A cart for the Aston Spur

In the early days, the plywood/foam base sat on two folding tv dinner tables.

Not ideal.

Note the folding tables.

I live near the Junction in West Toronto. The Junction got its name as the meeting place for the CPR's North Toronto line (with a line down to Union Station and the beginning of its Transcon line North) and CN's Weston Sub. The area is still very active with trains - CPR's Lambton yard and the Weston Sub's stream of GO Trains, UP Express trains and Via.

Dundas St. W. in the Junction area has lots of little shops. At the time, I was buying furniture from Forever Interiors: https://www.foreverinteriors.com/. They make furniture from steel and old re-finished wood. Their work is gorgeous (although they've moved locations since).

I got to know the owner and asked him to custom build a train cart for me. The cart does the following:

1. Acts as a solid base for the layout.

2. Gave me additional storage space.

3. Helps the layout "blend" into the room.

4. Has wheels to enable me to move the layout around a bit.

It cost about $1000, which was a bargain. The steel/wood combo gives it a rustic industrial look.

Note the trim.

I found six crates at Home Depot to store scenery materials and rolling stock underneath the layout. I later bought a rolling cart from Staples for additional storage space (the green cart below).

As an added touch, I bought some old barn board from Forever Interiors to use as trim for the layout. The trim disguised the plywood/foam base. I recessed my DCC panel in the trim. You can see trim installation in progress in one of the photos above. Here the studs I had previously installed came in handy as they supported the screws for the trim. I sealed the barnboard to eliminate splinters and protect some of the damaged parts of the wood.

There is just enough clearance between the trim and the boxes to enable them to be removed easily.

The cart may not sound like a big deal, but when you live in a small condo every inch of space helps. I also don't like a cluttered look and a 2x7 blob in a small (9 x 10) room can take over very quickly. 

The cart was a very satisfying part of creating the layout. It looks great. It saves space. The specs worked out perfectly - who knew I would find boxes that fit the shelves perfectly. And the barnboard trim was a beautiful finish. And I supported a local business.

One last touch is the art above the layout. My Stepfather (a bit of a pack rat) gave me two very appropriate pieces of vintage railroad publicity that were in amazing shape despite being over 60 years old. I had them framed and they live above the layout. 

1955 CN System Map

A 1955 brochure for the Canadian

The cart arrived in September 2018. By this point, I had finished the track and installed DCC. I was now ready for scenery!