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HOn3 18 inch radius works for Dave

Dave’s been in touch – he found a HOn3 raduis worked well for him and the space his has:

“I am very new to the hobby having started right around three years ago not really knowing much about anything involving model railroading.

My only real exposure was back when I was very young having a very typical DC train set. My new interest got sparked after seeing some different video’s on YouTube which re-introduced me into that world.

I first began by collecting photos off the internet of scenes that I liked and doing a lot of research into, well, everything.

The first really important thing that I learned was that the maximum track radius one can fit into their space determines everything.

In other words, how large can you make your curves around the layout? That radius is the limitation to the scale you can work with and the type of track plan you can have. It is not just a mechanical limit to what can physically run, but also to what looks proportionally correct.

My space is a very small spare bedroom. I had considered HO to be my ideal scale to work with, but I figured that the broadest curves I could have were based on an 18 inch radius, due to the need to round a peninsula. So, it was N scale that would work perfectly with that radius limitation. It was far too sharp a curve for HO.

So, I spent several months learning different aspects of N scale and creating possible track plans all without any real understanding of how real railroads work, or what their operational needs were.

I then started to gather more photos of scenes that I liked and found a common theme to most of them. Nearly all of them were of narrow gauge railroads. I didn’t even know what that was. Once I had looked into it I found out that I could indeed model in HO scale and still stay within the track radius limits of my room by going with HOn3.

HOn3 works fine with 18 inch radius curves since the engines and cars are smaller and the track used is very close to N scale in width.

One other very important aspect that I picked up on looking at my gathering of preferred model railroad photos, was that the visual backdrops were of primary focus and not just an afterthought.

So, when I started actually building the layout the backdrop was the first thing installed and later all the scenery would expand outward from them as an extension creating visual depth.

I did my layout in stages choosing to nearly fully complete each section before moving on to the next. This way I felt the mistakes I would make in the track, scenery, etc. would be isolated to just that section. So, in theory things would improve as I moved along.

My railroad is DCC running the JMRI Operations software and called the Nickel Creek & Western. It is as freelance as one can possibly get. It doesn’t model any specific place, or time just a general feel of the Northwest sometime in first part of the century.

I consider it a facsimile of a reality rather than reality itself. So far I have basically gone with what I feel looks nice and not worried about counting the rivets.

A lot of my structures are scratch built from either my imagination, or from photos of what others have done. It isn’t finished. I still have a few small sections to complete as well as adding in a lot more detail such as people and vehicles everywhere.

Dave”

A huge thank you to Dave. I’ll bet he’s glad he stumbled upon his HOn3 18 radius – how many of us have been frustrated by the space we have? And what a layout.

The pics are stunning, but for me, it’s the narrative that stands out.

It just goes to show how a little planning can go a long, long way. Spectacular stuff.

Hope you enjoyed that as much as me.

Whenever it comes to HOn3, Brian’s posts always spring to mind, like this one.

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

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.

Making your model railroad personal

Dan’s been in touch with a wonderful post on how he made his model railroad personal.

He’s done what I lot of you do and really made his layout ‘his own’ by adding some personal touches:

“By design I had gathered some rolling stock that had a connection with parts of my career. The consist that the attached photos show started in 1990.

The event was the Mid Atlantic Food Dealers exhibition in Baltimore, MD. Our company, Norristown Wholesale Inc. was a family owned produce distribution company, one of the largest, if not the largest, in the Delaware Valley marketing area.

We had established a pattern of being very creative in our displays, and we always ended up winning a major prize for our efforts.

I was the lead for this show, and I took advantage of Baltimore as a railroad hub, and I used that as part of our theme.

I built a station with a fruit and vegetable counter with track announcements, and a window view of the old Camden Station.

Today that building still stands as a Historic Landmark. The photo was a pre-WWII view of the station that I obtained from the B&O Railroad Museum. My wife made some drapes to add to the window look.

The front of the fruit counter was made up of the F-3 diesel engine and 3 railroad cars that represented the some of the products we sold.

These cars were popular HO commodity cars, namely Brach’s Candy (which was sold in produce departments), State of Maine Potatoes, and Pacific Fruit Express.

I made a HO train of these cars with an F-3 lead and of course a caboose. Both the engine and caboose were in the NWI livery. The colors on the display were rather soft as we used fire retardant paint that does not have a lot of pigment.

Our little HO train would go back and forth across the top of the counter. We finished our display early, and Charlie, one of our regional managers came up with the idea of making tunnels out of Hubbard squash. It was a great use for the lumpy squash and a good look for the days of the show ….any longer then things would of course get rotten.

In 200 I transferred to the Supervalu home office were I performed a variety of duties, including serving as a Corporate Meat Procurement Officer. I had a some meat related cars in inventory, and after I retired I realized I had an opportunity to create a consist that included many of my vendors and packers.

I have 2 Hormel cars because one was thought to be lost only to arrive weeks later in the mail. It was fun searching for the cars. One stretch is the Seaboard Lines car, as I could not find a car for Seaboard Packing.

I bought product for a variety of supermarket chains, both corporate and independent. One of the largest chains was Acme Markets, a corporate chain with stores throughout the mid-Atlantic region. I even worked for Acme the summer before grad school. The Penna. flatcar with two Acme vans was a good item to complete the consist.

The Acme vans are not official to the chain, maybe closer to Wyllie Coyote and the Roadrunner. The Berkshire commemorative engine, a gift from a good friend, pulls the 11 cars up my 2% grade with ease.

My commodity train was a fun project and it tells a story. My next consist will be made of actual companies that use the names of my grandchildren. A project for the fall.