Cary has been in touch again with his G scale train buildings.

If you missed his last post, it is here.

“Hello Al and All,

My outdoor G scale railroad is currently covered in leaves, branches and snow not to mention that much of my ballast has washed out. So I have some drainage work to do this spring.

Building an outdoor layout has a lot of complexities, therefore I’ve always planned to keep the track plan as simple as possible. Less to clean, maintain etc… I’ll have a loop that’s about 20’X50′ and 4 dead end sidings for storage and switching.

From the operator’s station I’ll be able to control the throttle, turn storage tracks on/off and manually throw switches (turnouts). No wiring, it’s all manual but controls should be within arm’s reach and at waist height.

Operator’s Station:

(note the top row of new retaining blocks where I had to raise this portion of the track to get the grades to work out)

With the track in place, I decided it was time to build a structure to house my power supply. I plan to leave the power supply outdoors during the summer months, therefore this building had to be well protected from the rain and critters. There will be 110 Volts coming into the building and 24 volts DC going out to the track. I’m using a 10 amp power supply which powers my track just fine with only one attachment point and very little voltage drop.

I’ve used real shingles for roofs on all my other buildings, but with my shingle supply running low, I decided to use this corrugated plastic sheeting. (wish I had stuck with the shingles).

I build to 1/24 scale also known as half scale (10 feet = 5 inches, 5 feet = 2.5 inches). I like to draw the building full scale on grid paper first, it gives a good visual and helps me get the proportions right. In this photo you can see where I changed the number of windows, roof pitch etc… after seeing the profile on paper full size.

The roof is concrete backer board. I would typically glue shingles directly to the backer board, but in this case I covered the backer board with plastic film then put the corrugated sheeting on top of that. The base is fiberglass, the walls are birch plywood and assembly consists of screws, construction adhesive and exterior house paint. (and a little calk here and there to fill any gaps)

The dock roofs are fiberglass covered in shingles and firmly attached. The wire supports are just for appearance. I developed a pretty good technique for plexi-glass windows, but in this case the windows are plywood painted black for a more robust seal.

I cut the vertical grooves in the walls to add some extra detail. It’s a free feature, just takes a little extra time on the table saw.

I don’t know how much this thing weighs, but do know I’ll be using a dolly to haul it out to the layout! I’ve been making buildings during the winter months for about 5 years now, they are piling up in my basement. Hopefully this summer I can start hauling them out to the site and getting them set in place.

A big thanks to Al for the work he puts into his blog. Its great seeing what everyone is up to, and sharing my projects is something I always look forward to.

Happy Modeling!

Cary in Kentucky”

A big thanks to Cary for sharing his G scale train buildings.

I do love it when I see Cary’s name pop up in my inbox. What a project – not only does it look he’s had fun with it all, it looks better and better with each update.

Can’t wait for the next one.

That’s all for today folks, hope you enjoyed it as much as me.

And if you’re ready to start your train journey, the Beginner’s Guide is here.

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet here. Had a look recently?