I wanted to go ahead and start a thread since construction is scheduled to begin in the next few days. BTW, I’m Charles and I’m retired from the Air Force after 22 ½ years. I’ve been retired almost as long as I served. I’m an N scaler. I had a plan originally drawn up but it didn’t seem right so I sought out the advice of David K. Smith. He took on the challenge and pointed out some major flaws and then graciously redrew the plan to meet my needs for a smoother flowing plan. It was one of those things where “I couldn’t see the forest because of all those darn trees”. The track plan is an L-shaped plan that is approximately 115” x 121” in size. I will be using Atlas code 55 flex track with #7 turnouts (except where noted) and a minimum radius of 16 inches. It will be DCC controlled. As a side note, the layout will share a spare bedroom in our apartment that also has to continue to serve as an office and a place for the grandkids to lay their sleepy heads when they visit. A little background - The Bay Line Railroad (reporting mark BAYL) is one of several short line railroad companies owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. It operates between Panama City, Florida and Dothan, Alabama, including a branch from Grimes to Abbeville, Alabama, reached via trackage rights on CSX's Dothan Subdivision between Dothan and Grimes. The line interchanges with CSX's P&A Subdivision at Cottondale, Florida and their Dothan subdivision at the trackage rights section near Dothan, Alabama. It also interchanges with the Chattahoochee Bay Railroad in Dothan. A wide variety of commodities are carried, including aggregates, brick, cement, chemicals, coal, food and feed products, forest products, metallic ores and minerals, steel, and scrap. The normal operating hours of the BAY LINE RAILROAD are 06:00 till 18:00 7 days per week at Panama City and 06:00 till 1800 Mon-Fri at Dothan. Switching services are available for other than normal hours of operation at charges published . There are two major players in the area that I will be concentrating on, the Rock-Tenn paper mill and Port Panama City. At Port Panama City there are several industries but I will only concentrate on 2 or 3. These are Berg Steel Pipe Co., the Lasaffre molasses facility and the dry bulk materials warehouse facility. Also I will have a port scene with a ship off-loading or loading container cargo All of this of course will be a scaled down and compressed version due to room limitations. At least I’m hoping to capture the feel of the area. The engineering department ([FONT=&]me[/FONT]) is supposed to try and hook up with the contracting company ([FONT=&]a friend who is a home builder[/FONT]) and schedule a time to rip some cabinet-grade birch plywood for the benchwork modules. He has been kind enough to take time and do this for me since there is no way I could manage that task at the apartment. So, here’s the plan and hopefully more will come in the next few days as I anticipate the beginning of this project. [/URL][/IMG]
After some delay finally purchased some Baltic Birch plywood. That in itself was somewhat of an ordeal. I was having some problems finding some good plywood and in desperation was about to go with some dimensional lumber. Luckily I found a supplier that had some 5/8" Baltic in 5x5 sheets. The trouble was they were about 50 miles away. Can you say road trip? Got there and it wouldn't fit in my minivan. Only had a 51" clearance to get it in and no matter what we couldn't get it in and they did not provide any cutting service. So it was a matter of putting it on top and and fortunately I had rope with me to tie it down. Then it was the journey back at about an average of 40mph. At least I had some back roads to travel and traffic wasn't bad except for oncoming logging trucks and other large trucks that created some good wind drafts and I thought it was going blow off. Made it safely back to my friends place and dropped it off. He is going to try and find some time this afternoon to rip it. I had remembered that Jim Hediger had built a 4x8 table using 1/2" birch ripped to 3" width so I decided to do the same with the 5/8". All in all things should work well as long as I keep the base layer light. The birch does look good. Cost wise it is pretty darn good. I can get 20 pieces per sheet at 3" and I need 36 pieces. The plywood cost me $27 dollars per sheet and that averages out to $1.35 per piece. Much better than #2 whitewood and a heck of a lot better than select pine from the BB boys. I know I am going to be happy with the decision and assembly of benchwork should start this weekend. Can't wait.
Love the Bay Line. Although I liked the ASAB Geen and Yellow GP38's (a few were ex-GM&O) the best, It would still be a great road to model. It's about an hour and a half from my house but I'm in Panama City every so often as 3 of the Panama City schools are in my son's district for Football and basketball. Good Luck, and keep us posted on the progress! Mike
Thanks Mike, will do. Here's what my friend and I did this afternoon - ripped birch plywood into (36) 60" long pieces: Weekend project - start the benchwork.
Started cutting some of the pieces of plywood to size today. I'm starting with the leg assemblies and getting them out of the way. Tomorrow I should be able to get to the main modules and get them cut and pre-drilled for wire passages etc. The pic is after cleaning up my mess, gotta keep the missus happy!
Keep the pictures and updates coming. I'll be watching intently. I used to have to travel from Tallahassee to PCB for work and drove along the right of way often.
I love Bay Line. They had a refueling station at the small depot in Cottondale- halfway between Dothan and Panama City. It was just an old tank car with diesel fuel in it. I also loved their one and only non-dynamic brake standard GP39. They had the only one in existance. And who could forget the chopnose RS1? I obviously go back to the green days in the 80s.
Didn't get as much accomplished yesterday but work continues today. Drilling 1" wire passage holes in the cross members of the modules.
Started assembly of the modules today. Hopefully I will get them all completed by the end of the day.
The first module is assembled and in place. Going to take a break and slow down today. I guess I was rushing too much and when I took the first picture I realized I had placed the module upside down. Had to disassemble from the legs and reassemble. Naturally my drill holes for the bolts were off and had to re-drill and then assemble it back together. Duh!
Yes, very nice looking benchwork - simple and elegant! One question: what is the black worktable with the 90 degree clamps and red circle in the top - don't recall ever seeing something like that before, and it looks very useful. Thanks in advance!
The table is a portable work surface I purchased a few years ago I think at Lowe's to set my miter saw on. The red circle is actually the locking mechanism for the top to fasten to the legs. Unlock it, lift off the top and then the legs fold in for easy storage. The 90 degree clamp is a separate item that you can pick up in the clamp section of Home Depot or whoever.
You're right Philip, I couldn't remember which one since they were both essentially side by side in the town I bought it at. It has been a handy little portable work table over the last few years.
