Layouts

[Anonymous]

Ok all you operators... what kind of layouts do you have? Do any of you stick to one type of roadname? Or mix it up? Old-school... Hi-Rail? What's your poison?

Me... I LIKE it all. But seeing as I can't afford to HAVE it all. I try to stick to one type/era. Right now, I'm modeling 1880's Virginia & Truckee, with the help of MTH. Considering the lack of 19th century style O gauge type products on the shelf, I don't have to worry about my wallet... too much anyway.[;)]

[overall]

I collect what I grew up with in the southeast around Birmingham, Alabama. GM&O, Southern, L&N, Frisco are some of the roadnames I have collected. GP-9's and 38's predominate.

George

[wrmcclellan]

I have an 8' x 12' layout (and it is on legs - not on the floor [}:)]) that is hi-rail style. Regular 0 tubular track with extra ties added and 031/072 switches. Scenery is 95% complete but no trees yet. In a concession to my better half, the buildings are Dept 56. Several Lionel accessories (log loader, coaling tower, operating freight station, operating switch tower, oil drum loader, etc.) are installed. With 072 curves on the outside loop and 054 curves on the inside, I can run modern scale or traditional sized locos & cars. The look and theme work to allow me to run prewar through modern era trains.

[Sturgeon-Phish]

I have a 5x9 that is all Post war American Flyer. Still a work in progress. Lots of accesories. Talking Station, Baggage Smasher, Stockyard, Drum Loader, Sam the Semaphore, Bubling Tower, Water Tower, Rotary Beakon, Coaling Tower. Two loops with a back and forth and a reversing handcar. Theme is mid '40's.

[cnw1995]

I have a very toy-trainy look on the layout that is about 10 ft. by 27 ft. Big feature is an X airstrip with WW2 pylon. Track is all 027. Though I am morphing into creating more of a 'traction' layout with trolleys / interubans flitting about. See pictures at http://condor.depaul.edu/~dmurphy/pictures.htm

You certainly have the right idea in picking some sort of theme or even prototype - it helps make things a bit more manageable.

[poppyl]

8X10 with a 4X6 wing. Gargraves track and Ross switches. Modeling the late steam/ early diesel on the Western Maryland from Hagerstown MD to Connellsville PA with a coal sub to either Elkins WVA or Gray PA (haven't decided yet). Coal sub located on second level reached by spur from the double main on the first level.

Poppyl

[Jumijo]

We have an L-shaped layout. 4x8 with a 4x6 wing. Our lone operating accessory so far is an old Marx rotating beacon. Not sure what the true definition of high-rail is to be honest. Our layout, set in New England circa 1956, leans more towards realism in regards to scenery, but with an intentional attempt to make/keep it semi-toy like. A nice mix if you ask me. Plenty of Plasticville structures and trees on our layout. The big project at hand now is the farm area. I raised the area the farm sits on up 1" with rigid foam and will encircle the entire "property" in a traditional New England stone wall.

We run all sorts of road names on the layout, which is really just 2 loops with a siding on the outer loop.

Jim

[dwiemer]

Mostly 40's steam. I started with my Dad's set from 1949. I have worked hard and spent more than a few dollars on completing the whole 1949 catalog. I have also started to throw in a few diesles, FM's etc. Lately, I have also added a few K-Line plymouth sets and a porter set. My intention is for a mostly freight set up with a couple of passenger trains thrown into the mix. I have a CTT from 96 that shows a mix of high rail scenery mixed with tube track. I think this is kinda how I am doing it.
Dennis

[Jumijo]

So what is the definition of high-rail? Is it scale? Is it extreme realism? Toy-like?

Jim

[laz 57]

Don't really care about Hi rail def.
All I care about is having fun cause these are toys.
Some high priced and some not so expensive.
They all run and look neat and I have hours of fun working and playing on the layout.
laz57

[Big_Boy_4005]

Emphasis on prototype with scale equipment, no toy stuff. Not a total purist, but 80%. I guess that makes me a highrailer.

[Buckeye Riveter]

We run them outside around the tree, (Bachman G Scale)

outside in the snow, (LGB G Scale)

inside around the tree, (Marx O27, circa 1955)

on a layout, (O27 & O Scale, Lionel, MTH, K-Line, Williams)

with TMCC and

we have been running them for a long long time. (December 1955)

And tomorrow night is the night they all will be running for the big neighborhood party.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Dang Buck!!! They're everywhere!!!

Nice to know that Mrs Buckeye hasn't let them in the kitchen yet.[swg]

Ever see that short film with Joe McDoaks (sp?)?

[MTsteamfan]

I don't have a permanent layout at home yet, but I put up a temporary one in the store where I work every Christmas and have been doing so for about 25 years. It's a family business so I can get away with pretty much anything! I build the layout every year with a good friend who is also a carpenter. It started off as one sheet of plywood and now covers about 225 square feet. He does the woodwork and I do the wiring and set up the goodies. It takes us about 2 or 3 weeks of spare time in the evenings to set it up.

We run Lionel steam engines with TMCC and a variety of rolling stock. I try to keep to the 1940s-1950s era. It's a winter scene but the scenery isn't as detailed as I'd like due to the temporary nature of the layout. We have various scenes, such as a Lemax village, a rural/farm area, and a downtown/industrial area. It's a lot of fun for me to stand out of sight and make the trains come to life as if by magic when little kids are watching. We can run up to 3 trains at once.

Big acquisition this year was the Lionel's Santa Fe Northern #3751 and the matching "Chief" passenger cars, which I've been drooling over since they came out. Needless to say, I keep that train parked out of reach when I'm not in the immediate area.

I keep planning to post up some pictures here but time keeps slipping away. One of these days....

[guilfordrr]

I have a small 4-by-8 tubular layout, modeling the east-central United States (say, Pennsylvania to the Carolinas). I only get trains in roadnames that coniside with that geography. Some things, like "Lionel Lines" I let slide, but nothing else. Not sure why, really... Beacuse, I guess... [:)]

For photos (most are outdated and overexposed- sorry, I'm uploading new ones soon[;)]) and some videos, click "Web" under my post.

[daan]

On my layout, 6x11ft, I try to make a bit of landscaping which looks prototypicall. I guess that's called hi-rail. The trains are mostly pennsylvania, but that's not on purpose. Everything that looks nice and I can get hold of is welcome on the layout.
Eventually I would like to have enough engines and car's to mimic different area's by changing the trains on the layout.
Trees and mountains look the same in every area, by changing some cars on the streets and the rolling stock, it's easy to have a steam era layout or a diesel era or whatever else. In real life railroads often hire locomotives from another road to keep up with the demands (at least in Holland they do that), so it is theoreticly possible to see a few different roadnames together. Also factory "try-out" engines without roadnames can be run, because the railroad wants to test the machines before they actually buy them.
I'm not in a position to be too picky, since there is almost nothing for sale in Europe which runs on 3 rail 0 gauge track. Even ETS is selling only 2 rail in Europe.

[Anonymous]

I live in the centrail IL. area. So I try to model ,my layout to the mid-west area of the country. I model in HO scale. I try to stick with one roadname ILLINOIS CENTRAL but I have a few SANT FE and UNION PACIFIC running on my layout .Thats o.k. they were the first sets I ever owned . Their old. BACHMAN F-7's still running after 13 years.Sometimes I need replace the diveshafts off & on but there pretty reliable. Most of my stuff is Athearns or Atlas. They make great running engines . My layout is 12' X 8' , in the begining, the room was a walkin closet. I moved the wall out 4 foot. The frame is L supports built into the wall studs of the room.1/2 inch ply-wood for the base then 1/2 inch. homasoet on top of that. The layout is built to three of the four walls with a duck under to get to the center of the layout ,where the control panal is. The hight of the layout is 5' , there are four other layouts under the top layout.The width of each layout is 2'. The layout has 8 ovals running into tunnles over bridges. The top layout is a point to point layout with two train switching. Im still working on the top layout. im going to use it as a trolley line. I have 5 MRC TECH 4 280 double throttle packs. Model Railroading is my hobbie a hobbie for life. There are always something to do and a great time.