My first layout HO scale


tootnkumin said:
If that 3/4" paper board is what's known as MDF (medium density fibreboard, which is very smooth and very heavy). It is bad enough in very dry environments, in damp, disastrous. It has a tendency to sag between supports and delaminates. Use 5/8th ply of a lesser grade (marine ply is overkill), such as is used for structural bracing, you don't need a prom queen's thigh (although on second thoughts)(no, that will take your mind off MRR'ing) and seal it with primer, top and bottom (see, now you've got me distracted).
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LOL That is a buzz-kill but you are correct, the dampness is a factor. Thought about a countertop type of product for the top since I will be putting foam on the bench for roadwork and scenery. I don't plan on laying track directly on the bench itself, taking up the sections of foam seems better than tearing up the bench every time I want to change something Plus foam gives me some depth to work with in areas like the roundhouse pit and water effects. (LOVE the video where the guy forgot about the roundhouse pit and had to cut a hole in his nice benchwork and SCREWED it up BAD!) Looking to get a "rolling countryside" kind of feel to the landscape with the trains going up and down some small undulations and through cuts just like you see them do. 1/2% - 1% grade changes up and down every so often, no real roads are as flat as plywood for very long, plus I've got the room (30"x 15" +)

Stay positive!

"A 'succsesful' man is someone who establishes a goal and works to it's completion, no matter what that goal is."
 
Hey everyone, been a while.

For the last three weeks I've had ducts and a furnace installed, so all work on my layout was put on hold. It gave me lots of time to think of my layout and this is where I need your help/opinions.

In 6 days, it will be a year since I started in this hobby. Being new at this hobby and building a layout that I think is descent, I come to realize with the help of people that the layout is not a prototypical operational layout and will cause me to ditch it with time as I'll get bored of always doing the same thing. But before reaching the boredom, I've got 6-7 (or more) years of building the layout.

Here are a few notes that could help you, help me in deciding if I should scrap what I've done so far or continue with my layout.

- I live about 1 hour drive from 1 club and 1 hobby shop. Family and friends also live 1-2 hours away, therefore making any operations on the layout, solo.

- Space, time and budget is not an obstacle. I like details, full layout and when people do drop by, to be able to do some operations.

- Having no knowledge of prototypical operations, even if I have the best layout ever build, how would I operate, I'd still be running trains in circles, but I will take the time to learn how to.

- Here's a picture of my planned layout (just a start):

View attachment 51025


- What I thought was operations at the time, was to prepare 4-5 box cars in my box car yard, then prepare 4-5 container cars in my container yard and another 4-5 oil cars from my oil yard and the same with my other 4-5 yards. Then have my freight locomotives pick up all these cars in each yards, go around 3-4 times and drop them all in their yards while a passenger train goes around and around the layout. I could have hours and hours of enjoyment but it would be repetitive.

- Right now, the existing layout that I'm working on (phase I), I have come up with problems of reach in the 2 corners and middle of the table. Also with time, having to always go under the tables to do things gets harder with age. But it will be the only phase as I've taken that problem out for the rest of the layout.

Now, here's a picture of a proposed layout done by someone:

View attachment 51026


- The use of the space is better planned, lots of prototypical operations available. I would be able to use almost everything I've done so far, so that nothing gets wasted. Also, on the bottom right, the bar is being removed, therefore another little island will be added.


I know it's my layout and I should build it the way I want it, but I'm scared that after a while, I'll just dump this hobby (would be very surprised, but...). Like I said earlier, I love details, all my locomotives, rolling stock and even the passenger cars are all Canadian Pacific (122 of them). The era is 90% between 1965 and 1975.

So here's the million dollar question:

Do I start over or continue????????????
(I've been debating this for 3 weeks now and still can't decide)

Thanks everyone
 
Hawkesburytrain said:
So here's the million dollar question:

Do I start over or continue????????????
Thanks everyone
Click to expand...

Yes.

:)


I know that's not helpful, but hear me out: I love what you have done so far. There is no reason to start from scratch. If all of your bench work is already done, it would be a little harder to start over, but if not, there is no reason you cant start incorporating the new aspects into your current layout. I am currently building my waterfall. In retrospect, I should have designed it differently and put it where it could be better seen (and an easier spot to work on). But I'm not about to tear the whole thing down, I'm just making due with what I've got.
 
Just my opinion,but I think you would be much better off with the second plan. There are so many more opportunities for realistic and different scenes and operations. If the lower right corner is usable you could wrap your yard around that corner and have the peninsula continue to the right further. It would increase your mainline length and you could add a few more scenes or industries.
 
BAD news, but also GOOD news

It's been almost a month since my last post
The furnace is in, the duct work is completed and my layout is completely gone, but I've kept almost 90% of it

View attachment 51383

View attachment 51384

What's next?
I'll be removing all of the walls, even the brick wall, ceramic floor and the bar, then close the ducts, new gyprock wall and finish the floor the same as the existing and new lighting.

View attachment 51385

View attachment 51386

In the mean time, I have someone designing a better layout, more operational, which I should be starting no later than October. He's a well known track designer.

So I'll be starting a NEW thread and will be filming, taking pictures, writing a blog from the start.

Hope to see you all in my new thread as of October
Thanks for following my first steps in this new hobby of mine

Lloyd
 
Darn, I guess telling you to keep going and make the modifications that can easily be done is now out of the question :)

All I can say now is, wow - you are in an enviable position of being able to put something back together that is going to work better for you and, possibly, with more area to work with. Tough choice but probably the right one when all's said and done, especially if you were procrastinating over this move for 3 weeks or more.

Look forward to seeing things come back together - it will be interesting I am sure.
 
Hey there,

Been a while, I'm almost finished redoing my basement and almost ready to start my new layout. So while you wait, here's a peak at what will be my new layout. It's still being worked on and still lots do be design. I'm glad to have asked professional help for the design.

View attachment 52252

If anyone is on Gmail, I will be hosting hangouts for people to join in and watch the building of the layouts and participate in discussions on what I'm doing right and wrong.

Later everyone
 
I agree.

But, and I am not trying to pretend to be a professional designer, but cool (in my mind) aspect to add into that would be a side track that would tunnel through the two lower view blocks and connect on the other side. Have that center section lower by, like 6 inches or so, and the side track could be a cool trestle bridge or something that runs along above the twin main lines. It would also give your layout some elevation change (which could easily be kept to a 2% grade or less). Don't mean to butt in. I just like bridges and tunnels. Your design looks fantastic.

Bridge Sample2.jpg
 
I'll be keeping an eye on you posting. It looks like you can have a really nice layout here. Pictures, Pictures.
 
Hawkesburytrain said:
Maintenance??
What maintenance...........LOL

I know that there's track maintenance and dust removal, what else can there be?
As for track, maintenance, how often does it need up keeping?
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The Museum is down 1 day a week for maintenance. All track is cleaned once a week and a track cleaner is run through at the beginning of each day.

Wheel cleaning would be number 2 big ticket maintenance item.
Coupler fixing would probably be #3.
Turnout points & driving mechanisms.
Rolling stock & loco details repair.
Scenery repair - the more you operate the more of this there will be. Those elbows always seem to hit something.
Track alignment - still haven't figured out how well laid track can after 3 years suddenly be out of gauge. ?!?
Electrical gremlins. A wire somewhere always seems to break or short.

Helping at the museum convinced me that a single person 90' x 60' layout was not a good idea. Even if I could get it built/finished, just maintaining it would be a full time job.
 
Iron Horseman make a very good point about maintenance. Not having time to work on my layout for months with my remodeling projects going on has made operation a bit spotty. When my grand kids come over they always want to see the trains run, even if it's only for a few minutes and having set idle for months it is easy to notice that the tracks and or locomotive wheels is in need of cleaning.

Any freight cars or Locomotives that may have problems I will move to a certain track in a yard where they will stay until repairs are made. Seeing anything there just bugs the heck out of me, so any work is usually done in short order. I am fortunate that I have very few problems with couplers because I am anal about installing Kadee couplers on everything and take the time to do thing right. I do have a couple of newer locomotives with plastic couplers that will have them replaced with 158's as soon as I get through with this years remodeling. Don't like the plastic knuckle couplers at all.

Most of my turnouts are manual so there isn't much if any work that has to be done here.

Scenery. A lot of my layout is well over 25 years old and whenever possible I like to rework older scenery to try to keep thing looking good. (for who, I don;t know being that I am a lone operator)

I am fortunate that I have not had any problem with any tracks or turnouts being out of gauge. (yet)

Size. That was something that I absolutely did consider when I started my layout. My train room averages 26 x 17 feet. It's a decent size and when I was in the planning stages I had considered a number of different ideas. I could have torn out a wall to make the layout larger, added a second level. have the mainline circle the layout numerous times, but I am so happy that I decided to do with a shorter main line allowing for more industries and a bit more scenery being that I am the only one around to take care of it.

I have some very good model railroad friend who live in Missouri that I visit on a regular basis and a couple of them have their entire basement dedicated to their layout. They have all admitted that before an operating session that panic reigns for a few days preceding the session trying to get everything cleaned and operating properly. Although they really enjoy their large layouts, maintenance is a lot of work.

Thanks Iron Horseman for bringing this up. It is something very important to consider.
 
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