Another Little Update

I thought I would talk a little about the progress on my railroad again today.  While construction of the actual layout has not advance any, other things have made progress.  I ordered a grain elevator some time ago, and that has made a lot of progress, in that it was built.  There are still a few things to be done with it, but the majority of the work on that is complete.  Additionally, I have established a work area.  That is a nice change.  It is not anything fancy, but it works well and makes a huge difference.

First of all, the grain elevator.  That went from plastic pieces in the box to assembled parts of the building in an afternoon.  Figuring out how it all went together was not difficult.  I kept it in larger pieces so it could be weathered as easily as possible later.  Steven was out here for a couple of weeks recently, and he actually undertook weathering the thing.  It still needs its clear flat coat to hold everything in place and take off any leftover shine.  That will happen this afternoon, as I have the day off.  Once that has been done, it will get the windows installed and then the final parts will all be assembled.  I should be able to have it done by this evening.

The other night, I was frustrated because I had pieces of model railroad equipment scattered all over the dining room table and my desk, and I had no flat surfaces to take care of anything else.  I headed off to work, and while I was on the train that night, I had a bit of inspiration.  The last occupants of this apartment left behind two four foot by eight foot pieces of particle board.  We have several large, sturdy boxes.  It dawned on me that I could use the boxes and a board to set up a temporary work area.  And at four by eight feet, it would certainly be a large work area!  I set that up a few days ago, and finally got all my model train stuff off my desk and the dining room table.  I figured while I am not actually building the model layout yet, I can still utilize the space in the room for other projects.  I found an extra chair, and dragged that to the room, and just like that, I have a workbench.  That was a huge improvement, yet such a simple one.  Once it was all set up, which took only about an hour, I could not believe it had taken me so long to think of it!

Just to help you keep up, below is a photo of the railroad room with the workbench in place, and already occupied with tools, models, and projects.  It still needs some organizing.  As I moved stuff off the floor, dining room table, and desk, it just went wherever there was space on there.  Right now it is a little cluttered and highly unorganized, although that should change as I use it over the next week or so.