Model railroad layouts plans

John’s been in touch and has added to the On30 shelf layout plans on the blog:

“I have been busy lately on another small layout…

This one is in On30 (O scale on HO track).

The layout is 8 Inches Wide and 48 inches long… I also built a similar one in the same size but for HO standard gauge… This latter one is about to be fully rebuilt… I did not like some of the things I tried on it….

I have shot pictures on the On30 layout to illustrate what i call “Eye-Scale” modelling.

The structures are removable and cost me a grand total of $5.00 U.S. to build… For the pair!

Since these pictures were taken, I have also added a tree… The tree and the structures are removable for easy transport….

This is my second On30 layout….

I hope you enjoy…

Sincerely,

John”

On30 shelf layout plans:

---

“Measure twice and cut once.

In kit bashing or scratch building, it doesn’t hurt to make a mock up of a building first.

If a piece of rolling stock, good clear photos are invaluable.

Make sure all your liquid material is relatively fresh and new.

Do you have all building materials that you need?

I have learned the “hard way” from the above and now have made my own “check list” before I start.

Rich”

---

“1) Mix powdered resenol adhesive with ballast then apply the ballast to the track and shape it the way you want it and then spray it with a mixture of alcohol and water wipe the rails, it will dry like a rock and you are done.

2) Mix powdered tempra paint with plaster or hydrocal before you add the water, then use it to make your scenery, if it chips it won’t show and you can still add color to it to make it stand out.

3) Use women’s eye shadow and masccara to weather railroad rolling stock, and structures, and scenery works great and you can get it in several shades from white to black and everything in between, makes excellent rust and mud.

Thomas”

---

“Al:

My tip for the best and lease expensive track cleaner- Wahl hair clipper oil spread from a track cleaning car and dirt picked up with Masonite pads riding under freight Cars and held down only by their own weight. I have brass track in hidden staging which has been cleaned this way for 30 years with no problems.

Paint from a spray can good enough for brass steam: Napa CDC502 flat black. It’s a nice dark grey, not really black and it goes on without spatters and runs if you are careful.

Superelevation without shims can be done by tilting the risers slightly when the benchwork is being done.

Doug”

---

And lastly, in the previous post, I asked some questions about the Flying Scotsman. Thanks for all your replies. Here’s one from Geoff that put me straight:

“Hi Alistair

Re your question about the 100 mph record:-

The answer is that both claims are worthy. GWR’s City class no. 3440, City of Truro, which was built at the Swindon Works in May 1903, was hauling a mail train from Plymouth to London in May 1904 when it reached a claimed top speed of just over 102 mph. This was while going down a slope at Whiteball near Somerset.

The background of this engine is that it was one of 20 built during the first decade of the 20th century. By the 1920s it was thought to be out of date and by 1931 all of this class had been scrapped except City of Truro. This locomotive was then taken to the newly set up Transport Railway Museum – now the National Railway Museum. It has been brought out of retirement a couple of times previously, but this year it was overhauled and put back into working order at a cost of £130,000 for the centenary of the record run and the rail bicentenary, Railfest.

The 102.3mph run, however can only be a claim. It was recorded by railway journalist Charles Rous-Marten, but there was no second timekeeper to confirm his reading. City of Truro’s record has therefore always been a matter of dispute.

By 1934, however, locomotives attempting records had a dynamometer car attached, with all sorts of devices for measuring speeds. The name ‘The Flying Scotsman’ referred to an express train service, which ran between London and Edinburgh. From 1925 to 1963, a Pacific steam locomotive pulled it and was itself named Flying Scotsman. It was designed by the engineer Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley. Flying Scotsman was the third of the A1 Pacifics to be built, and the first new locomotive built for the new London North Eastern Railway (LNER). The locomotive first ran in 1923 and in 1924 she was at the British Empire Exhibition. It was on 30 November 1934 that Flying Scotsman achieved the first properly authenticated 100mph for a steam engine. This was while she was running between Leeds and London.

Regards

Geoff”

---

That’s all this time folks. Thanks to John for adding to the On30 shelf layout plans.

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.

Tom’s been busy on his U shaped HO scale layout:

“This is my first serious attempt . It is HO. Been at it about 3 or 4 years. Other hobbies get in the way, especially in summer!

Started out with diesel power circa 1990 to present day.

Recently I have decided to build a much larger layout in one of my business buildings when I retire. So I am changing this layout to steam era 1950-1960s.

The larger layout will be diesel. I will be able to work on the current U shaped HO scale layout in my basement until then.

I enjoy building mountains and scenery the most, so my layouts are based around the Appalachia region of Kentucky and Virginia and just generally the South. Of course a lot of that is coal mining.

Tom H. Ohio, USA.”

---

Stunning stuff from Tom. And his first layout too. For everybody else there is always the Beginner’s Guide.

U shaped layouts are always popular because of the thorny issue of access. It doesn’t matter how big a room you have for your layout, if you can’t get to all of it, comfortably, you’re sunk.

I know that may sound simple and obvious, but it’s something that comes up time and time again on the blog.

Michael’s U shaped HO scale layout is also a bit of a stunner.

Next, that famous engine the Flying Scotsman has sprung back to life.

And I’ve had a few emails asking why the number on it has changed. It was 4472, but now it’s 60103. I haven’t a clue why – but I’d love to know if anyone does.

Also in the same bag, The Flying Scotsman’s claim to fame was being the first loco to do 100 mph – but some folk say it was The City of Truro.

Can anyone put me out of my misery??

And lastly, the coupon for the new printable buildings – the houses – expires shortly.

So if you wan to grab the any of the new houses for just $3.50, please don’t hang about.

Just use the coupon code carrot123 and to get them them half price.

Here’s the blue one being put made:

You can see them all in the store.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

Best

Al

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

This put a huge smile on my face – Mike’s HO scale helicopter fly through.

A wonderful bit of fun – but you eyes are soon glued on the scenery.

HO scale helicopter fly through:

If you missed Mike’s last post, it’s here. Some stunning pics and another video too.

And I was right, a lot of Mike’s pics are in the Beginner’s Guide.

Not all of Mike’s buildings are from the printable buildings buy you’ll see the ones that are.

Now on to Fred, who has some worthwhile tips:

“Hi Al,

I’ve only been reading your blog for a week now, but have enjoyed it immensely.

As a relative newcomer to railroad modeling I can’t offer any “how to” tips, because I haven’t really had the experience for years (I’m 70 now – last electric train I had was the Lionel “standard Gauge” monster I inherited from my dad!)

For years I was an RC aircraft modeler, but eventually got worn down by the violent destruction of years of work from control mishaps or a lost radio signal!

So I approach railroad modeling in my dotage with the hope of less heartache from my creations. As a newcomer I can still give you my recent impressions about this wonderful hobby, nonetheless.

As a professional architectural modeler of the 1970s and 1980s, the most important thing to me (then and now) was the issue of scale, and all of us designing buildings developed a pretty good eye for something that was out of whack in our models.

Whether or not people understand their sensitivity to scale, most viewers have it. And I would guess that all RR modelers share a real sense of it.

After all, for many modelers that’s really the whole goal, isn’t it – to achieve success with the illusion that you have created a miniature world (or a piece of a miniature world) that evokes the real thing.

And few issues are as important as scale. Texture of materials has scale. Color has scale – look down at a “real life layout” some time from an airplane and notice how the colors fade as a function of their distance from the eye, even without apparent help from air pollution.

Movement has scale – a flashing light on a police car is not the same as a flashing anti-collision light on a power plant stack. One flashes rapidly, the other in a lazier “on/off” sequence, since the larger bulb filament takes its time to completely go dark. (The current day electronics for reproducing scale lighting effects are really remarkable.) But one careless decision on track ballast can undo all the well executed aspects of your model so far.

Developers often use scale phenomena deceptively to make a building site look larger and more commodious than it really is – simply by changing the size of a piece of architectural vocabulary that offers some fundamental insight into scale – the size of the bricks or concrete block in a drawing, for instance.

When I built models I always spent a lot of time fashioning scale human figures on my foam cutter. I made sure that their heads and hands were the correct size. Although I sometimes used them in the final presentation model, where they helped me was in their placement within various portions of my designs – Is there adequate room in the lobby of a building? Does it feel cramped? Or does it feel cavernous? At the end of the day the human figure was the perfect yardstick, not only for my model, but for my design behind the model.

I would suggest that scale figures can help in RR Modeling as well……not necessarily as end participants in the layout as much as a visual aid during the decision making process. An aid at choosing and building structures, spotting an offending detail from kits (I find that ladders and railings are a real problem in N Scale, and have already started pitching what came with my kits for a wire brass and solder solution on my part.

My tip is this: spend as much time as you can fashioning a couple of human figures at 1:160 scale (for N scalers) and then use them as you model. Use them to design your refineries, your feed lots, your Victorian neighborhoods. It will really help you envision your miniature world!

All the best,

Fred

Boston”

That’s all for today folks. Please do leave a comment below if you enjoyed Mike’s HO scale helicopter fly through.

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