Model railroad layouts plans

Bill’s been in touch with some vintage model railroad pics.

Well, perhaps not too vintage but it’s amazing how black and white pics add to a theme:

“Hi Al

Hope this finds you well. I had a friend make a comment about scenes on my O Scale layout wondering how scenes would look if captured in black and white.

His question was if in black and white, could you tell they are models?

I thought it an interesting question so I took a number of photographs on my iPhone and went into the photo edit function and change them to black and white.

Certainly some look like models still but there are some that really look like a scene from long ago.

It was fun and I thought I’d share the end results.

Best

Bill”

A huge big thanks to Bill – it’s amazing how much a black and white pic adds to the nostalgia.

But in the same light, black and white pics also mask the amazing detail of Bill’s layout.

So let’s grab some pics and from a few of his previous posts so you can see them in all their glory.

In this one – On30 layout – Bill wanted to create a vertical cliff – I think he can put a tick in that box. Amazing work:

Bill has just as much fun with N scale too – you can see it here.

He’s a dab hand with HO scale. too:

But perhaps, best of all, like so many of us, he does all he can to encourage others to start a layout – he has an excellent youtube channel.

Have a look at this post and see for yourself: How to make a cliff face.

A huge big thanks to Hall of fame member, Bill for sharing his vintage model railroad.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming because it’s soooooooooooo quiet, I really do think I’ll be putting me feet up very soon.

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.

Rob’s been in touch with a missive on his track crossover problem:

“My Far Moor Junction has seen a lot of traffic over the years.

In fact, the double-slip switch that makes it all happen has had a lot of hard use. It needs to be replaced.

Sometimes a locomotive will come through that is not quite all on the rail and hit it pretty hard. When that happens things can get bent. That is what has happened.

While I have things torn up, I decided to move my freight to down main crossover away from one of the super-elevated 180-degree curves. These are on all the express passenger lines on the 180-degree curves. The one that feeds into the crossover is too close. The rail traffic coming off the super-elevated rail needs time to settle before going through the point. Moving the crossover should accomplish this or I hope so.

I use this crossover when there is a train parked on the down main line between Howe Street Station and Far Moor Junction.

Passenger trains can still run at a reduced speed of course, but there is no disruption of service.

Anyway, it was time to renew this area and improve it incrementally. That is what the video is about, the physical track changes needed in this area.

Here is a final picture with everything put back together and ballasted.

After putting the track back together, I ran a number of locos and trains across the double slip. I noticed that my most troublesome locos were still having some difficulty traversing this new one.

I decided to take a deeper look.

I got my little level out and went over the double slip switch with it and discovered it was out of level by as much as half a bubble or more in some areas.

To fix this, I got some thick 1 mm card and cut it into 6 mm wide strips and cut those into small squares. I then inserted these under the sleepers on the low side until the double slip switch was as level as possible.

When I was done I leveled it until the bubble was between the lines. After doing this, I sent a number of locomotives and trains over it again. This time, everything ran smoothly. It is amazing what a difference it made.

I think that is why some equipment ran so rough over it these last few years. I should have checked it a long time ago but didn’t.

The funny thing is, when I installed the new cross-over, I did level it as a matter of course. Why I didn’t do it on the double slip is anybody’s guess. I think since it is such a rigid unit, it never occurred to me that it might twist a little or not just lay there level. The problem is no doubt the track coming into it and leaving it. That is level too now by the way since I didn’t stop at the double slip switch, I leveled all the way to the beginning of the superelevation in both adjacent curves.

It pays to check for level on your track and turnouts/points when you are laying your track and now and then if you are having trouble thereafter.

Rob”

“Hi Al,

Just completed a small N-Scale project over the holidays. 2X4 platform, a simple oval, paper houses, foam mountains. It’s my first N-Scale so nothing fancy just getting my feet wet on this one.

Best,

Mike”

A big thanks to Rob for sharing his thought on his track crossover – and to Mike too (who has made great use of the printable buildings).

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

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

If you’ve every thought of painting your backdrop for your layout, Cameron has some good tips that he has used for his shunting puzzle:

“Dear Al,

This is my final instalment on Lanarth.

Scale 1:76 00 scale
Track Peco Code 100 HO
Region – English, Southern, South West

The final parts of the layout were the scenics and backdrop.

There was a grassy foreground to the prototype that I wanted to capture on the layout. As a rough base for this I used old carpet underlay. The underlay is normally brown so I bleached it with some household bleach.

To lay I smeared a liberal amount of pva on the layout and positioned clumps of the underlay. Following this I coloured it with some watered down acrylic paint. It looked good at this point but not 100%. To improve it I applied some static grass with spray adhesive.

The backdrop was more of a challenge. In keeping with the theme of this layout I decided to paint my own. One of he biggest challenges of a good backdrop is getting a realistic perspective. I wanted a station building in the foreground of the backdrop so the perspective needed to be spot on.

I use CAD software at work so I put this to use for the backdrop. I modelled the background in 3D, generated perspectives at different angles then printed them out on paper. I could then test the prints against the rest of the model to pick the angle that looked best. The final backdrop is painted with acrylic paints.

The rest came together in the box and is working well. Being quite small I can keep it in our dining room on top of the side board.

Visitors like to try their luck at the shunting puzzle. Hope you all enjoyed the progress and posts.

Bye for now.

Cameron”

And now on to Rob, with his pics of the Big Boy loco:

“Hi Al,

The wife, Michelle, and I decided to chase the Big Boy locomotive as it crossed from Cheyenne, Wyoming (it’s home) to Omaha Nebraska where the UP Headquarters is located.

The run was June 7 to July 3 and it went to Omaha and then back to Cheyenne.

Michelle and I saw this great example of steam power a few years ago when it had just completed getting rebuilt and put back in operating condition when I came through Laramie, Wyoming on the way to Promontory Point for the 150-year celebration of the continental railroad completion.

It was exciting to see it coming into the station there, being serviced, and then pulling out.

This time, however, I wanted to see it at speed. We chose a spot along the Union Pacific’s mainline and waited.

Before the main event came through, one coal train stopped in front of us on an adjacent track and another one came rocketing through ahead of Big Boy going the other way. When the biggest steam locomotive in the world finally came past us, I was not disappointed, it was accelerating and was already running very fast.

75 miles per hour is the published top speed of this heavy monster and he was closing in on that rate when he passed us. Seeing something that big moving that fast is a sight to behold.

A few weeks before, there was an open house at the steam shed in Cheyenne where Big Boy and UP 844 are stabled and we went there. I am including a few pictures from that trip as well.

Rob and Michelle”

A big thanks to Cameron for his painting backdrop tips and to Rob.

There are lots of backdrop posts on the blog, but the one that always springs to mind for me is Jeff’s: Model train backdrops.

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.