Model railroad layouts plans

“Hi Al

Thought I’d submit something a little different this time. I’ve been working on my maintenance shops this weekend and finally tried an idea I had for non operating roll down doors.

The buildings look nice but came with no doors. I’m sure in any climate there would be something in the real world. I hit upon have a split canvas door.

Basically two large independent roll down canvas doors that are on a manual chain drive. Mine are non operational but look good. I wanted to share how to make them if anyone else has an application for them.

I started with a 3/8 dowel and cut to fit snug in my space.

I then took a piece of firm green construction paper not the cheap stuff – and cut it just a hair smaller than the dowel then I cut that in half. Next I laid the paper out so at the middle they barely touched and I left about a 1/16 gap on each end.

Next I put super glue on the paper at one end and rolled the dowel onto the glued paper. I held it there until the glue grabbed (I used a gel super glue but any should work) . Then I slowly rolled the dowel so as to cover about 1/3 of the dowel with the paper. I held things in place until well bonded.

Next I cut small plastic strips to add the bottom of the hanging door. These can be any size that is pleasing to the eye. I put glue on the plastic and pressed the canvas door onto it. Once all is dry I painted the everything a drab olive with acrylic paint.

Next I cut Scale chain to a length to make a loop so as a scale man would find it hanging to about the waist. I cut two so each side had its own chain. These I super glued on the ends of dowel. Once this was dry I fitted into place then super glued it in place. I did a light chalk weathering to finish it up.

The building has been weathered and I’ve darkened the concrete pad the building is on and now my light maintenance shop looks like it’s been there for a long time.

Cheers to all!

Bill in Virginia”

If you missed Bill’s last post, it’s here.

Now on to Hall of Fame member, Brian:

“Hi Al

Just one photo of my harbor this time.

It was taken on a full moon night with no boats in the harbor which was great for showing the water reflections of the lighted main buildings.

I am in the process of writing an article for you on the building of a scratchbuilt ship chandler building from start to finish. It will be placed behind the boat repair shop next to the harbor.

This one is fully detailed and lighted outside for a change as it is set back (on the right hand side of the photo below next to the pub) from the front of the layout so that interior detail would be hidden.

I will send it to you as soon as I have the narrative connected to the photos of it.

All the best.

Brian”

Click on Brian’s pictur to enlarge it by the way. It’s a fantastic pic and I can’t wait to see Brian’s ‘how-to’ on his chandler building. If it’s anything like his other ones, we are in for a treat.

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

And don’t forget theBeginner’s Guide is here if today’s the day you stop dreaming and start doing.

Best

Al

PS Seen the latest ebay cheat sheet yet?

John’s been back in touch. This time with a pic of his HO scale J class N&W steam locomotive.

He’s had some ‘digital’ fun, and added some steam using some software.

I have to say, it’s remarkable how much the steam changes the pace of the pic:

(his last post is here).

“Alistair,

Just a quick one.

Got the photo-shop program fired up and worked on the N&W J Class #600, built in 1942, in the railway’s own Roanoke Shops, in Virginia.

This restored loco is pulling a railfan trip with the Powhattan Arrow in tow through the home mountains the J’s were built for.

Man, when the imagination gets going…

John From Baltimore”

“Hi Alastair,

I’ve been lurking on your emails for a while, and thought I should send you a taste of what I’ve been working on – a fictional layout in a much-too-small space that sorta represents the railway line between Barchester and Winter Overcotes in the Angela Thirkell novels.

It is set in the late 40’s, probably, so there might be some BR stuff along with GWR and even some LSWR and Southern stuff with varying degrees of run-down-ness.

I’m located in California so that I have to get all the stock from eBay or the various mail-order stores. This picture is of an ancient Hornby 14xx pulling a couple of 4-wheel kit coaches with the interior roughly modeled and painted and with an assortment of figures sitting in it.

If you are interested I’ll send some other pics.

Roland”

Yes, Roland. We’d love to see some more.

Now on to Don:

“Just finished building what is going to be a small layout… only 40”wide and 9’ long.

Had to check out how the first thing on it would look !!

Thanks, appreciate your time and trouble for making our life easier !!!

Don, Waxahachie, Texas”

The above may perplex some of you. Why would I post a pic of a tabel and one solitary model?

Simple – it’s because it’s what counts: making a start.

And of course, Don’s model is made from the printable buildings, which you can see here and there’s more here.

A big thanks to John for sharing his HO scale J class N&W steam locomotive, and to Roland and Don.

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.

John’s been back in touch with his HO scale scale coal mining vehicles:

“Hi Alistair,

The next module for my coal mining and transport railroad is just about ready to install in the layout. I took some shots as the module grew.

I really didn’t have much of an idea what the result would be, but I wanted something that would give space for the mine employees to park and where the mine dump trucks, as well as other mine equipment could be fueled up and maintained.

I started with a couple old kits laying around, the main shop shed is (I think) a Life-Like sports stadium that was in the bottom of a box of stuff I got at an auction, I added sides and bracing across the front and back, and behind that to add depth is a lumberyard building from some 40 years ago.

I cleaned out all the supports and made some stuff for the inside. The structures on the sides are – right side 2 combined Walthers sand towers that I’m using for the gasoline fuel tanks. I added some ladders and a radio antenna, Left side is an overhead crane which I had to scratch-build.

The diesel tank is on the cliff-side and piping comes into the manifold area of the fuel towers. I also scratch built the big forklift.

The scene is sometime mid-day with a few trucks in for maintenance, one with the dump body in the up position and the safety bar in place while workers are underneath. The surplus army water truck is idle and the junk side of the shed is being examined by the foreman trying to determine what stays, and what goes. A mine truck has had a rear wheel bearing replaced and the crew has the old big forklift assisting in putting the wheel back on.

I’ll be adding more worker cars and more junk when the module is set into the layout.

Regards and thanks for all you do,

John From Baltimore”

A huge thanks to John (again!). Just love what he’s doing – and I’m thankful of the running narrative. Hope you are enjoying it as much as me.

If you missed his last post, and what to get the story so far, it’s here.

Now on to Peter. Who asked a question that got me thinking. Who can help?

“Al, hope all is well, just want to run something by you and hopefully you can get it out to all your hobbyist for some feedback .

I have been noticing for sometime now that remote control vehicles are taking on more and more of a roll in train layouts and with hobbyist. Much to my surprise there has been very little said or talked about in layouts.

I have been browsing the web and much has been put on youtube and the applications are endless.

1/87 scale in remote control is outstanding, but info where to purchase them, get parts or even how to instructions on how to build is hard to come by.

I’ve done some contacting on my of manufactures but most put up info on large scale remote control items. You will also notice the same could be said for LED lighting in 1/87 scale models as well.

Very little being out out there for the hobbyist especially for some of us old timers who would rather see these products a little more accessible. Not only that think of how much it opens
the layouts to other activities that the hobbyist can enjoy whlie his or her trains are running around in a circle .

Please i hope this draws some interest and great feedback, I very much want to get some of these items for my layout , most hobbyists have construction sites where these vehicles would fit in nicely , oh let me say that my sites have many of these types of vehicles already in 1/87 scale but WOW what a feature to have a back hoe work , load a dump truck , bulldozer doze
and so on, if you haven’t seen them…

Regards, hope to here from you soon

Peter”

That’s all for today folks.

A big thanks to John for sharing his HO scale scale coal mining vehicles.

If anyone can help Peter, please leave a comment below – and the goes if you want to comment on Peter’s latest update.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to get going on your very own layout.

Best

Al

PS Seen the latest ebay cheat sheet yet?