Our little HO 4X8....


L

lehrr

Member
Our little HO Scale 4X8....

Last Fall my daughter came up to me out of nowhere (6 years old) and said she wanted a train set. Her exact words which I will probably never forget were "Ever since I was a baby my heart wanted a train set." I had tons of trains growing up which culminated in a huge 16X16ft by 4ft wide L shaped HO layout while I was in high school, but never really talked to her about it, if ever. It was huge, but very basic, just two mains that ran the entire layout, a pretty large mountain on one end, a lake on the other, a little town in the middle, etc. Lost interest as high school progressed, probably about 1992 or so. Layout eventually got scrapped and I sold off all my locos, cars, power packs, etc. Anyway....

We started the new adventure in November 09. Took her to her first train show, a Greenberg show, Thanksgiving weekend. She bought herself a nice starter set, I let her pick basically whatever she wanted. I steered her toward HO since I think it's the best comprimise of size (decent little layout in a 4X8) vs. usability for a 6 year old (N is too small to easily get the cars railed, coupled, etc). Things sure have changed, everything is all RTR now, most everything comes with the plastic roadbed track, etc. I laid all my cork roadbed by hand and used all flex track when I was a kid.

We've gone through a few generations of layout design already and have settled (for now) on a nice little double main with two yards and a long crossover track. Here is a quick little abbreviated picture tour of what we've done so far.

This was as we were leaving the train show with her first train set. Went with Life Like, didn't realize that it was somewhat loathed (track quality) at the time but so far so good.

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This was the set we bought, set up on a scrap sheet of ply my dad had in his shed, sitting on plastic sawhorses. This was also the first sheet of landscape paper, the basic green-saw-dust-glued-to-paper stuff which quickly made a mess everywhere and was replaced.

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We got bored with that (when I say we I mean Daddy got bored lol) and decided to build a proper bench, 4X8 size. Also bought a remote turnout to make a siding track to park a second train on. Bench is nicely overbuilt, 2X4's 16" on center with angled braces on the legs.

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Eventually decided to make it more interesting and laid down a folded figure eight (at least that's what I call it) with a few more isolated sidings. Had a problem with the 30 degree crossing, the plastic sections of the crossover were positioned in such a way that if I rolled slowly over them the locos stopped. I was running only the cheap Life Like locos at this point, with a single truck pickup. We ran this for a while, but I knew it would not last long with the problems I was having with the crossover. It was at this time that I also realized how easy it was to get a little creative with the Life-Like power loc track, I could cut it very cleanly in my bandsaw and use traditional rail joiners to join it to Bachmann EZ-track, or to any track for that matter.

This was also version-2 of the landscape paper, this time I tried the Velour stuff, forget who makes it, but it did not shed. It also looked like I had the table covered in fabric, which I hated, so this did not last long...

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At this point, a few months into the adventure, I found the amazing Xtrkcad software, and proceeded to spend a couple weeks planning out the next and what will be the final (for a while anyway) revision to the little layout. I wanted to run two mains, and also be able to park a third long (passenger) train. I also wanted as many sidings as I could fit. After planning and measuring, and getting a little creative with the band saw, I came up with what I think might be just about the most efficient layout of the power loc track I could possibly have come up with, consisting of two full main loops, a crossover that spanned a full 1/2 revolution of the main loop, and 4 good sized sidings.

I also replaced the velour cloth with the best landscape paper I have found yet, Life Like makes it I think. It's heavy, and it is actually landscape 'grass' glued to the dirt colored paper, but it barely sheds. Fantastic looking and does not make a mess at all.

Laid out the track here and started wiring up the blocks and sidings. Each main loop is two blocks, each siding is isolated, and the main long crossover track is also isolated and can be switched to run from either of the two power packs.

For power, I scored a pair of MRC TechII 3000GS packs, they are kinda rare it seems, they do not have internal power, however they have every feature I would ever need, including momentum, brake, a reverse loop switch with separate terminals, and the pulse power circuits for low speed. I bought two Radio Shack transformers that do both 12 and 24 volts, and have them wired so that they are controlled by a center-off DPDT switch. Up gives me 12V, and realistic running speeds, and also allows me to let the kid run the trains with absolutely no worry of overspeeding them off the table. 24V, well, I barely use it, but the packs are rated to take that much, and the locos scream around the track at 3/4 throttle. Anything over 3/4 throttle at 24V is useless.

Also built a sliding drawer to hold the two power packs, using drawer hardware and Melamine board from Lowes. Lets me fully retract the control panel when not in use, and pull it all the way out when we're running the trains.

Here is the layout after the final track plan was laid down.

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That's just TOO great...A born railroader..!!! :eek:

Keep up the work on her behalf...Even let her "help" you with the building and stuff. There's a lot to be learned in our hobby that can readily be applied to other aspects of life...
 
Started to add some 'scenery'. I decided to keep it very simple, flat layout, painted roads, etc. The 'next' one might be more detailed..... :)

This life like paper is awesome, I just used a straight edge razor blade to scrape the grass off the area where I wanted blacktop. Also saved all the grass material for later if I might need it, accumulated quite a bit of it.

This picture shows our Main Street under construction. It was neat how it even looked like it was under construction due to the color of the Life Like paper after the grass was removed.

Also started wiring up lights to some of the buildings now.

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Here's my little co-engineer during one of our sessions. She loves the trains. :)

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It looks like you two are having fun and that's what it's all about. Nice work so far, enjoy!
 
And here's the layout in it's current state. I just scored a big box of new-in-box buildings, bridges, tanks, etc, so we'll be remodeling soon. I think in the tradition of actual life, the farm in the background might be buldozed for a strip mall.... lol. Funny how that works.

Anywhere, here it is as of a day or so ago...

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And finally (for today) a 'night' shot looking down Main Street. :)

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Looking great. Great little helper too! Love to see kids take an interest at an early age. Makes them future masters and a great hobby to share.
 
This, to me anyway, is what the hobby is all about. Fantastic story, great pictures and more to come. This reminds me of the position Joshua Lionel Cowen took to get families involved in the hobby in his advertising campaigns. If only more moms and dads took an active interest in quality time, we might all benefit. Great Job and thanks for sharing your gift to each other.

Johnny
 
Thanks guys! I'm impressed, no complaints about the Power Loc track, or the track too close to the edge, etc! :)

We're having a great time with it. Hopefully she stays interested, but if not, I already know where I will put the interchange tracks to the next 'module'. :)

Been tinkering with things here and there. I put some LEDs in the noses of my B&O F7A and ALCO A, they're super bright and also illuminate to almost full intensity even at slow speed which is nice. Also put a pair in the top front number plates of my Conrail GP40, looks nice. I have a couple videos of the trains running, I'll try to post one up on Youtube and link it here.

Also put wheels on the layout legs so it's easy to roll it away from the wall to work on the far side.

Need to finish the legs, probably just black paint. The hardboard around the sides really makes a night and day difference, almost makes it look like furniture, which is good since this thing is in the far end of my bedroom, would have taken up too much space in the kids room. Luckily the master bedroom used to be two bedrooms, the former owners took the wall down so as long as I run the quieter locos I dont bother the wifey too much... :) She is actually very supportive, doesn't mind having it there at all (or so she says, which is fine with me). :)

I'll try to keep this updated, if nothing else as an online logbook for myself.

Later,
 
Great work you and your daughter have done. I can see the empire is about to expand. You'll soon need a little staging yard, some mountains, maybe a river, a ton of trees...you have no idea what you've gotten yourself into. :D
 
lehrr said:
I put some LEDs in the noses of my B&O F7A and ALCO A, they're super bright and also illuminate to almost full intensity even at slow speed which is nice...
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What makes your layout even more delightful is that you get to see it through your daughter's eyes. :)

I have a couple of old HO DC engines I'd like to light. Does there need to be any electronic components between an LED and its power source, or can you just hook them up direct?

Thanks,

Greg
 
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I have a couple of old HO DC engines I'd like to light. Does there need to be any electronic components between an LED and its power source, or can you just hook them up direct?
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No you can't, you'll blow out the LED. You need to put in the proper size resistor in series with the LED.
 
Yeah that's correct, you need a resistor in line with the LED. The ones I used were from a defective accent light strip for automotive use so they were already wired up to operate on 12V. Actually, I have found that they illuminate to almost full brightness as soon as the loco starts to creep, which is great, and they seem to tolerate close to 24volts, at least for short bursts.

But they look fantastic.... :)
 
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