Every layout designed for realistic operating sessions needs to provide conductors with a place to work. On “Plywood Pacifics” this is often the layout surface – but that’s a really bad idea once scenery is in place.
Once I started operating my S scale Port Rowan layout, I realized that there’s a lot of material to juggle during a session – including waybills for car forwarding, hand-written switch lists to organize the work, and other paperwork… not to mention an uncoupling tool and a throttle. I found I was putting things on a stool tucked under the layout when working St. Williams and using the top of a chest freezer as a desk when working in Port Rowan. Surely, I thought, I can do better: What was needed was a nice, solid surface that one can use to spread out papers and organize one’s work.
But I also wanted to keep such surfaces out of the aisles when not in use. The solution was a pair of slide-away work desks – inspired by the slide-away keyboard shelves found at many computer workstations. The lead photo shows the desk at St. Williams. I also built one for Port Rowan.
I made the shelves from a pine project panel that I acquired at a local big box DIY store. I mounted these on 20″ under-mount slides from Lee Valley Tools. The LED strip lights over each desk came from IKEA. I wired these so they would automatically turn on when the desk was in use, and shut off again when the desk was closed.
If you want to know more, I wrote a feature about these desks, detailing their construction, for the May, 2018 Railroad Model Craftsman magazine.
The desks definitely made it easier for conductors to organize their work and they ensured my scenery and foreground details were not damaged by waybills or throttles.
The Model Railway Show 