Conrail Joe

Wow! That looks excellent Ray! Thanks for sharing! I only hope mine comes out that nice!

A few hundred yards down the line there is a run-around track. You can't see it on aerial photo due to the trees. This will be the next phase.....

Reworked the track plan to include the gentle curve.

Thanks Mal!!

As promised from yesterday, the benchwork pictures! I decided to stray from open grid with pine 1" x 4"'s and use cabinet grade plywood. I wanted the shadow box effect, without any braces exposed holding up the canopy/roof. My pet peeve is dust. It drives me insane seeing dust on any of my equipment or layout. Using 5/8" thickness plywood, I cut out 4 "C"'s, that would be the skeleton and back bone of the benchwork. After messing around a bit cutting out a few pieces, I realized how incredibly strong the plywood is. I decided to go with a size of 2", as opposed to the normal 3 1/2" i'm used of using with traditional pine 1" x 4"'s. I dusted off the table saw and cut a few of the 1" x 4"'s down to 2" to match the plywood size. Overall size is 9' x 17", with an operating surface of 9' x 15". The outside height is 18", and the inside height is 13 1/2". Using a small skewer I can comfortably uncouple cars. Don't mind the multi colors of the wood, (recycled wood from previous layout ventures!) I'll be running out to the hardware store today to buy some paint to cover that up! As soon as I get it presentable, I'll be bringing it up to the living room, and out of the garage. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking! Not sure why the pics are sideways....

Thanks for the welcomes! You make a great point, I agree it would be more aesthetically pleasing to the eye if it followed the broad gentle curve like the proto-type does. Thank you for pointing that out!

I've hit the ground running and have the benchwork completed. I will post up those pictures tomorrow. It's train night tonight, so I'm on my way to an ops session!

Hello everyone! New guy on the forum! I was directed here by AlcanMan, from youtube. It seems like a great active forum. My name is Joe. I'm 41 years old from Rhode Island. I'm a fulltime college student on my way to a masters and an eventual Doctorate in clinical psychology. Why full-time college now you ask? Long story short, I used to drive a tractor trailer, but had a stroke in 2015, leaving me unable to drive commercially. As an Army veteran the VA has a rehab program to retrain me for a different career! I've loved trains since I can remember. I have had a few completed layouts over the years, but have been layout-less for almost ten years.....yes ten!!! I have gotten my fix weekly by attending operating sessions with a great group of guys, on their layouts. I also belong to a modular group, and attend operating sessions at a large club layout, the Providence Northern. I'll be posting up pictures every week of some great layouts I get to operate on! The main reason why I have been without a layout is my fear of boredom with a small layout. I've realized that if I was bored with a layout then it would mean i HAVE a layout, which is better than not having one! Following Alcanman's lead, I've decided to start with the same foot print... 9' x 15". I do have room for larger, but less is more right now! I'm debating between either the palmettospur as he has done, OR closer to home the Providence & Worcester Railroad's Slatersville running tracks. here's a description of the area. It's an end of a branch line, with a team track (with dock) a possible propane dealer, and a spur that goes into a building. I plan on freelancing the industries, but trying to stay as true to the prototype as I can with the track plan. Last Picture is the track plan. I will have a staging cassette at the left end.

Looks Great! Thanks for giving me the heads up about this forum too!