Model railroad layouts plans

Lawrence has been in touch again. This time he’s shared his modular model railroad.

(His last post is here – hope I haven’t got me Lawrence’s mixed up.)

“Al

With a module-based train club in my area I plan on joining them. So a module was in the making to the requirements of standard modules. After getting the framework (front to rear (24 inches) and side to side (48 inches)) correct started with the layout. The idea was a hunt scene.

The main (required) two tracks go through a tunnel, the top will lift off for any problems in the tunnel. There is a siding into a mountain and a track for delivery of the hunters (top also is recoverable.

Getting more and more modular model railroad posts at the mo – they are good to see. Scott’s springs to mind:

Modular model train layout.

Now on to Mike:

“Hi Alistair

Just a few shots of my up-and-coming N gauge layout. The track is finally laid. I plan to have two platforms at the front right, with a shunting yard behind. The top left is a branch line to what will be a quarry.

A long way to go, but at least now the track is laid.

Mike”

Now, I know there isn’t a lot to Mike’s layout yet, and I do get mails asking why I publish such sparse layouts – and the answer is simple. This hobby is all about making a start.

And with that in mind, here’s a question from Jim that I thought was interesting:

“Al,

As I consider getting back into model railroading – did it many years ago (lets say about 3.5 to 4 decades ago, in my teenage years). I have found your website and blog postings to be very inspirational and insightful.

While I am crafty type, good mechanically (engineer – electrical by degree but lots of mechanical background as well) and have a wood shop in my garage – so I am confident I can do a at least a fairly passable modelling job of all this.

However in many regards I am going to be a novice at some of the more detailed and/or advanced modelling techniques (though in watching the videos you post I have discovered water features are not nearly as hard as they appear in the models to pull-off).

I am really leaning towards modelling the Durango & Silverton narrow gauge railroad towards end of steam era and early diesel era – possibly mixing a few time periods on the model. I would like to do HO or HOn3 but space considerations may drive me into N or Nn3 scale.

I would like to model it faithfully as narrow gauge, but my research is beginning to indicate that may limit my selection of narrow gauge loco’s and rolling stock. Here are some of my questions as I consider this choice – certainly some of the answers would be subjective, but I am interested in hearing others opinions and their justification in their choice to each of these questions:

Given that as an older adult this is really my first foray back into model railroading should I just stick with a standard gauge layout (either HO or N)?

I have discovered good quality locomotives (especially fully DCC equipped) can get rather pricey – I have a strong suspicion price goes up even more in narrow gauge. How much am I limiting myself on track, locomotive and rolling stock selection if I do decide to work in narrow gauge?

What vendors/sources as well as websites, books,or magazines do you and/or your members recommend for narrow gauge loco’s, track, rolling stock, supplies, and reference material?

Are there conversion kits to convert the wheels and axles (both drive and free spinning wheels) on standard gauge (HO or N) to narrow gauge (HOn3 or Nn3)? If they do exist, where would one source these from?

Thanks in advance Al,

Jim”

Can anyone help Jim? And a big thanks to Mike and to Lawrence for sharing his modular model railroad too.

That’s all for today folks.

If the folks over the years have inspired you, grab the Beginner’s Guide and get to work on yours today. There’s just no point sitting on the side lines – especially at this time of year.

Best

Al

PS ebay cheat sheet goes mad at this time – have a look.

“Well it’s been awhile since I talked with you but this is Lew.

This is how far I am, money’s tight so I try to use whatever I can to form mountains and roadways and so beefing up the table some more.

I changed the lake configuration so that it was inboard instead of outboard and it has made storage a lot easier as well as more stability when moving the table.

I hope it’s a somewhat interesting to some of the guys and I’m sorry that I don’t know how to describe things as well as these guys do that send all of these things into you all the time, but I thank you for all of them and hopefully they’ll see something here that trips your trigger who knows.

Lewis”

“I introduce myself and just say thanks for all of the great posts you do daily.

Here a a few shots from my N scale model layout. I hope you enjoy these. My layout is 36″ x 120″ and I am
about 60% complete still a lot of small detail work that has to be done.

Again thanks and a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Dave”

“Hi Al, not done a update on my layout for this weekend, its near too being finished, well apart from a lot of electrics and a few cosmetic bits, which can be done later.

So just as a joke I downloaded my other layout as shown… hope to have a video with a tour of the new layout and a bit of Xmas trimmings this next week.

Dave”

A big thanks to Lew, Dave and Dave.

And seeing as it’s near Christmas, thought I’d share another vid which I’m getting quite a few mails on now. Here you go:

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here

Hope you enjoyed that!

That’s all for today – please do keep ’em coming an don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to stop dreaming and start doing.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

Shotgun Tom has been in touch:

“Hi Alastair,

Please add my HO Train Video to your site.

Here is my story and photos. Let me know if you need more information. Hollywood producer Jhani Kaye shot the video with both GoPro and Professional cameras.

The Layout is 10 feet by 7 feet.

The layout was constructed by Lloyds layouts of Paramount California.

Lloyd and Betsy Kluesner are Master Train Layout Builders.

As a Radio and Television Personality in San Diego and Los Angeles, what I wanted was a Radio and Television station on the Layout with a Downtown area, a mountain for the TV station’s Tower and Transmitter, Industrial area and a place where people live.

So, Lloyd drew up some plans and off we went.

The Layout is mounted on my Pool Table. Next, with a hydraulic lift the Layout will rise off the table and Pool lights are under the layout will shine down onto the Pool Table so we can still play pool.

Shotgun Tom”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here

A big thanks to Shotgun Tom for sharing. What a layout – looks like a lot of fun.

It looks just as stunning at night – have a look at the video and you’ll see – but most of all, there is a timelapse of the layout being built at the end. It really is worth the watch.

And if you want to dive in and start on your layout, please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide.

Course, I’m biased, but it’s a great first step whether you are a Beginner, or just getting back in to it.

That’s all this time folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

Best

Al