Even more railroad pics and tips

“Dear Alastair,

I enjoy all the tips and layout pictures and look forward to each new post.

I have been working on my own 00 Scale layout since June.

I came into the possession of a DCC Loco with sound in May and I was hooked.

I immediately started planning my own. I decided to name it The Great Western England Railway or GWER.

The area I am modeling I call Farland.

The main Station is Farland Howe and the country station at the other end of the layout and the highest point on the loop is called Shell Hill.

My wife’s name is Michelle, so Shell Hill.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.

I live in Colorado, USA which is a long way from the UK, but I have traveled there many times and lived in London as a kid for a few months. It made a lasting impression.

Rob”



“I rebuilt the old 1950 lionel plastic train.

I cut the train half and built the coffee sticks on the half train. And see the boxcars. I too rebuilt them.

I removed the plastic boxcars. I kept the metal flatbeds and the wheels, built the wooden coffee sticks on the flatbeds.

Michael”

“Hi …try this one ….made a set up with a lake in it …made the sunken row boats a dock pilings sticking up from the bottom ….painted all the under water sceanes..

But here was the trick ..I made a whole in the deepest part of the lake.

An put a plug in it ….then I mixed up enough clear wall paper ( cellophane glue )paste pored it in to where I wanted the water line to be an stopped …

A few days later the top started to harden …an if you moved the dock ever so slightly the movement left like water ripples on the surface of the transparent paste ……

when it got to the hardness necessary to hold the load I pulled the plug ….an when the unhardened glue ran out ….you could see through the top layer an see all the thing under water …..you know plants ,rocks, anchors

Let me know what you think

Richie”

A big thanks to Rob – really enjoyed his pics.

That’s all for this time 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 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.

How to get realistic slow trains

“Hi Al.

These are made from the used up instant glue tube’s.

Cut the end off and stuff some plastic plants in them.

good for centre island road’s front of homes and such. and more bikes.

Kim”

“I take old foam pillows, and take pieces from it and add to a blender.

ThenI add a little water, I add my color and a little elmers glue. blend it up good, strain it then put it on parchment paper you know the kind they use for baking.

Tthen I squish it together and let it dry.

It will be formed so you can tear of pieces of clumped material.

Dave”.

“Hi

A very good material to make rushes and very cors grass around pond/lakes is deer hair.

It comes in slighley diffrent shades fron dark brown to very light brown and for a 5′ x 5′ peice from a fly fishing / tyeing shop will set you back about £3.00 (one of my friends is a game keeper at a country house, so we split the entire hid between the two of use, thats a LOT of dear hair)

Simon”

“Thought I would share this with you.

The old Tri-ang trains were notorious for poor running especially scale speed until a guy on youtube (chambs123) came up with the idea of upgrading the old Tri-ang controller.

I just completed the project myself and thought I woudl share it with you.

Hav eyou ever seen a Tri-ang or Hornby run this slow or smoothly? Who needs DCC?

And you can run about 12 locos off the one controller.

Charlie”

A big thanks to everyone.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And don’t forget the Beginner’s Guide is here if today is the day your day dreams start to take shape.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Pennsylvania trains video

“Alistair,

Thanks for all the modeling tips. Here are a few more:

Cutting cork roadbed – We all know that cork roadbed is tough to cut. Sear’s sells a great rubber hose cutter (looks like a large set of pruning shears). It cuts through cork roadbed like butter with a clean straight edge.

Nails/Pins – For “dry fitting” new track, use Woodlands Scenics 2” foam nails. They are 2” long pins that have a “T” on the top. They fit through the holes in the track and are easily removed and replaced by track nails.

Nails/pins – Small nails and pins are tough to pick up on a flat surface. Go to the automotive parts store and buy a magnet on a telescoping wand. Just sweep the magnet over the nails pins for really fast and easy pick up.

Thanks,

Knighttrain”

“Al,

I used aluminum foil to make rock landscapes.

Spray the foil with the colors that you want it to be, then crinkled it up and then shape as desired. depend on the size of the mountain, you may need to built a support behind.

I have a 1 x 4 “curb” around the perimeter of my platform and covered it with the foil.
In one location on the back wall, to cover it, I used large sheets of foil, mounted it on large sheets of cardboard, and “stuffed” various places to give it a 3 dimensional look.

Also, I used roofing shingles for my roads. and for grass, I gathered sawdust from the lumber yard and dyed it with Rit (green) by getting various textures of sawdust, I can have a smoothly cut lawn, or a heavy, thick hay field

Karl”

” The first step in any model RR is to get piece of grid paper spaced out in 1′ squares and design you layout on paper first making sure you have enough room for what ever industries and what not, keep in mind that you need space for you trains to run from one point to another to keep it real.

Tom Pres. CEO & mostly janitor…Narragansett RR On3, Gn15 and soon to be indoor G Scale”

“I’m sorry I didn’t include any photos of Pennsylvania trains in my photos.

So here’s a couple of videos of my pennsy trains on my layout.

You can also get a better view of the south end of the layout here.

Thanks so much for posting my photos for the group!

Andrew”

That’s all for today folks.

A big thanks to Andrew and Karl.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to get going on your very own layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.