Just like backdrops enhance your layout, you should also consider skirting your layout.
Skirting is probably the last thing you think about, but it does a lot for the overall vision of your layout.
As model railroaders, we gather a lot of stuff and never have enough room to store it all, so what do we do with it? We stick it under our benchwork.
I like my railroad to be neat and tidy when I know someone is going to stop by and wants to see how my railroad has progressed. What I don’t want them to see is the stuff I have stored under my layout.
If for no other reason, this is a good reason to use skirting.
I am always working on a tight budget, and any amount of money I spend on my railroad takes away from getting that prized EMD or GP engine I have my eye on. So when it comes to skirting my railroad, I wanted something that would look good but not cost me a lot of money to do it.
After pondering it for a week, I happened to be shopping with my wife at a local Walmart. My wife wanted to get a couple of new bath towels. So, as she was looking things over, I wandered a bit further down the aisle and walked past the shower curtains.
All of a sudden, a thought occurred to me: could I use a shower curtain as skirting, and how much is it going to cost? I looked at several different kinds; most of them had designs on them, which was automatically a no-go. But then, near the bottom row, I saw basic shower curtains in solid colors. No patterns, no designs, and the best part? They were $1.09 a piece!
So I did some rough calculations in my head, adding up all the exposed sides of my layout to come to an estimated length. I looked at the shower curtain package to find out how wide the curtain was. Then it hit me: wait a minute, I don’t care how wide it is, but how long. They were 88″ long; that is almost 8′! That is almost perfect, and at $1.09 each, that means I would need to spend a little over $7.00 to get 6 packages, which is more than enough to skirt my whole layout and have a little left over in case I mess up.
When I got home, I couldn’t wait to see if I had gotten close to the right measurement. Lengthwise, I had figured pretty well. But what I forgot to think about was how high my layout was. My benchwork is 3 1/2′ tall, and the shower curtain is 7′ wide. It looks like I’m going to have to do some trimming.
I opened the package and then saw why they were so cheap. It was a very thin vinyl plastic curtain. Another great idea down the drain.
As I stood there looking at this thin shower curtain laying on the floor, I thought: instead of trimming it, why not just fold it lengthwise? It would give me another layer of vinyl, and it would still cover from the benchwork frame to the floor. That’s exactly what I did. I got my staple gun with 1/8 staples and stapled the shower curtain to the framework of my benchwork. It turned out fantastic! I just skirted my layout for just a little over $7.00.
Once I got the skirting up, I was really impressed with how nice my layout actually looked. All the wood and boxes of storage were now concealed under the benchwork, and it made my layout look neat and tidy.
A little imagination with new and household items can save you a lot of money and help keep your budget in
line.
Happy railroading!