The DMV a$$hat brigade descended on Friday and I now have fully functional benchwork with a layout mounted on top.
It all started with a trip to Lowes for a bunch of lumber. I'm glad I've got friends with pickups, because this would NOT have fit in my 3.
Before we got to work, though, there was a brief photo session on the shelf.
Dave Foxx's Fox Valley GP60M. Damn this thing was hot.
And Russ's CR sand train. This was actually the first thing to run on it since I've sceniced the section of.
With a cutlist in hand, I called out pieces to KCS Phil who breezed through turning big ones into little ones.
While John made sure my porch didn't escape:
And my dog gave zero f***s about the goings on:
After the cuts were made and some of the benchwork was laid out, we took a break, since railroads, like armys, move on their stomachs.
Damian "helping" some more:
All joking aside, Phil and John were awesome at getting ***** done. Here they are bracing up the central box from which everything else hangs.
And admiring their work:
Coming together now.
And only a few minutes later it was all up on its feet.
The next stop was fitting the old layout to the top via risers. Here John has been trapped while we put in cross-members to support the risers.
And when all was said and done:
The cross member and riser system:
And for some flavor of the future, a CR MP15 pulled up to the yard office.
The next steps are:
1. Getting the trackwork all back in place
2. Rigging the electrical back up
3. Repairing the various turnout linkages to get them working
4. Build the rest of the layout.
Thanks again to the whole gang who came out, I couldn't have done it without your able assistance.
