Model railroad layouts plans

Brian’s been in touch with his HOn3 shelf layout update.

(Scroll down for the larger pics, some of the higer pics are a tad small.)

“Hi Alastair,

Here is my write up of my HOn3 shelf layout from the start in May to the current date.

Below is a photo of the garage that will house my layout. All the wood for the bench work ‘shelving’ can be seen here. This photo was taken from the garage door side looking in.

Bench work in place ready for adding the LED strip lights under the valance’s.

Layout size in the converted garage is 14ft by 11ft. This was before the continuous loop on the upper shelf was added.

Temporary track placed in the logging area a the upper shelf before adding the LED lighting strips.

Scenery added behind the logging area and track fixed in place. The hole on the cork is where the Spar tree will be mounted for the loading of the logs.

This photo shows the full length of the logging line on the upper shelf.

This is on the opposite side showing the yard area at Cascade Creek and where the engine terminal facilities will be with the turntable in place.

This is the shelf in front of the window above my workbench, this will complete the circle for the top shelf to allow for a continuous run.

A section of 3mm thick Masonite used for the mountain backdrop with different colours of scenic material added giving it a 3D look. Clouds were sprayed on the blue backdrop before the Masonite ‘mountain’ was added.

Below is another view of the town of Hillside with most of the industries shown. Also shows the Masonite mountain thickness of 3mm still giving the 3D effect.

This is an overall view of the layout looking towards the window area. The door in top right is the entrance to the train room.The harbour will be on on the lower right hand side at the end of the shelf where a lighthouse can be seen. (Not it’s final position)

A view from the opposite side also showing where the harbour will be on the lower left. The lighthouse is the giveaway.

This is the removable connecting piece that will add the continuous loop on the upper level.

Here it is in place and fully sceniced. Two hobos are walking along the tracks to the hobo camp under the tree in the distance.

This is the town of Cascade Creek filling up a corner on the upper level.

A view from the opposite side of the HOn3 shelf layout showing the industries on it.

A full yard at Cascade Creek terminal. All of the buildings shown here are Woodland Scenics metal and wooden kits in the process of being built, painted and all will have interior lights and details where applicable.

This is the log loading area at Camp 4 on the upper shelf. Vehicles are kit bashed Woodland Scenics and Jordan. Log cars are resin castings with added trucks, log bunks and Kadee couplers.

The start of Red Hook harbour on the lower shelf.

Some of the industries at Red Hook harbour.

First layer of Woodland Scenics realistic water in the harbour. Still have to pour 3 more layers 3mm at a time to get it to the right height.

This view of Red Hook harbour shows the position of the working lighthouse and a fishing shack on the left hand side.

A small boat hire industry at the water level in the harbour.

A night time view of Red Hook harbour.

A small wharf in the harbour taken at night in this view.

A fully operational harbour with a boat being off loaded at the wharf and the contractors barge being readied for a night shift.

A few of my boats that are ready to be placed around the waterways on the layout. The orange roofed one is an original ‘as is’ resin casting – painted and weathered and the other 3 have been modified by milling out the holds and filling them with details.

The kitbashed Fine Scale Miniatures sawmill with full interior detail and lights.

A night shot of the industries in the harbour area.

The night shift working hard to get the boat ready for its next sailing.

Track work being laid from the harbour area around to Pelican Bay.

A scratch built barge cleaning up the waterways in Red Hook harbour.

Card stock mock-ups of some of the kits yet to be built at Pelican Bay. Photo copies are glued to the card stock which then give me an idea of where the finished product will be placed.

Another view.

Some of the 3D printed boats, painted and detailed that will populate the waterways around the layout.

The boat builder and repair shop at Pelican Bay. (described in a previous post).

A Shay logging locomotive bringing in a log load from Camp 4 and will be delivered to the sawmill.

A refrigerator train ready to depart, clearing a track for the log train on the right hand side to be delivered to the sawmill. A Passenger train is waiting for clearance to leave.

An overall view of the Pelican Bay extension on the lower level. On the right is the white card stock building mock-up of the Seafood Emporium.

Some of the machines that will be used in and outside some of the kits. They are Scale Structures kits assembled and painted. The vehicle is a Woodland Scenics kit.

One of my latest kit bashed kits, the Fine Scale Miniatures Seafood Emporium.

A Sierra West kit of Foss boat launch company.

A Fine Scale Miniatures Water Tank and Tool shed for the upper level at Cascade Creek terminal.

A footnote: all of my buildings have full interior details and lights where possible.

The HOn3 shelf layout is all DCC by Lenz and has three hand held controllers.

In quite a few photos it can be seen that there is still a lot of ground cover and scenic material to be added and buildings bedded into the ground.

The night shots were taken with the blue ceiling light switched on and all other ceiling lights switched off.

All of the above is a work in progress.

Kind regards

Brian”

A big thanks to Hall of fame member Brian, it’s always good to see a layout grow from the ground up.

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

“Hello Al.

I have been tending to some of the minor improvement tasks on my N-scale “Mountain View Railroad” layout since my first post in early August which you so kindly published on your blog.

I have finally received several shipments of trees which were back ordered for what seemed like an eternity and this has kept me somewhat busy planting them. I now have over 6oo trees on my tiny 4 by 7 foot layout.

I have also been a bit busy weathering some of my rolling stock. See pics below.

In addition I have been placing additional N-scale persons and vehicles around the layout. I still need lots more people around “Merchant’s Row” and the train station.

My layout is broken down into 4 basic areas:

The “FARM” area
The “RESIDENTIAL” area
The “INDUSTYRIAL” area
The “MERCHANTS ROW and TRAIN STATION” area

With my limited space of a small bedroom in my apartment, my work space as well as my storage space for my railroad “stuff” and tools was getting to be a bit of a mess. This necessitated purchasing some fabric with a steam locomotive motif print to hide the mess when I am not operating my trains.

My sisterI fabricated a “skirt” for the two sides of the layout that are not up against walls. There are two fabric panels which provide access to the stored “train stuff” and the engineer’s control panel which is mounted on a set of ball bearing slides designed for a computer keyboard allowing me to slide it beneath the layout platform when not in use.

Here’s a couple of pics showing the skirt and the layout in its current state.

Some stats of the layout are as follows:

Approximately 64 feet of Bachmann E-Z track with integrated ballast
6 each right hand #6 Bachmann remote E-Z track turn-outs
5 each left hand #6 Bachmann remote E-Z track turn-outs
7 each Bachmann E-Z track siding bumpers
67 Buildings and other structures
32 Steam and Diesel locomotives
170 Freight and passenger cars
106 automobiles and trucks
30 Street lights

Here’s a few of the weathered rolling stock (there are over 150 more to be weathered) *LOL*

Now that winter is on our doorstep I hope to get a bit more accomplished on my layout………Still lots to do, but it is getting down to the tedious chores that sometimes really tax my patience requiring me to take occasional breaks to maintain my sanity. *LOL*

Thanks for all your hints and tips. Without them I’d be lost. You certainly have done more than your share to support this great hobby. Keep riding the rails.

By the way, do you know of any firms that sell an N-scale powered hand car?

Regards,

Richard
Maryland
USA”

Now on to Dave:

“Hi Al

I have just uploaded a new one showing and demonstrating the new Hornby magnetic couplings.

There are two types the Vacuum Pipe and Buckeye type, the vacuum type is the longer of the two, and to my mind is the best of the two.

They look so realistic and with having double magnets are so much more powerful and look the part, the video has gone down very well so far with a lot showing interest in these.

I have now ordered 2 more packs with 8 sets in a pack, they to me are the best of these types.

I did show some years ago from another manufacturer, but were no way as good a quality as these, you can see from the start of the video how powerful they are using a Deltic and 5 coaches without power being pulled with a truck with these fitted.

I also have included a bit of a running session and the smaller coupling fitted to a DMU.

Regards

Dave”

A big thanks to Richard and Dave.

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.

Dean’s been in touch and shows us how he installed his HO scale switch machine:

“Al, cheers from Dean in New Mexico!

Today I want to show how I installed and wired the Atlas HO scale /N Under-Table Switch Machine, which is available from Amazon and others.

This is a very versatile machine which is easy to install and wire.

Since it is an under the table mount, it is not visible and gives a more realistic looking layout.

I used #6 switches throughout this layout and the ones I used didn’t come with machines.

I used the Atlas switch machines in two places on my N-Scale Conejos Valley Railroad, in a usual under-table installation and in a hidden above-table installation with a linkage.

The linkage and switch machine will be hidden with scenery later.

In the photo below I show a mockup showing how you wire this machine to its controller (on the right). You use three wires.

The center one is the common connector and I usually use a green wire for this.

For the other two wires, I use whatever colors I have at hand.

There are two solenoids inside the machine and the controller makes a momentary connection to one or the other to drive the mechanism in one direction or the other.

If the switch operates in the wrong direction, reverse these two leads.

I’ll talk about the power supply, which connects to the screw terminals on either side of the switch controller, below.

The photo below shows how I twist the three wires together using a drill machine. This gives a neat, sturdy, bundle.

First, I’ll show how I mounted the below table switch machine to the upper track. This was a normal type mounting.

Before I mounted the switch to the track, I had cut a short slot in the baseboard directly under the throw bar of the switch.

I screwed the machine on a 3/8” thick board using the screws that came with it. To make the mechanism accessible, I cut a hole in the two layers of Styrofoam that supports this section of track.

After the assembly was centered in the correct position, I held the machine and its board to the upper baseboard with a C-clamp.

Then I drilled two screw holes through everything and put in two counter-sunk screws to hold the machine in place. These two screws will be covered with ballast so they won’t be seen. If I ever have to service the machine, I can find these screws and remove them.

I don’t like scrabbling around under the train table installing switch machines, so whenever possible I put the machine in an accessible spot.

You can see the second machine on the left of the photo below. It is mounted on two 3/8” boards that are then glued to the table.

When I put in scenery, I will cover the machine and the linkage with scenery. The throw bar of the switch is connected to the tongue of the machine with a thin, rigid wire which has a hook on one end (going to the throw bar) and a circle on the other.

The circle fits over the tongue and is held with a small nut which happens to just fit the tongue. The wire slides inside a styrene cylinder. I glued the end of the cylinder near the switch with hot glue after everything was adjusted.

Below is a photo of the two controllers. These are connected to their respective machines with the three wire bundles and to the power leads to the power supply with the two wires off to the right.

More information on the installation of these two switch machines:

Hope that this has been instructive and that you give this machine a try in the future.

Dean”

A big thanks to Dean for sharing his HO scale switch machine install.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, with or without switches, 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.