Dean’s been back in touch with his 3D printed N scale passenger station:
“Al, here are some photos showing recent progress on my Conejos Valley Railroad.
I built two stations–a passenger station, and a freight station– using 3D printed parts.
I used PLA filament printing for the larger parts and resin printing for the higher resolution parts (windows, doors, and body). I spray painted the models with a single-action air brush and acrylic paints.
In addition, I put in LED lights for both. Below are some photos of the results, but for more information and some train videos see the video.
Here is the passenger station installed on my layout.
And a view of the freight station. You can see the wooden platform I added between the rails (1/16-in balsa wood scored with a sharp pencil, then stained with dilute paint).
An action photo of a train passing through.
Here are the 3D-printed parts for the freight station. Clockwise from the upper left, the base, the LED holder, the roof, and the body.
A closer view of the resin-printed body.
The high resin printed windows, doors, and chimneys.
Finally, here is the light assembly with two 3-mm LEDs and a 1K ohm dropping resistor (used to control current). The soldered connections to the supply wires are melted into the PLA to securely hold them.
Hope these photos show the utility of modern 3D printers.
Cheers,
Dean from New Mexico.”
A big thanks to Dean for sharing his 3D printed N scale passenger station.
Dean’s has shared a few posts on 3D printing – here’s his previous one:
Ray’s been in touch with his 3 loop HO train layout:
“Hi Al,
This is my first time writing to you although I have enjoyed your emails of all the various layouts for months now!
They inspired me to get started on this new hobby of mine that I have been thinking about for years! For what it’s worth I thought I would share my new evolving layout with you.
I am retired 66 YO living in Florida and need to fill my days. I started researching about a year ago various layouts and sizes.
I spent time on-line looking at the Union Pacific Bailey Railyard, supposedly the world’s largest, in North Platt, NE. I ran across the web site for the Golden Spike Tower which has live web cams!
Here’s a link: Live Cam – Golden Spike Tower It’s really interesting to watch. I used this as inspiration to get started and plan on visiting it this summer.
My layout consists of 3 – 4 ft x 4 ft sections bolted together.
The thought is to make it portable in case I move. The track will be able to be removed at the joints, and the wiring will have terminal blocks underneath to easily disconnect the wiring at the joints.
The first 3 pics you can see the framing and the joints as well as my preliminary layout. Each section has it’s own set of wheels. The entire table rolls very easily allowing me access to the back and side of the layout.
The next 5 pics show the progress I have made in the last two months.
I have started on a lake with a small river under the bridges. I wanted to give it some 3D effect. I’ve also laid the roadbed down however, the track has not been glued down yet. I wanted to build my control panel and complete some of the wiring first in case I have some issues. I added some buildings and things but they are not permanently placed.
My goal is to be able to run 3 trains at the time, that sounds ambitious for a first time layout but I am a retired Electrical Engineer and I have studied the Atlas Complete Wiring Book.
The layout consists of 3 loops with interconnecting capabilities. The inside loop is the most complex. It could be just a loop or a figure eight, but also has two reversing loops along with some sidings.
It will be interesting to see if I can wire it the way that I have envisioned it to work! Eventually I would like to convert to DCC but for a couple years will stick with just DC. Everything is so expensive!
I’ll close for now but perhaps I will send some updates as I go along. I did want to include a couple of pics showing this real cool mug my step-son made for me. It keeps my coffee hot for hours, It says:
A Perfect Day
Wake up
Trains
Breakfast
Trains
Lunch
Trains
Dinner
Trains
Sleep
Thanks for taking the time to read this,
God Bless.
Ray
North Port, FL.”
A big thanks to Ray for sharing his 3 loop HO train layout.
Curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask him about the tractor in the pic that is literally hanging about:
“The tractor is just a pull chain for the light fixture I have had for 20 plus years. I didn’t realize I captured it in the picture. It is pretty close to HO scale! I actually had a John Deer years ago!
Ray”
When ever a HO loop layout comes in, I’m always reminded of Ken’s: HO scale loop.
Jason has been in touch with his Kato WGH track plan:
“Hello,
Here is a photo of my layout at present.
The layout is HO scale, and was expanded from the Kato WGH Track plan.
It measures approximately 10 ½ feet long and 4 feet wide, with future plans to include a 9 feet long by 1 ½ feet wide staging yard and a 3 foot removable bridge to connect the main (this section) to the yard.
It features two reversing loops (which I’ve wired with auto-reversing units) and sidings for industries where cars can be picked up or set out.
It’s also taken me 5+ years of designing (primarily in AnyRail), planning, purchasing, running simulations, and asking hundreds of questions on model train forums and at my local model railroad club to get to this point.
I did not make the bench, as while I’m very passionate about trains and railroads, I don’t have much in the way of being mechanically inclined.
I enlisted the help of a fellow model railroad club member who’s a carpenter by trade to build the benchwork, and he and his son brought it down to my basement in sections before putting it together.
I had it put on rollers so it can be moved to the side in the event our heating unit and water heater need to be serviced, and also will be able to take the sections of the layout apart whenever I move.
Best regards,
Jason”
A big thanks to Jason for sharing his layout so far.
Two thoughts struck me, because I’m always banging on about them:
1) A little planning goes a long way.
2) Make that start, with or without planning.
My fave ‘non planner’ is Wayne. No planning whatsoever, but have a look at what he did:
