As I was gearing up to start my Sewing Room project Jay and I were discussing his birthday and the recent train show that he attended. He had helpfully circled various cars that he wouldn’t mind receiving for his birthday on a pamphlet that he had received with a purchase of some tank cars (I think).

If you remember, Jay had started to create a layout a few years ago…

… until the woodworking tools became too much to have in the same space. That’s when the model railroad got packed away.

As we were talking Jay mentioned that he would like to maybe build a smaller layout that he could work on, but that was small enough that it could be put away when not in use. I thought maybe he could just redo the coffee table layout.

Apparently that was too small.

Unlike some wives, I still love my husband and try to support him as much as I can. After all, he very rarely puts his foot down when it comes to anything I want to do. I have my sewing stuff, crocheting stuff, cross stitching stuff, my giant library of Civil War books and my baby grand piano. I am indulged.

Jay’s hobbies take up a lot more room. Thus the reason for the Airplane Lean-To.

Our house is not humongous, but if you work with what you have then you can usually find a solution to your space problem. That’s when it hit me.

There is a spot in front of my work table in the basement that essentially collects junk. And airplanes.

I asked if this area would be big enough for the small layout he has in mind.

Apparently it was because the next day this area looked like this:

The day after that I went down and found this:

It’s amazing how quickly an area can get cleaned up when there’s motivation behind it. One caveat was that Jay had to put a pipe up on the other side of the basement so that I could hang my clothes when doing laundry. Up to this point I had hung them in this area. It was only a day or so before there was room on the other side, too.

The area was quickly cleared and a framework for the layout appeared.

(Please note that there is still an A-4 on my work table…)

This layout will not be able to be disassembled because it’s built right around one of the supporting posts. We just have to figure out how to incorporate it into the layout.

This entire table was built using scraps that Jay had laying around the basement, so it was a good project in that respect, too!

He rounded off the edges so that I wouldn’t poke my eye out (yes, I could definitely manage that if you let me).

All of the buildings, track, and cars were hauled out of their storage containers and displayed for inspiration.

I haven’t been working on this with him because I’ve been eye-ball deep in my own projects. He has been watching YouTube videos to better learn how to paint the buildings and work on scenery. It’s more than just the trains for him this time.

I think that he’s doing a great job. As he makes more progress I’ll be sure to post more pictures.