Moving the layout
M
reconnecting track, on top.
ost who have tried it would agree that moving a largish layout is, at best, tricky business. Cutting, then repairing ballast and
scenery, the sheer weight of it all, is more work that it’s worth–at least for wooden L- girder benchwork with plywood and Homa- sote®
When it came time to move my garage-
filling layout, I only saved one particularly complicated section–covered with streets, sidewalks and building foundations–care- fully cutting it loose and unfastening it from below (which is why everything is fastened from below when building) and then pro- tecting the top with spacers and a covering of light and inexpensive luan plywood. This I secured with screws and big washers be- fore trusting it to the movers who wondered what this odd-shaped thing was. It arrived safe and sound and gave me a quick start to the new layout. The rest of the layout’s scenery-covered
top was cut up and trashed while all the wood benchwork was disassembled and given to a friend (the reason for using
forth. I often miss having a larger lay- out where I could run properly long trains, with a nice SP Mountain up front and a string of reefers or Harri- mans in back. But one of the reasons we moved up to the Northwest, and why the layout had to be smaller, was to get more land to garden on and we ended up with ten acres. It keeps me pretty busy (as do the grandchildren). The layout is still in a garage but
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
now it occupies only one wall. It used to fill nearly our entire two car garage. But the new garage is finished more like a studio, with insulation, skylight and even a wood stove, which make winter modeling cozy. But it is still a garage with table saws, chicken feed, chainsaws and the like and I have yet to figure out how to keep garage lay- outs dust-free, a problem with the last layout. There I laboriously used to vac-
screws). But first everything I could save was removed from the layout. And, it was surprisingly easy to fit everything into stur- dy moving boxes or the much tougher, often double-walled, legal and letter-size card- board file boxes.
A few tricks worth noting Pack little things inside bigger and cush- ion them with tissue or foam strips. Some of my models looked like those little Russian
dolls with models inside of models. Little parts were put in small boxes which were used to wedge models against a side so they would not move around. Many build- ings had delicate awnings or signs, some of which could be removed, but others had to be protected with blocks of wood glued to the sides of the boxes below the awnings or signage.
move around in the packing boxes and to leave an inch of
It’s very important that nothing “crush space” around
everything. When it is all carefully secured, fill the boxes with packing peanuts, but don’t pack it in too tight. Before taping the boxes up and slather- ing them with “Fragile!” stickers, shake the box gently and see if anything moves in- side. Jostling is what damages delicate models so you don’t want to hear any movement. If it sounds good shake a little harder until you’re satisfied nothing’s mov- ing around. I took several boxes of the most delicate models in the cars when we drove them up but the rest made it to Seattle with no damage, which is more than I can say for some of our furniture.–ROBERT SMAUS
uum it every few months. Here I sim- ply drape a super thin plastic drop cloth over it for the summer months, then uncover it and go back to work when the days get shorter in winter (better suggestions are welcome). I had to get rid of a lot of interesting cars though some are stored in train boxes and a few of my favorites are in a nice wall-mounted acrylic display case (from Carney Plastics). I wish I’d done
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