Model railroad layouts plans

Jim’s been back in touch with his Santa Fe model train build:

“The bi-line for today is Wiring & Structures.

After all the track is laid, the rails are cut at each section boundary and the entire layout is taken apart.

Each section flipped 90 degrees and clamped securely to allow easy access for the wiring process.

Every wire is color-coded and labeled. This will help to resolve any wiring problems.

These pictures show some of the sections that are being wired. Being at the 90-degree angle speeds up the wiring process as it allows the installer to sit or stand during this stage of the build.

A LOT easier and faster than scooting along and banging your noggin under the layout,

Each section, in my case there are 9, is wired separately. When the wiring is finished the sections are re-assembled and tested.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the bridge, over a bridge which is over water will be one of three primary focal points on my layout.

The second will be the passenger station with the two sprawling platforms. The station is a Walther’s kit shown below.

The Walthers kit has some resemblance to the old Santa Fe station in Fort Madison, Iowa. That is the look I wanted to capture. Back in the day, many passengers passed thru this station.

Here it is pre-weathered and about 90% assembled.

The twin platform will each be about 40″ long with butterfly shelters fully lighted, benches, luggage carts, phone booths and many passengers.

The station will be named Fort Madison and Santa Fe Logo’s on all four sides.

In an earlier post, I mentioned that several of the business would be named after family members. The following pictures will show it.

An old house converted to a doctor’s office for my daughter-in-law. This sign will appear in front of the house which appears on the left side of the next picture.

My wife, who has a passion for baking will have her shop here. You may have to expand the pictures to read the text.

My daughter works for a large international legal firm in the budgeting and finance area.

She is represented by this modest office on the 2nd floor.

As mentioned earlier my son Jeff works for a lumber and building supply company.

Even my son’s dog will be getting in the act. This structure will be re-named Westley’s Doggie Treats.

Joe an artist, electrician, and all-around great guy, performed a “track test” to expose any problems or flaws.

His crew spent several hours running trains forward and backward going thru every turnout to assure everything is “in gauge” and functioning properly. The owner of PMD, Steve, is the guy that invented the Tortise switch motors.

Here is a sneak preview of the finished product. My Santa Fe model train passing thru the grade crossing on Marley.

That’s all for now, check back later.

SantaFeJim”

A big thanks to Jim for sharing his Santa Fe model train build – his posts really do get across just how time and effort goes into a layout.

I do love the way he’s added the personal touches to include the family.

You can see the finished Santa Fe layout here.

That’s all for today folks – please do keep ’em coming.

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

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Brian’s been back in touch with his HOn3 kit bash:

“Hi Al, hope all is well with you.

As promised, another write up on one of my builds: Sierra West build (HOn3)

A friend in Durban (RSA) about 1000 kms up the east coast from me, visited my layout here in Knysna and did not have enough time to see it all and asked if he could visit again the next day to see what he missed on the first day.

It was here that he asked me multiple questions on my build technique on all my buildings and on my layout.

He proceeded to ask me if I would be prepared to build one of his kits that he obtained.

His excuse was that he wanted to use the built up model as an example to follow when building his own models.

I agreed to build it (in a trade off) for him and 75 hours later, the results can be seen below.

When the kit arrived, I did as I alway do, open up the box, read the instruction book and then check the contents.

My excitement soon turned into dismay as there was about 50 to 60% of the kit missing.

I phoned my friend in Durban and he gave me an explanation as to why there was so much missing.

I told him that he shouldn’t worry about it and said that i will continue to scratch/ kit build his limited run kit.

I would supplement the missing parts from my “bits box”

Below is the photo on the box that I had to use as an example of what was needed. I did some research on the internet but to no avail as to any finding photos of the built up kit.

So, let the fun begin.

After reading and studying the instructions 3 times, I decided that I had to build the top level structure first as that would give me the correct size for the bottom part of the 2 story structure.

The kit was supposed to have stone and brick walls on the bottom structure but those were completely missing. I decided to use Northeastern Scale scribed siding for the four walls.

Now I have a structure to work on.

Fortunately the walls and roof casting for the side building was in the kit.

I was able to to find enough windows of the correct size as well as doors that fitted the doorways. (From my own castings)

I mixed up a wall colour that closely matched the photo, painted the building, doors, windows and weathered them accordingly.

Unfortunately the chain link fence was also missing, I decided to make and wood fence and weather it up a bit to look as if it has been there for a long time. I salvaged bits and pieces from my “bits box” to use in this area.

Next was adding tar paper to the roof. It has to be weathered as tar paper would look in real life. I use masking tape cut into strips and started the layers from the bottom up.

Once done, I painted on quick set Alcolin (white) wood glue over the whole roof and let it dry for 24 hours.

It was then painted using acrylic grimy black and this gave me the old and worn look. I added a few patches here and there where the roof had been repaired.

The HO gauge track in front is just a guide and will be replaced with HOn3 track.

I used the resin shingle roof supplied in the kit, painted and weathered it accordingly. I also weathered the sign as well.

Details was added to the platform and deck in front of the door of the HOn3 kit bash. (ignore the track in front).

Next was the addition of the front porch also missing from the kit.

Note the patches on the porch roof where a few leaks were fixed.

The boss thanked the worker below for repairing the leaking roof.

An Ariel view of the diorama showing the addition of a tree behind the fence. An HOn3 flat car being loaded in front of the platform.

The final photo of the completed diorama with all the weathering done.

Plus/minus 75 hours of building excluding the time taken moulding a few of the details that were added that I did not have readily available at the time.

A write up and photos (of the ‘trade off kit’) as I build it will appear here in the near future. It is Fine Scale Miniature Seafood Emporium.

Kind regards

Brian
The HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”

A big thank you to Hall of Fame member, Brian for sharing his HOn3 kit bash.

I do love his building style – it has bag of chararcter.

That’s all for this time my friends.

And if Brian has inspired you to make a start, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Hi Al,

Have just uploaded a video showing a bit of a tribute to the Railway workers in Ukraine for all the lives they are saving.

Also showing a few of my trains running with one a class 21 named after the Yorkshire Moor Railway.

Its a worrying time for all, but seeing all those refugee women and children having to leave there families and homes brings it home, to us all what wars are about ……

Lets all pray he gets stopped very soon before its too late.

Regards

Dave”

A big thanks to Dave.

I have to be honest, I really uumed and aahed about posting this because I avoid anything remotely political.

Let me tell you why.

I get sent so much stuff in the blizzard that is my inbox, some of it is interesting or entertaining, but not remotely connected to this hobby.

So one day, I started another blog and tried out a few posts.

Trouble was, one of them was very political. It really did split the pack.

One simple post got over a thousand comments in a matter of days.

But then something remarkable happened.

People in both camps were emailing me and saying the same thing:

“We go to your blog to get away and escape the reality of the world – please keep it that way.”

The humanity of both sides independantly asking for the same thing was all it took.

So I promised myself never again.

That’s why I hesitated over this post.

But then I thought I love what Dave’s done and he’s right. The railway workers have saved many lives.

So I posted.

If you want to post on Dave’s railway please leave a comment below.

If you want to post on Ukraine, please post here.

And if you want to read about the post that got over a 1000 comments in a matter of days, it’s here.

That’s all. Ramble over.

A big thanks to Dave.

Best

Al

If you haven’t read the above, please post any comments on Ukraine here.

This is a train blog, let’s keep it that way peeps.