HO Shelf Switching Layout

[cv_acr]

Really nice start.  I really wish I could grab some trackage rights in out second bedroom.  This is really nice, and the benchwork is superb.  Any drawings or other photos of how it was constructed?

Thanks. The benchwork is pretty simple really, it's just a box. The layout is only 21" wide so actually all of it was cut from a single 4x8 sheet of 3/4" plywood. The legs and bracing are 1x2s.

Each section is 4' long; the surface and side panels are simply cut straight across the width of the plywood. Basically, 3 21"x4' pieces were cut for the tops and 9 3 1/2"x4' pieces for the sides and ends (ends cut to length to fit between the side pieces) and everything screwed together with drywall screws.



I stole the idea for the design of the leg pockets from lashedup's Franksville Module thread. I numbered all the pockets and legs to make sure they go together properly.



In the photo above, you can also see the holes drilled for bolting the units together, and for wiring connections. This was accomplished by clamping the pair of sections together in proper alignment, and drilling through both ends at once to accept a 3/8" bolt. Each joint has a pair of bolts to hold them together.
The wiring passes were done in the same way with an ~1" forstner bit. The exact size of these is not critical. Each section joint also has a pair of large holes for wiring connections, just in case. Easier to make more holes and not need them.

The legs are 4' long 1"x2"s. Plus the plywood and roadbed thickness, and the levelling feet, this puts the track level at 49.5-50". I'm 6'2", so once set up in my office/extra room, it's actually a comfortable height. The end legs on each section are joined into pairs with a solid cross brace. The hardware joining the cross brace to the legs is actually salvaged from an old small town church and once used to attach the solid oak pews to the floor. My dad and a couple others salvaged the solid oak pews for the wood when this church closed its doors.



To stabilize things lengthwise, a 4' horizontal brace is bolted to the rear leg near the bottom, and the two outside sections have an additional angled brace to help stop any swaying. These back braces are bolted to the leg assemblies so that the whole thing can be disassembled. Holes were drilled through the brace and the leg at the same time to accept a thin bolt.

[mcjaco]

Thanks Chris, that's really helpful! 

This is exactly what I wanted to do when I built my first N scale layout.  I didn't have the funds or the tools, so it didn't happen.  Which in turn led to a terrible first attempt. 

I'm quite familiar with those leg pockets.   

[cv_acr]

Well, after a bit of a hiatus of a few weeks, I've gotten some more progress done on this. I pulled the whole thing apart and did some power sanding on the tops of the legs so they don't fit into the pockets quite so tightly. Once there's scenery on this thing I can't very well use the Fist of Encouragement to coax the modules onto the legs and even everything out! Now the legs pop in and out quite nicely.

Then over the last week, I got back to tie laying, and most of the ties are down now, excepting two of the industrial spurs, and I've pretty much exhausted my tie supply. Not bad though, the original supply came pretty close to exactly covering the whole thing.







Next up, staining and begining of laying the rails!

[cv_acr]

Made a small ramp for my team track and stained my ties (and the ramp timbers) earlier this week. Last night I hit a new milestone: the very first pieces of rail spiked down!

[nscalemike]

This is going to look nice!  Are you scratchbuilding all your turnouts in place? 

Mike

[cv_acr]

So, it's kinda been a while since I've posted on this, but I've made a little bit of tracklaying progress the last few weeks, working just a little bit here and there.

I actually laid this first switch a while ago, but didn't post it here:


The foreground spur has since also been laid.

Here's the new progress, starting down at the far end:







Lots of switch work to do yet with points and frog rails, but most of the in-between track is in. With the size of this layout, there really aren't too many pieces of rail that were actually laid down without cutting or filing.

[cv_acr]

Well, I haven't really been keeping this thread up to date; of course there was a bit of a period where not much happened here.

Here's a couple of switches that have been mostly completed (I haven't done throwbars on anything yet):





Since the above photos were taken, I've finished laying a couple more switches and the interchange track at the back right corner of the layout, and started dropping some feeders on the layout. I got most of the feeders on the right section finished and soldered before getting so frustrated with the soldering process I basically didn't come back to the layout for a month or two! I was a little out of practice and was having some issues... Oh well, I'll have to get back to soldering leads again one of these days.

In the meantime, a few weeks ago I cleaned off the layout and started working on it again, which pretty much brings me to my most recent progress over the last couple of weeks (next post).

[cv_acr]

I've actually been working on my HO switching layout again over the last couple of weeks.

First I actually got the last of my masonite fascia pieces cut, and disassembled the layout sections to install them. I touched up the edges of the scenery with drywall mud to finish the surface contours, and did some painting and basic ground cover (dirt and a first layer of ground foam) on a couple of sections. Also I picked up some more wood ties at the Copetown train show last weekend and finished laying the last industrial spur at the back.

Some progress pics:







I also made some wood cribbing for a culvert under the scrapyard spur for the drainage ditch. The vertical supports are pieces of rail. Still need to stain and weather the timbers, and fill in the scenery around this.

[mcjaco]

Nice work, Chris.  Can't wait to see more!

[cv_acr]

Thanks Matt. I've been working on some other projects and out of town visiting friends and/or operating sessions and train shows on the last couple weekends, so I haven't really done more since the most recent pics from 2 weeks ago.

[cv_acr]

I cleaned the junk off the layout and actually started working on this again a couple weeks ago. It's been a busy summer. At one point i went about a week in between actually spending an entire evening at home, between various activities and being away for the weekend.

I've been doing some wiring work lately, attaching and hooking up feeders, and a couple days ago I was able to plug in my NCE power cab system and apply power to the rails for the first time!



(I just pulled this loco out of the box, and I haven't finished turnout throwbars yet, so I could really only run it back and forth about 24", so I didn't bother removing the plastic mounting pieces.)

I've also been doing a little work on the scrapyard industry at the one end of the layout, but don't have any pics uploaded of that currently.