Model railroad layouts plans

Dick’s been back in touch – he’s still adding his huge Kato Unitrack N scale.

(There are lots of Kato track plans here if that’s what you are after.)

“Hi Al:

After a 3 week stay in the hospital and recovery I am now able to work on this huge layout.

Just before I ended up in the hospital, I had uprooted some track to make changes to Chicago and Oakland.

All track is in place, now it is time to add feeders in many places, do test runs again, then finally start on scenery.

Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City and Oakland on my layout do not resemble the real places, my track arrangements are freelance.

However I can run point to point, changing out locos at each city. or just simply let trains run for show, there is approx 20 scales of track on the layout, 99% Kato Unitrack.

One can sit at any of the cities and do freight switching as well as dropping and adding passenger cars to the passenger trains.

Layout is against 3 walls, 10.5′ long at Chicago, 23.5′ along the narrow 4 track main, then 24′ along the wall to Oakland. The aisle is 3′ wide by 18″.

I enjoy reading all the input from our model train pals worldwide which inspires me to keep at it.

Sincerely

Dick Chapple Sr

Hardin Mt USA”

The single line throughout represents the all double track mainline as it traverses the 4 cities. DCC operation with 4 divisions.

Denver

Midwest Chicago toward salt Lake City

Leaving Salt Lake headed for Oakland

Oakland at far end

Oakland

Oakland and waterfront

Lower tracks entering Denver

Leaving Denver for Salt Lake city

Mountains outside of Salt lake City

Salt Lake City

Coming into Salt Lake City

A big thanks to Dick for sharing his Kato Unitrack N scale – it’s quite a project he’s got going on there.

You can see his last post here.

Now on to John. I posted his brewery project here – but I forgot the youtube vid. So here it is:

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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

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

Best

Al

PS Don’t forget the latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Still updated daily.

John’s been in touch with his HO scale brewery kit bash:

“Hi Al,

I’ve recently completed a brewery on my HO Scale layout, which serves as a major rail customer receiving boxcar loads of barley malt and shipping finished beer in iced refrigerator cars.

It is located in the town of Manchester, and was the final structure to “complete” the original shelf layout.

I started with the American Hardware Supply kit from Walthers, modifying it into a flat and adding roof details, a scratchbuilt interior consisting of all the kettles and tanks of a craft brewery, lights in both the interior and exterior, and a large outdoor grain silo with a scratchbuilt auger to bring the malt into the brewery.

Of particular interest, I had some success using oil paints for the mortar lines in the brick sections of the building.

I had a blast building it, paying homage to one of my other passions, and spent the better part of the last two months working on it.

I documented the progress in a series of videos. Some photos are below, along with a link to the first of the videos and the playlist.

Cheers,

John”

A big thanks to John.

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 HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Peter’s been in touch with his OO gauge layout

“Hi Alastair, Hope this one makes it to you!

I thought this might be of interest to railway modelers frustrated by lack of space.

Firstly, a big thanks to you!! For sending all the tips, Videos, and photos over the past few years!

They have been a great help and inspiration to many im sure!! and someone like me who at the age of 76 is just starting out again after a break of some 6 years, and especially dangerous Dave with his wonderful layout videos and tips are so wonderful to watch and the change looks interesting!

I have been a scale rail modeller now on & off for over 60 years since a child of 10, through a happy marriage still going after 55years and two children which both had train sets!

I have restarted now with a vengeance!

I have included some shots of my layouts so far! With still much more work/fun to do. More pics to follow next mail!

I have two layouts, one is a OO gauge layout and the other a N gauge they are both in the 1960-70s era with various scenes of interest namely a church wedding, a market, a play park and farms so far, with various steam and diesel locos pulling coaches and various trucks etc around separate tracks.

One of which I made a big change too at the start of my resurgence, as when I last put it away I decided it was a bit boring, with having the a trains going round in circles on three separate tracks on my 8×4 00 gauge layout.

So, the first thing I decided getting it back down was to change the 00 gauge to a figure eight track around two tracks and keeping the other one still going round the outside! Which took some time to do, with various incline try-outs until it worked efficiently! Well am I so pleased!!

It makes so much difference and would suggest it to anyone to look at it, as a possibility? As it makes it, so much more interesting and far from boring!

So, as I said I have two layouts one a 00 gauge on 8x4ft board and one a N gauge on a 7×3.6ft board, which are both in my Dining room of 9x13ft. Which we only use when we have guests for dinner or tea as we mainly eat our meals in the kitchen!

One on each side, both hinged to the wall on right side wall, and the windowsill on the left side! this enables me to lift them up out of the way when room is required for dining etc. But it requires a good solid bases to support and keep their shape when lifting them up & down!

The 00 gauge one hinges have removable pins, so I can detach when I need too! The N gauge is set off the wall by six inches to allow for the scenery, the 00 gage is set on the windowsill which gives good space for scenery

The other reason I got bored was that I purchased a DCC system 6 years ago which I attempted to install on my 00 gauge without success, I set up a programming track as advised, wired up the chip as instructed to no avail! Not a sign of movement from the loco!

My main frustration was not knowing if it was a faulty chip or my bad connections!! After trying different connections etc I gave up and put the layout away in frustration!

The other main frustration is how to keep couplings from coming apart???

I go to various exhibitions & shows and see how these various layouts work with mainly no problems with couplings, how do they do it, what is the big secret?? I was wondering if any of your followers might have some advice and ideas on these two frustrations??

Best Regards

Peter”

A big thanks to Peter for sharing his OO gauge layout. And who can help him with his frustrations? Please leave a comment below if you can.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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

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

Best

Al

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.