Brian’s been in touch with his HO scale small town shops, saw mill and farm:
“Hi Al
Brian here from southern British Columbia Canada.
I came upon your blog back at the end of 2021. Enjoyed reading what people sent in and viewing the photos. This inspired me to finally start building my own layout.
Like most of your modelers it started with receiving a train set at christmas. I was not different.
My first train set was a Lionel set that went in a circle. A few years later I got a fold up table with tracks, rolling stock, a couple of buildings and some farm animals. Not sure what happened to it, but I think my parents gave it away as I was not playing with it.
Moving on to when I was in high school one of my class mates’ dad was heavy into modeling railroad. His layout took up the entire basement. That layout got me more interested in model railroading.
For several years I was wanting to start a layout but either did not have the space or not enough extra funds to get going on it.
Also at that stage in life had other interests but I knew one day I would have the space to work on building a model railroad. Over the years my thoughts kept turning to doing a model railroad. Would get out pen and paper and start drawing a layout. But I never seem to come up with one I like.
Fast forward to 2021. One day Al your blog showed up on my computer. That sparked my interest again. So kept reading your blogs every day the modelers send to you.
After doing some research decided to go with HO scale. I knew I wanted 3 different areas. A town site, a saw mill, and farm site. I now have a work shop that I can build my layout…
The layout is 6 ft.x 14 ft ft. So now is the time to start. I started constructing the table on December 1.
In the photos to follow are the different stages of construction. It was great fun planning and building all the different buildings and learning new techniques. I think this is the best hobby anyone could have.
Brian”
HO scale small town shops, sawmill and farm:
A huge big thanks to Brian for sharing his Ho scale small town shops, sawmill and farm layout.
Brian’s post put a big smile on my face, I do like it when the blog inspires anyone to make that all important start, because that’s what it’s all about.
Here’s a few more town, sawmill and farm layouts for you:
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you grab the bull by the horns and make that start, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
PPS More HO scale train layouts here if that’s your thing.
Beauty of a lay out, love seeing the out come on ones thoughts. Dan
Brian are you DCC ? For your first layout it was well done. Your bench work was excellent….Enjoy !!
Brian , excellent layout , very well planned and executed. Good detail throughout and well done scenery . Good that you’ve allowed space and time to add /tweak your layout … they are really never quite complete then are they ? A wonderful layout indeed , thank you for sharing and good that you never lost interest and rekindled your desire , it’s never too late with this , as you say , the best hobby anyone could have … ditto .
Your residential and your retail area is landlocked in amongst a railroad.
I would have reconfigured the layout. If you noticed the farmers can drive into town no one else can. Don’t get me wrong it is a great looking layout but with no logic.
the critic
Is that styrofoam you have on the top? Did you coat it with something?
Brian – thankyou for a layout that does so many things for me. First, it shows that your recipe for an enjoyable layout has key features arranged as you [not anyone else] wanted them. That’s honesty and it takes guts to share that. Secondly, the layout tells me a story: we visited BC a few years ago and it was our holiday of a lifetime. Your parade of shops reminds me exactly of one we saw in Campbell River – and there was a small eating house on one end with the best pie and an amazing view. Your layout is BC as we saw it in so many ways. I agree with Alastair in that it put a smile on my face, too. Wonderful!
My hat off to Brian, this is by far my favorite don’t get me wrong iv’e seen at least 100 or so but this is by far the cleanest one, everything in its place an a place for everything you can really see everything with out having to twist and turn you can really just step back and enjoy, I know I have and I’m not there so that tells you something thank you.
Very nicely planned out, but I dont see any church. I’m sure there is some type of spiritual awareness in this beautiful town.
Nice layout, not too cluttered.
Great layout, Brian! Nice you took photos as it developed , and the background wall really added a finishing touch for that side of the table!
Well done!
Bob with 2 N scales-AZ and MI
very nice step in access. nice job.
I like that strip mall structure and great that you provided parking. I know space is always a premium but many layouts do not. And it looks like you do have access to the town area along a brown dirt road going past the lumber yard/mill, changing over to a light colored dirt road and eventually getting to all the other areas. Certainly a long way around. You still could cross the two sets of tracks left of the lumber yard/mill. Just say’n. Nice work and nice layout.
Jim AZ
Does the “critic” realize that nobody drives in and out of town? It is a layout of different geographical points that are all pretend….none of it is real..
Get a grip 😆
Brian here from southern BC. Thank you for posting my layout and your comments. Thank you to all your viewers who looked at the layout and those who made comments. Greatly appreciated. Always like to get feedback when doing a project. There were some people that had questions. I will try and answer them here. Tom asked if it was DCC. Yes it is. It did not start out that way. Started with DC. after running DC for a short time was not to happy with it. So ungraded to DCC and a digitrax controller. It makes the layout come alive. Love the sound the diesel locomotive makes when it starts up and then when you start to move forward. Alos the sound the horn makes. Well worth the extra money.
Robert Brady mentioned that the residential and retail areas were landlocked. He also mentioned he would have reconfigured the layout. So my question to Robert is how would you have reconfigured the layout. Now if you take a close look there is a road from the edge of the layout at both ends. one by the sawmiil and the other by the farm. Follow each of the around to the intersection by the grain elevator. Turn left and you go into town. Turn right and you go to the farm. There was a lot of thought and planning that went into this first layout. As I have heard from others say. My layout my rules. I can design it anyway I wish. You can either love it or hate it. But I do appreciate all the comments sent in. Helps to make the next layout even better.
Larry asked is it styrofoam. Yes it is. The thickness is 2 inches. and glued down to the wood table which is made up of 2×3. I find the table very sturdy and light weight. The joints are filled with drywall tape with drywall mud over the tape sanded smooth and painted. The paint is latex paint. What ever I had around the house left over from other projects.
To those that asked questions I hope I have answered them.
The background mural is amazing. Really gives a depth to the layout. Fantastic layout as well.