I've been sitting on this project now for a couple of months trying to figure out what to do with it.  The project actually started with building the bench work seen above out of scrap pieces of wood laying around in storage.  I'll get into the details of it later, but for the moment the bench work is a self-contained box designed to be a portable exhibition layout. 

The footprint of the 'box' is 48 inches wide, about 16 inches deep including a rear shelf and about 22 inches tall.  I had in mind two different ways to display the layout, either on a table top or plugged into a larger cabinet that I have yet to build. The drawers will hold the trains and whatever else is necessary to run this layout on the go.

Developing a theme for this micro was the most difficult.  I mulled over at least a half-dozen possible themes, some of which would have been great.  Ultimately, I decided to go with a small mining theme based on the small tramways that clung to the sides of hills at the turn of the century in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

On the surface this might seem a bit more mundane compared to, say, a world war I trench railway, but like vanilla ice cream, a micro-sized On30 mining layout is a flexible enough theme that each layout can have it's own character.

For motive power, I've got a used Bachman 0-4-0 porter on the way that will be slightly modified to represent the era. I've already got a pile of On30 axles that just need some resin 3D printed rollingstock. A second locomotive is on the way too, a used Davenport.  I've always wanted one, and it's primary purpose will be to supplement the porter at train shows since by the 1920's and 30's the Black Hills mining district had developed enough that these little tram ways were no longer needed.

You can read the full introduction for this project here if you'd like.

Thank you for checking out this new project!