East Riverton I.T. Switching Layout

[conrail98]

I mentioned I was going to start a build thread for my little switching layout based off of Lance Mindheim's How to Build a Switching Layout. I'm going to dub mine the East Riverton I.T. East Riverton is the industrial section of my hometown but the industries won't be reflective of what used to be there. In the book, Lance uses a 16" x 80" HCD. Doing this in N, a straight reduction went to around 8.5" x 43". I had a bunch of handy 2x4 panels from HD or Lowes so I used that and designed it out to be 9"x48".



Obligatory pic of the wood and tool used to make the cuts:





This was the first time I used the portable table saw and I loved it. Easy to get out of the basement (I don't have a garage) and setup and using all the little attachments were great. I even read the instructions and got everything stored back into it like the rip fence and skip back blocker!

So the construction method I tried out was one that Mark Lestico had used on his Cascade Sub and current HO Port of Long beach. It's basically plywood top, with bulkeads to support the top and stringers along the bottom to hold the bulkheads together and support fascia and backdrop being mounted. Here's the "look at the lumber I cut" pic:



Lastly, glue and finishing nails, I put together the main layout area and a little cassette that I'll use for the lead into the switching area. Final product with glue and finishing nailer for extra emphasis on the tools used (and the table saw folded in the background):



Next up is some masonite for the fascia and backdrop and then away we can go for track/paint/etc.,

Phil

[milw12]

Very nice Phil, this will be fun to watch. I'm currently working with a modified Palmetto plan so it will be interesting to see how your layout develops. Now I just need some time to work on mine!

[ednadolski]

Looks like a fun project.  Are you thinking of hand-building the track?  You have only 3 turnouts and you could use code 40 rail which is better-looking and easier to form.

Ed

[conrail98]

Looks like a fun project.  Are you thinking of hand-building the track?  You have only 3 turnouts and you could use code 40 rail which is better-looking and easier to form.

Ed

Not off the bat since I'm using it as a test bed for work on the regular layout. Maybe at a later date I'd rip stuff up and do that but not to start,

Phil

[basementcalling]

Will you have a casette or extention on the left so you can clear the turnouts with a train?

[conrail98]

Will you have a casette or extention on the left so you can clear the turnouts with a train?

Yes, that's the 2' piece sitting on top of the main benchwork,

Phil

[conrail98]

Spent the whole afternoon with the woodworking stuff in the front yard. In addition to some household items, I cut up stuff for both the basement layout as well as the switching layout. Here's the switching layout with fascia and backdrop attached as well as the 2' cassette over on the left:



Now to put some base paints down and the get to the trackwork!

Phil

[conrail98]

I went to an operating session last night but when I came home, I went down to the basement (eventually) and decided to paint the layout a base color of Nutmeg brown. I use an acrylic craft paint from Walmart. It's a little dark but I think it'll be ok for the base color for the layout:



Then this morning since it's a work from home day, I taped off the top and painted the fascia a Black Onyx Grab-n-Go, semi-gloss, from Walmart. I think it looks good but we'll see if I need another coat in an hour or so:



Who knows, maybe tonight I paint on the sky and we're ready to lay track tomorrow night!

Phil

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't fall into the trap and go day-glow blue

[conrail98]

Don't fall into the trap and go day-glow blue

No, I selected a very light blue/white from Sherwin Williams last year that I'll use. In fact, I'll do that after lunch since this stuff dries real quick,

Phil

[conrail98]

I got the fascia finished and backdrop painted. Amazing what you can do between conference calls and waiting for code pushes. Anyway, here is the pick of the shelf all ready for track markings and then roadbed and track!



I may need to take it outside or other side of the basement (this is the workshop side). It's a really, really light blue. I'll look up what it was called from Sherwin Williams,

Phil

[Cajonpassfan]

I like it. Perfect for a subtle backdrop.
Too often we get the in-your-face blue that may be more appropriate for the Bahamas
Otto K.

[conrail98]

I like it. Perfect for a subtle backdrop.
Too often we get the in-your-face blue that may be more appropriate for the Bahamas
Otto K.

Thanks Otto. I think I spent twice as long agonizing over colors in the store the day I picked this up then my wife did trying to figure out the bathroom paint we actually went there to get,

Phil

[Cajonpassfan]

Lol, touché.
So how is the bathroom color, we got to keep our women happy
Otto

[conrail98]

So I took time this afternoon to get my cork roadbed down. Now, in his book, Lance just puts his directly on the foam subroadbed. Since I'm trying some things out, I figured I'd put the track up on a little bit off the subroadbed. I wanted to experiment with using "Camper Tape" plus cork method from the couple of articles in Model Railroaders and "How To Build Realistic Reliable Track". Unfortunately, the only kind around here is 1 1/4" and while attempting to cut while rolling out was almost impossible because of the adhesive. I still want to experiment with that but have an order for a 1" style coming in the mail. Instead I decided to move on with doing 2 layers of roll-my-own cork in 1" wide strips,.

To get everything right transferred to the layout, I printed out my XtrkCAD plan 1:1 and taped them together:



Then I put it down on the layout and put push pins in place to hold it properly.





I then used a hobby knife to cut slits in the plan on each side of the push pin. I then lifted the plan off the layout, leaving only the push pins.




With just push pins in place, I then drew lines between each. The push pins were basically put at the "endpoints" for turnouts, curves, and straight pieces.




As I said above, I rolled my own. I feel Midwest cork is too wide, especially for a lighter mainline or even branch line. I cut mine to 1" widths just like the blog post described. They curl because they were in a roll. If I had done this with sheet, they'd be flat. I only did 12" worth of cuts



After gluing and pinning, the first layer went down:



After letting it dry for a few hours, I put a second layer on the "main" and then about a 4"-6" transition sections on the diverging turnout routes completing the roadbed:



Maybe tomorrow I'll start to play around getting track down but it most likely won't be until next week,

Phil