Model railroad layouts plans

John has been in touch with his N scale cabinet layout plans:

“I am 78 been playing with trains for about 75 of those years the lay out I have now started about 15 years or so ago

The HO is my main inters two main building are plastic two are wood kits the rest is scratch built

The N gage is housed in a cabinet the idea would be great for an office or small apartment

If you are interested in more pictures I can take as many as you like

John”

My HO:

John’s cabinet railroad reminds me of Steve’s layout – he built around his sofa in his living room.

“It’s too cold to do much with my South Wales layout in the garage, even tho it’s insulated and heated.

I’m actually in the process of changing the back scene to give it a makeover, but have not operated it since before Christmas.

I have re- vamped the shunting puzzle I built 18mths ago, it’s been standing on edge for over a year. I bought a DCC diesel to use on it and created a factory back scene. I’ve also put some ground cover to make it more realistic and I can operate it at my desk indoors, in the warm.

The points are operated by brass rods above the baseboard but hidden under a plinth with a Nissan hut on top. A second hut hides the DCC control box. The 3 uncouplers are operated by coffee stirrers which are pivoted to push the ramps up.

I’ve had great fun using it and it’s good for keeping my old brain ticking
over.

The DCC sound makes it more interesting too.

Hope you like it

Best wishes

Alan

Far Nissan hut has power cable visible. Outlet other Side to bus bar”

(All images are clickable by the way).

A huge thanks to John for sharing his N scale cabinet layout plans, and to Alan too.

Alan got me thinking, I’ve only ever published two shunting puzzles, this one and Cameron’s.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And whether it is scenery or running trains that is your thing, 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.

Linda has been in touch with her HO scale hockey rink:

“Hi Al,

I just finished building a grandstand for my hockey rink.

For once I remembered to take pictures as it progressed. I took half a styrofoam box that a building came in, cut it to fit, painted gray for cement.

Glued the people onto plastic strips then glued the strips onto smaller strips of styrofoam, painted then glued in place.

Glued a picture of our Pittsburgh Penquins on the back. Here are some pictures.

Linda”

Linda’s last post is here – and it’s a cracker.

“Hey Al,

Loving your website. It has been very inspiring! A lot of great folks with great ideas. Thanks to everyone.

I have attached a photo someone might find amusing. First I must apologize for some flaws in the photograph (ie: no balast yet, etc.).

When I was changing my bass guitar strings I was thinking what a waste to throw these away. So for now I chopped them up as a junk load. One could do many, many different things with this so called garbage. And in my case they are about 3 feet long. And guitar players have much thinner strings so there is even more options there. That’s all for now.

Cheers and thanks again,

Rob!”

“For N-Scale lighting I use the chip LEDs. With a handriveting tool and a rivet, I can punch exterior light shades out of a brass strip. Predrill the center of the light shade before punching it out, then solder the shade to a piece of 1/16 X .014 round copper tube. The wire from the anode of the LED goes down the center of the tube.

The cathode gets soldered to the underside of the lamp shade. So the ground wire from the power supply gets soldered to the tube, and the hot side goes to the wire. The chip leds are great for interior or exterior lighting. I’ve used an Arduino computer to adjust the intensity of the LEDs for indoor and outdoor lighting to make them more realistic.

Ben”

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“Al,

I know you don’t use photos like this but think you might be interested in any case.

The photo below is an abandoned Parisian railway.

Photo at the bottom speaks for itself.

Happy Rails!

John”

I did enjoy putting today’s post together. A big thanks to everyone, especially Linda for that wonderful HO scale hockey rink how-to. I think the grandstand looks great when you consider what it’s made from. It just goes to show, with a little imagination…

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you feel like joining in the fun, 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.

Laurence has been in touch with his DIY model train roads:

“Hi Al, I wondered if this would be of interest to your readers.

You put on line the layout Santa’s little helper at the end of December and as I have taken photo’s of the build in progress I thought your readers might like to see how I constructed the bridge and roadway.

I got quite a few wonderful comments and some readers couldn’t understand how I got so much on a 5’x3′ board, some even thinking it was “N” gauge. It’s “OO” gauge and I think the secret is not to clutter it up with too many buildings.

I hope the pictures are ok for you to use and hope it will give encouragement to some of your readers to have go at something different.

Best Wishes

Laurence”

DIY model train roads:

A huge thank you for Laurence for sharing his DIY model train roads – it’s wonderful to see all the different ways folk come up with to acheive an effect.

If you missed Laurence’s last post, it’s here.

It’s also quite a topical post, because today is the last day you can grab the tunnels and bridges print-out-scenery at for just $10.

You get three buildings (two tunnels / bridges and a grain elevator) for just $10.

Here’s what the tunnels / bridges look like if you missed them:

If you’ve been mulling the bridges / tunnels over, you can grab ’em here at the launch price.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming because it’s getting very quiet this end.

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.