Model railroad layouts plans

Charlie has been in touch with some simple track plan layouts – and one very ambitious one.

And he got me thinking.

Do most of us wing it, or religiously work from a track plan?

“Al:

I’ve been playing at HO layouts for years, but finally decided to get serious about it.

A design that has been in the back of my mind since 1965 is finally on paper, with plans to start building as soon as I can bribe my wife into letting me have the garage.

I have tried my hand at scenery, but I would rather run trains.

Here are a few layouts I offer free to anyone interested, as well as a copy of my dream layout, the “RailRunner Special.”

Please pass these on to your subscribers.

Charlie
Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA”

A big thanks to Charlie.

Scott has been in touch too with his track plan:

“Hi Al,

I’ve talked about my N Scale project a few times on you blog when contributing my two cents once in a while.

I thought I’d attach the SCARM drawing I used to build it, which proved to be invaluable throughout its construction.

Let me know if you’d be interested in a few pics of what has become quite the monstrosity, with 3 levels.

It’s not at all finished, no landscaping yet, just getting the bugs out of things running right, as you can probably imagine.

Let me know,

Scott”

I’m very much looking forward to seeing Scott’s and Charlie’s layouts as they progress from a track plan to reality. Ambitious stuff.

I’m always intrigued by track plans. Some people use a computer, and some use pencil and paper.

Which is best? I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this one. Please do leave a comment below.

Another thought that crossed my mind is how a track plan that looks ‘too’ simple, can turn out really well.

Years and years ago – 2011 I think – Barry sent in this track plan that he created his fab layout from:

Here’s a pic of it too:

I asked Hall of Fame member Dave what he thought, and he came back with this which really made me think:

“HI Al… I don’t have a track plan as I have never worked from one.

I did take a look at the Peco book of track plans many years ago (they still do them ) and found that its not one for me.

You have to take in to consideration your buildings, platforms, the length you want ie 3 coaches or 7 to fit along the side the platform, so from day one which is 15 years ago now, I have laid my main track then worked from there – the sidings, and outer tracks…

The other consideration is if you work with set track or Flexi track, most of the track plans tend to be using set track.

So all I can say its been done add hock with using my imagination…

Regards

Dave”

I really get what Dave means with this, and it immediately made me think of another Hall of Fame member, Bill, because he draws out his track plans onto his base, so he can really ‘see’ the layout before committing.

And what about the larger than average layouts? So then I thought I’d ask Dick from yesterday’s post:

“Regarding the train layout…like you I prefer pen and paper, I started drawing track plans way back as a child in the late forties.

I just love drawing track plans. The track on my plans represent the centerlines of the track. I have tried several computer aided track planning softwares and I just can’t get the hang of it.

To do this big plan, I drew to scale the space I had available in the depot to use, arranged my pre-built 3′ by 6′ tables to scale on paper, then drew the plan using available track I have
to come up with a decent plan. I must say it came out very well.

I then used the scale plan to draw it out on the table tops. I only had enough room to set up 4 tables at a time in my garage. So I carefully plotted it out on the tables, then took the tables down, and set up the next 4 tables and continued drawing out the plan on the table tops.

Each section of track was labeled with a number/letter combo so that when we set up all 28 tables at the depot it was just a matter of placing the track sections in the proper places..

Dick”

I’d really love to know what you all think on this one.

Please leave a comment and let’s see where we go on this one.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you hit the fun button and join in, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

Dick’s been in touch with his model train town – complete with moving cars… and ghosts.

“Hi Al,

Been too long I need to get back on the train and ride. Soooo here we go.

Dick Stern (old Taz) here, I’m sending you the working pictures of Chapple Train a Rama.

This Train a Rama was set up in the depot here in town to celebrate the 100th birthday of our town.

All the trains in the train a Rama train are all Mr. Chapple’s.

When Dick was asked to set this up in the depot, I told him I would help him with the town.

He said to me then wouldn’t it be neat if we could have moving cars in that town.

So, I came home and worked on two tables that would match the size of his tables that he used to set up the train.

The tables had to be made like a hollow core door to keep them from warping in to lay flat. The pulleys were made out of tempered Masonite. The bearings I used were made from copper pipe and copper couplings.

The cable is 1/8thinch aircraft cable and to keep it tight I used a coil spring to fasten the two ends together.

One table had two large pulleys on it and the other three pulleys between the pulleys I used PVC water pipe cut in half as a trough for the cable to ride in.

The cars were then hooked to the cable with paperclips at first. Then I had to go to a thin piece of tin so that it would ride in the slot.

The police are powered by barbecue spit motors. The gear ratio and speed seemed to work out just right.

The cars and trucks were made from scrap wood. I was going to use plastic models but I wanted a lot of them and that would have gotten way too expensive for me.

I went to our museum which is one of the largest in Montana. There I got pictures of a lot of the older buildings. Some are still standing some are gone.

I tried to pick out the most unusual ones we had in town at that time. The design of the cars and trucks came off of Internet pictures of that era. The airplane may be a little new for that time but I thought it was a good idea.

The model train town buildings are all made out of cardstock. I printed out siding and brick to put on the outside of them. The windows and signs we’re all done on the computer. The buildings were built so that they fold down and are easy to store.

I had a hard time coming up with what I was going to use for people, ended up using old clothespins. You know if you have moving cars you have to have people in them.

On the layout, you go past an Indian village, the Indian village was made by schoolchildren from here in town. Their teacher is a good friend of ours. She was an art teacher.

When it was time to tear it down, we went to one of the local banks who had an open room in the corner with two large windows. They allowed us to set up the town and two tracks going around the outside of the town.

In October of that year, still didn’t want to tear it down after one month so we talked him into letting us use it for Halloween.

At that time the gondolas the pickup trucks, and the trucks all got loaded with candy pumpkins.

The plane was replaced by a flying ghost. There was also a ghost chasing one of the trains. When it came up close to December, we talked him into letting us use it for Christmas. At that time the plane got changed to Santa Claus and his reindeer.

The gondolas were filled with presents. Snow was on the roofs of the houses and scattered around the scene, the pickups had Christmas trees in the back and some of the cars had them on the top. I made horse drawn sleighs and sleds for the kids.

We couldn’t come up with anything for January so we had to tear it down and put it in storage. We have been asked to bring it out of storage and set it up for Christmas again this year. That is a large layout for two people to set up! We’ll just have to wait and see as we both are having a hard time getting around.

Thank you, Al, for all you do to keep this website open. It’s always fun and exciting to see what everyone is doing out there.

I’ve gotten a lot of ideas of things that I want to do and things that I want to change. Thanks to all of you!!

Dick”

A huge big thanks to Dick for sharing his model train town.

What I like best about this post is the raw, undiluted fun and enthusiasm that comes across. Anyone can see how much they enjoyed this layout.

What’s more, you may remember Old Taz from his last post where he added car lights on his N scale

Here’s a pic of his layout to jog your memory.

And you’ll also note ‘Old Taz’ is in cahoots with Mr Chapple (also called Dick), who you may remember from quite a few posts, like this one.

Here’s a pic of from one of Dick’s posts too:

That’s all for today folks.

A great big thanks to Old Taz for sharing. Hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you join in on the fun and get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Oh – and please do leave a comment below. I’d love to know what you all think of this one.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

John’s been in touch. His train stops and starts on the same piece of track and it’s driving him nuts.

Please do add to the suggestions at the bottom of the page if you can help.

“Dear Al,

Thank you for all you do for the hobby and all the work you do for the many readers.

Perhaps one of your readers can help me solve a problem…

Al has featured my layout in the past. The track plan is as illustrated.

At the two places marked X, the train suddenly almost stops (or sometimes does actually stop) and I have to give it a nudge to get it going again.

The system is DCC and the track is sparklingly clean as are the wheels. I do have jumper wires connecting the different pieces of track and I have checked the track voltage. It is consistent throughout.

Also, it is not at the end of a piece of track (which could suggest a voltage drop) but in the middle of a 1 meter piece of Peco Flexitrack!

Does anyone have a bright idea about a possible solution? I have tried everything that I can think of but am I missing something?

Thanks for your help.

John”

I’m very much looking forward to your comments on John’s issue. I think we’ve all had a layout where the train stops and starts and has left us scratching our heads.

Pleave a comment below if you can help!

It also reminded me of Ray’s post: Model train keeps stopping.

Next, John:

“Alastair:

I thought you and your readers might enjoy some of these.

This 80 year old, coal fired J Class (the 611) from the Norfolk and Southern made three runs this weekend between Manassas, Virginia and Front Royal, Virginia (west of Washington DC).

I was able to photograph it all six times (outbound and inbound).

I do process my images to look for like illustrations. Feel free to distribute any way you wish.

John”

Now on to Nancy.

I do love it when folk add a personal back story to a layout, like Nancy:

“Hello Al and All

My paternal Grandparents with their three sons built a log homestead on the Montana Continental Divide in Woodville around 1900. It still stands!

In fact, I have loved it all my life!

Had to build one for my layout. What do you think?

Best fun!

Nancy from Sequim”

That’s all for today folks.

Please do leave a comment below if you can help John.

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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.