Model railroad layouts plans

David’s been in touch with his HO scale train layout.

His journey is one many of us will be familiar with.

“Al:

I thoroughly enjoy your blog; reading it is a part of my morning ritual.

I have learned a lot from your contributors. Thank you for all you do to promote our hobby. You provide a great service to all of us train buffs.

These photos are a long time coming. It has been a journey for me.

It started 63 years ago, when my dad bought me a Lionel 027 train set, featuring a steam engine and tender. As you might expect it had smoke pellets.

Over time he bought me a switch engine and operating accessories. Then him and Mom decided I deserved to have a nice layout.

He built a 16’ x 8’ double track layout with switch track allowing the trains to switch loops.

The main feature, however, was an L-shaped 2 track tunnel made from wood and screen frame stuffed with newspaper and covered in an old sheet, which Mom painted with earth colors and Dad installed red and green lights hooked up to a 2-way switch at the entry of the tunnel. I was the envy of the neighborhood.

In my thirties, a friend and train enthusiast encouraged me to unpack my 2 trains and set them up.

This began a 35-year adventure, which resulted in a 20’ x 30’ basement filled with 14 O-27 trains and a bouser trolley and a Lionel bumper car trolley. Oh yes, the layout was filled with operating accessories. For me, the fun of the hobby became modeling.

Operating the trains did not have the thrill I had when I was a child. I moved 8 times during this period, so my benchwork had to become portable.

I used standard 2” x 4” legs bolted to ½” plywood framed by 2” x 4” frames.

The key lesson from multiple teardowns and rebuilds was that getting the track work right was critical. As a result, I used a lot of half-straight track in my curves to avoid derailments.

When I turned 70, I realized that my railroad empire was no longer fun, because I did all the modeling and building that my basement allowed.

I ended up selling my collection to an eBay trader for about 45% of the collection’s original value. The only thing I retained was my original steam engine and tender, in memory of my dad. It did not take long for me to have “seller’s remorse.”

After giving the idea of starting a new layout, I decided to convert to HO scale. I think, the pictures tell the story of my new adventure.

I love the realism of the HO scale and the building and scenery options are far more extensive Than O-gauge.

What I have found is that I am spending more time and detail in creating the scenery for my layout.

I hope your readers enjoy the pictures.

Best Wishes,

Dave”

A huge big thank you to David for sharing his HO scale train layout – I did enjoy his narrative.

So many of us started this journey with a Christmas gift when we were young and full of wonder.

That’s all this time my friends.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, 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.

Heather’s been back in touch with a HO layout update.

There is no stopping them, as you’ll read:

“Hi there it’s Heather & Jason here.

Well we are still at this house no word yet on what is going on so we got back to doing the HO layout.

We touched up some of the first stage then got onto the next part.

Jason has just added the table section B to A on the leg at the bottom so we can move over to there & finish off section A.

As you know we are not trying to do any special places just happy to go with a HO layout from our heads & love what we have done.

We are however still trying to work out some power problems & set up but we are working on it as it is all a learning stage for me in the wheelchair & Jason trying something for the first time.

We don’t know a darn thing about what we are doing but loving it as we go.

Jason was doing a section for power supply for the town so to speak & he could not get any braces in to hold it while glue set.

So I came up with the idea of using my crane to hold it & from there we came up with the idea of using it in the layout & after a bit of talking it over we came up with this.

I don’t think he did a bad job at it setting the crane up ect while I worked on the servo area.

We have a truck fuel area with the cars back at the servo itself we were going to put it behind but found we are not wide enough to do it that way.

When I was driving a rig myself jason’s father had his own trucking business when I met him need I say more.

Anyway I took it from the memory I had from being on the road & put our little twist to it as Jason wanted a cafe somewhere so we added it in here with an old carriage.

We don’t have a truck stop here I wanted because of lack of room, but we do have one up the road near KFC & they have toilet blocks there too.

Jason has his farm near there & that is it for section A, as B is working around his cattle yard.

It’s up to me to lay tracks & I have to split them to fit the rest of the lay out.

The rest of the lay out to go on will be the airport, the dock area, the cattle yards & back to town ?????

I am trying to think how it’s going to go, ok, ha ha ha ha we have it drawn up & in our heads but that does not mean anything as we change it all the time.

I don’t fix anything down I just lay it out & change it as I go to suit the trains & loads that will be running over it to my liking – then Jason tack’s it down or moves it.

Camera is not working at moment so can’t give you a running shot of it all but here are a couple of the area at the bottom section we are nearly finished.

Trailers parked while prime mover has gone to a workshop or to get fuel & a meal at the restaurant up the road others just want a pit stop & KFC

All the best

Heather & Jason.”

I do admire the way Heather and Jason jumped in feet first with their layout.

Even with a looming house move they have cracked on.

This line in Heather’s narrative says it all:

“…just happy to go with a layout from our heads & love what we have done”

That’s the wonderful thing about a layout. There are no time scales. It’s always there for you whenever you have the inclination.

And best of all, they are a lot of fun.

There’s no right or wrong way to create one.

Jumping in or weeks of prior planning are both valid routes.

So let’s look at both options.

Another ‘jumper-in’ is Wayne and his HO layout – and I absolutely love what he’s done.

His last post is here.

And then there’s the planning route, like Jeff’s:

You can see Jeff’s HO layout post here

It just goes to show, it doesn’t matter whether you are a feet-first-jumper-in, or a meticulous planner, both work.

But saying that, they still both on hinge on one simple point: making a start.

Are you a jumper in or a planner? Please leave a comment below, would love to hear your thoughts on this one.

And if today is the day you decide to stop dreaming and starting doing and join in with the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Rob has been in touch with some LED lighting:

“Hi Al,

I think some of your readers might be interested in this subject.

I have decided to light up my housing block. Finally? To do it, I want to control the brightness of the LEDs I plan to use. I want to vary the brightness and intensity plus the color emanating from the windows I plan to treat. I will also vary the interior color and add curtains and drapes randomly.

In the past to vary the brightness of the LEDs I have always added or subtracted resistance feeding each one. This is a clumsy method and this time with so many to do all at once I wanted to find a different way.

In my search, I discovered this relatively simple way to get the job done and once the building is lit, I can stand back and tune the lighting effect to best enhance this project.

“Alastair,

Good day! I wanted let your readers know about a wonderful new family of LED strip lighting, called COB, or Chip On Board.

What the the differences from other LED strip you might ask?

Heretofore typical led strip light were only able to be cut in 2” increments, then soldered, and placed into model structures.

But the new COB strips run continuous along the strip, and can be cut in 1centimeter lengths.

This is great news for us N Scalers, with tight spots in tiny, tiny buildings.

See my pictures and video below.

Clark”

Now on to Steve:

“Hi Al

When laying track using glue rather than track pins, you can use food cans such as soup, peas etc to weight the track down while the glue is setting.

I have attached a photo illustrating this.

My track is 00 but I imagine it would work with N or 0 gauge too – as long as it’s not 3-rail!

Regards

Steve”

---

And now on to Peter.

He’s done what a lot of you do – put old kitchen cabinets to good use:

“Hi Al

I very much enjoy your site and thought I’d send pics of my HO OO project which might be of interest to people.

I decided to build a solid baseboard with plenty of storage underneath so installed some basic kitchen units which provide the perfect height (pic1).

The baseboard itself consists of sheets of OSB board with a top layer of sealed and painted Sundeala. Yes, I know that we are “forbidden” to use this material but there we are, I just wanted to use it to see what happens 🙂

I’ve put together a starting point layout with a DC figure of 8 in the centre with an outer 3 line DCC so hopefully the best of both worlds (pic 2).

Best wishes

Peter”

Now on to Charles – who is asking for a little help:

“Al,

I have a question to post to the group.

This is my first attempt at a prototype from a photo.

I hated to do the deed of destroying a GG1 shell, especially an old Penn Line vintage die cast one. I caught heck from my nephew!

Anyhow, my question is are all HO scale gondolas the same width?

As can be seen in the photos, the cut shell doesn’t fit into the gondola as it does in the real photo.

If you blow up the real photo, you can see that there are five cars loaded with one GG1 that has been scrapped. I plan on making the full load eventually.

I can continue to cut the model to where it will fit on a significant angle, but I wanted to seek more professional level opinions.

I am including an additional photo to see if anyone has any idea as to what I could use to model the brake shoes in HO 1/87 scale, for my next project. To be around my roundhouse maintenance area.

Thanks for any ideas or thoughts from all.

Charles in New Jersey”

And now on to Josie:

“Hello Al,

I wonder if you might help. My name is Josie and I am planning on building a small model train installation for a BBC programme and I wanted to know what the smallest possible circumference would be for a O gauge train?

Is this something you might be able to answer?

We don’t have a huge amount of space but would like to know how small a simple 360 circle could be.

Many Thanks

Josie”

That’s all for today folks.

If you can help Joise or Charles, please do leave a comment below.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today’s collection of missives has inspired you to leave the comfort of your armchair, and join in with the fun 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.

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