Just a quickie today.
Dave has been kind enough to put together a ‘tour’ of his layout. Hope you enjoy it much as I did.
“Hi Al,
I was asked a few times for the size of my layout , and a few said they would like a tour of it ..here it is …
Dave”
Still getting comments on the ebay cheat sheet. Thank you!
Best
Al
Will’s been in touch. He’s shared pics of his layout and his impressive scratch built model railroad vertical lift bridge.
“This layout is gona be quite huge when complete,size is 15 x 33 feet with 2 islands.
I will include you a photo of my river span all kitbashed and scratch built. My very 1st attempt at a river span its 8 feet long.
I’m still laying track gona be doing that for long while LOL.
I took a break from it but plan on getting back to it soon. this is a walk around layout built in my house.most of my friends freak out when they come over and see it for 1st time at just the size of it. Plan is to also have 2nd level just for passenger trains.
And to give you more info its freelance and I’m incorporating some actual settings from my area.
The river scene is the Tennessee river in north Alabama with that scratch built model railroad vertical lift bridge that csx and northfork and southern use daily.
The layout will have 2 main lines,few yards, and long sidings to park long consist all analog dc for now because that’s what i have.
May go dcc later on because I have about 20 dcc locos out of the 80 I have now.
There will be plenty of rolling stock to fill the yards and run long trains last count I had about 450 peaces.been working on this layout for about a year buying inventory up for it about 3 years.
Will”
(images are clickable)
Will’s model railroad vertical lift bridge looks spot on – can’t wait to see more of this layout!
“HI AL,
Here are some more photos of the MIDLAND GREAT CENTRAL JOINT RAILWAY.
I ballasted the the goods yard area with sand and grit from a building site.
I also used faller scatter material to make some track weed grown.
I used Pva glue mixed with water and detergent.
A word of warning don’t put any glue near the moving parts of a point it will gum up the point, but if you do hot water melts the glue, and the point will work again.
Paul”
“Hi Al.
You have these sort of things in the UK.We have taken them and are using them on abandoned and working rail tracks in large groups. Sort of tour around. In the old days the track inspector’s used them to check out the track.But now they have modified pickup trucks and are bigger.
I been in a group who restored them to use on old tracks.Great fun and really boot along.they are called speedster’s.
Kim”
“Hi Al,
Further to the various posts about wagon loads, for what it is worth, here is my method:-
First I lay clingfilm over the wagon and push it down into the corners. I then squeeze in a thick layer of ‘No More Nails’ until the wagon is about half full. Next I pour in the load. usually some scenic coal, or track ballast and tamp it down just a little. At this stage I cut off the surplus clingfilm level with the top of the truck so that it will not be seen. I then top up the load to the brim of the wagon and sculpt it how I want it to look. Finally I spray with hair spray which seals it all in place. You need to start the spray away from the model so that the load does not get blown away by the initial burst of air. I make the load quite wet with the spray, but it dries clear. I have been using this method for a while and so far no problems. The trucks do not spill their loads in the event of a derailment. The purpose of the clingfilm is to allow you to remove the load without marking the wagon. I have had no need to do this so far, but assume it will work.
Best regards,
John”
“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”
A big thanks to Will for sharing his model railroad vertical lift bridge, and to Michael, John, Kim and Paul.
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
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
“Al,
Thanks for posting my drawings of potential layout modifications and video recently about the expansion of my model train layout, Farland Howe.
Although I am modeling (attempting to anyway) Britain in 1967 and 68, I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the US. People frequently ask me why I am modeling Britain when I am clearly from the USA. The answer is, I lived in Britain as a child for a while with my family, and we would travel around the country sightseeing by train. I was fascinated with mechanical things at that age and particularly fascinated with the trains. I clearly remember asking my father to take me up to the locomotive for a close up look. I was only 5 years old at the time. As a result, I will never forget the red buffer beams on the steam locomotives at the time.
I started planning Farland Howe July of 2012. My first expansion began March 2013. My newest video is Part Two of a short series which is all about my second expansion, Expansion 2. I plan to show my progress (and challenges) in a bi-weekly video. The Part One video was about the planning stage. The Part Two video shows construction underway.
I am expanding my layout for a couple of reasons. First and most importantly the inclines proved to be too steep for long trains pulled by steam locomotives.
Secondly, I would like to have another bypass (siding) where I can park longer trains that I am not running at the moment. Running long trains was not such an imperative when I started the layout, but I have found great pleasure seeing the long trains run on the layout. Expansion 2 will bring a change to one of layout’s banks (hills). Eventually I may decide to change my other bank, but I have no plans to do it right now.
I really enjoy your emails with links to what others have been up to and all the tips and pointers regarding model railways. I find it very inspiring and have used many an idea garnered from your readers and contributors.
All the best,
Rob”
A big thanks to Rob for his second installment!
Don’t forget the ‘Big kahuna’ bundle deal is still running for the moment. It’s here.
That’s all this time. Please keep ’em coming.
Best
Al
