To speed construction at an upcoming a group work session, I made a pair of assembly templates on the weekend of February 2-3, 2002. One of the assembly templates is for the construction of the peninsula supports for the two new peninsulas on this layout. The other template is for the construction of the vertical wall brackets that support the two levels of the layout. The templates consist of 2 x 2 pieces screwed to some MDF shelves. Photos of these templates appear below.

A group work session was held on February 9, 2002 to continue construction of the CSXT Shenandoah Division Version 2.0 layout. Rich and I got a head start and ripped some more 1 x 2 "dimensional lumber" from 3/4" birch plywood. For the rest of the work session, we split into two crews. Rich, Marcus, Larry, and Tommy worked on assembling the peninsula supports, while Todd and I worked on continuing to make mass cuts of the 3/4" birch "dimensional lumber" in an effort to stay ahead of the first crew. We made a good dent in the pile of wood, while the first crew assembled 20 of the T-shaped peninsula supports (including 8 with the supports for both decks of the layout). This crew also assembled the 8 L-shaped peninsula supports as well.

On February 13, 2002, I cut a bunch of 2 x 2 stakes into 2.5" inch glue blocks for use in attaching the horizontal deck supports to the vertical wall brackets.

On February 23, 2002, I built a third assembly template. This template consists of a 1 x 3 with some of the glue blocks screwed to it on 16" centers. This template will be used in constructing the two new peninsulas. On this day, I also made the rest of the mass cuts of wood for the double-deck supports.

On February 24, 2002, I cut all of the diagonal cross-braces for the peninsula supports, completing all of the mass cuts. The only wood left to cut at this point will be some cut-to-fit situations that I want to measure once we start assembling the layout, rather than relying completely on the CAD drawings.

At this point, the good news is that I believe I'm ready to commence assembly of the layout.

Tommy, Larry, Rich, and Marcus discussing the next moves in assembling the peninsula supports. Notice the stack of supports already assembled behind Marcus at the tail of the driveway.

Todd watching the first crew at work and waiting for me to stop taking pictures so we can get back to work. :-)

Building a large model railroad is very hard work that requires intense concentration from a highly-skilled work crew as shown in this picture. :-)

Here are eight of the peninsula supports. They only need to have the diagonal cross-braced added to be complete.

Two of the assembly templates: the one on the left is for building the T-shaped an L-shaped peninsula supports, while the one on the right is for building the double-deck supports that will be attached to the room walls.

Here's the stack of mass-cut lumber as of 02/24/02. The angled pieces in front are the diagonal cross-braces for the peninsula supports.

Here's another view of the two templates shown above. In addition, the 1 x 3 to the right of these templates is the template for spacing the peninsula supports when assembly begins in the layout room.

Here is a completed peninsula support with the diagonal cross-brace attached. These supports will be strapped together on 16" centers....soon. :-)