Model railroad layouts plans

Jim’s been in touch with his HO scale DCC locomotives:

“Hi Al.

Jim from Cape Breton, Canada back again with Part #4 of my layout.

To answer some previous questions, my layout is in a 12’x14’ room with a 1’ shelf attached all around the 4 walls with offset & apposing 4’x8’ sections projecting out from the 14’ walls.

There are access walkways between the 4’x8’ sections & between the 4’x8’ other sides & the 1’ wide shelves.

One 4’x8’ has a roundhouse & turntable & the other 4’x8’ has an engine workhouse & transfer table.

There is a 2 track hinged bridge that lifts up by hand and spans the door opening to the room.

The rolling stock in the freight yards are static & are there simply to fill out that spot on the layout. I do very little switching & the consists stay as they are.

All the locomotives have access to the main lines via turnouts. I put in false bottoms in the coal cars & then topped them up with 1” of crushed, real Cape Breton coal to make them look full.

Out of my HO scale DCC locomotives – a black FP45 Canadian National loco with the white CN noodle was the piece that first got me interested in the hobby. It is a Lima (made in Italy) and was given to me in a box of used HO scale train stuff by a co-worker at the time in the mid 1970’s.

The loco would not work, so I took it all apart & discovered that the motor & it’s electrical brushes were clogged by lots of metal filings. After removing the filings & a light oiling, everything worked fine.

I lived in an apartment at the time & often thought that if I ever had the time & a house with available space, I would take up the hobby. In 2003 plans started to become a reality.

When I switched over to DCC in 2007, I up graded the old CN FP45 with a DCC decoder & since then, have upgraded it again with a DCC sound decoder. So you see, it was not only the very first part of my hobby plans, but also, is still very much a part of the layout.

All questions are welcomed & keep ‘em on the rails you fellow train enthusiasts.

Jim”

Now on to Ray:

“Good Day Alastair,

I have been enjoying your daily emails and the many tips for years now and wanted to share a video and some stills of my n scale project I have been working on for 6 years.

Don’t know if we can ever say they are complete. Always adding rolling stock, touching up scenery and working on JMRI and controlling up to 4 locos on this 4X7 layout.

It has been fun and made easier thanks to the many tips shared by your community of modelers.

Thanks to all and continued fun no matter what scale you enjoy.

Ray Cardello
Exeter, NH”

A huge thanks to Ray and to Jim for sharing his HO scale DCC locomotives.

I thought Jim’s narrative really does capture what this hobby is all about. Your layout can be whatever you want it to be.

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 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.