Model railroad layouts plans

Ben’s been in touch with his HO scale trestle bridge:

“Hello Al,

Hope all is well with you!

To begin, I wanted to let you know that I purchased your “Beginners Guide to Model Railroading” not long ago and I have found it to be a wonderful resource. It is well written, filled with practical tips, links to other resources, and a great value for the price. Thanks for creating it. I’ll be referring to it often!

I’m writing to give an update on the building of the 3rd line on my HO scale layout. Specifically, the curved wooden trestle bridge I made from scratch.

Initially, I planned to buy a trestle kit, but finding one that met the specs of my layout was extremely difficult.

After a lot of searching I did find two curved trestle bridge kits that would work for me, but they were both listed as “out of stock” with no indication of when – if ever – they would be back in stock. So, I decided to build my own! Building anything from scratch – much less a 36-inch curved wooden bridge – is a first for me and I had doubts that I could pull it off.

I don’t have the steadiest of hands and I’ve always joked about being all thumbs when it comes to anything with small parts. But with some planning, practice and patience I completed the project.

For any of your readers who are thinking “I could never do that”, I say “Trust me folks, If I can do it, anyone can!” It was actually a lot of fun and I learned a lot in the process.

I enjoyed the project so much I’ve started building a smaller “dry gulch” bridge for another area of the layout.

I have attached a few pictures that show some of the steps I took while making the bridge. I also created a 15 minute “how-to” video that documents the project from start to finish for anyone who is thinking of doing a bridge scratch build for the first time. Thanks again for all you do on your site. I really enjoy reading the posts from other modelers. With every story I learn something new! Stay safe and well!

Ben from Chicago.”

A huge thank you to Ben for sharing his HO scale trestle brige – what a video!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

If you want to see Ben’s last post, it’s here.

That’s all for today folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day get off your armchair and start your very own masterpiece, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Have a look and see what you can save.

Bob’s been in touch with some inventive O scale logging structures – log cars!

“Al,

I enjoyed reading how Hemi uses spare parts to make good things. His post about making the log cars really hit home.

As you may remember I am an O Gauge Hirailer. When MTH came out with the first O Gauge Shay; two of my train buddies collaborated to produce custom log cars.

Johnnie funded the project and Barry being the mechanic designed and constructed the cars.

Johnnie acquired 13 pairs of Lionel Standard O sprung trucks. These trucks are equipped with a screw mounting point.

Barry used tubing to construct the frame and welded cross members at each end. He flatted each end of the tubing and drilled a hole to take the mounting screw. He fashioned a chain and spring assembly to hold the logs on the cars. Johnnie, Barry and the rest of the Tuesday night train crew were pleased with the finished project.

They looked great running on Johnnie’s layout. Johnnie passed away several years later and Barry asked his family if he could take the log cars. When Barry passed a few years later, I asked his widow if the Tuesday Night Train Crew could keep the cars; and she agreed. I have attached a few pictures showing the car’s construction and a video of the cars moving logs on my layout.

Regards

Bob”

Thanks to Bob for sharing his O scale logging structures – really enjoyed reading and looking at the pics and vid.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of seeing your inventions and solutions when it comes to trains.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Ken’s been in touch. He’s shared how he added Atlas N scale turnouts to his layout:

“Al,

After reading, enjoying, and gaining a lot of inspiration from your blog I thought I might add to the story.

I just did a little remodel of my temporary layout to gain more storage for trains.

This meant putting a turnout (points) into an existing track. Not something people do all the time. Except for Dangerous Dave that is.

On this section of the layout, which is intended to be hidden, I am using Atlas N Scale turnouts and N scale code 80 track.

I started by laying out the location of the turnout. I held it in place while I cut the existing rail with rail nippers.

The ends were a little rough so I filed them off to make more of a square cut.

Since I use flex track, I had to modify the ends to be able to slide rail joiners on. I used a Zona saw, sliding against the underside of the rails to remove just the very top surface of the end tie. If this is not done, the thickness of the metal rail joiner will lift the joint enough that it could cause derailments.

I slid rail joiners on, connected one end on the existing track, then moved the track just enough to get the other end on.

You can see in the video that one end had to be loosened to get the saw in, and that made it easy to work the turnout into place.

I hope this brief explanation is clear enough, feel free to ask any questions.

Ken from near Albany, NY USA”

“Hello Al,

I enjoy receiving your emails and seeing what other modelers are doing.

I also like the innovative ideas some come up with. I want to share one of my own innovations, namely an easily removable backdrop.

My layout is planned to be a double deck, but because I am limited to a single car garage and sharing it with my mom in law’s car, I do not have space for a helix. Thus I have to make use of a linear climb along the long walls of the garage.

This climb is to be hidden behind the backdrop, but also needs to be accessible for cleaning and in case of a derailment.

I used an aluminum angle to support the track on the incline. The sce-ne in front of the incline is a car factory with a car loading ramp at a stub end track, but since it is on a narrow shelf, I did not have much depth to play with.

Thus, a printed backdrop of a factory was chosen, chopped and spliced together on the computer and printed it out.

Then cut and glued it to some cardstock strips. Because the factory itself is almost 6 feet long, I broke it into three smaller pieces for easier handling.

The final step was to mount this cardstock in such a way that is is removable quickly and easily. Magnets to the rescue. We use a magnetic notepad on our fridge for our home’s grocery list. When I looked at the back of this notepad, I found my solution.

The magnet was a very thin flexible magnet, and I know our art supply store sells these magnets in A4 sheets. I bought one and cut it into strips, gluing the strips to the aluminium angle where the card-stock will lean against it.

I then placed the cardstock against the incline, marking where the magnets are. After removing the cardstock I glued small metal plates (sourced from magnetic door catches) to the correct areas, and when dry, I simply put the backdrop in place and the magnets hold it in place.

To remove, I simply pull it till the magnets release and I have access to the rail behind the backdrop.

Hope this method can help fellow modelers with similar problems.

Regards

Henry van Wyk, in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa”

That’s all for today.

A big thanks to Ken for sharing how he addes his Atlas N scale turnouts. And to Henry too.
Please do keep ’em coming.

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

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.