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Benchwork Construction (October 7th-16th)
The layout has already been under construction for 4 months, so the first posts will be making up lost time.
The first month (October 2025) started out with Benchwork construction. Lots of time on my hands, an affinity for working with tools, and ADHD-fueled hyper fixation allowed me to complete this task in just 9 days, start to finish (though there was only about 5 days of actual work). I am building this layout in 2 halves due to cost constraints. The first half will consist mainly of the yard. Because there is a good chance I will be moving houses soon, both halves of the layout will be constructed in panels to be semi-portable (in other words, I will be able to move it out of the current house if the need arises).
Benchwork construction ran from October 7th to October 16th. October 7th, I put up the 4 main supports for the 2 largest panels of the layout. I used 2x4s, arranged in an L-shape with a diagonal support in the middle. They were screwed directly into the wall. October 8th, I built the framework for the northeast panel. This panel will feature the turntable, roundhouse, and diesel shop. I October 9th, I built the framework for the second panel, which will feature the train station. Also on October 9th, I built the 3rd panel, which is much smaller than the first 2. The panels are constructed using 1x4s, arranged using the 16-on-center standard. 1/2″ plywood forms the tabletop, and 1″ extruded polystyrene insulation foam covers the plwyood.
It wasn’t until October 13th & 14th that I got the plywood cut and secured to the framework. The next 2 days were spent cutting and gluing the foam board to the benchwork. I used a hot-wire knife to cut the foam, which I actually ended up breaking during this process. I used Liquid Nails for Projects to glue the foam to the tabletop, but unfortunately neglected to spread it out. This caused random spots where the foam bulges up, and I had to try to remedy some of that for track work.
