The Persistence of Memory

This is turning into a weird obsession.

Many years ago I was going to build a layout using the old Portage Hill & Communipaw track plan. It was one of 4 projects in a Kalmbach book called Popular Model Railroads You Can Build.

Some rather major personal changes in my life put that project on hold. Although I had built the benchwork and covered it with Homasote, I never laid any track or put up any scenery.

By the time, a year ago, I decided to buckle down and get going again on a layout, I had concluded that one would not work in the basement space I've got. Instead I turned my attention to other plans, ultimately arriving at the one I'm working on now.

But I've retained a fondness for the PH&C track plan, which I got to know quite well after years of studying it.

Now here's the weird part.

I am absolutely convinced that somewhere in the last couple of years I've seen a plan, or at least part of a plan, that at least started with the PH&C design. I can see it, or something close to it, in my mind's eye.

I'm also pretty sure that the context was not a lengthy article focused on this layout, whatever it was called. My memory is that it was more likely in a group of layouts, such as a track plan collection. It also was not billed as the PH&C, and whatever textual materials I saw surrounding it made no mention of the PH&C. But I knew that track plan in its key details and I had no doubt as to its origins.

So where did I see it?

A couple of years ago I got MR's special issue, 102 Realistic Track Plans -- a great compilation of plans they had published over the last decade or so. I also have been a regular browser of the magazine's track plan database and downloaded bunches that appealed to me.

So when this recollection of seeing this PH&C-influenced plan surfaced in my mind, I combed through 102 Realistic Track Plans, I looked at every single one of the plans in the MR online database, and I've been paging through every MR in my bookshelves.

Nothing.

The other part I've been wondering about is whether perhaps it was just a snippet of an image -- albeit a completely recognizable one to me -- that was in an ad, say for track planning software or something.

Again, nothing that I can find. So far.

But then another nagging feeling grabs at me. Could I have just dreamt the whole thing? After all, I've been perusing lots of track plans lately. Even though I now know my plan for my layout, I've been poring over others, not so much second-guessing as soaking up more inspiration to influence perhaps some tiny details here and there in my layout.

So did one night I dream of looking over one of these magazines and seeing the PH&C-influenced plan, or image, that is now such a powerful memory?

I really don't need to keep obsessing about this, but I can't seem to help it. And it's driving me slightly nuts :-)...


So if anyone out there reads this and can tell me where I might have seen the image I describe, please -- help me figure it out.

Overthinking, Redux

I think I'm back to the notion of retractable casters.

I've been looking at the caster-mounted sections each day as I walk to and from my basement office. The more I think about the places they're uneven, the more I want to go back to using the screw-in levelers that I originally planned for.

In order to do that, I'd have to remove the casters from their current positions on the bottoms of the legs and instead make assemblies that would enable them to be retractable. I've been working out in my head how I'd do that, and I think I've got it pretty well figured out. The only investment I'd need would be some more 1/2-inch thick plywood (a 24-inch-square panel should do it) and 8 small hinges. I think I could use some of the leftover 1 x 2 furring that I have for another part of the assembly. And I'd re-use the casters.

Making things even

Well, after more cogitating, I've decided that the path of least resistance is to put temporary shims under the casters that need them whenever my layout sections are attached to each other and in use.

The steps will be these:

First, I'll line up the sections as they are to be arranged for operation. I'll get them lined up as perfectly as possible, and the tops level with each other by putting shims under the casters of the units that are lower than the others.

Once lined up and leveled, I'll clamp them, then drill holes to line up the sections with bolts. I'll probably use wingnuts, although I'd love it if I could find some kind of quick-release bolts.

I'll mark the shims that I use as precisely as I can, because when setting up to use the layout I'll want to first put the shims in place, then do the bolting, so that sections aren't "hanging off" of each other because they aren't quite level at the ground.

As my buddy Keith pointed out the other day, once the plan is worked out, I'll probably be focusing on one section at a time. The only time I'll need to have them hooked together while building is for working out transitions from section to section, either in track or scenery.

For the track itself, I'm considering two approaches:

#1 would be to lay track across the sections, then very carefully saw it apart at the gap. Biggest downside there is that the track will often cross the gaps at an angle, which means the ties would be cut across at an angle.

#2 would be, at least where there is an angle across the layout section gap, to leave room for about a 3-inch filler piece of track. In the end I'll probably use both methods depending on the individual situation.

So the next steps are these:

* Determine if there's a quick-release connecting mechanism that would be an alternative to bolts and wingnuts.

* Then enlist a friend to help me with the leveling/connecting task, probably about an hour's worth of work...

Some pictures

Here are a few pictures of the benchwork.


First, the 4 sections arrayed as they will be for the layout when it is in operation:

Then, arrayed as they would be for "storage" between sessions of work/operation on the layout:

Finally, a look at how I did the lower side rails, which are used instead of crossbraces to add rigidity and stability to each section:

I do have one concern: the tops are not all perfectly even. If I had used levelers, as I originally intended, this would not be a problem. But since I'm using casters, by necessity, I'm not sure how to deal with the slight variations in height from section to section...

The wheels on the bus layout sections go 'round and 'round

Well, finished at last.

Over the weekend, I put horizontal rails in place, using 1 x 2 furring, to connect and stabilize the H-leg assemblies on each section. This was instead of doing cross braces between the assemblies (which the Jim Hediger plywood frame system calls for to be made from 1-1/4 x 1/4 inch moulding). I was very pleased with how that worked out. The rails will in turn support shelves to be put in at some time later.

Then I put casters on all 4 sections. After all my dithering about trying to create retractable caster assemblies of some kind, it was the simplest and easiest outcome. Now they all roll fairly easily. I've arrayed them as they would be set up when the layout is in operation, then rolled the two sections into the position they would be in when "stored."

There's still some stuff in the way in the basement room that needs to be cleared out of the way. Then I can FINALLY start planning out the track plan in full size.

I have one small concern -- one section seems about a quarter inch higher than the rest. Since I don't have levelers now I don't know how I'll deal with that. One option might be to remove the casters on that one unit, and put levelers back on it -- in which case I might use carriage bolts so I can extend them by several inches. Or I might simply smooth out the space between it and the other sections once I have the foam installed on the top surface in order to lay track.

But at long last I do have the benchwork finished. Now I can move on to my next task...