Model railroad layouts plans

“Hi Al,

Here are some photos of My new layout, built on top of the old one.

I even got a name for it ,MIDLAND GREAT CENTRAL JOINT RAILWAY.

The line is jointly operated by the Great Central and the LMS.

The line used to go further than Sherwood but in its freelance history closed the rest of the line..

The Station in the photos is called Sherwood Central. The photos show the trains I am using and the goods yard area.

One of my locos is the Bachmann/ Rail exclusive limited edition model of Class 57 57604 Pendennis Castle, she is the green diesel at Platform one with her lights on.

Other locos are 0-6-2 56 class 6606 and class 104 0-4-0 tank.

The line is still being built but I done the scenery first.

Paul”

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“Ever wondered how to make an Ariel or lightening conductor for free especially for those card buildings? Simple really.

just take a piece of the waste plastic rod from any model kit or you can buy the thin plastic rod (polystyrene rod works best).use a heat source and hold 1 ONE end of the rod and twirl. slowly around to heat around 25mm 1 inch from the other end till it starts to bend under its own weight then gently and slowly pull the ends apart until you have the length you require.

If you need a really thin piece just pull a little quicker – a longer one just keep pulling the ends stay soft longer than the middle so if you are careful you get a real long Ariel – lightening conductor or a number of them happy modeling

John”

“Hey Al,

Here’s a tip for making screen for HO windows and doors.

Take a pair of your wife’s old panty hose, ask first. Cut them into 4, 6, or what ever size squares are easiest for you to work with. Take a piece of old ceiling tile, and cover it with wax paper. Stretch the hose out until it looks like scale screen, and thumb tack it down over the wax paper to hold it in position. I use India ink and alcohol to stain the hose black, but any stain will work so long as it does not dissolve the hose. India ink and alcohol doesn’t. Let the India ink and alcohol dry, then coat the screen with diluted white glue or matt medium. Let dry, remove from wax paper and cut your screens to size. This method looks very much like real screen when mounted on a scratch built window or door.

Ray”

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And seeing as Rob’s video explaining his layout went down so well, here’s another one:

Click here for the latest ebay cheat shee.

Thanks to everyone – please do keep ’em coming.

Apologies to anyone who has sent in a mail and I’ve not got back to them. I do my best but I get too many to manage…

That’s all for today folks. Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to take that first step, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Dear Alastair,

Thanks for posting my pictures. Some folks seemed to be interested in layout diagrams so I thought I would send them along.

I am also including a link to a couple You Tube postings you may be interested in.

I recently expanded my layout by about 35 feet of doubled track.

I wanted a mountain with a tunnel and a valley with an arched viaduct crossing it.

I have a lot of work to do on the new section, but the track is laid, the mountain is built and the viaduct is in place.

Now for the fun of landscaping.

Here are the two diagrams.

This one is the original layout began in June. The circles are the posted speeds for the track ahead of the circle and numerals.

Below in a slightly different scale is the expanded layout,

Rob”

I thought Rob’s invention for moving around under the table was genius!

It was very similar to Joe’s.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming. I do love seeing what’s in my inbox each morning.

And the Beginner’s Guide is here if today is that day when you leap off the armchair and spring into action.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

“Hi Al,

Just thought I would send a few pictures of my “N” scale layout.

It’s 3 X 7. I’ve been working on it for a couple of years but am about disband it as the curves don’t allow me to run any of my larger engines or long cars.

I run regular power to it, not DCC. I have too many engines to switch to DCC.

I have been collecting “N” scale engines since 1964 and haven’t set up a layout until a couple of years ago.

As to amount of time I have in it, that’s hard to say as I work on it only once in a while.

My next project will on a 4 X 8 board and I’ve been getting a lot of hints from your emails which I really appreciate.

Many modelers have great tips and hints which we can all use.

Thanks for setting this web site up and all the work you put into it.

Dick in California”

Now on to Jim:

“The one thing I have not yet come apon is a good track sensor for “N” gauge. The ones for HO work but are not to are not even close for scale.

I use .030 fibre optic for my signal lights The strand goes under the board to a bye colour LED. DC power one direction for red– reverse current for green and AC gives a yellow orange .

Jim”

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Hi Al,

I to learnt the hard way and in the end decided that the most important factor on any railway is its wiring I hence came up with the ideas shown

As you will see in the diagrams of one of the sections of my layout all the wiring is cable tied and hot clued to the base board, believe me NONE of these wires move!!

Each section of layout has its own control board i.e.for points, lighting etc. There is still only one DCC controller, and a couple of transformers for the whole layout which is connected to each board by mini plugs.

If a short circuit occurs then you can disconnect each section of layout till the short circuit clears, you then know that the fault lies in that section.

As I am now in the Autumn of my life climbing under boards etc is not so easy, so another little tip, after you have completed a section of layout wiring PHOTOGRAPH IT it makes life a lot easier when tracing those wires, and don’t forget to label items its to easy to forget whats what.

Lawrence”

That’s all for this time folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you fancy doing not dreaming, 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 store.

They are great fun to make and great value too.