Clean up Work

In my last post I committed to getting back in the railroad modeling game. But to do that I have to have space to do the 400 (square foot) of small projects to improve my modeling skills. 

The good thing about having a basement for the railroad is I have space. The bad thing about having a basement is its a great place to store things .... and I stored alot of things.

• Two rolling caddies of camping gear.
• Five 2 and 3 shelf bookcases for books and obsolete VHS tapes (alot of tapes!).
• Several former bedroom dressers reconfigured for draw spaces. 
• Not one, not two, but three car drawers. See 3.14 Car Drawers for further information.
• Three cabinets for storing car kits, structure kits, and scenery supplies.
• Eleven 2 drawer filing cabinets for storing some 50 years of model railroad articles related to every major topic on the reference page sidebar.

Oh ! I forgot to mention the 400 square feet of shelf space that I call the WWSL ver. 3.0.

Lots and lots of stuff. Some organized but it became unorganized as time went on and I wasn't laying track. Other people call that procrastination. I plead guilty (sheepishly).

Well as my friend said ''You can only eat an elephant one bite at a time." So starting at one end, I started the clean up. Lots of clean up. The hardest part was finding the appropriate place to put it. I deliberately didn't take a before picture.

It took a while, and during that time I had to build some storage space that I knew I needed (someday) and that someday arrived. 

Half the layout room is cleaned and organized - the half that I'm going to start working on again. As time goes on, the clutter will continue to be contained, organized or gotten rid of. 

Reload, Coal Grove (top) Wickwood (bottom)

Satsop River (top)          North River (bottom)

Polson Canyon (top)      Preachers Slough (bottom)

 While I was cleaning I decided to fix some of the stationary furniture in the room. The small table is configured as either the dispatcher's desk, or as a drafting table. It's on wheels now for easy moving as necessary. 

The two cushion couch was demoted from the living room to the crew lounge / utility room. It will be a nice place to sit when the railroading day is done and I'm marveling at my latest small project success. I ran two 2" x 4"s along the bottom and then put wheels on that  so its easy to move from the utility room to the layout space as necessary.

Roller table dispatcher configuration

Roller table draftsman configuration

Crew Lounger

 

"One bite (project) at a time.' Now I have to work on the workshop area to get it organized.