Layout (room) tour, with lots of photos...

[doctorwayne]

It's time, I think, to bring this thread up to date a bit. Some of the photos have been seen elsewhere, but this will put them all in the same place.
The second level has been put in place and is operational, although there's no scenery, not much in the way of structures, and very little industry to support actual "operations". Trains, however, can be run to the north staging yards.
I didn't take photos during construction, although there are a few which may explain how things were done.
The framework is open grid, built in 8'-10' sections using 1"x4" pine for the front (aisle-side) and end members, and 1"x2" for the rear and intermediate members. The top is 5/8" t&g flooring plywood. These sections are screw-fastened to the wall studs and supported by 1½" welded angle iron brackets, lag-bolted to the wall studs. The section at the end of the aisle in the first photo is about 38" deep and just under 9' wide, and, as I discovered when brush painting the rails, will support my weight. I learned this when I realised that the only way to reach that area was by lying atop the layout - luckily, I'm not too heavy.



The rest of the upper level is under 32" in depth, and easily reachable from a two-step stepstool.

The deep upper fascia is to hide the lighting fixtures slung beneath the upper level, and while it limits viewing of the lower level when standing, operations there are done from a rolling office chair. This affords a good view while not blinding the operator. The upper level can be operated while standing, although some locales may require use of the stepstool for manual uncoupling or the throwing of some turnouts.
Here's the area between Lowbanks and Port Maitland....



...GERN Industries at Port Maitland...



...and Elfrida....



The staging area for the TH&B interchange, on the lowest level, has been expanded to two tracks and the track arrangement at Dunnville has been altered somewhat for better train access:



Here's the upper level staging, as seen from near the layout room's entrance...



...and from the opposite direction...



...and an over-all view of four of the five staging areas. The fifth will be a two-track interchange representing CNR's Leetown Sub, and will be located in another room:



The dual lift-outs for staging yard and room access:



This view of the lower level, taken from near the room's entrance, shows two of the support brackets. The nearest, like all but one of the others, is a simple inverted "L", with the shorter base bolted to the wall stud and the other portion sized to suit the layout width.
The other support is similar, but has two projections at 90° to each other, both of which can be seen near the distant light fixture. The upright, about 2' long, is bolted the wall studs at the room corner, with the open face of the angle against the wall, one side on each intersecting wall-face. All but the top of it is hidden by the bulged Masonite backdrop:



Here's that corner before the second level was in place:



The presence of the upper level can limit lower level photo opportunities, especially for over-all views...





...but careful composition can overcome such limitations:



As mentioned earlier, there's not much, other than track and a few temporarily-place structures, on the upper level, along with lots of construction stuff. Here's a view from Park Head, the first town on the northern extension, looking down the grade which winds around the peninsula shown in the room plan on page one of this thread:



The future site of Park Head, looking north (this area begins above the tunnel entrance at Elfrida on the lower level, and will extend almost to the end of the aisle):



Here's the scene of the track-painting incident, fortunately without the painter in sight ....



Here's the Mount Forest station (located above Lowbanks on the room diagram...the town will extend around the room's corner and above all of Port Maitland on the lower level:



Industry construction has only just started in Mount Forest, and will, unfortunately, be rather limited due to space constraints. I envision probably only five modelled rail-served industries, while others will have to be represented by the staging tracks. Luckily, the number and variety there is unlimited.



Here's a view looking south:



...and around the corner, the future home of Tuckett Tobacco:



Beyond Tuckett's, and looking north, site of a future team track and freighthouse:



This area will also be home to a loco servicing facility:



...including an as-yet-to-be-built ash dump:



...and, of course, a roundhouse and turntable (both of which have seen little progress lately) ):



...and finally, for now at least, an over-all view looking south from Mount Forest's southern limits. The train at upper right is on CNR's Leetown Sub, having recently exited the distant hole in the wall leading from my workshop:



I hope that you've found the extended layout tour to be of interest. I'll continue to add to it as progress allows.


Wayne