Texas Southeast Belt

[Len Turner]

I’m finally getting started constructing my HO scale industrial switching layout, the Texas Southeast Belt Ry. The general theme is a fictional and freelanced SP/T&NO subsidiary based in southeast Texas in the post-World War II era. Most of the industries will be based on the East Texas timber & lumber industry of the period. The construction of the layout is based on Lance Mindheim’s “How to Build a Switching Layout.”

The bench work for the layout consists of hollow-core door panels - HCD’s - on wall-mounted shelf brackets around the perimeter of 10’ x 12’ 7” room. Access to the Living Room, Closet, and Bath are facilitated by lift out sections. The design will allow for switching operations even with the lift out sections removed. When in place I’ll have a full staging yard and a full loop of track.

Layout sections and room dimensions…


Supports for the bench work are wall-mounted shelf brackets. I located the wall studs and used 2” coarse-thread drywall screws to attach them.


The shelf supports are then attached to the wall-mount brackets…


HCD panels are installed on the shelf supports…


The basic benchwork with most of the backdrop backing in place…










That’s it so far. I still need to attach the HCD panels to one another and secure them to the supports. After that’s done I’ll cover the panels with a layer of foam sheeting and paint the backdrop.

Thanks to everyone for looking & commenting!

[Gary S]

You're off to a great start. Glad you're going to put foam over the top, that will make it easy to carve in ditches and such.

I spent much of my childhood roaming the Big Thicket area, and my grandparents had a nice place out of Lufkin. Spent many a summer day out on the pond with a topwater lure waiting for that big ol' largemouth to hit it.

Looking forward to more progress.

[Len Turner]

Thanks Gary!
I grew up in Galveston & LaMarque, moved to East Texas in the early 70's.
I've been watching your layout progress for some time.
Its cool to see stuff on a layout that you recognize from real life!

[mountaingoatgreg]

I will echo Gary, you are off to a great start!!

I like the idea of the removable sections for continous operation with the ability to operate the rest when the otehr pieces are stored. As a thought, where are you going to store the removable sections when they are not being used?

Also wil lyou jsut be free lancing hte track plan as you install it or will you be posting a trackplan in the near future?

[Len Turner]

Thanks for the reply Greg!

The two lift-out sections will store on the shelving unit under the main portion of the layout - see last photo in my original post.
The shorter 12" wide section is for the end of the staging yard so it won't have much else but track on it. As for the other 18" wide section, I may lower the shelving level to accommodate buildings and scenery. As for a track plan, for now I'm looking at a composite of some of Lance Mindheim's track plans. Nothing complicated like switching puzzles or switchbacks. Try to keep it simple while keeping it interesting... But I will have a tentative plan before I start laying any track. And I'm sure I'll have to make some adjustments as I start putting some structures in place.

Thanks again for looking & commenting!

[Len Turner]

Spent Friday evening and Saturday putting the foam sheeting on the HCD panels. I picked up two 4' x 8' x 3/4" sheets of Dow blue foam and a couple tubes of foam adhesive for the job. I'm using 3/4" thick foam mainly because its about all you can get in this part of the country without a special order. Plus, the layout is relatively flat and if need be, I can always use an added layer or two of foam to build ground contours.

Apply foam adhesive to the HCD panel...


Add the foam sheeting...


Clamp and weight it down to dry...


On to the next section...


Finished product...


A little more trimming, fitting, and filling and that'll just about wrap up the benchwork. Next I'll be painting the backdrop. With that, I should be ready to start some track work in the next couple of weeks . The track plan is coming along and should be up soon.

As always, your comments, critique, and feedback are appreciated!

[Len Turner]

Painted the backdrop Friday evening, following Lance Mindheim's suggestions for an generic and non-descript background. I was looking for that hazy mid-to-late summer sky that we see a lot of in East Texas. Most of it came out fair to good, but maybe a bit light for I wanted. Its actually a bit more saturated than it appears in the photos, but still fairly light. I'll look at it for a while and maybe blend in a little more blue on the upper third and streak in a little more haze near the middle. Unlike the sawmill diorama though, the new layout is more of an urban setting and will have a number of low relief industrial structures against or near the backdrop. The photo with the diorama piece was just to get some idea of what it may look like behind the actual layout.







I also worked on finalizing the benchwork, leveling out the lift-out section joints, filling all the gaps at the joints of the foam sheeting, and adding 45 deg fillets in the northeast and southeast corners.



So far I really like the wall-mounted HCD panel benchwork. The wall-mounts are stable and sturdy, and the HCD panels are flat and square. Not having to cut and build framework and legs really simplifies the construction. Plus with no legs, there's room for storage shelves under the layout and space for the two lift-out sections.



Thanks again to everyone for looking & commenting!

[Tyson Rayles]

Been almost two weeks and STILL no pics of finished scenery? What's the hold-up?





Kidding of course, you have been making excellent time and the work looks great!

[Harry]

great work !! Len


ok, well made and is in the background area in circular background

[Len Turner]

Mike & Harry, Thanks for the interest and comments!

Harry, the background is straight and square in the corners. There's going to be a structure of some sort in each corner, so we'll deal with the backdrop corners then.

[mountaingoatgreg]

Looking good so far!!

I like the straight forward approach, I think in the future if I do another home layout I wil use the doors too.

Keep us posted and I look forward to scenery too!!

[shortliner]

Not sure why - no pix in this post, just those nasty little red X boxes

[Southern Tuxedo]

Jack,

Are you logged on?

Mark

[Southern Tuxedo]

Len,

Your progress looks really good. What size (or length) shelf supports are you using under the 18" and 24" hollow core doors?

Mark

[Len Turner]

Thanks folks for the interest and comments!

Mark,
12" wide panels have 11" brackets
18" wide panels have 14" brackets
24" wide panels have 18" brackets
The uprights are 30" double slotted