Model railroad layouts plans

Lawrence has been in touch – he’s working on a Suspended model train from ceiling.

“Al

I don’t know if you will show this and following emails as they will be radically different then the norm.

It is a 96 feet long overhead (six feet off the floor) single track system around half of my basement. Overhead because the multiple hobby (leather, chain maille, archery, etc) workbenches are around the wall. This is only one of my many hobbies.

I am not after reconstructing a specific city. What I want it to display the things that are interesting to me. Because it is six feet above the floor I will not be adding a lot of the scenery that is normally seen as it will not be seen from the floor.

The train used is a O gauge Realtrax Christmas kit, expanded with one rolling stock and about 80 feet of new track. Hanging the track base from the basement rafters was a real trick. The track had to be wide enough for the train, some houses and all the wiring (on the top, out of sight, instead of underneath). So layout all of the wood and track needed on the floor first. To ensure all the hanging hardware, the base, and enough of and the right track was available.

Then the process of mounting the hanging rails and piece by piece of the track base around the room. Painted the upper base green, no grass as it will normally not been seen anyway. Still process of painting the rest a gray for a visual eye disappearance. Put down the track with an electrical connection at each corner. Put the wiring down on the back edge upper side and connected all points. Tested the track with train and then screwed the track in place. Not being too critical on the mounting of the hanging pieces I have some high spots and low spots – great with small ups and downs.

Phase 2 (next email) is the background appearance to the train. Simple, cheap, and very different.

Lawrence”

My word, a suspended model train from ceiling, 96 foot layout! Can’t wait to see how it pans out – a huge project.

Now on to Jack:

Jack’s been in touch again (his last post is here).

“Al,

Progress continues.

I wanted to make a fence from balsa strips I had, but wondered how to keep everything in alignment.

I have a cutting board with lines on it. I taped cling wrap to the face hoping the wrap would keep the posts in alignment so I could attach the rails.

That didn’t work, so I sprayed the wrap with spray glue. I could then line up the posts and glue the rails to them. When dry I could peel the fence from the wrap.

I didn’t like the cheap Bachmann switch controllers that came with the switches, so I bought a Piko switch controller. Much better quality.

I had been using an eye dropper to apply the diluted white glue solution to smaller areas of landscaping, but it didn’t hold much glue mixture.

While at the pharmacy I noticed a child’s medicine dropper that holds up to 5ml. It was packaged with a medicine spoon which I found useful in spreading turf in concentrated areas.

And on the layout, a developer got a deal on some land by the tracks and is putting up two small houses.

That’s all for now.

Jack”

A big thanks to Jack and Lawrence for sharing his suspended model train from ceiling.

And if they’ve inspired you, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

That’s all this time folks.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here

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

Steve’s added some HO scale railroad figures to his layout… and something else has appeared too:

“Just a little surprise on the layout.

The other day I heard a grinding noise coming from the train room so I went in to see what was going on. Well I found a blue box all lit up. The strange part is I never put it there. I am still trying to figure it out. Picture in closed.

In the meantime I have some crews running water lines to the community.

Will be sending more soon

Steve from Toms River.”

Strange blue light? I had to look at Steve’s pics twice before I twigged. Did make me smile though.

It’s another great example of ‘your layout, your rules’. If you want to add Dr Who’s tardis, that’s fine. And if you want to add some HO scale railroad figures, that’s fine too.

And now the latest from Rob and his fantastic layout update:

“Hi Al,

In my latest video we look at methods for power feeders to the track, the magic wheelie stool, cutting the last spice in what will be the fast line because the tightest curve is 24 inches plus radius, a little soldering, cutting track pads, and running my Intercity 125 at high scale speeds. Not as fast as she will go, but fast enough for a real jolt of fun.

We go under the table and connect wires the easy way and discuss cutting track for a diamond crossover. Tricker than you might think. The layout is coming along nicely and bnow only one loop left to build and I can start the scenery planning and land forming.

I think some of your viewers that are new to the hobby will get some ideas or hope they will.

Cheers,

Rob”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

A huge thanks to Steve for sharing his HO scale railroad figures and to Rob (Rob’s last post is here).

That’s all this time folks – please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to get going on your layout and join in on the fun.

Best

Al

Terry has been in touch with his HO curved bridge – I do enjoy seeing the solutions you lot come up with:

“Al-I couldn’t help but admire the recent pictures from Michael which included a long straight trestle.

For some reason every time I build a HO layout (and I’ve done probably 20 in the past), my aerial crossing tracks always seem to end up on a curve and while I could have modified store bought items and made them fit, I’m not only cheap-I’m am also not a purist and so I decided to make my own and they came out very well.

As all my trestles cover a large distance, I needed something that would bend with the curve, look close to the real thing, and use what I had in my train box. After some thought I came up with the following method.

I use HO cork track bed which comes perforated down the center. By pulling them apart, I found that using one strip of the cork provided me with just enough heights to look realistic and not interfere with long cars overhangs.

After splitting the cork I took another piece and cut a ¼ inch strip to serve as the cap for the top.

Spraying everything black I glued the ¼ in piece to the top so that it overhung the side panels. This didn’t look to bad but then I realized that there were no braces on the sides of the panels as there are on the real thing.

Because I use a lot of flex track cut to fit the track plan, I always seem to end up with a bunch of single ties in the scrapbox.

Because the ties have slots at each end to hold the actual rail and I found that by cutting the slot off one end made the brace the correct length to fit the height of the trestle panel.

This left the slot at the other end of the tie open and I decided that if I was going to build a real railroad then it should also contain a pipe to carry wires, etc for railroad signaling etc

HO curved bridge:

To my surprise the telephone wire that I use to wire the layout fit exactly into the rail slots on the braces and a simple glue job held them in place. As the wires were already color coded I just used the ones with orange/white colors to make the units stand out.

Every layout has a story even– if you have to make it up sometimes. While a close look may show the “pipe” sagging a bit I blame a bunch of pipe layers being on strike and the rest being drunk as the cause. Haha.

Terry/Idaho USA”

Now on to Geoff:

“Ok Al, its been a while since I contacted you.

Firstly I have completely dismantled my UK layout in my garden shed.

That’s a new project when I get back.

I have been in Florida for 3 months now which has given me a chance to work on my American Railroad.

Scenery is a bit scant at present. I am not skilled enough to build a museum quality model railroad, and it doesn’t bother me that everything is not prototypical, but I like playing with trains.

You could even find British trains on my US layout and American trains on my UK layout

The track is Bachmann EZ track, Hornby, Peco and Atlas.

The points (switches) are Atlas with side mount motors plus a couple of Bachmann with under track motors.

The layout is DCC with sound, using a Bachmann EZ Command controller but the switches are conventional DC controlled.

I also have Hornby Railmaster, but you know what, I find the rotary control knob on the EZ Command easier to use

The track bed where it is not Bachmann EZ track is cardboard packaging edged with silicone sealer then painted grey to match the Bachmann .

The ballast has evolved! I am now using fine (black/grey) coloured sand from Dollar Tree. At $1.00 for a 1.1lb bag it is really cheap.

It is stuck down with Aileens Tacky Glue from Wal Mart, painted on with a brush, then the sand sprinkled over the glue.

I bought a bag of 50 assorted (almost) HO scale vehicle from e bay which look quite convincing. The bendy buses came from TESCO. Again they are almost HO scale.

The viaduct is made from old cereal boxes and the backdrop is a photo I found on the internet repeated four times!

The hotel similarly is a photo stuck onto some cardboard. I am leaving the USA on Friday and won’t be back until October so this is where we are at.

Keep up the great work.

Geoff”

A huge thanks to Terry for sharing his HO curved bridge and to Geoff.

Even after all these years, it amazes me what you lot come up with. All clever stuff.

Please do keep ’em coming – and don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if you want to get going on your layout. There’s no time like now…

That’s all this time folks.

Oh, and have a quick look-see at the latest ebay cheat sheet too.

Best

Al

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