Model railroad layouts plans

Bill’s been in touch with his cheap N scale starter:

“Hi Al,

Here are a few pics of the B&N Shortline RR.

All structures, except three, were made from business cards, tablet backs, pieces of cereal boxes, toilet paper tubes, etc.

The trees are the top parts of slender pine cones except for those which are obviously commercially made.

The chain link fence at the B&N RR office building and the fence around the little park next to the pipe factory is made from a bag that held fresh garlic.

The layout lacks many details like people, traffic signs, fire escapes on the taller buildings, etc.

It has been fun taking up a hobby which I abandoned 60 years ago.

I am dazzled by the creativity and artistry of the model railroaders which display their work on your site.

Thanks for all that you do to promote the hobby. You have brought this 80 year old much pleasure.

Bill”

Cheap N scale starter:

“Al, Have a couple. I use empty spice containers (the ones with the small to medium holes) to spread ground cover (grass,dirt,etc).

These work well to get fairly even coverage shake harder for thicker coverage not so hard for lighter.

Spray your glue mixture where you want grass ,dirt etc then sprinkle to cover the area let dry lightly brush or blow off excess.

I use an old peice of straight track hot glue 1200 grit sand paper to it, let it cool for a couple mins, cut out between rails hook up transformer set engine on track,turn speed control to where engine wheel move at a steady pace between 5&8 should work fine be sure to hold engine to keep if from becoming an airplane . Adjust speed accordingly not to fast.

Let engine sit on paper about 20-30 seconds now your wheel are very clean and ready for hours and hours of use.

Be sure not to put pressure on engine from top hold in front or rear Watch the paper when it get worn peel it off and glue new peice down.

Usually cleans 10-15 engines. Be sure to clean dust off track after each cleaning. Brass track works best

Happy Rails

Greg”

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“I found that when you buy a plastic house or company that some of the long walls maybe warped they say warm water works.

I found that if you take a Iron on low heat with a towel and set on the warped piece and then turn the Iron off let it set til cool it will straighten right out.

Ric”

That’s all this time folks. A huge thanks to Bill for sharing his cheap N scale starter, and to Greg and Ric.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide if you want to jump from thinking about a layout to building a layout.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet here. Thank you for all your comments on it.

Got this in from Glyn. He’s shared an excellent post on making mountains for model trains:

“Hello Al – I’ve re-started some work on the layout once more, adding the first of a series of mountains to the right hand side of the double mainline.

It’s been an awkward reach but I’m managing to get it done piecemeal.

I should have done this at the beginning of construction but as you may recall I decided to add an entire double mainline loop to the back end of the layout just a couple of months ago, necessitating the additional landscaping as an after thought.

Hindsight is 20:20! I hope it will be helpful to some of your viewers.

I’ve been swamped with work but have started working on the layout once more after finishing the Bietschtal bridge project I sent in earlier.

Since the bridge installation I added railings around the bridge approaches shown below.

With the tunnel portals made I started on framing up the mountain to the right of the bridge.

I wanted a fairly high peak tapering gently down toward low hills which would be the backdrop of a smaller town on the right limb of the layouts E-shape.

I made a rough wooden frame out of wood off-cuts – not much to look at but it was sturdy enough to support the use of Woodland Scenics shaper sheet.

With the face of the mountain stapled on to the frame I began covering the entire structure, making allowance for the tunnel portals.

The idea was to construct a mountain that could be easily lifted off the layout in case of derailment or for track maintenance problems etc

Next came the plastering shown above and once that had dried I started to paint the shell using the Woodland Scenics leopard spotting approach with burnt umber, yellow ochre and Paynes Gray/black acrylic washes.

The initial result with this technique (shown below) is always a little garish but as it dries, the colours fade and become quite realistic.

Making mountains for model trains:

Next I started adding areas of light grass flocking and small bushes using lichen.

I also made an attempt at constructing a tall pine tree using Luke Towan’s technique using BBQ skewers with coconut fiber rings to create the framework for the flocking. He has a superb YouTube video describing the technique and achieves amazing results at a fraction of the cost of buying ready made trees.

The effect was fairly pleasing so I began to add electrostatic grass to the softer shoulders of the mountain and then added more trees, both deciduous and conifers.

I also added anther smaller summit to the main mountain as I didn’t like the angular profile of the original construct.

I had added some vines along the edges of the precipice but found that too dark and unrealistic so off it came. This is before I removed the vines.

With some of the vines removed I added more trees and electrostatic grass.

The final result is fairly pleasing at this stage but I plan to add more trees and bushes to the main mountain as well as to the smaller outcrop to the left of the tunnel portal.

I will also have to camouflage the junctures between the portals and the mountainsides and add a tunnel portal for the logging road at its base.

Then it’s on to building more mountains to the left of the Bietschtal bridge! And so it goes on!! I’ll send some video once I have it edited.

Thanks again,

Glyn”

Well what can I say? I stunning ‘how to’ on making mountains for model trains. I think they look amazing.

(It reminds me of Jim’s post: DIY model train mountains.)

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

And if Glyn has left you feeling inspired – the Beginner’s Guide is here.

That’s all this time folks. Hope you enjoyed this one as much as me.

Keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

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

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Brian’s been in touch with some impressive HO scale roundhouse details:

“Hi Al

I thought that I would keep you up to date on the construction of my new double deck layout.

Remember the engine house (HOn3 scale) from my previous layout and the article that you published, it was stripped off its original placement (top photo) and will be relocated to the upper deck just above where it is shown in the last photo.

It took a lot of courage to remove it without any damage being done in the process and about three hours of painstaking work. Pardon all the visible wiring at the moment as it will all be hidden “underground” once in place.

Brian”

And lastly Dangerous Dave has been in touch again with his latest installment too:

“Hi Al,

got the Pannier tank Loco back, now with sound and lights, very impressive sound, not often you get good sounds from /Steam Loco`s this size ….

I also show that dave also does things wrong, got the loco on the track with one axle wheels off the track… but a good demo of sound that can be added to these small Loco`s.

Still got to figure out altering the CV for the chuffs , am told should be 4 chuffs per wheel revolution.

All part of the Hobby.

Regards

Dave”

A big thanks to Dave and Brian for sharing his HO scale roundhouse details – both of them Hall of Fame members. I’m very interested to see how someone as talented as Brian puts his layouts together from day 1. Looking forward to the next update.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

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.