Pennsylvania &Western RR - 1
Construction of the layout itself began in October 1996.
Benchwork is open-grid design, using 1x4 pine, with 2x4 legs
scrounged from home construction sites. The layout is built
fairly high. The towns of Annville and Lebanon are both about
52” off the floor. The low point is East/West Valley at 40” and
the high point is on a trestle approaching Summit at 61”.
Roadbed is ½” plywood in most places, with ¾” plywood used
where the roadbed is narrow. All plywood has ½” Homasote
glued on top. Yard and siding tracks are laid directly on the
Homasote, while mainline tracks are elevated on cork roadbed.
Gargraves flex track (which has been around since the 1940s)
is used throughout, while turnouts are from Curtis Hi Rail
(no longer in business) and Ross Custom Switches. I salvaged
15: After the five cars with local destinations have been
removed, the switcher picks up three westbound cars to be
added to EC-11.
15
MRH-Mar 2013
