I think this is a studio set

Doesn't vaguely resemble mine...

PHOTOSHOP!!!

Mine looks just like George’s!  👍🏻

It does get messy from time to time……

Peter

Usually worse than this.....

I say Geroge's shop is CGI.....🤣🤣

That's a rare animal around my parts!

So sad.

Hmmm.....  What to do, what to do?

(sigh)

I guess in answer to that other long running post..."

WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT?

...the answer in this case for these exemplary folks would be...

Nothing!

Sad, sad, sad.

@G3750 posted:

Here's something you never see - a clean workshop! 

Yeah, I didn't believe it myself.  I needed photographic proof. 

George

Now that’s the sign of a sick mind…….LMAO

All Unicorns!

@colorado hirailer posted:

Doesn't vaguely resemble mine...

Actually, most of the time, it doesn't resemble mine either! 

George

@Steve Tyler posted:

PHOTOSHOP!!!

ROFLMAO, no not this time.  Not that I haven't fooled around at times.

Mine was clean, a couple small projects laying on it.  The bench to the side catches a bunch of the overflow.

This is my bench when fairly organized, sometimes it looks worse. LOL

you are fortunate. Although my new trainboard is 18 ft by 24 ft, that leaves a very small space for my  3 by 5 worktable and chair, lighting much to be desired. I am  working to improve it but with limited options. I so need a larger table to build models, foam mountains. Gary

A clean workshop is the product of a very sick brain.

@Purplepapa posted:

This is my bench when fairly organized, sometimes it looks worse. LOL

And I'll bet you know where almost everything is. Worse thing I ever did a few years ago was "organize" my parts storage - going from knowing where almost everything was to knowing where almost everything should be. Not the same thing. I still can't find some things.

This thread got me thinking.  I’ve known that at some point I won’t have any space on the layout table to use as a makeshift workbench.  Seeing each one here got me thinking about the space in the main basement room that had been taken up with our daughter’s piano.  As of a month ago, it’s at her house.  I should claim the space before someone else does.  😄

@The TrainBoard posted:

you are fortunate. Although my new trainboard is 18 ft by 24 ft, that leaves a very small space for my  3 by 5 worktable and chair, lighting much to be desired. I am  working to improve it but with limited options. I so need a larger table to build models, foam mountains. Gary

That is true, but I also planned for the situation.  I had a workshop in the old (previous) house's furnace room.  It was small and crowded (had to work around the furnace, duct work, drain pipes, the hot water heater, and a crawl space).  I had to put up 3 different sections of pegboard.

George

I would be embarrassed to post a pic haha although mine has been improving over time!

@Mark Boyce posted:

This thread got me thinking.  I’ve known that at some point I won’t have any space on the layout table to use as a makeshift workbench.  Seeing each one here got me thinking about the space in the main basement room that had been taken up with our daughter’s piano.  As of a month ago, it’s at her house.  I should claim the space before someone else does.  😄

Yes you should.  You need space in which to work.  Even in my large layout room (which you've seen), construction will take place in phases that are in a sequence for a purpose.  There simply isn't room to build everything in one big step.  Each phase consists of bench work, roadbed, track, electrical, (the larger, immovable or background) structures, and scenery.  Making that all happen is a coordinated dance of wood and power tools.  It's different from the way layouts are traditionally constructed, but there it is.  My bridge and river area would never have been built if I hadn't done that first.

George

This is what I was building when I took that photo of my workbench. Look closely and you will see clues as to what I was building.

@Mark Boyce posted:

This thread got me thinking.  I’ve known that at some point I won’t have any space on the layout table to use as a makeshift workbench.  Seeing each one here got me thinking about thespace in the main basement room that had been taken up with our daughter’s piano.  As of a month ago, it’s at her house.  I should claim the space before someone else does.  😄

Mark...

I hope it was a 9.5' concert grand and not a 40" spinet!

Workbench "space"?...never enough.

Purplepapa!...my kindred spirit!!  "Worse thing I ever did a few years ago was "organize" my parts storage - going from knowing where almost everything was to knowing where almost everything should be. Not the same thing. I still can't find some things."  AMEN AND AMEN!!!

One project at a time?  How boring.  Ever see a juggler juggle just one ball?...

Melvin P!...You're so right!  Found the perfect curative elixir, though...it's capped with a cork!

@Melvin P posted:

A clean workshop is the product of a very sick brain.

Witnesses can confirm I must have the healthiest brain here. 🥸

Pete

@RSJB18 posted:

Interesting bottle of lubricant on the table next to the vise... 😉

@West Side Joe posted:

Interesting bottle of lubricant on the table next to the vise... 😉

How do you think I keep the bench so clean????? If you don't actually do work on it, it's a bar! 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I agree, A clean workshop is the sign of a sick mind !!

Mine is somewhere between PurplePapa's and a well organized [sic] dumpster....LOL. Worst thing is something died in the wall behind the bench, and it's built-in. Now I have to rip it off the wall to investigate how the little suckers even got in...ugh.

While my work bench looks kind of big, it is on a homasote sheet of which 3/4 is actually supported over the stairwell coming up to the attic from below.

The one small drawback to this arrangement is that when I (often) drop a part onto my lap, it ends up one, sometimes two, floors below, making the search and recovery process a challenge.

Here is my "workbench" at the moment....at the best it has looked in weeks!!

In the middle of a couple of projects, and waiting for some parts to arrive from GunrunnerJohn.

Powering a "dummy" MTH RailKing RS-3 with new motors, PS1 circuit board, and speaker.....and converting one of my Swiss Buco long passenger carriages to become a motorized "railcar" using MTH Railking underpinnings, motors, PS1 Budd subway board, and mini speaker.

The work space gets really busy at times, to the point I can't even find the tools I'm using under the mess!!

Life is great in "The Sunshine State".

Peter....Buco Australia

@G3750 posted:

Yes you should.  You need space in which to work.  Even in my large layout room (which you've seen), construction will take place in phases that are in a sequence for a purpose.  There simply isn't room to build everything in one big step.  Each phase consists of bench work, roadbed, track, electrical, (the larger, immovable or background) structures, and scenery.  Making that all happen is a coordinated dance of wood and power tools.  It's different from the way layouts are traditionally constructed, but there it is.  My bridge and river area would never have been built if I hadn't done that first.

George

George, I agree you need the space to build the scenes you are building.   I am struggling with my layout space.

@dkdkrd posted:

Mark...

I hope it was a 9.5' concert grand and not a 40" spinet!

Workbench "space"?...never enough.

Sorry it’s not a grand.  It’s a 120-year old upright my wife refinished 25 years ago.  Heidi got that piano and Holly got my mum’s spinet.  My wife has a baby grand in the living room.  Still, it would be more space than I have now.  If I can get her to take her last sewing machine she repaired out of there, I would have more room.  These ladies have a lot of interesting interests.

If I put everything back in its proper place, how would I ever find them again ??

In the spirit of full disclosure......Here's what mine looks like at the moment. My bench is not just for my trains either, sometimes the CEO asks me to do stuff too......

Bob

Apparently, I must prove my sanity on this board (which is really hilarious given this audience. ).

Here are some things in progress.  First, we have some ingot molds in the paint booth.

Next is the sawhorse table in the trainroom.  On it are parts and tools for the walls of the open hearth (which can be seen in the background).  This is the only active work zone at the moment.  But as you can see, I am still juggling projects.

You wouldn't believe how bad this room and the workshop were just after the end of the major open hearth work (the race to the Steel Mill Modelers meet).  It took me the better part of 2 weeks to get the space anywhere near presentable.  There was so much junk spread around (5x worse than anything I've seen posted on this thread), I could barely move.

George

@RSJB18 posted:

In the spirit of full disclosure......Here's what mine looks like at the moment. My bench is not just for my trains either, sometimes the CEO asks me to do stuff too......

Bob

Bob, your workplace is larger than your layout!  I end up doing a lot of CEO projects on the layout.   🤔

@G3750 posted:

Apparently, I must prove my sanity on this board (which is really hilarious given this audience. ).

Here are some things in progress.  First, we have some ingot molds in the paint booth.

Next is the sawhorse table in the trainroom.  On it are parts and tools for the walls of the open hearth (which can be seen in the background).  This is the only active work zone at the moment.  But as you can see, I am still juggling projects.

You wouldn't believe how bad this room and the workshop were just after the end of the major open hearth work (the race to the Steel Mill Modelers meet).  It took me the better part of 2 weeks to get the space anywhere near presentable.  There was so much junk spread around (5x worse than anything I've seen posted on this thread), I could barely move.

George

George, the ingots look hot!!

The sawhorse table proves things are going on.

It does get messy from time to time, like I said.....

Peter

I would send a picture of my work-shop, BUT I put my camera down on my shop table and now I can't find it!!!!

Right now the work bench in the train room is one of those folding TV snack tables that also doubles as my laptop desk.

After a redesign of storage in the garage to clear up floor space, tool boxes and storage drawers take up most of the work bench table top.  A small area on the right front corner is all the work space I have, used mostly when I need to put something in a vice.  I often  fold down the back seat of the golf cart and use that deck for work space.