The railroad room - getting the environment right

In my last post, the focus was on the track plan.  Of course, the track plan is a primary driver in the satisfaction I'll get from running trains.  There are many other things that will affect that in a less major way, though.  I'll deal with current thinking on a couple of them here and get to the others later.

The railroad room itself

To date, the railroad room, as it's known in our house, is unfinished.  Much of the rest of the basement was finished already by the builder before we moved in 25 years ago. In the railroad room, the ceiling is bare rafters with the plumbing and wiring exposed; the walls are bare studs with fiberglass in between and thin poly-sheeting stapled over it.  Where I wanted display shelves, I tacked up some sheets of Luan plywood and screwed the shelves in front of them.  They're unpainted.  I have a semblance of a backdrop made of white-painted 1/4" hardboard below the Luan plywood to a height of about two feet.

Electrical supply is a non-working quad socket outlet and cheap track lighting,  controlled by a dimmer switch that connects all the lighting in the basement.  

It's an altogether uninviting environment and I plan to significantly improve it so I'll want to spend time there with the railroad.

I have to get the 110v power infrastructure right first.  I need to put the track lighting on a separate, dimmable circuit so it's "railroad only" and move it around so it properly highlights the new layout design.  I'll switch over to LEDs from the miscellany of incandescent bulbs in use now.  I need to add a strip light over the workbench so I'm not just relying on stand-alone work lights on the bench itself.  I need to add a power socket for layout power where I'll be plugging in several transformers.  This needs to be switched near the entrance to the room and have an visible "on-air" light so I don't leave it powered up by accident when I leave.  (I'll be using a power cart to hold the transformers so I can move it around if I need to.  The cart will have a power strip attached that will plug into the wall socket).  I plan on doing the electrical work myself.

Once the 110v electrical work is done, I can have the room sheet-rocked.  It'll be pricey to have someone come in and do it but I'm not capable of doing it myself.  I can do the finish painting, once it's taped. 

I hope to have this done by the end of February.

Benchwork and baseboard

I've had seemingly endless debates with myself over the benchwork.  In my last post, I included a link to a blog that talks about "TOMA" - the The One Module Approach.  TOMA addresses implementation sequencing rather than benchwork design - I'll be using TOMA and a sectional approach to benchwork.  

My main requirements for benchwork and baseboard are:

• Ease of access - both above to be able to reach everything and below to enable electrical work without being under the layout, reaching up.
• Sturdy
• Minimal noise not from trains
• Professional look - more like furniture than a lumber frame
• Ease of taking apart once or twice if moving house
• Ease of laying track
• 40" rail-top height, 14" lower than the old layout.

My solution to these needs is simple. 

The underframe that sits on the floor will be L-girder using high-grade pine.  I'll re-use the leg assemblies from the old layout and screw or bolt the girders to them. This assembly will be screwed to the wall in a few places for rigidity. On top of the l-girders, the baseboards will be in sections.  Sections will vary in size to complement the track plan and will be independently movable by resting them on the L-girders.  They'll be held together with quick-release clamps.  I haven't decided yet how I'll fix them to the girders  - probably a minimal number of screws toward the front and dowels at the rear.  I'll use the same height adjusters that are already on the legs from before so I can level the layout. 

The sections themselves (eight of them shown on the plan plus the fiddle yard spur) will be box-frames made from high-grade 1x3 pine, braced where needed.  On top will be 1/2" Homasote with  1/2" birch plywood underneath.  I will re-use the Homasote from the old layout - the plywood will be new.  There will be a fascia, probably built up using the Luan plywood in layers because I want curves around the reverse loops.  There'll be a control panel hinged under each section.  When I'm working on them, they'll be vertical; when I'm not, they'll swing up under the layout.

TOMA comes in as I plan on completing the three core modules (D, E and F on the plan) first.  I haven't defined "complete" yet, but with track laid and ballasted, the surface scenicked, contours at least roughed in with insulation foam, roads laid, all the electrical infrastructure in place, connecting to the power cart. Once they're close, I plan on doing modules A, B and C next since they'll be simple to do.  G and H will be last.  

D and E are where I'm most likely to have to make track design changes that may generate changes elsewhere.  There's lots of operating interest in D&E. Adding F means I can also build the spur and attach it temporarily as a fiddle yard.  Before I get too far, though, I will check out the reverse loops and make sure they'll fit as planned.  Easier to make adjustments now than later.

I'll deal with electrical control in my next post.