N scale Falls Road Secondary 'Retro Modeling Childhood memories'

[learmoia]

Looks like the last update was 2019 when I built the work bench area..

And no meaningful progress until a month ago, when I ended up in the hospital for 4 days with severe breathing problems and swelling of the right side of my heart... Basically, my long term breathing issues combined a poor diet and years of not taking care of myself caused my heart to work so hard, it was working itself towards congestive heart failure.

So after 4 days of stabilization, and new breathing meds, along with a ultra low sodium / low sugar 1800 cal diet, I feel FANTASTIC!!  I've lost 30lbs in the last month, On the days I work, I take the stairs plus some time on the trend mill.  On my days off, I have been up and moving around catching up on 'honey dos' that have been swept aside for the last year or so if no energy.

With the honey dos mostly out of the way, I turned my energy towards the basement.
-Lights were hung..
-Tools and supplies gathered..
-Materials purchased
-Layout Designs printed with measurements.
And.... 26' of 2' wide bench work built..

Then Carol at Caboose Stop asked... 'Did you take Pictures?'....
Me:  Nooooo?
Carol: You should take pictures..
Me:  Ohh.. well maybe I'll document the progress with videos on the youtube page.

So I did Video #1 quick before we started the 2nd work session.

And now Video #2 with the cross members rebuilt and 8' more bench work assembled.

And now we can park the vehicles in the garage again!.

[learmoia]

Today turned out to be a sunny 72 degree day, so I spent the day in the garage rebuilding the workbench to recess the miter saw surface to be flush with the work bench..

TOTALLY WORTH IT!!.. 

[wm3798]

So while you're lollygagging around with the benchwork, why not show us some roster shots of your retro themed fleet!

I'm always interested in seeing what people have hung onto lo these many decades!

Lee

[learmoia]

So while you're lollygagging around with the benchwork, why not show us some roster shots of your retro themed fleet!

I'm always interested in seeing what people have hung onto lo these many decades!

Lee

I could probably work that into my schedule...

[wm3798]

Any progress on this?

[learmoia]

Any progress on this?

Yes actually... I tore everything down and moved to a new house... 

We are almost done unpacking and then I'll be ready to put up bench work.

~Ian

[learmoia]

On that note... the new house is slightly smaller so nothing I had planned can transfer over in a way that I would be satisfied with.

If we could get rid of the pool table, things would be different.... but...... I don't think that's an option, and I like the idea of a true 'game room'.

With that said.. since i was making progress 3 months ago, I'm in JFRTM mode to get going again.

I have a drawing of what i can do for bench work... I'm good at adapting a known track plan into a space, but not too creative in coming up with something from scratch.  So I'm posting the drawings with dimensions, and opening it up to the community (both Railwire and Caboose Stop Youtube) for ideas..

I want to see what you guys come up with, and will likely adapt portions of what you come up with into the final design.

A few notes.
Not a fan of 'spaghetti bowl' track plans.
Using Peco Code 55 track.
Layout height will be roughly 50"

So here is the overall plan.
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Black lines are walls.
Purple lines are bench work limitations.
Purple dashed lines are optional expansion
Yellow lines around the pool table are the walk around/que clearance so you can play without running into layout.
Black lines that look like tracks.... are tracks.
Basement is finished stud wall and drywall, so I can (and plan to) do shelf layout for most of it.

The areas Pool room are Heather's stuff.
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Ghost town is the Micro Trains Halloween village.
UFO Site is the Menards O scale UFO scene which will be converted to N scale.
She also has Smokey the Bear stuff, but not sure I'll have room for that.. Maybe on the opposite side where the staging yard is.. (which may be semi-hidden on a lower level) need to measure and see if I can No-Lex to it.

The other room is my stuff.
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My goal is a small yard, and a few industrial switching areas.
The peninsula would be industry and it also acts as a barrier to avoid walking under the low ceiling HVAC duct..

~Ian

[nkalanaga]

"Get rid of the pool table".

How strong is the ceiling?   If it has good joists, cut the legs off the pool table, and suspend it from the ceiling.  Hoist it out of the way for running the trains, which will give you the center of the room clear, and build the railroad under it.  Make the center portion of the layout "removable", and you could suspend them both, with the trains on the floor when the table is in use, and the table against the ceiling when the trains are running.  Or, the other way around.

No, I don't think it would be practical, unless you have a high ceiling, or build a low layout.  That has been done, though, with the layout built to be run from office chairs - or a wheelchair.  Stand up to work on it, sit and roll for operations.  In fact, if you do it that way, under the pool table might be a good place for staging.  You might be able to leave the railroad fixed, and just raise/lower the table over it.

[wazzou]

If it has an authentic slate table beneath the felt, not an option.
Those things are really heavy.

[nkalanaga]

No, if it's made of slate, or any other stone, I doubt that the ceiling could hold it!  I thought they were wood, like most tables...

[learmoia]

It's bad enough that I have to (try to) move it about 10' (currently it is on the Ghost/UFO side of the room)

I have accepted that the pool table stays...

The plan to move it is:
Remove the remaining carpet under the table (except for directly under the feet)
Get my wifes 1 ton floor jack from the back of the truck.
Place it on one end between the legs, and lift high enough to get a set of casters under each leg.
Repeat on the opposite end.
Roll to new position
Lift one end
Removed casters
Repeat on the opposite end.
Done.

[learmoia]

Over the past few months, I've finally been making some headway on the layout room.
I was finally able to get some weekend assistance from a HO friend of mine to help with one of the big hurdles.. tearing out a closet.
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I figured it would take a day.. but.. turns out it was built like a brick sh*t house everything was screwed together (which probably made it a bit easier)  But WAY Overbuilt.. (Probably more like.. Properly built)

But over the course of a weekend.. we got it out..
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We were careful to keep the existing drywall to minimize patch work..

Then I got sick from all the dust and had to take a break for a few weeks..

Then I went back and patched up the drywall.. Mud Mud Sand Mud Sand Mud Sand Mud Sand ..... eah. close enough... Texture.

And and I had a co-worker come in take out the border in the main room and paint..

And a new video..

More soon Won't be long before I'm caught up to where I was at in the old house!

~Ian

[nkalanaga]

Given the way they overbuilt that closet wall, I hope it wasn't supposed to be load-bearing.

[learmoia]

Given the way they overbuilt that closet wall, I hope it wasn't supposed to be load-bearing.

No.. not load bearing.

(By that I mean I stood on the floor above the closet (next to the gun safe) and it didn't seem any less stable)

And the main wall of the closet ran parallel to the floor joists.. 

[learmoia]

Current plan with the pool table.
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Current plan without the pool table.
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