We have liftoff?

Thanks for the continuing encouragement Alfred!

For those of you following this seat of the pants layout odyssey a tip if you are considering using the Bora Centipede system.

I had considered running alternate directions of the tables to stagger the gaps between the tables.

It does not work.

The direction you begin with is the direction you must stay with.  No big deal just a caution.

While the 4X6 size would have decreased the table gaps by about half, the 2X4 size with the table top attached is still an easy life/slide.

The roadway is complete. I continue to populate the town with 1/43 die cast vehicles of various types and eras as my fancy dictates.

My EZ Streets trolley line awaits a few specialized straight to curved pieces before I can test the loop.

A few speciality Woodland Scenics wires will allow me to test the building lights.

Both these aspects of the layout must be completed before I can move on to the next phase.

More photos to follow.

Monday calls for an update.

A lot more vehicles all over the place, especially at the rear of the retail buildings I needed to get that to a point of satisfaction around back before I could add more tables. Once the next row of tables are added my arms aren't long enough. I added some incidents if you will notably the fender bender at the corner of the gas station. Some near misses, and questionable parking lot behavior. I can still access the front/sides of the layout (just not the interior) so that will be spruced up shortly.

A visual barrier was needed between the realistic village and the holiday fantasy destination. Once again due to the temporary nature of the layout I had to rely on light weight removable items. I came up with an idea only plausible to the mentally disturbed. I added two 036 switches to add a loop which will travel through a series of mountain tunnels spaced so that you get a peek a boo effect when the train travels that route.  Realistic, hardly but it serves the purpose until I think of something better.

I anticipate that the Lionel Halloween Camelback, and the Fezziwig railway will use this route while I give the larger engines/longer passenger excursion cars a rest since this loop comes off the main track which travels the perimeter of the layout table.

The tan material you see is the burlap that I mentioned awhile ago.  The sag you may notice is a missing yet to be placed table not a fault or sinkhole.  The cost for grass mats was too great IMO and shed like crazy. That and I could not get a color which felt like fall/winter.

I hope to add some bagged foliage to improve the effect.

After the mountain/tunnel loop is done I move onto setting the orange Fastrack and Lemax Halloween rides/buildings, and completing the perimeter loop as I go along.  

Since the discipline of reality in the village is now behind me I hope to have more rapid progress as it is more a matter of whimsy from here on out.

Enjoy the photos

Thanks Dave.
The impetus for this layout came after literally throwing together a Christmas layout last year and swearing that I had to get it off the floor if it was going to be anything other than a simple loop(s) around the tree.

The next hurdle was if I was going to discontinue my dedicated music listening room, or figure out a way to share it with a layout for a period of time.

In looking for a work bench to work on my Hi Fi gear  I came upon the Bora Centipede but I needed drawers so I bought something else.

By early January I decided that the music listening had to go or be reimagined to not take up so much room.

But I was not/am not ready to commit to a permanent layout so the Bora came back into play.

Over the next few months I bought the Bora components when they went on deep discount.

Somewhere along the line I got this idea of excursion trains visiting holiday destinations.  That is when the Woodland Scenics came into play.  While visiting a train store in Manassas Va on a whim I walked into a well stocked WS inventory that was having a 30% off sale.  I was doomed.

Since I had never done a layout of this scale I knew there would be a steep learning curve and I was right.  Much of the material I am using is intended for permanent layouts.  Adapting these components to a temporary layout has been interesting.  The neoprene roadway was/is particularly vexing.

That said, there are plenty of lessons learned that I will use for next time.

Today I expect to finish the 'spur' loop, place the mountain tunnels, start the Halloween Fastrack portion of the layout and start setting the Lemax Halloween rides/houses/figures.

A fast plug for the benefit of a local hobby shop which I support, Star Hobby in Annapolis MD.  As an example I went in yesterday with this 'spur idea which was on a whim of necessity.  I got a pile of various radius curved pieces, two 036 switches and asked Don if I could take it all home and see if I could make it work and if it did pay for the 'keepers' and return* the rest.
Don said 'Sure' and out the door I went.
You don't get that from the Internet.

* I lay the track out first and don't connect it until I have the right combination (especially an expensive switch)

In anticipation of the Halloween theme I loaded up on orange Fastrack. However I knew that I had to modify a Lionel layout scheme since it was to less deep and wider than the stock version. I put up the BORA tables temporarily so that I could play with the track to see what I could manage in the allotted space and so as no to be too close to the main perimeter loop.

To give you some perspective I have one more row of 2X4 tables to add to what you see now. The perpendicular table was just to lay out the track. It will be placed as are the others later. (The nice thing about the BORA tables is that I can break them down in minutes and get them out of the way when I start working on this section in earnest.)

Of course, I ended up 4-5 straight pieces of track short.

Now anyone who has tried to amass this orange Fastrack knows that straight pieces are tough to find. With that in mind and to break up the orange a bit, I bought 5 Lionel Halloween girder bridges with a section of Fastrack installed. The graphics and predominate purple color of the bridges will give a nice contrast to all that orange.

Those girder bridges should be here Thursday or Friday.

To my chagrin I also realized that I was one Bora leg set short so I had to buy another one. That will be here on or before 10/09.

This photo should give you a good idea of the route the Halloween and Christmas theme trains will run as well as the room I have to work with Lemax buildings wise. Width is a little over 12' and depth about 7'.

Last up date until later this coming weekend.

BTW for those with eagle eyes, in the far left corner is one of the ugliest Lionel mountains that I have ever seen.  It looks like a bad bowl of egg drop soup.  It should be sold to someone with an Area 51 themed layout.  There is a second one on the right.  I will ether repaint them to look more realistic color wise, or sell them.  I can do nothing with the shape UGH!

Thanks Alfred. It is worth the trip. It's sort of like a flea market/yard sale/retail store under one roof. Heavy G /O/On30/N new, used and consignment. Family owned right off RT 50 at the WhiteHall Road exit after College Parkway exit on Rt 50. This is one of Emile's haunts as well.

Alfred,

The board/top that Bora sells is 2X4 when fully extended, but folds up to 2X2 for storage. There are six connection/support points on the 2X4 Bora leg version into which a simple but functional attachment tool is inserted and twisted to secure the table to the support legs. The support points are circular with a short oblong extension into which the afore mentioned attachment tool is inserted and twisted.

See the photos and it should start to make sense.  To the left of the Bora attachment tool is the hole into which the tool is inserted from the underside of the table top through the hole in the attachment point (hole next to where the large yellow nut is).  A simple twist once fully inserted through the Bora top and you are secure.  

Time to set up or tear down a table is under 5 minutes.

The attachment points diameter extends beyond the table top perimeter so that each table is about 1.5" bigger on the length and width than the table top itself.  The photo shows one table top in place with the next table aligned next to it ready for the top to be installed.

When placing the tables together, the perimeter of the attachment points when touching add about 3.0" to the overall dimensions of the actual table top and create that 3" gap I alluded to in previous posts.

I am using that gap to route wiring for the Woodland Scenics and now the Lemax buildings as these gaps run both length and width wise over the entire layout.

That is the good news.  The bad news is because of the lack of access under the tables, I have to route the wires as I go and anticipate/plan how to route the wires to get power before I can proceed to the next row of tables.