10' 7" w x 8' deep. 27" deep bench top, around the room with a 30" lift off bridge Contructed with furring strips, which is a 1x3 ( just shy of 3/4" thick, not a true 1x3 ). Used the ladder frame top on 16" centers. Bench top is 1/2" smooth one side plywood ( 4 ply ). Not going to use a foam top. Bridge ( lift off ) is a pine 1x8 ( 7.25"x.75" true size ). I used aluminum 1.5"x1.5"x1/8" angle to keep the bridge from bowing. Also used a couple of 4.5" pieces of the cutoff ( was two 36" long pieces ) across the bottom side-to-side to help prevent cupping. You can see to the right, I have added a background " wall " in front of some windows. It's 24" tall. I have cut and painted more to do the front, on each side of the bridge, but I wonder if i should enclose the layout this way. Total height with background is 5' 1". No one would be able to see the layout, unless they were inside the layout, which is roughly 6'x3.5'. I think it would look better while inside the layout. Your thoughts on this?
I think it looks like a very solid start, how long until you get track down? I like using foam on the top, it makes it easy to cut in drainage ditches and culverts and such.
Looking good. I'm contemplating adding a lift out section to allow for some occasional continuous running. How did you engineer yours if I may ask? Do you just slide the rail joiners back and lift it straight up? Do the rail joiners provide the only current to the removable trackage?
I have watch numerous youtub vid's, and none used the rail joiners at all. My plan, is to use 1/4" stereo jacks. Male on the bridge ( just enough wire to reach the female jack ) and the female jack on the layout side, next to the bridge. Then it's a simple plug in to power the bridge tracks.
