Model Forum / General / Railroads / June 2004

 dcrps@comcast.net (Darryl),
 In a message on Mon, 07 Jun 2004 21:55:34 GMT, wrote :

D> Greetings,
D>
D> I can nail and saw but I have no plans nor ideas on how to build a
D> train table. Or what extras are essential (e.g. a drawer?).

Welll..... A table is a table -- two saw horses and a sheet of plywood
does work -- crude by effective Otherwise, there are books available
(visit http://www.kalmbach.com/ for a complete list, but you can start
with:

http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12241.html

OR

http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12175.html

You can either order these books on-line directly from Kalmbach or get
them at your local hobby store.

D>
D> My wife has allowed a space of 11 x 13 feet of which to work. Please
D> recommend at will.

You probably *don't* want to have a 11 x 13 feet table.  What you want
is an 'around the room' type layout (an open rectangle with a 'duck
under').  Or something like a capital C shaped layout, with yards or
reversing loops at the ends of the C.  The benchwork should be narrow
enough to allow reaching across it.  Maybe 2' if only one side is
accessible, 4' if both sides are accessible.

D>
D> Greatly appreciated,
D>
D> Darryl and children
D>                          

                                    \/
Robert Heller                        ||InterNet:   heller@cs.umass.edu
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller  ||            heller@deepsoft.com
http://www.deepsoft.com              /\FidoNet:    1:321/153

                                                                   

Darryl and Children wrote:
I can nail and saw but I have no plans nor ideas on how to build a train
table. Or what extras are essential (e.g. a drawer?). My wife has
allowed a space of 11 x 13 feet of which to work. Please recommend at
will.
-----------------------------------------------------
Here's how I built all of my train tables:

http://www.billsrailroad.net/bills-ballasting#table

Bill
Bill's Railroad Empire
N Scale Model Railroad:
http://www.billsrailroad.net
Brief History of N Scale:
http://www.billsrailroad.net/history/n-scale
Resources: Links to over 700 helpful sites:
http://www.billsrailroad.net/bills-favorite-links
Bookstore: http://www.billsrailroad.net/bookstore.html

Go to your nearest hobbyshop and buy one of the books on the basics of
model railroading. It will answer the above question, plus a whole lot
more that you don't yet know you need to ask. You could also google on
"model railroad benchwork," but a printed book is handier - for one
thing, you can read it anywhere. For anotherm by the time you;'ve
printed out all the info online, you've spent more money than for the
book.  NB that in N. America we build benchwork, not train tables.
You'll find out why when you study the information.:-)

BTW, don't put a layout in the middle of that 11'x13' sopace. You will
waste a lot of space around it. Build a doughnut shaped layout instead.

Have fun!