Model railroad layouts plans

Tom’s been in touch with his 1950s N scale – I do love a layout with a theme!

“In the 1950’s I grew up with a Lionel train table my dad built in the basement of our house in Berkley Michigan.

About a year ago I decided to build a N scale railroad in my house. I first had to do a lot of reading about the changes in model railroading from the 1950’s. DCC what a change from having to section off different areas of your layout. Also what materials are now available for landscaping from card stock buildings to ground cover.

THE THEME:

The theme of my railroad takes place in the early 1950’s on the Baltimore & Ohio rail line between Baltimore and Cincinnati. The village is in the mountains of West Virginia along Highway 50.

The main line along this route takes you through the mountains into the rolling farm lands of eastern Ohio. There are two spears one that will take you up into the village with a stop at the passenger depot. The second spear is to the local coal mines and trucking fright yard.

Tom”

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Now on to Greg:

Greg’s been in touch with some fab pictures of his HO scale diesel locomotives.

But what I like best about his layout is not the locos, but how he’s picked his theme, and then how he’s made it personal.

Carry on reading and you’ll see what I mean:

“My current layout is 26 foot by 18 foot modeled in HO scale. It is a DC layout.

My layout is a “living scrapbook” of my life. Several of my HO scale diesel locomotives are ones I either road/worked on when I worked for the railroad or ones I have seen in person.

I have done a lot of custom painting and detailing of my locomotives and rolling stock to bring the personal connections to them.

Several of my car and locomotives are numbered for friends and family, birthdates or anniversaries as the reporting numbers. Great way to make things mean more to me personally that way. It has a connection to me more than a store bought stock number.

I have a nice mix of diesel locomotives as well as a few of the giant steam locomotives which allows me to enjoy a wide time frame of operations this way.

The layout is, as most of us model railroaders feel, a work in progress.

I’m still adding details to the scenery as well as more lighting for the night time effect. I’m already working on plans for a bigger layout when we move and have more space.

Greg”

A big thanks to Tom and Greg.

That’s all for today folks – please do keep ’em coming because I’m pretty much out of stuff now.

Dare I say it, but I might even have to put my feet up for a few days next week – it’s that quiet.

But if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, just like Tom and Greg, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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

Tony’s been in touch with his N scale bridge build, but first up, Keith:

“Hi Al.

Thank you so much for creating and maintaining this site. It is a wonderful spot to rub elbows with those so very talented modelers out there.

I have found what I consider a very good but inexpensive to get a good backdrop. I have noticed all sorts of modelers’ approaches to creating the background look on their layout. Some folks are talented enough to paint their own – not me.

I found a really good solution on line. I sent a banner company a photo I wanted to use, and they printed it on a 4′ x 15′ banner (no grommets or border roping) for $22. I asked them, after I had seen the quality of their work, if they could flip the photo so I could butt them and have 30′ of exquisite mountains. I got it. They even cropped the photo according to my instructions.

Here are a couple of photos that show some of the banners – sorry but I am not landscaped as yet. Those are the Alaskan Rockies

Keith G”

Now on to Tony:

Tony’s been in touch with his N scale bridge design:

“Hi, my name is tony and I thought you might like these pics.

I have been modeling n-scale for 35 years. I saw your tip about using sedum for trees.

This scene is the Bailey Logging Company, it is on the Green River and Meristein Valley Railroad.

I used sedum for almost all of the trees on the hill when I built it three years ago.

If you are iterested the trestle is built from round toothpics cut to scale lengths between 8 and 20 feet then I nic them up with my modeling knife and painted them.

Tony”

Tony’s bridge reminds me of Greg’s trestle bridge (which you can see in the middle of his post).

And Bob has put together a wonderful ‘how to’ on Trestle bridges. I’d love to see a toothpick bridge version.

“I found a great way to keep the truck screws from comming loose. Take a toothpick and put a very small dab of rubber cement on the threads of the bolster…making sure not to get any on the face of the bolster where the truck makes contact. Tighten the screw appropriately. The screw will not come loose…but yet stays soft anought the the schre can be removed without any problems.

Robert”

Now on to Ben:

“Alistair,

I am starting a HO scale layout of Pacific NW logging using around 1900 as the time I want to represent.

I have started making Giant Redwoods and Giant sequoias for this. I have found that many confuse these trees as being the same and model them incorrectly.

It turns out they are completely different tree species. I have a prototype model of a Giant Sequoia found in Oregon and sometimes in California and I am working on a prototype for a Giant Redwood found in the northern coastal region of California.

This shows on the left the basic structure of Giant Sequoia w/o foliage; center right is smaller completed Giant Sequoia.; on the left is the trunk of a Giant Costal Redwood. Note differences in bark and trunk configuration. Can send building details if desired.

On the left, trunk and limbs of Giant Sequoia before foliage and on the right are two Giant Sequoias with the smaller of the two in the foreground. Details if desired.

This is a scratch build Giant Sequoia. 24” tall, so 174ft. in HO scale.

Thanks,
Ben
USA”

There’s lots of tree posts on the blog – Rob’s how to make trees springs to mind.

Lastly, a cry for help from Steve, who has a problem that is more common than folk think:

“Hi,

I have enjoyed your articles for quite some time, but never have submitted anything as I am not a great story teller. But now, I would like some help or advice.

I am having trouble with intermittent operation of several locomotives on my HO scale DCC layout. This is happening with several steam locomotives, but not with diesel locomotives. All the affected steam locomotives are sound equipped. The diesel locomotives are a combination of sound and non-sound.

The steam decoders involved are: TSU-1000 heavy steam, MRC 1618 HO scale heavy steam [on two different locomotives] and LokSound V4.0, M4.

The steam locomotives will run for a few inches, then stop for a second or two, then start again. Happens repeatedly and consistently on every section of track. Track has been cleaned. Wheels are clean. Track voltage is continuous, does not drop out when the locomotive is stalled.

I even set up a small test section to eliminate possible wiring or other issues with the main layout. The test section is just a four foot track connected directly to the DB150. Same problem with the locomotives.

So, the question is: What could possibly be the problem? I have searched Dr. Internet, but could not find any suitable explanation. Just the usual causes – track dirty, wheels dirty, pickups dirty.

I was hoping that one of your savvy DCC expert subscribers could provide an answer to this perplexing issue.

Thank you much for your help.

Steve”

A big thanks to Steve, Ben and Tony for sharing his N scale bridge.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you leave the comfort of your chair and start having fun again, 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.

David’s been in touch with his 7×10 HO scale layout:

“Al,

thanks for all of your effort and time involved with all of your posts. I look forward to opening my email daily to keep up with the wonderful hobby of model trains!

I have loved trains ever since my parents gave me a MARX 027 gauge train set in 1959 for my 12 th birthday.

Later, when our son was nearing the teen years, we began purchasing HO equipment and built a layout. He spent many hours enjoying the hobby.

When he reached college age, we packed the trains in their original boxes and kept them in storage. We moved from Iowa to Indianapolis in 2010 and within a year I decided to take a 7 x 10 foot area out of my shop in our detached garage and once again develop a layout.

The layout extends from wall to wall so is 7 x 10 feet. It is 24 inches from the back and side walls so I can reach everything from the center.

The layout on the door wall is only about 12 inches wide – where the bridge is, so the center area is 6 ft by 4 ft.

I am not using DCC. I have two DC transformers. One transformer does the ‘mountain pass’ and the other one handles all of the lower level – which includes several sidings which I can power on and off with switches. This info is not critical, but thought someone might ask about it.

As I have read in many of your posts, a layout is actually never finished.

I have had fun using our real-life camping experiences with the family to create miniature scenes on my layout.

Such as the campground has white picnic tables that I created using the wood purchased at hobby stores along with the fire pits created using the round metal ends of pencils that hold the erasers and filling them with tiny pieces of wood that appear at each campsite!

I also chose to operate the trains from the center of the layout, so used ideas from a few old posts that showed using a portable ‘bridge’ in the doorway, thus eliminating the need to crawl under, which has proven to be a great benefit to the aging process!

For this I chose to use small phono jacks to furnish the power in correct polarity for the trains, which continues to work perfectly for me. It is important to make sure that when the bridge is placed in position, the track rails are in perfect alignment.

I also installed a red arm at each side that can be lowered to assure the safety of any rolling stock falling to the floor by mistake when not operating the trains!

I work hard at trying to make the layout appear very realistic with the scenes as close to scale as possible. I like to imagine what it would look like from the view in a plane flying overhead!

Readers may also notice the retaining walls I created for the gradual elevation of what I refer to as the ‘mountain pass.’

I cut small rectangular pieces of quarter inch plywood about one half by one inch and glued them together to build the walls.

Sorry but I’m not into the video area, but hope the model train group will enjoy the pictures.

David, Indianapolis USA”

Thanks to David – adding a camping scene is quite popular on your layouts:

HO scale camping scene

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

Now on to Jack:

“Hi Al

I have been enjoying your site for more then a year now and its wonderful.

I thought you may like my kit bashed locomotive. Actually its a junk bashed locomotive. The boiler is 55 gallon drum, the drivers are bicycle rims with the centers welded in, the front wheels are off a go kart, the domes are mixing bowls, the headlight is a house light with a car bulb – yes it has high and low beam, the boiler head is a skillet, the bell came of a sunken yacht, the whistle works off a scuba tank in the tender, it has smoke and choo choo.

The sound is from four speakers and a radio detuned so you get static, then the speakers are turned off and on by a cam and switch on a drive wheel, works well. The cab will hold four kids and the tender holds the engineer and six more kids. Because it has rubber tires I can drive it down the street, took it to McDonalds drive thru once. It has a 8 hp motor and a lawn mower transmission. The entire locomotive took 9 months to build, its my baby. It celebrated its 20th birthday this month. Little neighbor kids who rode in it are now bringing their kids over for a ride.

Oh yea I gets of adults asking for rides also. Keep up the great work with the web site.

Jack, Jupiter, Florida”

A big thanks to Jack and David.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming because it’s ghostly quiet this end.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, just like David did, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.