In the autumn of 2022 the Model Railway was dismantled in order to prepare for transportation in its new home in Leyland.

We used a man with a van and a friend, and the layout did manage one careful journey without too much incident. But, there were other priorities too. The Garage was advertised as a double but was really one and a half and the estate agent had not measured it correctly. Viewing was difficult as it was stuffed full and I did not check the measurements, so there was slightly less space than expected.

The first tasks were -

• Dismantle the very large workbench (4’x8’) and from it create a more manageable one (2’x4’),
• Replace the main door which was in a poor condition, would leak heat, and didn’t work properly.
• Try to level the floor which slopes gently from the back to the front and is generally erratic.

Although we had a reasonable amount of time to sort things out the Garage was also being used most of the time to store the railway and lots of other stuff. In retrospect I would have done things a bit differently.

The next photo shows part of the garage now ready for the railway with the new doors, suitably insulated, painted walls and sturdy carpet. Also show are the bases on which the layout will sit. 

Some of the bases were the IKEA ones no longer available, a few were made to match and all have pieces of wood under the corners to make them level and a framework on which the boards would rest. 

This is the only photo I seem to have showing some of the boards standing on their ends, which is how they were stored for several months, on a sturdy board levelled to stop warping. They had to be moved several times whilst the garage was prepared. This also shows some of the attempts to provide as much shelving as possible. 

The two little white chest of drawers had been used to support at least one old N-gauge layout and then as a store for tools. Sadly they  were soon after broken up.

The following are two photos showing part of the method used to ensure that the bases are in the right position when the boards were moved. As at the time of writing I am hoping not no need to do this again as it was long and tedious each time.

Finally the boards were all in their correct places in their new homes to check that they all fitted together snugly.

Some of the photos above may be a bit out of sequence but the last two were November 2023, 13 months after we took possession of the house and 11 after we moved in. I then had about 8 months to sort things out before the grandchildren arrived from overseas on holiday.

See Fitting in to its new home.

30th June 2025