My first layout HO scale


The check has cleared and the gloves are off. My ordeal has begun. Today I start clearing and cleaning the space. 'Hawke' you have re-inspired me with your outstanding work. As much as I'd like to tell myself I'm just gonna run trains on bare wood cause I'm not talented enough to draw my name, I'm gonna HAVE to TRY to do some of the way-cool stuff you have done.
 
Great stuff new guy!!
Glad I was able to inspire you back to the hobby

Start small and grow............kind of ironic with the size I started with, but my original plan is way bigger which was cut into 4 phases
Don't forget to ask questions, lots of great people here to answer them

Good Luck and enjoy
 
Thanks logan,

Now I'll be off for a couple of weeks. Construction guys started work on ducts in the basement for a furnace. Needed to cover the layout and hoping they will be careful. In the mean time, I'll will work on my phase II planning. I've already did some work, but it needs fixing. Here's a glance:

View attachment 50542

View attachment 50543


On the left is my ore yard which I already have in boxes and to the right is my turntable and garage facility which I need to get. I'll need to do a bit of homework on how to make everything fit scenery wise.

Any comments or suggestion are welcome.

Later
 
LOL Same-same, I must re-do the duct work and drywall the ceiling, put a frame on the wall so I can hang a ledge (with legs) along there, and all this AFTER I move the many cubic yards of JUNK! I will post before/after pics.
 
Will this turntable be your main one? Or will it be there specifically for the ore yard? If its the main one, the vast majority of Turntables and roundhouses were located at a larger or a main yard, so engines could be quickly changed on, or assigned to, trains, they could have light repairs done, and also be serviced for fuel and water. If its for just the ore yard, most would have just a TT, strictly for turning locos, where room for a wye, (less maintenance), isn't available, and extremely rarely would there be anything like a roundhouse, at the most a small engine shed which was most times a single track shed and rarely anything bigger.
 
Thank you very much Carey

Here's a better picture

View attachment 50576

The turn table would be my main one and near the main lines just on the other side.
I was going to use it to store 9 locomotives plus 2 in shop.
I know nothing about train logic, so all the help is appreciated.

Would I be better off switching the refinery yard with the turntable area?

Thanks
 
Hey everyone,

Since there's construction going on in the basement, I decided to work on my layout plan.
I didn't want 60 inches tables anymore, so I decided to try and fit 20-24".
I worked on my long term layout and think I got something to my liking
It's not very prototypical, but I can spend lots of time on the yards and then have my main line locomotives pick up freights.
My next phase should be the downtown and lumber area or the ore and refineries.

Here's the layout plan.

View attachment 50782

View attachment 50781

Phase I which is the container, box car, steam loco and winter village is pretty much advance, but before working on the next phases, I would appreciate any comments or suggestions and even modifications that could make the layout better.

Thanks
 
That's a big space! My only advice is do you think it will be fun to 'operate' once all the track is in? Looks like you have a little bit of everything. The bigger the layout, the more maintenance it needs. Good luck!
 
If you're satisfied with it, that's all that counts. But otiscnj does have a legitimate question. Can you handle the maintenance a really large layout needs.
 
Cjcrescent said:
If you're satisfied with it, that's all that counts. But otiscnj does have a legitimate question. Can you handle the maintenance a really large layout needs.
Click to expand...

Maintenance of the layout is the real hobby from what I can see, continuous tweaking of bits and pieces is what I'm looking forward to spending most of the rest of my spare time doing. Has anyone tried the transmission fluid trick for track cleaning, seems counter to put 'oil' on the track but I guess it is not 'oil' in the same sense as we usually think of OIL.
 
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?

Thanks
 
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?

Thanks
Click to expand...

When the engine sticks to the track and just hums like a phazer on overload and the boxcars wheels won't turn cause of the 'shmuts' in the trucks....EH! time to clean!
 
Hawke,

Seeing your layout plan really brings everything together. Like the others, the maintenance that is going to be needed is going to be continuous I'd imagine. Dust is one thing, build up from plastic wheels (if you have any) is going to be another thing though. I'd really recommend you get yourself a "good" track cleaning car and keep a couple of bottles of 91% Alcohol handy along with a bunch of cotton gloves.

Cleaning the track will depend on how often you run trains. Some people give their track a "darn good clean" every few months while others do it monthly, weekly and before and after each session. If your running your trains everyday, then the track should stay cleaner than if you only ran trains once a week, for example. With such a large area, I would be getting a track cleaning car and running it once or twice around the entire layout before each session. Then all you'll have to do is worry about dust accumulation and grit. You could just by a plow and use that to clear any "large" crud :)

PS: My HO layout has been down for about a year and has only ever been cleaned once - I hate cleaning track!
 
wombat457 said:
Hawke,

Seeing your layout plan really brings everything together. Like the others, the maintenance that is going to be needed is going to be continuous I'd imagine. Dust is one thing, build up from plastic wheels (if you have any) is going to be another thing though. I'd really recommend you get yourself a "good" track cleaning car and keep a couple of bottles of 91% Alcohol handy along with a bunch of cotton gloves.

Cleaning the track will depend on how often you run trains. Some people give their track a "darn good clean" every few months while others do it monthly, weekly and before and after each session. If your running your trains everyday, then the track should stay cleaner than if you only ran trains once a week, for example. With such a large area, I would be getting a track cleaning car and running it once or twice around the entire layout before each session. Then all you'll have to do is worry about dust accumulation and grit. You could just by a plow and use that to clear any "large" crud :)

PS: My HO layout has been down for about a year and has only ever been cleaned once - I hate cleaning track!
Click to expand...



Solid practical advice much welcomed! This is the only site on which I can get that, everybody else is on an off-putting attitude frequency that smacks of "I know something YOU don't know AND I'm not going to tell you!" It's not rocket surgery complicated or state secret classified, it's a small train for cryin out loud! The best, most informative, and FUNNIEST guy on you-tube is your fellow "Ozzy" doing the "fishplate films" vids, the guy is a HOOT!

Happy "railing" LOL
 
new guy,

"I know something YOU don't know AND I'm not going to tell you!"
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Not wishing to get side tracked here but that attitude is exactly what I have found on other forums, flight forums especially. Too many people seem to think that information is proprietary and aren't willing to share it. Almost as though they are trying to make what ever it is elitist or something, I don't know. My attitude is that we ALL, each and every one of us, had to start somewhere and learn. Someone had to tell us how to do something so we could do it. None of us woke up one morning and "bingo" I'm a flight sim expert or model railway expert, but the way some people carry on, you'd think that is exactly what happened.

Anyway, if it wasn't for the people on THIS forum telling me how to do things, I'd still be "playing with" an out of the box oval train set. People on this forum helped me so I can't see any reason what so ever for not passing what I know on to others. Wish I'd taken my own advice! :D

Okay, the blah blah blah is over, bottom line with track maintenance is very VERY simple ... the more attention you pay to keeping your track clean and free from obstacles (no matter how small they may be) the fewer problems you will experience. One thing is for sure, in my opinion, once you get your track - there is no such thing as "over cleaning it" whether it needs it or not.
 
Right on, right on. The only reason I'm getting so invested in this is the time it will take up in the days and months ahead, being a disabled vet I don't have much else to do than put my face over my layout all day, beats the heck out of drinking myself to death! (been there, tried that, takes too long by half as they say) Finished the first stage of cleaning the garage so the junk where my new layout will be has a place to go. Two words, broken plastic, if there is an end of the world scenario it will contain cubic miles of broken plastic. And we can blame the hoarders(like my wifey) who cannot bring themselves to pitch it!
 
OY! to the VEY! that marine grade 3/4 inch ply is 75 bucks a sheet! I have found a 3/4 inch paper product type board that is SMOOTH as a prom queens thigh, looks like it will hold nails better than osb and it's only 10 bucks for a 4x8, the legs of the bench have always been 2x4(treated, the basement has flooding issues) Another reason to get al the "collectibles"(junk)out of the basement and dedicate the space to the railroad. The max water level is only about 4" so #6 2x4's for the legs is sufficient. Adjustable feet on the 2x4's will insure level "ness" Lucky me my Bro is a carpenter so the bench will be solid! (He says "you will be able to dance on it") Gotta take it s l o w the SECOND of my hernias is not quite totally healed. Those things will put a hitch in your git-along for SURE! I think the wench is trying to kill me with the "honey-do" B.S. What the hell do ya need a pool for in Michigan??? Ya ain't never more than 5 miles from surface water ANYWHERE in the whole state!!! SHEESH!
 
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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