Well it has been a few weeks now but I finally got the benchwork built and the trackwork was finished tonight. I tested the tracks with a 6 axle loco with no derailments after running for over 1/2 hour. Here are the pics of the benchwork up to what it going on tonight.
Benchwork: This is build to be disassembled and moved with out much trouble. The upper and lower shelf are held in with bolts attached to the legs. There is a box type set of shelves on the left and a display rack on the right. The Digitrax Super Chief setup is in the same box as I used in my first and second layouts and it is mounted to the top of the benchwork frame. There is a storage shelf in the front and also behind the display rack. Last but not least is the table top which is built in 4 sections and bolted together and then that is all bolted to the benchwork to give my layout a solid and stable base. I was standing right in the middle of the table today as I was building the reversing section of trackwork.
Here is the main bench work and legs minus the shelf underneath.
Box Shelves made out of some shelving I took home from work.
Main shelf in place now.
Another view of the main shelf
One of the frames for the tabletop.
Bolting the frames together
DCC box.
DCS 100 :) happy to finally have one of these.
Display rack Bachman EZ track in place for now I will put some flex track in there later.
Now the track work
Day 1
Day 2
Last day, The rest of the pics are all from tonight and they are of the final trackwork. I didnt get around to getting any pics of days 3 or 4 this is day 5 of tracklaying.
I hope you all enjoy the pics and sorry there is so many I usually worked on the layout till bedtime and then just walked into the next room and fell asleep with out comming down to post my progress. Questions and comments always welcome.
A Veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
Your layout looks great! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the comments guys I still have to wire the layout up. This is going to be a small challenge since I have built the layout to be taken appart. I plan on using some terminal strips and colored electrical tape to get everything together the way it is supposed to be. I will be using a PM42 set with 3 power districts and one reversing section, also with that there will be a programming track.
When I was running the loco around I only had it set up on a DC pack wired into the layout just to test the trackwork. Even tho that was temporary it sure felt good to see my loco running around the tracks again.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Great job so far!! You've made a lot more progress than I have lately! Keep up the good work and keep posting pictures.
John
I like the boxes for the Digitrax system. There is good air circulation for it which will prevent a lot of future headaches! I really like how your layout is going to represent a nice piece of furniture wherever you put it.
Great progress.
Well I had a little progress tonight. I built the harness' that go between the main block and each bench. I color coded each channel of the PM42 and also each section of table. The channels match the table color to keep everything simple. Well everything went really good until I put channel 1 (mainline) on the block. There were 4 spade connectors going to each post and all 4 did not want to stay in at the same time. Oh well. No new pics cause there is not much to show now. Tomorrow I plan on putting the UT5s and UR91 in and to start dropping the feeders.
Thank you every one for the comments and feedback. And even tho I have not painted anything yet I have come to think of my layout as the finest piece of furnature I own.
Massey
Great Job!!!
Clean, well-fitted benchwork, and great innovation on the whole package, makes me wish I would have thought my benchwork through a little more.
Personally, laying fresh tracks and seeing a plan come to fruition is one of the MOST enjoyable aspects of the hobby for me. I've been known to stay up until 4am, spiking and soldering away. Once I start layin a new layout, I cant stop until I see a train run. That's when I grab a cold one, grab a stool and throttle up...there's no feeling like it. The best part is taking time to make sure the joints are good, easements are smooth, and doing a quality job. The anticipation builds to higher levels, fueling me to get done, sunrise be darned.
Kudos to you, now how about some shots of your favorite locos/cars poundin' those fresh joints?
Rich
now THAT is a great layout!!! did you design it yourself? or pick it from a website? since i am not good with scales much what scale is it? if it is HO scale, what size is the benchwork? if you did get it from a website, which one?
i find it amazing that you managed to put together the track in just a few days. did it take you a few days to do both track and benchwork, or just the track?
i'm overwhelming you with the questions right? sorry, its just that there was i bit of a gap of information so that gap needs filling. AKA answer my questions.