Alcove Expansion Progress - Fascia

After some careful consideration the cold hard truth hit me that I’m not going to be able to complete the alcove area before my October 15th open house on the Piedmont Pilgrimage. Accepting this fact I decided to change focus to try and install what I though would be pleasing for my visitors. Since I believe that fascia and a fascia curtain help define the area and give it a more finished look I’m going to concentrate on getting those items installed. I believe that I won’t have any problem getting this task completed. Here are some pictures of the progress the last few days:




The challenge with the fascia in this area is that there is a tunnel (8 ft long!) in the lower track that must be able to be accessed. The tunnel itself has three hinged doors that can be opened to remove any problems. Since the bench work is narrow in this area (20″) there isn’t room to reach up under the fascia to get in the tunnel doors (unless you are “Rubber Man”!) from underneath.



Here’s the fascia with the removable panel removed. It’s still under construction as I haven’t installed all of the magnets. There will also be a lower fixed board that will hang the fascia curtain as the curtain will remain in place when the access panel is removed. Any turnout controls or other goodies would be mounted in the upper fixed fascia.

I thought about saving the money on the magnets by not purchasing them and just screwing the access panel in place; however, Mr. Murphy would make sure that I had a bunch of “tunnel troubles” if I tried that. With the magnet mounted access panel it can be popped off in seconds and the tunnel cleared quickly.

Rick