HOW TO BUILD MODEL RAILROAD BENCHWORK, Second Edition
By Linn H. Westcott
Published by Kalmbach Books
Most folks probably don't think they need a book on how to build benchwork - just frame up a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood, add some legs, and you've got a perfectly good table. If you are building a toy train layout then the good old "Plywood Pacific" works just fine, but there are growing influences on the hobby that are driving the need towards more modern benchwork design and construction:
Hi-railing - the operation of toy trains in a scale like environment. What was a minor niche a few years ago is now a major part of the hobby. Building a scale like layout requires the use of benchwork that enables you to create realistic scenery.
De-centralized control - the recent availability of walk around controllers from Lionel, MRC, MTH, and All-Trol will have a major effect on the design of our layouts. Where the table layout was partly a product of the centralized control panel and transformer, walk-around controllers allow you to follow your train as it runs around the walls, through a free form layout, etc.
So, what's in the book?
The first chapter of the book talks about layout design, and includes some basic information on Computer Aided Design, or CAD. There are several good pieces of model railroad CAD software on the market today. These programs allow extremely accurate planning that eliminates a lot of guess work.
On to lumber, tools, and fasteners. Being a kind of city slicker, I know very little about the
different types of lumber and so on. Good info here.
Now we get to the building. The book outlines two different types of benchwork, butt joint and L girder:
Butt joint is what we are all used to, but the book adds in a few creative variations to help avoid thatflat table top look.
L girder construction is a little different - it's basically a frame. On the frame you place risers with the roadbed attached - a sort of "T" shaped support for your track. L girders selling point is that more realistic scenery is possible, and that changes are fairly easy to make. As the book goes on you'll see a combination of the two types of benchwork being used, and detailed instructions are given for the entire construction process.
How to build realistic roadbeds are covered with discussions on the small details like drainage ditches, roadbed profiles through cuts in the landscape, etc. Backdrops, fascias, and scenic supports come next. These are all elements that are often missing from toy train layouts, but go a long way towards a nice effect. The book concludes with support for special situations - bridges, helixes, and so on. Helixes are not uncommon in HO scale layouts, they are used to connect the various levels in a multi-level layout. A recent Classic Toy trains magazine had photos of two helixes - a double decker hi-rail layout is next!
Toy train operator or hi-railer, this book belongs on every model railroaders bookshelf. Had I read the first edition years ago before I built my first layout, I could have saved myself from making a couple of expensive mistakes and enhanced my layout.
