It’s not a model railroad until you have
On my previous layout, I used
It’s not a model railroad until you have
On my previous layout, I used
When I built Scenic Ridge, I had it easy. The kit from Woodland Scenics came with 3 sections of styrofoam with the track plan already printed on it, which made it easy to lay the track. This time around, I would need to figure out how to transfer the plan I’d designed in
Last year, I realized I was quickly becoming bored with my existing N scale model railroad. It was based on the Woodland Scenics “Scenic Ridge” kit, a basic 3′ x 6′ layout with a fairly simple track plan. It didn’t offer much in the way of operations (picking up and delivering freight cars) and was basically just set up to watch trains run.
Scenic Ridge had served me well. It was a great layout to learn many of the skills needed to build a model railroad, but it was time to move on.
Continue reading New model railroad build Part 1: design and benchwork
It’s been a while since I posted an update about our progress down at the local model railroad club, so here goes. This time: More scenery, running trains with cellphones, setting up operations, and more!
Continue reading ERRHSI MODEL RAILROAD UPDATE – May – July, 2018
I got so excited about posting about operating on Bob Davis’ layout, that I forgot to post an update about the ERRHSI layout last week. So, I’ll try to remember what we did and cover both May 10 and May 17.
Continue reading ERRHSI Model Railroad Update – May 10 &17, 2018
Yesterday, I once again had the opportunity to attend a model railroad operating session (or as my friend Vet likes to call it, “Transportation Simulation”) at Bob Davis’ home, on his INCREDIBLE HO Scale Pennsylvania Railroad layout. The opportunity to run trains on his world-class layout is something I really appreciate, and something I have dreamed of doing since I was about 12 years old, when I would intently study the Model Railroader magazines my great uncle had given me repeatedly until the covers were falling off.
It’s difficult to capture the size and beauty of his layout in photos or video. However, this video follows a coal train around the entire layout, starting as it descends from the branch line that is above his staging tracks, picks up a string of coal hopper cars from the coal branch, winds its way through the mountains and over a switchback that takes the train 2 loops to ascend/descend, and finally through town and into the yard.
There are a couple of shots I’m not happy with, and I while I took a handheld camera stabilizer with me, I forgot the quick-connect plate to actually mount the camera on it – so I shot this all handheld, sometimes walking backward at the same time. Excuses aside, I’m pretty happy with it and hope you enjoy it.
A special thanks to Bob for opening his home and his layout to us.
This week, Vet and I worked primarily on finishing up the stock yard scene. The gravel lot looks pretty good now that the glue has dried, and Vet added a bit more vegetation to the area (you can see white glue that’s still drying in the pics). I added the HO Scale cattle truck, and put the livestock back in the stockyard.
Continue reading ERRHSI Model Railroad Update – May 3, 2018
This week, we worked more on the stockyard, Dave put down some track, and the layout got a movie theater!
Continue reading ERRHSI Model Railroad Update – April 26, 2018
I have to tell you – I’m having so much fun as a member of the Eagle Rock Railroad Historical Society! I’ve made new friends, we’re having a great time working on the layout, visiting, and laughing and joking. On top of that, I’m learning a lot about what Idaho Falls was like decades before I was born.
This week, Vet continued laying ballast on the yard tracks and the mainline track that runs through the yard, and working on ground cover just south of the stockyard.
Continue reading ERRHSI Model Railroad Update – April 19, 2018