By Rick Brown

Author  Bio I wanted to construct a train shed that would be durable and water resistant, so I could store my rolling stock outside.

The State of Washington is well known for its rainfall. When other Americans are out doors getting suntans, Washingtonians are getting rain tans! The way we know its summer, the rain is warmer. Because of the extreme weather conditions, I wanted to construct a train shed that would be durable and water resistant, so I could store my rolling stock outside.

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Everything, up to this point, was stored all over the house, as well as taking up much needed table space in my carport (it's a double carport!) I will admit that I'm not a carpenter, nor do I play one on TV, so I was confident in the fact that if anyone can glue and screw wood together, I could do it too.

So I went down to my friendly lumber store and got some 2"x2"x8' and a few 2"x4"x10's (pressure treated of course) and figured I was all set. Not having a plan, I figured 4'wide and 8' long would be a good size. You would think that would store a lot of cars and I could buy new ones to replace all the ones I stored outside, so I guess I did have a plan!

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The sides were straightforward, 7 - 2"x2"x16". I cut up the pieces for 2 sides and glued (Elmer's II) and screwed them together, counter sinking all the screws. I figured it needed to be primed, just to help preserve it, and it would help light up the interior more than just bare wood. I used Elmer's (water soluble) wood filler to fill all the little nicks and knot holes between coats of primer (2 coats). Of course sanding each coat with my trusty orbital sander.

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Then I cut the 2"x4"s to 4' (4) for the base and glued and screwed them together. Cut 6 2"x2"s for the top, glued and screwed them to the top and I had my frame for my rolling stock shed.

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Now I had to determine how many tracks I could fit inside the shed. I tried several track arrangements. In the end I found I could have six tracks and keep the spacing I wanted. The track, inside the shed, is all Aristocraft. The switches on the outside are LGB and Aristocraft.

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I matched up the entire track at the entrance and leveled it with scrap 2"x6"s. (NOTE: all track is connected by Hillman clamps) Wanting to see what it would look like with cars. I filled it with cars and tried out the switches to see how it would work.

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Now it was time for the roof. Having decided I did not want to have to crawl into the shed if one of the cars got derailed and pull it out, the roof had to swing open to have access to the cars.

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I made up a couple of different roof joists to see how it would look and settled on a design where the cross brace sets flush with the top of the shed with an over hang so the rain and pine needles would run off to the side. It rains a lot here in Washington, you know!

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Another trip to the lumber store for more wood and screws! I cut up the 2"x2"s, glued and screwed them all together and had a roof frame. The center beam is a little different; so I could screw it all together. Will do this different on the next one! And yes, there will be another one! In fact there will be 2 more, just not this BIG! But that's a whole differnt article.

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The sides and back are 1/4 inch ext. plywood and cut to fit.

The windows were next. After some research (LargeScaleOnLine - Where else?), I decided to use plastic diffusers from overhead fluorescent lights (Yogi Wallace's website. It's http://www.stratuswave.net/~wd8jik/window/window.htm). I picked up a couple at Home Depot. I laid out the shape/size I wanted on the sidepieces, cut the diffusers to fit on a table saw, sanded down the sides with an orbital sander and I had windows!

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But unlike Yogi's design, I didn't cut them in half on a band saw. I used 8mil clear plastic for the window glass, used Spray 'n Glue on the cut diffusers, rolled the 8mil clear plastic on with a hard rubber roller, put a scrap piece of 1/4 plywood on top and used a dirt tamper as a window press to get a good seal on the window.

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The openings for the windows were cut out of the sidepieces; cedar strips were cut in a L-shape on my small Dremel table saw, to fit the opening and to hold the windows in place. Again I used my trusty dirt tamper and enlisted an old CO2 cylinder I had in the carport for a window frame press to hold the windows in place while the glue dried.

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One side has six windows and the other side only has five windows. "Why only five windows?" you may ask. I plan to attach a small powerhouse on that side and that's where it will be. With a 3' to 4' smoke stack of course! But it all needs to be in place so I can check the roof opening to make sure it will fit.

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