Model railroad layouts plans

“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

Paul’s been in touch with a great ‘how to’ for HO scale stone walls:

Hi Alastair, I thought I would share how I made some stone walls. The album I sent should play as a slide show so that it will repeat all the photos.

First thing is to get some white foam board at the dollar store. Next peel off the paper cover on both sides. This can be facilitated by wetting the paper. You can use the board as a single layer or glue two pieces together with PVA glue as I did.

Next get some cheap ½” brushes and cut off the bristles right down to the metal binding. Using a drill remove the bristles down below the metal at least 1/8”. This leaves the metal binding exposed which will make the stone impressions in the foam board. You can make few different brushes and bend the metal into different profiles. Mark the tools you now made with different markings so the you will get different shape stones.

After you make all your impressions in the foam to form your wall you have to paint on the colors that you want. Make notations of the steps you use and the colors so that you get uniform walls. My walls were colored with the following procedure:

Two layers of Burnt Umber wash allowing drying between coats.

Add the different color stones as you like.

A coating of dry brushed black using a fan brush.

Lastly a single coating of a black wash to emphasize the grout lines between the stones.

Now on to Bill:

Bill’s been in touch again. He’s cracking on with his switching layout – his last post is here.

“Hi Al

Just sharing an update on the first section of my modular switching layout.

I’ve had a few hours each weekend to enjoy my hobby and now I am finishing up cutting and test fitting everything together for the track.

In the next couple of weeks I’ll get the cork in place and I’ll start wiring the switches and other track components then I’ll put the track in place and start to power it up. I’m using a mix of cork for road bed. I’m using HO scale for the mains. Then I will transition to N Scale cork on less important segments. Finally some of the track will go directly on the foam.

It is fun to see how much I can put on a 4X8 table and still have room for the yard and service bulldings that are yet to come.

A note on my bench work – I did add a second cross brace to each side of my portable legs. I needed to crank on the T Handle knobs hard. to keep the legs true as I move it around. By added the other cross brace I now have a true ‘X’ brace and everything stays aligned nicely.

Thanks!

Bill in Virginia”

A huge thanks to Paul for sharing his HO scale stone walls, and to Bill too. I do love seeing how your layouts are coming along and how you make stuff. Thought Paul’s wall was excellent.

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.