Model railroad layouts plans

Bill’s been in touch with his model railroad in garage:

“Al….Your emails have been a great influence on me. I have been collecting European N guage houses and rolling stock for some 35 years, always saying “Some day I’m going to build ‘my train’ “. My wife and my children never thought it would happen. After studying Dave’s videos and the Woodland Scenics book for what seemed ages, I finally decided to begin. Here are photos of my progress so far.

The support is the old pennisula from a recent kitchen remodel. I took the counter top off and added two small furniture dollies underneath.

As this project is in the garage, that gives me the convenience of moving the whole platform into the center of the garage so I can work around it instead of bending over it. And I have drawers and cabinets to keep “stuff” in. The base layer of the layout is 2 inch insulating foam from the local hardware store. The rest, so far, is styrofoam from Woodland Scenics and bits and pieces that I have been saving for months. So far it is all held together with hot glue!

I will send more photos as my work progresses.

…Bill”

Bill – can’t wait to see the next update. What a start!

I know Bill’s layout is N scale, but it reminded me of this: HO scale track risers.

Now on to Joel:

“hello,

Im new to model railroading and i really love all the tips, and pics of everyones layouts !!

thought i might share some pics of my first modest attempt at a layout of my own, every thing is hand made from the trees to the telephone poles, it is just in the begining stages, keep in mind i rent and did not want to make something permanent, in case i decide to move !!

so i am making it a floor model and making it so it can be taken apart very easilly.

thanks for all the tips and pics

joe”

A big thanks to Joe, and to Bill for sharing his model railroad in garage.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming, because it’s getting very quiet this end.

And if today is the day you poke boredom in the eye, 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.

Just had a mail in from Dave.

And when you get a mail from Dave saying he thinks he’s finished, I thought it has to be worth a look.

So here you go:

“Hi Al,

Just uploaded full length video showing a tour of the new layout along with a running session , and the appearance of our friendly helper again .

I will go as far as to say …its finished !! ..also a tip on there of a cheep way to make loads for timber trucks on the layout.

Regards

Dave”

Big thanks to Dave for all his posts over the years.

And another big thanks to everyone who has taken the time to mail me about the ebay cheat sheet. Glad it’s working for you and saving the pennies.

You can see the latest ebay cheat sheet here.

Best

Al

“I’ve been sitting on the side lines and watching and I thought it was about time I contributed something.

10 years ago, my mother in-law passed away. Dad decided he needed a hobby, so out came all the 3 rail Post War Lionel stuff. Boxes and boxes.

He asked if we could help him put together something so he could run his trains around a table to help pass the time. He was thinking perhaps an 4 X 8 sheet of plywood.

As we got into it, we decided it might be a good idea to build something from his childhood memory.

He’s 85 now, so there are a lot of memories! He grew up in California in the small towns of Menlo Park and Redwood City.

As he prodded stuff from the cobwebs of youth, we started building. Neither my wife nor I had any idea of what we were doing, so we read a lot, watched a lot of YouTube videos and of course subscribed to many sites.

What we ended up with (so far) is a layout that measures 19 feet X 3.5 feet on one section and 16 feet by 3.5 feet on the other. There is a 24 inch walkway between the sections (in case of derailments) that allows dad to wander the layout.

You can see where we started and were we are so far. And there is SO much more to do. Add more do-dads, more lighting, ballasting, landscaping etc.

Hope you enjoy and of course feedback would be greatly appreciated. There is so much I don’t yet know how to do.

Peter”

I particularly liked the back story behind Peter’s layout. Judging by the comments, so do most of you.

Big thanks to Peter for sharing.

And if it has inspired you, this will help you make it happen.

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.