Blog - Page 58 of 715 - Model railroad layouts plansModel railroad layouts plans | Free model railroad track plans, pics and tips

HO scale scenery – Boyd’s

Boyd’s been back in touch with more of his stunning HO scale scenery:

“Hello Al,

I’m attaching a few pictures of the progress made over the winter.

As usual, I did not get as much accomplished as planned, partially because of other projects that seem to pop up and demand my time, and partially because my trial-and-error approach quite often veers in the direction of error.

In any event, it’s always a learning experience, and all great fun.

A couple of the pics may be repeats of earlier submissions, but I made a few changes, and started with a pic of the quarry area and worked down the mountain from there.

For those who did not see the earlier posts, this is HO scale, benchwork is roughly 12×15 feet, and operated with NCE DCC system.

There will eventually be an area dedicated to each of the grandkids, you will 3 of them in this group of pics.

One grandson presented me with a picture of me and him working on a scene, it proudly hangs in the train room.

Here is the scene he worked on, you can see where his interests lie..

Overview of the layout

Quarry area

HO scale scenery:

Local resident

Logging camp, finally got the skidder built

Another local resident

Tunnel exit

Mountain cabin

Mountain cabin up close

Bridge

Mila’s mountain

Leo’s lookout

Bennett’s brook

Waterfalls

Success!!!

Well, that’s it for now, Summer activities and travel will limit my time to do much more until the late Fall. Take care, and thanks for your support for the hobby.

Boyd”

A huge, big, thank you to Boyd for sharing his stunning HO scale scenery.

If you missed his last two posts, they really are worth looking at:

Model train hobby

HO model train trees

HO scale logging camp

(Boyd’s layout also reminded me of Laurence’s: Model railway scenery. and Mark’s thinking about it: How to build model train scenery.)

Boyd’s post is also a wonderful reminder about the important things in this hobby: family and having fun.

I do love the layouts that have stores or places named after friends and family. It’s a really nice touch.

Boyd’s post also reminded me of one of Dan’s:

Train layout HO scale.

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

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.

Model train lighting

Dean’s been in touch with his model train lighting post:

“Al,

I’ve been updating my lighting (and other electricals) on my N-scale Conejos Valley Railroad.

I’m getting back to the layout as you can see from the placing of tape for pouring plaster roads (shown in the first photo), a project I’m now working on. More to come!

This entry deals with how I built a more permanent lighting system. It could be adapted to any small train layout as you can see.

Here’s how I made it using standard lighting and PVC plumbing parts from a big box store.

The first shot shows the final double lights.

The next photo shows a diagram of the dimensions of pipes using ¾” PVC parts.

The next shot shows how the two vertical pipes were held to the sides of the model train layout. This is a tight friction fit which allows the height of the lights to be adjusted.

Here is a photo of the parts I used. How to wire the lighting fixture was shown on the back of its package.

Here is a lighting diagram for wiring the standard lamp fixtures. The wires run through the pipes going to the left. In the US, the wire used for the neutral is marked with a molded line or ribs.

The pipes were temporarily held together with tape for support. The two wires from the lamp fixtures were connected to an extension cord with the female end cut off.

This extension cord ran down the vertical pipe through a drilled end cap. Wire nuts were used as shown in the photo below.

Be sure to connect the three neutral wires (marked as above) and the three hot wires together.

Model train lighting:

The wire nuts were then wrapped with black electrical tape for insulation and the wrapped wires were pushed back into the pipes.

Finally, here are three photos which show the even lighting with these lights.

Al, thanks for all you do for this hobby.

Dean from New Mexico”

A big thanks to Dean for sharing his model train lighting post – there is lots on the blog about adding lighting to the actual layout, but I think this is the first on shining a light on the actual layout.

Here are just a few of the posts on LED lights:

Adding lights to model railroad buildings

Model train LED lights

Connecting LED lights to power

LED street lights

LED lighting for your model railroad

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

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.

Hornby Dublo 3 Rail Layout

Andrew has been in touch with his Hornby Dublo 3 Rail Layout:

“Dear Alistair,

Please find attached the fourth and my best Hornby Dublo 3 Rail Layout built in my shed. You have kindly posted the previous 3 versions which when completed have not quite satisfied my ideal.

This layout is of no particular time with 1950’s original locomotives and rolling stock given to me as a child mixed into scenery containing buildings and vehicles from the 50’s to date.

To allow main line running as well as branch and shunting of goods trains I have a fictional place. It starts at a terminus station called Tankerton with an Inter-City express service, local passenger trains as well as coal, grain and assorted freight. A small roundhouse and turntable are located here to service tender locomotives together with coaling and bespoke water tower.

A single line winds through embankments, cuttings and rural landscapes to arrive at Central Station with run-around loop sidings, oil, cattle and freight shed. Coal and water to replenish locomotives are available.

The single line continues to North Junction branch station with factory, loading dock and freight dock.

In addition to a track plan, I have included an ordinance survey type map showing the single-track main line as it leaves Tankerton passing through to Central Station and the branch line to North Junction. The main line continues to the return loop to bring intercity express trains back through Central and to terminate at Tankerton.

Please find attached some photos and I have a short video of the layout with some trains operating that I hope may be of interest.

The video – my first effort of filming with my mobile phone while driving the train as well as stopping to change the points/switches – all are manual.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew
Andrew in Oz”