It’s moving

[princessclyne69]

The layout, that is. In Houston I have been building a layout that’s mostly modular. Its progress has been pretty well documented here on the MPHS message board. But several years ago I bought another house in Wichita with an eye toward retiring there. While that work is more or less finished, I also bought a property that’s well-located in railroad terms and I’m building a railroad building.

It’s now time to move, since I retired this summer. I spent some time over the last couple years designing this building and it is now in the last stages of construction. So far there have been two U-Haul loads and many trips in the family vehicles up I-35, carrying stuff. Of the railroad stuff, I estimate maybe 80 – 90% of it has moved, and there are piles of stuff in the living room, in the second floor train room where modelbuilding happens, and an attic where the books are.

A few weeks ago I moved two turnback loops that were just plywood and track, as a test case. Now I have to move roughly 30 modules, mini-mo and pieces of plywood with something on them. The building is not ready for occupancy yet, so the main move won’t happen until then, and until I finish a little side job I’m working on. But the modules are being separated and I’ve built racks for them to ride on. Looks like I can fit the main move in a 20′ U-Haul, which will be fun. Naturally this one will go directly to the building, then I get to move all that stuff that my wife is tired of looking at that’s currently in the house somewhere.

Of course, the building is larger than the space I currently have in the attic of my Houston house. So the railroad will spread out a little, and rather than do more tracklaying and scenery I built some ‘module kits’ consisting of the sides and ends, complete with clips for the legs, and I’ve made quite a few legs which are now in my Wichita garage. One of my early priorities will be to assemble those. The abandonment of the Homabed business may be a bit of a setback, but there’s a Youtube video on how to saw your own.

I had built a ‘fabrication platform’ of 2×8 feet out of scrap lumber, on sawhorses, outside as a place to assemble the modules. That one in Houston has outlived its usefulness, so I’ll be building one of those also.

So the next few weeks will be interesting.

RG7

[Bud Moss]

Sounds like a great new project to start after retirement! I know you’ve been working hard between Houston and Wichita for a number of years. I hope you have great success! Jerry Michels

[bargetanika]

Is your railroad property remotely located from your house? How far? I’ve heard of one guy that has a massive layout in a warehouse type structure but it’s almost 20 miles from his house. Can’t “op till you drop” at 2 AM in that one, although I bet he’s got a bunk in there and a shower too. He’s got a full time employee to run a train over all the layout every day to keep the track clean and maintain it. A model railroad with an actual maintenance employee. 😮 😆

[princessclyne69]

From the house to the layout is ten minutes, about six to seven miles. I will at least get to watch trains when I’m not working on the layout, since I’m conveniently located.

And the only full time maintenance employee will be me.

The outside is about 98% complete, and the inside is rapidly catching up. Only wrinkle in this is that I’ve got a side deal that might keep me tied up for a couple weeks, just when I’d otherwise be ready to move. Oh well, it’s always something.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

The building is complete. We’re spending the weekend moving supplies and equipment. No modules yet, and no track, so no rolling stock is moving in yet.

RG7

[princessclyne69]

The deed is done.

I spent the last couple of weeks in Houston removing loose stuff from the railroad and turning modules on their sides to remove the legs. Rail joiners, jumpers, turnout points, trees, everything that could fall off went into ziploc bags. I built two racks to hold the full-size modules (everything about five feet and up), and in a burst of over-engineering, I taped a piece of 1/4″ neoprene over each track end on the modules, except for a couple that had elevated scenery on the end. The long runs of straight track in the corridor were cut in half, and I extracted the four-foot segment of track that ran through the wall. I bet that hole will spark some curiosity in potential future owners.

After a few days delay due to the freeze, I picked up a 20′ U-Haul on Monday morning the 22nd. Loading crew showed up and stuffed the truck full from front to back, although only about four feet deep. We set off Tuesday at 6 am and arrived without incident in Wichita at 4:30. Then a lot of complicated stuff happened, due to car rental problems, failure of the gate operator, and a couple of other things, but the truck was safely inside. Wednesday the 24th, the other moving crew arrived and unloaded it all into the building. Now the fun begins.

I am incredibly grateful that despite a low temp of -11 F in Wichita, nothing froze in either the building or the house. Houston wasn’t so fortunate, as you’ve probably heard, and we were without power in Houston for almost a day. I had some old L-girders and things that went into the fireplace, but that saved me the trouble of disposing of them later.

Pictures later.

RG7

[amosluettgen1665]

Happy for you that the move is done. Looking forward to pictures of your building and re-assembly.

…gregg

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