Model railroad layouts plans

“Interesting stuff. In case it might appeal….I’m an Englishman living in New York…building my second ‘N’ scale layout with the help of my stepdaughter who is now 32 yrs… the first one we made was in California when she was 11 yrs.

The whole point of this one is to use as little as possible things from the model shop (which are lousy in NYC anyway) and also to make it as individual and asymetric as possible…. it’s going to be a sculpture/diarama of New Mexico that happens to have trains.

My rolling stock is nearly all pre-owned (second-hand things) that we bought as ‘broken’ and rebulit/painted whatever…the baseboard is an open 3’x3’x3′ cube that the scultor downstairs in my factory/loft used to put sculptures on, covered with teo sheets of plywood from the dumpster….the furniture factory on my ground floor supplies foam that I grind up for foliage etc and we collect coffee/tea for ground cover/ballast etc.

We break ALL the rules..train liveries are all my designs, passenger cars all lit with their own LED/batteries inside…I have a flair for rebuilding locomotives, old pre-war American ones are particularly tricky in steam (the first trick is to put current pick-ups in the stupid 8 wheel,2 truck tenders so that the short wheelbase 6 driving wheels don’t stall on the turnouts (points) …the list goes on…just thought it might be of interest..specially ” What Not To Do’ written in a funny, entertaining way.

My loft overlooks the Harlem River by the Park Ave lift bridge which carries ALL the trains out of Grand Central (sadly now only boring details) and there is a freight line IN THE RIVER on piles which takes the CSX garbage trains from New York to Virginia twice a a day so I am not lost for references.

Here’s a few pix of how we have progressed since December

Michael”

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And Dangerous Dave is back in the loop after his knee op:

“Morning Al, here is the follow on video from the new cement wagons , I bought a new loco to go with them its a class 66 with beautiful sound and livery.

Regards

Dave”

Keep ’em coming folks!

And if Dave’s inspired you, the latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Best

Al

Peter’s been in touch with his HO Gauge layout:

“Alister

As promised, find some attached notes/photos

I have 2 usable layouts, both HO gauge – consisting German/Swiss/Austrian.

Both are digital sound with ESU Loksound decoders, run on Lenz controllers.

I currently purchase the blank decoders and blow the sound on using a Lok-Programmer and sound files from the vast collection from ESU.

The layouts have been constructed over the last couple of years.

The track is Peko flexi and ballesteded.

The bridge is home made using plastic sections.

The snow scene area looks good, but causes problems loco running.

The fir trees are home made.

Regards

Peter”

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A big thanks to Peter for sharing his HO Gauge, it’s a wonderful layout. Looks like lots of hard work went in to it.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the big day when you start running trains again, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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

David has been back in touch with an update on his OO scale track and roadbed.

He’s a man of few words this time – but the pictures speak for themselves.

And besides, for me, it’s all about making a start, which I why I post half built layouts.

“Hi Al,

Attached are some latest pics of my layout:

regards

David”

OO scale track and roadbed:

Thanks to David for sharing his OO scale track and roadbed – now on to Eric:

“My project is now starting to take shape but a long long way still to go. I am attempting to do a countryside layout this time instead of the normal town / village that I am used to doing, thought it was time to stretch the old brain a bit.

Used a lot of track all in circles that will centre round the lake that I hope to make into a camping / boating site.

Have again utilised the 1.5 turn helix in a new configuration with 2 levels of track coming off the top rather than 1.

Having to go back to plaster for most of the countryside base but have used foam on the right hand hill over the helix to enable easy access.

The plaster base over the tracks is in four removable pieces that at present are quite easily visible but will be camouflaged by the time I’m done (hopefully).

You will see the centre lake in the pictures a lot to do to it yet. But in the back left I have also added a small lake below the hill.

Hopefully this will all look like a remote moorland scene with the railway circling the lake ….. eventually.

The layout front portion are the sidings off the two main tracks, note the tracks also run at the rear of the sidings and a lot more of the track on show to my normal efforts.

I wish Alastair and all modellers everywhere all the best!

Eric (Leeds) UK”

Big thanks to David for sharing his OO scale track and roadbed and to Eric too.

Please do keep ’em coming folks: let’s share your tips, pics and videos.

And if today is the day you get started and join in on the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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