The layout begins - April 2010

After much measuring, drawing, erasing, sketching, and thinking, I decided to build an around the wall double deck layout, with a peninsula as a main station, and an 8-turn helix between levels, allowing me to have a continuous run around each level, run from level to level, or from top point to a lower point.  There will be one (fairly high) duck under on one side, and a removable bridge on the lower level.

To minimise impact on the walls, the layout is supported with two welded posts and brackets along each wall.  The only supporting feet are two posts on the peninsula, the legs of the helix, and one other post giving me free access to space 550mm below the timbers of the lower deck for storage, as well as 500mm of clear space above the top of the layout, for storage and display.

The accompanying pictures detail the eight 40mm RHS frames in position around the walls.  The local steel supply company was able to fabricate these for me for less than the price of buying the steel from a well known retailer.  Just to make things difficult, I had to move all of the accumulated gear into the middle of the room, then begin the construction.

The layout is L-girder construction; the timber used was framing pine, 90x35mm. The span distances and other vital information such as support location were worked out from the book "Designing & Building Multi-Deck Model Railroads" by Tony Koester; I would highly recommend this as preliminary reading prior to deciding if multi-deck is what you want. I also used Mr "Google" extensively. There are numerous useful sites with excellent formulas and other information related to model railway design and construction to be found on the internet.