Hi All,

Recently some very surprising circumstances forced my wife, daughter, and I to move in to her parent's home while we wait for our house to "be complete" which should be some time around Spring. This of course left me in a tough spot layout wise as I had nothing to permanently setup and operate, so I figured I'd create a temporary, mobile, and cheap layout to hold me over until a more permanent layout could be deigned and implemented. 

The "benchwork" is pretty simple: it's a 1x12 cut to a 7' with two pieces of 1x12 screwed in from the bottom at either side which acts as a riser. This leaves room for the wiring, and also acts to keep the board from sinking in the middle. I had to build it as such since I have to bring it up from the basement each time I use it (can't "set it up" anywhere, I have to store it after each use). I usually set it up between two chairs which act as the "legs", and operate it as such. 

It takes about five minutes (yes, I timed myself!) to set up including setting up the chairs, bringing up the layout from the basement, putting on the scenery, setting up the trains, and plugging in. Everything except the track is removable, and is stored in a single box so I only have to make two trips down to the basement, one for the layout, and one for the box. Here are some pictures I took outside this morning as it was too nice not to!

Here's the track layout. I don't have staging since that would complicate my moving process, so I set up the train to come in from the bottom curve with 2-3 cars, and the straight section up top represents usable track (anything off the edge of the board is unusable track of course). Nothing is set up. 

Once I put some trains and industries on, it's a little more bearable to look at!

  (Don't mind the house in the background... Poor photography skills!)

This was a fun project that took two weekends to complete, was very inexpensive (around $350 with DCC/sound system/loco included), and has provided me with hours of fun already. I love seeing what everyone shares on here so I figured I'd contribute as I've received so much from everyone here. Hope you enjoyed!