I need to be thinking about putting up parts of the fascia around the layout.  The fascia will be much more than just a nice piece of trim on the layout’s edge.  It will be supporting the various control panels, throttle plug-ins, beverage holders and various appurtenances as I may think of in the future.

But I can’t reasonably start any type of train operation until I get at least a few panels installed and a hand full of the throttle plug-ins.  Thus, I need some fascia.

The fascia will average 8″ in height, the top undulating to match the terrain and elevation at any given location…pretty standard fare.  I plan to use Masonite hardboard for the fascia, and have been thinking of laminating two 1/8″ thick panels together.  My reasons for this two-ply configuration are twofold: I think working 1/8″ material around a tight radius will be much easier than using 1/4″, and the two plies should give me the rigidity of a single 1/4″ panel.

My general plan is to screw the first panel to support blocking on the benchwork.  Then I’ll come back and glue the second panel to the first using yellow carpenter’s glue.  Clamping the panels together until the glue sets is a bit problematic.  I’ll be able to clamp along the bottom of the fascia, but will probably have to use some screws along the top to clamp that.  The downside to that would be having to remove the screws and fill all those holes afterwards if I wish to keep the fascia “clean”.

I’d love to hear from you folks out there if you have other ideas or suggestions as to how I might accomplish this task.  It would be good having alternatives to think about.  Any thoughts would be welcome, everything from materials to methods.

-Jack

One can now sneak into Monterey via a subterranean entrance.  I completed the lift-up section this weekend.  Now I’ve got reasonable access back to the tail track of the wye and the surrounding area.

Above: Here’s the lift-up in the closed position.  The seams are very tight (merely the thickness of a jigsaw blade).  The wye will be to the right of the lift-up.

Below: And here’s the view of the lift-up in the raised position.  The center cross brace is about 3″ above my head.  I can comfortably reach the corner over to the right now.

The drawer slides I used have release latches in them and it’s easy to lift the hatch and support legs completely out of the hole.  After setting the assembly aside, the area all around the hole is completely unobstructed.  I also can then stand on a stool if need be to enable an even further reach into the corner and to get my tired old eyes closer to the work.  That might be useful when scenery work begins.  There are a few more photos you can view here on the main website.

The lift-up works quite well, is easy to operate, and I’m very pleased with it.

-Jack

I’m getting close to the point of needing the bridge across the doorway into the train room.  Originally I had planned to use a swing gate for this purpose.  Indeed, the track plan still indicates this as the intention.  However, I decided quite some time ago that a swing gate wouldn’t be ideal in this particular installation (read about that here).  If you took time to read the original post, then skip the next couple paragraphs, otherwise let me explain further.

One of the key scenic features that I’ve planned for the layout is a long, low trestle crossing a semi-swampy waterway…something quite common in south Louisiana.  In the early days of fiddling with the track plan, I decided that the only proper place for this would be near the town of Monterey, the western terminus of the railroad.  Monterey is located near the Mississippi River in a low-lying area just south of the Angola State Penitentiary.  As such, I decided that the minimum benchwork width for this needed to be 12″ so that at least a semblance of a waterway could be modeled.  The final location of this area ended up right in front of the entrance into the train room.

A (swing) lift-up wouldn’t work here as the benchwork is angled across the entry, and when swinging the section up, it would crash into the lighting valence already in place.  Hence, the swing gate was decided on.  But there are problems with that.  When I started studying the needed design in detail, it became apparent that it wouldn’t be practical to build something that, when open, would rest up tight to the benchwork, allowing a reasonable passage in the aisle way.  The combination of the 12″ width and the required hinge location point make this infeasible (look at the track plan on the website to see what I’m talking about).

So next, I decided that a swing down bridge might work.  Some preliminary drawings I sketched show something that would probably work pretty well.  The plan is to hinge it from a point several inches behind the joint, and have the bridge section swing down into a “box”.  This box would protect the section while down.  I likely could even come up with something to make it easier to lift such as one of those gas pressurized struts similar to those commonly used in the automotive industry.

This is my most likely candidate.

One other concept I’m revisiting is a lift-up section that would have the entire bridging section lift rather than swing (a vertical lift bridge).  I would use telescoping drawer slides at each end for this to work.  I think the actual bridge design and construction would be rather simple.  I was originally concerned about overhead clearance, but that may not be an issue after all.  However I’m concerned about the final weight of the section.  I suspect that some sort of counterweight system would have to be employed so that the bridge would raise easily, preferably using a single hand.  That makes the design considerably more complicated, though not insurmountable.

I am doing further research on that concept presently.

Once I have a decision, I’ll probably get started with the bridge.  The benchwork at Monterey is well along, but it will be pointless to spend energy and time putting in track until the bridge is in place, as you can’t leave town without it.

Write if you have ideas or comments.

-Jack