Model railroad layouts plans

Ken’s been in touch with some good advice on model train derailment:

“Al,

Thanks for sharing your followers’ updates so we all can benefit and gain inspiration.

In that vein, here is a video I put together about a problem with derailments that expands on one of your previous posts from Mal from North Wales.

How to stop your trains derailing

How to stop derailments part 2

He gave a very thorough treatise on derailments.

I wanted to provide some insight from this side of the pond with video footage to illustrate.

I had a specific problem with derailments, mostly at one spot on the layout, but found out it was repeated many times due to poor turnout construction.

I have been using Atlas N Scale #6 Custom Line turnouts for over 20 years and never had a problem until I started buying more in the last 10 years or so. (The newest I purchased very recently seem to be much better)

You will see in the video how I figured out the source of the problem and how I went about fixing it. Along with some description of the issues causing this to happen.

Trains derailed…

Troublesome spot…

Trains running…

Thanks and keep sharing the inspiration!

Ken from Halfmoon, NY”

A big thanks to Ken for sharing his model train derailment vid and pics.

I know it’s something that blights us all at some point – patience and persistence is the key.

(In fact, thinking about it, this whole hobby is patience and persistence.)

Ken’s post reminded me of Brian’s, which also concentrates on derailments:

Track curve radius

Then there is Jim. He was blighted by derailments, so decided to rebuild the entire track layout. It’s a story we can all learn from:

Track layout rebuild.

And then on the other side of the coin, have a look at Ernie’s layout.

He forgot he left his Atlas N scale layout running and went away for 3 days.

When he got back, it was still running, no derailments!

Dean’s recent post come to mind too – because the weight of the cars can also be an issue:

As anyone who follows the progress on my layouts may have guessed, I tend to be cheap, buying low priced cars, then fixing them up.

All my freight cars were bought in two parts: a Bachmann train set (the Bachmann “Golden Spike” set with two engines, four cars, track and a DCC controller—no longer available) and two sets of multiple freight cars from overstocked dealers.

I’m not a prototypical modeler and the only visitors to my trains are grandchildren who don’t care how they look, just how fast they run.

But with the low-priced freight cars, I’ve had lots of trouble keeping the rolling stock on the tracks. It was more a question of seeing which set of cars could make up a train that could make it around the layout without derailing.

I decided to do something about it and to tune up my freight cars.

The first thing was to use a consistent set of couples and wheel sets.

Here is a photo of some of the couplers and wheelsets that were on the cars. As you can see, they are all different and some don’t even couple consistently.

Although I prefer metal wheels, they tend to bump over turnouts, so I’ll stick to plastic wheels for now.

Here are the couplers and wheel sets, bought from China, that I’m standardizing on. They come in a box of a dozen sets which for around $15 can be purchased on eBay (search for “N Scale 1:160 Roller bearing Truck Coupler 33″ Plastic Wheels”). I’m with time converting all my stock to this wheel set.

Next, I correctly added weights to my cars. The NMRA (National Model Railroad Association) sets the standard weight of an N-scale car at 0.5 oz plus 0.15 oz for each inch of car length. Here is a table with the results for various car lengths from 2.5” to 5”

I bought a small digital scale (from Amazon) and started to weigh my cars.

A 50-ft boxcar weighed 0.56 oz; it should have been 1.06 oz. This is typical of all my cars, way underweight. I’m mostly using ¼-20 nuts as weights. This car took five nuts to increase its weight to the correct value. The nuts are attached with a few drops of super glue.

When done, the car was actually right on.

I don’t recommend buying tin-lead solder now, as it’s much more expensive than in the older days, but, if you have a roll of solder in your toolbox, you can melt a blob of it until you get the correct weight.

The same number of ¼-20 nuts was needed for a 40-ft boxcar, coming in close to the recommended value.

My set of open gondolas each took four ¼-20 nuts. I attached them with super glue to pieces of cardstock so that I could remove them if needed.

The long tanker is a problem. It’s grossly under weight (0.4 oz rather than 0.99 oz). Any place I put it on a train other than the rear car would lead to derailment.

Other modelers have suggested that you can snap the bottom of the tank apart from the top to add weight, but I haven’t been able to do that.

I’m trying to come up with some kind of liquid that I could squirt into the car then allow it to set up—maybe liquid epoxy. Any ideas from readers would be appreciated.

The caboose needs one more nut to make the correct weight.

Thanks, Al, for all you do and thanks to my viewers! I appreciate all the support.

Dean”

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 More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.

Need buildings for your layout? Have a look at the Silly Discount bundle.

Steve’s been in touch. With the help of youtube he’s been busy weathering model train cars.

“Hi Alastair,

There are a number of YouTube vidoes that show a simple method for improving the look of Hornby ‘Railroad’ LNER Teak Coaches.

I was impressed by what I saw and decided to give it a try.

The steps that you need to follow are relatively simple:

1. Dismantle the coach by first removing the bogies. Unclip the body shell by sqeezing the clip at each end. The body shell should now lift away.

If you encounter any resistence first check that the glazing unit is not glued to the inside of the body shell. If there is no glue it should be possible to remove the body shell with a small amount of force.

Now unclip the glazing unit from the base of the coach. You may now lift the glazing unit and the coach interior piece away from the
base. The ends of coach shell are separate pieces and can be pulled downwards and away from the main unit. There are YouTube videos that will explain the whole process.

If the glazing unit is glued to the inside of the body shell then unclip the glazing unit from the base and while keeping the body shell clips open remove the base of the coach. You should be able to see the areas of glue and these may be stripped away by inserting a craft knife between the two surfaces. All remaining components may now be separated as before.

Carefully wash and rinse all the component of the coach in order to remove any dirt or grease.

Mask off the roof section and apply several coats of Citadel (Shade) ‘Seraphim Sepia’ to the teak surfaces. This may be applied using a soft paint brush.

I see no advantage in using an airbrush, although one may be used if you wish. The ‘Seraphim Sepia’ is a wash and will dry very quickly.

Take care not to apply too much at once and brush out any excessive build up in creases and corners. The colour will darken as you apply a further coat.

I applied five coats to my coaches.

This process will not damage any of the original lettering on the coach.

The doors at the ends of the coach are usually black in the Railroad models. If you wish to give them a teak finish than apply a coat of Citadel Base Colour ‘Zandri Dust’ before the coats of ‘Seraphim Sepia’.

Apply a coat of varnish. Initially I used Humbrol Clear applied with a paint brush. Now I prefer to use a Humbrol Satin Varnish Spray as it gives a more uniform finish.

If the roof surfce is damaged in any way and you wish to respray it then mask off the body sides and apply the colour of you choice.

(Precision Masking Tape should not damage any of your previous work.)

Apply any paint of your choice to the coach interior. E.g. Framework – Humbrol ‘Dark Earth’ (29) ; 1st class seating – Blue; 3rd class seating – Red.

Paint sections of the underframe as you desire.

The photograph shows some of my efforts so far. The coach on the elevated section of track (top) is from the latest Hornby ‘superior’ range for comparison.

Kind regards

Steve”

A Hornby LNER Teak Coach disassembled

Parts before and after treatment.

Finished coaches behind a P2 ‘Cock O’ The North’.

Three coaches for comparison: Untreated ‘Railroad’ model, Treated ‘Railroad’ model, Hornby ‘Deluxe’ model.

Underframe & interior piece partially painted + paints used (most of).

The featured ‘Brake Composite’ coach needed a roof respray. I used ‘White satin’, which is not to everyone’s taste. I have just
received a can of WRX ‘Grey White’ for the next coach that needs a roof respray.

A big thanks to Steve – it reminds me of the weathering locomotives post from a while back.

It also reminded me of Dan’s old Santa Fe passenger car too.

Now on to Michael.

His last post was called ‘Two years of trail and error’, is here.

It’s worth revisiting it to get a feel of what Michael is doing.

He really is chopping out the bits that he didn’t like – common railroad mistakes we all make:

“Alastair –

I thought I would share a major course correction I am working for my railroad. I played with that configuration for quite a while. I learned a lot, including what I did not like.

I decided there were some significant weaknesses with the old design. That design was basically two large irregular ovals one above the other connected by an incline. The design lacked a coherent “operational story”, in other words, the railroad did not have a clearly defined job to perform.

Also the design was an island design in the middle of a large room otherwise used for storage. I decided the room itself was poorly utilized and there would be no way for me to achieve the “Wow! factor” I was really looking for.

So this past summer I tore it all down; removed all the ugly and junky storage; I had the walls and floors finished and greatly improved the lighting.

While the room was being reworked I designed a brand new around the walls and peninsula design for the railroad.

The pictures I am sharing today are of the as-built design on new benchwork before any paint, scenery or structures goes on the layout.

As a reminder, the sole purpose of this railroad is to run my fifty to sixty year old vintage Lionel O-gauge equipment. (HO is not an option!)

The new design preserves all of my original layout goals, but without the common model railroad mistakes.

There are several improvements with this layout:

Much larger footprint;
* old design was 11 x 27 feet, ~300 sq. ft.
* new design is 17.5 x 38.5 feet, ~670 sq. ft.
* Interestingly, the total amount of track is almost the same: just over three scale miles.

The uninterrupted main line is more than a half scale mile longer.

All reverse loops are removed; reverse loops on 3-rail O-gauge aren’t an electrical problem but they do take up a lot of space and can be hard to reach in some areas; they are not particularly prototypical.

Turning trains is accomplished by using a wye.

The incline is removed. This track didn’t get used much and became a source of irritation. The new design is flat all around. I will obtain the appearance of grades using scenery and forced perspective. Additionally, having a grade is not operationally important in this case.

Simplified wiring.

Larger more sweeping curves; longer straight sections.

Can reach all track easily.

Better designed aisles; The narrowest pinch point is 21 inches wide, and there are many areas where the aisle width is greater than 36 inches. So there is plenty of room to walk around. The interior main aisle is accessed using a very simple lift-out bridge.

Benchwork is about 7” higher than before.

The biggest improvement is in the operational story.

This railroad is very loosely based on the Colorado and Wyoming Southern Division.

The Southern Division carried coal from the mine at Primero, to the coke ovens at Segundo, and then onward to the Colorado Fuel and Iron steel mill at Trinidad. There were interchanges at Jansen and Trinidad with the Colorado & Southern, AT&SF, and Rio Grande railroads.

The new design includes areas on the track for Primero, Segundo, and Jansen and provides for interchange traffic using the two staging tracks labeled Trinidad. With this design the railroad has a clearly defined job moving coal, coke, steel and other products between the different locations.

I’ve worked out a good deal of operational detail (at least on paper).

The overall plan and room outline drawn in SCARM

View of Trinidad and lift-out bridge

View of Jansen

View of wye at Primero

View of train room from Janson

View of train room from Quarry spur

Enjoy!

Mike”

A big thanks to Mike for sharing some common slip ups, and to Steve for showin us hoe he weathered his model train cars.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you get going on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

Dan had been in touch again – this time about model train people.

They are something some overlook, but as he points out, they really brings a layout to life.

And what’s more, he has a wonderful tip for picking them up very cheaply too:

“Al, one of the responders asked for the people of the B&M as I did for the Santa Fe.

Here they are!

There is a park neat the Winchester Highlands station. Overall view.

Picnic

A vendor

Best ride in the world!

The park is an active place.

You are never too old for a time in the park.

Gazebo time.

A little relaxing near the pond. (In a previous post you saw a train pass the pond.)

A commuter from a previous train walking on the bridge over the tracks.

Worker at the produce transfer house.

Workers at the Goins Lumber yard. (Yes there are two places with my name. Walt’s choice.)

The police and fire fighters are also present at Winchester. Typical fire house in the area.

Someone is getting a new sofa.

Got to get the news papers delivered for the morning coffee.

The afternoon lemonade is ready!

A family stop for food and a rest stop.

Work at Goins Lumber and supply.

Dock worker at a B&M Ft House

Waiting fro the train.

Delivery at Alfonso Mill.

Going to work.

Switch man at LL tower. All turnouts are hand throws. So someone has to throw them.

Loading at Lowell Junction. ( The back drop was done using water color craft paints and dabbing with a brush. The trees are a plant we call Sedum or Ever Lasting. They turn reddish in the fall and last through the winter. When dry they are sprayed with glue and then a mix of ground foam colors.)

Freight station worker at the Lowell Junction Ft,. House.

At the Bag-O-Crete plant and the Bowery in the back ground. Carling Black label.

LJ tower. There are worker inside, too.

RR worker.

It is the people who make the layout live. On the layouts I have either done or done the scenery, there are probably 1,000 little people. I know that on one grand station I did had at least 100 people on the platform.

At train shows, I pick up bags of people that they are selling from layouts that have been decommissioned, (torn down.)

Dan”

A huge big thanks to Dan for sharing his tips on model train people.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if today is the day you stop dreaming and start doing, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.