Model railroad layouts plans

Jeff’s been in touch with how to build model railroad incline:

“Al.

First off, I would like to thank you for your hard work to keep this site going. I’m quite sure it’s a tedious (but rewarding) job.

This is not my first submission and thought this may inspire others to get some of their creative juices flowing.

Like many of the readers of your blog, I am now retired and on a fixed income. So, when I decided to put together a new HO layout, construction cost was very important.

I went to work designing the new layout, using the AnyRail program to aid my design.

It will consist of a twice-around mainline surrounding a switching yard and spurs for a rock quarry, a fueling facility and engine shed, and small warehouse loading/unloading docks. (My grandkids love to watch the “choo-choos” go roundy-round and I like to play in the switch yard.)

In design, the mainline will cross over parts of the switch yard and a lake area. In doing so, the tracks will need to rise and drop about 3 inches from the main level of the yard.

To make this incline/decline I considered purchasing the Woodland Scenic kit they provide. As stated earlier, the costs of such a produce is a bit overwhelming so I thought I might try making my own.

A local stone mason working in the area was kind enough to supply me with some 2 inch pink rigid insulation which they used to separate their stones on the pallets delivered to the jobsite. Therefore, I have a surplus of larger pieces to work with.

After much experimentation I finally came up with a design which was not too hard to make after initial setup. This is how I went about the process…

First, using my table saw, I cut the insulation sheets into workable sizes.

In my case, I’m working in HO scale, so the pieces I cut would be 24” long and 2 ½” wide.

Anything greater than 2” I laminated two pieces together with construction adhesive, allowing them to cure for about 24 hours.

You’ll also notice in the photo I marked one of the 2 ½” sides with an “X” as this would serve as the bottom edge of the incline piece.

I made sure when cutting, the “X” edge was always against the fence.

Next, I went about making a taper jig for cutting the angle of rise/fall in each piece. I wanted a 2% grade, so my taper jig was 24” long and ½” larger on one end than the other.

Placing the “X” side against the taper jig, I cut the taper into the foam. (PLEASE BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS PROCESS SINCE THE SAW BLADE NEEDS TO BE SO HIGH.)

I might also suggest devising some way to hold the piece against the jig to eliminate the possibility of an accident. Kinda hard to work on your railroad with fewer fingers!

You can also use some of the cut off pieces for the thinner taper strips. Some of my pieces would be used as “riser” pieces so no taper was cut.

How to build model railroad incline:

In order to get the rigid foam to conform to the curves of the track, I needed to devise a way to make this happen. With my woodworking capabilities, I made a jig for the saw which would create “kerfs” in the foam board to allow it to bend without breaking.

Again, after much trial and error I finally decided on the right pattern I needed. In my case, the kerfs are ¼” wide, 1 ¼” deep and 2” on center.

This pattern will allow the foam to follow a minimum radius of at least 18”.

Using my newly created jig, I went about cutting the kerfs in each piece of foam board, cutting one side first, then flipping the piece end for end and cutting the other side, making sure the “X” side was still against the jig. I needed to make sure the kerfs on the opposite side were halfway between the first side, so proper the measurements were taken.

All said and done, I now had multiple pieces which would become my incline/decline ramps and risers. The last step before installing would be marking a center line on what would be the top edge for ease of installation of roadbed and track.

Aside from the time spent (of which I have plenty, being retired), I figured I saved about $100 u.s. which can now go toward different aspects of my model railroading project.
I have yet to install any of these pieces because my layout base is not yet ready.

I hope this has been somewhat informative to others. I tried to explain as best I could without confusing everyone.

Thanks again for all you do for our railroading community.

Jeff (Pops) Somerfield

Chicago, USA”

A big thanks to Jeff for his take on how to build model railroad incline. What a clever lot you are.

It reminded me of Paul’s post: HO scale track risers

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

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Jim’s been in touch – he’s having some fun with his HO scale module construction:

“Alastair attached are photos of the 2 6 foot modules that myself and another member of our model Railroad Club are building.

Still needs more detailing but we do have N Scale trains running.

Our club layout has always been HO so members of our club running N scale were not able to run our trains with these new modules we will be able to and club members can cross these modules with there trains on the upper level.

I have sent a total of 9 photos 3 on this email and 2 more with 3 each

Jim
Moose Jaw, SK. Canada”

A big thanks to Jim – it reminded me of this post: HO scale module layout.

Now on to John:

“Hi Al,

Thought you might like a little update on my current project.

I may need to add a little to the length to fit the buffer stops. I have not made up my mind about scratch building them.

The narrow boat is painted and ready for its first load of coal.

While it still needs windows, awnings, and a chimney, I thought you might like this building.

Of course one of your print out kits is where I started.

Best,

John”

If you are new to the site, you can see more of the printable buildings here.

Next up, ‘Chogleg’, who has put together a track plan of his dream layout:

“Hi Al,

Long time subscriber, first time posting to blog.

I have started my life’s dream model railroad in a 15ft x 15ft building.

Just finished my layout drawing using AnyRail6.

I’ve installed the turntable and starting on roundhouses and track laying. Will send some pics soon.

Thanks,

Chogleg”

My word – what a track plan – I’m very much looking forward to seeing it come to life.

Now on to Eytan:

“Hi Al,

I m a newcomer to that game, When I lived in London in the 60-70th, I bought from Hamleys a Fleishmann set.

For 30 years it was laying in an old suitcase.

Cov-19 made me do work at home and I found the suitcase…

I started reading on the internet everything about layouts and how to start.

Your site is my daily teacher and master.

I table is 330cm u shape and 150 deep (on both sides and 80 cm at the centre).

I used only wood from old pallets. I have started building 8×4 feet, but very soon realised that I would not be able to reach all points on the table.

Then I decided to change it to U shape.

not knowing/having a computer programme, I started with my own planning.

I m enclosing my layout without and scenery.

I m sending a few photos.

Many thanks indeed for all I have learned from you

Regards Eytan from Israel”

A huge thanks to John and Eytan, and of course to Jim too for sharing his HO scale module construction.

I really do enjoy reading about how you all fell back into the hobby, and seeing the pics of your endevours make it even more special.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you pick the hobby back up, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Harry has been in touch with his N scale Christmas train:

“Hi Al,

I don’t know if you remember me, but I sent photos of my small N Scale layout quite a while back and it got good comments from some great modelers and I felt honored.

This layout had a strange genesis, I had one of my locos, the Santa Fe warbonnet F7 stop working and after troubleshooting, found the decoder had failed.

The loco was a bit noisy and didn’t run really well, so instead of replacing the decoder, I rewired it to DC and decided to run DC trains around my small Christmas Tree.

Well, this developed as another stream of consciousness design and now I have a layout with a folded over under loop and two spurs.

The spurs can each hold a DC train and the track in the spur is only active when I throw the toggle switch to the spur. That way I can hold two trains and run either one out and around and switch them when I want.

The two turnouts are controlled by an Arduino driving small servos like my main layout and I used the second pole of a DPDT toggle switch to power the spur track.

The DC power pack is a $3 DC to DC buck converter and a 12V wall wart power supply. It’s truly a ghetto layout as the electronics are in the mountain, thus the removable mountain top.

Like I said this was to be a simple loop around the tree layout, but I just kept adding scenery.

I built the trestle and truss bridge from stained basswood sticks and the girder bridge is a cut apart Atlas plastic bridge to accommodate the curved track.

The layout is 28 inches by 37 inches, the size being determined by the needed room to do an over under with reasonable grade. The layout is basically cookie cutter design on 1/4″ ply mounted to 1×3 bench-work.

I used a bit of plaster cloth and Sculptamold to finish the scenery and the mountain is made from the same florist foam with Sculptamold I used on my main layout.

This Christmas N scale layout did give me a chance to fool around with my static grass applicator I made from a $3 Harbor Freight bug zapper. The thing runs on D cells and generates 15,000 volts. It looks like a tennis racquet and I just removed the racquet portion and replaced it with a small sifter from the dollar store connected to one terminal.

I then took the other terminal and brought it out to an alligator clip which I clip to a dissecting needle and it works like a champ. So basically I have a $120 static grass applicator for four bucks. It’s not easy being cheap.

Harry”

A huge thanks for Harry sharing his N scale Christmas train.

And now on to Ernie:

“Hi Al,

As I mentioned, my layout was one of the designs in the “Nine N Scale Railroads” by Atlas. I picked the big one in the last chapter being greedy as I am.

I’m not smart enough to hardly get past an oval with two and a half sidings so the Atlas book opened new horizons for me.

Liked the fact that it can run four trains at a time with upper and lower double main lines, has a small rail yard, mountains, tunnels, a twin crossover, a river, and a massive twin viaduct traversing the valley.

What more could a guy ask for?

This all rolled into one 48″ x 72″ sheet of plywood! Can stand the thing on end in a closet when not in use.

Layout used one 4 x 8 sheet of plywood cut to 72″ in length with the cut off end used for the upper level including some cookie cutter technique used for good measure.

Adding to the fun is the fact that there are two interchanges between the upper and lower levels allowing for traffic between mainlines.

But that’s not all: you have a reversing loop in the upper level AND the interconnects are designed so that a trip to the upper pike and back switches mainlines on the lower level upon return.

Who ever designed this thing easily understands Einstein’s therory of relativity!

I built this layout back 30 years ago and have recently pulled it out of the closet and am enjoying it immensely.

That said this is old school with block wiring throughout and the same turn out controls the Flintstones used back in the day.

Track is all Atlas sectional code 70. Of course then I discovered code 55……next pike…..(recently picked up 100 code 55 hand built #6, #8, and #10 switches in need of work removed from a layout that was taken down) but that’s another story…..

Like the idea of controlling the trains with block switches (keeps the mind excersized), have to work at it when moving between lines or I can just let them orbit on each mainline and relax and watch. Like running long trains.

Can only allow three trains to orbit without attention due to the double cross over on the upper level. To run four you have to tend to that crossover, and, yes, we have had wrecks!

This layout takes four power packs so I used the little cheapies from small train sets for years.

The cheapies would pop the internal breakers when running ABBA configurations all powered after some run time so stepped up to a pair of higher end twin cab units.

The new twin cab units also had some issues (one cab runs half speed always till it warms up) prompting me to consider building my own with plans I have found recently (materials are very inexpensive and use laptop chargers which are a dime a dozen).

Probably more then you wanted to hear! Rolling stock accumulated over the years always watching for deals. Scenery time next!

Ernie

(Steve but everyone calls me Ernie)”

Looks like Enrie’s having fun with his N scale railroad Atlas.

If you missed his last post with all the pics, it’s here.

And thanks to Harry for sharing his N scale Christmas train.

Can’t wait to see the scenery!

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you make your train layout dream happen, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.