Model railroad layouts plans

Wayne’s run in to a problem with his HO scale turnouts – can anyone help?

“I wont say i came across my first mistake, but I think I hit the mistake week.

I came across two missed tortoise not drilled turnouts. One I chocked up as lost and forgotten forever. This turnout was to go to the coal mine.

I went a little farther down the line and put another turnout in coming from the other direction. This means I get to layout a whole new coal mine.

The old spur will be a place to put a maint. car for my two guys with their beer.

The other was under the hill that I first put in. This turnout is one that I could not bypass nor change its location.

I don’t know if what I did was the easiest or the best. This is how I am going to fix it.

Digging into the archives of the old dusty brain. I used some of my job experience from years gone by. I did some measurements from out side, from the inside. Then laid it out on top of my mountain.

I used a small x-long drill bit, and drilled down through the mountain. I ended up about 1/16 inch off.

Being that close, I went ahead and drilled through the slide bar, cork road base, and the 3/4 inch plywood. This way I would know where to drill up from underneath so I could enlarge the hole for the tortoise swing bar.

I took a small cutoff disk and separated the track back several inch’s from the turnout on all 3 legs. This way I used it as a template to make up a new replacement.

I made the track runs a little longer due to the loss from the grinding wheel.

The second photo is where I moved the turnout.

The third one is the other turnout. The locating hole is under the power pole.

Maybe some of the Royal guard can let me know what they would have done, or even the yanks across the pond in my neck of the woods.

Wayne”

Please leave a comment below if you can help Wayne with his HO scale turnout problem.

Wayne’s post reminded me of this one: Adding a turnout to an existing layout.

If you want to get up to speed, Wayne’s last post is here.

Now on to Martin, who has sent in few more pics of his O scale – and a vid:

Mohawk Valley Railway GP38-2 moves some covered hoppers around at Lake Shore Harbor

Heritage ALCO C424 #452 diesel in Delaware and Hudson livery waits to pull out with a heritage passenger train.

The bit that’s not normally seen…hidden sidings at the back of the Fanny Frobisher Finest Flour plant.

Busy day at Lake Shore

Ex PRR ALCO RS1 #8858 switching covered hoppers at the grain discharger.

Two ex UP locomotives at work on the layout. SW9 # 1872 is hauling some tank cars while GP 38-2 #2289 waits patiently to do some switching once the tanker train has passed.

You can see Martin’s last post here.

A big thanks to Martin and Wayne.

That’s all for today folks.

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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Heather and Jason have been back in touch with thier HO scale double loop.

Theirs is a story of tenacity and dedication – they had to up sticks and move, which is never easy when it comes to taking your layout with you.

But they weren’t put off.

It’s far from finished but they’ve made massive progress, even in the face of adversity.

Don’t just take my word for it – look at their last post and see for yourself. It’s at the bottom of this one.

“Hi there, we have been able to repair damage that the mover did to our set.

I have been sitting around in the wheel chair doing some extra stuff to the set while Jason is away working, but now everything has to stop once again as what was to be our long term house turns out not to be.

We don’t know if we have to move again or not so again we have a darn hold up on doing our layout

Talk to you soon.

Keep smiling.

Heather & Jason”

I do enjoy seeing the organised chaos of a half built layout. They all look so wild before they take shape and morph into a sedate scene, which gives endless satisfaction. And fun.

You can see Heather and Jason have been busy with some of the print out scenery too, which is always good to see.

Looks like they are having fun with their HO scale double loop and that’s what it’s all about.

That’s all for today.

Please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get going on your own model railway adventure.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Kevin’s taken the plunge with his O scale 7×11 – have a look:

“Al:

Your blog is wonderful inspiration. Thought I might share some progress on my O scale layout.

We got a lionel tree set when I was about 10 or 11 – set it up for years until I went to college and family moved – losing the set in the process.

Maybe 10 years later I did a HO set on a 4×8 – no fixed buildings just a train at Christmas. Something I could do with my son. Eventually that set was given away prior to an overseas move.

Then about 10 years or so ago my wife bought me another Lionel set that became a Christmas fixture with added expansion packs. But kids are gone and it wasn’t as much fun, or as easy, to crawl under the tree.

Last year we moved to NC, and the house had a really ugly 9×13 closet. After cleaning up the room, I got permission to make it a train room (granddaughter visit pending). And off I went.

There was a post a few weeks back from a reader who wasn’t sure if he would do O scale, and was hesitant to start due to a lack of carpentry skills. I get it. I thought I had it all figured out. The height is perfect (floor was flat) but it isn’t perfectly square. Fortunately I planned for 3 inches or so of overhang which covers the inadvertent trapezoid.

I thought of S scale, but had lots of O equipment and track so just stayed with it. Going smaller was out due to hand tremors. I used SCARM to layout the track. I would have liked to use Ross track because it looks great, but couldn’t get a layout I liked enough to fit my space. I would have liked to go larger than 0-36 curves, too, but again space was a problem.

I built the frame out of 2x4s – it is solid as a rock. I could have gotten by with 2x3s or 2x2s, the cost difference wasn’t that great. I went rather low – about 29 inches – because I had a stool and because I used an old TV stand and a corner stand from a thrift shop as supports – gave me some cabinet storage.

If I want to I can always add another platform later, too. I mounted the 3/8 inch plywood to hinges, so I could lift it up for wiring. I do have 2 feet clear on 2 sides, and have felt sliders under the legs so I can push it around a bit to improve access.

I wanted to get a 2 inch hill on the left side, but test runs show that my slopes are a bit too steep at 2.5%, so I need to drop it down a bit. I have a hot knife which should make it easier to cut.

I haven’t named the RR yet and it doesn’t represent a specific time period – though I am partial to 40s/50s.

My collection is more about family and places we’ve lived or been. More playful than detailed model. I haven’t figured out if I should do plaster cloth or drywall mud or ??? for landscape .

The left side will be Southwestern US – like red rocks in southern Utah. That way I can do a dry wash (maybe water later) under the bridge and another truss bridge and don’t need as many trees.

The right side will be more industrial. The center will be a town – with a trolley line. I now have a couple of used plastic buildings that I need to paint – but intend to putter with scratch building (buildings are so expensive).

So far my biggest challenge might be using old Lionel stuff – without the modern plugs. I need to figure out wiring for both configurations, I guess. BUt that’s the fun with a O scale 7×11.

Kevin”

A big thanks to Kevin for sharing his O scale 7×11.

I really do enjoy seeing your ‘starts’. They are interesting, and more importantly, I know they help others make their start too.

That’s why for my latest silly sale, rather than just launch the latest scratch kit, I’ve bundled it with the Beginner’s Guide.

That way, there should be a few more making a start soon!

Here’s John with a few of the models you can make with the latest scratch kit:

I know lots of you have already bought the guide and are only buying it for the prints, and that’s fine.

After all, you can’t go wrong for just $9 can you.

There’s seems to be a little confusion about what you get. So just to clarify:

$9 gets you the Beginner’s Guide, scratch kit 1 and the new scratch kit 2 as well as the other bonus buildings.

(You can grab it all here.)

Here’s every building you get:

But there’s a catch.

There’s always a catch isn’t there?

This silly sale is just for a few days then it all goes back to normal.

So if you want to get $136 worth of print out building for just $9, including the Beginner’s Guide, don’t hang about, grab it while you can.

Best

Al

PS Don’t worry if you’ve already got the Beginner’s Guide, I know a lot of you are just buying for the prints and that’s fine.

I’ve bundled them with the Beginner’s Guide so hopefully one or two of you will start that diorama, or design a track plan, or start laying track… you get the idea.

And here’s John explaining some other stuff about the kits: