Model railroad layouts plans

Michael has been in touch, he’s added to the German model railway layouts on the blog:

“Hello mr Alastair

my name is michael jensen from Denmark i send this today becors, i well to tell you about my modeltrain i have i gat it from my grandfather when i was 5 y/o and from that time of and to when i was 25 y/o it was in boxes then i startet to put it up that was allways my dream to get my modeltrain up and runing.

so now it has taking me about 20 years on and of i have 3 rooms for now in my moms old home but when i get the house i have plans to take the last room to my modeltrain to, i know it may not bee a prisvinder but i like my laout i have alot of fun and good time whet my modeltrain

i have about 48 locmotives to run on it i know that is alot but you know when you get some trains from you gardfather and you put it up you go and get more trains i do i have about 150 meters of track on my laout my laout it is made to look like Germany from 1920 to 1950 and i like that time when it comes to trains it looks so good when you put a model on the look like it is taking out of time from 1930

i well say i like so much what you put on your mails the come i like them and when i was in the us just been the for the last 3 years and now home i love to see what you put on it made me fill good so i din`t miss my modeltrain so much ok i well go now can you have a nice day and thanks for very good mails i gat from you by.

michael bo jensen.”

Now on to Marcus.

I had a blizzard of comments on his layout.

(If you missed it, it’s here.)

Here is Marcus’ reply:

“Hi Al, and all who have commented on my layout.

I have been really stunned by your kind observations and encouragement. In fact, I feel very humbled. I really did not expect it. So thank you all so much.

As I have been a bit time (and cash) poor recently I haven’t had much time to add further to the layout. It’s also summer here and a bit hot to be working on the layout. However, I will try to answer a few of your questions. Regarding the lights in the buildings, as someone mentioned, I think this is just my camera (iPhone).

Denny, I created the backdrops in photoshop using images off the web. These were then just printed out with my printer and mounted on board. These will be updated at sometime.

Neil, I’m pleased this brought back memories! the station building is a bachmann one Based exactly on The Harrow-on-the hill station buildings.The back wall is made from ‘scalescenes’ brick sheets (highly recommended). luckily, this station building and the signal box also don’t look too out of place when running my German trains.

I’ll try to post some more pics when I have time and also possibly setup a youtube channel as well to show some running of the layout.

Also, for those interested, the overhead catenary is made from scratch (using parts from dapol masts etc. The wire is fishing line, which is actually under tension. It was very, very fiddly! and time consuming to construct, I have to say. I looked into using Viessmann catenary, but it was too expensive!

Many thanks again for all your feedback.

Regards,

Marcus”

A big thanks to Marcus and to Michael for adding to the German model railway layouts.

That’s all for today folks. Until tomorrow.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you decide you’re missing out on a lot of fun, 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.

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.

“Hi Al,

I am a subscriber to your email post, and would like to send you some pics of my layout here in Sydney that I have been working on for the last couple of years.

I started building Model railways in the late 1970’s in the UK, and this would now be my third proper layout (much to my wife’s dismay).

The layout started out as a British Rail outline, but is now changing to a German/Swiss bavarian one! It’s about 4×4 metres and is very detailed (I think) with scratch built catenary etc..

I enjoy your site very much, and look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Marcus”

(Images are clickable)

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“On that meat tray suggestion; if you use an airbrush to paint larger areas or any size area where Styrofoam is connected’ use ordinary flat house paint, or artist “gesso” to prime, and strengthen the binder of the paint. Too often people airbrush Styrofoam without sealing or priming, and it peels off or tends to show the “pellet” effect that comes with Styrofoam. Plus you can stipple the paint or primer with use of a coarse bristle brush to create texture i.e. stucco or stone.

Ed”

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Lastly, if you missed this earlier, I’ve had a few emails asking where the store has gone.

I’m putting together a new one, so everything is in the same place. In the meantime, I’m putting some silly offers together for the printable buildings, for a short while:

Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle for just $29.

Please do keep ’em coming.

That’s all this time.

And if today is the day you take those first steps on your very own 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.

Tracy has been in touch with his N scale mini oval layout:

“I bought a lot of n scale track so I could maximize my small apartment,after buying a lot of track I started trying different ways to lay it out.

I knew I wanted two separate tracks but how on an 4×8 piece of plywood, how about a figure 8 wrapped with a large oval

I wanted a larger mountain than before and a lake.

I can make mountains in my sleep.

The panels on the side of the mountain I made using scrap foam , I tried to use everything, I even made my own rocks to fill in, they are the little black rocks you see.

I wanted a lot of details. That’s what people want to see.

Didn’t like my first layout didn’t look professional enough that’s why I started over but I still had to use the stuff from the other setup since I was only redoing the landscape.

I had to come up with a design that would slow me to keep and everything with little waste . I hope I did a good job took about 3 months most of that sitting and staring and .letting my imagination do its job

Tracy”

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And next, another video from Dangerous Dave:

“Hi Al,

just uploaded a new video , shows a running session on the layout , then what keeps me busy during the summer months…

Regards

Dave”

A big thanks to Tracy for sharing his N scale mini oval layout, and to Dave too. Have a look at the comments below.

It reminded me of these:

N scale 3×5.

N scale figure 8.

Small N scale layout.

N scale 2×3.

N scale track layout.

That’s your lot for today peeps.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get the urge to start laying track, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.