Model railroad layouts plans

Gary’s been back in touch with his folding train table:

“A while back I saw that you reposted my first submission which reminded me that I haven’t sent an update.

I haven’t made as much progress as I’d like to. I’ve got lots of excuses, none of them good ones, except for getting pneumonia which kept me down for almost 2 months.

In my haste, I forgot to include some information the first time around. The layout is HO scale layout and I’ll be using a DigiTrak DCS 52 DCC controller.

The table is 9’ by 11’ and there’s 14 inches of clearance between the top of the table and the wall when it’s in the upright position.

The table is framed with galvanized steel studs with wooden 2” x 4” s imbedded within them in strategic places. About 50% of the table is framed in wood and I’m using two overlapping layers of 7/16” plywood to help keep it rigid.

I made a rookie mistake and used the wrong type of foam board. Hopefully, this won’t hinder any construction or scenery processes as I continue.

To lower the table, I’m using an electric cable hoist with a double cable pully hook. The hook clips to a carabiner that is attaches to a 1/2” “U” shaped galvanized pipe that extends from the front of the table.

Once the table is down, it rests on the Control Panel support that’s made of 2” x 4”. After that, the pully hook is transferred to the rear lift cable. The table is then lifted enough so the Centipede work benches can be slid into place and then the table is lowered onto work benches for support.

All this is done using a wireless controller for the winch while standing in the center of the access area. It kind of makes me feel like Buster Keaton in “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” where he’s standing in the street, and a storm rips the front of the building off behind him and it falls around him. He’s unhurt because he’s standing where there’s an open window on the building.

Anyway, to get in and out of the access area I use a foldable creeper to move back and forth, which reminds me of The Great Escape where the POWs lay on a trolly cart as it travels through the tunnel. Okay, enough movie references.

From the time I walk out into the garage and get the table lowered, it takes about 15-20 minutes. At this point, I have no idea how long it will take to get three locomotives and all the rolling stock in place once I’m done.

I’m going to build all my own tunnel entrances and two wooden trestle bridges. I’ve already completed one bridge that’s about 2’ long. So far, I have about 90% of the track laid, the remainder of it is elevated plus I still have a 14’ wooden bridge to build.

I’m using Atlas Code 100 Nickel Silver flex track. All turnouts are Peco, twenty-eight of them, twenty-three being #4. The rest are 60/30 double curve turnouts. I have one 24 degrees crossing and a Walthers Code 83 double crossover.

I’ll be working on my wiring next and plan to use Walthers Switch Machines using DPDT switches.

Gary”

A huge big thanks to Gary for sharing the update on his folding train table.

You can see his first post here: Folding model railroad table.

That’s all for this time 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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Peter’s been in touch with his Australia model railroad:

“Hi Al,

Thought I would drop in with a photo update of the layout in my 20 foot container.

As I have said before, I inherited the container when my son married, and set about paying homage to the line from Mt Barker, South Australia to Strathalbyn, now a tourist railway and part of the longest tourist railway in Australia.

Features of the line, past and present are represented, although not precise in location, with a “time warp” to the northern Adelaide line at Exeter and Semaphore, of which, Semaphore was a middle of the road railway line, with a water tower straggling the line near the jetty, but all closed and removed in 1972.

I am also paying homage to the roundhouse at Peterborough in the Lower North of South Australia.

I lose myself in the container and enjoy scratch building many of its features.

Thanks for all the interesting posts you share.

Peter
Amateur Radio Operator VK5PET
Strathalbyn”

A big thanks to Peter for sharing his Australia model railroad.

And now on to Fuad, who is after track plan ideas:

“Hello Al, I hope this finds you well.

I have a very long, but not very wide (say 30’ by 8’) space in the basement.

I want to build a point-to-point shelf “switching” layout: a smallish yard at each end, with one being a harbor (barge/carfloat, dock etc.) and the other a small town.

Maybe a “island” with water feature scenery in between. Not a spaghetti bowl of track, just fun making up, running and delivering freight trains. Maybe a small “interurban” passenger run twice a day.

Can you ask your friends if someone would like to share track plan ideas with me online?

I’m in southwest Michigan. Many thanks.

Fuad”

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

That’s all for this time 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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Hall of fame Rob has been in touch with a stunning church scratch build.

Have a look at the night shots of the windows:

“Hi Al,

In a search for something to build for my layout last fall, I came across a church in Cornwall, UL I found very interesting. Apparently, the original church was started in 1259. That is long ago by US standards. The building has been added to multiple times and has evolved over very long periods.

I wondered how I could determine the exact shape to model it. Things like how long, how tall, etc., came to mind. I first found as many pictures as I could find on the internet. When that resource was exhausted, I decided to contact the Parish directly and see what information they had.

The administrator of the Parish was very helpful and connected me with more photos, and also a study by an archaeologist done in the 1960s. He had studied the various stone types used to build it. Fortunately for me, he was very methodical and created a sketch showing the various stone types related to where they were in the structure. The sketch was to SCALE. Not any particular scale, but it was proportional.

By determining door heights and a bench I found in a photo, I could start to decode the information I had and develop a scale drawing. Once I had one dimension, I could interpolate the archaeologist’s sketch and, before long, had a plan drawing in my scale, 1:76.2.

Now I had the plan view and still needed the elevation heights. After thinking about it for quite some time, I realized I had one height, the distance from the ground to the top of the seat on the bench. I estimated this bench seat at 19 inches, a standard height. Then, using lines of perspective in one of the photos, I could start estimating the heights of gables and arches.

The one thing I was unsure of was the tower’s height. I estimated it to be 58 feet. A friend in the UK offered to find out the tower’s height for me and eventually found it 61 feet to the top of the crenulations. I had begun by this time, and it was too late to change the tower, but it was certainly close enough.

There are 4 videos associated with this project, but I recommend this last one as the best. In it, I demonstrated a couple of techniques developed to build and paint it.

Thank you, Al, for this news and information system you have created. We all appreciate what You do for us.

Rob”

A big thanks to Rob for sharing – I think the windows are amazing. Have a look at the vid and you’ll see what I mean.

Rob’s post reminded me of these:

Church kit build.

HO scale church

You can see more of Rob in the Hall of Fame.

Next up is Susan. Can anyone help?

“Dear Al:

Thank you for the opportunity to ask the experts for help with my first ever HO scale layout.

I am building two tables per your Beginner’s Guide (Thank you!). They will have a small 3 ft x 3 ft section joining them, making a broad U shape.

I bought Faced Expanded Polystyrene Board Insulation to go on top of my plywood because that is what my small-town hardware store supplies. One side is a silver barrier, the other is pressed styrofoam. My plan is to put the silver side down against the plywood. This is because I have the idea to dig ‘trenches’ for my electrical wires so I can join them up before creating a ‘pass-through’ hole to beneath the table where the electrical supply will come from. I hope this makes sense.

My layout will be building-heavy and I intend to light almost all of them, plus street lighting etc. I don’t want to create a pass-through hole under every structure – I may hit a support board or move around my buildings. I wish to minimize the holes, maybe one at the end of a block for all that block’s buildings’ wires to go through.

Does this sound reasonable? What are other options?

Also, maybe it’s just the girl in me, but it feels like I should put something down on top of the insulation board before I put the structures on it. I see many layouts where the track/structures are right on the foam board, so I’m thinking probably not. I would use landscaping to hide the insulation. Correct?

And talking about the track…I intend to use cork under the tracks. I would glue the cork to the insulation board, then I nail the tracks to the cork. Correct? Nailing the track to the insulation would not work…I believe.

Thank you for the continued inspiration. Maybe my railroad layout will one day be featured on your blog!

Kind regards from across the pond

Susan
The Woman Engineer, Head of the Cannon Central Railroad”

Please do leave a comment below if you can help.

That’s all for this time.

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.