We now have something to share....

So Far :...The framework upon which the sectional boards rest is made up of 1" square , black powder-coated  steel tubing. The corners and leg attachment points are taken care of by using press-fit cast steel units, usually used to construct free-form shelving for an office envirenment. This has worked out very well and  has been dismounted  and re-erected once, thus proving the concept.

The layout in essence is a large U shape, [16' across the bottom of the U with two "wings" of 8' each side ]. Now I have a dislike of the usual 2' X 4' domino type boards which by their very nature, dictate exactly where your turnouts are going to be fitted

I therefore have experimented using blue foam but my boards at the front are 8' X 3' X 6" deep and the two of them joined end on to each other , aligned with pattern-maker's dowels,produce the 16' length.They are additionally strengthened by having 3mm MDF glued on to the long sides and 3/4" birch ply at the ends, which produces a strong frame which  can be painted.

The "wings, although  the dreaded 2' X 4' ,are permanently joined and are 30" wide. The actual scenic part  on the outside is 18" with the remaining 12" being the support for a sliding casette type fiddle yard, again just a couple of inches short of 8'. This does away with the need to waste valuable storage sidings with turnouts. Thus, if you have managed to follow my ramblings so far, we have a transportable layout, viewable on three sides with one internal fiddleyard on either side, feeding both the  tracks at the front and the two industrial areas on each side.

So far, I have identified 29 places to spot cars plus another 10 'off-spots'. For a small layout, this should keep us interested for some time.........and.............when we get bored, we can just duplicate the whole thing again and tack it on to the open end thus making an enclosed square, four viewing side layout of  16' X  22'.!!

If I can find someone to show me how to add some pics, then I will share them with you.

That's it for now.......I'm off to ebay to find some more yellow MEC locos. I've got a few Bangor & Aroostook  BL1's in blue, a few F3's and some Boston& Maine red ones.My old N&W GP7's and 9's are going to be re-incarnated...much to my pal's disgust !!

See you soon,

Pete.