Rolland has been in touch with his model railroad engine house:
“Just want to say thank you to Brian for his HO scale engine house photos.
It got me thinking and scrounging and for $3 ….probably less… I got a good start on mine.
Here are a couple of photos.
All the best
Rolland”
“At one time I had a huge ho layout and needed a lot of ground cover especially in the railroad yards.
Being cheap I wasn’t about to go to the store and buy packaged ballast/rock materials so looking around I realized that the rocks/and that the city uses on streets to make traction in snow easier, I simply took a bucket, walked out to the curb and scooped some up. Voila! easy, right scale, and FREE.
You can take advantage of this either in the winter when they first sand the streets, or in the spring after they sweep the stuff clear. There’s always some left near the curbs.
Here’s a couple of shots of the roundhouse area of one of my previous layouts to show how it looks:
Terry”
Now on to Raymond:
“Sorry I haven’t been in touch haven’t had much to ask show of my layout,but I’ve finished a couple of sections.
Raymond”
Now on to Mike. Some of you will remember him because he builds a new layout every year for a show.
Here’s his second last post, when he’s still on the thick of it.
And here’s the finished article.
So I can’t wait to see what his latest creation will end up looking like. Here’s where he’s up to so far:
A big thanks to Rolland for sharing his model railroad engine house, and to Terry and Raymond.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if you feel like you’re missing out on the fun, 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.
And there’s the Silly Discount bundle too.
Nice workmanship? Keep up the good work.
Please be aware that the material the city or town puts out for traction also contains some road salt (NaCl), which can be quite corrosive as the dust from it gets in things. What may be free initially, may wind up costing you in the long run.
Rolland outstanding workmanship on the shed , Terry great turntables! Raymond like to see the finished empire!!
When I was a kid, we used to drag a magnet through the sand that the city had used for winter road conditions, so as to collect batches of very fine iron filings.
I shudder to think of the consequences of using road sand on a layout, given that every locomotive has a magnet-driven electric motor positioned just a few millimeters above the contaminated material. This is a prime example of false economy … for crying out loud, pay the $15 for a canister of proper-sized and screened modelling ballast.
Hi Terry,
I have found grit found in the street gutter here in Queensland Oz to be excellent free road base for my model railway.
However we are sub tropical and no snow. I agree with David’s comment above – be careful to ensure there is no salt in the road grit. It is used extensively in the UK to reduce the freezing temperature of the snow and ice and allow the grit to break it up.
Best wishes to all
Andrew in Oz
really nice work.
Roland, an excellent build of your engine house. Glad that my article helped or inspired you to detail yours. By the way, what scale is it?
Brian – the HOn3 guy from Knysna RSA.
With regard to the cinders the city uses in the winter potentially including some salt, simply place it in container, add some warm water, mix thoroughly and drain the salty water. Repeat, and repeat again and then let it dry! should not present any corrosion issues after that!
Recommend putting a photo of a repair access pit under the tracks in the engine house
I too would advise washing curb grit. It may contain salt and other chemicals. I would also pass a strong magnet over the grit. Sweep out a dirty garage floor and pass magnet over that. A surprising amount of minut iron filings in it