Model railroad layouts plans

Denny’s been in touch with some pics that look very similar to the HO scale barn kit (scroll down to see it).

“Dear Al,

Kitbashing isn’t just for modelers!

I found a picturesque old red barn less than a mile west of I-25 between Denver & Fort Collins, Colorado.

I wandered around trying to find the right angle & light for photos and I was astounded to find an old wooden boxcar with metal waffle ends incorporated into the barn & animal pens.

Perhaps this will inspire us to use our old boxcars for more than hobo camps & yard offices.

If you come up with great ideas, share them with Al so that he can share them with all of us.

Thanks Al!

Denny
Scottsdale Arizona USA”

Denny’s pics really reminded me of the HO scale barn kit in the printable scenery store – have a look, it’s here.

It’s not just HO scale, it’s any scale you want the barn to be by adjusting the print percentages, which you can see here in the printable buildings.

Now on to Hank, who has sent in his oldish youtube, but a wonderful write up.

It was the very last line that made me think I really should post:

“I received my first set of trains for Christmas when I was 5 years old. Every Christmas my parents would add more to my collection. My brothers and I would save our allowances to purchase accessories.

When I went to high school I lost interest in the trains until my daughter was born.

I set up a small display around the Christmas tree for my daughter to watch. I was shocked when the landlord complained of the noise from the trains and told me to stop immediately.

After that initial shock, I told my wife that we are moving out and buying our own house so I can freely run all the trains that I wanted.

Each year I would set up a display until my daughters lost interest.

Five years after my first wife passed away at a young age, I set up a display at my new girlfriend’s house. She encouraged me to work on the layout together. We had so much fun working as a team.

She had a big dance floor in her basement where we used to do Latin dances every night. Eventually, I asked her if Icould have a 12 by 14 L shape area to run my trains which she agreed. After 3 months, I dismantled the layout and built a new one that I was able to run simultaneously four sets of trains. My girlfriend loved doing the wiring and that gave me time to devote on designing the
layout.

We decided to get married, sell her house, and move into mine. I built two new rooms, a music room to accommodate her baby grand piano, and 15 X 22 room for my trains. Little did I realize that the train room would become a ping pong room after allowing her to design the rooms.

I ended up using part of our recreation room for the trains. I built a 12 ft by 18 ft layout where I was able to run 8 sets of trains. My wife helped install an “accident scene” with crashed cars, ambulance, and police cars.

With her small delicate hands and her surgical kit, she was able to open the vehicles and put the LED lights and wires inside. A challenging feat that I could not
have tackled!

My greatest joy is designing and building the layout. The satisfaction I derive of its success is worth the effort. Since then, I have constructed four levels. The bottom level has a subway system and three trains operate on the level. The main level has three trains running and one set of tracks where the train can reverse itself. The third level has two sets of trains running.

The upper level contains an amusement park and a large farm and one train goes around the amusement park and the second train drops people off at the park. I also have a trolley running from the business district to the amusement park. There is an addition of a Winter village with a Ski resort.

From the beginning to where we are now, I have switched from Lionel engines to MTH engines. I use four (4) Z4000 and two (2) Z1000 transformers. The lights are controlled by 1 Lionel
transformer.

The journey we take in designing and redesigning a personal train layout is endless, as we train enthusiasts know!

Hank”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

A big thanks to Denny and Hank (the last line in his narrative says it all).

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Remember, it’s the start that stops most people…

Best

Al

Mike’s been in touch with a common question: HO scale or O scale?

“Hello Alastair, my new friend:

I wrote to you once before, but I have more to the story.

I was re-introduced to model trains when my grandkids convinced me to get a Lionel Harry Potter Train set after vacationing in Florida.

I went crazy over Lionel and invested heavily for about a year building a large layout for trains to run free on four 4×8-foot tables in the basement.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t seem to find enough room to develop landscapes and city systems.

Not long after, I found your web site and have enjoyed every email update you have sent to me, but always intrigued with how much everyone was having with HO scale.

After seeing for the last time my lanky Lionels making sharp turns on my confined layout, I came to the ultimate decision. I have spent the last three months selling off ALL my Lionel O Gauge trains and track.

My new passion is HO scale which I am now invested heavily.

Much more realistic and on the old Lionel tables, these little trains have real room to move.

I also have much more real estate upon which to develop my scenery, and I have decided to recreate movie studio backlots on my train layout.

Now having the time of my life designing and building sets.

Attached are a few photos which I have scaled down a bit to keep from overloading your email. I hope you enjoy, and many thanks for setting me on the correct path.

Cheers, and all the best!

Your friend in Michigan,

Mike”

And now on to Henry who gets in touch around this time every year:

“Hello Al

Here is this year’s update.

Thank you for a wonderful service to the model railway community, I eagerly await your emails every day.

Thank You

Henry”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still going strong and goes mad this time of year. Take a look.

Remember theres only way one you can update your layout – and that’s to make a start on one. Just like Mike has done.

A big thanks to Henry and to Mike for sharing his answer on the thorny question of HO scale or O scale.

I have to say, I do find it very encouraging when people mention the blog has helped them to make a start. I shall keep going with this theme.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming, and start doing, don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

John’s been back in touch with how he solved his crossover problem. Wiring, and clambering around underneath a table is a lot more troublesome as you clock up the years. John has come up with a smart fix though.

(If you want to get up to speed, his last post is here.)

“Good morning (here anyway) Alistair,

The crossover project-

When I first built a model railroad as an adult some 30 years ago, I thought sitting on the floor under the bench-work wiring was fun, kind of a Zen sort of connection to the underworld part of the layout, wiring the roots of that world and all.

Now in my 70’s, the “cosmic roots Zen thing” has left the building, and I’m looking for easier ways to do the “underworld” work, like sitting on a stool in my shop, or on a chair beside the layout.

Only occasional trips to the underground West Virginia Energy Railroad scenery for wire runs back to the control panel, which I normally bribe my grandson to do.

So that’s the back story, and here’s the result.

I installed a neat double-crossover some time ago, and operated it by hand while I worked out all the trackwork details and scenery.

It was time to install 4 switch motors and sync them to operate together. I decided that the crossover would operate in 2 states, either both tracks set to go straight through, or both set to crossover. My signals would be display hi-green for straight through, and medium approach for crossover.

I decided since there was a lot of wiring, and physical mounting of my home-made switch motors, (which were discussed in a previous post) and all the trimming and adjusting the operating rods for the motors to throw the points consistently, it would be easier done on my workbench than over my head from under the layout.

By the way, I purchased from a great company located over in the UK, BLOCK Signalling blocksignalling a servo control board to control the crossover.

I have several circuit boards from them, a reversing loop controller, a points indicator board for snap-type switch machines, and other signal controllers. This company is helpful, has a lot of clever stuff, is quick sending out product, and a good value for the money.

With saber-saw in hand I cut out the crossover. It was an earthquake for cars on the layout, but the buildings came through OK. Anyway, I mounted the section of plywood with the crossover on a wooden box so I could easily get to both sides, then wired up everything, mounted the switch motors, and tested everything a few dozen times.

I decided to use the micro-switches on the switch machines to control the LED green signals.

The red LED’s stay lit all the time as is the policy on some rail systems, this is to assure the signal is working, and is ignored if another signal aspect is lighted, a dark signal is assumed to be out broken, and is taken as a “stop” indication.

I wired in a 12v to 2.5v power supply to run the signal LED’s separate from the servo controller. With everything wired and dressed up it was back to the layout with everything already to go.

I attached a few cleats to assist in replacing the section with the crossover back into the layout. I also previously had the kid run the wiring from the control panel to the location of the crossover so it could be connected before setting the crossover back in the hole in the scenery.

Sitting comfortable on a chair, I made all the track connections and painted the scenery where I had replaced the crossover. Re-connecting the tracks was easily done at the comfortable level of the bench-work, and the trains run better than they did before all the destruction.

I found a great product for scenery repairs, Durham’s rock hard water putty it’s easy to mix in small batches, sets up in 15 minutes, can be easily carved soft for another 15 minutes, then like hard plaster after that, it takes paint well and doesn’t shrink much. In the pictures it shows as yellow.

Enjoy,

John from Baltimore”

A big thanks to John – it’s wonderful to see how all tackle your issues and come up with so many solutions.

I think that’s one of the fun parts of this hobby, there are a million and one different ways of solving a problem.

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming, and start doing, don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still going strong and goes mad this time of year.