Category Archives: Layout

Turnout Motors

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The four assembled and tested Mole Switch Machines for the staging yard.

The four assembled and tested Mole switch machines that will be buried in the staging yard.

Work has been progressing quickly on the removable staging yard I’m building for one end of my layout, and a few weeks ago I had reached the point where I needed to get the turnout motors installed. I’m using Proto:87 Stores, Mole Switch Machines which I’ve mounted on two sheets of .080” styrene sheet. This assembly sits in a notched hole in the foam baseboard, invisible from the top, but accessible from below. Continue reading →

Layout Valance and Staging – Part 1

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The layout with its new valance and staging yard all custom built to accommodate my apartment and furniture.

I’ve been writing a lot about my adventures trackside lately, but have neglected to mention the progress I’ve made on the layout.  A couple of huge leaps were made over the last few months.

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Practice makes Perfect: Building a Diorama – Part 1.

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The foam diorama I created to test my ideas. It matches the profile of the layout bases. The square hole is where the switch machine will be mounted.

In order to better visualize how my layout plan will work, I built a small diorama to test my ideas.  It’s the same thickness as the layout baseboards (a 1″ piece of foam with a 2″ piece of foam on top where the track is and a 3/4″ piece of foam for the water, so the maximum thickness is 3″, minimum thickness is 1 3/4″).  This will allow me to test my switch machine mounting system, turnout construction and placement, sub-roadbed, and scenery techniques.  Read on to see what I’ve done so far.

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Building Foam Baseboards

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Railroad books have many uses!

I’m slowly working my way towards being able to lay track on my model railroad.  One big step that I’d been putting off due to the finicky nature of getting it right, was final assembly on all the foam baseboards.  Since I live in an apartment and the layout will eventually need to move, the baseboard is divided into three equal sections.  That creates two joints that will have many tracks and a large expanse of “water” spanning them.  I have a little experience building modules, and I know that if the joints have large gaps and don’t line up vertically, it’s a huge headache later in the building process, so I’m trying to get everything as tight as possible from the very beginning.

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Let There Be Light

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Lighting has been installed on the layout.

After a frustrating, but important and ultimately successful couple of months, I’ve finished installing the canopy lighting on the layout.  I used two parallel runs of LED light strips operating off of their own dedicated power supply to provide consistent illumination to the entire layout.  It took some experimentation, but now that it’s done I’m happy with the result.

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New Layout

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The progress so far on my new layout.

I guess it’s been awhile.  Here’s the story.  Back in November, a friend told me she was moving and asked if I wanted to take over the lease on her old apartment.  Though I was fond of where I was living at the time, her place offered a downtown location, the ability to ride my bike or the bus to work and a view of Pan Am’s River Line all at a price that I couldn’t pass up.  So I moved.  Once I was settled, I soon discovered that one wall of the new place could be ideal for a model railroad.  At 21 feet long and with only small windows towards to ceiling I would have room for a nice linear switching layout and movable staging yard.  A full gallery of my progress so far is available on my PBase site.  A few selected photo’s and an in depth description are after the break. Continue reading →