Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been in touch – he’s added another module to his HO scale mountains on his coal mine:
“Hi Alistair,

John From Baltimore here.

The next module for my coal mine railroad is nearing completion, and will be moved into the basement train room soon. I had neck surgery a week ago, and will need to wait a month or so before I can really lift or move anything.

Anyway, this module will go to the right of the existing mine, photos and descriptions of which you’ve posted in the past. This module will pretty well conclude the scenery on the mine-side of the layout, just back-drops to the ceiling back there.

I’ve included a few pictures of what the module looks like “from afar” to give readers a perspective of how the module approach works. The mine cars are N gauge and resting on N gauge track, they are static and glued in place. The mine loco was cut down from an N gauge Plymouth shuttle loco, and “converted” to electric.

The left side of the module and the right side of the existing one is measured to pretty well fit together, so continuity of the mountains should work. This time I tried cardboard framework hot-glued together, instead of wood. Hope it works when moved, seems pretty stiff with the plaster on it.

By the way, I use 20 minute set-up sheetrock compound, make small lots and use it before it gets solid, and when the 20 minute clock goes off ya better be done with what ya mixed up!

The story of this mine is that it’s from the early 40’s before the other mine buildings (past posts) were constructed and still brings coal out of the mountain as needed when customer orders exceed the main mines output. I decided on an electric mine railroad and catenary, (adds detail and interest) after watching YouTube vids of coal mines.

The coal is loaded into dump trucks and moved to the more modern processing mine in earlier posts. Back in the day coal was left in chunks like it came out of the ground, and users like power-plants crushed it on their own, now coal is sized and sold to customer specification.

I’ll add to the dump truck roadway to connect and blend in with the existing mine and mountains when the module goes into it’s final home.

Thanks so much for all you do for those of us in the model-railway community, world-wide.

John”

Stunning stuff from John – my eye’s lit up when I saw his name in my inbox.

(It reminds me of Dean’s post: Plaster cloth mountains.

Fantastic pictures and can’t wait to see this module in his layout. If you want to see John’s story so far, his last post is here.

A huge thanks to John fo rsharing his HO scale mountains module.

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.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

“Al… I just saw Richard, from Utah, posted a nice video of the great UP BigBoys excursion to Utah.

When I was in Cheyenne, WY last May, I had the opportunity to tour the maintenance facility in Cheyenne as they were refurbishing 4014 and 844.

The included photos show 844 almost ready and the unassembled 4014 nearing assembly time. The massive size of just the boiler was awesome. The day we were there every square inch of the boiler was being checked for cracks and thinned spots.

The boiler was gridded off and a chart reflected finished sectors. The sheer size of the main trucks just boggles the mind. Again those are in the foreground of the boiler pic. A really nice closeup of the cab shows the complexity of what it takes to tell the behemoth to move.

Mike”

“Al, don’t know if you have seen any of these, or are even interested in them.

They were taken by my cousin in Evanston Wyoming earlier this month. First outing for the 4014 since the rebuild. Had traveled to Ogdon Utah as part of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Joe”

And Brian has been in touch again with some more pics (his last post is here).

“Hi Alister,

I have not been active for a while as my eyesight is not as it should be. Have not been able to do fine work, only in short periods of time like an hour per day. (Get a headache and eye strain if longer).

In the meantime, have been doing electrical work on lighting buildings and switches for them. (An hour at a time)

I will do a write up on the harbor build a bit later explaining how to from start to finish of it.

All the best

Brian”

Have really enjoyed the pics and videos of the Big Boy – they really do show how the loco got its name.

Can’t wait for Brian’s next instalment too – I do love his stuff.

That’s all for today folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to start your model railway journey today.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Well, hopefully you are seeing this post, and the site isn’t asking you for a username and password.

Apologies for all the technical glitches.

It was an absolute nightmare this end.

Anyway, onwards.

Here’s the post I know most of you will have missed.

And here’s a really nice follow on:

“Al

Haven’t written before but I want you to know how much your site means to me and my modeling hobby in the basement of my house.

This past weekend I went to the Golden Spike ceremony in Corrine, Utah. As a native Utahn I am proud of our heritage in joining the continent together.

At the same time Union Pacific brought the Big Boy to Ogden along with 844. I don’t know the last time that two engines of that size double headed in the United States, but it was an amazing site.

Attached is a video I made of the visit to Ogden and the trains coming into Echo just at the top of Weber Canyon, which the Big Boy was designed for to pull trains over the Wasatch Mountains.

Just some different perspectives.

Thanks for all you do.

Richard Shaw

Carbonville, Utah, USA”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

That’s all for today folks – I’m still recovering from this weeks technical gremlins. What a week. Thanks for all your kind comments – they far outweighed the rude ones, and that meant a lot.

Please do keep ’em coming folks, and don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al