Hello everyone. I am not a very active user, but I read a lot, and found some awsome works here. This last week, I made a very important decision. I am abandoning the European models, to make a compact but I hope coll layout. I had enough of having expensive models with poor running qualities. This ideia is this: I wanted to make a layout just like a large diorama, with a main scene: as gas station and a windmill. This is freelanced, but The inspiration came from Pelle Soeeberg's "Daneville & Donner pass layout and the 3rd prize MR Photo contest winner. So, let's make it KISS. Want to do some railfanning, and what my trains rolling, and not having some shunting. The layout is going to be 210 cm by 60 cm (around 7' x 2'), so it is impossible to have everything in small layout like this. The RR is going to be the beautifull Southern Pacific, having some Bloody Nose units and others in Black Widow. Train will be 3' long, long enough to see them going around curves, and have a passing siding. The layout will be constructed with some light weight materials by modules, so that I can get it to shows (there aren't many, just one or two). This is supposed to last 90 days to construct, but I don't believe that I will take so little time... Here are some drawings about this project: I would like to apologise about my awfull English. Thanks.
Hi Luis! Glad to have you posting! I think you'll like the KISS approach to having simple railfan layout. You might want to check out fellow TrainBoard member Caleb Austin's Central VA Door layout. I'm also in the planning stage of a railfan layout, the Thunder Ridge. Like Caleb's layout, I'll use a center backdrop so that each side of the layout is its own separate scene, effectively doubling the layout size. That might be something you may wish to play around with. Other than that, keep us posted on the progress! We love pictures. And your English is perfectly fine. Happy modeling,
I am sure it is much better than my Portuguese. Mim don' t fala o português de todo. That looks like it will be a fun layout to build and to run trains on. There are a lot of different angles to take different photographs. I am looking forward to seeing the photos.
Luis, First, welcome to active posting on TrainBoard, and what a great first post. Second, your English is just fine. No worries. If I may make some comments: 1) Having a railfanning layout and knowing that is what you want is a good first step to have out of the way. I think you'll get some nice inspiration from the Southern Pacific. There are several very scenic locations in northern California and just about southern and western Oregon where the Southern Pacific operated. 2) Generally, a windmill like that, if I am seeing it correctly, would be associated with a farm and would like be used for tasks like pumping water. It's not terribly common to have them near gas stations, but then again this is your layout so you make the rules, and a windmill certainly would give some visual interest. Walthers makes an operation oil derrick that might be fun to have if you want something that moves. 3) It looks like your tightest radius is .226m (about 8.9 inches). If possible I strongly recommend making your curves at either end a larger radius. That tight of a radius will result in a lot of difficulties. You could probably get away with it if you just run short switchers and cars no more than 40 feet in scale length (sorry, our cars are measured in feet - that's about 12.2 meters), but that wouldn't give you much flexibility. What sort of locomotives and cars interest you the most? 4) You'll want to have a pull out section on that tunnel so that you can clean track and pick up cars and locomotives that derail. 5) This is a really beautiful rendering of your layout. Nicely done. Keep posting. I love seeing layouts like this develop.
Looks like a very nice layout design! Like Mark said, I take a similar approach. Big on scenery and running and less on switching and intricate track puzzles. The scenery definitely looks like something you would see on the SP. Reminds me of this somewhat. http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=288677 I also like the way you sketched out you the layout. I do that sometimes and it definitely helps visualize what the layout will look like.
Nice renderings, Luis! And your written English is actually better than most Americans these days...Take, for instance, this guy: :tb-biggrin: We have too many illiterates in this country, and that's very pathetic.
Welcome to Trainboard! What a beautiful conceptual drawing for your layout! I love the idea of railfanning, too. When I was a kid, long ago, I rode the SP Coast Daylight under steam. When I was a teenager, I spent every spare minute I could hanging around SP's enormous yards in the Los Angeles area and then chasing trains in every direction. Those were the days - we climbed all over the equipment, did whatever we wanted, and nobody gave a damn. Model Railroader has been running a series of articles on a somewhat larger N scale layout that uses Kato Unitrack's new superelevated double-track curves. Superelevation adds a lot to the realism. Keep us posted! --Bryan
Hi all. Thank you so much for the warm welcome. I hope that I am up to this. Mark and r_i_straw, thank you so much for the words and ideas. Steamdonkey74, answering: 1) I have the DVD's from Joe Fugate, he a very dramatic scenery on the Syskiyou Line Layout (oregon, right?). I would like to have something like that, but I don't believe that I will get that far... 2) You have a point about the windmill... I'll try to change it to something like advertising!... 3) In fact, I can't go wider than that radius. I tryed my Kato SD70M, Kato SD40 and ITR SD-45T, and I had no problems... FVM Gevo derailed... But these are just some loco I really wanted to have. My 4-axle diesels (RS-11, GP-40, and such) didn't had any problems. Not even pulling a 33,000 gallon tank car train. Yes, it is ugly... Yes, I should go wider, but those radius do the job that I need. I do like wide cabin locos, but I prefer the older ones! And my type of cars are the 40 or 50 feet box cars, and hoppers (coal or cereal...). I wish I could have container cars and such, but it is too tight... 4)The tunnel is just 10cm long (4inches). The back part of the layout is a staging yard, like Mcguirck's Carolina Central. 5) Thanks. These drawings were made by a friend who is helping me plan this layout. Caleb, I have been reading your Thread. Man, awsome work! I hope I can do something like that. Metro, here in Portugal, most of young people do not know how to write properly. I mean, they are used to Live MSN, and SMS by phone, with short words... But they can't write a text without spelling errors... I'll try to do my best with my English. bryan9, I read MR. I have a subscription, and I won't give up on reading this wonderfull magazine. I also ready Model-railroad-Hobbyst, from Joe Fugate and his staff. Wonderfull e-zine! Thanks once again for your tips! Regards. Edit - Do you know where I can get a Peterbilt or something like that in N scale? Trying to fing, but It is not easy..
Nice looking layout. I agree. it is better to run than to switch:thumbs_up: though I do have an Inglenook in mind someday. I learned a long time a go, N is for running:thumbs_up: but the quality of today's N is much better than when I started so I may be changing my mind a bit. Still I love to run.:thumbs_up: Micros are my forte and they are designed to run. Love your drawing. Hope to see pictures posted. One thing I have found about N is they will take incredibly sharp curves if you stick to short locos and cars.:thumbs_up: My smallest radius is 5" and I can run my Atlas GP unit with 40 ft cars on it with ease. My longest train on a my Micro is about 10 cars long but that is on the larger radii. My present Micro has 3 loops, 2 parallel and one elevated. Am putting scenery on it now. It is 20" by 28" and I am having a ball.Your English is fine. Don't worry about it. Hope to hear more from you.
I'm building a scenic railroad as well. A bit larger at 4x10, but the same concept. BNSF Marias Pass is the location.
Hi Luis. Your layout idea reminds me of one in the May/June 2005 issue of N Scale Railroading. It's a 6 x 3.5 foot layout by John Leaders that is very scenic. I've often thought of building a smaller portable layout so that I could just railfan. Have fun! Tim
Dave, nice pics. Hope she's still running well for you. The Orin Line also found a new home just a few weeks ago.
John...it gets some trains run on it at least 4 days a week. I have thought about building a yard (maybe with a turntable) to add to the BNSF spur. I am glad that the Orin found a new home. You should post some pics on here of it.
Luis, I love your less is more approach. Very doable yet allows you to practice many aspects of the hobby. This would be great to have while building the "Dream" layout, but then again you may end up just running trains instead of building.
Hi all. I haven't done anything this last weekend. I was working, but I hope to do something during this week. I just layed out some sectional track and ran some trains. I was missing my trains rolling. I was planning a switch european layout, but found out that European models are too expensive for what they worth. I mean, I pay more that 300Euros for a locomotive, and she runs poorly. I pay 100USD for an awsome loco, that runs really great, right from the box. What gives? So, European switching layouts are not for me. Anyways, I hope to get my Atlas code 55 soon, that I from a store in the USA (have I told that European hobbyshops push the prices up for American rolling stock?) I will be using Fast-Tracks Bullfrog Manual Throws for the #7 Atlas tunouts. These two products are a first to me, because I've always used PECO code 55 for all my layouts, but I think that it not suitable for American ones: tie spacing and lenght are not the same in each side of the Atlantic. The structures I'll be using are going to be kitbashed or scrathbuilt. Subroad bed will be insultation foam. Roadbed will be cork, or balsa wood (I have a friend who is using balsa wood over the foam, and he said that it looks and sounds great). I hope everything goes well.
Welcome to TrainBoard. I can see from the previous postings, you've been aptly critiqued. I will leave that for the others. I love your rendering. Seems to me you have much potential as an artist. Keep us advised and the pictures coming I want to keep tabs on your progress. I can't help but appreciate someone who wants to Model the SP. .
