The Teardown and Rebuilt of the Whistle Stop RR AND the Train Room its in

[KB02]

Before:

Currently (mid April, 2023) :

The Future:

The time has come for my first teardown and rebuild of my layout. I have grown somewhat dissatisfied with the current status of my layout and can't really find a way to correct the "Flaws" I see with the way it has been built over the years.

"...the way it has been built over the years." That statement really seems to sum up a big part of the problem. There are about 876.3 different construction styles used in what ended up being little more than a novelty railroad running around the ceiling of a show room or candy shop (except its in the middle of the wall). I had a grand vision at one point in time of the trains traversing the entire room and ending with a turn around under a glass topped table. Really don't see that happening, plus, with the way my interests have changed over the years, not really sure that's what I want it to become.

Also, while I am at it, there is a great deal about the room itself that is begging to be updated, SO - Out will come the crowbars, hammers, hack saws and recycle bins. Out will come the 1970's faux wood panel walls. Out will come the 3%+ grades I built in. And, in their place will be new walls behind a "FreeMo inspired" modular type layout that will still traverse the room, but with more switching, more industries, more bridges and more fun!!

So strap in, grab some popcorn, kibitz, provide constructive criticism, or just flat out tell me what I'm doing wrong... This is going to be a long journey that should end, with any luck, with me having a far more pleasant space to hang out in while I play with my trains.

 

[KB02]

There are a couple of parts of my layout that will be remaining (and hopefully receiving an appropriate update... once the 6 year old stops attacking them ).

Just outside the train room, and at the site of my initial layout, the three bridges gorge will remain intact:

And the wood chip industry? in the background will finally go into business (Where the cabeese have gathered).

This little shelf scene as you enter the train room will also stay as is (though the faux brick paneling is... iffy):

Once the trains cross in front of the bar, all bets are off.

 

[Rico]

Hey been there done that as the saying goes!
Its a learning experience for sure and if you’re not happy with certain things now is a good time for a re-do.
I'll be following!

(glad the bridges are staying!)

 

[migalyto]

Congratulations on the new build and renovations!

Sounds like you've put a lot of thought into this.
Definatly will be tuning in to watch it progress!

 

[Smudge617]

Definitely going to be following your re build, the gorge scene by the way looks really good, glad to hear that's staying.

 

[KB02]

Yeah, the gorge has become the little one's sand box, so I figure I might as well keep it intact. One of these days I might finish the water all the way... the rest of it needs work, too, but I'll get there.

 

[ctclibby]

Before:

Currently (Early March, 2023) :

The Future:

The time has come for my first teardown and rebuild of my layout. I have grown somewhat dissatisfied with the current status of my layout and can't really find a way to correct the "Flaws" I see with the way it has been built over the years.

"...the way it has been built over the years." That statement really seems to sum up a big part of the problem. There are about 876.3 different construction styles used in what ended up being little more than a novelty railroad running around the ceiling of a show room or candy shop (except its in the middle of the wall). I had a grand vision at one point in time of the trains traversing the entire room and ending with a turn around under a glass topped table. Really don't see that happening, plus, with the way my interests have changed over the years, not really sure that's what I want it to become.

Also, while I am at it, there is a great deal about the room itself that is begging to be updated, SO - Out will come the crowbars, hammers, hack saws and recycle bins. Out will come the 1970's faux wood panel walls. Out will come the 3%+ grades I built in. And, in their place will be new walls behind a "FreeMo inspired" modular type layout that will still traverse the room, but with more switching, more industries, more bridges and more fun!!

So strap in, grab some popcorn, kibitz, provide constructive criticism, or just flat out tell me what I'm doing wrong... This is going to be a long journey that should end, with any luck, with me having a far more pleasant space to hang out in while I play with my trains.

KB02: those 2 pix above are the same aren't they? Don't know if it is related or not, I have been having problems just like this. St00pid phone ( android ) sometimes shows all the pix when connected to the computer, sometimes not. Then, when you copy and paste a few choices, you could get completely different pix than what you selected. Sure, I could email them to myself but what a PITA. Thought that I had it figured out. All I needed to do was to grab images before the 'how do you want to connect' permission widget comes up. Didn't work this am though.

Anyway, good that you are saving some of the old layout. Will watch this build!

Later

 

[KB02]

KB02: those 2 pix above are the same aren't they?

Actually, at the moment, that was intentional. My plan is to update the middle photo as work progresses. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Lynnb]

This is exciting, Im glad you realize what you like and what you don’t like and are keeping the likes, just don’t jeopardize the evolution of the new layout with something that has to be kept.

 

[KB02]

Demolition was scheduled to commence this weekend, but a bunch of things came up and teardown may have to wait.

When we bought the house the whole bar was painted Harley Davidson Orange and only had three lights hanging on the wall with the wood paneling. I painted the orange walls white and added all the other lighting. Lighting will need to be addressed as part of this project.

 

[Rico]

What? Actually planning ahead?
You're making me look bad!

 

[KB02]

Well, it has been a slightly productive weekend so far. Not sure if I'm done working in the basement yet today or not, but since this is not a race, I won't be upset with myself if I don't do any more work on the project.

Started last night by stripping down the turn around:

Then taking it down completely:

I never did get these two completely different shelving boards to sit perfectly level with each other. Oddly, it never caused any issue with the trains running:

Speaking of different styles, after the shelves were pulled down, I dove into the corner.
Lets play a game?!! Lets play, "How many different construction styles can you spot in a small space?"

I left this little shelf up for now. I could be fun to play with while I do other work (Time Saver Puzzle). It may end up coming down sooner rather than later, too... we'll see. Part of my yard can be seen beside it. That section was specifically made to be removable if I needed to get to the window that was above it. For now it's holding pieces of track and a turnout that I don't have to account for later.

I'll admit to be as frugal as they come, so I'm trying to save everything I can that's reusable. The cork that was glued down on this plywood shelf will not be saved, though. I'm cutting my losses on that one.

The 1970's wood paneling, which was only about 40 years past it's expiration date, has finally started to come down:

When we bought the house, the previous owners said they never had any problems with water in the basement. A statement to which I'm sure I muttered something to myself about male bovine fecal matter. But at the end of the day, and two basement floods since we've owned the place later, it appears the white pine 2x4 wall may require a bit of attention while I am at this point. Fortunately, the wall is not structural, so no issues there, but the more I think about it, the less I can ignore it, you know?

And last photo of the weekend (possibly) is my storage shelf... I mean pool table.

At least I had the good sense to cover it with plastic first.

You can see my round house in the background which a track runs around, so I can still play with my trains while I work. Once the wall is rebuilt I will continue with track teardown. I plan to reuse the round house and turn table on the new layout. We'll see how that pans out...

 

[ctclibby]

Well, it has been a slightly productive weekend so far. Not sure if I'm done working in the basement yet today or not, but since this is not a race, I won't be upset with myself if I don't do any more work on the project.

Started last night by stripping down the turn around:

Then taking it down completely:

I never did get these two completely different shelving boards to sit perfectly level with each other. Oddly, it never caused any issue with the trains running:

Speaking of different styles, after the shelves were pulled down, I dove into the corner.
Lets play a game?!! Lets play, "How many different construction styles can you spot in a small space?"

I left this little shelf up for now. I could be fun to play with while I do other work (Time Saver Puzzle). It may end up coming down sooner rather than later, too... we'll see. Part of my yard can be seen beside it. That section was specifically made to be removable if I needed to get to the window that was above it. For now it's holding pieces of track and a turnout that I don't have to account for later.

I'll admit to be as frugal as they come, so I'm trying to save everything I can that's reusable. The cork that was glued down on this plywood shelf will not be saved, though. I'm cutting my losses on that one.

The 1970's wood paneling, which was only about 40 years past it's expiration date, has finally started to come down:

When we bought the house, the previous owners said they never had any problems with water in the basement. A statement to which I'm sure I muttered something to myself about male bovine fecal matter. But at the end of the day, and two basement floods since we've owned the place later, it appears the white pine 2x4 wall may require a bit of attention while I am at this point. Fortunately, the wall is not structural, so no issues there, but the more I think about it, the less I can ignore it, you know?

And last photo of the weekend (possibly) is my storage shelf... I mean pool table.

At least I had the good sense to cover it with plastic first.

You can see my round house in the background which a track runs around, so I can still play with my trains while I work. Once the wall is rebuilt I will continue with track teardown. I plan to reuse the round house and turn table on the new layout. We'll see how that pans out...

KB02: Since you sound like your gonna tear down that wall, maybe you can look into creating a 'notch' going into the machine/plumbing room to the right of it? More train real estate.

Also, love those rail straighteners laying in the last pix. Felt on one end, rubber on the other - you should not have any problems!

Later

 

[KB02]

Since you sound like your gonna tear down that wall, maybe you can look into creating a 'notch' going into the machine/plumbing room to the right of it? More train real estate.

I had thought about that, but the pictures make it look like there's more space than there is.
------------------------

Three more panels and the shelf layout down.

Two panels to go, then I've got to work on replacing the bottom of the wall. Then clean up time.

 

[KB02]

Not a whole lot of progress, but I do have that wall fully naked... which exposed some, um, interesting construction techniques. No wonder I feel at home down here.

 

[goscrewyourselves]

which exposed some, um, interesting construction techniques.

It's amazing, and sometimes scary, what you find when doing renovation work - especially on your own home

 

[Lynnb]

You’re making great progress, same as much as you can . Sure looks like some nice space.

 

[KB02]

Last weekend I bought the Pressure treated 2x4's I needed to repair the wall. After letting the majority of the snow and ice melt off in my garage, I moved them to the basement to sit in front of a fan and space heater for most of the week (really not looking forward to the next power bill...).

The plan is to simply cut off the bottom 9 inches of the uprights and replace those along with the boards sitting on the floor. IN the end it will look like this:

In the mean time, it will look like hell. But that's how construction goes.
One section done, three more to go. Then it will be onto building up the wall. THEN I can dive into building my modules.

As I was dong this, I was starting to wonder if this was all really necessary, then I turned over this board that had been on the floor:

Yup. It's necessary.

 

[trailrider]

Do you have any vertical expansion at the top of the walls? If you have any settling of the house, it could cause real problems. When I finished my basement partitions, I left about 6 inches of space between the header of the partitions and the joists above, then drilled holes for 60d nails in the header, and also in the underside of the joist, with the diameter of the holes in the joists just enough smaller than the nails so they would hold the point end of the nails. The holes in the header are not quite as snug, so the nails can slide if the floor either heaves upwards or the house settles. In some cases, you can do the opposite...attach the partitions to the bottom of the joist, then fasten a footer board to the floor, leaving about 6 inches between the footer board and the bottom board of the partition, using the same arrangement with the 60d spike, point downward. Leave a gap between the top/bottom of the sheetrock or panelling, and fill the gap with trim that is attached only to the fixed edge of the 'rock.

 

[KB02]

They're not the easiest to pick out in the photos, but there are five steel posts cemented into the floor that support the main cross beam of the house. The wall is not structural - which is a good thing - if it had been, this place would have caved in on itself long ago! The house was built in the 60's and that wall, based off the decor, was built in the late 70's - early 80's. If the house hasn't settled or floor heaved by now, I figure I'm good to go. I'm basically just rebuilding what was already there - just better.

Got the rest of the wall finished yesterday afternoon. Now I just need make sure the wall is straight. Nothing was - or currently is - physically attached to the floor. Have to decide if I want to change that...