First Run

Wow, another post with so much to report on. I decided to tear up the old road bed and trace out the track plan on the board. That took a while since the curves have 3 different radii. But once I got it done it made the laying of the road bed much easier. I still had alot of difficulty with nails bending though. I think if I had to do it again I would want the sub road bed to be a softer wood like pine instead of plywood so it wouldn't require so much force to bang the nails into it. The track fit wonderfully on the roadbed once it was complete!

Today I laid down the track. I had the same problem with the nails bending as with the roadbed. But it was worse with the track because when the nail bent it would move the track, or worse, split the tie that it was going through. I got about one half of the nails all the way. The other half I gave a few good whacks and when they wouldn't go in any further, I clipped of the head to level it with the rails. And of course I wasn't happy with my first lay of the rails so I pulled most of them up and redid it making sure the joints where tight.

The one part of the track that isn't 100% finished is the turnout for the one industrial siding I installed. I used a Caboose ground throw with the Atlas custom-line turnout. I lliked the look of the ground throw much better then the attached switch control on the standard Altas switches. The switch sits at road bed level with a channel carved out for the switch throw. It works, but the mounting is really lose. I managed to get the nails into the cork roadbed, but I wasn't able to get them into the plywood without bending them. The mounting was complicated becuase unlike the track and roadbed the switch wasn't flat which made it harder to let loose with the hammer without smashing the whole assembly.

The most rewarding part of the day was when I got to put the engine on the track and run it around. It wasn't much, I just drove around a few times, picked up a car from the siding. I didn't even have any uncouplers! I think I will stop by Radio Shack tommorow and see about picking up some magnets for uncouplers.

But the most rewarding part of the day was when I got

Layout and a Photo

Today I went to Cappellis Hobbies. I picked up the flex track I forgot to get before. I also remade the layout on the computer from the printout I had.


I started putting down the roadbed for the track. At first I tried to to it with just measuring but I wasn't very good at making the curves. So the next thing I tried was printing the layout at scale and trying to use the printout as a guide for the roadbed. But my printer ran out of ink and I don't think I got the margins just right because the measurements were off with the paper. So in the end I resorted to measuring where I though the track would go, then laying down the actual track and marking the centerline through the ties. Then pulling the track up and tracing the centerline with a black sharpie. Then I laid the roadbed based on the line.

I think I might pull it all up tommorow and try to relay it. Alteast the straight run on the left side of the photo. It has a wiggle in it.

A Red Letter Day

I did so much today. But first an update of the previous few days. I went to my parents house for Christmas and while I was there, I redesigned the layout. I don't have a copy of it to post right now as it is on my parent's computer, but I will post it up when I get a chance to visit again.

This morning I went out to the hardware store. I got all the stuff for the platform: plywood, 1x3, wheels, and even brown primer paint. On the way back I stopped at D & K Hobbies in Barclay Square. It was a general purpose hobby shop with kites and radio controlled cars. Not a very big selection of trains and a very limited selection of N scale.

At home I built the platform with help from my father. It is 32 x 48 inches. It is framed with 1x3 around the edge, and has 3 internal 1x3 cross braces. Each of the corners is reinforced with wood blocks. The wheels are attached to these. The blocks are only about 2/3 the height of the 1x3 so the wheel are recessed under the bottom of the frame a bit. The frame sits about 1 inch off the ground and you don't see the wheels at all.

In the afternoon after the platform was build I went out to Saddler's in Westmont. They had a much better selection of N scale. I ended up spending about $150 on an engine, one car, and track. I got a switcher for the engine since alot of the curves on the layout are 9 3/4" and the smaller engine will handel them better.

Tonight when I got home, I painted the platform. I used a flat brown primer. It reminded me of cholate while I was putting it on. I hope to put scenery on the platform and not leave it plain, but just in case I miss a few spots it will look like earth now.

Train Layout Take 2

I decided that HO was too big for my apartment. I didn't want to go any bigger then 5" x 2.5". This way I could slid it under my couch or bed when I wasn't using it. So I switched to N scale, and changed the size to 4" x 2.5". This let me make a full loop, 4 different spur sidings, and a switching yard.

Model Trains

I want to build a small HO scale train layout. Something I can fit under my bed when I'm not using it. So I was looking online for ideas and I found these great pictures of 30th Street Station and other parts of the North East Corridor. They even had a picture of the Drexel Shaft. And they have hi resolution versions of the shots as well.


So above is the layout that I was thinking about. It is 2x5 foot. The track that the top is the main line. There are 3 sidings, the one at the bottom lets the engine pull a car in, and then do a bunch of switching to get on the other side of the car. Now that I am thinking about it I realize that it probably doesn't work that well, but it looks interesting. I think it still needs some more work.