O scale layout – Peter’s

Peter’s been in touch with his stunning O scale layout:

“Hi, I’m sending progress on my 2 rail O scale layout.

These 1st pics show the start of bench work and plan start. 2 by 2″ legs and 1 by 3” cross.

O scale benchwork

O scale 2 rail bench

O scale bench

I have a few technics for scenery, and many textures and colors go into it, especially rocks.

O scael scenery

O scale layout scenery

O scale

All engines are brass and airbrushed and decaled by me. I favor RG, WP and SP. Mainly western U.S. roads back in the 50’s and 60’s




O scale layout:

O scale loco

O scale engine

O scale layout loco

Just more shots of various spots on the layout. Eventually there will be two half circles on each end to travel under the narrow gauge Rio Grande Southern layout against the back wall which will be mostly mountains, trestles, and lot’s of scenery for steam engines to run on as indicated from the earlier module pics and descriptions I sent a while back.. There will also be a bridge on the front standard gauge on one end as a swing out gate to have access to an aisle between both gauges. Back wall will be painted sky color with occasional white fiber fill as 3D clouds.

More shots of little vignettes.

Couple more little vignettes, plenty more to do on this 15′ standard gauge section. i.e. completing tortoise wiring to switches, building and street lamps and of course more scenery. I’ve counted over 50 visible people so far.

O scale layout

O scale buildings

O scale 2 rail

O scale layout engine house

Peter”

A huge thanks to Peter – what an O scale layout!

Goes without saying, can’t wait to see the next update on this one. Stunning stuff.

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 Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.

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








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53 Responses to O scale layout – Peter’s

  1. Bill Zurbrugg says:

    Love the ladies sun bathing on roof of bath house. Plus the guy watching them from next building roof. Nice touch.

  2. Patrick Hanlon says:

    Your detail on your layout is top shelf work. Great job!

  3. dangerous dave says:

    A great job you have done there Peter , sometimes wish I had gone 0 scale , its expensive , but least you can see what you are doing with the large scale ..Dangerous Dave

  4. Rich H says:

    What a beautiful layout! I am so jealous. LOL. I’m just starting out and I have seen lots of layouts in every scale. This one is really beautiful. And the small touches, well, they speak for themselves….
    Rich H

  5. Bill Holt says:

    Excellent layout. I too favor O scale, easy to work work and my 2 grandsons love the feel of it !!

  6. Jonathan says:

    Peter, this is simply great stuff. Your airbrush and decal work is superb, and I especially like your details on the sidewalks and rocks. But what really caught my eye (besides the bath) was the old blue Chevy pickup! It looks to be a ‘52 or ‘53. I owned a green ‘54! Great detail!! Overall, this is one of my favorite seen on Alastair ‘s wonderful website!! Congrats. Can’t wait to see it running. Jonathan

  7. Eric says:

    Love the various scenes you have set out there Peter, layout looking good keep the updates coming.
    Eric (Leeds) UK

  8. Steen Lunde says:

    “EXCELLENT” detail , a lot of hard work shows through . Keep the site posted , great work , if mine looks half as nice , I’ll be happy .

  9. EXCELLENT. Just like being there, walking down the street back home, years ago. Takes all kinds of imagination to do this Keep up the good work
    and keep us posted . Good luck

  10. Roland says:

    Awesome job!

  11. Kevin McArdle says:

    Beautiful craftsman layout. I especially liked the car up on blocks. Please send more pictures.

  12. Fantastic job on this layout! Really enjoyed everything about it. Great detail!
    Jim

  13. Fred Svoboda says:

    Very nice. BTW, I notice that there seems to be space between the back of your layout and the backdrop. I’ve seen this used as an opportunity to install lighting that shines up onto the “sky” and provides very nice effects including sunsets, twilight, and so forth.

    Oh, I also own the fat guy sitting on the bench and nursing his drink.

  14. Rob Shuman says:

    Beautiful work. It’s always good to see the larger scalers adding buildings and scenic. I guess due to space limitations this isn’t always possible. I’ll be sharing this with the big scale people I know in hopes to inspire them. Thanks

  15. paul vogel says:

    Peter: Wonderful detail on your layout. Like Jonathan I liked the Chevy Pickup and also the car up on blocks but, the rest was amazing. Paul

  16. Joe Gennari says:

    WOW!!! Just fantastic

  17. Rob McCrain says:

    Big and beautiful. Rob McCrain – Farland Howe

  18. Peter Theodore says:

    Thx so much for all your nice comments, I really appreciate Al and all of your devotion to model railroading!
    Peter

  19. Ron says:

    Beautiful job, one question where did you find the O scale vehicles. Ones I find are either too big or too small to match up with the people in my little town.
    Thanx

  20. Ken says:

    Layout looks great….wish there were more O scale guys out there…..

  21. Very nice and well planned and like someone else said; Love the small artistic touches here and there…..Love the truck and old car and the way you landscape………..Great job! can’t wait to see more……

  22. David Baker says:

    Wonderful layout! Very Impressed! I’m a real beginner and I’m still trying to decide whether to go with O or HO. My wife says O is so much easier to see. I say HO is so much less expensive and our space is limited. I have 11ft x 13 ft space and want to include a working coal mine and a nearby city and maybe O will be too tight. Does anyone have any thoughts? They would be appreciated.

  23. Jim says:

    Pretty amazing stuff. Love the detail and especially the street scene.

    Jim AZ

  24. Thomas Murphy says:

    Very impressive with amazing detail ~ Wonderful! The views are perfect!

  25. Gregory says:

    Your work is GREAT!!. My personal opinion is that I prefer 2 x 4 cross members with a hardwood top (4 x 8 sheets, 3/4 in thick) with 4 x 4 legs. All kiln died and hand picked for trueness all braced and screwed and glued together to provide a very firm steady base. Thank you for sharing such a stunning layout.

  26. I would love to have the money and space for the o scale RR stuff but that is not in the cards for me , keep up the great work Peter!
    Allister I have made a little progress on my Grandsons village but still a lot of work to do ! Be well and safe All !
    George

  27. Bill Roberts says:

    Absolutely a stunning layout! My only fault with all of you genius craftsmen is that there are no drains in the streets. Maybe it never rains where you live. I love the girls on the roof though with the nosy neighbor! Your are truly a genius!

  28. Tom Sallee says:

    Very Impressive!. Everything about it, the structures, landscaping, weathering, people, everything done with such detail.

  29. Gary says:

    I need to go back to school @ 72
    What brand uses 2 RAIL -in “O” SCALE?
    “O” to me was Lionel 3 rail stuff

    Great layout -love the 2 rail design

  30. David Hannan says:

    Very impressive! Well done!
    regards
    “Dirty Dave”

  31. Gary Collins says:

    I thought 0 scale was 3 rail

  32. James Yuille says:

    Excellent layout, very exciting to see potential of O gauge. Well done.

  33. James says:

    looking good

  34. Colin says:

    Outstanding. Nothing more to say other than the chap on the bench should eat less pies.

  35. Ian McDonald says:

    Very good pictures. nice scale for the type of layout. craftsmanship just so good you can go over and over the pictures and still find things you didn’t see the first time around. thanks for sharing.

  36. Rod Mackay says:

    Wow! What a set up. Is there going to be some running room as well as the station area?
    Rod

  37. NJ Mark says:

    The attention to detail is what makes your layout! The vignettes make me want to see more and more; they just draw you in!! Thanks for sharing. Cheers! NJ Mark

  38. Peter Theodore says:

    Hey all, thx for the drainage poke, I still need to put in the drain covers on the street. As far as cars go, the best we can do is 1/43 so, they are still a little bit large for 1/48, but they come close enough. Ty for all the comments. Funny thing about the station platform, it’s a bit of a twilight zone as the folks will wait ‘til hell freezes over because I’m not doing passenger cars in this scale, they’re huge, wish I had the space, but my narrow gauge will have them. Be well.
    Peter

  39. great stuff Peter
    O scale is so good for detail…
    and you do it best
    keep em runnin fellas
    StJohn in Long Beach calif

  40. Pete (Houston) says:

    I have an old pickup where the front wheels have broken off. It has been sitting on the layout but I will put it up on blocks just as on this fine layout. Learn something new everyday. Thanks.

  41. Just amazing. Just fantastic. One question, it seems you could have gone a bit longer on both ends, why did you not use the full length available?

  42. jack masarie says:

    Always a treat to see O scale. It is encouraging, even to a “high-railer” such
    as myself.
    All the best,
    Shlack

  43. Don Bartletti says:

    Peter: The detail in the utility poles with many insulators on the cross bars brings me right back to my youth in the early 50’s. I howled at your scene of the Bath House guy being chased across the street. I can only imagine what he did inside.
    Your photographs are top shelf too. Good depth of field and fine resolution. Would love to see a video of the trains in motion – but not the camera in motion. I recommend a tripod and a few 10-20 sec. clips from around this splendid layout.
    – Digital Don

  44. NJ Mark says:

    Whose “caboose” is that in the last photo?

  45. Dave Karper says:

    Gary, O scale is 1/4″ equals 1′. This is NMRA standard. Three rail is generally toy trains, such as Lionel and Marx. When combined with scale size rail and structures built to O scale standards it is referred to Hi-Rail. Lionel and Marx are also referred to as tinplate because in earlier times the rails were tin plated.

  46. Martin Gliddon says:

    Gary.
    You’ll find ATLAS, WEAVER etc make a large variety of 2 rail O gauge. Well ok, Weaver isn’t there anymore, but there is plenty of it on eBay. Trackwork is available through Peco.
    You just need to do a little research and the whole new world opens up. Age is no matter, I’m 71 and a simple ‘2 rail o gauge’ search on Google will bring enormous results. You could also subscribe to the free online O gauge magazine, O gauge resource, which has a huge amount of information especially for the 2 rail American O gauge modeller. I’m in the UK, and believe me I’ve found it very easy to get hold of everything I needed fo American O gauge.
    Cheers
    Martin

  47. Chris K says:

    Incredible detail and focus on the period. Where did you source the vehicles in the 40’s-60’s timeline? I’ve been looking for years with zero results?!?

  48. Rich B. says:

    Layout is an eye opener. Just as much going on there as some full basement scenarios. And the 2 rail is a first for me also that I can recall, does that look good or what. Think I would keep it just as is, not expanding too much if at all.

    Rich, regarding

  49. Al Otis says:

    Outstanding work, well done

  50. Ned Kamradt says:

    Beautiful, a standard to aspire to as I build my first layout.

  51. robert dale tiemann says:

    really nice work. good job.

  52. Ken Holbrook says:

    When ever I see bench work like yours, it reminds me of how many mistakes I made building mine. Yours looks fabulous! I particularly like all the small scenes that you’ve added. To me, that’s what separates the good layouts from the great layouts! I did laugh at “Uncle Pervy” watching the bathing ladies on the roof!

  53. Jeffrey McKnight says:

    Just love your post OUTSTANDING !I love the 2 rail O Scale. I also love the 3 rail O Gauge and O Scale ,goes back to my childhood. My favorite is 2 rail O Scale. When I lived in Sacramento CA a elderly good friend of mine now passed away , had a nice ( mostly Southern Pacific because he loved SP and had worked for Espee and his dad too) and that:s when I really got the 2 rail O Scale Fever. I got small HO Scale too and nothing wrong with that, but the O Scale just does it for me.The extra little (& big sometimes) details is the fun after one is at it awhile. Again OUTSTANDING !

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