Model railroad layouts plans

Lawrence has been in touch again – it’s great to see large O scale track layouts.
“Hi Al

As always thanks for all you have done to keep us all informed of the layouts from many different people around the world.

A few years ago, a good friend passed away. He not only had multiple train layouts (in Pennsylvania in the summer and Florida in the winter) but he was a collector of trains.

The fall of last year his wife put all the O scale trains into an auction. I decided to bid on a few items and won some. To my surprise I got more then I bargained on.

At the time I had my HO layout. And I had put together an O scale layout to run a Rail King 2-6-0 engine.

This runs on a 32-inch radius curve. Here is the layout that I had at the time. The U-shaped layout (18 inches from the floor, future plans on HO above the O scale at 43 inches) in green was the O scale that was running and working on the scenery. The inside was the HO scale layout.

The items that I bid on showed the items but with a white background. So, there was no reference to size. That included when I went on line to see their typical cost as a reference to know how much to bid. The engine that I had ran on the 32-inch curves and was a 2-6-0 engine with coal car that is seventeen inches long.

I bid on two engines that were 4-6-2 that turned out to be 21 inches long. I picked them up at 30 percent of full price. These ended up taking a 45-inch radius curve.

So, this blew my initial O scale layout out of the water. I also picked up two engines with coal cars (one 4-8-4 and one claimed to be the Mattak at 2-6-6-2) at 35 percent of cost. Both of these takes a 54-inch radius curve (groan) at 27 inches long.

I also picked up the ‘Greenbrier’ at 25 percent of cost (purchase at dealer is $1,200) which is 2-6-6-6 and turns out to be 31 inches long (double groan). Great deals but my present layout cannot handle these three. The second picture shows the size differences.

I decided it was time for a major change. Trash the HO scale and save as much as possible. Upgrade the O scale to handle the all the engines.

I managed to save and clean up all the HO track. Save the building, trees, autos, etc. into storage from the town, mountain, farm, Ren Faire, and six level double track double helix.

Then using ‘AnyRail 6’ to design the following layout (picture # 3). Notice the addition between the original U shape layout. The inside track is the 32 inch radius. The next three tracks are 45-inch, 54-inch and 72-inch radius respectively.

The initial O scale uses three rail ‘ROSS’ tracks. I ordered all the rest of the track a little at a time from my local dealer ‘Rail Tales’. Got some in but with the pandemic and Ross being shut down and some workers having the virus they are now working on back orders (been waiting for a couple of months).

The next four pictures displays where I am at the present. No permanent building placement or scenery until the track is powered up and the trains run with 95 percent of the problems taken care of. That’s the fun of large O scale track layouts.

The O scale is 18 inches off the floor, so no working under the layout. My understanding is I need one transformer for each track. Have designed the control console but not built it yet. But the electrical layout I put together. The terminal board connections on the back of the control console are displayed next. One terminal board for each track. And due to the length of the bus lines I split the lines into four directions.

I was told I need feeder lines about every 8 to 10 feet. ROSS has track that have electrical connections, no soldering needed – yippee. With this data I can set up terminal blocks at every feeder connection point. Schematic displayed.

Using an extra tall facia board, I installed ‘split wire loom flex tubing cable conduit’ and terminal boards on the outside of the track.

The upper conduit will carry the 32- and 45-inch track bus wire. The middle conduit will carry the 54- and 72-inch track bus wire.

The bottom conduit will carry building lights when I get around to it. The facia board with cabling and feeder wire terminal boards is now displayed.

The feeder wires are connected in the picture.

The bus wire is gauge 10 solid (less magnetic hysteresis and lower resistance per linear foot but not very flexible) and the feeder wires are 19-gauge multiple flexible strands. A hole is drilled at each electrical track connections to feed the wires down and easily pulled to the front of the layout.

The length of each individual track comes out to roughly 1328 inches or just under 111 feet.

Is my math correct – –

actual inches = (1328 inches / X) = 2.4 track inches / (12 inches * 10 feet) = 66,400

then actual miles = (66400 actual inches / 12 inches) / 5280 feet = 12.6 miles.

Lawrence,
Madison Virginia”

A big thanks to Lawrence for adding to the collection of large O scale track layouts – I can’t wait to see this one progress.

You can see more of his O scale here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you’re are missing out on all the fun.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still updated everyday.

Richard has been in touch with his Atlas N scale track 4×6 layout:

“Alastair, I’m a new subscriber and your email was the first one I opened.

You suggested that your emails are thin on responses so I thought I would send pics of my N Scale layout.

It is a modification of Atlas’ N59 layout. I added an over and under to it and lengthened it. Overall size is 4′ x 6′.

It’s constructed on a plywood base topped with 1” pink insulation foam.

I never had room in my home for the size of layout I wanted, so when I retired, I sold a car and replaced it with the model train layout I have been waiting to build for over 50 years.

The base rests on saw horses, but stability is really with the bicycle hooks and hoist that allows me to raise and lower the layout when needed.

I am now adding a downtown area with train station because I bought a Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 locomotive and four passenger cars. I grew up in Trenton, NJ and rode many times on the old Pensy line to New York City and Philadelphia.

Because my garage is neither heated or A/C’d, I’m limited when I can operate and further construct changes. Corrosion is a suspect in some of my electrical problems.

A defective switch control and now a suspected selector is waiting for me to solve my most recent problem that did not exist when I left the layout to “winter over.” I can easily run two trains and even a third, switching cars in the yard, when I don’t have any electrical problems.

Some of the points of interest not readily visible in the pics or had not yet been added are:

1. Hobo camp

2. Ranger tower

3. Detailed railroad crossing

4. Business district

5. Water flows into the lake from the mountain and under the tracks. (My young nephew insisted on a tunnel and a mountain to mimic “Stone Mountain” which is a granite outcropping in the Atlanta GA area)

Model railroading is a fun creative hobby, I have enjoyed for the past 10 years. I’m a 70+ senior who had a small HO layout before I left my parent’s home. It disappeared into the bedroom of a nephew never to be seen again.

Richard
Kennesaw, GA”

Now on to Marvin:

“Al,

Wonder if you might consider an offbeat item for your blog.

Petticoat Junction was an American sitcom in the 60’s that was spun off from The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres. I assume these shows might have found life on the east bank of the big pond.

Petticoat Junction featured the Cannonball, a steam train that stopped at Hooterville.

The train has appeared in many movies and TV shows, most notably Back To The Future, Part 3, and is still running a scenic route in California.

What is missing is why the locomotive and tender are labeled “C&FW”, and the shows creators didn’t bother to keep the documentation.

The “C” could be Chicago or Chattanooga, and the “FW” might be Fort Worth.

Thought maybe that someone in your huge network might know for sure what C&FW stands for.

Marvin”

I did ponder over posting Marvin’s question, but then I thought, “I’ll bet someone knows” – so who can help?

And a big thanks to Rich for sharing his Atlas N scale track.

There’s one line in his narrative that I loved:

“…so when I retired, I sold a car and replaced it with the model train layout I have been waiting to build for over 50 years”

That’s what this hobby is all about!

I do love a layout with a theme. Perhaps another good example of this is John’s HO scale mine layout.

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 N scale layouts here if that’s your thing.

Brian’s been back in touch with his HO scale harbor models.

(His last post is here if you want to catch up.)

“Hi Al,

Below are cardboard mock-ups for the new extended waterfront.

An HO 3D printed, assembled and painted fork lift truck recently completed.

The waterfront extension under construction.

As can be seen in this view, the extension starts from just beyond my current harbour and will go around to the other side where the waterfront will be.

As said before, I have more that enough boats (more than I need) and will be floating them on the water once I get closer to completion.

Here we can also see a section of the upper level where the video was taken running from left to right.

The crew of loggers on a Mcgiffert log loader are waiting for log cars to be loaded and shipped by rail to the sawmill.

A smoke break before the hard work begins.

Brian – the HOn3 guy in Knysna RSA”

A big thank to Brian for sharing his HO scale harbor models. You can tell he enjoys every minute of his layout.

Now on to Wayne, who is still cracking on with his layout:

“Good evening Al.

I havn’t left on my trip yet, but real soon.

My time has been devided between getting the bike and gear ready, and trying to get as much done on the layout as I can before I leave.

I should be laying plaster on them there hills tomorrow.

Old biker Wayne”

(Wayne’s last post is here.)

A big thanks to Brian and Wayne.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get going on your own layout.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still going strong.