My first attempt at a U.S. HO layout

[PeteT]

This is my first attempt at a U.S. HO layout.

It is a freelanced design loosely based on the Union Pacific and is supposed to represent a rural branch line.

The design is a loop to loop, with three staging tracks at each end loop.
There is one small town, "Maywood" which has four local industries served by the railroad as well as a small roundhouse and turntable which has been put back into service to allow light repairs and servicing for the local diesel locomotives that operate the branch.

I hope these photos work...........

View of Maywood from the Southern end of town







Flour mill and grain silos on the Northern edge of town




Dash 8 #9225 switching Hillside Timber mill





Hope these came out okay. Is there a way of making pictures bigger?

Will post more soon...

cheers
Pete

 

[Burlington Bob]

I think you've done a great job of capturing the flavor of a rural area in the southwest. I'm looking forward to more pictures of your layout. A really nice job, something to be proud of.

 

[Sirfoldalot]

Really nice work .. The photos are fine .. They expand larger by clicking on them.

 

[wombat457]

That is really nice work and, as Bob said, you have captured the rural atmosphere very well, especially with the "wobbly" track - it looks very good.

 

[logandsawman]

Nice Pictures!! Nice Layout!! Thanks for posting--lasm

 

[jwb]

I agree. This could certainly be Utah. I'm impressed with the overall quality of Australian layouts and modeling!

 

[montanan]

For a first attempt all I can say is OUTSTANDING, well done. More pictures. We like pictures.

 

[wombat457]

Just realised you are a fellow Aussie and this is only your 4th post. Welcome to the forums and, as said, your work is great.

 

[Yannis]

Excellent work mate! The whole atmosphere of the layout scenes is very convincing!

 

[HOexplorer]

I think you've done a good job on your layout. It definitely looks "US." As for photos I recommend Photobucket as a host site for your photos. From there it is simple to have full sized photos posted here. Jim

 

[PeteT]

Thank you all for the kind comments. I will post more photos very soon as well as a bit of layout information
Thanks for the tip on Photobucket Jim - I will definitely explore that. Are there any tricks to using it?

 

[PeteT]

Attempt at loading a photo using Photobucket

Union Pacific Dash 8 #9225
Atlas Gold Series locomotive - originally fitted with QSI sound decoder - now fitted with Tsunami sound decoder

 

[PeteT]

Here is a basic layout schematic.


The Upper and Lower loops comprise 3 off stage staging loops each, these feed trains onto the main layout area

Overall Size : 20' x 10'6"
Min Radius : 22" in helix and Staging loops
24" main layout
Turnouts : Peco Large Radius & Curved Turnouts main layout
Peco Medium Radius staging loops
Control : DCC Digitrax Command Station and Booster
Soundtraxx Tsunami decoders in all locomotives

All turnouts are controlled by Peco solenoid switch motors and Digitrax DS52 accessory decoders
Turntable is controlled by Digitrax DZ123 loco decoder
Train location is detected by Digitrax BD4 block detectors.
Turnout location is monitored by Peco accessory switches
Layout control is by Digitrax Zephyr DCS50 command station via DB200 8A booster
The layout is divided into 7 power districts via Digitrax PM42 power management units
Signals are controlled via home-made interface circuitry connected to Arduino Mega 2560

The layout is designed for single person operation and consists almost entirely of short local freights.
Motive power consists of a couple of SD24's, an SD26, an SDP35, two Dash 8-40C, a GP15 and a GP38-2

 

[montanan]

It looks like a very well though out plan. Before I started my layout and put down the first rail, a lot of planning was done and now that all track is down, the planning was well worth the time and effort.

Looking forward to seeing more photographs. Well done.

 

[HOexplorer]

Pete, You are welcome. Obviously there are no tricks to Photobucket and your new photo is quite good. You may find some additional pointers in the Building the Pinnacle Creek Mining & Timber Co. Sticky thread above on this HO Forum page. Nearly 290,000 hits in less than three years so it may be worth a look. Jim

 

[wombat457]

Thank you all for the kind comments. I will post more photos very soon as well as a bit of layout information
Thanks for the tip on Photobucket Jim - I will definitely explore that. Are there any tricks to using it?

Photobucket is easy to use. Like everything, you have to register but after that, it is as easy as taking a picture, drag and drop it (them) into the upload box and it is done. Once uploaded, you pick the "IMG" thing, copy it then paste it into your thread.

 

[rodney mcgiveron]

G'day Pete...What a great job so far...I'd be proud of it...not cluttered , the hill looks like it was there first which is a real objective of modelling and the track looks very real..See , the photo's are fine.... I like the Dash 8 too...What brand is it ?...Top stuff...Cheers Rod (in Tassie)

 

[tootnkumin]

When you said "first attempt", I thought you were something of a novice, but definitely not so. Like Tony, I really liked the yard trackwork, very real.

With Photobucket, since it was "upgraded" a couple of years ago (i.e. made to suit phones and tablets), so long as you only have 1 album or only use the default one, finding any others you may create for other subjects is much more of a "journey".

 

[jwb]

It looks like a very well though out plan. Before I started my layout and put down the first rail, a lot of planning was done and now that all track is down, the planning was well worth the time and effort.

Looking forward to seeing more photographs. Well done.

Agree, more photos!

 

[flyboy2610]

There is a Maywood in Nebraska, it's located south of North Platte, which is home to UP's Bailey yard, the largest railroad yard in the world.