Model railroad layouts plans

Charles has been in touch. He’s adding to the collection of N scale layouts on a door:

“Hi, again Al.

Well, I’ve decided to share some pictures of my N Scale layout.

It’s not that I’m not proud of my accomplishment, I feel it may not measure up to many of the other great layout contributions submitted.

My layout was designed and pretty much built by my son, (with some help from me). We built it on an interior hollow core door with a 3/4 inch styrofoam layer on top. Approximately 7’X4′.

It’s a “Roundie-Rounder” mainline with a passing track that is designed to perform switching duties at the industrial area on the left. We used code 55 track which I’m very pleased with.

The main goes through a “View block” to a back area where a coal mine is located, and further switching duties can be performed. It’s a DC operated layout with control blocks and has minimal turnouts for ease of operation. Owning 120 locomotives (Way too many) I can’t afford to convert to DCC.

In the village, many buildings and businesses are named for family members. Who gets a “Kick” seeing their names on them. I still have much work to do, including lights in all the buildings and hooking up the many street lights, maybe adding more live signals.

Living in a two-bedroom apartment I really don’t have room for expansion, so I have to live with what I have. I’m happy with the layout and continue to fine-tune it.

Charles”

Charles layout reminded me of Michael’s N scale door layout.

And there is Nich’s N scale door layout too.

Now on to Bill – who has recorded a second video for his last update (which you can see here).

“This video shows my thought process and techniques for hiding the seam between the bottom and upper half of the mountain and how I ‘grew’ the forest and ground cover to give a good forested look.

I did a count of trees in a small area by the trestle and above the two portals and based on that I’m between 250-300 trees on the mountain in this relatively small N Scale area.

It’s all fun!!

Thx!

Bill”

A big thanks to Charles for adding to the N scale layouts on a door, and to Bill too.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to stop dreaming and start doing, just like Charles 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.

Bill’s been back in touch with his N scale mountain update:

“Hi Al,

Over the last weeks I’ve continued to work on the mountain that anchors one end of my N Scale mountain layout.

Since my last post I’ve gotten the top removable section of the mountain completed and have planted a forest on its sides. This was a fun endeavor for me as I really enjoy the scenery building that comes with making a model railroad.

In addition to working on the mountain I’ve also done additional small projects on the layout including weathering one of the engine houses and adding more trees to other areas.

As the weather starts to cool off I’ll start to make a number of automobile kits I have and paint and weather those. I also have a growing pile of people to add to the layout as I get areas farther along.

Always fun things to do!

The video shows rock construction of the lift off top and the second covers adding in ground cover and foliage.

Cheers!!

Bill in Virginia”

A huge thanks to Bill – stunning stuff. Can’t wait for his next one.

It’s quite a story he’s putting together with this N scale mountain – I do love the way he works, from adding wax paper to the existing scenery, to working out what part of the mountain will have trees, and what part will just have bushes.

It’s satisfying to see an update like this without any seam between the two mountains – that’s the great thing about plants and any kind of green. As Bill said – he had lots and lots of trees at the ready…

I did enjoy seeing the finished mountains on the bottom in the video – and the plaster on the new top mountain. It really shows the step by step by process, and Bill’s mountains really do look fab.

It’s hard to see the seam in the mountain before he gets busy with the ground cover and trees to hide it. Impressive stuff.

If you’re looking for his last post, it’s here.

Or if N scale is your thing, here’s quite a few N scale layouts for you.

There are lots of posts on mountains on the blog. For some reason, I always think of Glyn’s mountain layout.

That’s all for this time folks – please do keep ’em coming.

Don’t forget to send in your mountains pics, whatever scale you’re working in. We’d all love to see them.

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

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.

Gus has been in touch with his HO scale storage tank step by step:

“Alastair,

Gus again with some easy build storage tanks and water tanks.

The tanks are made from metal and cardboard cookie containers sprayed with red or white satin spray paint.

The bell end of the tank is made from a Styrofoam ball found at many craft stores, cut to fit the diameter of the container and shaped with a rasp to for the bell end of the tank.

To give it the smooth bell shape the Styrofoam was coated with a thin coat of drywall mud and sanded smooth.

The man way, pipe, valves and fittings are from Plastruct. Plastruct manufactures architectural details in various scales such as structural shapes, pipe, valves , fittings, pumps and motors.

The tanks also sit in a rupture basin built from square wood stock with a foam board, then filled with ballast. The Oil Company logos are from a computer search, scaled and printed the glued to the tanks.

The Nitro Gro anhydrous ammonia fertilizer and propane tanks are made similarly to the large tanks. The tank bodies are from thick cardboard tubes from a printing machine.

The bell ends are made from smaller Styrofoam balls cut in half and glued to the end of the tubes. The cradle is made from a 1” x 2” x 9” cut with a hole saw to cradle the four tanks. The fill and relief vents are made from small diameter dowel rods drilled and glued into the tanks. The signage are purchased decals from my local hobby store.

Last but not least is the water tank. Every time guests come over to look at the layout, they ask about the water tank. I always ask them what they think it is made from. I get a lot of different answers. It is nothing more than a toilet tank float ball glued to a 8” piece of ¾ PVC.

The base is made from a small kitchen funnel turned upside down and glued inside the PVC pipe. I added a red LED light from Evan’s Design to the top of the tank. The water tank is always a topic of conversation.

Have fun folks. Just look around the house and find endless items that you can use to build just about anything. Thanks for a great site. Ideas are endless.

Gus”

You can see Gus’s last post here.

Now on to Cassio.

He’s a man of very words, but I think that’s becasuse of a language barrier. His pics usually speak for him – and now he’s sent in a vid that does the same:

Thanks to Gus and Cassio.

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.