Easy Layout Skirts

EASY LAYOUT SKIRTS

Most model railroads are built on benchwork at a height that makes it easy for adults to view the railroad, comfortable to work on the track and details and (relatively) easy to get at the wiring underneath. This is usually a minimum height of about 40 to 50 inches off the floor. Of course multi deck layouts can have track as low as 30 inches and as high as 72 inches off the floor. Whatever the lowest benchwork level is, I think it is fair to say that we are all tempted to use the space under the layout to store stuff. My layout is no exception. Since I have claimed the entire basement for my layout (I have a VERY understanding and supportive wife), there is a lot of stuff stored under the layout. Power tools, carpet scraps, lumber, pool supplies, paint cans and rarely used appliances are under there. Of course all the extra railroad supplies are there: boxes and bins of scenic material, unbuilt kits, spare loco and kit parts, lighting material, scratch building supplies, you know what I’m talking about! I try to put almost everything on wheeled platforms or shelves attached to the benchwork to prevent damage in case there is ever a flood down there, so nothing sits directly on the floor.

While this makes access convenient, its not very attractive when visitors come. So, some of us try to create some sort of hiding scheme to cover the mess, organized or not. I have seen more ambitious modelers build cabinet structures from the fascia to the floor with sliding panels or hinged doors that rival a fine kitchen. I have also seen less ambitious fellows staple cardboard to the fascia, a scheme that reminds me of my childhood days building “forts” out of refrigerator boxes. Still others tack or staple yards of cloth to the benchwork to hide the mess and draw the visitors’ attention to the fabulous model railroad on top.

Being thrifty, I sought the least expensive way to hide the storage and highlight the Railroad. I used pushpins to tack black landscape cloth to the horizontal underside edge of the benchwork all over the railroad. My benchwork is edged with 1 X 4 X 3/4 inch lumber. 1/8 inch fascia is attached to the vertical edge of the benchwork. The landscape cloth is used to prevent weeds in flower beds, is very inexpensive and readily available at Lowe’s, my favorite shopping destination. I actually tried to find suitable material at a fabric store, but that stuff is way too fancy for me and way too expensive. I think the roll of landscape cloth was about $12 for 50 feet! This worked great for about two months. You could remove a pushpin to temporarily reach your stored items and replace it when you wanted to hide stuff again. But pretty soon, the pushpins would loosen up and scatter to the far corners of the basement never to be found again until you were down there in the summer working on the layout barefoot.

Next I tried gluing wood clothespins to the inside of the benchwork to hold the skirts. This is impractical because it is very difficult to clamp the clothespins while the glue dries, you can’t see them to slide the skirts into them and about half the clothespins spring apart after you have glued them inside the benchwork. when you try to slide the skirts into or out of them.

Which brings me to the subject of this article: “EASY SKIRTS….” This system uses 14 gauge wire to suspend the skirts from the fascia via large “eye” hooks and screws with large flat washers. To access the storage, you simply unhook a section of wire from a few eye hooks and slide the skirt out of your way. Once you find your hidden treasures, you just slide the skirt back in place and re-hook the wire onto the eye hooks.

I used 14 gauge solid wire, which I had left over from stringing my layout power busses. I cut 6-8 foot long sections of the wire and looped one end around a drywall screw and large flat washer. Then I screwed in 1 inch diameter eye bolts about every 18 inches along the bottom of the fascia, making sure there was always an eye bolt at points where the layout benchwork turned corners. Another drywall screw and large flat washer secured the other end of the wire. These eye bolts were closed up too tight to slip the wire in easily, and they had to be pried open a little with a large flat blade screw driver to work properly after installation. I considered using large cup hooks, but they didn’t seem likely to keep the wire held securely since they have such large openings. The eye bolts only had to be opened up about 1/8 of an inch to capture the wire completely, yet still allow easy release of the wire.

The wire installation process went very smoothly, unlike many first time projects I have tried! The tricky part, I thought, would be to create the skirts. In order for the skirts to stay on the wire, you must create something called a “HEM”. This is a “SEWING” term. It was completely foreign to me, as I do not “SEW” . But it is pretty simple. A “HEM” is a fold in the material that is used to neaten up the edge of the fabric. Hems are used at the bottoms of dresses and trousers legs to keep the fabric from unravelling. In the case of the layout skirts, the hem is used to contain the wire holding it in place under the layout, and allowing the skirt to slide aside when desired. Hems are usually created by “SEWING’ the folded fabric together. “SEWING” can be done by hand using a needle and thread for small jobs. It can also be done by a machine for large jobs. I did not own a “SEWING “ machine. I checked upstairs and found that my wife did not own a “SEWING” machine either. I could hand sew the skirts, but I needed 100 linear feet of skirts. I went upstairs and inquired if my wife would like to contribute her efforts to the project by sewing the skirts. Remember page 1 of this article when I said “I have a VE RY understanding and supportive wife”? Not THAT supportive. Honestly, 100 feet of hand sewing is really too much to ask of anyone.

I pondered this dilemma for several days. Then, while working on the bills, I came across a small manual device that might solve my problem- a stapler! Sure enough, my little Swingline was up to the task and with a fresh box of 5000 staples, I was able to create “HEMS” in my first 4 or five layout skirts. This took care of the first 20 feet of skirts, took only about 4 hours, leaving me only 80 feet more to go. The only problem was I had developed a bad case of hand cramps. I needed to find another way.

Reluctantly, I searched Amazon for “SEWING MACHINES” . These range in price from $24.99 to $1400.00. Two days later, I was the proud owner of a neat little machine that had all the features I needed, but didn’t know I needed, such as a “BOBBIN” , a “THREADER” and a “WINDER”. It also had a foot pedal switch to turn it on, which turned out to be pretty handy as you need both hands to guide the 6-8 foot long skirts through the machine. Cost: $24.99! With my wife’s help (See page 1 again) , we got the little gem going and I managed to sew the remaining 80 feet of skirts in one morning!

I installed the skirts all around the layout pretty quickly, cutting notches in the “HEMS” wherever needed for clearance around the eyebolts. I wound up machine sewing all the skirt hems including the ones I initially stapled because I just liked the way the sewn hems looked compared to the stapled ones.

It has been about 4 years since the skirts were installed and they are holding up great. My only additional advice after using them for a few years would be to limit each skirt to about 6 feet in length and to plan the skirts so a single skirt does not service an entire curve. You don’t want long lengths of skirt dragging on the floor when unhooked from the eye bolts.

I hope this article has been helpful!