For all of you who thought I couldn’t get any nerdier and didn’t know of this hobby, I guess I’m about to get nerdier (in your books, at least).

Over the last couple of months my dreams of creating a layout of some description have started to take shape – from expanding my rolling stock collection to buying track. Tonight the benchwork was laid – somewhat literally. I bought a 4’x4′ piece of plywood, and marked it up for cutting and made the first cut. I also began the mental planning for the surrounding benchwork to hold it up.

The plan is for two 5′ sections bolted together to form a 10′ long by 18″ deep shelf layout. A modified version of Atlas’ Southside Connecting layout (see here) is the trackplan – I’ll be using #4 switches instead of #6’s, I’ll also be replacing the turntable with a turnout. I need to start laying the track before I buy any diamond crossings – lest I buy the wrong angle. Although mostly using set-track as laid-out in the plan, I’ll be replacing sections with flex also.

Because I’m still too poor for DCC, I’m intending to wire the layout for two DC controllers (although it’ll also be just one controller for now). Further, I plan to wire for electric switches – whether they get used up front or not remains to be seen.

I have some ideas for scenery, I’d like to have a chicken-wire style fence with an opening gate (slow-action point motor is most likely, maybe something more custom) and a road crossing in my bustling industrial area. I’m thinking a container terminal would give purpose to my husky stack cars, an oil refinery almost seems to cliche for my tank cars, a warehouse holds an obvious purpose for box cars, perhaps a grain silo for my covered hoppers. I also have some open hoppers which could see some form of purpose, and some passenger cars which most likely won’t run on the layout (except for a push up and down to make sure they roll acceptably).

The ends of my run-arounds will need to be big enough for my long 6-axle locos – prototypically used as switch locos in my area. I’ll also then be able to run the small switch locos back to back or almost any other number of switching possibilities.

Still to be thought about is the placement of uncoupling magnets. I also haven’t decided on how I’m going to do backboards (or even if I’m going to do backboards). In terms of connecting the two sections together I’m probably going to do the traditional bolts, but I’m also working on a reliable way to ensure accurate lining up every time. I don’t want to deal with D-sub connectors, but 24-pin ATX plugs may work. The biggest flaw will be the number of sections I need to switch on and off as well as the number of switches I need to cater for. Also, I need to work on legs, and I have an idea for a case which all the parts will slide into securely for transportation and storage.

So to sum up, once again, I have all the engines and probably rolling stock I need, I also have most, if not all, of the track that I need, and I’ve finally started working on the benchwork. The next steps are to finish putting the lumber together to form a solid table that can join and separate reliably, and then finalize the track plan based on the finished benches.