Here are some photos of my progress thus far.
Nothing new here, basic l-girder of 1x3's. Beginning of module #1
2x2 legs with a cross brace.
Legs stained and mounted with ¼ 20 carriage bolts, one of four modules to make an 8 foot square table.
The bus wire, salvaged from an old 100 foot lead cord on a construction site; 12 gauge stranded.
Jumper wires for the bus between modules; terminal blocks are Radio Shack. All connections are soldered spade terminals.
A shot of the spline roadbed, made from salvaged oak strips on the inside and 15mm luan on the outside. This roadbed was originally built for a two track main in HO scale but with the addition of some expanding foam it became sub roadbed for scale55. I had to mask the bottom of the sub roadbed to fill the space between the two splines but this stuff is rock solid and cheap!
Here is a shot of the new roadbed trimmed up and ready for the cork. Here you can see the oak strips on the inside of the spline.
Here is the cork going down, I'm using white glue and a lot of clamps. I picked up the clamps for a dollar apiece at a lumber clearing house
Here is a shot of my fascia board; it's going to be faux finished in rusty steel when the time comes. The inspiration for this fascia came from Tim Warris' CNJ Bronx Terminal.
Another shot of the fascia coming into the valley that I plan to make the focal point of the R.R.
Here is a shot of the C&S (Circular & Simple R.R.) in its entirety. The brackets for the backdrop are not going to be used and have already been removed. The entire railroad breaks down into 12 pieces and the benches break down into an additional 5 pieces. So far the railroad is very light weight; I can move it around the room with ease. The scenery plan is to use lightweight materials as much as possible.
After almost 1 year of part time work I am ready to lay rail (Atlas code83) and send my Brill "test trolley" out on the main.
In case you are wondering why there are NO switches on the C&S; I spent 13 years on the NYS&W working the yards in Little Ferry, Binghamton, and points in between. It would be safe to say that switching cars is pretty much out of my system. The main purpose of the C&S is to develop my skills as a modeler and enjoy constructing all the scenic venues.
Michael sent us these photos and narrative of his 55n3 large "pizza" layout
