Model railroad layouts plans

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.

Call’s been in touch again with is HO 4×8 layout:

If you missed his last installment, it’s here.

He’s a man of few words this time, but you can read all about his layout in the link above.

“Alastair:

Here is a quick video of my layout update

Thanks

Cal”

Cal’s HO 4×8 layout has featured a few times on the blog now and I always enjoy it.

Now on to Jack:

“Hi Al,

I was in Hobby Lobby buying some Woodland Scenics blended turf when I saw they had Realistic Water.

There is always a 40 % off coupon available on line, so I found it on my phone and saved quite a bit.

As you know, I had trouble with Scenic Water before, but since I followed all WS’s recommendations, and the price was right, I succumbed. So far so good.

I have been under the layout wiring the lighting.

To begin the electrical work, I mounted a power strip along the inside edge of the layout.

The switch controls 6 outlets. Into that I plugged various wall warts.

I needed one for the NCE system, one for 16 volts for the switches and amusement rides, one for 12 volts for the incandescent bulbs in the amusement park buildings, and one that came with the Ferris wheel.

For the LED lights in the houses and the street lights I thought about the Woodland Scenics light hub that outputs 3 volts.

It has places to plug in 4 lights or sets of lights, with a dimmer on each of the 4 plugs.

I found an eBay site called wehonest (really) that has a lot of electrical/electronic stuff, as well as scenic stuff, for model railroading. You order direct from China and the stuff is pretty inexpensive.

I bought the house lights, interconnecting wires and street lights from them.

They have a power distribution board similar to the WS hub but it has 29 plugs of various types. There is only one dimmer to control all attached lights. I can plug my 8 building lights and 10 street lights and still have plenty of plugs for expansion. Input to the board can be either ac or dc 4 to 24 volts. I used my 16 volt ac source.

I mounted my street lights on ‘concrete’ pads cut from left overs from vinyl flooring samples.

For my 16 volts for various items I mounted a terminal strip on either side of one of the supports under the layout. I tied all the terminals together on each strip and fed the 16 volts to the strips. Then I could just connect everything to the strips. Since stuff runs on various voltages, I have separate switches on the fascia for the amusement rides, amusement lighting and house lighting.

That’s all the progress for now.

Jack”

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Now on to Rob who asks a question that comes up a lot. Cal’s 4×8 HO layout packs a lot in to a small space – but what about an even smaller space?

“Hi Al –

I live in an apartment, and i have a living room, bedroom, kitchen, eating area, and office. Do you have any solutions for people like me who need to have their hands in a train layout, don’t have any kind of model train club close to them, and are very limited on space and noise?

I am open to any scale; I have worked with S-Gauge (American Flyer), HO, and N. I’m just out of the loop as far as what is available out there these days.

Thanks!

Rob”

A huge thank you to Cal for sharing his HO 4×8 layout.

And I’m sure you all have some good advice for Rob, carved from hours of frustration!

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming because it’s getting very thin on the ground this end.

And if today is the day stop dreaming and start doing, 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.