Just a brief update on the restoration progress of the train room and shop, the last report of 2022. The doors and cased opening have been installed, as well as baseboards and window trim. Only a bit of shoe mold needs installation once the flooring is down. I pre-painted all of this trim, so only have to fill and touch-up the nail holes.

I’ve contacted several cabinet shops about building the new cabinets for the shop area. Hopefully I’ll have some prices coming in soon. One of the shops told me upfront that they were booked through April of 2023 . . . hope not everyone is that busy!

I made a brief visit to a flooring store to look into my flooring options. I have the unique problem of having to install flooring under the 44 legs supporting the layout. I can remove a leg at a time to facilitate that, but it does limit the type of flooring I’ll be able to use. Since the concrete slab is still covered with the adhesive from the previous commercial carpet installation (something not easily removed), it appears that I’ll be limited to something like floating LVT flooring “planks”. That’s not really a bad option, with the biggest difficulty being how to roll out the under-mat that I’d want to use with it. But I’ll continue this research after the holidays.

In the meantime, I’ve done quite a number of small tasks. While small, all were necessary. The biggest was to complete the electrical installation, with all receptacles, switches and cover plates now installed. I’ve temporarily installed the lavatory on the new cabinet in the restroom so that I could run water through the piping. This turned out as a wise decision, as last Thursday we had a huge cold front come upon us, with temps getting down into the low 20s. The cold is expected to remain for at least four days . . . something we’re not used to in the deep south!

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll post more updates next year as the last of the restoration takes place. Then I’ll turn focus back to building the train layout itself! 🙂

I hope all of you have a Blessed Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

-Jack