If you need access to the cabinets below the counter and not the counter itself from the layout side, consider the following:
• Assuming the counter height is the typical 36", raise the layout height to about 44" or higher. Then you can support the layout shelf with a couple of 1x6 beams spanning from the wall to the layout shelf legs beyond the counter, or
• Again, raise the layout a few inches above the counter and place your layout legs in line with the stiles between the cabinet doors.
Dante
After toying around with several ideas, I'm wondering if I shouldn't do an around the walls style layout on 12" wide shelves. After crunching numbers I determined that using a 36"x80" HCD I would have 20 square feet to utilized for a layout. Around the walls on 12" wide shelves would give me 20.6 sq/ft. So the increase in space is negligible. I would however get more than the one scene that i would get from the HCD. The flip side is that it will be harder to negotiate the required space due to cabinets located under the kitchen counter that face towards the layout area. Another downside is that I have more than one scene but they are shallower.
To illustrate what I'm thinking about doing here is a drawing of the room with the proposed benchwork.
I am basing it on the Heart of Georgia model railroad.
Jason
Modeling the Fort Worth & Denver of the early 1970's in N scale
It is a backdrop. I"ll have the layout on casters so i can pull it back from the wall and tinker around.
Umm - is that line diagonally across the layout a viewblock/skyboard?
If so, how do you plan to access stuff between the viewblock and the wall?
Smile, Stein
Well with my ships schedule suddenly changing, construction on the Texas and Southwestern will be delayed several months. So this is what I have so far. It is based on the Carolina Central track plan and built on a 36" x 80" HCD. with a minimum mainline radius of 15". Track is Peco code 55. Don't pay any attention to the buildings I have drawn in, they are footprints to various buildings in the Walthers Catalog just so I could get a sense of perspective. It was designed using Empire Express for MAC.
The track at the bottom left coming of the main is the interchange with the Santa Fe. The spur coming off the passing siding is the team track. The spur with no building is for an undecided industry. The next one up is going to be a grain elevator. The single spur on the right hand side is going to be for a farm supply business.
Here is a photo of the room the layout will be in. My wife gave me permission to use the breakfast nook. The computer in the photo has been moved to the living room.
Here is a drawing of the room with the layout in it.