Model railroad layouts plans

Jim’s been in touch with his stunning HO scale wooden trestle bridge.

( last post is here.)

“Hi Al.

Jim from Cape Breton, Canada again.

Here’s Part #3 of my model train layout. Using a Canon PowerShot SD960 IS Digital Elph camera in video mode, I originally recorded,about 4 years ago, a DVD of approximately 1 hour in length for my 2 grand sons (one then 8 & the other then 12) who live in Ontario, a province in Canada, which is about 1700 km from where I live.

I have since divided the video into 10 parts to keep them “short & sweet.” In your last posting of Part #2 of my layout, there were 2 questions regarding the layout & I will answer them here.

Question #1: Do I have a copy of the track plan? Answer: Yes,there is a track plan picture at the end of this posting. The red numbers are turnouts & the red letters are magnetic uncouplers.

Question #2: Is the curved wooden trestle made from a kit? Answer: No, I made it by first cutting, with a band saw, short pine boards into ¼” x ¼” strips to use for the supports & cross members of various lengths which numbered over 500 individual pieces that were then painted flat brown.

I assembled the trestle upside down on my work table, which enabled me to sit down during assembly & it took approximately 3 weeks of evenings, because of the tedious job of gluing, clamping & drying all these pieces together.

The final assembly was surprisingly strong & was then placed in the finished & waiting quarry & gorge (just like in the real world) in front of the also finished waterfall.

The actual dimensions are 28” long by 9” high & the HO scale measurements are: 204’ (63m) long, 63’ (19m) high, 12’ (4m) wide at the top, 29’ (9m) wide at the bottom. This is by far the largest scratch-built object (other than the mountains) on the layout.

I invite any questions regarding the layout & would like to thank both you, Al, for your postings which I always find very interesting & informative & to all your viewers for their support & interest.

Keep up the great work all you model railroaders!

Jim.”

HO scale wooden trestle bridge:

Now on to another Jim.

It’s always a pleasure when I see his name in my inbox (his last post is here).

“Hello Alastair and all fellow model railroaders.

Jim from Buffalo NY again, with an update on the Starrpoint Railroad!

The Mountain is now almost complete. It contains 500 rock castings, and approx 200 trees. I used a combination of Sedam plants and scale pine trees as well. It took some time to get the Sedam trees completed. Here are some pictures of the mountain and scenic area.

On the west end of the mountain there is a scenic area that is almost complete.

A change in plans was made. The saw mill and outbuildings were removed and the cement factory placed instead. The area is still under construction

There will also be a freight building in the same area as shown. This is also still under construction.

Roads are being added for realism. I am using a combination of Joint Compound and Smooth-it.

I am using thin corrugated cardboard for this purpose. It is the right thickness for what I need. I cut the pieces with the help of curved track to simulate the curves in the road. I cut the cardboard to ½ wide pieces for this. I also keep a squirt bottle of water handy to help with the spreading of the material. I nail the cardboard in place and spread the mixture between the pieces.

For the road pieces between the rails, I tried the compound mixture but found while cutting the material away for flange clearance, the material broke up. So to eliminate the problem I now am using a piece of styrene cut to fit between the rails. I place track nails on the four corners of the styrene to make sure there is clearance for the wheel flanges. Once all the roads are completed a coat of Pavement paint will be applied, along with lane lines.

As you see in the following picture, I apply the road surface in stages. The centre part of the picture below shows the cardboard removed leaving an area to be filled. The cardboard on the right side is there to be filled in for the transition from the crossing to the road area for the rest of the town

I will be sending a progress update on the roads, cement factory, and town. I will also share one of my other adventures in Model Railroading, Electronics.

Until then
Jim Volmer Sr
Starrpoint RR”

A huge thanks to Jim. His layout is really coming along now – I can’t wait to see the next update.

A big thanks too for the other Jim for sharing his HO scale wooden trestle bridge.

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

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

John’s post on his OO gauge layout really has struck a chord with a lot of you – have a look at the comments below!

“Dear Al

It seems that many write interesting stories about their layout, so here goes. Hope others find it interesting.

I started model railways when I was at school in South Africa and managed to buy a Lionel set from a classmate (much to his dad’s annoyance I found out later!). Half my room was taken up by my layout. University and work followed with little happening to the railway.

In 1973, shortly after my wife and I were married, we had walked along the Thames and gone into a Café for refreshments, when a little boy and his parents came in and he was carrying a Hornby catalogue. My casual comment about how I’d love to start a railway again resulted in my opening my Christmas presents (our first Christmas together) and finding Oliver Cromwell, five “blood and custard” coaches, a few wagons, H & M controller and some track. How exciting! That was 45 years ago and it started many happy years of us modelling together. I do the main construction work while my wife paints the people, plants trees, etc.

As we moved house from time to time, various layouts were started (is one ever finished?). Children arrived and space was needed. About fifteen years passed with everything stored away neatly. About six years ago, the boxes were opened and it was like Christmas all over again as I discovered things that I had forgotten that I had.

Our children are married, we now live in a lovely house with a large garden, in the New Forest. I started out enthusiastically building a garden railway but this came to a sad end during the notorious storm of a few years ago. I also realised that English weather was not the best for 00 scale outdoor railways, although I did run trains in the snow! I lifted the terminus that was housed in a wooden cabin, moved it into the garage and started all over again!

My 3.6 x 2.25 metre (approx 11’9″ x 7’4″) OO gauge layout is now in a garage, attached to a hoist and is raised to allow the car to escape the winter frosts. About three years ago, my son gave me a Dynamis which opened up the whole digital world to me. Sadly the Dynamis decided that it would no longer programme locos and the cost for Bachmann to look at it before any work is done, meant that I needed to look elsewhere.

My final choice was NCE Power Cab and, so far, all the reviews have proved absolutely correct. It is a joy to use, although I think that a major improvement would be a dial to access locos, instead of scrolling. If anyone says that old locos can’t be changed to digital then don’t believe them. One of my finest runners is my original Hornby Oliver Cromwell, bought in 1973 for that first Christmas. You can see it in action hauling a rake of maroon coaches on the video.

There is still a lot to do – more carriage lighting circuits to wire up, ballasting of track, building and installing signals, etc. I am 78 and, apart from still working, am also an organist, so time is limited. But it does provide hours of fun, when I can get to it, as it gradually takes shape. It is not based on anything in particular and a purist would frown at it. However, I enjoy it and just focus on what I like, while trying to capture the character and mood of English villages and countryside.

Great fun!

Diagram of track plan – not to scale. Cabin Manor is on the level above the four, parallel tracks (up and down main, up and down loop)

Best Wishes

John”

Latest ebay cheat sheet here.

A big thank you to John for sharing his OO gauge layout – what a wonderful narrative. It just goes to show this hobby really is a life long affair.

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.

Jim’s been back in touch – this time with his HO scale truss bridge:

“Hi again Al & model railroad enthusiasts.

Jim from Cape Breton here with Part #5 of my HO scale train layout & I noticed in the last posting, a question was asked about the access bridge on my layout.

I’ve included some pictures as a reference. It spans the door opening to the layout room & the entire structure is 29” long x 8” wide x 9” high & is fastened at one end with two 1¾” hinges.

At the unhinged end are 2 small blocks of wood nailed down on the retaining wall which serve as alignment guides when the bridge is lowered into place. When opened by hand, the bridge angles back approx. 120° & rests against the wall.

Power wires from the 2 bridge tracks are routed through holes to the underside of the bridge & connected to 4 screws (2 for each track crossing the bridge). Power wires from the approaching track at the hinged side of the bridge are routed underneath the layout to 4 flattened copper pipe straps that stick out from the bottom of the retaining wall, so that when you lower the bridge by hand, the 4 screws contact the 4 copper straps & voila, the electrical connections to the 2 bridge tracks are attained.

The actual bridge itself was an Atlas single track plastic kit that I split in half lengthwise & then glued other pieces of plastic together to widen & turn it into a 2 track bridge. It was then placed on it’s plastic abutments, also split & widened, into a wooden frame made to look like a river bed with retaining walls at each end of the bridge.

The layout room is 12’ x 14’ but the entrance door to the layout room is approx. at a 45° angle to the room, so it was a bit of a challenge because there had to be a curve in the track both leading up to & after the bridge.

The white-water rapids below the bridge were made with clear silicone caulking & some white fibrefill using a brush to whip up the waves before the silicone set, as I also did for the waterfalls behind the curved wooden trestle on another part of the layout.

The silicone caulking worked really well, however, a word to the wise, use gloves & ventilate well while working with it & then leave it for a day or so to let the odours dissipate.

This access bridge, when lowered, completes a 2 track mainline that enables me to run trains all the way around the outside perimeter of the layout. I hope this will be helpful to any modellers who are looking to span a doorway to their layout.

So, until next time, keep ‘em on the rails.

Jim.”

Latest ebay cheat sheet here.

Now on to Paul:

“Hi Alastair,

I am sending 3 photos of an adaptor I added to a Home Depot ladder to allow me to reach over my layout work on items in the back.

I did not invent this but I am cheap and didn’t want to spend $270 for the commercial version.

The ladder at Home Depot costs about $35 and the plywood and U bolts I had. The photos should be sufficient to show you how it is made. It took less than an hour.

Enjoy,

Paul”

A huge thanks to Paul and to Jim for sharing his HO scale truss bridge – both are very inventive and clever.

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.