Model railroad layouts plans

Janni’s been in touch with his N scale diorama:

“Ηi Al

John is my name.

I’m writing from Greece…

This is a small diorama that i made a few months ago. The purpose of this is to place it in my work place. I have an ophthalmology clinic and I think that something like this can occupy my little patients (and not only them).

Best regards

Janni Bellas”

A big thanks to Janni for sharing his N scale diorama.

It reminded me of Henry’s post: Model railroad dioramas.

And Peter’s: N scale train diorama.

Now on to Jim:

“Hi Al,

After creating my Truck Terminal, I realized that I needed something different than the trucks that I had to use.

I thought that I needed some flatbed trailers for my trucks. After checking online, I realized that this could get expensive. I looked at the enclosed trailers that I had on hand that came with the flatbed train cars and realized that I had several trailers with Road Names that didn’t fit in my layout plans. So I started with this enclosed trailer.

I started checking what I could do and figured out that I could remove the body from the trailer with a small screwdriver, which left me with a flatbed trailer frame.

Then I used a Sharpie Silver Permanent Marker to highlight the tire rims and the complete body of the frame, most flatbed trailers are aluminum and this looks like it. I also highlighted the Cab details that would normally be Chrome.

Then I decided that I needed a deck material, so I found a piece of Balsa Wood that was the same width as the trailers length. So using a Square that also was the same width of the bed and cut a couple of strips. I colored them with a Maple Colored Furniture touch up pen.

I realized that I needed Freight Loads for the trailers. I saw a Video on making freight loads using blister packs, diluted white glue and tissue paper. All small parts and items are packaged in plastic in the shape of the item and attached to cardboard for sale.

Remove the blister pack and coat with the diluted glue and over with the tissue paper, leave the wrinkles for realism. Cut to fit your trailer, paint and make some tie down straps. I also made some other freight loads with other parts and materials that I had on hand.

I added some Red Warning Lights to the trailer loading platform since I do have a Helicopter on my layout and this is what I ended up with.

I hope that this helps someone else.

Good Luck. I hope that yours turns out as good as mine did.

Jim”

Thanks to Jim, and to Janni for sharing his N scale diorama too.

Lastly, Robert from Wisconsin has asked a very good question on the forum, about starting a layout. Can anyone help?

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.

Hall of Fame Rob has been back in touch, this time on How to scratch build a bridge:

“Hi Al,

I have decided to scratch-build a bridge for my layout. This is something I have been thinking about for quite some time. I thought about it when I was building this part of the layout several years ago.

This will be a 3 or 4 part series since there is so much to cover and it will take a fair amount of time. The first video talks about where the new addition will be going. The second video talks about the drawing I made and how it is helping me to build the bridge itself.

Part 3 isn’t made yet so we’ll all have to wait a week or so.

I am building the bridge from styrene plastic. It is easy to work with and comes in many scale-sized structural shapes. I have been working with this material for several months now and find it is easy to build with.. remember the London Underground cable system? That was all styrene.

The picture with the plastic arch in it is me testing the placement and size of the bridge.

Thank you for all you do for us, Al.

All the best,

Rob”

A huge big thank you to Rob for sharing – I can’t wait to see how this looks on his layout.

There are so many bridge posts on the blog now, here are a few that spring to mind:

Michael’s bridge:

O scale truss bridge

John’s bridge is amazing:

Model train bridge

HO scale lift bridge

Jim’s very impressive hinged bridge:

HO scale truss bridge

Richards double track bridge:

Double track bridge

JIm’s curved trestle bridge:

And who can forget Dan’s which is just stunning:

HO scale trestle template

That’s all for today folks. A big thanks to Rob for his ‘how to scratch build a bridge’ post.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, 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.

Ned’s been touch with a paint model train backdrop post – he’s really gone to town on it and it looks great.

“We moved to North Idaho back in 2018 to retire and enjoy the quiet life. As part of my house design, I included a 24 x14 ft room in the basement exclusively for an O gage layout. The layout is inspired by the Milwaukee Road exchange and Hiawatha Trail railroad through Montana and North Idaho. I say inspired by to avoid the cranial obsession with attempting replicate Avery, Idaho – especially for my first layout. I picked O scale because I acquired our childhood Lionel trains a couple of decades ago. It grew from there.

The layout will be two levels. The upper level will be a trek through the mountains similar to the Hiawatha trail. By the way, the Hiawatha trail was converted to a bicycle “Trails to Rails” path a few decades ago. You can take a 15 Mile bicycle ride down through the mountains. The tunnels, starting with a 2 mile tunnel in Montana and ending in Idaho, are well maintained and includes traversing through or over 9 tunnels and 7 trestle bridges, very high trestle bridges.

The second (lower) level will be an interpretation of Avery, Idaho exchange where the Milwaukee Road railroad shifted from electric to conventional locomotives. While I will use most of the aspects of the exchange in the layout, I do not have the space or the experience to replicate what existed in Avery. Unfortunately, all of the aspects of the exchange were removed from Avery decades ago. Avery is about 50 miles from my house, a beautiful drive up the St Joe river.

I could not decide what years to represent or what season I wanted to present. So, I decided to include all seasons. The right wall of the room is winter and transitions from right to left to the left wall which is the Fall Wall. It will be an interesting journey. The tracks that appear in one or two of the photos is my test/learning track. It will eventually be incorporated in some manifestation into the full layout.

Enjoy!

-Ned”

Paint model train backdrop:

Here’s the Pano – the actual size. Winter wall on the right – transitions right to left to the fall wall on the left.

Thanks to Ned.

I’m always reminded of Jeff’s post when it comes to painting backdrops:

Model train backdrops.

And Rob’s:

Model railroad backdrop.

Now on to Hall of Fame Dave:

“Hi Al,

well when I though that I had cured my track problems it started again further round the track, so bit the bullet and bought some new Peco track, taken up the Hornby Flexi which I show on here how poor it is for stability.

Pecp track now fitted, I am in the process of adding Mod rock to the banking and improving the scenics around that area.

Still got to do the ballasting and add the grass etc which I will show in my next video.

Regards

Dave”

Dave’s previous post is here if want to get up to speed:

Track for model trains.

A big thanks to Dave and to Ned for his Paint model train backdrop pics and narrative. Very much looking forward to an update already.

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.