Woodworking

My Real Hobby is Overthinking the Geometry of Sectional Track | Driveway ’22 Part 1

Truth be told, sectional track is the main reason I stayed awake in high-school math class. Once I realized that mathematics could answer important questions like “how close to the edge of the plywood will this loop be?” and “how long do I need to cut that fitter section?” it became much more relevant to me. To this day, I carry a calculator with trigonometry functions everywhere I go, just in case a track-planning emergency crops up. Thanks to my enhanced geometry skills, my first book—about track planning, naturally—was well along by graduation time. (I self-published it a year later.) When the time came over the winter of ’21-22 to design a replacement for the Covid-19 Emergency Railroad, I was rarin’ to go.

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My COVID-19 Emergency Railroad

I do nearly all my operating at train shows. There have been no train shows since February. There won’t be any train shows until November. There might not be any then, either. How to satisfy my burning desire to watch a train travel around in circles for an extended period of time? (more…)

Finally, Some More Woodworking

The blog is called “Furniture Railroads,” so…where’s the furniture? To make a long story short, my attention has been elsewhere. I still build furniture for a living, but my current employer has a stricter policy on personal projects than my past employers have. No personal work during lunch or breaks. I can take maybe fifteen minutes at the end of the workday before the lights go out. (His shop, his rules.) By quitting time, I’ve usually had enough of noise and sawdust, so I’ve been barely able to muster the enthusiasm for essential honey-do jobs, let alone hobby projects. (more…)