Model railroad layouts plans

Sam’s been in touch with his HO scale steam crawler crane:

“Hi Al,

It’s great seeing what other modelling enthusiasts are up to some of the amazing work really inspires me to do more stuff on my own layout.

Anyhow, I’ve been working on an industrial section of my layout (unfinished) and I’ve been experimenting making some steam cranes from various Bachmann and Hornby loco’s many of which have some damage so ripe for modifying.

The J72 is a The Bachmann and I was trying to replicate a J92 LNER crane from the late 1800’s as the J92 isn’t a model readily available.

The 0-4-0 tank engines are made from Hornby tank engines (Smokey Joe type) and represent many little steam cranes found on regional railways in the early 1900’s.

The green one is of course Dubsey, now preserved on the Foxfield Railway and is based on a Hornby 0-4-0 tank engine with the cab and other detail cut away and new parts added.

I then had a go at making Harvey from Thomas the Tank Engine Series as this is also based on Dubsey but in crimson and with slightly different detail.

The final one is based around a Hornby E2 LBSC loco actually inspired by an Austrailian Z class

The later ones have jibs that can rotate freely, all loco’s run and I’m now working on a version with an operating hook and chain…..

Any way, I hope you like these.

Sam”

---

And some more ‘ai’ fun with Sam’s cranes:

(Watch on youtube here.)

“After 40 years of being out of the hobby, I decided to build my grandson a set. It had to fit under his bed, hence the flattop mountains.

It definitely got me back into the hobby I’ve always loved so much. The case has a piece of clear plastic that slides over the top to keep out dust and a door that flips down in the back in case of derailments in the mountains.

Thanks for all the blogs and ideas!

John”

That’s all for today, folks. A big thanks to John and to Sam for sharing his HO scale steam crawler crane.

And if you think everyone else is having all the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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.

Ian’s been in touch with his OO scale shelf layout:

“Dear Al

As it was getting rather cold operating the layout in the garage I decided to build a shelf layout in the office.

The size is 7’ 6” by 1’ 6” and is set up over two cupboards. The layout has come after I have studied a number of layouts in the Railway Modeller magazines.

The backdrop is in Cumbria but the layout is not really based on any particular place. And yes the bus is from Glasgow. I have fond memories of going up there to see my Scottish grand parents and have always liked the trams and buses from that time.

There are seven points on the layout and have taken Dave’s advice in having surface mounted points, however I needed another transformer to operate them.

The tunnel could be considered as a fiddle area but I cannot get behind the cupboards to take full advantage. Hope you like the pictures and all the best to you and your readers of your great site.

Regards

Ian”

“Hi Al,

I have had very good progress building out the new Farland Layout. I finished the farm, I got Far Moor Village built, Far Cliff Beach with it’s Caravan Park, Car Park and camping coach are now installed. So, I am turning my attention to the completely unfinished side, the Howe Street side.

The first thing I decided needed to be done was to clean up the track going through the station. When I originally put this track in, it was a bit haphazard.

I didn’t know yet what I would be doing on this side of the layout, so the track was just laid in to get the trains through and make continuous loops. One loop each going both ways for the passenger trains. Which I am most interested in and one loop going both ways for freight. My intent has been to run the freight as a single line.

More recently I have added a crossover from the freight to the down main and another back again to the freight line in Far Moor. There are also crossovers going both ways on the passenger lines just outside of what will be the Howe Street Station (HSS).

I have installed a run around in Far Moor so that a locomotive can come around to the other end of the rake and pull it back to HSS going in reverse. By adding one conventional crossover in the Howe Street Station and using one of the others just outside of (HSS), service to and from Far Moor from HSS can be continuous. Therefore, I am removing the X crossovers in HSS.

---

The distance between the passenger tracks was dictated by the X overs in the beginning and now they can move closer together. That will free up more space for the freight yard and the steam shed and diesel maintenance area.

Here is a link to a short video as the process begins and I fill in the first passenger loop after ripping out virtually all the track in the HSS area.

One question that is always asked is why, as a North American, am I modeling British outline trains and scenery. The answer is that as a very young and impressionable boy, I lived in London for a time. We as a family spent a great deal of time traveling the UK by rail and it just stuck. The more I have learned, the more interested I have become.

Thank you, Al, for all you do for us in the modeling community. I think I can safely say, we all appreciate it greatly.

Rob – Farland Howe”

Latest ebay cheat sheet here.

A huge thanks to Ian for sharing his OO scale shelf layout, and to Rob too.

Hope you enjoyed Rob’s video as much as I did. He really does pack a whole load of tips in to his vids (his last post is here).

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.

“Wondering if you can post the progress of my O scale layout so far?

There will be an aisle behind this eventually with the back wall painted sky blue and the narrow gauge along the wall with mountains, trestles etc.

I made the control panel with led’s for the switches and painted most of the cars and built the buildings.Track work is mostly Micro engineering flex with reliable roco switches and four hand laid ones. This is standard 1/48.

Thank you,

Peter”

.

(Pete’s last post is here.)

---

“Hi Al,

My work in Georgia, USA is done and I’m back home after 5 months, so It’s been awhile since I sent an update on my bridge module, my attempt at back-drop painting, and an update on what I think may be the final track plan.

The good news was that I was able to bring the module in from my wood-shop, but did have to remove a door (too darned close for comfort!), and when staged in place, I found all my measurements for the rest of the plan wayyyy off, so they went in the bin.

The backdrop was painted on ½” sheetrock, primed on both sides, and then painted a nearly white flat yellow. This gave me a cheap canvas to work on. Scenic painting was done in Acrylic artist paint, dries fast and water cleanup, base colors – black, white, brown and a few greens were bought in big jars, rest in smaller tubes. Backdrops are a challenge because stuff in the foreground casts shadows on the “mountains” supposedly 20 miles away! Anyway, moving lighting around gave me some shots that are not too bad.

Over the past months I have been buying various types of conifer trees off eBay vendors. This gave me a variety of detail and sizes. I think most came out pretty well, and I think the buying of some in “O” scale gave me some dramatic pines. A vendor or 2 will get repeat business. The details on the bridges are not quite done, I added the “tell-tails” and some stuff on the decks, missing ties and all filled in. still trying to figure out telephone and electric lines.

Most of the coal hoppers on the bridge have my ¼” foam with coal glued on it as coal loads, as I mentioned a few weeks ago in a reply to another method you posted, I make about 20 loads at a time.

I enjoy the scenery, and the art stuff, so, even though it may be quite awhile until I run trains, the hobby is still fun and rewarding.

John

Baltimore MD. USA”

A huge thank you to John (his last post is here). Just a stunning scene – absolutely love it!

And it just goes to show, you can work on your layout anytime you like, it doesn’t matter how many months off you take…

That’s all today, folks. Please don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to join in on the fun.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet here – still going strong and bagging deals.