I keep inching closer to my first layout...

[johnandjulie13]

Hello All:

I started with a picture crate:

I was able to turn it into a table:

I then used the other half of the crate to make another table and then I bolted them together.  The next step was to put a layer of extruded foam on top:

While I was fiddling with my layout design, I decided to dress up the table a little by using some left over trim I had lying around:

I have now purchased all of my track.  I need to cut a couple of pieces and I also need one additional switch.  I will post more pictures when I actually have some track on which to run some trains.

Regards,

John O

[thor]

Good going John, neat idea to use that box BUT may I suggest you'd be well advised to triangulate those legs?  Meaning use some scraps of lumber or plywood to put a triangular reinforcement between the leg and the frame.  Otherwise, over time, its inevitable those legs will start getting wobbly.

[cnw1995]

Go go go. Illinois needs a new layout.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

There is a lot to be said for inertia.  Getting started is the tough part.  Once started little at a time pacing yourself where you are not over taxing your budget, patience or family time keeps it fresh and exciting.  In my opinion, try not to set deadlines.  Deadlines are best left at work.  Trains are to be fun.  Also, you are the only one you need to please.  Good job!

Jim

 

[RR Redneck]

Go go go. Illinois needs a new layout.

EVERYWHERE NEEDS NEW LAYOUTS!

[johnandjulie13]

Thor:

Thanks for the advice.  I was thinking of putting cross braces between the legs, rather than triangular pieces.  When it is all said and done, I plan on using the space beneath the table for storage and I want to maximize the ease of keeping things under the table.  Do you think cross braces will suffice?

Regards,

John O

[thor]

I wish one could draw straight onto the page rather than go through the rigmarole of posting a picture and linking it!  Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

I didnt want to sound know it all or teaching ones grandmother'ish but as an ex-shop teacher I know that unbraced legs no matter how affixed will inevitably end up going off vertical especially with woods propensity for changing dimension due to moisture level and splitting along the grain. You dont HAVE to triangulate as such but some form of introducing what effectively does the same thing, will make it last a lot longer.

So if, for example, you attached cross members from leg to leg and diagonally to install a shelf under the layout it would help but the mainlegs would still be effectively a parallelogram and therefore prone to behave like parallel rulers. Whereas if you glued a thin piece of ply as a wall between that shelf and each of the ends, connecting top and shelf cross braces, it would effectively add the necessary triangulation in one plane, at least.

Its easy to underestimate the forces at work on a table leg secured only at the top. Believe me I learned the hard way.  So many times in the past I've gone "Oh you don't need to do THAT, modern epoxies will hold an elephant down..." only to discover that, no, they won't!