Last night I was about to attach the last of the Atlas electrical switches to the control panel shelf of my model railroad layout when the shelf fell off the wall. The wooden brackets on which it was mounted just split in two at the joints.

Turns out those big, beefy wooden shelf brackets were assembled with wire nails – probably shot in with an electric gun. Not twisty nails; not corrugated nails: less-than-1/16″ diameter wire nails.

Fortunately, I had put 6-8″ of play in the wires already attached to switches mounted earlier, and the shelf only fell about 6 inches atop boxes underneath it (filled with scenery materials to be used later).

So this morning I rebuilt the brackets with big, long, beefy countersunk wood screws and liberal amounts of Elmer’s Wood Glue. I overbuilt them, in other words.

My late dad would be so proud.