So, it's finally happening. After years of pining, yearning, sudden last-minute-collapses in the time/money/space situation, we are here at finally getting around to building a model railway layout. Time I can make, space I've made, money I've at last been able to set aside- I am jumping while the iron's hot.
The rationale behind this is really quite this is quite straightforward -
- I have wanted to have a proper layout since I was like 10 or so. The pining is real
- I genuinely and sincerely think that model trains might just fix me
So , meat and potatoes time. Couple months I eyeballed out a space I wanted to put it, and granted, at least some of the layout will need to be disassembled after use, it was a nice ol' size, an L-Shape space roughly 4x2 metres on it's inside axis, with more or less 1 metre deep legs. Couldn't exceed that in any dimension, and kind of precluded from having that wrap an opposite in any way on account of not being able to block doorways. It's not perfect, but the space you have is what you have, so you work within it.
After that I needed to establish what I wanted out of it, so I chalked it out as below.
Above: My back of a napkin maths and general thoughts
To explain each of these in a little more detail :
- Continuous running; because I know that between having occasional visitors and sometimes just wanting to watch trains myself, having the option to just leave it to run is a major plus
- Area for switching/shunting; because I also like doing operational stuff and having some way to do that I think also is core
- corner = maximum vista; there is one corner where, IMO, the best focal point of the layout shape is, so I want to use that to it's max as a vista. Meandering intentionally here being avoid LONG straight sections. More of notes to myself not to make good use of what space I have but to not get too "locked in".
- Aussie-themed scenery; much as I concede that from a stock perspective I'm probably not actually going to have much Australian stock (unless I get a 3D printer and make some myself), I would like to have solid shot at depicting the things I actually like about Australia: it's landscape, both developed and natural.
- Loose time period means at this point I'm not really fixated on trying to depict a specific era here. Like with the Aussie stock thing previous where I don't want to pin myself down too hard on limitations at this stage due to limitations in material available, but also, kind of as learning this I want to feel free to work on anything that takes my fancy over than what necessarily fits.
Much of the above basically cemented a commitment to a scale and gauge, give the physical constraints, this has to be in N scale/N Gauge to stay within comfortable curve radii at either end.
So that was all established around a month ago, and in the intervening time I've been looking into the logistics of fabrication and messing around with ideas of what I could do with the space.
On the logistics side of things I was intitially looking at the pre-fabircated modular baseboard system from ABR model works -partially because they're ideal for my remembering-the-results-of-the-last-time-I-did-woodwork arse, and partially because they seemed like a genuinely resilient way to get that side of things done (Additional "partially" because they're relatively local, and it's good to support local hobby businesses). The downside to them is that they are kind of on the pricey side, but you are also cutting out lot of woodwork, so it's very much down to whether the convenience of not having to do that and have everything already standardised and cut for you is worth it for you. My partner then pointed out that while I sucked at woodwork, he didn't, so the choice between the two remained up in the air for a little while while I considered other things, Like scenery theme.
Because it's still an evolving topic, as we go along, and I don't want to get too nebulous with topics, I'll put my thoughts in another post, but suffice to say it's being considered.
Above: The theoretical shopping list for three modules plus legs
It got to a point in mid-December when I made the call - I wanted this started before the New Year, I had the time, so let's get it done - or at least a start. Chalking out the parts list turned out that doing it ourselves the old-fashioned way would be about a 5th of the price of the pre-fabricated module route, and my partner stated their confidence in their woodworking skills. Those two things together were enough, we'd see how well we could do it ourselves on the short leg of the L shape space (the permanent leg). So guess what?
Above: That's right, a trip to Bunnings
We were keeping this simple, flat modular boards using pre-cut 900x600mm MDF surface tops as the reference, and 30x42mm box frame with a middle reinforcing beam. For legs, keeping it simple, 30x30mm legs that would be (after deliberation about ideal height) basically 900mm tall. Everything was to be bolts and screws- nothing magic or fancy here.
Above: The wood in the back of the car on the way home. Proof that you do not need a trailer to get this done
To keep within the constraints of transporting, we got most of the timber in 1200mm lengths (except 1 leg that was 1500 that was already on hand).
Above: 1200mm lengths of wood in 3 neat stacks
Sorted the woods into the lengths they'd need to be cut, some of the 30x42s would be cut into 2 540mm lengths, the rest would be cut to 900. Getting all that home was done in an afternoon, and the following day, we'd start on the cutting.
Above: Day 2 of construction - wood hauled outside to be cut
Finally, the day cam for fabrication. We were lucky in that we had a table-saw to make fast and clean work of the actual cutting, but given how soft pine is, we probably could have made do with a hand saw anyway. My partner did the chopping and drilling and marking.
The legs actually had a little trick in them - each of the feet was drilled at the base with a nut hammered in, so a bolt could be screwed in and out as way of individually levelling boards by controlling the feet.
Above: Demonstrating the idea behind the levelling feet, yours truly holding a nut over a hole drilled in on of the 30x30mm pine legs
Above: All legs cut to length, drilled and bolted
Honestly, the assembly of the frame actually came together fairly without direct issue, though there were several things we found out that would (Spoilers) ultimately prove there being a reason why pre-fabbed modules have a definite place. For one, it wasn't caught at the store, but at least a couple of the timber lengths had some warp - some had a very very slight twist, others had a permanent flex - neither is ideal but we worked around it, and in fact, the centre reinforcing beam actually was significantly useful in this regard.
Above: Partner drilling centre beam screws into one of the frames
The second issue is that the timber screws were threatening to split along the grain in a couple of spots - which is a lesson to maybe pre-drill the holes next time or to give ourselves a bit more material to absorb the impact into (could have gone with like a 30x60 or something, it'd have given more surface for a later stage too). Nevertheless, we continued one and by the evening we had 3 0.9x0.6m box frames all done and all were as square as they could be gotten.
Above: The three module frames all complete, leaning against the shed door.
With that done and Christmas fast approaching, was kind of content to let them stay in this state until we had a little slack in our timetables to get the last bit (legs and top) put on. Imagine my surprise when one afternoon between Christmas and New Year, after returning home from my touch-grass job I find my partner had put all the tops on, and all the frames bolted together as one - absolutely mint. Next day, with renewed vigour and spare time, we set about doing the last job - Leggies.
Above: Boards outside for drill and bolting of legs
The original place was to have the legs 100% in the corners, and drill them all to a standard measure. However two things prevented this on most corners-
- Some of the frame screws were not perfectly straight and obstructed the planned bolt holes
- My partner misread( I think) some of the markings I made on the long side side timber, and put the connecting bolts close enough to the corners that the legs would not go there.
So, we're adapting - bring the legs in a little on the sides the bolts or legs won't go, and we'll use off-cuts as over-travel stops to make sure they don't.. y'know, pivot over. These definitely prevent these being modular in the strictest sense, but you know what? These boards are the ones being left standing all the time, so providing the legs are all correspondingly marked for if it ever needs to move home, this is still fine. This still works, this'll stand and in no way is unfit for purpose, just not truly modular.
Above: All the boards with half the legs attached
With the above accounted for, all the legs were drilled and bolted, and the stops were just glued with wood glue (they're not structure or baring any load), and then left to cure overnight. Next morning the whole thing was flipped over, boards decoupled to get through the door, then manoeuvred into their final destination.
Above: From under the middle board - marked legs and corners, over-travel blocks
So, having built the boards ourselves, and looking at how they turned out, there is a high likelihood the rest of the boards for the layout will be pre-fabbed modular ones as previously explored. The reason is simple - while the ones on the shot end here all are basically semi-permenant, the rest have to be disassembled when not in use. Meaning that all the joins, legs, connections kind of need to be uniform repeatable things, and while without our own boards we've gotten close most of the time and dead-on some of the time, IMO that won't do when they need to go up and down easily. I'd rather the extra repeatability built in that uniform pre-fabricated boards would get us. And what you're losing in cost, you're saving in time and labour.
And that's basically it. The end of starting a model railway layout- We have some of boards (more to follow), probably need some leg crossbeams for more rigidity and maybe a little shelf below for controllers, it's got a home, we have a nice new slate to build on. Today we've begun, there is only forward to look.
Above: The Small Leg of the L in place, with a bunch of jackets and coats on a rack (that will need to find a new home) resting on the surface