Benchwork Update II

Its been a while since the last post and therefore progress has been extremely slow due to work commitments and the arrival of a new member of the family back in 2011. This January, progress has been a lot better and I have managed to install L-Girders all the way around the perimeter of the loft now.

Figure 23 - East side and South East corner of loft.

Figure 24 - South East corner and South Side of loft

Figure 25 - South West corner and West side of loft

Figure 26 - West side and North West corner of loft

Figure 27 - North West corner and North side of loft

Figure 28 - North side of loft

Figure 29 - North East corner of loft

Figure 30 - North side of loft

I have installed most of the joists across the L-Girders, with plywood along the top to allow extending the test track all the way round the perimeter. One thing I discovered was that due to the length of time since my last update on the layout, the benchwork 2x1 timber and plywood had warped considerably. This was quite disappointing at first but I was still able to make use of it. The major obstacle that was concerning me was the space that the loft ladder occupies when it is stowed up. It prevented me from installing a continuous L-Girder but fortunately I was able to find enough space behind the ladder to allow bridging between the L-Girders.

Figure 31 - Loft ladder space bridged with plywood.

I'm quite pleased with the progress that has been made over the last couple of weeks and soon I'm hoping I'll be able to run a train all the way around the perimeter of the loft. As yet, there is still no track plan which I'm hoping to start on soon once I can visualise the available space better with the benchwork complete. Having the benchwork completed, I should be able to measure how much space minimum radius curves will require, what will fit, what constraints there are etc. All the benchwork has been simply screwed together, there is no glue involved, in case I need to make adjustments. I haven't even used glue when constructing the L-Girders. Time will tell if this is a good or bad thing, but one thing I wanted to do was to re-use as much of the materials as possible when the time comes to eventually move house.

• Need to purchase a garden shed so that I can shift all the junk that has been stored up in the loft.

Test Track

With some L-girders constructed, I was very eager to put down some track and get some trains running. It's been a while since some of my loco's had seen any track, so I purchased some 8' by 4' 12mm ply cut into 3 pieces to enable transportation and after laying them on the L-girder supports, put down an oval with 3rd radius curves connected only via fishplates and put power to the track. The supports I had initially fitted with an equal distance between them had to be moved to better support the boards of ply.

Figure 15

Figure 16

Figure 17

Figure 18

Much to my delight, the locos I tested ran flawlessly despite the power only being supplied via the Hornby power clip. The first to taste the newly laid track was the Mehano Thalys train. Its an HO model but runs beautifully with directional lighting. Figure 15 shows it stationed in a siding while a Bachmann Class 57 makes its way round the track. This test track already provided me with some valuable experience, as I'm struggling to reach the back of the curves at the two ends of the track where the roof slopes in Figures 15 and 16. The two small boards of ply in Figures 15 (with the Hornby controller) and 16 are temporary to accommodate the curves of the oval. These will be removed when the layout extends round the loft, but access to the back of the curves is still not ideal. So although I maintained a depth of 80cm on the straight boards, parameters will also need to be set for the corners of the loft to enable access.

Benchwork Update

The benchwork has been progressing quite well. I had hoped the L-Girder along the back wall would be sufficient to lay a test track on but as the depth of the joists is only 80cm, it is not enough to accommodate a 2nd radius oval. Therefore I have had to add some more L-Girders around the loft.

Figure.11

Figure.12

For the 2 sides of the loft where the roof slopes, I secured one L-Girder to the vertical roof timbers and the other L-Girder on legs as shown in Figure 11 and 13.

Figure.13

One issue I have encountered is that where the loft ladder comes up when not in use, it was hitting my L-Girder. I therefore had to shorten the L-Girders to leave space for the ladder. My concern now is that I will not be able to construct the benchwork all the way round the loft. To clear the loft ladder, I would need the track to be positioned higher which would require a gradient. Alternatively I could replace the ladder with the type that folds on to the hatch but that is not a preferred solution. I'm hoping there is sufficient room between where the loft ladder comes up to and the roof slope, to pass track but its unlikely. This is going to slow things down.

Figure.14

Benchwork Begins

This is my first attempt at building a permanent layout and my first attempt at building baseboards. I therefore considered it prudent to start small to build up my joinery skills. Building a small test layout will allow me to improve my skills and experiment as well as providing some enjoyment in running trains while I can spend time planning the bigger layout. After reading numerous sites on the net I decided to build my baseboards using the L-Girder method. I had some timber left over from some home improvement work which I could make use of. I secured a 3.6m timber joist to the wall to form the vertical beam of the L-Girder.

Figure.5

Figure.6

I then added the horizontal flanges on top of the secured joist to form the L-Girder. I used 44mm x 18mm x 2.4m timbers to make another 2 L-Girders. I was concerned how I would be able to make the L-Girders level with the joist on the wall. I had some 2"x2" timber off cuts that I could use as legs but levelling would still be difficult. After some searching, I found some Tee-Nuts and levelling feet, like the sort you get under washing machines and refrigerators.

Figure.7 Adjustable feet, thanks to eBay

With the legs attached to the L-Girders, I then cut some 80cm joists from the 44mm x 18mm timbers.

Figure.8

Figure.9

Figure.10

First L-Girder baseboard completed. Its coming along well I think. I also attached the L-Girders to the roof trusses just to provide it with a bit more stability.