The Granite State Industrial HO Switching Layout

Jim Wiggin Sep 30, 2022

  1. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I know these build or "blog" threads are not as much in vogue as they were 20 years ago or so but I'm not much of a Facebook guy and I like to blog or post my work in a traditional manner so here we go.

    As most of you may or may not know, I am currently the Brand Manager of Athearn Trains and part of my job is to perform live feeds as well as social media and YouTube content. You would think all of this would translate in having a grand layout filled with many Athearn Genesis locomotives and rolling stock and a prototypical layout. You would be wrong.

    I technically live in the great state of New Hampshire, however I rent an old, very old farmhouse in Central Illinois. The rent is super cheap so it's better than living in a hotel when in Illinois. Because Athearn is based in Champaign, I spend most of my time in central Illinois. For the past year, I have been struggling to produce a layout that would allow me to easily set it up, take it to shows, take it outdoors for photo shoots and be used as a suitable back drop when producing my live feeds. After a lot of design work and thought, I finally came up with a solution and the purpose of this thread is to show the progress and maybe inspire a lot of you the way I have been inspired by many layouts on Trainboard. It may also light the fire for me to get this bloody thing from concept to reality!

    Starting point:
    2. Corner before.jpg

    This image shows what I have to work with. This corner, formally the location of my work bench, is ideal in that it allows the most natural light. I laid that vinyl flooring the first year of renting after the landlord's blessing and that helped but as you can see, the walls are the old lattice and plaster covered walls with a wallpaper that by all accounts was put up when Ford introduced the Thunderbird. That would be 1955 for you non-car guys. The landlord got rid of the knob and tube wiring but rather than run the electrical through the wall, he opted for the conduit as seen here. In short, it's not all bad as we never have to decorate for Halloween. If I owned the home, I would completely gut the house and bring the wiring, walls, plumbing, windows and more up to 21st century standards, however that is not something that is possible. So, what to do. My layout will be based on a Lance Midheim design, so I want to attach the layout to the wall using his and others method of using metal shelf brackets. I also need a better backdrop than what you see here. So, I took a page from Hollywood.

    3. Corner after.jpg
    After working on an L shaped HO layout that incorporated Lance's track plan and my wants, I built two 2X4 walls to standard housing construction to cover the ugly, then used this light driftwood wood paneling to finish the two walls. The hole you see in the corner is access to the outlet as I cannot change the basic structure of the house. This will not be seen once the layout is up and it will have a standard surge protector power strip plugged into it for convenance. Not seen here is the corner molding and the new ceiling panel that was installed before building the upper valance. This alone was a big improvement and I'm ready for the next phase of construction. This all took me one day to get the material and build what you see here. Big thanks to my father-in-law!

    More to come.
     
  2. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    With the walls done, I was ready to install the metal bracket system. I went ahead and purchased the dual row or wider shelving brackets for strength and 10-inch-long brackets for both the modules themselves and the upper vallance.

    4. Valance.jpg

    Here you can see the rails that hold the brackets and the 10-inch brackets. I built the upper valance frame from standard 1X3 pine, and it is just a simple box frame, two 16-inch wide by 48-inch-long panels connected by a corner piece. To ensure the valance frame was level, I cut down some hardwood to a width slightly smaller than the inside of the brackets. I cut this piece at an angle so it would seat properly in the aft section of the bracket, centered over the rear hole used for mounting the shelves. I hung the bracket in the desired location, then with a level, I marked the wood to trim it. Once that was done, I drilled a hole through the wood block and then could attach the valance with screws. I'm sorry I don't have any close ups of this as I just get into a groove and fail to document things but if you look carefully, you can see I'm adjusting the last section on the end. This worked well and I next installed the lighting.

    The lighting is from Menards and is under the cabinet LED lighting. I purchased two 48-inch strips and one 18-inch. This lighting worked well as it can be connected in a daisy chain and because it is slim in nature, can easily be hid when the front valance trim is applied. While bright, this will help me with photography as well as operations. I also have standard LED rope light in a more subtle warm tone and blue for simulated night operations.

    Up next, the valance fascia.
     
  3. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    With my walls and Vallance up, I turned my attention to the modules that will make up my small switching layout. Again, the track plan is based on a Lance Mindheim track plan from his book How To Build A Switching Layout. I have just designed a curve into it. The layout is made of three modules, two "standard" 16-inch wide by 48-inches long modules and one "Nonstandard" corner module with endplates of 16-inches wide and a length on one side at 21-inches and 14-inches on the other side. The modules are simple and are constructed of the following:
    • 3/4-inch endplates that measure 16-inches wide by 6-inches tall
    • 1/2-inch sides that measure 46.5 inches long by 4-inches tall.
    • 2X2 inch hardwood blocks cut four inches tall
    • 2-inch pink foam for the terrain
    • 1/4-inch fascia that measure 48-inches long by 6-inches tall.
    All wood is Baltic Birch that is cut with a table saw. There is virtually no waste as I build the legs from the left over 1/2-inch and 1/4-inch Birch. I started with the main assembly which is just the endplates and 1/2-inch sides. The hardwood blocks are cut 4-inches tall and allow more support into the corners of the module. I pilot drill on the endplate and sides and use a combination of wood glue and wood screws to secure each corner. With the main frame assembled it was time to consider legs. Even though the modules are attached to brackets at the layout, I still enjoy setting up at shows.

    More to come...
     
    dalebaker, BoxcabE50 and BNSF FAN like this.
  4. Jim Wiggin

    Jim Wiggin Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    It's been a bit but I have done some updates. If you ever watch Athearn's Train Tuesday you can see the module base is there, I just have not started track work yet.

    5. Modules.jpg
    Here are the two modules that will make up the bulk of the layout. All construction at this point was made with Baltic Birch which was still available at the time. I did substitute "Blonde Wood" for the 1/2-inch wood, but its properties seamed to work like Baltic Birch. The sides are 1/2-inch ply cut 4 inches high and cut 46.5 inches long. The middle cross member, also 1/2 inch thick is cut 4 inches high by 15.5 inches long. The end plates, made of 3/4-inch Baltic Birch are 6 inches tall and 16 inches wide. I used 2X2 dowel square stock for my corners in a similar manner as to how I build my NTrak modules, using yellow carpenters glue and #6 1.5-inch wood screws countersunk. Construction is relatively quick.

    2-inch foam will be cut and sandwiched in between the two endplates and rest on top of the 1/2-inch ply. Later, 1/4-inch Baltic ply cut 48 inches long and 6 inches wide will be used as the front and rear fascia. The Baltic Birch is easily sanded, stained and given a coat of poly which really makes the finished layout look finished. I have also found that the fascia holds up better this way in transport than standard painted hardboard which I have done in the past.
     

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