again either.  

Since this is my topic, I will choose to post a photograph on what our innovative younger daughter is doing since both the coffee shop and music store she works at are closed.  She gives private piano and voice lessons to about 35 students ranging from 5 to early 60s.  She is now doing Skype music lessons from home with a number of students.  Word got around, and she was contacted by the Butler Eagle newspaper to be part of a story in their monthly local business special on how different people are being productive from home.  Now if her sister could find space in their house that isn't damp, we could get her piano out of our family room to make room for more important things like layout building!!  

Congrats to your daughter, that’s awesome.

That's great Mark. Very entrepreneurial.

Mark, good for your daughter and for the Butler Eagle. Your Daughter's [new] work is exactly the kind of positive-going-forward sort of thing that needs public exposure and discourse. 

The more I think about your "working-from-above" initiative the more I like the whole concept.  Either that or flip-up modules to facilitate underside development and maintenance.

Mark, that’s great, our children mean the world to us, congratulations on having a nice, intelligent, daughter. During these times, our families are very important to us, and you have a lot to be thankful for. Stay safe, stay healthy, have fun, and when the time allows,  enjoy working on your layout. Happy Railroading 

Mark, that's great stuff.  Kudos to your daughter and you.  I'm sure you had something to do with her attitude and success!!

Jerry

Mark that's great news! You and your wife should be very proud of her! You did a great job in raising your kids!

 Great idea Mark on the open grid bench work for the wiring.

  I did not do this lol

I don’t spend much time under the layout doing fancy wiring anymore those days are over unless I can stand up.  I just make sure of good terminations and that it’s secure.

 Looks like you will be running trains soon!

Be thankful your Daughter doesn’t play drums

Looking forward to more Progress!

Al

Wow, Mark,  you are certainly receiving quite a bit of well intentioned advice... Remember rule # 1.  "HAVE FUN"....!!  

You are absolutely right, Ted!  I appreciate everyone’s suggestions and advice!!  Thank you!

 I have been working on securing each module so nothing sags and so that when or if I remove them to move, the modules won’t twist.  It is a bit unorthodox, but everything is solid as a rock.  I’ll post some photographs when I take them.

I am enjoying the posts and the work everyone is doing during these weird times. I am trying lots of different things on my temp garage layout. Mark, my wife and I are both school teachers, I have been spending way to much time doing on line instruction. Some how I am going to incorporate trains in my lesson. Maybe I should start a new thread and ask for ideas. I do not want to a hijacker. Anyway I enjoy all you guys and gals on the website. 

Not hijacking at all, Catdaddy!  Thank you for posting!

My brother is a high school special education teacher and has  to come up with ‘creative‘ lessons for his emotional disturbed kids.  Your idea for trains in your lessons would fit the bill for creative.  He has one more year before he retires at 62, and will be ready to go.  As the older brother, I’ve been giving him things to consider.

Now I went off track.  I think it would be a good idea to start a topic asking for ideas.  There are other teachers here, and maybe some have already done something similar in class.

Your layout is really looking good, Mark. I can see many similarities in the design and construction of our respective layouts. It's my guess that you're getting to that stage where you can really see your ideas taking shape, which gives a little shot of extra enthusiasm.

Bruce, I agree with your perspective on the similarities of the design and construction of our two layouts.  In fact I was truck by your explanation to Carl 'Pingman' on your layout topic:

     So to finally answer, I think it qualifies as a shelf layout because of the shallow depth of the benchwork and the fact that it's braced to the wall with a           completely open floor below. It's also an around-the-room layout. I guess I'm building a hybrid.

Yes, I can see it taking shape, especially with the work I did yesterday that I haven't photographed yet.  I hope to be posting another update this weekend.