Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been in touch again – this time with his HO scale coal cars.

(His last post is here.)

“Hi Alastair,

The HO scale coal cars and coal mine module is 99% complete, and the only work left is construction of the mountains joining this module. Due to the leaning over to reach required, I didn’t finish the mountains adjacent this module, too much trouble planting the trees and other landscaping.

I added a track-eye view at the suggestion of someone commenting on an earlier post. By the way, thanks to all the folks who commented with their kind words and great suggestions that my emails have gotten, they mean a lot to me.

The pictures are of an early morning at the mine, a bulldozed has blown a hydraulic line and the crew is busy getting it ready for service. It’s late summer, trees have not started their fall colors.

The next module, about 5% done, is a main power sub-station and the towers feeding it, it will be to the left of the mine with an old, barely adequate oil facility for fueling the mine equipment and the WV Energy locomotives. Next to that will be an abandoned track with rusting, deserted equipment.

Thanks Al, for all you do,

John from Baltimore”

HO scale coal cars:

“Hi Al.

I really enjoy all your emails. I am a retired astronomer and a very active model railroader. I thought it be fitting to add an observatory to my layout. Also you can see amateur astronomers getting ready for a nights viewing.

The main building is scratched built and so is my observatory. The two observatories on top of the building are made from clear plastic Christmas decorations that twist in half and were painted a flat white with Humoral paint.

They are 2 1/2 inches in diameter and the big observatory is made from a 4 inch clear plastic Christmas ball, it also comes in two pieces. I had to cut the large ball for the open slat so the telescope could be seen.

At night there is a red led to show the interior of the large observatory. The main building is made of a cereal box and the base of the big observatory is made of the same cereal box material.

Most of my buildings are scratch built because the buildings were not available as plastic models.

However I do have many plastic kit buildings on my HO layout. I also made the telescopes that the amateurs are looking through.

Al I hope you like these photos I have sent and I would like to hear some comments.

Al all the best to you and keep the emails coming.

Best to you and all the modelers out there.

Dave”

A huge thanks to John for sharing his HO scale coal cars and to Dave too.

Love what Dave has done, because your own layout can be anything you want it to be. And it looks great too.

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.

Ken’s been in touch, he’s shared his N gauge foam incline layout:

“Hi Alistair,

I model in N Scale and after an absence of 25 or more years I have retired and have found space in our new home to get new construction underway.

To keep costs down and minimise the carpentry needed, I’ve used Ikea tables which are hollow core (like internal door construction) and foam topping.

Some – like in the main tunnel – is insulation (XPS) foam and the balance is just packing foam. Most of this was liberated from dumpsters at local shopping centres.

I also used Woodland Scenics inclines and risers to make it a bit smoother to get into the mountain and down the other side. All track is Kato. I picked up a lot of this on a visit to Japan in 2018. (A visit to the Kato shop and factory in Tokyo is a must see!)

Coming up for 6 months work now, and I have attached a few progress photos. Some of your kits are sprinkled around the mountain. Others can be seen in bridge abutments and retaining walls.

Lots more to do – so back to the grindstone. The printer is starting to run hot!

N scale track on foam board:

Best reagrds,

Ken”

There’s quite a lot of N gauge foam incline pics on the blog now – it’s a popular choice.

Now on to Bill:

If you missed it, his first post is here.

“Some more pictures of the never ending railroad.

Bill D”

A huge thanks to Bill and to Ken for sharing his N scale track on foam board.

Loved Ken’s mountains – it looks like he’s thoroughly enjoyed every minute of his layout. And that’s what it’s all about.

That’s all for this time 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.

Jim’s been in touch, he’ shared his pics when it comes to painting N scale trains:

“Hi Al

I have been following you for about 4 years and do enjoy the posts.

I recently saw the post on the painting of a f7 in O scale and decided to post my first attempt at painting a N scale f7 a and b units.

Attached are photos of the locos before painting one of the a unit with the grey paint on and the completed set, along with a short video.

The locos are Bachmann and the dcc controllers in them do not allow for speed matching on 1 loop around my 4 x 6.6 foot layout the b unit is about 3 feet behind, To fix this I also replaced the dcc board with a Digitrac SDN136ps decoder this not only allowed me to speed match it I also got sound as well.

Short history of myself, I am 74 and have had model trains since I was about 8 at one time with a HO layout in my bedroom with the foot of my bed under the layout. There was then a long period of no trains until about 1968 when I purchased my first N scale a Revell 4-6-2 not much done with it until the mid 80s when I started the current layout.

That did not last long and it ended up in storage in the basement of my business until We sold out in 2012 I then moved the layout to our home and started with it again. My daughters cats had got to the layout in storage and most of the wiring was damaged so I decided to go dcc at that time and am now using MRC along with JMRH to run and control my trains.

I will send the video on a email to follow.

Jim”

Next, on to Dale, who hasn’t been painting N scale trains, but building his HO scale layout:

“My layout is a 4 track layout. The pics I sent are from one of the HO scale tracks.

I run an On30 scale train that runs on HO track is one section of the layout. The other trains are HO scale.

The scenery is from my own imagination and does not reflect any know areas of the world. I make some thing myself and some are store bought, but that what makes it fun. I am not DCC, I use 4 controllers to run everything. Its a learn as you go process.

Most of the techniques I use are from the internet and books. Some are from your information. I enjoy building scenes and model railroading.

Best of all my grand kids like running the trains also.

I look forward to sending more pics and maybe a video at a later date.

Dale”

“Hi,

I really enjoy all the inspiration from everyone’s posts.

I put this together for my brother.

Jon”

A huge thanks to Dale, Jon and Jim for sharing how he has beenhaving fun painting N Scale trains.

Even after all these years, I still love seeing what pops up in my inbox – especially when folk write the site inspires them. Makes it all worthwhile.

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.