Model railroad layouts plans

Bob’s been in touch with his 16×16 HO scale layout.

I loved his pics, but his back story is even better:

“Al…I hope you are doing well and are taking care of yourself because you are very important to all of us.

It has been a while since I sent you anything, but I know how much you enjoy a good backstory.

In my original submission to your blog, I described my current N scale layout.

In the narrative I mentioned that because of a move, I had to leave behind an HO scale layout that filled the better part of a 400 square foot room over our garage.

I had to leave the layout behind, but as it turned out, it actually sold the house. The family who bought our old house had a ten-year-old son who was crazy about trains.

During the negotiations, his parents sent us a note with a picture of their son in a train engineer’s costume asking if we would please sell them our house.

How could we possibly refuse a request like that? So…a deal was made.

There was actually a clause in the sales contract stipulating that I would show the father and son how to operate all the trains before the deal was finalized. Our real estate agent said she had never seen anything like this before.

So…we moved into our new house, and because of limited space, I built the N scale layout you have so kindly showcased on your blog.

A few months ago, my son and I were talking about model railroading (one of our favorite topics) and I casually mentioned that I regretted not taking in photographs of my old layout before we moved.

Father’s Day was right around the corner and my son’s gift to me was Dad’s Train Book.

Without my knowledge, my son had taken all these photographs before we moved and he had forgotten about them until our conversation.

Best Father’s Day gift ever!

So…I thought I would share them with you.

I constructed the old layout on a custom-built 16 x 16 L-shaped table.

I have included a schematic of the layout that I believe to be fairly accurate (I had to replicate it from memory since the original drawings were lost).

The track plan consisted of four closed loops with several turnouts, sidings, and a roundhouse (the turntable actually worked…some of the time).

The outside loop encircled the entire layout and was elevated two inches.

I used Atlas Code 83 flex track and Atlas 83 remote switches.

The layout included a tunnel, trestle bridges, a replica of the Bietschtal Valley Bridge, a haunted house, and a castle.

If you recall, these were all elements in my N scale layout. There was also a river with a waterfall. The structures were a mix of pre-built, kit, and scratch-built.

My favorite locomotives were a Sante Fe Blue Goose, a Union Pacific Challenger, and a Burligton Zephyr. I also ran a Rio Grande Southern Railcar on the smallest closed loop.

The last photographs are of a locomotive I constructed for a simple garden railroad that I ran in the backyard of our old house.

The idea for the locomotive was not mine. I was inspired by a photograph I saw in an old model railroad magazine. Unfortunately, I no longer have the magazine so I can’t give proper credit to the person who built the original model.

As I recall, the frogs were my wife’s idea (we had lots of frogs in our backyard). The model now sits in a place of honor in my home office/library.

The ten-year-old boy who so desperately wanted my HO layout is now nineteen and I often wonder if he still enjoys model railroading. Alas, I suspect he is more interested in young ladies. Oh well…just wait until he is eighty.

I am so grateful to my son for preserving these memories for me and I hope you enjoy them.

Until next time…

Bob fromTexas”

A huge big thankyou to Bob, not just for sharing these pics of his fine 16×16 HO scale layout, but for sharing the story behind it all. Wonderful! I really did find it heartwarming.

This hobby really does involve all the family at some stage and make memories.

Please do leave a comment below – I’d love to hear your thoughts on this one.

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.

John’s been back in touch with his HO scale coal mine layout:

“Hi Al,

My modeling of a fading West Virginia coal town led me to do research, a few overnight field trips, and you-tube grazing of these forgotten places time has passed by.

Probably the most interesting I found is Thurmond West Virginia.

The first picture is the real Thurmond. It is now a ghost town with the latest census having 8 people, but it seems no one can find them, and no houses are occupied – do ghosts count in a census?

Anyway, since I have a cantilevered signal like the one in the picture, I decided to model the main “street” which is actually a gravel road right next to the tracks!

This whole area of southern West Virginia, Parts of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky combine to make a wide swath of the Blue Ridge mountains known as Appalachia.

Hardworking people, some doing okay, many in incredible poverty. It is a fact of history in some places in the United States that a town can explode on the scene in a decade, with a single factory, mine, or railroad junction, and when the bromide “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” comes true and the factory or mine egg basket drops or dies, and so does the town.

Since the last article I sent in with the town of “Craig” under construction, it’s been fully installed and most scenery is now in place, maybe some more trees? Thinking about it.

I’m working from the back of the layout to the front this time, filling in scenery and buildings as I go.

I also made progress on my rock quarry. The pit is done and integrating it into the rock processing structure is moving along.

It’s a challenge as the concept of the module for my model of the rock crusher was done for a more western desert area which never quite happened, so colors – browns, tans and such VS greens and greys of the West Virginia mountains present something of a problem. Still working that out.

As many who have read what I’ve sent to Al on this outstanding (I really mean it!) website, I tend to be more of a model building/scenery model railroad person. I like to run trains, but still the building of a cool model is where it’s at for me.

With this in mind, I’ve resisted going to DCC for the layout, and am staying with DC block systems for operation.

Thus, at this point I decided on a few operational design things for two areas of the layout. I will operate these areas as “separate layouts” electrically isolated from the main loops.

First is the upper-level coal mines, shuttling cars into and out of the loader, bringing them across the bridge to build trains on the main level.

Second is the whole roundhouse-yard and quarry area, again building trains to be taken for loops on the mainline.

There are several stub tracks which service businesses in the area of the roundhouse, which will also allow for switching challenges and car ordering for businesses.

As the layout continues the finishing process, there will be a refinery added, and the existing silver mine will also have small power-packs for their operations.

I have found over the years that the vision and drive to make a miniature slice of the world (HO size for me) has taken me to some un-planned areas.

The aging and struggling plight of the coal country was a turn I didn’t see coming, but I have to say, there are lots of really interesting things to see, learn about and model there.

I hope you enjoy my trips to the time and place where towns and living happened while, for a few decades time stood still, when coal was king.

John”

A huge big thanks to John for sharing his HO scale coal mine layout.

I often say picking a theme for your layout is the way to go. From my point of view, I have noticed over the years the layouts with a clear theme always look the best.

The overhead view of the layout really shows John’s layot has come together.

You can see his last post here: Model railroad quarry.

Or if want to see a whole load of his post, he’s in the Hall of fame too.

Here’s some pics of his previous posts with links.

John’s U shaped layout

HO scale coal mine

John adds a substation to his layout

More of John’s stunning layout

John’s also reminded me of this post too:

HO scale coal mine layout

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.

Remember, it’s the start that stops most folk.

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.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of your model train layout tips – even after all these years they are still rolling in:

“Dear Al,

I have a 5’x8′ HO layout running 2 trains.

Most of the cars have plastic wheels. I noticed that over time I had to keep increasing the voltage to the engines to keep up speed. Finally, it got ridiculous.

I looked at the track and rubbed it with my finger and it was black from residue from the plastic wheels.

I had purchased some W-D 40 Electrical Contact Cleaner to renew an old motor in an engine. It worked great.

So I took a die-cast flat car and attached a folded piece of paper towel to the bottom with a rubber band and soaked it with the cleaner.

I then attached it to the rear of one of the trains and ran the train.

I noticed that after 3-4 trips around the train was running faster. I stopped the train and turned the towel over and resoaked it. More improvement.

Lastly, I ran a clean dry towel to finish off. I have seen poles with rags attached doing the same thing, but I can’t reach all of my tracks that way.

Besides, I would rather just sit in my chair and watch the train do the work. I hope this helps some of the folks that can’t afford brass wheels.

I look forward to reading your posts every morning while I drink my coffee.

I am 81 years old and a widower and all I have are my trains and my little dog. As you say, “Keep ’em coming”

Thanks,

Santa Fe Bob in Florida, USA”

Now on to Dangerous Dave:

“Hi Al…

I have just loaded a video showing how to improve a space on my layout.

I show in detail how easy it is to do this, also added footage of hauling some freight as requested by some of the members on my last video.

Also a short one of my garden at the end, again requested by members.

Regards

Dave”

And now on to Brian:

“Hi Al,

this is in response to Robs airbrush article.

I have an Aztec airbrush (top of the range) one as seen below.

I have been using it for about 20 years and can do almost everything with it.

Using the fine nozzle, I can write my name in my check book (if I had one). I use it for all my spray work and takes me about 3 minutes to thoroughly clean it between paint colours.

Unfortunately it is no longer manufactured. I do have a spare airbrush body though just in case.

Brian”

Now on to Jim:

“Al,

Attached are 6 photos of my layout and the start of my paint job on a N scale GP-35.

My layout is 4feet by 6.6feet with a yard and round house off to one end with a lift gate to a door to the rest of my garage.

Jim”

If it’s more tips you are after, here’s another dose: Tips for model railroading.

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.