Monday, February 9, 2015

Benchwork Construction and Layout Concept

Following the completion of the walls, ceiling and lighting, it was time to start building some benchwork.  While I haven't fully finalized some aspects of the trackplan, the south end of the layout has been set for some time.  This portion of the line is centered around the former Milwaukee Road Glendale yard.

To the north of Glendale yard, the line splits in three directions.  To the northwest is the WSOR mainline toward Horicon, which will be fully model.  Due north is track owned by Canadian National.  WSOR has rights over the track as it eventually connect to the WSOR Plymouth subdivision.  This will be represented by a short length of track leading behind the back drop which will connect to staging.  Finally to the east is what remains of the Beer Line.  Once one of the busiest urban rail lines in the country, it connected all of the major breweries in the city.  Now all that is left is about one -half mile of track with an oil dealer as its only industry.  This will be modeled as a short spur off the yard.

To the south, the line leads through a very industrial area of the city, though most of the businesses here are not rail served. At the far south end however is a major rail customer, the Miller brewery.  I will be modelling this with a couple of industry tracks.  From a scenery standpoint, I will attempt to include some of the brewery buildings as flats against the backdrop.  Also, at this point the tracks will cross State Street on girder bridge as they do in reality.


The benchwork is open grid build from 1 x 4 pine boards.  The board are jointed with yellow wood glue and finish nails.  I have build the benchwork in modules, not because I intend to move the layout, but because I am working alone and they are easier to handle.  Each section is about 5 - 6 feet long.  They are mounted to the wall directly with #8 x 2" screws into the studs and supported from below with angle bracing.  Since the aisle in this area is going to be fairly tight, I wanted to avoid supporting the layout with legs that could be a trip/kick hazard.



Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Ceiling and lighting

The final phase of the room extension project is now complete.  A few weeks ago, I completed the installation of a suspended ceiling and a new light fixture.  Due to the small amount of overhead space, especially with the soffit, I decided to go with a 2' x 2' florescent fixture and grid for the space.  It doesn't look perfect, but it isn't bad for a first-time install.  My hope is that most of the attention will be on the layout anyway and no one will notice a few ill-fitting ceiling tiles.




Next item on the construction list is starting benchwork. Probably need to finalize the track design first.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Fresh Coat of Paint

Once the drywall was taped, mudded, and sanded, it was time for a coat of paint.  Since I am planning to use the walls as the backdrop in several areas, that meant finding a color to represent the sky.  I decided to go with a Behr color called After Rain.  Now that the room is painted, I have a better sense of the size of the space and how best to use it.  In the pictures below, you can see the line where the carpet was removed.  This is as far as the layout will extend into the remainder of the basement.



By the end of the month, my plan is to have the drop ceiling installed in the new section and all of the lighting and wiring completed.

Monday, November 17, 2014

Drywall Finishing and Carpet Removal

The layout space is becoming better defined now that the drywall is finished.  I also removed the carpet from the floor in this area.  It was very thoroughly glued to the concrete so there will need to be some scraping and sanding to smooth the surface.  Currently, the plan is to leave the floor bare as I build the benchwork, but eventually I will remove the carpet in the rest of the basement and put down interlocking rubber flooring mats.  Since the rest of the basement is a play/workout space, the mats will be a good cushioned surface that is easily cleaned and can be replaced as needed.





Drywall installed and finished in the new section of the layout room

Monday, October 27, 2014

And so it begins...

The intent of this blog is to record my activity as I start a new hobby by building an N-scale model railroad in a portion of my basement.  The layout will be based on the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad's Northern Division, the majority of which is former Milwaukee Road trackage heading north and west from the city of Milwaukee toward Horicon and eventually Oshkosh.

As of now, I intend for most of the content I post to be photos of progress being made with some brief comments and notation.  That may change as time goes on.  Up first, some pictures of the demolition and finishing of the expanded area.



Starting to demolish wall between "train room" and the utility area in the basement.  Will be adding and area approximately 5' x 6' to the existing 8' x 10' area designated for the layout.



Wall removed.  Time for clean-up.




Framing complete for the addition.


Drywall is up in the new area.

On deck for next weekend -- Taping and mudding.