Model railroad layouts plans

Lawrence has been in touch because of his model train incline.

Like many of us, he found out the hard way what is acceptable when it comes to running trains up an incline.

“Hi Al

The following pictures are all referenced to the first picture that displays the layout that I have.

When I initially built the layout, I did not know what I was doing when it came to inclines. Since then I found the formula for determining the percent of grade.

I was having trouble with trains going uphill and using the formula I found out that I made grades from 3.5% to 5.5%. The optimum is 2%. My model train incline was too steep.

Example A1 to A2 was 5.5%, to make it 2% I had to change the rise from A1 to A3 (on the diagram). The A1-A2 track goes from the top to under the covered bridge. The B1-B2 track, at 3.9% goes from the covered bridge.

Another angle of the two mentioned tracks before reconstruction. I wanted to pull the track without having to redo all the scenery. Lifting the covered bridge off the layout and starting to remove the track to the base foam layer at the lower end (A2 area).

Cutting out the track at the upper end, cutting down to the base foam but keeping the scenery intact as much as possible on either side. Another shot of the A1 section of the track area cut out. the smaller bridge also had to be temp taken out.

The upper end of the A1 section with the store bought 2% grade foam in place. The middle section of the 2% foam in place. this is where I found out at the level of the track under the covered bridge would be 2 inches higher than before. This is a problem as before the change there was only one quarter of an inch clearance for the train to travel under the bridge. Laying the 2% foam around to the now A3 location after puling all the track to this point. The D section of track was handled in the same way. BUT – –

Forcing the B1 section to now be raised from 3 inches to 5 inches the B3 section goes around to the new B3 area. BUT – – The C1-C2 section over lapped the B3 section. PLUS, at the B3-C3 area two roads cross the bridge.

To solve the problem a Trestle bridge had to be built from B1 all the way around to C1. Here the bridge goes over the road (under construction) to the Antique shop.

The B section of the Trestle, in the foreground, and the C section to the rear. N gauge train tunnels built for the HO gauge layout for auto traffic.The train is on the mostly finished A section of track.

The trestle has a walkway for the engineers and a banister for safety. Another pic of the A1 section of trestle track finished. About where the A2 area was a new raised train waiting station for passengers.Another angle of the passenger station. Also, the water barrel in place for the steam engine usage. The passenger station and news stand.

The two roads going under the trestle bridge with the N gauge tunnels. The trestle had to be raised not the 1-inch minimum need for the 2% grade in both directions but another inch to allow for the auto tunnels. Laying the track around the C section. The actual last to be worked on at this time.

And last off is a pic of the overall area for the trestle bridge – it shows the my model train incline – from the upper right, around the town, to the middle back. The banister still not finished in the C section. That is physically 20 feet of layout trestle track.

Lawrence”

Model train incline:

A huge thanks to Lawrence for putting this together. Just goes to show a model train incline is no different to any other part of scenery – one small change to your track means lots of other changes need to happen too…

That’s all for today folks – but please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to get going on your own layout and side step the mistakes we all make.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet here.

PPS And if you fancy reading even more on inclines, this post will help.

PPPS Here’s another great incline ‘how to’ as well.

Rob’s been in touch again. This time he shows us how to make a model train dirt road.

(his last post is here).

“Hi Al,

It seems I have been perfecting single track roads through the rough.

In my latest effort, I have created this simple tutorial. There are a couple of things necessary to build a road as I’ve built in the video that I don’t go into in this short tutorial.

One is collecting the dirt, drying it, sterilizing it and sifting it to various grain sizes. Perhaps in the future, I will do a video on that, It is a subject to tackle some other day.

In this video, I use dirt out of my garden in an area where it has not been subjected to amendments like softeners or fertilizers, etc.

The other thing I do not get into is the special tool I have developed to initially layout the dual grooves that form it. This tool is homemade of course and it has N scale tracks at one end and OO tracks at the other.

To determine how wide one needs to make the tool drags, just take a scale vehicle and measure it. In fact, I would recommend you take 4 or 5 to measure since they are not all the same.

You could drill the ends of the small block I have mounted them on if you have the patience. When I originally realized I needed this tool, I was in a hurry but I have used it for years now and it works just fine.

One important thing about car or truck tracks is that though they may wind around and around, they always stay exactly the same distance apart. That is why I realized I needed the tool. It is simple but works as you see in the video like a dream.

The way you use it is to drag it along where you want the track to be. It works really well in foam board as I used here.

I glued 4 mm thick foam board along where the path was to be, created the ruts, taped them to protect them with Tamaya 1/4 inch tape then put the grass down over the tape.

When I pulled up the tape, it left the tracks without any grass so I could finish them separately.

The tool also works in wet drywall compound or wet plaster for a muddy track effect. It is harder to control in wet plaster however and you may ruin your tool. No worries though it that happens, just make a new one.

Thank you for all you do for the modeling community around the world. Though I don’t always comment, I do read every one.

Rob”

Latest ebay cheat sheet here. Had a look yet?

A huge thanks Hall of Fame member, Rob, for showing us how to make a model train dirt road.

A wonderful ‘how to’ – the end result really does look fantastic.

In fact, this post goes very well with Bob’s grass ‘how to’.

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.

There are quite a few portable model train tables on the blog.

But none are as inventive as Ewart’s.

“Evening, Al

I have been receiving your posts for the past 18 months or so, while I have been pondering how to give my grandson a model railway that can be stored in a small space, but expanded to a full 8x4ft layout.

I have been collecting some locos for him, and so far about 20 wagons of Hornby OO. He is nine years old and the equipment is new, but only DC.

I have purchased a full set of the track pieces, and the railway works ok on the floor, but it’s a bit of a nuisance for his parents having it there.

So, what to do? I researched portable model train tables and decided to build a railway that could be folded into its own layout requiring less than 10min to uncrate, and less than 5min to re-crate.

I purchased an 8x4ft sheet of 17mm structural ply and cut it in half to make two 4x4ft sheets. I turned the good side up for the lower sheet, and turned it facing down for the top sheet.

In each corner of the bottom sheet, I drilled a shallow depression to take a 25mm 1ft long dowel and secured all four of them with very solid 32mm x 6mm screws.

The second sheet I drilled the shallow depressions again, and lowered the sheet onto those I had just secured, and again tightened very securely with 32mm x6mm screws. The result is a firm open box of two 4x4ft 17mm sheets held together with 25mm dowels in the corners.

I next purchased an 8x4ft 12mm non-structural ply sheet and cut four planks that would fully enclose the box, and screwed each of them into place with eight 32mm screws and washers, four screws for top each side, and four along the bottom.

The result was a 4x4ft fully-enclosed crate, one foot deep. A little heavy, but solid, and deep enough so that if my grandson gets really absorbed and builds some mountains, the depth of the crate will allow the mountains to be a permanent fixture inside the crate.

So far so good.

I unscrewed everything and put the two 17mm plates back exactly as they were when new. I purchased three 6mm bolts and cut off the thread and the nut from each, and cleaned them up on the bench grinder, to make three 60mm long steel dowels.

I also purchased a 6mm dowel drill-bit and made three holes each in the facing end-grain of both 4x4ft plates, just deep enough to take the steel dowels. I inserted the dowels and banged the two sheets together with a rubber mallet, using a piece of waste timber to ensure the plates were not damaged.

The ends had come together really well, but I needed to ensure that the plates would not move under use, so I hack-sawed the screw-plates from both sides of a very solid cupboard hinge, and screwed each of them across the join, one on my side, and one on the other side. The rejoined plate was now as tight as a drum.

I intended to make a starter layout on the two pieces, to give plenty of places for my grandson to add track in different ways each time he has to restart his layout. You can see from the attached pictures that the layout is long, and has two tracks for a fiddle yard. I wanted three, but I couldn’t make it work.

I also had to remove the fishplates from all track that stopped at the centre joint and I coddled up some wire joiners to secure the power supply to all rails. After quite a bit of testing I decided the railway was ready for tacking, and I finished that this afternoon.

The railway works well, with trains being able to run round the outside track, and move into the inside track and back.

Once my grandson left for home I rebuilt the crate, ready for his return.

It takes less than three minutes to unscrew the crate, and about ten minutes to take all the non-fixed track off the board, and to re-build the crate.

Ewart”

I have added quite a few new starter tracks. By that I mean lots more turnouts so that my grandson can add track to go through a town, or an industrial area.

I did solve the problem where I wanted three tracks for the fiddleyard. I have been testing the layout all afternoon and it looks pretty good.

Regards

Ewart”

A big thanks to Ewart for sharing his portable model train table.

And now Bill’s been back in touch – his last post is here.

There’s this one two: HO scale modular layout plans.

“Hello Al,

I’ve had more time to work on my switching layout than I thought I would and things are coming together. The past few weekends I’ve focused on wiring the layout. I have it set to run on DC. All feeders are in place and I used 22 gauge wire for those and 18 gauge wire for the runs to the panel.

I’m using suitcase connectors for the first time and really like how simple those are. I’ve had almost no problems with them – I found one bad connection today as I was test running all the track after I finished the basic control panel install. I’m using micro switches for the blocks and a rotary switch for the engine yard and parts of the repair shop area.

In my work wiring I did come across a great use for painters tape. I used some to temporarily hold wires in place under the layout. The tape works so well I am going to forgo putting in hooks to contain my wiring. The tape holds great but is easy to remove if I need to do something different.

I also had the opportunity to weather my turntable before I put it into place on the table. For those that remember my very first post showing me in about 1974 I used a Heljan turntable on my layout. While the one I’m using is much much newer it’s the same type of turntable from Heljan.

Won’t be long before I start to get ballast in place. As always I’m still having fun!

Best

Bill in Virginia”

Dave’s right have a look at the Latest ebay cheat sheet here. Still updated every day.

That’s it for today. Really enjoying all the updates at the moment – I hope you are too.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to do more than just daydream about your layout. Why not make a start?

Best

Al