Layout Progress Report #3 as of 01/10/2010

Well, it took a strong push last Thursday and Friday night, as well as most all day Saturday & Sunday to complete the basic benchwork for the lower level.  This has been a tiring couple of weeks to get this far but well worth it.  The one thing I miss about the old house in which my first Cahaba Southern was located is that the room was in the basement without carpet, so I was able to work on the woodwork in the room itself a bit at a time.  Here in this house the room is carpeted and off the downstairs den, so no major woodwork is possible in there.  All the heavy duty sawing and cutting has to be done in the garage, and in particular in my wife's parking spot.  Therefore, getting the woodwork knocked out without leaving the table-saw and miter-saw out (as well as my wife's car in the cold) for an extended period of time has been a priority.

Risers were cut from 1x3 poplar Thursday night and installed Friday night.

Saturday morning it was off to the Big Orange Retail Giant (BORG), i.e. Home Depot, to purchase some 1/2" BC 4-ply plywood as well as some some more screws.  I had the BORG staff cut the plywood into more manageable 2 foot wide sheets as well as cut them to appropriate length (still had to trim them by 1/4" once I got home).  Installing the 3 straight sections going clockwise from the left of the door took the rest of the day.

Saturday evening it was time to look at the helix area again to see if/how my plans would actually work.  I had to make some adjustments, the biggest being that there was not enough room for the helix supports with an 18" radius, so I had to decrease it to 17".   This would make my grade 2.34% with a 2.5" top-of-rail to top-of-rail rise, still below my goal of 2.5% maximum.  I also decided it was best to go back to the BORG and get another piece of plywood and build the helix base out of one piece of plywood instead of splicing some smaller pieces together as I had originally planned.  This will give a sturdier base of the helix, and will simplify the building of the helix support structure.  The 17" radius circle is shown on the helix base, and the hole was cut to a 14" radius.

So now the lower level base benchwork is complete,  the saws have been put up, sawdust has been swept up, and my wife's car is back in it's spot. Next it's time to start on laying out the cork roadbed and the track, as well as starting some of the wiring.  Once the lower level has it's track and wiring completed it will be time to build the helix, followed by the construction of the upper level benchwork.