Model railroad layouts plans

Henry’s been back in touch with his model railroad HO scale:

“Hello Alastair,

As always, thank you for the service you provide to the modeling community through your daily emails. I always look forward to receiving them.

It is true that a layout is never finished. My layout has reached the stage where all the track is laid, all the wiring for track, signals and building are done and scenery is about 90 % complete.

But as your modeling skills improve, you add more detail to your layout. Here are a few photos of detail scenes I have added or improved.

Regards

Henry”

Model railroad HO scale:

A big thanks to Hnery. You can see his last post at the bottom of this one:

Small N scale track plans.

Next on to Tim, and a subject I’m very fond of – making a start!

“Dear Alastair,

After 60 years, the fulfillment of a career and family, I FINALLY have the time and wherewithal to accomplish a dream from my boyhood!

I will actually have a large HO train layout in its own dedicated room!

Yesterday, my local Home Depot delivered the lumber required as per my benchwork plan. I will have 121.5 square feet (basic) to start with and that will expand as raised plywood ( for towns and associated mass conveyance ) will also add to the square footage amount.

I don’t have a track plan as yet, as I will decide that when all my buildings and structures are placed on the finished benchwork. In other words, I’m grow grow my railroad as my towns take shape. I spent many decades building and storing HO structures for this glorious day!

I’ve got some mental images of what I want, and your site allows me to tweak some concepts I may find useful. For that I Thank You wholeheartedly!

Attached a few pics of the “humble” beginnings! As I progress, I will send more pics!

Keep Them Trains A-Rollin’!

Tim”

Next, on to Hall of Fame, Dan.

He’s sent in ayoutube of his layouts – I really enjoyed it because you get to see parts of his layout that the pics don’t show:

A big thanks to Dan for sharing his model railroad HO scale pics, and to Tim and Henry too.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get going on your layout, 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.

Got a model train question?

Mario’s been in touch. He’s added to the Old West themed model trains on the blog:

“Al,

Our railroader Ferclub.eu already had 5 layouts with a European setting and the members had expressed the desire to also have a layout with American trains.

Given the lack of space we opted for the N scale and a size of 235×90 cm (93” x 35”) and called it “Old West RR”.

The setting is a bit “naive” and reminiscent of the old west themed model trains, all the landscape (land, trees, houses, Indian tents, bridge) was self-built by the Club members using different types of material; parsley, chives, colored sawdust for trees and bushes; turmeric, chili powder, soil, chopped dried leaves for landscaping; basswood strips for the trestle bridge; printing building models for buildings; cork powder for the ballast; cardboard for teepees; etc. etc.

Up to 8 trains can circulate automatically on the layout (4 for each direction) with an automatic exit and track change system controlled with reeds and relays.

There are three double track stations connected by three single track sections, the height goes from 0″ to 10″ with a 5-turn spiral, the maximum gradient is 2.5% and the curves have a minimum radius of 9, 8”, the tracks, switches and switch machines are Peco.

The entire themed landscape is built with movable elements so as to allow repairs or recovery of derailed trains.

The fuel system is made of Digitrax material and the locomotives and rolling stock are Kato, Atlas, Paragon and Bachmann all with sound.

The construction time was 3 years and once finished the layout was much admired by visitors to the model train FerClub.

I’ll send you some photos of the Old West construction.

Greetings

Mario”

Old west themed model trains:

A big thanks to Mario for sharing his old west themed model trains – I think his club has done a wonderful job.

I’m always reminded of Frank’s layout with this era:

Frank’s Western 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.

Got a model train question?

Dean’s been back in touch with a helpful post on model railroad led layout lighting:

“Cheers, Al, from Dean in New Mexico.

I’ve begun to fit my buildings with internal LED lights on the N-scale Conejos Valley Railroad. I use small LEDs I buy in bulk (from Amazon or eBay).

When an LED fires, it acts as almost a dead short. So, you need to add a resistor in series to limit the current or it will burn out in a second.

For a 5-volt supply, you need at least a 250-ohm resistor, for 12-volt, 600-ohm.

I always wire mine up with a 1000-ohm resistor to give a longer life to the LED.

I also put a 100K trimmer potentiometer in series with the power leads to the buildings. These are used to adjust the lighting for each building.

Parts I use are shown below with their bulk cost. These days I mostly use the 3-mm version since it fits better in small N-scale buildings.

You can buy LEDs with an included resistor if you want to make life simpler but be sure they are rated for the voltage you will be using.

I use the variable voltage supply shown below so that I can adjust the voltage (and level of light) for all my buildings at once.

I’ve used the one shown below for years and you can still find it on eBay for around $5.

It’s mounted on a standard electrical cover plate that fits in a small electrical box fastened to the layout’s frame. The power supply is powered with a plug-in Wal Wart that supplies 12-volt DC at a couple of amps. Power for my switch machines also comes from the Wal Wart.

I print out support pieces using a 3D printer and PLA to hold the lights and provide a baffle.

These are printed out for each building in two pieces which are then glued together. I design them so they act as a base support for the building.

If you don’t have a 3D printer, you can also make these up from Styrene or balsa wood. But I find it is faster and cheaper for me to 3D print these. The 3D printer I now use cost $200 and is far better and user friendly than my 4-year old unit. A completed assembly is shown below.

This building was lit with two LEDs, each with their own limit resistor. The two are wired in parallel to the wires that go to the main power panel.

As I solder the leads together, I melt the joint into the PLA material to give a ridgid assembly—it looks bad, but won’t be seen.

Model railroad LED layout lighting:

Many of my buildings are from Woodland Scenic kits. A completed building is shown below. Note that the light appears bright white to the eye, but the camera sees this as a cold blue.

Here’s a station on my layout that uses two 5-mm LEDs. Everything is supported in the roof of the station

All the wire pairs that come from the various buildings go to a central distribution point on my layout I designed to fit inside the hotel.

Interconnections are made with a prototyping breadboard which I have described in more detail in the video I published, see below.

I can wire up to 12 buildings through this central distribution panel. The four LEDs and resistors can be seen at the top of the support.

Below is a photo of the support for the hotel.

And here it is with the hotel in place. The glazing I use for the buildings has a foggy look that helps to mask the inside.

And here’s a final photo in action. A night train passes through Conejos.

You can see an action video in my video:

I’ve almost finished the Conejos Valley Railroad and only have a few finishing touches to go, lighting more buildings and touching up the scenery.

That’s all for now, Al, thanks for continuing to improve your blog!

Dean”

A big thanks to Dean for sharing how he does his model railroad LED layout lighting.

Dean’s last post – also on lighting – is here:

Model train lighting.

And it also reminded me of these posts too:

Model train light wiring.

Model train LED lights.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you decide to join in the fun, 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.

Got a model train question?