Model railroad layouts plans

Andreas has been in touch with his Marklin HO scale:

“Hi Al,

my name is Andreas Kilian and I live in Nova Scotia, Canada.

After much thought and having read, appreciated and learned a few things through your posts, I decided why not send you some initial pics of what I’m building.

My Model Railway days started way back in 1981 in Switzerland when we bought our very young kids a Märklin oval: 1 engine, 3 cars and no turnouts, and, of course, it was analog. The fun didn’t last very long and so I packed it up and put it somewhere.

A while ago I discovered it and thought now that I’m retired (have been since 2009) and alone, I have the time to put something together.

It’s strictly for my amusement, and that will show though some of the pics.

My first attempt was in what used to be a living room, roughly 20 x 20 feet.

Didn’t work the way I wanted, so I started a new one in my very large basement.

That didn’t work out either because I discovered that the humidity in the spring and summer is too high. High enough to develop mold and mildew. What next? Back into the living room but with a different idea.

Having grown up in Switzerland, using Marklin HO scale, and most of my engines being Swiss replicas, you might think my layout would show a part of Switzerland. Well, you would be wrong. It’s strictly fantasy land. The only thing “Swiss” will be something that I hope will actually look like the Matterhorn, once it is completed.

I’m not a very good photographer, and so, like the layout itself, it’s all very amateurish.

Just one more thing. I did, for a while, think about going into N scale, which offers far more possibilities as regards the layout, but for me, HO scale has more of a realistic look. And so, when I decided to go partly digital, I stuck with HO.

Pic 4: This triple arched bridge can be moved to the side so that I don’t have to crawl underneath.

Pic 5: There is absolutely no spare room between the canyon walls and the sides of the trains.

Pic 8: The East side of the Matterhorn “under construction”. It will measure 85 cm from base to summit.

Enjoy

Andreas”

Marklin HO scale:

A huge thanks to Andreas for sharing his Marklin HO scale. A wonderful narrative – and I do love seeing your layouts as they take shape.

That’s all for this time 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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

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

Eric’s been in touch with his very British N gauge layout:

“Hi Al.

I thought members might like to see the update from the bare minimum in my previous video to the slightly revised and slowly taking shape layout.

Below is a plan showing the overall ( revised layout ) I have coloured the four tracks a little to show where they go and at what height.

Picture 1 shows what problem I have to work with, both my hands are more or less the same, the fingers shown are at full stretch and can’t be straightened. Working in N gauge means they have to fiddle sometimes for a long time before something gets done so building is slow progress but it keeps them working

Picture 2 Shows the old farm level with a few improvements above the helix to the right of the layout. Flower seller, larger pub/ B&B and the slightly altered building land now with floodlights so they can work at night (slave labour). Ignore the bodies on the road a bulldozer will bury them later after all it is a work in progress.

Picture 3. This is another view of the farm section.

Shows the slowly growing land around the helix area, of course this has got to be properly painted and sown with grass.

Shows the rest of the board with some covers temporally in place to take the village when I decide how I want it, on the video I showed the engine shed but decided that this would take up half the village space so decided to hide the three sidings in tunnels rather than have them open.

A long view back to the wall and a closer view of the main road that passes along the top of the village again a lot more trees and bushes to be sown there and I think the hot dog seller would enjoy more traffic and people visiting. The garages hide wiring I couldn’t conceal below the boards. The two back shelves there are both removable to get to the track below. I hope you like the progress to date.

Happy modelling folks.

Eric”

A big thanks to Eric for sharing his British N gauge. You can see his previous post here.

It’s all gone very quiet from our friends across the Atlantic, so please do keep ’em coming. In fact, it doesn’t matter where you are in the world…

And if you’re still sitting on the sidelines and looking for inspiration, you can get the Beginners Guide here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

Hall of Fame member, Dangerous Dave, has been in touch.

Don’t worry – he assures me he’s okay.

But he’s certainly living up to his nick name.

When he was building his superb loft layout, he went through the floor, hence ‘Dangerous Dave’.

And now, he was taking some more fine video footage to share, and he took a tumble.

“Hi Al, we went again yesterday for steam gala, good day with good weather, then today I lived up to my reputation again…

Fell off my bike trying to avoid cars… teach me to stick to footwork LOL.

Looks worse than it is ..can still see, so aint going to stop me.

Regards

Dave”

Ebay cheat sheet is here.

Well, a huge thanks to Dave for sharing. A fine video and his reputation is intact!

But what a shiner, eh? (Please don’t worry, he’s promised me he really is fine.)

That’s all folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al