Model railroad layouts plans

Bill’s been back in touch with his HO switching layout.

Well, I say HO layout – he’s busy with N scale too, as you’ll see.

(By the way if you are after Urban switching layouts there are more here.)

“Al

Wishing you and all who follow your wonderful posts a great holiday season as we get closer to December.

I also want to say thank you for another wonderful Silly Sale. I think this is the third time I bought the Beginners E Book. It’s a small price to pay to help support your efforts on spreading the joys of model railroading to many parts of the globe.

What I have included today are a variety of pictures from both the HO switching layout and my N Scale layout as well. The past month or so I am enjoying running both layouts and also adding in new details.

I have picked up numerous automobile kits in both scales as well as different road construction equipment.

Another area of focus for me has been building and detailing the city of Alta on my N Scale layout. Basics are completed and soon I will turn my attention to completing the building that remain.

I have also started to repaint N Scale people I have. I am close to populating the N Scald layout but I wanted to give a more realistic paint job to many of the lower cost people I have. It’s actually easy to do just takes a little while. More in that maybe in my next submission.

One picture shows three F7a’s – different versions but all Pennsylvania Railroad.

I am close to starting a two rail O Scale & ON30 layout in the garage to join the HO and N Scale layouts.

A car will never see the inside of my garage again I think and I’m ok with that. Someone else is begrudgingly ok with that. At least she always knows where I am when she can’t find me.

Layouts are never finished. There is always fun little things we can do to bring our worlds to life.

To all modelers Keep Having Fun on Your layout’s!

Cheers!

Bill in Virginia”

A huge big thank you to Bill for sharing his HO switching layout – and his N scale too.

If you want to get up to speed with his layout, his last post is here.

That’s all for today 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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Ernie’s shared a video fo his N scale railroad Atlas layout:

“Hi Al,

As I mentioned, my layout was one of the designs in the “Nine N Scale Railroads” by Atlas. I picked the big one in the last chapter being greedy as I am.

I’m not smart enough to hardly get past an oval with two and a half sidings so the Atlas book opened new horizons for me.

Liked the fact that it can run four trains at a time with upper and lower double main lines, has a small rail yard, mountains, tunnels, a twin crossover, a river, and a massive twin viaduct traversing the valley.

What more could a guy ask for?

This all rolled into one 48″ x 72″ sheet of plywood! Can stand the thing on end in a closet when not in use.

Layout used one 4 x 8 sheet of plywood cut to 72″ in length with the cut off end used for the upper level including some cookie cutter technique used for good measure.

Adding to the fun is the fact that there are two interchanges between the upper and lower levels allowing for traffic between mainlines.

But that’s not all: you have a reversing loop in the upper level AND the interconnects are designed so that a trip to the upper pike and back switches mainlines on the lower level upon return.

Who ever designed this thing easily understands Einstein’s therory of relativity!

I built this layout back 30 years ago and have recently pulled it out of the closet and am enjoying it immensely.

That said this is old school with block wiring throughout and the same turn out controls the Flintstones used back in the day.

Track is all Atlas sectional code 70. Of course then I discovered code 55……next pike…..(recently picked up 100 code 55 hand built #6, #8, and #10 switches in need of work removed from a layout that was taken down) but that’s another story…..

Like the idea of controlling the trains with block switches (keeps the mind excersized), have to work at it when moving between lines or I can just let them orbit on each mainline and relax and watch. Like running long trains.

Can only allow three trains to orbit without attention due to the double cross over on the upper level. To run four you have to tend to that crossover, and, yes, we have had wrecks!

This layout takes four power packs so I used the little cheapies from small train sets for years.

The cheapies would pop the internal breakers when running ABBA configurations all powered after some run time so stepped up to a pair of higher end twin cab units.

The new twin cab units also had some issues (one cab runs half speed always till it warms up) prompting me to consider building my own with plans I have found recently (materials are very inexpensive and use laptop chargers which are a dime a dozen).

Probably more then you wanted to hear! Rolling stock accumulated over the years always watching for deals. Scenery time next!

Ernie

(Steve but everyone calls me Ernie)”

Looks like Enrie’s having fun with his N scale railroad Atlas.

If you missed his last post with all the pics, it’s here.

Can’t wait to see the scenery!

Now on to Bob:

“Hi Al,

I’m in the process of building my dream model railroad similar to dangerous Dave’s.

The room is 20ft x 32ft feet with a triple track main.

Two of which run around twice and one that runs around once. All the rail is in and the wiring half done.

I have a long long way to go and other things keep getting in the way. But I will keep at it.

I will send a few pictures that I have under separate cover.

Best Regards

Bob”

That’s all for today 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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Ruud’s been in touch with his German model railway:

“Hi Al,

I’m following the mails in your site already for some time now.

I don’t have much time, so progress is very very slow.

But thought still that I do have something to share.

First of all, I see many different layouts and each having its own purpose, depending on the priorities set by the builder. And that is good. Most important is that we love what we are doing and enjoy it.

I for me would like to make something that reflects the purpose of a real railway. You must have the idea that people are transported from one place to another and that goods are transported to the place where they are needed. One should not have the impression that trains are just running around, though they do of course.

Therefor I set for myself some rules.

One should not be able to see the train running back at the other side of the layout.

Platforms should at least be long enough to let the passengers of all carriages step out without braking their necks of legs. (My platforms are 2 meter, which allows for 7 or 8 carriages.)

The buildings should give the real impression of a city (in my case).

The number of tunnels in mountains should be kept to the absolute minimum. (Tunnels in real world are very expensive and made only if there is no way around it.)

My layout will be in 5 modules, which can be transported separately if needed.

Still working on the 1st module. That is showing a bit of the idea that I have in mind. But still far from finished. But I made a start ?

I have included a few pictures.

Regards,

Ruud (DRGbaan)”

“Alastair saw the post on the trains running for days. Attached are photos of my layout.

I have been following your site for a number of years and enjoy the comments and have built a large number of your buildings but too late for my layout.

Myself and another n scaler from our local club are building to work with the club’s HO layout.

Our module will have both scales on it with HO track on the top and a 3 foot x 12 foot.

James”

A big thanks to Ruud and James.

That’s all for today 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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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