Big Job Today

[jeffers_mz]

Baby's gotta move, one room to the next.

The intended location is holding two chairs (cake) and one curio stand (less cakelike, glass shelves, six feet tall, 1.5 by 1.5 feet square,about a billion treasured mementos resting on them) and that end is ready for insertion.

All the cars and structures, real and simulated, have to come off the layout and find temp space somewhere, every scrap of foam has to come off (and you know how many grommets will get loose and waft all over the house in the process, necessitating half a day of vacuuming to restore this beautifully (and rare) clean state by New Year's Eve, and the power packs have to be hard mounted or unwired. I bought some black wire ties and plan to use them to tie down the transformers, but that involves drilling. Kind of surprising that MRC's don't have any provision for hard mounting, since they tend to skate around the control panel anyway.

The double doors are four feet wide, but the control panel makes coming out flat impossible, as does the entertainment center just outside them. I think everything will survive being flipped up edgeways, but survive or not, it's going to happen. In a perfect world, someone else would grab the sawhorses and two bys currently supporting the layout, run them to the new location, and I could then set the layout where it's going, but today I'm here by myself, so I need a place I can lean it, and, again in a perfect world, leave at least finger space between it and the floor for the final stage of the move.

If you all don't hear from me by this evening, call 911. I can hold out without food for several weeks, but things will get pretty dicey trapped under the layout without water. I'm going to start hydrating now, just in case.

:-)

After the move, I'm going to add permanent legs with casters, a little shorter than the horses are now, and then ease the horses out from under the layout. They are needed elsewhere and my daughter currently has to stand on a chair to see anything.

Then my desk, a lamp, a router, a PC, a printer, and a 21 inch monitor all have to spin 90 degrees from where they sit to make room for chair space between the layout and desk..

After that, I'm going to rip out one section of brass track, replace it with steel flextrack, add two curved and one normal turnout and some staging area, and then start replacing the foam, one two inch layer at a time, duct taping it temporarily while I run every train, and if everything clears, gluing it into place permanently, except for where track access requires it to stay removable.

If all goes well, this will be complete, foam back in place and the layout operational by Friday night, leaving me all day Saturday to vacuum up slightly over one billion styrofoam grommets and have the house presentable for ringing in the New Year Saturday night.

Of course I'll probably be so wore out I fall asleep by 9 pm New Year's Eve, but that's another matter entirely.

Wish me luck, and may heaven help any cat who gets in my way while I'm toting that layout room to room.

[GAPPLEG]

About the power packs, I use sticky back velcro to lock mine down.[8D]

[Anonymous]

Good luck friend. That sounds like a lot of work.

I suggest water before hand but when the heavy lifting is done a good lager should hep rehydrate and refuel.

Heaven help you if you get trapped and the cats get hungry.......

[MisterBeasley]

Invest in beer and microwave popcorn. Invite over a couple of friends. Hey, guys don't mind helping out a neighbor in need. It's like being called up for a mission. My neighbor called me one day to help move a piano - one of the big old solid uprights that weighs as much as a locomotive. Man, it was such a great challenge! But, for that one we saved the beer for later.

It may be too late, but for the next move, go to Staples and get those little paper tags with strings on them to label your wires as you disconnect them. Makes it a lot easier to put it all back together.

My layout is on casters, too. It's 5x12 feet, and it rolls fine on the carpet. I didn't need locking casters, but I would if it were on a hard floor.

[selector]

Yes, by all means, the cheapest insurance you can get for success is to have at least one neighbour come over for free beer and a pizza during two hours when you get the heaviest stuff moved.

You don't want to be injured unnecessarily, so beg, borrow, or steal some help.

And, I wish you all the best.

[jeffers_mz]

Wow, Bukwrm, I never even thought of that. I guess I dodged a bullet because the big part's done, I'm counting ten and ten, and the cats are still licking their chops. Rather than waste time setting it back up on horses, I leaned it up against the desk, wedged some chairs against the other side, and set out for the lumber yard. I found some pretty cedar four by fours which will stain up real nice, and tomorrow I'll just screw a pair into place, lean it over onto them, prop the other side up a little extra, screw those two in and be ready to move forward.

I got 2" casters, they're supposed to carry 125 pounds each. That should be enough, but I'm here to tell you, open frame benchwork or not, that thing is heavy. I'm guessing 110 pounds or more, it's a LOT heavier than three quarter tongue and groove, twice as heavy or more.

There was one minor brush with the door frame, no scratches, and other than feeling like I was going to blow out some vertebra, it went pretty smooth. Pizza and beer for the moving crew? Well, there's very few neighbors way out here, but yes, I think I will. I'm due.

:-)