Alcove expasion Part 2: Benchwork

My last post to this blog showed the removal of existing benchwork from the alcove area in preparation for installation of the new expanded layout. In this post I'll share the construction of the benchwork. Some of you may wonder why with such narrow benchwork that I just didn't attach a "shelf" style construction to the walls. The answer is two fold: 1.) The left wall is 1/2" drywall attached to 1 X 4's that are attached to the concrete wall with "shot" in concrete nails and I don't trust their holding power for anything other than drywall; and 2.) I don't like to attach benchwork directly to walls just in case I have to move from this house. The blue tape on the floor is denotes the aisle, which is 36" wide

All of the benchwork is L girder style with 1 x 3's glued and screwed on top of 1 x 4's. I would have preferred to use 3/4" plywood ripped for the pieces; however, I don't have the equipment to do the ripping. The section below is 6 ft long by 2 ft wide by 42" high at the highest point. The legs are 2 x 2's with 1 x 2's as braces attached to 5/8" plywood plates. All of the benchwork legs have 1/4" carriage bolts in "T" nuts at the bottom to allow for adjustment.

The section on the left side is the same basic construction and it 10 ft long by 17" wide by 42" high. I did use 2 x 3's for the legs here since they had a bunch of them in the "scrap" bin at the big box store for a cheap price. Since I was using 8 ft long lumber, you will note the splice where I added a 2 ft length. The splice is made up of a "sandwich" of 1 x 4's glued & screwed to the two pieces. Since the legs (which are 2 x 3's) are only 12" apart, I just used horizontal 1 x 4's at the bottom instead of diagonial braces.

The section on the right is 11-1/2 ft long. I had to splice a 3-1/2 ft long section on to the 8 ft L girders. Once I had the two long sections (left and right) of benchwork completed I wasn't happy with the lack of ridigity at mid point, so I added a 2 x 4 cross brace and a 2 x 4 leg.

The next steps will include leveling all of the benchwork and then attaching everything to the floor with angle brackets and anchors. Once everything is secure, I'll start adding the joists. Stay turned for more.

Alcove expansion Part 1: demo

I recently extended my alcove area by adding 7ft in depth and have been putting off removing the existing track because .....well, because then I can't run my railroad! I needed to salvage the benchwork and track for reuse outside my trainroom once the alcove new benchwork and trackwork is installed and running through the wall.

Today I took the leap and got the job done - now I need to hurry to get the railroad operating again!

Here's the loop that needs to be removed in such a manner that it can be reused

It shouldn't be painful just to cut a couple of wires, right? Here I'm cutting the main feeder wires to the loop.


After one of my Athern F7 sound locos decided to leap the track and smash into the concrete I had installed these clear plastic retainer barriers. I'm cutting them here to get access to cut the track and roadbed.


Sorry for the fuzzy photo - it's hard to take a picture while using the Dremel. The track is cut using one of the reinforced cut off disks. I like them much better than the un-reinforced disks as they don't break and fly apart.

I used a hand saw to cut through the first section of the loop. There's no turning back now!

And now the other part of the loop.

C-clamps were attached to a riser in each corner to hold the track and roadbed up when the screws that attached the risers to the joists are removed. All risers were marked to know where they should be once the unit is re-assembled.

Next I removed all of the screws holding the risers to the joists. Once this was done, the only thing holding the roadbed and track up on the benchwork are the four C-clamps sitting on the joists.

Here's a picture of the "moving brace" that was installed.

The track & roadbed are tilted forward and ready to move on out!

Say goodbye to the trainroom! I'm just glad that I never landscaped the loop.

Here's the loop benchwork with the track & roadbed removed. Since it's such a tight fit, I've decided to cut it in half (ouch!) so that I can remove it from the room.

First I'll removed the screws holding the angle braces to the legs. I'm a firm believer of firm benchwork; that is, always secure the legs to the floor so that accidental bumping doesn't cause a problem.

Here I'm removing the screws from the bottom of the cross braces. Boy, am I glad I didn't glue these!

I left the top of the braces screwed to the reinforcement / connection plate. I'm removing the plate here that connects the braces to the L-girder.

With the braces removed it's time to get my Skill saw!

Wait a minute......if I just cut the L-girders without some type of other support, won't the whole thing come crashing down? I added a temporary 3/4" plywood sheet on top of the joists and screwed it down securely to hold this thing together once cut. There aren't any pictures of me doing the actual cutting since I wanted to keep all of my fingers!

Here's the "after" shot when the deed was done and the plywood brace removed. Now's it just a matter of carrying out and cleaning up!

Opps! I almost forgot the most important part - rail stops to keep the locos from running off the track ends. I will still be running a track cleaning car back and forth during the re-constructions and I don't want any more locos on the concrete. It may not be prototypical, but it works. Bubble wrap (for a soft impact) backed up by push pins for that certain stop.

Man, it's just SCREEMING for some benchwork and track!!! The plan will be an "around the wall" with a center aisle and then through the wall to the right just before the door. What's on the other side of the wall? - the expansion area. The loop will be re-assembled and temporarly provide the return back into the room.

Details, details! When I removed the leg angle brackets from the floor that where secured by "shot in" nails it left a couple of holes that will need to be patched, painted and patterned. They will be hidden by benchwork, but I'm still going to repair them because if I didn't, it would bug me!
The whole process of removing the loop from the alcove took me about 2-1/2 hours. I'm glad that it's over, but now I've got to re-assemble the loop outside of the room and get busy in that alcove!

I recently had an article published on the AroundAbout Cumming website about the Richlawn Railroad and model railroading as a hobby. It's possible that the article will also be published in print in their monthly magazine that is distributed via mail and available at a number of retail outlets. You can check the article out at: http://www.aroundaboutcumming.com/lifestyle/from-boats-to-trains/