Pics of Benchwork & Roadbed

[donhalshanks]

A few months ago I posted pics of my finished train room, and many asked me to be sure and post pictures when I finished benchwork. So, here they are.

This is the first 20 feet of a 19'x20' trainroom and is my first layout. I again really thank this forum for answering my questions along the way and giving me advice. I know it has kept me from any serious mistakes so far. MR and the many reference books also helped.

All comments, advise, and criticisms are welcome! The dates on the pictures are not accurate and should be ignored! These were taken last week.

This picture shows I tried to follow the Wescott L-girder methods by the book. Finished it with a latex paint to seal and used drywall screws:



Following shows the corner benchwork:



I laid plywood on the benchwork, and taped heavy brown paper over it. This shows the track layout of the yard end of the shortline drawn on the paper:



I cut the templates out, taped them to plywood,and transferred the center lines to the plywood with pattern paper and sewing wheel, and outlined the subroadbed. This picture shows the subroadbed ready to be cut from the plywood:



This next one shows the subroad bed cut and attached to the benchwork:



Sheet homosite has been attached to the yard and California Homosite roadbed has been glued to the track subroadbed. It has been sealed with latex. Many of the low profile, stained Micro Engineering prestained ties have been glued to the roadbed. This picture also shows the unfiished turntable pit, ash dump pit, buried uncoupling magnets, and coal tower base. Hard to see, but an unfished inspection pit is cut in the area where train shed will sit (on left):



This picture shows the first 20' of benchwork, subroadbed, and roadbed with some ties down:



This view gives a closer look at the detail of bench and roadbed in the corner:



Again, thanks to the forum guys for a lot of help. I've started hand laying rail and building my first turnout.

Hal

[ereimer]

so far it looks fantastic !

[ARTHILL]

SWEET. Hand layed track? Wow. That is really nice work.

[Anonymous]

Hal,

[:O] Amazing work! What an inspiration! I can only hope that my work and area will end up looking even half as good as yours. Keep up the good work.

Peace.
Coyote

[Anonymous]

Very impressive work....and neat and tidy to boot. Very nice backdrop, too. Benchwork that Norm Abram would be proud of.....

[Anonymous]

very nice work

[Anonymous]

Inspirational.

Looks like a Model Railroader article on benchwork and layout room preparation.

[Medina1128]

Why I do this to myself? Now, I feel like I should tear out my layout and start all over...

[ARTHILL]

And you probably will, Marlon, but not this year. Maybe when your company moves you to Alaska or you win the lottery. I am on layout Number 5, but never because what I was doing wasn't good enough. If I didn't like something, I changed it, but I never just started over.

[fiatfan]

Great looking room, Hal. Very nice touch with the spitoon!

Tom

[NZRMac]

Fantastic work, I really should have painted first!! Looks looks finished already.

Ken.

[Anonymous]

Hal:

Looks great. You should be very proud of the room and the benchwork. I can see you cut out angles at the bottom end of the joists. I don't know why you did this, but I still have/had a number of scratch marks on my back which make me wish I had done this on my benchwork. Ouch!

Mike

[Anonymous]

Some of the most fantastic benchwork I've ever seen! Now im gonna make my bench work better. Nice job.

[donhalshanks]

Mike (Kansas22): The joists were angle cut on the ends to prevent the sharp corners when working under the layout. I believe the advice to do this was in the Wescott book on L-Girder construction (wasn't my idea).

Marlon (Median 1128): I'm sure you're way ahead of me in your layout and expertise, so keep on going.

Hal

[Anonymous]

How come the date on the pics says 9/5/1998? Shouldn't the layout be more complete after almost 8 years! LOL! (just kidding).

Looks great.

Trevor

[donhalshanks]

Thanks for the kind comments. Keeps me motivated as I lay rail and move to running trains. Also, thanks again for the forum members who answered my questions along the way.

Hal

[Modeloldtimer]

Yep! Looks Great Hal
The L-Girder and cookie cutter construction is the way to go. Makes adding Mounains and Valleys much easier and your Scenery will also be easy to do. Hint: Some of us might need to make a creeper to get around under our layout for wiring etc. ( Out stretched arms can get tired when working under a layout. )