Taping redux

Like any good home-improvement project, it's all in the prep work.  Is there a better home-improvement project than an HO layout?  I don't think so.  The guys came over for an evening of prep work which started at the dining room table.  Fueling up on pizza and soda, discussions began... aka BS... aka politics (at work, in the government, etc), recent kit/track/train paraphernalia purchases, neighbors, in-laws, kids, pets, more kit/track/train purchases, you get the picture...). 

 

The D&H... hooked into The Rutland...

 

Not just pizza... All Aboard pizza!  When the stars align, it's magic.

With bellies full, we turned out attention to the tasks at hand.  Heading downstairs we looked at and discussed the space (very linear), our options ("givens and druthers") and our obstacles, which included the hallway wall and said linearity.

My "givens" include a single main line, 1 turntable, 1 roundhouse, elevation changes, minimum 10 industries, continuous running (not point to point), 22" track radius ,aisles 2.5' wide, no duck-unders and a maximum reach of 2' to facilitate operations.    My "druthers":  24" (or larger) track radius, 3' aisles (for us folk who have a robust girth:height ratio), 2 turntables and 2 roundhouses, 15+ industries.

With all this in mind, taping commenced...
 

We have to do something about that wall.  Tear it down?  reroute all the electric?  I don't want to move the layout any further into the hallway, so just cutting it down to half-wall at benchwork height will keep the hallway intact and facilitate reach from both sides of the bench.  Win-win situation!

Also, I have a breaker box that was initially located to facilitate my prior O gage layout (remember my O gage?  Yeah, me neither).  I think it's easy enough to relocate... hello Mr. Electrician.

Our thoughts for the 22" radius, to accommodate my steam locomotives, required us to extend the benchwork from the wall at an angle, as shown in the prior pic.  However, after brewing for a couple days, I came up with a couple small modifications to the benchwork, allowing it to extend straight from the wall. 



 Also, in addition to losing the top half of the wall, I decided we'll be putting in a door (see arrows). 
No duck-under: check!



Back left corner, arrows indicate real estate for turntable and roundhouse.  Permits pending:

.Modified bird's eye view.


By the way... My wife's side of the basement remains just that: my wife's side of the basement.  Yeah, Honey, I love you too.



So that's it for now.  I'm back in "brewing" mode...ready to continue moving forward, tweaking ideas in my head....  I'm having a blast and really happy to feel the momentum build.

Now aaaallll that being said, I'm expecting a package from Bob L containing his track plan ideas for my Rutland.  Bob is a Rutland SME (Subject Matter Expert) and some of his detail and Rutland accuracies will no doubt influence, if not altogether change the current state of things.  Maybe I should keep my wife's side of the basement on the negotiations table after all.  Do we have a gift-giving holiday coming up soon?

Still without a job on the books, my boy takes on some side work.
 He landed a security gig, sniffing out possible contraband batting...

...and counterfeit marrow.