Model railroad layouts plans

We’re starting today with Ray, who has shared a few pics of his 12×4 HO scale:

“Dear Al:

Like everyone else, I am thankful for all you do.

My day gets off to a good start with your post, my paper and a cup of coffee.

I am 87 years old, live in Ohio and have always fooled around with trains. My present layout is ho scale and 12 x 4 feet, and has 11 switches.

My talent level is very low and would not like some of the real pofessionals to see it.

That being said, however, i will share one item on the layout. I had a dead area between my freight yard and main line and came up with the idea of an abandoned siding, photos attached.

The caboose in the picture is from a kit that i built about 75 years ago. Might be an idea for someone with the same situation.

One other thing i found works well which some of your viewers may not have tried is using wallpaper paste instead of glue in applying landscape materials and paper to cardboard.

It is very easy to use and less expensive.

Thank you again for all you do for model railroading.

Ray”

Ray’s reminded me of Paul’s: 8×12 HO scale layout.

And Keith’s: 12×16 HO layout.

And now on to Hall of Fame member, Rob:

“I have a new video up and it has proven to be very popular.

I thought you might be interested in it for your blog over the weekend or something.

Folks are always wanting to see a track plan so here is the latest for Farland. I started modeling in 2012. It is chiseled above two of my tunnel portals.

In 2017 we finished remodeling our basement and as soon as it was completed I started building Farland 2. That would have been in February of that year.

In the second half of 2019, I started an n-scale layout of my town and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe that runs through it.

I took almost two years off from Farland to work on this. It might not have been as long as that but I got very sick in the middle and it took 6 months for me to recover enough to start up again on model trains. I sold that layout about a month ago. It was fun working on 1:160 scale but getting back to 1:76 (OO) has been very nice.

I never know what will be next, I just follow my whims and call it good.

Thank you for all you do for the modeling community. It is a lot I might add.

Rob”

A big thanks to Ray for sharing his 12×4 HO scale, and to Hall of Fame member, Rob.

That’s all for today folks – leave a comment below and let us all know what you think.

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.

Jim’s been in touch. He had a few problems with his HO track so decided to start again:

(If you want to get up to speed, here’s Jim’s first post: Jim’s HO railroad story.)

“Hello Al, again.

Thanks for the daily info and stories from your readers.

I wrote my first story to you about 8 months ago. I had started on a small HO scale layout with an up and over design in December, having just retired from a teaching job and having some space and time to begin this project.

I’m enjoying the work (work?) and consider this both a challenge and a welcome journey.

The inspiration is the real world Pipers Lagoon and Shack Island in Nanaimo, British Columbia, my wife’s home town.

The curves have 18-degree radius and the grades are 3% up and 4% down running counter-clockwise.

The base of this railroad is a 1 meter plus (4 foot square) foam pallet that once held a new dishwasher!

I had gotten this far by October but the track was not reliable. You can see there are no straight sections in this design.

The curvature and grade is always changing. Using Atlas flex track was a challenge because it tends to spring back to straight, not holding the curve as shaped. I had several bad track joins and could see no easy way to smooth them out, so… let’s start over!

I decided to bite the bullet and redo the track. First step, scrape it clean!

And then clean up the now bumpy roadbed, make it ready for new track.

This is with new Micro Engineering track which can be curved to the desired radius and will hold its shape well.

I got started on some buildings and scenery. Then I was able to clear out a 2.5 meter (8 foot) closet for a permanent home for this little scene.

Here is a view of the new location with some mountains and a few “Bob Ross” happy clouds in the backdrop.

You can see “Shack Island” on the left of the lagoon, and the fictional town of Pipers Corner over on the right.

I’ve tried a few HO kits as well as your print out buildings which are perfect for this scene.

Next, some real clouds, thanks to artist and friend Tom Devine who was visiting for a few days.

I was dissatisfied with the mountains beneath the clouds so made some changes to my work, not Tom’s.

Still not happy, so another try…

And the current, final version. I modified the mountains a final time but kept the overall outline. Tom returned and “touched up” the clouds using some black and yellow paint to add some “drama” to the scene. He also framed the mountains with some very distant tree lines.

It’s a compelling look and I hope he will come back soon a time or two as there is more black and yellow paint to add to that gathering storm.

Now, I’m about 18 months along and here is my first YouTube video showing the layout in operation.

It is a bit rough and too long so I’ll have to do some edits for next time.

And yes, it just circles at a slow speed but that’s all I was aiming for in this first phase. There is more detail that can be added but I’m ready to start something new.

You will see turnouts pointing off to the left and that’s where expansion will take place. I can move more than a meter (4 feet) to the left and then another meter out into the room.

I’m looking forward to seeing how this will turn out. At my pace of progress, I think it will take 3-4 years if all goes well but I see this more as a marathon than a sprint.

I’ll send updates when there is some progress to report.

With thanks, Al, for all you do to keep this great web site running…

Jim”

A big thanks to Jim for sharing the problems he had with his HO track.

I think we’ve all ‘started over’ at some point – and as Jim says, it’s half the fun.

For me, the key is to start, and then carry on.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get started on your layout, just like Jim did, 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.

John’s been back in touch, this time showing us how he makes his forest foliage:

“Hi Al,

It has been some time since I wrote. I have been moving and expanding my layout, and I finally got some proper scenery time in recently and thought I would share what I am doing.

I have a U-shaped section of the new layout which is situated directly above my new workbench. Because of its location, I want to get it completed early so that I can freely work on projects on the workbench without fear of breaking something when working above.

The U-Section has a nice broad 36” radius curve on one side, and I have been scenicing this area. In front of the tracks is an overgrown Pasture, but behind it is forest. Below is how I went about making the leaf litter material for the forest floor from the leaves right outside my home.

First, I collected leaves from near the house and removed the thicker bits of stem and larger veins. I was rough about it, if a little got in that is fine. Forest floors have sticks, too and these thicker bits make good sticks.

Once I had a blender cup full, I added some water – maybe a cup or so – and ran it on a low setting for about 5 minutes. If you want a finer texture, you could go longer, but 5 minutes is a good place to start for HO scale. Next I strained most of the liquid out using a fairly fine strainer.

Then I spread the solid material on a piece of aluminum foil, and baked it in the oven at 175F for several hours until dry.

The dried material is then easily broken apart in one’s fingers, and is ready to be sprinkled onto the next wooded section coming to your layout, before trees are planted. I fixed it in place with Isopropyl Alcohol and very (4 or 5 to 1) diluted Mod Podge.

After the glue set, I went over the entire area with my airbrush, spraying an extremely diluted Tamiya XF-57 Buff. This is simply for highlights and it tones down the color to match what the material looks like in the natural world.

A big thanks to John – you can see more of his 10×14 HO scale layout here.

And he shows us how to add grass to a layout here.

A big thanks to John for his ‘how to’ on his forest foliage. I think it looks spot on – just like his grass ‘how to’.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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.