Train Room Project Finally Gets Started, Benchwork up

Here is also a quick video of the layout.

That's a great start, and I love the way you did your ceiling train, great "benchwork" :-)  

very cool!

very nice Paul.

Who did you get the truss system from? Looks really stable.

Bob

Bob, The ceiling system was from ceilingtrainkit.com. I used their modern kit which saved me a few $$. I bolted each support into a 1x4 wood piece above the drop ceiling panel. It worked our fairly good and only required some minor tweaking. The guy who owns the site will stain it whatever color or stain you want.  I put it up over the last two weeks. Could have been done in a day but I wanted to take my time to make sure everything was sturdy.

Thanks

Paul

Nice work on the ceiling train! That helps inspire the O work when trains are running. Nice modules, by the way.

Finally found time to start on the project again. Layed out all the benchwork tops in the train room. Now I need to start bolting together and add the legs. All of this benchwork is from Sievers. I had gotten from a closed LHS.

thanks

Paul

Paul, Your train room looks great and that is a lot of benchwork. Do you happen to have a track plan of the planned layout?

Any chance there is a turntable in your plans ?

CSX Al, Thanks for the comment. A turntable no, but I have a transfer table I purchased 4 years ago that I am planning on using. As for a track plan, I have one that I am still cleaning up. When I created it I forgot to build in the grades. I knew in my head what I wanted. I realized when I was done that it looked very messy. I know what is what but no one else will.  The layout as a whole is 25 x 14 with access from 3 sides plus down the middle. The look of it is somewhat like another layout that I saw on the forum. I believe that layout was called South Fork. I was struggling with putting together a nice layout when I saw what that gentleman had done. Our dimensions were the about the same, we had some of the same accessories plus his track plan looked real nice. He basically had very close to what I was looking for. I tried contacting him a few times but never heard anything back. So I have borrowed some of the look for the mainline and the  yard.

 One thing that I have added which is different is a slot car track for a little race action. It was something my son and like to do but in order to have a slot car table I would have had to make the train layout much smaller. So I incorporated what is basically an oval slot car track into the train layout. The train layout will actually be built on top of the slot car track. Once scenery is done it should actually look like a grand prix race. I hope to eventually get the layout plan loaded on here. 

thanks

Paul

I'm looking forward to this thing coming together, heck I even like the flooring in that room!  

The slot car track sounds like it will be a lot of fun you you and your son. 

benchwork is look great, can't wait to see the track plan for all that!

Yes, your benchwork looks great. Beautiful basement too! Good luck!

I finally was able to get some work done on the layout. I got all the benchwork bolted together and a solid tabletop on. On the left side I placed the transfer table. There I will have a engine yard, then transfer table and service facility. I posted a picture of the layout. The blue track represents the upper level and the green the lower. 

Next phase will be the slot car track so that I can space it out. Then foam for the lower level.

thanks for the interest.

Paul

Wow, Paul!!  When you got started, you are really on a roll!  The Ceiling RR looks great, and so does the Seivers benchwork!  I’m looking forward to seeing this progress!!

Paul,

I can't visualize the elevations, but I like the track plan.

Will you be using EZ-Streets or scale slot car track?  I think the over under track lines on that confused my railroad elevation guessing.

The modules are very sturdy. I would have set the legs back away from the edge more. I think you'll tire of kicking those.

Paul I love how you approached this project.  It's quite obvious that tons of planning went into it.  So looking forward to seeing your dream come together.

PaulB posted:

I finally was able to get some work done on the layout. I got all the benchwork bolted together and a solid tabletop on. On the left side I placed the transfer table. There I will have a engine yard, then transfer table and service facility. I posted a picture of the layout. The blue track represents the upper level and the green the lower. 

Next phase will be the slot car track so that I can space it out. Then foam for the lower level.

thanks for the interest.

Paul

Benchwork looks great Did you get it from Sievers or did you make it yourself?

The benchwork was purchased from Sievers a few years ago. It was used in a Hobby shop for a large slot car track. when the store closed I kept the benchwork. I was glad to finally start to put it good use. I have moved it three times.

thanks

Paul

PaulB posted:

I finally was able to get some work done on the layout. I got all the benchwork bolted together and a solid tabletop on. On the left side I placed the transfer table. There I will have a engine yard, then transfer table and service facility. I posted a picture of the layout. The blue track represents the upper level and the green the lower. 

Next phase will be the slot car track so that I can space it out. Then foam for the lower level.

thanks for the interest.

Paul

Ah, man, that is stunning. 

PaulB posted:

The benchwork was purchased from Sievers a few years ago. It was used in a Hobby shop for a large slot car track. when the store closed I kept the benchwork. I was glad to finally start to put it good use. I have moved it three times.

thanks

Paul

Thanks. I've been debating between Sievers and Mianne. Sievers looks pretty good. Probably go with them. Is it sturdy and would it hold your weight if you had to get on top of it?

These pictures and videos you are doing would make a great video showing from and empty room to a completed layout. That would be a best seller. 

DALEHARDY, I like the benchwork from Sievers a lot. I have had both but like some of the aspects of Sievers a little better. I have been on top of the benchwork and have never been worried about it taking my weight(250+). Its great for doing odd shapes and the holes in the wood making running wires underneath a little easier.

Paul

Mianne holds me pretty well (or it did until I populated the table top with 50 buildings and track and trains). I weight 330 at 6' (no jokes please). And I have added a series of holes to what Mianne ships in the cross members. Not a lot, so I am not worried about structural integrity. Tim Foley at Mianne was superb to work with. Highly recommended. 

Thanks for the info guys. I'll be getting prices from both companies. bTW is that 3/4 inch plywood you are using on top?

Nice keep up the good work!!!!!

Looking very clean!  Nice work.

I was able to spend sometime working on the layout again today. I set the height for the second level and put things in place for the engine yard and where a service facility will be. I also got up the second level on the opposite of the layout, that will be a 16' straight section. This may change slightly since I might put some bridges in there instead just a plain straight area. Lastly I got the slot track up so that I can now build around it. The slot track is on the lowest level. The trains will be 3" above. Oh, DALEHARDY, that is 3/4" plywood on top of the benchwork. Next I need to get some sheets of foam since I used what I had. 

thanks

Paul

Holy second level, Batman!!  This is a lot more than I imagined!  Looks great!

Well I finally found some extra time of the last week or so and got more of the seconds level finished and almost everything now has a foam base. I have one last section remaining for the second level to do this weekend. Next will be to glue the foam down so that it doesn't move and then finally I can start to lay track and then start work on the two grades. I have added some pictures of latest work. Your comments are always welcome.

thanks

Paul

You work fast!  One question.  The second level looks like you have the plywood resting directly on the ends of the 2x4s with no cross bracing for support.  Am I correct?  If so, some of the distances look too far like the plywood may sag in time.  It could be the camera playing tricks on my eyes too.

Good observation Mark and you are correct. Without any support, as it appears in the photos, there is going to be a lot of sagging going on. I hope the original poster sees your comments, as it will save him future headaches. Not too late to fix it right now.

Jeff

Mark,

Thanks for the note on possible sagging. Most of the lengths are no more than 3-4' with 1/2" plywood. I saw one or two spots that might sag and once I get track down for a first look I plan on putting in a few more 2x4's for support. The current 2 x 4's are in spots where they won't interfere with track. The additional supports might interfere so I am waiting to put track down first before adding them. 

I have been trying to keep things moving along, I haven't had a layout in a few years. Once the I got the benchwork up it kinda lit the fire. Also my wife thinks a garden layout would be nice out back so I plan on going outside in late March to start that. 

thanks for the comment, they are all helpful.

Paul

Sounds great!!