My New Layout

Play-Doh

Member
Hey Everyone

Well its been a year or so since I last posted here. I finally got my dream house, and with it came a room for me to finally build my layout, so no more appartment living and small layouts! I have taken a few pictures to give you ruff idea of what im up to, but let me give you some basics. I dont have a drawn out layout, but here are the specifics.

HO Scale
Room measures 9X13X10
Walk in horse shoe layout.
Cork roadbed on soundboard, plywood base, 2X4 framing.
The underside has a shelf built in for storage. Its also nice to lay on while I wire. I used 10 gauge for my bus wiring and 18 for my feeders...because I like to overdue everything. I can stand on this layout....it was built with 2x4 frames with 4x4 supports.


I decided early on that I wanted to build a freelance layout that not only didnt follow any specific prototype, or for that matter, prototypical train operations. Im all out continuous running, switching, and plenty of room for scenery, so there is lots of open space with no track, but thats what I wanted...im a scratchbuilder at heart, so I need lots of room for those buildings.

The railroad was built to accomodate two 4X8 pieces I had already built. One was a simple loop, with and inner loop, one was my railyard. I build both of these, moved them a couple times, and made some modifications to fit into this layout. Here are some pictures of my progress so far.

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This is the left side of the horseshoe, and is the return route for my the main loop. I will later have a tunnel, main street area, and hillsides.

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This is the front loop that was built years ago and I have moved a couple times since. As you can see, boredom got the best of me in those aparment living years, so this piece has already been ballasted. This will be a winter layout, so snow will be added later. This will also have a logging area, eventually.

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Here is the completely non-prototype railryard. It has a DPDT switch to reverse the polarity to I can easily enter and exit locos while still using DC. This has one track leading the front loop. You can see I had been experimenting with different ballasts to represent snow.

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This is the main control board for the yard. The switches activate the snap relays that light up the LEDs to indicate position. You cant see it in this picture, but a diagram with the LEDs is on the right. This way I dont have to keep looking over the layout and can know at a glance what position a switch is in. The DPDT switch is also on this board, as well as a dimmer switch for my future lighting and the doorbell button on end activates my turntable drive. The turntable is not yet in place, or the approach tracks. They had to be removed for the move.

Here is the mess of wiring for bus/feeder wiring as well as the switches for the yard....belive it or not...this is after it was cleaned up!
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And here is a cleaner section on the front loop wiring.
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Ill update this thread as I move along. Right now im still wiring switches for the rest of the layout away from the yard...then its on to track testing. This forum has taught me everything I need to know about MRR, and im glad to be back.
 

Play-Doh

Member
Thanks! I currently have a a 2-10-2 UP steamer that will be the first on the rails. Later, I will add a switch engine. Im trying to keep it steam era.
Later I will add more engines. I have plenty of boxcars waiting as well.
 

ZeldaTheSwordsman

Thomas Modeler
Well, if you're keeping it steam era, why not throw in passenger trains? Also, would you be adverse to running Thomas locos and stock on your layout?
 

ROD J H

New Member
looks like a great start,i have spent a year on my layout off and on mostly off,and finally have the track all laid out and ready for road bed.things take a lot of time in this hobby.I like the steam era too and think I will model in the late 1890,s.looks like you have a lot of wiring and looks like a real neat job.
 

armisteadab

New Member
I love this- I had similar thoughts wiring/polarity-wise before making the dive into DCC, at least for HO. Maybe I'll do the same for my N!
 
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