Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been in touch with the latest pics from his HO mining layout:

“Hi Alistair,

John from Baltimore, Maryland USA here.

I now have the left side of my layout started. As you may recall, this is going to be a coal hauling railroad set in the mountains of West Virginia, only my mountains are going to be more like the Rockies, that is more bare rock and steeper sides.

The left side also has a number of storage tracks that will be under the mountains and the coal mine, those are in and I can now run trains completely around the U shaped layout.

As I did with the bridges, I’m building the mine and associated other buildings, a electric utility switch yard and some smaller industries as modules in my wood shop to be carried in and placed on the layout, the rest of the scenery is to be constructed around them.

So the first of these modules for the left side of the “U”, the coal mine structures are completed, and will soon get a ton more details as they are placed on the layout.

One may notice that these are pretty banged up and not clean and shiny buildings. Coal mines are dirty. The roads around them are dirty, the vehicles around them are dirty. Yep, one might say mining and transporting coal is dirty.

The kits for the mine started with the Walthers Cornerstone coal mine, and their gravel mine, and several small kits. I chose those 2 main ones because they were both modeled with corrugated steel sides. I love kit-bashing and working buildings into a scene.

I added windows to the gravel kit, and moved the suggested layout of the buildings all over the place, and added a dump for coal brought to the mine by trucks. The trucks give me the chance to model some roads cut into the mountains.

The track diagram of left-and center sections of the “U” has green for the tracks that are under the mountains and hidden, and purple for above ground tracks which are visible, yellow are the bridges I sent in pictures of some time ago.

I’ll be sending in some pictures as the mines are installed and the left side starts to take shape.

John from Baltimore”

A huge thanks to John for sharing his HO mining layout. As You all know, I do love seeing a layout come to life from the bare bones of the bench.

Not long ago I put together my first ever backdrop. You can see that here.

Well, here’s the second (I pretty much put it together on the comments and mails from the first one).

I’m really pleased with it, but please do let me know what you all think, I’d really appreciate that.

Click to enlarge it:

It’s 18″ by 144″.

Just like the other one, to print, just put the file download on to a CD or memory stick, take it to any office stationers (Kinko / Office Max) and print it out on a smooth, self adhesive, vinyl with UV inks and a matte finish. Job done.

If you’d like to grab this back drop before it goes in the store at full price, you can grab it here for just $7.

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.

Dave’s model railway features a lot on the blog.

And he’s just sent me this. As usual, I enjoyed it, so I’m posting it:

“Hi Al, just had a day out on the North Yorkshire Moors yesterday and of course managed to capture some steam trains running through that beautiful Countryside.

Just thought it could be entertaining for to some of the members?

Regards

Dave”

Dave’s mail got me thinking… “it sometimes helps to get ideas on a model railway…”

So I thought I’d look at some of his layout pics – rather than one of his videos. Then I thought, because there’s been a run on old layout pics, I thought I’d find the earliest pics I have of Dave’s model railway.

And you really can where he gets his ideas from:

(Click to enlarge.)

Dave’s model railway:

A huge thanks to Dangerous Dave – you can see more him in the Hall of Fame.

If you are wondering why he’s called Dangerous Dave, the answer is half way down this post.

What’s more, since I’ve been in touch with Dave, he’s had bike accidents, falls in the garden, all sorts in fact. His nickname is spot on, just like his model railway. I really do enjoy all of his posts.

You’ll see from his Hall of Fame page how helpful he is too – many of his youtubes are ‘step by step’ or ‘how to’ model train help.

Some of his vids are laugh out loud funny too, the ginger bread man makes a few cameo appearances.

Hope you enjoyed a little more of Dave’s model railway.

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.

Bill’s been in touch – he’s not quite saying, “I love model trains” but I think it’s near.

I do by the way. There are very few hobbies that get passed to the next generation, and there are even few that lay dormant for decades, and then resurface when we have a little more time on our hands.

Readers of the blog will know Bill’s journey is a familiar one.

“Al,

I wanted to reach out and say how much I enjoy your site and all the great model railroads and tips that are shared on it.

I have always had a love of trains and it started with my grandfathers S gauge trains. When I was a preteen I built and nice layout and operated it for a number of years until just before graduating from high school.

I’ve attached some pictures of that HO gauge layout.

It’s from the mid 1970’s and the pictures were taken for a local newspaper story on it.

My next layout had to wait many years until the mid 1990’s and then I tried my hand at N gauge. That layout grew until a move necessitated it being torn down. I’ve attached some pictures of pictures of that layout. Sorry for some of the blur.

Here it is now another 20 years later and this winter I’ll start a 4×8 engine yard and switching layout. I love our hobby!

Thank you for your site where we all can share and enjoy each other’s pride and joys!

Best regards

Bill”

A huge thanks to Bill for sharing.

So whether you can shout, “I love model trains” from the roof tops, or just mumble a mild approval, I find it quite comforting to know that a first layout is rarely the last layout.

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.