Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the start of construction on the Louisiana Central Railroad in 2012. Unfortunately 49 months later, construction came to a rapid and grinding halt with the Great Flood of 2016 that consumed the vast majority of my community and surrounding areas. In the aftermath, while my home was fully restored 15 months later, the building housing the railroad lie almost dormant, with only necessary work occurring to stabilize things. Add to that several “false starts”, where I did bits of work from time to time, primarily electrical, but mainly “cleaning up” the demolition to aid with the eventual reconstruction.
However about a year ago I finally started the reconstruction of the building in earnest, and it has come a long way since. It’s been awhile since I’ve posted an update, that being right after the new shop cabinets were installed. But with so many other tasks to complete, I didn’t start painting the cabinets until perhaps a month ago. Painting cabinets is a tedious and time consuming affair, with the initial sanding, then primer and finish coats of paint (inside and out). I’m happy to announce that the painting is complete, and offer the photos below as proof.
As I mentioned above, I plan to have plastic laminate installed over the counter-tops. I used that on the earlier cabinets, and it worked out very well, hence I’ll use it again. The only other things remaining in the shop are the baseboards and shoe mold. After that, I’ll start laying the flooring down in the train room itself. I’m going to use LVT “planks” of 9″ x 60″ in size. It will be a challenge with 55 legs supporting a layout in the way. But I have a plan, and I’ll report on that later (if the plan works 🙂 ) along with pics.
There have been many items and issues in the restoration that I haven’t documented. But for those interested, here’s a list of postings detailing the progress of the larger aspects of this restoration project completed thus far:
Rising From the Ashes
Rising From the Ashes (Part Deux)
The First Progress Report
Repairs Started in the Train Room
Recent Drywall Progress
Final Sheet of Drywall Hung!
Drywall Installation Completed
Walls Painted
Last Progress Report of 2022
Shop Cabinets Installed
-Jack
Come on floor
It can’t come too soon! I’m hoping to rip the lumber needed to construct the temporary layout support frames sometime this week (depending on Wayne’s availability).
-Jack
Hope A/C is big enough unit with the increase temps.
Do like those kind of drawers too.
Have only one on my layout.
Looking forward to the train running pic’s soon.
The A/C is doing nicely in the building. Temps have reached 100 degrees, but I’m comfortable at 74 in the building.
The cabinets essentially duplicate what I had before the flood. They worked out so well that I didn’t change a thing about them for this set.
-Jack