Model railroad layouts plans

Eric’s been back in touch with a spot of N gauge british railway modelling:

“Hi Alastair.

May I present my latest N gauge layout Wensdale New Town. (Specs at bottom)

Tore down my countryside layout around 5 months ago now and have been really busy. The track laying was done in around 1 month and working great so no worries there.

This time for my creation of my old (and favourite) layout of Wensdale, Here is where the messy hard work comes in, compared to the last time I now have two mainlines and two goods lines, now making 4 tracks instead of two. I have not used the helix as I have always in the past, just used ramps this time.

Well Wensdale was originally a quiet market type town but with having more tracks, I decided I needed to upgrade the town and surrounds to a more industrially orientated place. I have placed more emphasis on creating different backgrounds to set it in. To this point I have all areas of the layout more or less done with still a heck of a lot more to do.

Also this time I have been experimenting with making my own balsa station with canopy, it’s not great but it passes rather than going for a new kit (and a lot cheaper I may add as it uses a few old kit parts). This took a while to do as it has it’s ticket office with staff inside and of course wiring in lights and all the rest, but quite pleased with results, the dome is made using plastic trellising some black card and clear plastic, apart from one portal my first go with balsa.

My second attempt was a small bus station that after the practice with the main station has turned out pretty well, it is very loosely based on the Pontefract bus station which has a similar appearance although the real one has doors front and back, I haven’t the space (or spare kit bits) for that.

The original backgrounds are Peco with added factory and housing glued on and these are turning out better than I hoped when I started and fit well with the surrounds.

A major job was converting my housing stock from country stone to town brick, a lot of fiddly painting and then a lot of new kits these also needed painting to match, with my awkward fingers it took quite a while, but thankfully now finished.

Note to the right of the layout the Burtons clothing factory background. I grew up with Burtons huge factory at the bottom of the street, even now I live within a mile of the place so in a way I have included a part of my own life in this layout. (See notes below for more details).

I have finished all the roads and pavements/ sidewalks on the layout, and mentioning the roads, none of the roads are bought, but designed on my computer and rather than having very narrow 40 mm roads I have more town like 60 mm roads complete with yellow lines, bus stops, parking zones and zebra crossings, ok cost a bit in ink cartridges but made as needed so much more user friendly, ok the curves aren’t brilliant but hey I never said they were the real thing or perfect.

If anyone remembers my Newdale layout, on there I got quite a few compliments on the gardens at the cottages. Well this time I have extended these to make 9 allotments on spare ground. I buy the white plaster preformed tiles then instead of just painting them, I use scatter materials to bring them to life, of course this is also time consuming but it is worth it for the finished article.

Finally the lift out centre section over the hatch which has the station car parking space and bus station has been arranged.

The whole lot is DC operated and consists of over 150 lights (Yes they all work too). I am sure all modellers know how fiddly these are to wire up and the time it takes, two old controllers work the house lighting and another for the street lighting, this also means they can be fully regulated.

It actually surprises me how much is available online to help make a layout different and adds more realism when you dig deeper than the standard ware you get from the big suppliers. Look for the ones that do their own special items. That’s how I found the background extras, allotments etc, so get digging guys and gals and don’t forget Al’s page of card models.

Still tons to do but the basics are now in, lots of people, trees, shrubs and vehicles to go on yet but we’re coming along.

The video is a mix of running and showing off what has been done to date, I must admit it’s a bit jerky at times, lets put that down to old age J At the end it shows my main road along the back wall where the cinema is and the way I do all my wiring to removable boards on the layout of which there are many for easy access to tracks below.

One big plus is not one running problem during filming.

Now the things everyone likes to know.

The baseboards at their widest measure approximately 90” * 72” (229cm*158cm) they are built using Sundeala (Compressed newsprint) model board and work round a built in wardrobe with a solid wall, plus an access hatch. The track I use is Peco Setrack and their flexi track. All is DC operated.

One thing I will mention again is that I do not plan a new layout by planning ahead on paper but do it in my head allowing me to alter things to fit as I go along, so don’t ask for a track plan please. J

In 1921 Burton began to develop the Hudson Road factory in Leeds which gradually became the biggest clothing factory in the world, employing 10,000 on the site and producing over 30,000 suits a week. It was the biggest employer in the city. Hudson Road is the heart of the Montague Burton empire. He chose Leeds because it was the centre of Britain’s textile industry and so he had access to skilled tailors and machinists.

Happy N gauge British railway modelling

Eric (Leeds) UK”

N gauge british railway modelling:

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

A big thanks to Eric. Yes, the video is a bit wobbly, but I still enjoyed it. Loved the narrative too. Eric’s last post is here.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you poke boredom in the eye, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Bruce has been in touch with a great tip to get those model train radius curves right the first time:

“Al,

A tip for those newbies who are creating a track plan. The issue is track spacing in curves.

I have build some layouts in the past and am beginning my plans for a new one.

I learned early that it is most important to have proper clearances in those dastardly parallel curves. Especially in the hidden areas where one tends to make things “tight’ to conserve open layout.

Consider taking the longest engine, car or any other object that will be placed and operated on the layout rails. Include, depending on the size of the layout, all object lengths of future acquisitions of greater length.

First get paper, ruler and compass to draw arcs from a common circle center or along a common radius.

Any multiple arcs of different radiii created from the common or other circle center along this common circle radius will be used to determine the clearance of objects on adjacent arcs.

As example, see the attached image

Draw the arc with desired minimum radius of inside track of the two tracks

Using the common arc center, Draw the arc with desired radius of the next track

Draw extensions at one end of the arcs to represent parallel straight tracks

Measure longest item that will traverse the rails

Measure length between wheel truck centers

Draw car on paper and cut out; make two more

Place cars in locations similar to the example

Use the dimensioned cars to determine minimum clearances for the cars on the desired curves

The extended straight tracks can then be used to determine the minimum parallel track spacing for car clearances Use the locomotives as they are usually wider

The location of the intercept of straight to curved rails may then determine the required easement

This dimensioned example is for O gauge that I have used to lay track for a long time. The radii shown are tor minimum diameter arcs and longest cars considered.

Hope this will assist others from creating unexpected derailments but allow maximum use of hidden or exposed track layout.

Bruce from SC USA”

A huge thank you to Bruce for sending this tip on model train radius curves: a simple, but effective way to stop hours of misery with trial and error.

“Hi Alastair,

I am new to the hobby and your posts, I am putting together my first layout and think I might put in a turntable scratch built so I started looking for parts then I remembered I had just the other day thrown out an inkjet printer/scanner and luckily it was still outside, I brought it back in and stripped it down.

I found all the motors, gears and belt drives I could possibly need to power the turntable and several more besides, this printer turned out to be a treasure for the hobbyist and I thought I would share it, I have posted to you tube (not great video but it does show what I found).

happy for you to share and hope you and others find it of use.

Happy modelling.

Wayne”

Now on to Lindsay:

“Hi Al,

This has been long time coming hahaha. I first subscribed around the beginning of 2013 when Gary used to run similar service.

I finished making my table,then like a lot of us got sidetracked and the table became just another storage facility in garage. Here it is and finally extracted digit cleaned table off and began where I left off.

Scale is N Table is 2200x 1300 still a long way off finishing. the lower level track is operational,mountain track still needs some pieces cut and of course scenery has lots required. Put some basic grass down to let me see where to go and construction of buildings and roads has begun.

Hope you enjoy pics and will post more as we go if you like.

Lindsay
Australian Capital Territory
Australia”

A big thanks to Bruce for a great tip on Model train radius curves. And thanks to Wayne and Lindsay too.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you say no to boredom, 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.

John’s been in touch with an unusual O scale paper model:

“I mentioned in my last mail that my father had built a paper model in 1953 from a cut out print on the back cover of Railroad Model Craftsman.

I also mentioned that I had his model for many years until I lost it about 10 years ago… I found the issue he cut his model from and the later print in a book they put out… I printed a copy and built a duplicate of my father’s model. BUT THERE IS MORE…

Thanks to your site and John’s videos I was able to build the same building in O scale with a lot of detail that my father could not have done in 1953.

The cutout my father built was HO (American 3.5 mm) Here are some photos of my tribute model…

Sincerely,

John”

Loved how John was able to find and create the same O scale paper model his father had.

It’s not one of the print-out models in the store, but I’ll but it was just as much as fun to build.

Now from a O scale paper model building to some paper model building tips:

“Alastair,

I am located in Up-State New York, USA, but my OO layout is the North country (imagined) portion of the West Coast, Scottish Border, portion of the pre-Nationalization LMS. As a result I have to scratch build most of my buildings from heavy card stock. I reference them from photographs from the mid 1920’s and there are a lot of stone cottages and farm buildings.

To give them the right look of white washed, rough cut stone, I have found that I can use a product called “White Out”. It is a correction fluid used to mask errors on written or typed materials. I use it to “paint” on the stone pattern, building up random “stones” to give the walls of the cottages the right look. This is then given an over all wash of white acrylic water based paint. Then I finish it by weathering it as would be done for any structure. I have tried using the embossed plastic sheets, but found them to not be to my liking, as they are too “predictable”.

To do the roofs and sides of farm and industrial buildings, sheds, and the like, that use corrugated iron sheeting. I lay down a thick coat of Elmer’s “Carpenters Wood Glue” on heavy paper stock. Let it start to set up (2 or 3 minutes) and then pull a fine tooth hair comb across it. The result, when fully dried, is a very useful representation of corrugated iron sheeting that is easily cut to shape, painted, and given proper weathering.

I suspect that these are not unique ideas about how to create specific effects for scratch built structures, but I thought I would pass then on, as they may help some other modelers with similar challenges.

In closing, I have followed your postings for a number of years now and found them to be both helpful and inspiring. I can not tell you how much I appreciate what you bring to model railway building…. THANK YOU!

Rob
Endicott, New York”

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“A friend just gave me a wonderful tip for making grass or dirt that works great.

Take some fine sawdust, (can get probably free from a local sawmill or building contractor) put it in a container with a lid (I used a clear plastic pretzel container) put in some acrylic paint, then stir or shake it. Keep mixing until sawdust is covered (mine didn’t totally cover but left a nice two tone effect).

You can keep adding paint or sawdust to get the right mix you’re looking for. Very simple and inexpensive.

Have fun

Linda”

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Big thanks to Linda, Rob and to John for sharing his O scale paper model (who remembers Linda’s train room?).

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you start laying track again, 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.