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Mountain View model railroad

“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

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

HO scale switch machine

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

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Model railroad track soldering

John has been in touch with a question on model railroad track soldering.

As always, if you read the comments at the bottom of the page, you’ll see lots of replied to John’s question – probably because it’s something we have all had to think about at some point.

“Al.

I am writing to you to get some helpful direction from all the guys that communicate with you that are so knowledgeable of all aspects of model railroading.

I have attached a picture of my layout in progress.

I’ve got myself in a dilemma and I need help in which direction to go.

The dilemma or problem is I have or will have track that runs very close to the back wall which I find almost impossible to solder feeder wires to.

I have thought about soldering the wires to the track before installing it. That would not be easy because I’m using flex track.

Another solution may be too purchase one of those ladders (sold in Micro-Mark) that allow you to lean over top of the layout. I’m 84 years old bad knees and back and my days on a ladder is not what it used to be.

The final solution I can come up with is to redo my layout the way it should have been done in the first place.

Presently I have buildings (which are just sitting there for when family were here at Christmas) located at the front and track in the back. I could reverse these putting the track in front.

My design is two separate tracks that run independently in a loop in which two trains (one on each track) never have to stop.

One track , the “Red” line passenger train has cork already surface mounted on the styrofoam base.

The other “Black” line freight train is elevated on dowels supports going through round holes cut in the styrofoam to the plywood base below.

To redesign the layout I would need new styrofoam and additional cork. If someone can come up with a better idea I’m all ears.

John”

We all discover, sooner or later, that layouts have a mind of their own…

Please do leave a comment below if you can add to the suggestions to help John with his Model railroad track soldering problem.

Even when a layout has been tamed it’ll never stop taunting you. All you’ll hear in your head is “Do another one!”

And that’s exactly what Steve is doing:

Here’s his previous post where he is having fun on his layout:

But now? Have a look:

“I have everything in boxes and I can’t believe how much stuff I have accumulated over the years.

I cleaned off the table of as much as I could but with the stone and ties glued down with a 50-50% glue water the tracks are not coming up. I am going to build a new layout so I guess it doesn’t matter.

It was strange ripping things off the table that I took so much time and effort to get just right.

I have to admit that I am excited about the idea of a whole new layout.

I am sending some pictures of what the board looks like now.

Steve from Toms River”

It’s the excitement of a new layout that makes the pain of dismantling bearable – as Richard also knows:

“Hi there Al… Richard here from Tuttle, OK.

As they say, all things come to an end… so be also the R & K Logging RR… we’ve sold our house here in Oklahoma and are relocating to Arkansas….

so that being said the end came to my layout…. as you remember it was a 6′ x 6′ layout Logging theme….

dismantling began 2 days ago, saving what I could… buildings, trees, turnouts and some track…

Here are the before and after pics…

But don’t worry, I’ll be building another and larger layout once we’re settled in…

I learned alot from this layout and plan on using the experience to build a better layout…. as always…. there is never an end to building a layout, just improving it to your desires….

thanks for all you do Al….

Richard of Oklahoma”