Model railroad layouts plans

Keith has been in touch with his narrow gauge model railway:

“I follow your blog on a daily basis and felt that an example of a small narrow-gauge railway set in the English Cotswold countryside would help balance the big and amazing large layouts from the United States.

The Sibford Hills Railway is the fourth narrow gauge 4mm scale layout I have constructed in the last twenty-five years. All fictious and all located in an area of North Oxfordshire, in England which once had a narrow-gauge railway feeding an iron ore crushing plant just east of the Cotswold village of Hook Norton.

However the typography of the land for Sibford Hills bears no resemblance to the rolling hills around Sibford Gower and Sibford Ferris.

In fact, the model is an adaptation of a 4ft x 2ft layout by C.J. Freezer published in Railway Modeller Magazine in December 1970 and commonly referred to as a ‘Rabit Warren’ layout evidenced be the number of tunnels entrances.

Since I enjoy building rather than running a railway, I wanted to include a number of village buildings, a quarry and a farm. The quarry is taken from a 1920’s photo of Hook Norton Brymbo Works and my life-long Scouting membership prompted the Scout Camp.

The baseboard area to 6ft by 3ft on two 3ft square boards for ease of transport. The track runs to two levels with the village buildings on a third. Levels two and three lift off for access. The baseboards are constructed from 9mm ply with 100mm sides and 50mm x 25mm bracing underneath.

The lift-off top structures are made from 5mm foam board and pieces of 40mm thick insulation foam supports.

Vertical surfaces are covered with several layers of plaster bandage. Foam board being very light, it is easy to lift off the upper areas to clean the track and cope with de-railments, although this is not a task to be taken lightly because the track has to be re-connected where it changes levels.

Sibford Valley Railway – built on three levels

Track plan

First track down

Track down and second and third layers under construction with foam board and plaster bandage

Sibford Quarry based on Hook Norton Brymbo Quarry

Scout camp

Cows in pasture next to quarry

Stream and horses above lower station

Cottage garden with greenhouse

The village street

Most of the buildings are scratch built using plastic sheet and from examples of real properties mainly around our North Cotswold communities. Over the years I have had trouble realistically modelling water until I recently discovered two-part casting resin for jewellery. This gives a satisfactory depth and reflection.

I chose 009 narrow gauge because pretty much anything goes in terms of modelling, with tight curves and unfenced track the norm.

Keith.

A big thanks to Keith for sharing his narrow gauge model railway.

It reminded me of Julian’s Narrow gauge layouts.

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 Silly Discount bundle.

Gary’s been back in touch with his folding train table:

“A while back I saw that you reposted my first submission which reminded me that I haven’t sent an update.

I haven’t made as much progress as I’d like to. I’ve got lots of excuses, none of them good ones, except for getting pneumonia which kept me down for almost 2 months.

In my haste, I forgot to include some information the first time around. The layout is HO scale layout and I’ll be using a DigiTrak DCS 52 DCC controller.

The table is 9’ by 11’ and there’s 14 inches of clearance between the top of the table and the wall when it’s in the upright position.

The table is framed with galvanized steel studs with wooden 2” x 4” s imbedded within them in strategic places. About 50% of the table is framed in wood and I’m using two overlapping layers of 7/16” plywood to help keep it rigid.

I made a rookie mistake and used the wrong type of foam board. Hopefully, this won’t hinder any construction or scenery processes as I continue.

To lower the table, I’m using an electric cable hoist with a double cable pully hook. The hook clips to a carabiner that is attaches to a 1/2” “U” shaped galvanized pipe that extends from the front of the table.

Once the table is down, it rests on the Control Panel support that’s made of 2” x 4”. After that, the pully hook is transferred to the rear lift cable. The table is then lifted enough so the Centipede work benches can be slid into place and then the table is lowered onto work benches for support.

All this is done using a wireless controller for the winch while standing in the center of the access area. It kind of makes me feel like Buster Keaton in “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” where he’s standing in the street, and a storm rips the front of the building off behind him and it falls around him. He’s unhurt because he’s standing where there’s an open window on the building.

Anyway, to get in and out of the access area I use a foldable creeper to move back and forth, which reminds me of The Great Escape where the POWs lay on a trolly cart as it travels through the tunnel. Okay, enough movie references.

From the time I walk out into the garage and get the table lowered, it takes about 15-20 minutes. At this point, I have no idea how long it will take to get three locomotives and all the rolling stock in place once I’m done.

I’m going to build all my own tunnel entrances and two wooden trestle bridges. I’ve already completed one bridge that’s about 2’ long. So far, I have about 90% of the track laid, the remainder of it is elevated plus I still have a 14’ wooden bridge to build.

I’m using Atlas Code 100 Nickel Silver flex track. All turnouts are Peco, twenty-eight of them, twenty-three being #4. The rest are 60/30 double curve turnouts. I have one 24 degrees crossing and a Walthers Code 83 double crossover.

I’ll be working on my wiring next and plan to use Walthers Switch Machines using DPDT switches.

Gary”

A huge big thanks to Gary for sharing the update on his folding train table.

You can see his first post here: Folding model railroad table.

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 Silly Discount bundle.

Peter’s been in touch with his Australia model railroad:

“Hi Al,

Thought I would drop in with a photo update of the layout in my 20 foot container.

As I have said before, I inherited the container when my son married, and set about paying homage to the line from Mt Barker, South Australia to Strathalbyn, now a tourist railway and part of the longest tourist railway in Australia.

Features of the line, past and present are represented, although not precise in location, with a “time warp” to the northern Adelaide line at Exeter and Semaphore, of which, Semaphore was a middle of the road railway line, with a water tower straggling the line near the jetty, but all closed and removed in 1972.

I am also paying homage to the roundhouse at Peterborough in the Lower North of South Australia.

I lose myself in the container and enjoy scratch building many of its features.

Thanks for all the interesting posts you share.

Peter
Amateur Radio Operator VK5PET
Strathalbyn”

A big thanks to Peter for sharing his Australia model railroad.

And now on to Faud, who is after track plan ideas:

“Hello Al, I hope this finds you well.

I have a very long, but not very wide (say 30’ by 8’) space in the basement.

I want to build a point-to-point shelf “switching” layout: a smallish yard at each end, with one being a harbor (barge/carfloat, dock etc.) and the other a small town.

Maybe a “island” with water feature scenery in between. Not a spaghetti bowl of track, just fun making up, running and delivering freight trains. Maybe a small “interurban” passenger run twice a day.

Can you ask your friends if someone would like to share track plan ideas with me online?

I’m in southwest Michigan. Many thanks.

Fuad”

Please do leave a comment below if you can help Faud.

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 Silly Discount bundle.