Model railroad layouts plans

Don’s been in touch with pics of his HO scale oil storage tanks.

I love the way he has used household items for his layout:

“The oil storage tanks are an old kit. The large tanks are 4 inch PVC couplings, $2.

The curved wall is two laminated 0.10 x 3/8 strips. I clipped them together in the shape I wanted and when dried they kept the shape.

The pump house is an old Plasticville engine house kit bashed. The piping is made from plastic hangers. The ultimate recycling, the pier is made from our dogs poop bag cores.

The dock serves both Coal and Oil shipping without modelling either. They are off the table, much cheaper that way.

The coal walls are molding strip from Home Depo, $2. The coal is real from Ebay.

The lights are two 100 light Christmas tree lights. The main deck was painted sky blue. After this photo I repainted it gray. The blue was too intense.

Since I had many parallel yard tracks I made Pigtails to simplify wiring.

I hope this gives your readers some ideas.

Don”

A big thanks to Don for sharing his HO scale oil storage scene.

It reminded me of Gus’s: Storage tank HO scale.

And Marks:

HO scale storage tanks.

Next on to Ray – not with an update… but because I managed not to include the video on his post, so here it is.

Sorry Ray!

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here – have a look and see how much you can save.

Now on to Bob. He’s a man of few words – but there is a common theme here:

“Here’s some photos of mine, still have lots of work to do. I got back into the hobby after 30 year hiatus.

Keep the videos and photos and info coming. I’ve been enjoying it all since last April.

Bob”

I know what Bob means – so many of you are folk who have had a fair few years off while life gets in the way. But then again, I think it’s one of the things that makes this hobby – it’s wonderful when you reach the time in life when you have the time.

A big thanks to Ray, Bob and Don.

It’s wonderful to see you creations come to life – hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I do.

That’s all for today folks – do leave a comment below if you’d like to get involved.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you’re looking for inspiration and motivation. Come and join in.

Best

Al

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.