Benchwork 1

The WWSL v1.0 was conceived and constructed in 1987 while I was still in the military. Knowing that moving every couple of years was a reality, I decided that the railroad would be a sectional layout; each module would be no larger than two foot by eight foot. Since then I have successfully moved v1.0 and v2.0 four times.

Version 1.0 was a free standing (tabletop) layout. Version 2 was a two level shelf layout anchored to a dry walled stud wall. Version 3.0 is located in a basement with poured concrete walls. A traditional basement interior wall framing with drywall was possible but local building would have classified the work as a finished basement and significantly increase the taxes for the building. I chose instead to use an ingenious system developed by Malcolm Furlow and published in the January 1988 issue of Model Railroader. It's called compression-stud benchwork. Malcolm used 2x2 lumber with a T-nut and carriage bolt on one end and a small piece of thin plywood on the other. The entire assembly was cut to the height of the wall less a 1/2 inch or so, then tensioned between the floor and ceiling using the T-nut to provide a sturdy foundation for brackets, girders, and other shelves. 

I adapted the concept using 2x2 lumber attached to the wood sill as the ceiling point, and 2x4 and 2x6 studs. I used 3/8 x 3 inch zinc screws in lieu of the T nut and carriage bolt, and used a 4 inch mending plate to attach to the 2x2 top plate. 

Corners were created with one 2x4 and one 2x6. The 2x4 was screwed on end to the face of the 2x6 allowing 3 inches of usable facing on either side for attaching the backdrop (I use 4 foot by eight foot luan plywood). A 2x4 studs is placed at the four foot mark, a 2x6 at the 8 foot mark, then repeated along the entire wall. The compression stud is leveled vertically and horizontally.

I use L-girders as the horizontal elements for my benchwork. As I am building a two level layout, my lower L-girder is built with a 1x3 and a 1x4. The upper level L-girder is built with two 1x3's. I got excited about getting to this level of construction and before i knew it I had a 30 foot wall constructed and the luan backdrop installed.

Layout height considerations, backdrop painting etc will be discussed in later posts.

References:

Model Railroader, January 1988, Carbondale Central, Malcolm Furlow.

Great Model Railroads, 2015, Less is More, James McNab.