A Red Letter Day

I did so much today. But first an update of the previous few days. I went to my parents house for Christmas and while I was there, I redesigned the layout. I don't have a copy of it to post right now as it is on my parent's computer, but I will post it up when I get a chance to visit again.

This morning I went out to the hardware store. I got all the stuff for the platform: plywood, 1x3, wheels, and even brown primer paint. On the way back I stopped at D & K Hobbies in Barclay Square. It was a general purpose hobby shop with kites and radio controlled cars. Not a very big selection of trains and a very limited selection of N scale.

At home I built the platform with help from my father. It is 32 x 48 inches. It is framed with 1x3 around the edge, and has 3 internal 1x3 cross braces. Each of the corners is reinforced with wood blocks. The wheels are attached to these. The blocks are only about 2/3 the height of the 1x3 so the wheel are recessed under the bottom of the frame a bit. The frame sits about 1 inch off the ground and you don't see the wheels at all.

In the afternoon after the platform was build I went out to Saddler's in Westmont. They had a much better selection of N scale. I ended up spending about $150 on an engine, one car, and track. I got a switcher for the engine since alot of the curves on the layout are 9 3/4" and the smaller engine will handel them better.

Tonight when I got home, I painted the platform. I used a flat brown primer. It reminded me of cholate while I was putting it on. I hope to put scenery on the platform and not leave it plain, but just in case I miss a few spots it will look like earth now.