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HO scale lift gate bridge

Bob’s been back in touch again with his HO scale lift gate bridge:

This time he’s been busy on his swing bridge:

“Alastair,

I have done some more work on my HO scale lift gate bridge for my new layout. I have wired the gate as far as I can until it is in place on the new layout. Attached is the schematic of the wiring.

The switch is on the gate near the hinge as well as the terminal blocks. The track on the gate will be isolated by the cuts on both ends.

The track on the fixed portions of the gate will isolated by the cuts on the gate and the other ends will have insulating rail joiners joining them to the rest of the layout.

The picture shows the entire gate.

The first picture shows the conduit I used for the wires so they won’t bind when the gate opens and closes. The second picture shows the gate in the open position. You can see how the conduit slides in and out of the slot. The On/Off switch controls the power to the three sections of track on the gate.

The Red bus wire goes directly to its terminal block.

The black bus wire goes through the switch before connecting to its terminal block.

There are three sets of feeder wires that are connected to the terminal blocks: one for the fixed track on the hinge side of the gate; one for the track on the swing gate itself; and one that connects to the part of the latch on the gate.

The feeder wires for the fixed track on the end that opens are connected to the other half of the latch. I checked continuity between the bus and all of the feeders and they are solid.

I hope this help other folks who are want to use a HO scale lift bridge instead of a lift-out. I know you can do a swing gate that drops down or one that swings up but I feel my gate will blend in with my new layout.

I haven’t started taking down my existing layout yet because of two things: 1) I installed NCE USB interface n the existing layout and loaded JMRI on a laptop that I rarely use so I have been building my roster and getting use to the JMRI throttle; 2) I received my BLI ES44AC with Rolling Thunder that sounds great but even better it smokes.

I have promised myself I will start tearing down the existing layout this week.

And now on to Thomas – these pics made me smile. Fab idea:

“I may have one of the largest collections of G-Scale trucks and cars converted to run on 45 MM in the USA.
I just LOVE converting them !

Best Regards

Thomas”

And now on to Cassio (his last post is here).

He’s not a man of many words, but I do love his stuff:

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

And now on to Hall of Fame member, Brian.

He’s helping with a display in a shopping mall:

“Hi Al, eyes have improved greatly after the operations to both of them.

I have been helping on an ‘n’ scale display layout in a shopping center in our town.

The photos below show how I built the waterfall. (Please note – a change of scale for me. Only temporary)

It had to be made to fit in the center of this layout. The lines seen here are where the module joins are and once permanently on display, will be sceniced to hide them. I used marine silicone sealer on a piece of glass made to the right width and length for the waterfall.

Two lengths were joined in the middle to get the height required. (800mm)

Here, Woodland Scenics water affects was used to get more flowing water and shape.

Cushion stuffing was used to create water crashing over a rocky outcrop and was glued in place with the WS water effects.

Again cushion stuffing was used at the bottom of the waterfall to creat churning water hitting the pool below. (Still to be poured with Woodland Scenics realistic water)

The cushion stuffing was then teased into shape (in my opinion) and the water from top to bottom was dry brushed with a very light blue to reflect the sky. A final layer of WS water effects was put on to give it that glossy look. (Not on the cushion stuffing)

This is the ‘n’ scale display layout almost complete before moving it to the display area in the shopping center. It is 7.3 meters wide by 2.3 meters deep at its widest point. It is of modular design to enable it to be moved into it new home.

It is run by DCC Digitrax with three controllers and is of continental prototype running steam locomotives.

This will be its final position as a working display. A total of 8 people including a 16 year old female art student who built over 500 trees for the layout which began in June.

Note:- it was not built here because of space problems. It was built upstairs in an empty shop.

Many thanks

Brian Knysna RSA”

A huge thanks to Bob for sharing his HO scale lift bridge, and to Thom, Cassio and Brian.

Really enjoyed putting this post together, it’s wonderful to see the updates, and to flick back to thier last post.

Hope you’ve enjoyed it too.

And for all those who want to take the plunge and get going, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

HO scale farm buildings

Peter’s been back in touch with his HO scale farm buildings.

You can see all his posts here. It’s fantastic to see a layout come to life like this.

“Hi Al,

Working on the On3 portion of my layout.

Still track work to be done running behind the buildings. More trees to add & grass tufts.

Peter”

HO scale farm buildings:

Peter’s layout made me think of Mike’s: HO scale farm scenes.

Now on to Tim:

“A nice teenager was a bit too young for a summer job. He kept his agile brain and hands busy and built a diorama from the Jennings Lumber Company kit.

The kit is still available online for $150-$200 un-assembled from Scale Structures Limited. And what a job Tim did! Look at the detail, you can even see tire tracks in the dirt. Tim added a lot more detail to the basic kit and then built a stand and surrounding glass and frame for protection.

The diorama went on a journey, residing for a time at the local historical society and then the railroad park in Scottsdale Arizona. Eventually it became a fixture at the train store that Tim’s father ran in Mesa, Arizona. I enjoyed visiting the store for years, and although I never met Tim’s father, who became ill, I was charmed by Tim, his wife, employees and a couple of friendly cats.

It was a gathering place for us train geezers! Finally, it was time for Tim to move on and he closed the store, selling all the fixtures. I approached Tim and said, “You don’t want this winding up in someone’s basement or garage, sell it to me and my patients will enjoy it every day.”

We agreed on a price, separated the display from the base, loaded the two parts into my SUV and I carefully drove it a few miles to Scottsdale. I put a fresh coat of paint on the base before reassembling the parts, and, yes, I’m proud to display Tim’s work at my Ophthalmology office.

The only change to his work is I added an old locomotive and a few HO train cars, but otherwise it is just as he created it more than forty years ago!

My prediction was true, it is a guy magnet and patients passing by my office window often come in to ooh and aah.

Thanks, Tim!

Dennis Cooper, M.D.,

Scottsdale Arizona”

A big thanks to Peter for sharing his HO scale farm buildings, and to Dennis too.

Peter’s layout is quite something. I went back though his old posts when I added the link above. What a journey! Can’t wait for the next update.

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

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Small O scale layout

Jeff’s been in touch with his small O scale layout:

“Hi Al,

I have been receiving your emails for several years and have enjoyed them greatly. They have encouraged me in model railroading. I am from Ohio and a novice to this hobby.

I’m sending you some pictures of an attempt I am making at a small O scale layout.

As you can tell I am running a loop within a loop. I have connected them with entrance and exits turnouts. I know I’m supposed to use insulated track sections. But I don’t know exactly how to place those sections or configure the wires underneath.

When my locomotive exits the inner loop to the outer loop or vice versa, it shorts on the insulated track sections. I would be grateful for any advice on this.

Thank you so much for your encouragement in this hobby.

I have included a couple of pictures so that you can see what I mean.

Have a blessed day.

Jeff”

Next, Hall of Fame member, Rob, has been back in touch.

And it’s wonderful to see what he’s been up to (his last post is here if you want to get up to speed.)

“Hi Al,

My Farland layout has seen a few changes which I thought some of your readers might be interested in.

I decided I wanted to build a flats kit by Kingsway Models for the layout. I do not have any urban structures on the layout and I thought it might be fun. But where to put it?

The only place that made sense to me was at a road intersection where there was a patch of level ground but then a fairly steep drop off. How could I possibly get the building to sit plumb?

I thought and thought and finally came up with the idea you see.

I cut out scale beams and columns form some scrap pine, then glued the columns to the beams and with superglue attached the columns to the beams. Knowing there would interference to the beams on the side with the hill, I estimated the lengths that would fit and left those parts out.

I then glued the beams with the columns to the underside of the building (it has a flat bottom). If a column hit an area that caused trouble I just broke it off easily since superglue is so brittle.

Since the building was going to overhang the road by a little bit and I didn’t want it to interfere with my Faller Road, I inset the column on the corner and hollowed out the lower section so it looks like it is buried into the hillside.

Since the train table is level it sits on the columns which sit on it and the building is plumb. Problem solved. It was a head-scratcher though.

Here is the before pictures where it is propped up on the box: