Model railroad layouts plans

“Hi Al.

Hope your doing well. I have found what others may find really useful in an old VCR I tore apart.

That silent worm gear with motor in there. This is a silent gear and runs very slowly.

This motor is the perfect worm gear to set up a engine turn table. It has to be silent as it is in a VCR. Here is a photo of it.

That gear the worm turns, can have a short post attached to it and up threw the table to a turn table.

Also its a very strong motor to use say a track cleaner or other projects.

The other pieces found in the VCR as well can use them as car loads. sort of remind me of that atom smasher they have in the ground.VCR is a thing of the pass but holds some good recyclable stuff in there.

Gives others ideas right. so what ya think Al.”

---

“My name is Mardon Callanta from Manila, Philippines.

35yrs ago, I experienced my first train set – a Tyco HO Amtrak set bought in San Francisco while we were there vacationing.

Since we dont have hobby train stuff here in the Philippines – it took me 4yrs of summer vacationing in the USA to gather various tracks and building kits.

My mom lent me her table tennis ping-pong table to set up my HO set and everything was really crude – just a bag of lichen and wire for trees, crudely painted grey on the table to represent roads, a white styrofoam mountain that looked more like a building structure than a mountain, a few unpainted building kits and the tracks themselves.

Thats about the totality of my train experience back then. This lasted for a couple of years, then everything was boxed for good. I think that box was thrown out by one of our maids back then.

35yrs later, I started to go back and try model railroading again. I went for N scale, so layouts could be smaller than HO – and also because I dont have ample space for a 4’x8′ layout anymore.

I started looking into Japanese N scale last March 2013 and got hooked by subscribing into JNSforum – a forum for people modeling Japanese scenery, buildings, etc. Kato became my brand of choice for my tracks and trains which really have an abundance in choosing my concept.

I would like to share with you my first decent layout after getting back into model railroads again.

Its been 35yrs since I’ve owned anything related to model railroading, so please excuse my meager attempt.

I enjoyed your website and have been inspired about doing a small railroad layout and hopefully share to your subscribers as well.

This 30″ x 48″ layout is called Byodo-In 360! The Byodo-In temple became my focal point because of how it was situated like an island around a pond.

My design concept was to replicate the walking path of the actual temple in Uji, Japan – but using train tracks. It is still under construction and it seems there are still many details to add.

Here are some pics and a youtube video (please pardon the poor quality of the video)

Mardon Callanta
Manila, Philippines”

Latest ebay cheat sheet is here. Should I add the parts for Kim’s track cleaner?

Please do keep them coming.

That’s all for today’s missive my friends.

And if today is the day you decide you want to join in on all the fun, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Hi Alastair,

As promised I have now done the outstanding sections of the scenic area on Diano Marina, so the layout now at least looks complete, if never “finished”.

The campsite area seemed huge when there was nothing on it, but turned out quite cramped in the end. It was also the last bare ‘working space’ that could be used for cutting, glueing, etc so I’m missing it already.

The station building needs a canopy and various details and I’m waiting for some more little palm trees, but it has filled the gaping hole that used to annoy my better half! Next job is signage and laps but I’m reluctant to add more stuff that blocks hand access just yet.

I have been experimenting with a couple of different track-cleaning vehicles under the wires, without tremendous success, and I read recently a claim that the high-frequency electronic cleaners don’t really remove any dirt, just jump it electrically, and would fry the chips of any digital loco used on the DC layout. Any suggestions?

Rod”

---

If you’ve missed Kim’s amazing track cleaners – look here first.

“One of your members asked about my motorized scrubber for N scale.

Okay here is the best I came up with, not having any N scale pieces – only a piece of track I think is N scale.

The cardboard is a fake car sort of. That is a RC mini motor. I got 5 in a pack from ebay for I think $2 or 3.

I test ran it with a half drained phone battery at 2.7 volts. Ran well and can add pressure enough to clean very well.

Being so small could do with two running in different direction’s. Mount in an old or new dummy loco or car.pad is the same principale as the Ho scale.When the pad is done pop it off add a new pad pop it back on.

So what you think Al? Think it will pass lol. And these motors have to face hole’s for screws.no bracket.

Kim”

“Hi Al this is the one I have done to show the layout and trains running before I start the big change…

Regards

Dave”

Now what ever you do – don’t click on this ebay link. You’ll save far too much on your layout…

That’s all folks. Please, please keep ’em coming. And post your comments below.

Best

Al

The response to Kim’s model railroad track cleaning car has been startling.

(You can see his last post here: How to clean model railroad tracks.)

Lots asked on the comments for a ‘how to’ – and a good number of emails were sent to me too.

But Kim was ahead of us all. Got this in shortly after his first post on the cleaner:

“Hi Al and everyone.

How to make a dragging track scrubber:

1 old car frame with wheels.
two screw’s with the heads cut off.
metal plate with a dish scrubber instant glued to it.

Take your old car and inlarge the two holes each end already there. Make the hole’s slightly bigger than the screws so they slip threw freely but tight. Line up the holes in the car body with the plate. make pencil marks and drill two holes. now make sure the holes are big anough so those two screw posts screw into them.

Glue the pad on with instant glue onto the plate. Slip the posts into the body of the car and threw. The scrubber will sit even on the track and if you lift the car the posts will slip threw.

Now when the scrubber is sitting on the track you can add bolts to the posts to push down with more force. If you secured the scrubber to the car it will cause the wheels to lift if you add weight, and may cause the car to start to bend or warp.

The more force you add to the scrubber the more you will have to add to the car. You don’t want that. If need be can add tiny weights above the wheels each side to push down on the wheels..but I didn’t have that problem.

I’m using the same dragging scrubber for the motorized one. Take an old car. Take a small RC high output power motor, or I think a hair dryer motor or similar will do.

As long as you add power to it and is hard to stop with your finger will do. I took a used instant glue top cut it… added a tiny washer to the large end, slipped on a pad that I cut into a small circle.

Slip it on the post. Add another tiny washer (in photo). I did it this way as it wears down and is useless it would be very easy to make another fast and cheap.

Now take your car. If it has a hole in the centre already, drill it out just enough to slip the head of the motor into it (meaning where the post comes out that little head piece).

Now the motor post should be sticking out the bottom of the car. Attach your pad onto the post of the motor, it’ll be tight so give some force. Now secure the motor into place with a bracket or something so it doesn’t move and is even.

I took a volume switch from an old radio to vary the speed of the motor. A 2.7 volt battery run this scrubber at high speed. As you can see with the test track, it was passed once and you can see how much a difference it did on a over 20 year old dirty track.

Electronically it isn’t hard to figure out how to hook the motor and switch and battery. Positive power runs to the first post of the switch. Another power wirer runs from the second post of the switch to the positive lead of the motor. Negative runs from the battery to the motor. If need be add a resistor to the power wire going into the switch so it isn’t burned out.

The bracket you see in the other photos isn’t very good and was moving too much. You van use the extra holes in the car body to make a bracket to hold the motor in place.

This build looks very crude but works amazingly well. If you don’t mind making 2 tiny holes in the top of the car body you can slip a thin wire inside to activate a power switch to turn it on and off and well as tuning up the speed of the motor.

I had a set of old phones and am using the batteries to run stuff and test stuff with as they are rechargeable threw the old phones. I have one powering my scrubber.2.7 volts. Not many if anybody leaves the scrubber on the track or runs it all the time.

Once done cleaning remove it till next time – the way it cleans, it will be a long while before using again. And I use a ez command centre and ez track on some of my layout and the scrubber didn’t hurt or effect it or any points.

Any comments or suggestions would be great. Thanks everyone and thankyou Al.

Kim”

A fantastic ‘how to’! Please, please do leave your comments below.

(Kim’s post reminded me of Robert’s: Model railroad track cleaning tips.

If you’re heading off to ebay for parts to make your ‘track scrubber’ – have a look through the ebay cheat sheet and see if you can bag a deal.

Lastly, here’s another instalment from Dave. It’s a hoot!

A big thanks to Kim for sharing his Model railroad track cleaning car.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day your railway adventure becomes more than a day dream, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

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

And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.