Building My First Layout


Iron Horseman said:
Cannot believe this is the first time I am seeing this thread. Very impressive. Was all of this equipment in the stuff from your father?

Since you have it, try the Atlas Track Eraser first. If it scratches the rails too much, I would recommend going to a heavier linen cloth (no lint) and rubbing alcohol (the 90% kind). Blocks that scratch the rails work great but those scratches then accumulate dirt that much faster, hence more cleaning, and it is a vicious cycle. Anyway once it gets clean, get a quarter and slide it along the top of the rails to smooth the scratches out.

Despite all the science, rail cleaning is still part art. The deeper one gets the more complicated it gets. For example the alcohol I recommended above leaves the rail too dry and the loco's wheels will arc and pit which is eventually almost as bad as the scratches. Therefore some folks after the alcohol cleaning will put on a light (emphasis on the light) coat of electrically conductive oil. An old favorite is Wahl clipper oil, but both Bachmann and Atlas make some, many other brands too. Atlas #192 Conducta Lube, Bachmann EZlube. And there I go babbling, probably way more information than you need at this point in your model rail journey.
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Never knew you could use a quarter for that. Thanks for the tip!
 
Iron Horseman said:
Cannot believe this is the first time I am seeing this thread. Very impressive. Was all of this equipment in the stuff from your father?

Since you have it, try the Atlas Track Eraser first. If it scratches the rails too much, I would recommend going to a heavier linen cloth (no lint) and rubbing alcohol (the 90% kind). Blocks that scratch the rails work great but those scratches then accumulate dirt that much faster, hence more cleaning, and it is a vicious cycle. Anyway once it gets clean, get a quarter and slide it along the top of the rails to smooth the scratches out.

Despite all the science, rail cleaning is still part art. The deeper one gets the more complicated it gets. For example the alcohol I recommended above leaves the rail too dry and the loco's wheels will arc and pit which is eventually almost as bad as the scratches. Therefore some folks after the alcohol cleaning will put on a light (emphasis on the light) coat of electrically conductive oil. An old favorite is Wahl clipper oil, but both Bachmann and Atlas make some, many other brands too. Atlas #192 Conducta Lube, Bachmann EZlube. And there I go babbling, probably way more information than you need at this point in your model rail journey.
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Thank you for the information and the kind words! Sorry for the slow reply, but my 12 hour shift yesterday turned into a 14 hour shift. We were busy with ambulance calls all day and night.

It's hard to separate the stuff that I got from my dad, from stuff that I bought since last fall, but here goes... He had 13 turnouts. I've added another 26. I bought the Atlas Santa Fe loco, the Burlington Northern Loco, and the dummy Union Pacific loco. All other rolling stock and locos were in my dad's boxes. He had 10 track bumpers, and I added another 14. The 2 old Bachmann power packs were bought by my dad, and I bought the 2 MRC power packs. I'll use one of the Bachmanns to power my turnout switches. I bought all of the Atlas connectors, selectors and controller, as well as the Atlas turntable and motor. At least 10 of the houses and structures that my dad bought and/or built needed some level of repair, due to shipping and storage over the last 20 years. There were also at least 10 buildings that my dad bought and never assembled. That list includes the warehouse that I modified to be a Burlington Northern depot, the KFC, the church, and the grain elevator. My dad didn't have a waterfront in his plan, so I bought several waterfront items to include the not-yet-assembled Walther's harbor wall kits (4), Walther's tugboat, Walther's car float, a shrimp boat, a 34' fishing boat, a Bar Mills dock house & low boy trestle, the Walther's lighthouse, and the Atlas signal tower. I've bought very little track, such as 12 Atlas 9" straight tracks,12 Atlas 6" straight tracks, 12 Atlas 3" straight tracks, at least 50 Atlas 18"/10* curved track (for those who don't know, those are the 1/3 18" radius track sections), 3 Atlas 18"/15* curved tracks, and some assorted short Atlas track pieces.

My dad's boxes had a bunch of wire, lots of landscaping grass and trees, different styles of fences and other accessories. He also bought a bunch of Matchbox cars, trucks and vehicles and aircraft. My best guess is that most of the Matchbox vehicles and all of the aircraft are not 1:87 scale. I bought all of the Atlas wired terminal joiners, plastic rail joiners, and nickel-silver rail joiners. I also bought all of the cork for the roadbeds, more than 200 wire connectors, and 6 spools of 18ga wire (6 different colors).

That's about the best breakdown I can provide. My dad's model railroad collection was absolutely the catalyst that set all of this in motion. It's crazy to think that I walked away from this hobby in the late 1970's, mostly due to life changes and circumstances, plus a 20 year Army career and other life choices, none of them bad or negative.

But I will admit without hesitation, that my dad's model railroad collection tuned out to be a huge blessing. Not only for me, but for all of my friends and family who appreciate it, and who would never attempt to build a model railroad themselves.
 
I finished the 5 ft x 4 ft extension today. The track is pinned in place to make sure it fits correctly. I work tomorrow, so maybe work will resume Sunday. Wood filler, then sanding, and a surprise feature on the new section🙂

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Here's a short video
 
Today I finished wiring the track and the yard on the new 5x4 addition. The outside loop is block #17, and the yard tracks are blocks 18-24. All blocks work as they should, and it was fun to finally run some trains again tonight. Still a long way to go. The surprise feature is at least a month away. The big square piece of cork that isn't painted is only on there temporarily. The yard tracks are nailed down and complete.

Here's a short video of my progress, running two trains

 
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I've added some motive power to my layout. One item I picked up was a new Walther's Mainline Santa Fe Warbonnet F7A and B unit. Both units are powered and DCC ready. I bought these to replace the Tyco F7 power and dummy units that my dad bought many years ago. The Tyco power unit doesn't run good at all, runs real slow and squeals real loud.

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I also added an older Atlas "Master Series Gold" U30B Burlington Northern loco. It has their electronic dual mode decoder (e-DMD) that allows the loco to run in DCC or DC mode. On my DC layout it does play sounds through it's speakers and runs great. I also picked up an older Mantua Union Pacific F7 that runs great.

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Along with the Burlington Northern engine, I also picked up an old GI Joe switcher that runs good, and an old Santa Fe switcher that appears to be modeled after an old Porter Hustler/H. K. Porter loco. The green GI Joe engine was either made by Tyco or AHM. I'll remove the GI Joe decals and run it as my logging engine. Both switchers have just 2 axles.

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Since I have 2 railyards now, I moved my Atlas signal tower to cover my new yard, and I bought 2 NIB AHM towers for the original yard. They call the small one a signal tower and the big one an interlocking tower. I put them on opposite ends of the yard. I actually did some detail painting on them, nothing major, but no weathering yet.

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The new addition will have a maple syrup operation on it, so I bought a used barn to use as my "sugar shack" and a Woodland Scenics "old homestead" to serve as the house. I couldn't find a better house that could cover multiple eras, so I chose this one.

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I unboxed both of the new 250 ton crane car & boom tender sets that my dad bought. One is a Union Pacific and one is an Amtrak. I can't believe the Bachmann web site has the price for these at $87. They don't have either of the ones I have.

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That's all for now. I have right at 100 locos and rolling stock on the layout now. That doesn't include the 3 steam locos that are in the bigger boxes, and the steam era freight cars and passenger cars. I'm out of room for expansion, so I have to get creative and find a place for them on the layout...
 
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migalyto said:
Not at all! I have officially stalled.

My daughters school sports schedule is too hectic right now, and I have a few nagging household projects I want to complete before summer. I think mid May I can get back to it, and go gang-busters through summer.
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I understand that. My winter months are less busy than my summer months, so I'm getting as much done as I can before my hectic summer gets here.
 
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