Green Mountain Railroad Layout Build

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GuilfordRailman said:
I already have the other squares you suggested so I’m good to go:)

Didn’t think about the beverage cooler!

I had a feeling I would need more but we’ll see how far I get lol.

The set I have is from Milwaukee. It hasn’t been used in a while so I think the batteries called it quits but if I can’t get a new set of batteries for it, I’ll check out the craftsman stuff.
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I had the old Craftsman 16V with dead/dying batteries. So a search told me that just buying one battery was almost the cost of getting the new 20V system that came with an extra battery. Don't know about Milwaukee though.

Later
 
ctclibby said:
I had the old Craftsman 16V with dead/dying batteries. So a search told me that just buying one battery was almost the cost of getting the new 20V system that came with an extra battery. Don't know about Milwaukee though.

Later
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It may end up being the case that I’ll need to purchase a new set but hopefully not 🤞
 
So I couldn’t find batteries for the drill that I had. I ended purchasing an impact/drill combo from Home Depot. I had a 15% off coupon so it was a bargain at the already discounted price.

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I will be picking up the lumber this coming week and I hope to begin construction next weekend.

On a different note, I had some wild ideas about two of the locomotives I own. For those who don’t know, I purchased a Vermont Railway GP9 with the torpedo tube air tanks from a fellow forum member. My original plan was to convert it to DCC and run it as the current railway that it is. However, the GMRC had a GP9 with these tanks back in the 90s, #1849. The GMRC also had a couple other GP9s as well with the standard setup, including #803. My plan was to convert both the Vermont Railway GP9 and my Northern Pacific GP9 into these two locomotives.

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I will definitely convert the VTR #751 locomotive into GMRC #1849 but I’m a little hesitant to take that beautiful Northern Pacific loco shell and change it into something else. I think I will purchase another used GP9 shell and convert that into GMRC #803.

Just some ideas here but I’ve definitely got plenty of projects planned which will keep me busy so it will be some time before these locomotives are completed anyways.
 


I purchased the lumber and screws today. Up until this project I’ve always bought my supplies at Home Depot. While some materials have been okay there, I’ve had problems with quality in the past. I decided to invest in great quality lumber from a local building supply center. What a difference!

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Everything except for the screws and bundle of 2 x 2s were purchased at the building supply center. I decided to get the bundle from Home Depot since the other place didn’t have any 2 x 2s. In addition to the dimensional lumber, I purchased two sheets of 1/2” birch plywood and four sheets of 1.5” foam insulation board.

I just need a few more supplies such as wood glue and adhesive for the foam board and I’ll be ready to build:)
 
GuilfordRailman said:
While some materials have been okay there, I’ve had problems with quality in the past. I decided to invest in great quality lumber from a local building supply center. What a difference!
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That looks like some good quality straight lumber!

Know what you mean about HD wood. I purchased all my plywood, and 1X4s from there. I did finally find enough fairly straight stuff to use, but I had to pick thru the entire stack. I also had a lot of time in doing that so probably no savings factoring that in.

Excited to watch you make sawdust! :D
 
migalyto said:
That looks like some good quality straight lumber!

Know what you mean about HD wood. I purchased all my plywood, and 1X4s from there. I did finally find enough fairly straight stuff to use, but I had to pick thru the entire stack. I also had a lot of time in doing that so probably no savings factoring that in.

Excited to watch you make sawdust! :D
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I will have to see how it is working with this stuff.

I’m excited too:)
 
I actually prefer Home Depot or Lowes to my local home supply place. I find I can get better quality wood at half the price and pick through it myself - inside - rather than having their hired lugs just grab from the top of the stack in their covered sheds.

I just bought a few sheets of hard board from Lowes for $12 something a sheet. At the local place, they were over $22 each! I'm all for supporting local, but, quite frankly, this place has never impressed me very much. When it comes to buying bulk hard woods for an upcoming project, though, I will DEFINATELY be going with a local supplier; just not that particular supplier.
 
KB02 said:
I actually prefer Home Depot or Lowes to my local home supply place. I find I can get better quality wood at half the price and pick through it myself - inside - rather than having their hired lugs just grab from the top of the stack in their covered sheds.

I just bought a few sheets of hard board from Lowes for $12 something a sheet. At the local place, they were over $22 each! I'm all for supporting local, but, quite frankly, this place has never impressed me very much. When it comes to buying bulk hard woods for an upcoming project, though, I will DEFINATELY be going with a local supplier; just not that particular supplier.
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The place I went to here in Western MA was a drive-through building supply warehouse. You select the materials yourself as you drive through and at the end they cut the lumber if you need them to. Pretty nice place!

I guess Home Depot stores are not equal across the board (no pun intended) lol because I have two within 30 minutes of me and over the years the quality has been pretty poor on much of the material available. Although, the bundle of 2 x 2s I purchased weren’t horrible, only one out of the nine in the bundle didn’t make the cut (pun definitely intended).
 
GuilfordRailman said:
The place I went to here in Western MA was a drive-through building supply warehouse. You select the materials yourself as you drive through and at the end they cut the lumber if you need them to. Pretty nice place!

I guess Home Depot stores are not equal across the board (no pun intended) lol because I have two within 30 minutes of me and over the years the quality has been pretty poor on much of the material available. Although, the bundle of 2 x 2s I purchased weren’t horrible, only one out of the nine in the bundle didn’t make the cut (pun definitely intended).
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I got what I paid for at HD. Nothing is perfectly straight or pretty, but it's functional. If I was building a public display layout I would definitely go quality and buy once, cry once.
 


GuilfordRailman said:
I’m hoping my local HD steps up their game because my wallet and I weren’t thrilled with the costs this time around lol.
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Good wood is hard to find no matter what. A lot is being used because of constant building projects across the country. After this fire debacle in LA, i'm sure prices especially out west will go through the roof. As a truck driver i'm appauled how much wood is being thrown away by warehouses, single use skids and bracing is a horrible waste of material.
 
KriegslokBR52 said:
Good wood is hard to find no matter what. A lot is being used because of constant building projects across the country. After this fire debacle in LA, i'm sure prices especially out west will go through the roof. As a truck driver i'm appauled how much wood is being thrown away by warehouses, single use skids and bracing is a horrible waste of material.
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Very true! I drove tractor trailers for 7 years up until last year. Hauled lumber a lot and you are quite right! All that bracing, and temp skids does use a lot of material.

I was also amazed at the amount of food waste. I remember I had several rejected pallets of food on a load because of a few drops of water that landed on the boxes containing the items. The boxes and packaging for the actual food items inside weren’t damaged or wet at all. Such a waste!
 
Rico said:
Not meaning to hijack the thread but I still laugh about the time I met a trucker from Georgia who was hauling drywall to Canada when I was hauling drywall to the south!
Remind me again just why $hit is so expensive? 😂
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Yepper, it seems we are just hauling stuff from one warehouse to another...while other companies are hauling it back. Reminds me of what the Good Book says about man just playing under the sun😆; Ecclesiastis.
 
I spent some time this weekend making the initial cuts on the lumber.

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I also took some time to drill 1” holes into the 1 x 3 cross members to provide a channel for the wires.

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However, I utilized a spade bit for the first time today and while I did do research on how to use one, I am still getting some slight splintering on either side of the wood. Any ideas?

The last thing I did today was create a mockup with leftover scrap material of what each module joint will look like. I wanted to create one so that I could verify my idea for the module joints would work.

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The angled section of 1 x 4 on the bottom will serve as the location for one or two carriage bolts to be fed through, allowing each module to be held together.

During the week, i’m going to work on getting some of the rough spots cleaned up on the 1” drilled holes. After that, I’ll begin some of the benchwork construction.
 


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