Model railroad layouts plans

In this missive, Dave’s been busy on his track work, and Paul has a novel idea to find some space for his layout:

“Hi Alistair,

A common theme of the emails is finding space, and there’s been a huge amount of ingenuity in finding it from the community.

In apartments, the options for a decent sized layout are limited. I have a spare bedroom which doesn’t get used a huge amount, but I don’t want to lose it completely. I’m thinking of solving the issue with a “Loft Bed”. Various places sell them, but this one from IKEA (other vendors are available) has a double sized upper bunk, and a lot of space underneath.

It strikes me I could have quite a decent sized layout by boarding over the supporting battens (and possibly extending beyond), and conceal all the assorted paraphernalia that accompanies model railways under the board.

I’ve taken the plunge and ordered one. I’ll let you know how I get on.

CAVEAT: Although it’s a double sized bunk, the internet informs me that weight limitations mean it’s only suitable for one person, so anyone thinking of replacing the marital bed should proceed with caution…

Paul”

“Hi Al, just uploaded this update on the track work, after things went wrong with that incline, and a few other problems, I decided to scrap the idea, and now re designed all that area, the track is now laid.

I have shown adding the droppers and soldering them, then did a test run with the Loco that gave me the most problems with the incline, and low and behold… fingers kept crossed, it’s all running good… all the ballasting and scenics next to be added…

Regards

Dave”

Very latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

That’s all for today because I’m in a screaming hurry.

And don’t forget, if you want to join in with the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

Brian’s been in touch with the latest update to his shelf model railroad.

“Hi Al,

I thought that I was finished with everything and ready to landscape the rest of the layout, looked back to admire my workmanship when something came to my attention.

I was doing a bit of running trains (shunting) and delivering cars to their respective industries when a thought suddenly came to mind, how do I deliver a tank car to the oil refueling tank in the yard. I have one inbound/outbound track from the turntable and in this case, cannot deliver from the turntable.

Never mind he thinks, simple solution by adding a point and curving the track away from the turntable, called in the track gang and low and behold, a siding where I can make deliveries of Oil, Sand and other locomotive facility stuff.

Never to late to make a few small changes.

I will send a few photos later of the completed new section as soon as the backdrop dries and the strip lights added.

As they say, learn from your mistakes.

Photo below is the old track layout from the turntable.

This photo below shows the mistake of not being able to supply the facilities. Engine House tracks are not aligned with the turntable yet in these early photos.

The two photos below show the added point and adding a new section of track enabling deliveries to the facilities.

The two tracks now serve as inbound and outbound to and from the Engine house and service track on the side.

Problem solved and completed in two hours including mounting the point motor underneath and the control knob on the facia board.

Note to self, remove unwanted red wire before continuing.

(Photos are always very good at pointing out these problems – thats why I take a lot of them to make sure that I have not missed something, like adding sleepers in the gaps under the rail). Remembering that my layout is just below eye level and not easy to see this.

That’s all for now and all the best.

Brian”

For a shelf model railroad, Brian really is packing everything in to it.

Can’t wait to see the next update (his last post is here by the way).

“Alastair,

No one I’ve talked to on this side of the pond seems to know the answer to this question: Why do many European locomotives have long steel panels on either side of the boiler? What is/was their purpose?

Thanks,

Bob
Okeechobee, Florida

p,s.

Really enjoy your site.”

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

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

Best

Al

There are lots of model train card buildings on the blog, but it’s the houses that are most popular.

(You can see the full range of printable buildings here.)

So I thought I’d put this bundle together.

You get all 8 houses for just $29.97 – that’s $3.74 per house.

(And don’t forget you can make as many as you want once you have downloaded them).

The bundle is made up of:

Just like all the scenery on the site, you just print it out, and stick it together.

Model train card buildings are a lot of fun, as you can see from John:

It’s just $29.97 for this house bundle, and don’t forget, you can make as many as you want.

You save $49.79 with this bundle (It’s less than $3.74 per house).

(You can save even more money with the Big Kahuna Bundle Deal – it’s here.)

Click the button below to get this house bundle instantly.

Once you have the model train card buildings download, you can make as many houses as you want – it’s the same with all the other designs too.

All the designs can be resized to the scale you need:

HO is 100% – you don’t need to do anything.
N scale – reduce the print sizw by 54%
O scale – increase the print size by 185%

In fact here’s an easy way to make printable buildings.

It’s wonderful to see the printable house models on a layout. Bill did a great job with his.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

You can see the full range of printable buildings here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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