Model railroad layouts plans

Dean’s been in touch with another instalment on his Scenic Ridge layout:

“This is the seventh video in an 8-part series discussing my construction of the N-Scale Scenic Ridge layout (kit from Woodland Scenics).

The layout is 3 feet by 6 feet in size.

In this session, I will discuss the buildings I’m adding to the layout and construction of roads and streets.

We’re coming to almost the end of this series as I plan on having only one more main video on final scenery (grass and ground cover, trees, coloring rocks, ballast the track, etc).

Here are some photos of the overall layout and of the buildings.

Al, thanks for all your support and help in this endeavor. Cheers!

And, finally, the video.

A big thanks to Dean for sharing his update on his Scenic Ridge layout – I know a layout is never finished but it looks like he’s getting close.

If you want to see his last post (on mountains), it’s right here.

Now on to Ross:

“Hi Alastair,

Attached photo is a S-534 Locomotive ‘Bakewell’ on static display, since 1976, at the Perth Western Australia Rail Terminal.

The loco was built in 1943 (with 9 others) at the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) workshops in Midland Junction where my father worked for 44 years only interrupted by 4 years in the UK during WW2.

Just 3 remain in static condition around Australia.

With best wishes

Ross”

Now on to Nick – who sent this track plan in after a post – but it got lost in the cracks:

“Alastair

Many thanks for your kind comments!

Please post the following replies to comments posted:-

To Roger: Thanks for your comments. I am in fact English from the London area but now live in Canada.

My son was a train fanatic, never missing an opportunity to travel on real ones, so the rolling stock I bought represented trains he had travelled on – Network South East and Eurostar!

To Michael: Thanks for your comments. Hornby track plan attached

To Dangerous Dave: I do have a bit of a derailment issue at the bottom of the short gradient.

I didn’t have enough room to put in the correct gradient angle so it will only allow a small tank engine with one car to travel on it, otherwise rolling stock derails! Any advice would be much appreciated.

Best regards.

Nick”

You can see Nick’s post here

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

Please just email me if you’d like to share anything.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if today is the day you start on your own layout.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Dave’s been in touch with more on the thorny issue of magnetic couplings:

“Hi Al,

just bought some of those Hunt magnetic couplings again, but these are the Elite, a new batch with square magnets each end that can be fitted either end of the rolling stock.

The older ones used to only work with different ends after they had been matched up (as explained in the video ), its a subject that is never solved with some saying the Kadee or the D type are all better than one an other.

After this trial I think the same there is non which I can say are 100% best.

Some pics and of course I have shown a few trains running.

Regards

Dave”

(If you’d like to see Dave’s last post, his loft railway is here.)

Over the years there’s been a few posts on couplers:

Here’s Paul’s magnetic coupler.

And here’s Peter’s take on Kadee couplings

And Alan came up with a very clever solution without using magnets at all:

You can read Alan’s post here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do leave a comment below if you’ve got something to say on these couplings – I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Please do keep ’em coming – it’s all rather thin on the ground at mo.

And if today is the day you decide to get started, I suspect you’ll love the Beginner’s Guide.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Rob’s been back in touch with a new version of his ‘Farland Howe’, his British model train layouts.

“My model railway Layout is named Farland Howe. It is my interpretation of Britain’s railways and countryside as I perceive it.

I lived in London as a little boy of 6 and was very impressed with the trains we rode on while there. I came from America, and we did have trains but not at the intensity of the U.K.

When we as a family got on a train to sight see or travel around the country, I always asked my dad to take me up to (as I called it then) the engine so I could see it.

I was very impressed with those big red buffer beams, buffers, the smells, the steam and sounds of those locomotives and never got over it.

I call the layout Farland Howe as a nod to Britain being far away from me since I live in North America and my main station which I call Howe Street, hence Farland Howe.

This is the second version of the layout. I started building the first version in 2011 and disassembled it in 2016 and started this current version in March of 2017.

During this period, I have also built two n scale layouts and I called them both the Colorado and Northwestern. The first n scale layout had to be removed to make room for the construction of the current train room and the second I just sold and will be removed very soon.

The first version of Farland was very exciting to build and I got ahead of my knowledge on many occasions.

Since I had no experience building a layout, I made every mistake possible. Many of these errors in design and engineering I corrected in that first version, but some problems were deeply embedded into the design, and I just could not solve them without essentially starting over.

My dear wife agreed to finish off the space in our basement I was using for the layout, and I decided to deconstruct Farland A and eventually start Farland B.

I was determined not to make any of the mistakes of the first Farland on this second version. I spend 3-4 months thinking about and drawing multiple versions of track plans in the space I would eventually have. This proved to be time well spent.

I had a few desires I wanted to satisfy this time.

(1) no duck unders (I am 74),

(2) make the track length as long as possible,

(3) have at least three loops,

(4) use the largest possible minimum curve radius,

(5)no inclines of more than 3%.

For the curve radius I chose 22 5/8 inches as my minimum (572mm). The other loops would run outside this minimum.

The first Farland had a 15-inch (381 mm) radius curve on one section, and I always had to pay attention and slow trains before they got to it or sometimes they would derail. On version two I did not want that worry. If desired I wanted to just let trains run at whatever speed I chose, round and round.

Version 2 of Farland is now undergoing an overhaul. I want to upgrade everything I can to turn it into a better more detailed and highest quality layout I can.

I keep learning through my recent n scale experience and building version 1 & 2 of Farland. Modeling railroads or railways is the greatest hobby. This hobby is a combination of history, engineering, science, electronics, memories, and artistic expression. A layout is never complete. You can keep improving them until your interests move on to something else and your skill level can increase as you grow in your knowledge and experience.

A huge thank you to Alastair for his e-blog/letter where we can all share our experience and which I check every morning to see what is going on and for all the warm comments people have left over the years I have contributed to it.

This video Is a running video. Included are a Class 37 diesel, a class 22 diesel, a class 150 diesel multiple unit and a class 158 diesel multiple unit.

At the end there is a ride with a camera mounted on a wagon and pushed by a class 37 diesel around my freight loop – true to British model train layouts. I wanted to check that all the signals were working on this line, and this is a good way to do it.

While I spent a year and a half building my n scale layout, Farland, sat idle. There is considerable deferred maintenance that I am catching up on and the signals took the worst of the neglect.

Enjoy, thank you,

Rob – Farland Howe”

A huge thanks to Hall of Fame member, Rob, for sharing the latest version of his layout.

British model train layouts built by Americans – always a good combination. There’s also a few posts of Brits building Amercian layouts on the blog too.

You can see his Colorado and Northwestern layout post here.

Here’s a pic from it:

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you pick the hobby back up, the model train Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.