Model railroad layouts plans

Brian’s been in touch with a nifty little model car light kit:

“Hi Alastair,

been keeping myself busy with small projects because both levels of my current 14ft by 10ft shelf layout have been sold and the projects below will be for my new layout when it gets built.

In the meantime I have been putting LED lights into some of my HO scale resin cast vehicles, compliments of Temu. (China)

I ordered some very small LEDs from them and started putting them in as headlights.

They are powered by a ‘buck’ module. The ones that I use can be adjusted down from 12 volts input voltage. I set the output at 2.7 volts to give me the correct brightness .

A buck module (shown below) is a step down converter for DC. I think I paid about ZAR13.00 each on ordering 5 at a time.

The small silver screw at bottom right is where you adjust the voltage.

Below is where I did a test run in one of my resin cast vehicles. I drilled out the cast headlight through to the inside of the wheel well in order for the wires to come out underneath before painting it.

Testing the headlights below.

Below, the LEDs are connected via the buck module (shown below)at the bottom and will be mounted under the layout.

Some more vehicles done the same way.

The buck module can power up to 12 LEDs at a time.

A night shot with the headlights on at 2.7 volts.

I did not stop there, being happy with the success so far that I decided that a bulldozer needed to have lights as well to be able to work at night.

I will also put a LED in the cab so that the operator can see the controls.

I will hide the wires once placed on the layout.

Not to be outdone by the above, I got both my lighthouses working and flashing. A marker bouy was next, added to the flasher unit. The lighthouse and the marker bouy flash at the same time once placed in the harbour.

But now I needed the LED light above the door to be constant. Another buck module was added and reduced the voltage down to 2.7v for the correct brightness shown below above the door. The flasher unit is set at 6 volts. Buck modules are cheap enough to use plenty of them under the layout. The green buck module is shown between the lighthouse and the flasher unit.

Unfortunately I cannot show a video of it working.

One thing that I dare not do is spend a lot of time on the Temu website as I see too many things that I want.

I have always treated my hobby with – it is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

Till next time.

Brian – the HOn3 guy from Knysna RSA”

A big thanks to Brian for sharing his model car light kit.

It reminded me of another Hall of Fame post from Taz:

N scale car lights.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you poke boredom in the eye, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Bob’s been in touch with is N scale shelf switching layout:

“Back in 1958, I got interested in HO trains. Dad gave me his workshop (he wasn’t usingit) to make a layout.

I created an 8×12 dog leg, basic design. No pictures, just memories. I later added on a “yard” (that’s what I called it – a place to store cars)., WA.

Never once did I think of model railroading.

Fast forward to 2016, and my life changed forever. I lost my wife of 40 years, and I was lost myself.

In 2017, I started to think about model railroading again. Wondering where I could build one. I had taken up another hobby of Radio Control Airplanes so that took up half of the garage, nothing in the house seem to fit so I decided the other half of the garage would be Bob’s Railroad.

The room size was 10 x 20, some things were (and needed to be kept in the room) so I ended up with 5’5” x 16 of usable space.

Now I was looking around a lot, looking at some shows and reading magazines. I felt the usable space was too small to put up an HO layout, so I chose “N” Scale. So not to jump into it with all four feet, I decided to do a ‘test’ layout of 2’x8’ a little switching setup with 4 industries.

So, after checking various software packages, I chose ANYRAIL to design my layout. Then I ordered what track I needed (decided on KATO just because of my age) and while that was getting started I learned about “on-line’ auctions, so I found that I could purchase some used pieces to start and not get invested with a whole lot.

Well I set that up and switch (operations) was fun, I knew I wanted more, but before I do that I decided I should get some industries, road and other things in place along with some landscaping to see if THIS IS REALLY WHAT I WANTED TO DO.

This is what the workbench looked like before I prepared it for my “industrial” beginner layout.

And this is what it looked like AFTER I cleaned it off.

This is the “workbench” I cleaned off and painted brown (I did put 2” foam down too) – as you can see there is a LOT of JUNK under and around the place for my industrial layout.

Using ANYRAIL I designed the industrial layout – in the center are 2 parallel tracks, for my purpose I designated the top to be outbound and the bottom to be inbound. Although I was not hooked up to any railroad I needed to add description to my madness as I would create outbound trains on the upper track … then later move them to the lower track as inbound that needed to be put away.

Track and rolling stock arrived with 1 ATSF switcher

Then I started to lay track down, following my ANYRAIL plan.
Industries:

1) Far left – freight warehouse
2) Far Right – container yard
3) Front left – lumber
4) Front right – oil

This worked out for operations (switching) however, I knew I wanted more. However, I needed to complete this piece first with roads and landscape to see how I do with that.

I added a ‘local’ freight station.

Look over to the lumber yard … I used black sandpaper for blacktop.

Adding the backdrop (not perfect but it did the job) and a lot more

I continued to do operations between these 4 industries with a thought in the back of my head to expand to have a mainline running someday.

Here is a “teaser” picture of where I am today October… eight years later.

Bob”

A huge big thanks to Bob for sharing his narrative and N scale shelf switching layout pics.

So far, he’s had 8 years of fun. It’s a wonderful hobby.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Steve’s been in touch, with a fab post on using mirrors to create depth in model railroads:

“Hi Al

I have been working on my MPD for my “Whenton” heritage railway. At one end of the baseboard there was a problem in that I needed my loco shed to be quite near to the wall, but there was a double wall socket protruding at just the wrong height.

Having had quotes for relocating the socket, I decided that a different (for which read cheaper) approach was needed. I decided to mask the socket using a mirror (which would also make the loco shed look twice the size).

The solution had to allow access to the sockets if the plugs needed to be removed (which would be a rare occurrence) although I did want to be able to turn the sockets off at the end of an operating session.

I obtained a suitably sized mirror with plain edges and considered how to mount it so as to be removable yet securely fixed. I made up a small end support from a wood block screwed to the baseboard with a piece of plastic channel epoxied to it (photo 2). This would hold the far end of the mirror at 90 degrees which was vital if the reflection of the shed was to look correct.

A more substantial block was screwed to the baseboard at right-angles to the first one (photo 3). This forms a stop-block for the rear of the mirror, and the mirror has another piece of wood epoxied to the back which is screwed to the top of the stop-block and is the small one to the bottom right in photo 4.

A third wooden block was epoxied to the nearer end of the mirror’s back. This was then screwed to the baseboard to steady that end of the mirror, (With hindsight, it would have made mirror removal a bit easier had I done this one in a similar way to the far stop block!) This block is the large one seen in photo 4 bottom left.

Finally, a small block was epoxied nearer the top edge of the mirror back, with a right-angled metal bracket screwed to it. The other end of the bracket is screwed to a small batten in the wall. This bracket is seen at the top of photo 4.

During all this I was cracking on with building a 4-road shed to go alongside the 2-road shed shown in photo 1.

The effect given by the mirror is shown in photo 5. There is a lot of scenic work still to be done, but I am quite pleased with the result so far. I can reach the socket switches without disturbing the mirror and should I need to get at the plugs it’s a case of undoing a few screws.

Regards,

Steve”

A big thanks to Steve for his way og using mirrors to create depth in model railroads. I do love seeing your solutions to the problems your layouts throw at you.

It rememinded me of the bottom of this post, where a mirror has been used to ‘enlarge’ the layout: N scale coal mine.

Now on to Fuad – can anyone help?

“Hello Al, I hope this finds you well. I’m embarking on a new HO layout. Essentially an open square with a duck-under and a central peninsula with a dividing backdrop, 18×18.

I’m looking for lightweight construction ideas. The surface of the layout will be 2” pink foam board so I don’t need heavy duty framing to hold it up. In addition, two sides of the square will be attached to basement walls as shown in the image.

Is there something lighter and easier to use than lumber to hold up the foam board, and make the legs on the sides that are not attached to the walls (as well as the peninsula?) Would aluminum or steel beams work – assuming I could cut them to size handily – or some other material?

Here’s the track plan. I hope folks on this site can contribute ideas. Thanks.

Fuad”

If you can help Fuad please leave a comment below!

And lastly on to Jim, who has shared his stunning update:

“The loco is an analog to dcc converted Fleischmann br 03 streamlined loco in photo livery and is about 40 years old pulling Fleischmann express coaches.

Model railway attic layout is H0 1/87 scale based in Germany black forest area , size is 4.4m x 0.8 for the station run off and the main layout is 3.8m x 3.3m.

The system is digital controlled & most locos have sound.The layout is shaped like a big number nine with the terminus branching off the oval, it has three main lines & two stations with many storage areas including a 26 exit Fleischmann turntable.

Jim”

You can see Jim’s first post here.

That’s all for this time 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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.