What's New on the PRR Panhandle 2.0?

[healey36]

Couldn’t agree more re: Capitals...surprised they made it this far. Haven’t followed them for years. Other than Ovechkin, couldn’t name another guy on the team. Still, Penguins have been a nemesis for eons...feels good to see it rip back the other way once in a bit.

The NHL is a bloated mess any more. I remember when it was just the six clubs. Brilliant back then...now we have guys that lick other players, and I’m not talking about dropping gloves.

[G3750]

I had to google that one. Hockey in Vegas. Holy Moly.
PS. their gm is an ex Cap.

Yes, they are the newest expansion team playing their first season. And they going to play the winner of the Winnipeg / Nashville series in the Western Conference Final. Their GM was a screw-up when he worked for the Caps; made some bonehead moves / trades. He's done a lot better with the expansion draft.

They have a number of ex-Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury, David Perron, James Neal, Daryl England, and Ryan Reaves.

Fleury is very respected in the City of Pittsburgh.

[G3750]

Couldn’t agree more re: Capitals...surprised they made it this far. Haven’t followed them for years. Other than Ovechkin, couldn’t name another guy on the team. Still, Penguins have been a nemesis for eons...feels good to see it rip back the other way once in a bit.

The NHL is a bloated mess any more. I remember when it was just the six clubs. Brilliant back then...now we have guys that lick other players, and I’m not talking about dropping gloves.

I'm OK with the size of the NHL. Six teams was waaaay too small.
Marchand has always been a punk. He has a (deserved) reputation for slew-footing opponents. As for the licking incident, that was just bizarre!

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Couldn’t agree more re: Capitals...surprised they made it this far.

They have been terrible underachievers in the post season for years while playing great through the regular season. When it counts, they have folded like cheap origami.

The NHL is a bloated mess any more.

Which is why I can only bring myself to pay marginal attention once the play-offs start. Even then it's almost too much effort to look up from my book to actually watch a game. Back when Fitz Dixon owned a part of the Flyers (and 76'ers), I would pay attention to games

The NBA and MLB, along with the NHL have fallen into the same pit of a regular season that's so dilute as to be next to meaningless.

[G3750]

Updated 5/16/2018:

Sometimes there are days when you “breakout” and advance on your goal more than others. Over the past few days I have focused on shellacking tables and supports for the Staging Area of the Panhandle. After finishing that, I turned my attention to the 2” x 4” x 10’ pine boards that were going to support the bench-work table tops against the room walls (no legs there). I inspected them closely. They were warped – typical pine junk.

I decided to replace them with something that would keep its shape better – poplar. Yes, they were expensive, but I am determined not to make fundamental errors that require rebuilds or repeat some of the structural mistakes of Panhandle 1.0. So today, I went to Lowe’s and bought a number of 1” x 4” x 8’ and 1” x 4” x 10’ poplar boards and transported them home. These will not need shellacking.

I have some photos, but the board's attachment quota has been reached, again.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Sometimes there are days when you “breakout” and advance on your goal more than others.

Indeed. After several years of inactivity on the development of my own layout, I've gotten quite a leap forward on the scenery in the past couple of months now up through this past Sun. I had cataract surgery #1 on Mon and if I would stop falling down the steps, I'm almost feeling up to getting back into it later this week.

What does anyone recommend for a water effect? Looking to make a small creek leading into // out of a marshy area, maybe stretching over 3-4 feet but fairly narrow.

[G3750]

Updated 5/19/2018:

Updated 5/19/2018:

Benchwork construction has begun!

The framework to support Table surfaces 1, 2, and 3 is underway. This approach differs from the one in Panhandle 1.0 in that it uses a 2" x 2" frame to support a 5/8" (19/32") 5-ply board. My friend Price Bradshaw deserves the credit for this technique, having used it very successfully in his own large layout.

I'd show it to you, but the board attachment quota is still exceeded!

George

[healey36]

I'd be interested in seeing that...I used 1x4's for my framing topped with 3/4" plywood. It's pretty robust. The legs are a combination of 2x3's and 2x4's. Strong enough to withstand my considerable girth when required.

[G3750]

I'd be interested in seeing that...I used 1x4's for my framing topped with 3/4" plywood. It's pretty robust. The legs are a combination of 2x3's and 2x4's. Strong enough to withstand my considerable girth when required.

That should work just fine. In Panhandle 1.0, I used 1" x 4" framing but topped it with 3/8" plywood (which was the big mistake). Legs were 2x2's with 1x2 cross bracing. If I had used a thicker plywood I would have avoided low spots and the need for additional bracing. I ended up re-building both sides of the layout over the course of 5 years. It's obvious now, but track performance is directly tied to the quality of the bench work.

For Panhandle 2.0, I am using my friend's technique. I've sat atop his bench work helping him to ballast track and it's absolutely solid. His framing (mine is identical) is 2x2's topped with 5/8 (19/32) 5-ply high quality Araucco (South American) plywood. Legs are 2x2's with some short bracing. The plywood ties all the members together and makes the resulting table very strong.

There will be one difference between my friend's and my layout - roadbed. He used cork and on that benchwork, it doesn't muffle sound very well. I am using Vinylbed and its successor, Flexxbed. It has superior sound deadening properties.

If you like, shoot me an e-mail at gpandelios@verizon.net and I'll send you my diagram and some photos. I don't know when this attachment quota thing is going to be fixed.

George

[rogruth]

I had quiet running until I glued the ballast.
The advantage is there are NO screws holding ttrack in place.

[G3750]

I had quiet running until I glued the ballast.
The advantage is there are NO screws holding ttrack in place.

I've read that the absence of screws makes a big difference. Panhandle 1 wasn't very noisy, even with track screws all the way to the subroadbed.

George

[healey36]

Email sent, George.

I recall getting some heat from a couple of my layout-building buddies re: using 3/4-inch plywood. They contended it was not necessary, over-engineering at best. I wanted the strength, plus there's some benefit for sound-deadening going with heavier material. I covered the whole thing with indoor/outdoor carpet that had a thin rubberized backing, the combination of which seems to have mitigated some/most of the rumble, although to be honest, being a tinplate layout I wanted a bit of rumble. Never had any regrets going with a heavy-hand on the plywood...

Healey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I had quiet running until I glued the ballast.
The advantage is there are NO screws holding ttrack in place.

I've read that the absence of screws makes a big difference. Panhandle 1 wasn't very noisy, even with track screws all the way to the subroadbed.

I have never understood the "absence of screws" argument; sounds propagates with vibration and screwing everything together should eliminate vibration. My layout is all screwed & glued together with Homasote roadbed and rest is ~1/2" plywood over 1" x 4" T girder framework. Once upon a time I could stand on it but once upon a time I weighed 75 lbs less. In any case, I have no need to stand on it having completed the painting of the background walls and there is almost no part that I cannot simply reach in and handle. A step stool gets me to the one "distant" area.

[healey36]

At some point we're going to need to do a layout tour / pub-crawl...we could call it the "MTJ layout and beer-is-proof-God-loves-us-and-wants-us-to-be-happy" Tour. I envision stops at Rufus T Firefly/Healey36/Sarge/G3750...who else is local?

Healey

[G3750]

Email sent, George.

I recall getting some heat from a couple of my layout-building buddies re: using 3/4-inch plywood. They contended it was not necessary, over-engineering at best. I wanted the strength, plus there's some benefit for sound-deadening going with heavier material. I covered the whole thing with indoor/outdoor carpet that had a thin rubberized backing, the combination of which seems to have mitigated some/most of the rumble, although to be honest, being a tinplate layout I wanted a bit of rumble. Never had any regrets going with a heavy-hand on the plywood...

Healey

I wish I had done that with Panhandle 1.0. At the time, I was influenced by a trend going on around me about how "lighter is better". BS.

I think I'll be OK with 19/32" (5/8") plywood and Flexxbed.

George