Bob’s been back in touch. He’s added a HO scale siding to his layout, and another loop too.
“Al,
My original layout after adding sidings still only allowed me to run two trains in the two inner ovals. Running outside of the inner ovals required stopping one train to allow another to access the whole outer loop.
I decided to move my layout to a bigger room and expand it, adding a HO scale siding and loop.
Attached are two track plans: the 4x6x4x5 is the original and the other is the new expanded layout.
The third picture of the layout before I partially dismantled and moved it.
The first picture shows the first part of the move where I added legs to the first section.
In the second picture I expanded the ladder area to provide longer sidings. Next I added 6 inches on both sided and 10 inches on the end of the layout. The one 6 inch addition and the 10 inch addition allowed me to add a wye to split the single main into a double main that covers ¾ of the outer area and has two crossovers that allow access to a new siding and converts the double main back to a single main.
The 10 inch expansion exposed the back side of the rock formation so I had to do some work with plaster cloth. Once I finished the initial expansion I moved on to the major part of the expansion where I had to deviate slightly from the track plan because of a pull-down ladder. But it was a blessing in disguise because it allowed me more room for the lift-out section.
Ho scale siding:
The picture shows the finished tablework and the lift-out section is the part with the two sections of foam on the right of the picture. I cut pieces from a sheet of .16 copper I got at the hobby center to use as contacts for the lift-out section shown in the second picture. The lift-out required some tweaking but works fine.
The move and expansion while not complete yet allowed me to clean up and straighten up most of the wiring. I also added a NCE SB Power Booster and a RJ12 Control loop with a second UTP control.
Nowhere near finished but most of the hard work is done for the added HO scale siding.
Bob, Virginia”
“Hi Al, just loaded part 9 of the re building of my layout, a good few keep asking about the connectors I use and the disco lights, in this one I show both and add a lead to bay were they can be bought, with a tip on using LED lights… still a way to go yet… but now got one of the outer circuit tracks up and running.
Regards
Dave”
Latest ebay cheat sheet is here
A big thanks to Bob for sharing his ho scale siding addition, and to Dave. And if you want to join in with the fun, the Beginner’s guide is here.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Thanks to the both of you. For sharing with us
Dave, love the backscenes, shame the canal’s going, if the plaster won’t set you could always have an abandoned stretch full of reeds and ducks and the odd sunken hulk, still plenty of them about.
Rod
I assume Bob ur layout is in N scale? certain angles looks HO other angles looks N
all n all looks great and entertaining. keeper a going!
Bob,
Your layout is great.
I’m still a neophyte in this business; still trying to get started at age 80.
Where in Virginia are you? I live just across the Legion Bridge in Maryland, and I would welcome the opportunity to visit and see your layout.
In Dave’s video there is a short shot about 41 seconds in where he moves a white bottle (looks like it may be a bottle of glue. The cap on that bottle caught my eye and because of it’s shape, when the bottle is empty, the cap might make an interesting top for a building or junk yard or something. I’m sure some of the other members who have shown off their talents in creating things from left overs would have a good idea for it’s use.
In the meantime good work Dave and Bob.
Do you ever offer O scale houses and plans? Seems like everything I read is HO or N scale. Please respond.
when I look at a lot of the layouts posted on here I get more dismayed at what I would like to build, there are many amazing layouts that make my ideas look childish, I have a lot of trains a ton of track and buildings, I been tryin to design a layout from Canada down the US east coast, now working on mountains into flat lands but grades of incline and decline use up all the flat land space ! I do have a 15 foot X 15 foot area, any ideas ?
Bob
I think with a little tweaking you might be able to get a fourth circuit in your track plan…
Richard
Thanks for the encouraging comments. The layout is HO. There is still a lot of tweaking to do yet alone scenery. Haven’t decided yet what I want to do. As we all know a layout is never really finished. I am in Newport News about 10 miles from historic Williamsburg. A fourth circuit sounds interestin; maybe elevated. We will see what develops.
Good stuff today. Seeing the construction Bob and Dave are doing also helps me to keep at it. I am amazed at Daves’ willingness to tear up a huge section of layout and redo it. After putting lots of work in an area, then tear it up and do something different sometimes it is hard to tear up but that is part of the enjoyment of building a layout which as most of us know, never really gets finished.
I want to suggest to “Joe” who responded earlier.
Send your whole comment as a plea for help to Al so we have a subject post dedicated to you so we can help with some ideas and responses that are direct to your needs.
No need to knock yourself down here as you probably have great ideas in your head, just need more visualization perhaps. You have lots of room to work with.
Harry, I believe Al’s house plans can be scaled up with the proper percentage to print O scale buildings. Someone please correct me if I am wrong.
Dick from Hardin Mt USA
I have an O scale layout and i have scaled up a lot of Al’s downloads to O scale. On my system I use the 150% not the 148% recommended, just much easier. and I have set the scratch built houses side by side with the store bought houses and there is no difference in size. Very happy with the result.
Bob, nice new layout plan.
I noticed that all track layouts don’t have the ability for the train to go the opposite way on the same track. Is there a reason for that?
Bob F.
Your layout and expansion looks great. I especially like you contacts on the lift out section. It gives me food for though on my lift out bridge section. Keep up the great work and yes a layout is never truly complete as the fun and enjoyment is in the doing. I look forward to future updates.
Milton in Virginia USA
Have you considered DCC? It would solve your problem with limiting yourself to only two trains at a time
very nice work.
Nice addition Bob. It’s always fun expanding your layout. I think I can hear some Miles Davis or John Coltrane playing in the background when I looked at your photos! 😎
My O guage Lionel layout started out at 4 by 8 feet and gradually expanded to its current 16 X 30 size, making it a wall to wall layout. I put my double track main lines around the perimeter, Access to the control area is by crawling under some bridges. This allowed me to have a storage yard, engine parking area, a classification yard, a runner track, and a four track passenger terminal inside the mail lines. I have 23 engines, 20 pasenger cars, and 45 freight cars, and 6 cabooses. Most of my engines are transformer controlled, while some of the newer MTH engines are wifi-capable.
Ya gotta love it when layouts expand!!!
Dave, if you connect 4 of the 3 volt leds in series you can run them on your 12 volt supply. Works on my station platforms. OK so I bought the wrong leds!