Model railroad layouts plans

Fred’s been in touch with his N scale Canadian layout:

“Hi Al,

These picture have been a long time in coming and my friends and I are nowhere close to being finished.

We are in the process of an N gauge layout on a very large scale probably not to be finished in the near future but to be done with a lot of love and a sense of accomplishment.

The layout is under a two car garage with lots of room. This is a Canadian layout “Canadian Union Rail Road—CURR the Dog Line” located just north of Port Perry Ontario Canada.

We are not rivet counters nor are we using any fancy power systems. There are three separate lines and a yard with transformers for each. We just like to watch the train go round especially when they tend to pass each other.

Although tracks are powered they tend to be set up as static scenes (our choice). My friends, who deserve a lot of credit are John and Joe. We get together once a week when possible and “play trains”.

John has done most of the work on Johnstown and Joe has spent valuable hours on the prison called “Joeville Arrest Haven” I have been responsible for the ravine, the park, the campsite, the nursery, the storage area and the parts of the farm that have been completed.

The city will be called Frederickton and every one will be making a contribution.

The hills you see are made from cans of insulating foam covered with plaster cloth and paint and of course scenic materials. We are trying to use as little bought material as possible. That is why your web site has been a gold mine. At the end of the pictures I have included a set of Christmas led “white” lights; cheap and easy to setup and work on batteries that will last quite a long time if you were only using then for sometime night effects (I will supply more information if any wants it).

Fred”

A big thanks to Fred for sharing his N scale Canadian layout.

It really reminded me of William’s: N scale Canada.

Now on to Joseph, who has a question:

“Hi Al,

A question for you and / or the subscriber community. I’m going to have an almost 20′ by 20′ space to set up my first big HO layout.

I have a track plan idea for a 12′ x 14′ layout. I’m thinking of semi modular table construction using 1×4 perimeter framing with cross braces on 2 foot centers, a sheet of 1/4″ ply to keep everything square (and level hopefully) and 1″ foam board on top of that for a working base.

My question is will that give sufficient strength and rigidity for the layout?

I’m planning on putting the 2×4 legs 2 feet in from the ends as the plan is for 4 such tables joined in an open semi circle which would give fairly even spacing to the legs rather than having pairs of them next to each other.

Attached drawing shows the table arrangement – the small rectangles on drawing are 2×4 legs with casters so the entire layout can be pulled away from wall for layout construction access, then pushed back against the corner of the room for operation (the 1′ x 2′ foot section in the upper left is to accommodate a 2′ x 3′ HVAC duct in the corner of the room). The four tables will be bolted together.

My big question is this construction strong enough or do I need heavier lumber or go 16 inch on center for the cross bracing?

Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

Joseph”

Lastly on to Dave:

“Hi Al ,

just a short video up in North Yorkshire where i managed to capture a few trains, and some nice countryside

Regards

Dave”

A big thanks to Dave and to Fred for sharing his N scale Canadian layout.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming – and who can help Joseph? Please leave a comment below if you can.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, 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.

“Hi Al.

I finally completed and installed the PRR Main Line Signal bridge that I have been working on for a while and also installed Crossbucks and a Pole Light in the parking lot of the south Yard Master Tower of my layout.

Before I get into the particulars, for those of you who saw my blog to Al about adding PRR signals, I had a major concern about the number of wires that would be running down the bridge. It was solved with the help of fellow modelers.

I want to thank Earl, Les, George and Kelvin for their suggestions and info on the wiring of the signals. BUT I have to give Charlie S. a very special thank you on solving my wiring concern. Charlie provided me with a schematic of the wiring of the signal (see PIC 1).

This basically wired the LEDs in a series configuration which reduced the ten wires down to three.

This made the installation of the signals onto the bridge very easy. Charlie…again…. Thank you.

This was not easy for me as the wires were very thin and the LEDs and connections were very small. I had to be very careful not to have the wires touch each other. The following pictures show the making of the signal.

Pic 2 is the back of the signal with the wiring completed and I used Liquid Electrical Tape (Pic 3) to protect the signals from shorting out.

Pic 3 – The Liquid Electrical Tape I used.

Pic 4 – Horizontal signal (STOP)

Pic 5 – Vertical signal (PROCEED)

Pic 6 – The signal bridge with the holes drilled through to accommodate the wiring running down the bridge to under the layout for connection and power from a toggle switch.

Pic 7 – The mounting of the signals onto the signal bridge

Pic 8 – The signals installed and working.

Pic 9 – Installed on the layout with a work crew.

This is the first PRR Signal Bridge that is completed. I have two more to build and install on the layout.

What follows now is some pictures of the layout I hope you like. I also installed Crossbucks to the layout as you will see in the video and I have a picture of one of the many Pole Lights I will be installing throughout the layout.

Here is the video on YouTube:

As you can see from the video, I still have a lot of work to do on my layout; ballast of all the rails, ground cover, complete the passenger yard with trains and I have to replace some turnouts with underground switch machines.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Al for creating and hosting and maintaining this site for us. And I want to thank all of the modelers who send tips and pictures and blogs about model railroading. I have learned a lot from all of you.

Happy modeling. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Regards,

Gary M from Long Island”

A huge big thank you to Gary for sharing hsi model train signal lights.

His previous post, which he mentions above, is here: HO scale signals.

You can also see everyone of Gary’s posts in the link above too. It’s wonderful to see a layout take shape from day 1.

And thank you to everyone who has helped, emailed or commented on a post to help someone out. Without you lot, there wouldn’t be a blog at all.

Gary’s post also reminded me of these:

Signal lights for model train switch.

How to make signals for your layout.

Simple model train signal circuit.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.

Clark’s been in touch with his N scale city layout:

“Hey Al!

As everyone else has mentioned, thx for all the continued stream of layouts, literally from around the world! I have greatly enjoyed them, and thought it was about time for an update on my own efforts.

I sent in my first post to you a little over a year ago, and thought it was about time to let everyone see where I’m at.

I designed in N scale a simple, constant running, 3′ x 5′ layout to learn all I could about the hobby. I’ve been an avid fan of this hobby for as far back as I can remember. But I retired at the end of 2019 so decided to build my own.

I always had it in my mind that if I were to build a small layout like this, I’d just make it all city, since there was nowhere to run to & from.

I’d have a freight train and a passenger train that could run simultaneously. I also wanted a trolley in the setup, as I remember seeing one as a kid at our local museum layout at a very young age.

I’ve reached sort of a landmark, in that I’ve finished all of the structures, lit them, and added street lights as well.

I plan on making a video of “night time” running that I’ll send under separate cover.

LOT’S more to complete . . .

Clark”

A huge big thanks to Clark for sharing his N scale city layout update.

If you want to see his last post to see how much he’s done, it’s right here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming, it’s jolly quiet this end.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, 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.