I've been drawn to the "old timey" thing ever since I was a young (ish) model railroader. I guess I owe much of that to growing up with an exposure to the great old school layouts of the 50s and 60s. Naturally, the first that springs to mind is the Gorre and Daphetid. but of course I can't ignore other classics such as Bill McClanahan's wonderful Texas, Rio Grande, and Western. There were also a handful of great MR project layouts (Jerome and Southwestern, San Juan Central, etc.) in the 80s that provided plenty of inspiration. To this day, I love revisiting old issues of MR and out of print Kalmbach how to books. Much of the modeling is timeless, and I never seem to mind the fact that many of the modeling techniques are now obsolete.
Backing up a bit, let me explain the odd size for the layout. A few years ago I acquired a nice ATA rated flight case that will house an object of 20" x 30" x 7". These are kind of cases that you see sound equipment or instruments shipped in. Basically a heavy duty plywood case with a laminated plastic surface. Locking latches and aluminum extrusion trim finish the case off.
A little small for an N scale layout, but certainly not too small to create something to run old time trains on. Since the case is so stout, I am going to use it in lieu of traditional bench work. A layout this small doesn't really need it. On other small layouts, I have had a least a base of birch plywood under layers of typical foam sheet insulation. Here I'm going with just foam for the layout base as it will be amply protected on all sides. Here is what it looks like as a raw platform:
As you can see, the 2" thick foam sheet is recessed about 1.5" in the tray of the case, and the case top (not shown) lifts off. All wiring will be "above board" and will terminate in a single jack that will make connecting to the power pack easy. The location is still to be determined.
Next step is to devise the track plan. Not bad for a start!
No comments:
Post a Comment