Creating a Railroad Timetable.

This is a follow-up to our articles "Garage to Train Station, Part 1" and "Garage to Train Station, Part 2".

In those articles we began tranforming one end of our garage that the previous owner left looking like a bomb had gone off into something resembling a 1900ish rural train station. We patched huge holes, painted, moved electrical outlets, installed wainscotting and baseboards, and painted backgrounds for three window frames.

Also in our plans was a railroad timetable. I would need to build it and letter it. So the first part of this article is about painting and rudimentary carpentry, and the second half is about using an ancient Cricut with obsolete software to cut out the lettering for the headers.

In addition, I planned to use the timetable to hide a shallow storage shelf that someone had given Shelia a few years ago and for which we had no other use. It was just deep enough to store the DVDs, CDs, and BluRays that I keep in my workshop to play in the background when I'm doing tedious manual stuff.

The picture to the right is a computer mockup I created to guide me through the rest of the steps. In the end product, the destinations, times, and train numbers would be written in chalk, so the main thing I needed was a big black board, framed, with three or four lines of text on the top and a bunch of lines.

The shallow shelving unit I wanted to conceal was 48" wide and 46" high. I had been planning to use it this way for months, but I didn't bother picking up materials until the wall it was going to go on started looking like an actual wall.

Then, on a trip to pick up some lumber for my outdoor railroad expansion, I came across a piece of 48"x48" underlayment that had been dropped so one corner was busted off - but there was still enough "good" for my project (below let). I got it for about $3. So patience paid off, as it often does.

When I was ready to start the project, I lightly sanded the better side of the underlayment board and painted it with two coats of Krylon chalkboard paint that Shelia had bought for another project (above right).

It would need some sort of frame to help camouflage the shelving unit and give me something to attach the hinge. The frame wouldn't have to be pretty, since I was going for a rustic look anyway. But none of the scrap lumber pieces I had thought about using were long enough to give me the 16' of material that I would need.

Then I came across two pressure-treated fencing boards I had bought for another project. (Original cost: about $3). They were green and rough-cut, but I thought I could use them. I sliced them lengthwise, cut them to size, and sanded them. Then I stained them with some old Pecan-colored Minwax that I bought years ago to refinish our dining room table.

I did have to buy 5/8" wood screws to attach the boards to the chalkboard. At ~$6, they doubled the cost of the project so far.

I laid the chalkboard face-down, arranged the frame boards underneath the edges, and shot the screws through the chalkboard into the frame boards. When you do this, you'll use a more professional method, I'm sure.

The boards worked out nicely. If the pressure-treating chemical ever leeches through the stain, I can always touch them up with more stain.

Dusting off my Craftcutter

I was also a little more nervous about the next part of the project - using an obsolete Cricut to create the lettering for the "headers" on the chalkboard.

From the start my plan was to use an old Cricut Expression I had bought years ago at a thrift shop. But both it and the software I had for it were hopelessly obsolete, and I wasn't sure it would work at all.

I dug it out of storage and tested it on a winter snowflake project for Shelia. I tested it used a variety of approaches, including:

• A Cricut December 25th cartridge and

• An obsolete 3rd-party program. Craft Edge's Sure-Cuts-a-Lot 2 ("SCAL2") used to drive the Cricut directly before Cricut sued them. (I probably angered the Cricut gods when I "forgot" to update my software to the version that wouldn't work with the Cricut anymore.)

Note about Craftcutters for Your Sign Projects - If you don't have an early Cricut already, don't rush out and try to find a pre-lawsuit copy of SCAL2. Silhouette's line of Cameos will give you far more features and flexibility with far less hassle. Their software is free to Cameo owners and supports even their first generation machines. Any old used, but working first-generation Cameo will give you what you need for less than $100 on auction sites. Just sayin' . . . .

The image to the left below shows the Sure-Cuts-a-Lot2 work window with the snowflake designs I printed through that program. The image to the right shows snowflakes from both processes.

Attacking the Lettering

I let a friend explain how he used his Cricut, adhesive vinyl, and transfer tape to a similar, though much smaller project. Then I watched a YouTube video to make certain I had it right.

The typeface in the Cricut "Storybook" font cartridge (right) could have stood in for an Old Western typeface. But I went ahead and used the more flexible tools at my disposal.

I designed the printout in CorelDraw, exported an SVG file, and imported it into SCAL2 (below right). That also allowed me to squeeze a little more text on the page in a different typeface.

I used CF Wild West for the top line and Engravers Gothic BT for the "Arrivals" and "Departures" text. The "personal" version of CF Wild West is a free downloadable font. Engravers Gothic BT came with a set of vintage graphic resources, but if you want something similar, Copperplate Condensed Bold is close, and free downloadable versions are available.

You could do the same thing in Adobe Illustrator, if you have that, or a dozen other programs. In fact, the Silhouette Design "add-in" software for the Cameo makes it even easier to cut this sort of thing from certain programs. So if you haven't got a craftcutter yet, please don't try to track down and implement the obsolete combination I use in this article.

The picture to the right shows SCAL2 after importing the file. I also tested the file with Silhouette's "Studio 4.4" software and it works about the same.

I got out my white, 12" wide, adhesive vinyl and rolled it out on the 12"x24" mat. Then I let the SCAL2 software and the Cricut Expression do their thing, using recommended settings for adhesive vinyl.

Because it's white-on-white, it's hard to see the cutout letters on the vinyl, but they're there.

Next I rolled out a sheet of transfer tape and used it to bring the vinyl away from the backing, leaving as much of the excess on the backing as possible.

The process of separating the stuff you want from the stuff you don't want is called "weeding" for some reason, and it can be a little tedious. I cut the vinyl and transfer tape apart and "weeded" a word or two at a time.

The photos below show the text after it has been picked up by the transfer tape and "weeded." At this point, these pieces are more-or-less "stickers" that you can deposit wherever you want, rub the lettering a lot to make sure it will stick, and peel back the transfer tape (carefully).

I used a straightedge to align the letters as they went down. If you look closely, you'll see some goofs. If I was doing this for a living, I'd feel worse about it. That said, I think it looks pretty good for my purposes.

"Seasoning" the Chalkboard

You do this by rubbing a piece of chalk sidways over the whole thing then rubbing it and wiping off the excess with a dry rag.

Turns out my chalkboard was very porous so most of the "seasoning" chalk stayed in place. That's okay, I've seen at least one photo of an old-timey timetable that was "worse." So it's authentic.

The lower left photo shows the chalkboard after I rubbed the chalk on it but before I rubbed it with a rag,

For simplicity's sake, I didn't put the striping on the lower 3/4 of the chalkboard until it was seasoned (lower right). The pinstriping tape doesn't stick quite as well over the chalky part, but it holds well enough for my purposes.

Attaching the Storage Shelves and Hanging

The photo to the right shows the timetable face-down on the floor with the shelving unit on top of it and a piano hinge placed where it would go.

Then I lifted the thing in place with the "door" open and shot screws where there should have been a stud. Finally I hit one, which allowed me to shoot eight more screws into the studs.

To my delight and surprise, everything seemed to have stayed in place. And it looked good when it was there. Don't laugh, my projects don't always work out the way I think they will.

In the photo above, I have moved the window closest to the timetable over three inches, because it was just too close, and it was a lot easier to move the windowframe than to rehang the shelf/timetable combination. I will have to move the next one over 1.5" so they remain evenly spaced, but there's no rush on that.

Some time in the future, I hope to put a little closet sort of thing on the other end of the wall, disguised as a ticket stand/post office. (I will use it to hide my gardening tools.) I also need to sort out the edge of the flooring I've installed (there wasn't quite enough to square it off), and I'd like to paint a carpet roll black to stand in as a stovepipe for the stove. In the meantime, though, I'm pretty satisfied with the appearance of things. More later.

Keep in Touch

If you're headed toward or past Springfield, Ohio, please let me know, and I'll see if we can work out a quick visit. To the railroad, that is. The train room is still not very presentable.

Finally, please let us know about your ongoing projects. Ask questions, send corrections, suggest article ideas, send photos, whatever you think will help you or your fellow railroaders. In the meantime, enjoy your trains, and especially enjoy any time you have with your family in the coming weeks,

Paul Race

FamilyGardenTrains.com

Note: The following page is a detour to show what we've been working on inside when the weather was too brutal to work outside.

Proceed to "New Right-of-Ways on the New Boston and Donnels Creek RR" - Adding a loop based on 10'-diameter curves. Includes cutting and installing 2x6 roadbed, bridging the waterfall, and cutting a third passage through the train shed, as well as installing roadbed for two smaller loops.

Click on the picture to see our status as of late March, 2021.

Return to "Garage to Train Station, Part 2" - continuing to fix up one end of my garage to resemble a Victorian train station interior. I used a digital projector to outline vintage coach details for my windowframes. Then I painted the backgrounds, attached the windowframes, and installed them on the wall. A repro Regulator clock and other details are added.

Click on the picture to see our status as of late December, 2020.

Return to "Christmas Preparations and Operations" - Usually we have a single big Christmas-themed open railroad, and we prepare for it much of the fall. But for safety's sake this year, we decided to scale things back and spread them out. Thanks to the new platform, we were able to have five running trains for visitors to watch, including actual model trains and Thomas and Friends trains. We also had three trains for kids to run, including a Hogwarts Express circling a castle where a dragon is pursuing Harry Potter and his friends.

Click on the picture to see our status as of late December, 2020.

Return to "Garage to Train Station, Part 1" - fixing up one end of my garage to resemble a Victorian train station interior. The initial steps included demolition, patching the ceiling and walls, moving electrical outlets, adding wainscotting and baseboard, and planning for windowframes with painted backgrounds.

Click on the picture to see our status as of early December, 2020.

Return to "Westward Expansion, 2020, Part 3" - Thanks to a spate of unusually warm weather in early November, I was able to get the new platform finished, lined with vinyl, and bordered with trim boards to keep the dirt and gravel in place.

The next "permanent" improvements will wait for now. In the meantime, we will set out buildings and a temporary loop or to entertain visitors between now and Christmas.

Click on the picture to see our status as of mid-November, 2020.

Return to "Westward Expansion, 2020, Part 2" - We had to be careful leveling the last joists so the frame, decking, and right-of-way would be as level as possible. Fortunately we were able to get enough lumber to get a good start on the frame.

We also added one last tweak to the frame design to make it easier to extend this platform to its originally planned size, if and when we get a chance to do so.

Return to "Westward Expansion, 2020, Part 1" - With a lumber shortage and warm weather running out, we revised our plans for the next addition, bought what decent lumber we could find, dug holes, installed posts, and attached joists.

We were hoping to get the lumber we need to finish the platform before cold weather set in. Click on the link to see our status as of late September, 2020.

Return to "Train Storage Solutions, 2020" - Using periods of cold weather to get things sorted in the garage, including shelf building and tips for schlepping trains from storage to the tracks.

Click on the following link to see our status as of late January, 2020. https://familygardentrains.com/newbost/20_1_19_shelves/shelves.htm

Return to "Expansion Planning, 2020" - Three years after starting a garden railroad in our new home, we are trying to figure out the best way to finish the last loop of our raised platform railroad. How to make room for 10'-diameter curves and more towns and industries, but still keeping things manageable requires some thinking and rethinking.

Click on the photo to see the options we were reviewing for the next and last expansion.

Return to "Winter Preparation, 2019" - After the big open railroad event, we try to prepare the railroad for the cold months, including populating the railroad with North States bird feeders so it doesn't look empty, adding an air pump and bubblers to the pond, and more.

Click on the following link to see our status as of early December, 2019. https://familygardentrains.com/newbost/19_11_24_winter_prep/19_11_24_winter_prep.htm

Return to "Christmas Train Day, 2019" - Three years after starting a garden railroad in our new home, we host another Christmas-themed open railroad, giving many families a jump start on Christmas celebrations and sharing the experience of running trains with lots of kids.

Click on the photo to see a brief record of our busiest weekend in November, 2019.

Return to "Preparing for Christmas Train Day 2019" - Wrapping up construction projects for 2019 and getting ready for our annual Christmas-themed open railroad. Includes new lighting and other features, providing a temporary home for a Hogwarts Express train, weather issues, and more. Click to go to article.

Click on the following link to see our progress of mid-November, 2019.

https://familygardentrains.com/newbost/19_11_01_prep_for_train_day/19_11_01_prep_for_train_day.htm

Return to Decking the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek Part 2 - Getting the next part of the railroad ready to install trains. Includes installing 2"x6" decking, vinyl sheeting, edges to hold back the gravel, and corrugated steel panels. It's not done, but it will give us another place to set up trains for our next Christmas-themed open railroad.

Click on the photo to see our status as of late October, 2019.

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR - Part 7" - Installing posts, joists, framing, and decking for the eastern expansion of the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek. Although this installation was complicated by having to fit into an existing framework, the methods used could work for any raised-platform railroad.

Click on the following link to see our progress of early October, 2019.

https://familygardentrains.com/newbost/19_27_framing/19_27_framing_part_7.htm

Return to "Planning the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR - Part 5" - Once the major components of the water feature were installed and tested, we decided to add one more bit of railroad proper before our "Christmas Train Day," this November. The addition, about 5'x11', will allow us to put a small train and some scenery closer to eye level for youngsters. Eventually it will be part of the larger plan that will allow us to run our bigger cars and locomotives.

Click on the photo to see our plans for the next addition, as of late September, 2019.

Return to Waterscaping Part 4. - Installing the last connecting pool, so the whole planned waterfall is complete except for dirtscaping and planting.

The process included checking the pump, extending the hoses, rescuing toads, building the platform, trimming the platform, testing the pool's location, etc.

Click the photo to go to the article.

Return to "Waterscaping, Part 3" - After seven months of crazy long work hours, I finally got some free time to continue working on the railroad. Weather permitting, I often worked all the live-long day. This article describes installing two posts that will eventually support the last connecting pool, then digging the big hole for the in-ground pond, complicated by a three-month drought that turned the ground to concrete.

Click on the photo to see our progress as of mid-September, 2019.

Return to Christmas Train Day, 2018 - After two years without our traditional Christmas Train Day (something we did from 2008 through 2015), we were anxious to get started again, even without a huge right of way to show off. The kids' trains, the extra Thomas railroad, the popcorn popper and two Bachmann Christmas trains got a big workout. And the visiting kids all loved it!

Click on the photo to see a lot of last-minute preparations and some photos of the November 10, 2018 event itself.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 6" - Installing the board and batten siding on our train shed, installing the windows, installing the trim, testing the "tunnel entrances," and more.

By the way, going over lumber receipts in early 2019, I couldn't believe I was still siding the train shed in late October, and managed to have an open railroad in mid-November. It is a little crazy how fast things can go together if you have a deadline and a lot of gift cards.

Click on the photo to see our progress as of late October, 2018.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 5" - Planning the doors, walls, and windows of our garden train shed.

Includes choosing the siding and windows, installing the door, painting the windowframes, and adding crosspieces to support the vertical siding boards.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 4" - Choosing and installing underlayment and drip edge to protect the sheathing until I can get the final roof installed.

Now the roof is waterproof enough to get us through the next couple of months at least, maybe more.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 3" - Adding fascia, sheathing, and end trim to the in-progress train shed.

I thought about bringing in helpers for this part, but a reader commented on how helpful it was to see how one person could do this sort of thing by himself, so I just kept plugging away.

Click on the photo to see our progress as of September 13, 2018

Return to "Waterscaping Part 2" - Getting this year's waterscaping project done (for now at least). Installing and dirtscaping the third level of the waterfall. Installing pump and filter, adding an extra container and modifying the ones we already had installed to keep the water running smoothly. And lots of other tweaking. Includes tips about introducing fish and plants, as well as other information about water features in general that you may find helpful.

Click on the photo to see our status as of August 5, 2018.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 2" - Adding rafters to the frame of the in-progress train shed. Now it's starting to look like it might actually be a structure and not just a crazy collection of posts.

The way we got the rafters and ridge board up wouldn't work for everybody, but it worked for us, and hopefully will help other folks to "think outside the box" - literally in this case.

Click on the photo to see our progress as of July 14, 2018.

Return to "Adding a Train Shed Part 1" - What started out as a simple addition of a deck to stand on when putting trains on the track got a little more ambitious when I realized that JUST installing the deck this year would require more work next year. So we framed out what we planned to be a train shed attached to the railroad. If it ever gets finished, I can easily put trains on the track at a moment's notice instead of schlepping them out from the garage.

Click on the photo to see our status as of July 9, 2018.

Return to "Waterscaping the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek Part 1," our article on getting the top two layers of the waterfall on solid footing and getting the third layer framed. After we finish decking and dirtscaping the third layer, we will probably add a washbasin or something for the water to flow into, then add a pump to get the waterfall flowing. No big pond until next year at least - too many other projects.

Click on the photo to see our progress as of June 13, 2018.

Return to "Dirtscaping the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 2. - Adding barriers to keep the rocks, dirt, and plants where they're supposed to go, placing platforms and running wiring for buildings, adding rocks, dirt, and plants to the upper level of the railroad.

Click on the photo to see our status as of June 1, 2018.

Return to "Adding Raised Roadbed to the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek, Part 2" - Trimming the corners off the roadbed on the upper layer and cutting the pieces that will support the curves on the middle layer. We need to get the upper two tiers of the pond installed before we totally complete this step, so the article doesn't quite show the finished product. You'll see it later as part of other articles.

Return to "Adding Raised Roadbed to the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 1" - Sorting out our priorities for the spring and summer of 2018. There a lot of little chores we really should get done before we start on the next big addition. Click to see our plans as of February 27, 2018.

Click on the photo to see our status as of February 20, 2018

Return to "2018: Springing into Spring on the NEW New Boston & Donnels Creek RR." - Sorting out our priorities for the spring and summer of 2018. There a lot of little chores we really should get done before we start on the next big addition. Click to see our plans as of February 27, 2018.

Click on the photo to see our status as of February 20, 2018

Return to "Dirtscaping the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 1. - Putting edging around the existing "layers" of the new railroad, and beginning to add gravel and rocks. There were a few test runs, but we got stopped early by bad weather before we could dump the rest of the rocks, gravel, and dirt, much less plant the plants we hoped to get in before snowfall.

Click on the photo to see our status as of November 21, 2017

Return to "Decking the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR - Decking the 'middle layer' of our proposed three-tier outdoor railroad. Prepping more track, laying out track and decking to make certain we have measurements correct, installing most of the remaining decking for this layer.

Click on the photo to see our status as of October 25, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 6" - Modifying and finishing the framing on the second layer, cantilevering, using R3 track versus all other pre-curved track formats, finalizing the track plan, why painting the track makes old and new track blend better, and more. This will be the last bit of "framing" in 2017, and it worked out well, considering.

Click on the photo to see our status as of October 15, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 5" - Spreading the billboard-sourced vinyl underlayment on the top layer. Prepping used Aristo track for (hopefully) many more years of service. Laying the first loop of track, attaching power wires with spade terminals, and testing conductivity with a Bachmann streetcar.

Click on the photo to see our status as of October, 10, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 4" - Planning and running the decking for the top layer, testing the track plan, checking clearances, prepping used track with new railjoiners, examining the vinyl I ordered to go over the decking, and more.

Click on the photo to see our status as of September 26, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 3" - Getting the frame finished on the top layer, ordering other things I'd need eventually, deciding on materials for the decking on the top layer (at least).

Click on the photo to see our status as of September 17, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 2" - Once I had the overall frame relatively solid, I hooked up the underground power lines to two GFI plugs that should be in easy reach once everything is finished. I also decided to frame out the top railroad layer while I could still access the center of the railroad easily. Because I was running out of vertical space, I reconfigured that layer. Then after I got the "core" pieces on, I changed my plan again. But the whole thing is getting easier and easier to visualize, and is getting closer to complete with every board I cut and fasten on.

Click on the photo to see our status as of September 7, 2017

Return to "Framing the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek RR, Part 1" - Once I started dropping posts in the holes and screwing things together, I didn't want to stop before I had the basic frame built (for one thing, the wood warps less once it's fastened in place). Now the folks driving down the street past our house (we're on a corner lot) probably wonder if I'm building an elaborate chicken coop, but that's fine with me. I still need to make a few more lumber runs and do a lot more cutting and sawing, but having the basic frame in place should make the next bits a lot easier.

Click on the photo to see our status as of August 10, 2017

Return to "Breaking Ground on the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek" - Okay, in case you wondered if we'd ever get started on the thing, we broke ground in July, using a manual post-hole digger. Well two manual post-hole diggers. But by the end of this article, we're ready for the posts to start going in.

Click on the photo to see our status as of the end of July, 2017

Return to "Planning the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek, Part 4" - Well, the rented post-hole digger fell through, so we dug our vegetable garden with a manual post-hole digger (the scissors kind). In addition, I stake out where the railroad was going to be. Twice. And tweaked the plans again. Sorry about the redo's, but sometimes just walking around the yard trying to visualize things makes me reconsider something that seemed "settled" only a few days before.

Click on the photo to see what we were considering as of late May, 2017

Return to "Planning the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek, Part 3" - We have still not broken ground. In part because we plan to rent a post-hole digger and dig the post holes for our raised vegetable garden and the first phase of the garden railroad at the same time, and we don't have enough lumber on hand yet. (If we didn't break it down into multiple trips, we'd be blowing out the shocks on our minivan.) In the meantime, we used a line level to see if the slope of the back yard was as bad as we thought it was (it's worse), and we did other site preparation, including planting a whole bunch of spruce tree seedlings to eventually give us some privacy in our side and back yard. Plus, I'm still wavering a little on the "where-to-start-first" issue.

Click on the photo to see what we were considering as of late April, 2017

Return to "Planning the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek, Part 2" - More plans. We've moved on from the 2"x6" roadbed-on-posts to a sort of "train-table-outside" plan. Our goals include low-maintenance, high interest, and high reliability. We're also trying to get around having a thousand dollars' worth of dirt hauled into the back yard. If you want to get some idea of what our planning process looks like, reading these through in sequence may help. Or it may drive you crazy.

Click on the photo to see what we were considering in early April, 2017

Return to "Planning the NEW New Boston and Donnels Creek, Part 1" - If you're subscribed to our newsletter, you know that we moved just after Thanksgiving in 2016, leaving behind most of the track, a few of the bird feeders, and one Bachmann train set for the new owners. We also left behind a high-maintenance garden that we do not intend to replicate at the new place. This is the first chapter of a new chapter in our lives, which we hope will include a lot of "lessons learned." But first, some serious landscaping had to take place.

Click on the photo to see what we were considering in March, 2017

Return to the New Boston and Donnels Creek RR Page - This is the page describing Paul Race's progress and frequent rework on his own garden railroad, started on a shoe-string budget in 1998, later expanded, and later refurbished several times as issues arose. Issues that Paul hopes to avoid by building the next iteration above ground.

Click on the photo to see the home page of Paul's railroad.

Return to Family Garden Trains' Home Page - The home page with links to all the other stuff, including design guidelines, construction techniques, structure tips, free graphics, and more.

To read more, or to look at recommended Garden Railroading and Big Indoor Train products, please click on the index pages below.