My O gauge layout

country joe May 13, 2017

  1. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I moved to Florida last year and began working on my layout earlier this year. This is the trackplan for the new layout. The track is FasTrack and the minimum curve is O36.

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    I've started placing buildings to get a feel for how it will look. I'm pretty happy with this corner.

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    I'll update this thread as I make progress.
     
  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Track plan looks interesting. Will the spurs be used for operating accessories?
     
  3. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure at this time. I have some industrial buildings but may replace some or all of them with operating accessories. I'll make decisions like that after running the layout for a while.
     
  4. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I just noticed that I didn't note the size of the layout. It is 10'9"x20'4".
     
  5. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I am working on the small, or west, corner of the layout. These are a couple of WIP pictures.

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    I will post more pictures as I make progress.
     
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  6. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I've been working on the grade crossings. I used Woodland Scenics N scale foam roadbed inside the track.

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    That's it for now.
     
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  7. HOexplorer

    HOexplorer TrainBoard Supporter

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    Lookin' good Joe. Jim from back in the day.
     
  8. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Jim, it's good to hear from you.
     
  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    As I age, thoughts of eventually going back to Lionel keep popping into mind. Such fond memories of younger years with that and American Flyer, Marx.... Seeing a layout such as this always takes me back and starts the thought processes going again.
     
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  10. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    3 rail O gauge is what I started with. I got my first set for Christmas 1949 and was born a week later. I grew up with O. In my 30s I built an HO layout. In my 40s I built a G scale layout. In my 50s it was N scale and in my 60s I returned to O gauge. All the scales and gauges are fun but O is like coming home for me.
     
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  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Interesting that you write this, as when thoughts do come upon me, it is exactly how I feel.
     
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  12. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    When I was 9 or so my dad and I build a Lionel layout in the basement. It was 8x8 and could run 3 trains since I had 3 locomotives. I have a lot of great memories from my childhood but that is one of the best. I remember running the trains at night with the lights off so the only light was from the trains and the layout.

    I really enjoyed the scale realism of HO and N at the time. I was working on an N scale layout when I retired in 2014. I was having an increasingly difficult time with the small trains due to shaky hands. The Mrs and I went to New York City for a few days that September and we visited FAO Schwartz. They had a 5x9 Lionel display layout on the second floor and that is what lit the fire. I took pictures and in the next few weeks found the idea of O had captured my mind. I dismantled the N layout and started on O in a spare bedroom and that's when I knew I was home. It just felt right. The only thing missing is my dad.

    We moved to Florida last year and I started this layout. I'm going for that blend of post war semi-scale size and sort of realistic scenery that was in every Lionel catalogue in the 1950s, something between toy and scale when trains were just fun.
     
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  13. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    Coming home! Yes it is.

    For many of us it's the childhood memories of our O scale train equipment that is still the reason we are in model railroading today.

    And the stuff available today. Wow! What took them so long?
     
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  14. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I feel the same way. I remember trying to run my trains slower and it wasn't easy, plus I always had to adjust the throttle because they would speed up and slow down. The sounds, speed control and details of modern O gauge are what I was wishing for as a kid.
     
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  15. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I took out the crossing and reversing sections on the left side of the layout. I also changed two of the spurs so they could be switched while running in one direction.

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    I also came up with a plan for an upper level. This runs from the left side of the layout to the middle peninsula.

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    The right side of the layout now looks like this. The roads and grade crossings are glued down. I still have to work on the church area and add a lot of details as well as wire the buildings and sawmill.

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    That's it for now. More to come as I make progress.
     
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  16. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    I paved the parking area next to the ice cream shop.

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  17. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    A '57 Chevy, and is that a Studebaker of what year? Maybe '50 or '51?
     
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  18. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    Yep, you nailed it. They are a '57 Chevy Belaire and a '50 Studebaker Champion.:)
     
  19. BarstowRick

    BarstowRick TrainBoard Supporter

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    Wow!

    Nice very nice.

    You have me yearning for a O and S scale layout I build for my former boss. Miss it!
     
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  20. country joe

    country joe TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Rick. Do you have a layout?
     

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