Solved!

The peninsula was really bothering me. How could it be flat on the ground and cantiwamus when I put it up? I burned a few brain cells, as well as a 6 pack and I realized that maybe if I did not set it on the support running around the walls, I could compensate for the tilt. An hour later, and some help from my twin boys, and I had the darn thing mount and nearly perfect!

Peninsula finally level

I had picked up some insulation for the subroadbed today...which is now green instead of the pink I used a couple of years ago. Actually that is better because the pink was annoying on the old layout since I never did finish the scenery. I still have two pieces of plywood to cut, and two others to glue down before I can attach the subroadbed but this is fantastic. Bruce and I might be able to transfer the trackplan during the holiday break from work!

Added the corner trim to show how it will look finished

Yes!....er, No

Laid the peninsula on the ground and it was pretty flat so I glued and screwed the top while kneeling on it hoping the extra weight (and yeah, there's some extra weight!) would keep it flat and square. Next I trimmed the piece to fit between the left and right corner pieces and under the electrical outlet and with Adam's help put it in place.

Mostly level

If you zoom in you'll notice that the front and rear levels are darn near perfect. You'll have to trust me that its level from front to back, and it is. But...wait...what are those gaps of light under the orange level. DARN! This will take some thinking.

Framing with a twist

Tackled that remaining wall today. This section would be 8' 4" from the corner but since there is already a 24" wide module, I only needed to build a 6' 4" by 20" wide section. As I've mentioned, the disadvantage in this room is using it as a workshop AND building the railroad in the same place. Means I have to move everything several times but as I use up my surplus supplies, there is less under (over and on) the layout that has to be moved.

Irwin Yard to the left, Herminie Mine on the peninsula

 The section along the wall went very smoothly. The peninsula ... well, that's another story. If you look carefully at the photo you see the end seems to twist from the upper left to the lower right. Well, it does. I tried to keep the module exactly square as I built it but something went wrong. Big time. According to the level it's within tolerance ... barely. I am not so sure. Will see if I can get Bruce to come over and offer his opinion. At least I cleared out enough space he can come into the train room!

It starts with a plan

Now that I have a solid track plan, I started mounting the modules from the old layout to the wall. I will be able to reuse at least four of the 2' x 4' modules. I started in the corner farthest from the interior door and worked along the outside wall, setting the modules on the support board Bruce and I put up a couple weekends ago and added cantilevered braces so there will be no leg supports to kick ... a nuisance I found with the last layout. Using one of the old legs for a temporary brace, I was able to quickly mount the 3 modules. Nice!

Cantilevered braces hold up the benchwork

Look at all that under layout storage with no legs in the front to get in the way. As I told Bruce, the more I build, the less I have stored in the train room which makes every step enjoyable. On the down side, a 10' x 10' train room is small with all the working materials and dragging in the power mitre saw and workmate work bench to cut the braces. Small price to pay for this awesome room.

Brilliant

I spent some time in the train room last night with the last plan from Bruce and it's just brilliant. There are 2 continuous loops with the hidden track so tracks can run during an open house, or background while I show new operators the routes.Plenty of yard tracks in both the East and West yards, with the mainline and runaround track right through the center - very prototypical. There are 3 separate towns for switching - Irwin, Herminie and East McKeesport (from left to right) and the 2 track hidden staging on the left allows 1 east and 1 west bound offline trains to come onto the layout and later Irwin build trains can head out to those hidden tracks.

Today, I am mounting a couple of the modules to the wall and test placing some switches. With some work I may have most of the benchwork and sub roadbed in by the end of the year ... maybe even some of the mainline down?

Now it's getting exciting!

Getting Close

While I have been scraping dried Liquid Nails off the tops of the plywood benchwork (one of the down sides to reusing the modules from the last layout), Bruce has been busy doodling over the ideas we discussed last time he was over. There are a few givens:

• 24" deep benchwork with 18" on one side for my modeling desk
• 4' peninsula for WCC Mine No. 4 in Herminie, PA
• Irwin yard has to be either on the left or right shelf
• Removable/duckunder at the entrance

Bruce's latest brainstorm

The next list is the desires:

• Primarily for operations where trains are made up and broken down in Irwin yard and at least 2 switching areas - E. McKeesport and Herminie
• Mainline offers a continuous run to break in engines, simulate trains coming from off the layout, and maybe show for an open house
• Outside track for a "mole" yardmaster to make up trains and put them in a 2 track hidden staging yard for east/west arrivals and departures

Earlier today, Bruce sent me the sketch above. Now this has some possibilities. I may have to get the turnouts back out, do some test fitting and even mock operation. 

Beginning Benchwork

Bruce stopped over yesterday and we talked for a long time over the mockup I had laid out on the modular benchwork. We agreed that what I had laid out very closely resembled his last track plan but there were details in the yard area that needed some rethinking to fit in the 10' span with curves at either end - yard interchange, yard lead, cabin car track and ideally 4 tracks each 1 car longer than my longest train. Then we started talking about the passing sidings and figured pretty much 5-6 cars in a train plus engine and cabin car. Good compromise I feel so that the train does not wrap from one town to the next but still enough to make switching a little demanding.
Bruce had a number of interesting ideas and took some of the sketches for thinking and doodling. It will be very interesting to see what he comes up with and I can hardly wait. While he was here, he helped me mount the bracket around the room that the back of the modules will rest on. In reality it took me longer to pull out and move back all the stuff under the layout than it did for us to mount the three 10' spans of 1" x 4" but it was definitely a 2 man job and I appreciated his help.

Bruce screwing the board to the wall studs ... we hope!

I took the picture of Bruce after we leveled and screwed the board at both ends. He was drilling pilot holes for the rest of the span. I have another photo, I will have to dig up and post, of him doing almost exactly the same time waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy back when we were both lieutenants in the Air Force and building a shelf layout in my apartment. Hmmm..... maybe this time we will actually be able to run a train!