D&RGW's Tennessee Pass: March 2015

Friday, March 27, 2015

Rail work and a surprise

The rail crew managed to lay both the main and siding through Malta Yard today. Their day ended shortly after lunch though when they ran out of switches.

Not to long after the rail crew packed up and left, this rail fan was surprised by the first Westbound on the line. With more than ample power (SD40T-2 5405, SP SD40T-2 8521, SD50 5504) for this abbreviated auto-rack train I barely had enough time to snap these pictures before the train was out of site and in run 8 to the summit at Tennessee Pass.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Monday, March 23, 2015

Slathering some paint

March 20, 2015

The homasote for Malta Yard is all painted. This is as far as the plywood and homasote will go. From here sub road bed will be spline.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Homasote and Malta Yard

March 18, 2015

Laying out the foundation for the staging yard

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

And here is the start to the Main Deck. This is the location of Malta Yard.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Fast Tracks print outs glued to some heavy cardboard. These make great tools for helping visualize.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Friday, March 20, 2015

Benchwork progress continues

March 15, 2015

The bench work for the staging level is continued around the walls. As soon as the trains will exit the yard they will gain elevation until they reach the area in front of the stairs and "enter" the layout at the Malta yard.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

The bench work is only 12" wide. All that will be supported is the risers to increase elevation out of staging and then the Main Deck bench work in the areas where the staging enters since the Main Deck would interfere.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Metal benchwork

January 2015
I chose metal studs for a few reasons

Weight. Metal stud work weighs next to nothing compared to wood.
Stability. Metal studs won't warp or twist which makes squaring everything a dream.
Clean up. There practically is no clean up. Everything is easily cut with tin snips and then bent repeatedly to separate the piece. No power tools needed, no saw dust created, no mess to clean up!

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

This is how I'm cantilevering the bench work off the walls. While at this point the bench work is quite flimsy, once it's tied together with more track it becomes very solid and able to support quite a bit of weight.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Tying it all together. This is what strengthens the structure. This will also serve to attach the fascia to when the time comes.

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The next three shots show the progression of the staging yard bench work.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

Room prep

December 2014
The first order of business was painting the ceiling to help abate dust coming through the ceiling and make it disappear. At this point I've also dry-locked the basement walls.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass

And so it starts...

December 2013

The start. The basement is L-shape and roughly 40' x 26'. Here she is on the day we moved in.

From D&RGW's Tennessee Pass