Model railroad layouts plans

Jim’s been in touch again, this time with his Broadway Limited HO scale engines.

His last post is here.

“Greetings to you and all of your wonderful and knowledgeable subscribers.

I have two new Broadway Limited HO scale ES44AC’s and five new Maxi 1 well cars along with some containers appeared in the “train room “.

So, I set to work weathering the well cars (with only mild weathering as these cars have a build date from ‘02) and the containers.

I have to say, these BLI’s are truly great.

They run smoothly, have great sound with many sound functions and are capable of producing smoke. WOW!

Accordingly, I had to replace my Santa Fe era on my layout with my BNSF fleet and put together this video highlighting some of the sound effects from these engines.

I programmed horn sounds for grade crossings and forward, reverse and stopping as well as volume levels for various functions.

And of course the smoke.

Here’s hoping you enjoy this update and run by.

Best regards,

Jim AZ”

Broadway Limited HO scale:

And now something from Michael.

He’s a man fo few words, but I thought i’d publish it because it looks fun, and it also goes to show you don’t need a lot of space to enjoy this hobby:

“Mike’s 44 X 33 layout for his nephew.

Plaster cloth over Styrofoam.

Mike”

That’s all today folks.

Thanks to Jim for sharing his Broadway Limited HO scale engines, and to Mike 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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

John’s been in touch again with his mine layout. (His last post is here.)

“Hi Alastair,

John from Baltimore here with an update on the coal mine layout.

This mine is kit-bashed from several buildings, the Walthers Gravel pit, Diamond Coal mine with some parts of other buildings added.

Stairways and ladders not with the Walthers kits are from Tichey train group, and the transformer, lots of other stuff details piping, the trestle and the coal dump is scratch-built.

The mine is now home in the mountains (still under construction all around it) and I think it worked out pretty well. Turns out that I had to build a bridge when I places the module because the valley was just too deep to work around.

All the tracks are in and the tedious task of eliminating the derailment points is underway. My test is to back a 20 car train all around the layout slowly. If any bad or flakey places are there, bcaking through will find them! Oh, ya can’t back a train with the toy horn-hook couplers, have to be Kaydee of other upgraded ones.

Next update to the mine layout will be the mountains, trees and stuff on either side.

Regards, and to you and all the railfans across the globe.

John from Baltimore”

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Stunning stuff from John. Have a look at all the comments at the bottom of the page.

If you look at the first post for his mine layout, you’ll see a wonderful pic of his table with nothing more than a few pieces of track on it. Now look at it!

Just goes to show it’s all about making that start.

That’s all for today folks, please do keep ’em coming.

And if all these posts have got you itching to start your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.