I finally got around to building a display shelf for some of my excess trains, that I bought materials for months ago. I built it to fit a 20 x 32 inch acrylic sheet.
Top shelf: Representative pieces from my teen years. The locomotive is a Japanese-made brass and diecast Porter Mogul that was sold by various importers during the 1960s; I bought mine from Balboa Models in 1970. The refrigerator car and boxcar are Central Valley wood kits that I built around the same time. The passenger car is a Binkley model, probably manufactured in the 1950s, that I bought in the 90s, refurbished and repainted. So it wasn't mine when I was a teenager, but the model certainly dates to that period, and fits the era of the rest of the train.
Second Shelf: These pieces are from my later adult H.O. phase in the late 1980s through the early 2000s. The engine is a Bachmann 2-8-0 with a Bachmann Vanderbilt tender, lettered for the Bakersfield & Ventura. It was my go-to steam engine in the later years of the B&V layout. It's followed by a Train Miniature reefer that I painted and lettered for Pacific Fruit Express, and a Walthers tank car. The caboose is a classic Athearn Blue Box kit that I detailed, painted and lettered for Santa Fe.
Third Shelf: Some of my early On30 work. Both pieces are from a lot of Hawthorne Village stuff that I picked up cheap, repainted and lettered for the Lockwood & San Emigdio.
Bottom Shelf: Somewhat later On30. A Bachmann outside-frame 4-4-0, unmodified and unlettered. The box car and caboose both have some sentimental value: The boxcar is lettered for the South Pacific Coast, which ran from Alameda on the east side of San Francisco Bay, through San Jose, to Santa Cruz on the coast. Along the way it passed through Felton, which is now the site of the Roaring Camp & Big Trees, a Shay-powered tourist line that was the first steam-powered train I rode as a kid. The caboose is lettered for the Durango & Silverton, which we visited this summer.
When I first built the display case, I did two center shelves, 5 1/4 inches apart.
When it was almost ready for stain, I tested an On30 engine and an H.O. engine on the shelves. The H.O. engine in particular looked lost with so much space between shelves. After thinking about it overnight, I built another shelf and respaced them, now about 4-1/4 inches apart.
It's now a bit tight for the On30, and still a bit wide for H.O., but good enough.
I stained the pine with Minwax Provincial stain. When dry, it got a couple of coats of Varithane semigloss. The Masonite back is painted tan to better show off the trains.
Finally, I installed some LED tape lights with a dimmer switch.
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