NEED HELP ON LAYOUT PLANS FOR HO TRAIN

[jeffers_mz]

1. Decide what you want to do once the layout is finished (a mythical state never achieved in this universe).

Want to fire up one or more trains, then sit back and watch them go round and round? You need a loop for each one or at most, two trains.

Want to move cars around with a switch engine, building and rebuilding trains? You need a yard for that.

Want to build trains, run them somewhere else, then unbuild them and build new ones? You need a point to point main line with a yard at each end for this.

You have enough room to combine all of the above, but until you put together overall objectives, you'll be spinning wheels. During this phase of construction, you'll address two main points, the respective ages of all potential engineers (younger engineers will prefer loops, older ones may prefer yards and switching operations) and the business objectives for the entire rail system. Real trains don't run empty, unless there is a need to re-position rolling stock, and they don't haul coal (or anything else) to places that don't need coal, just for the pleasure of blowing the whistle and making the crossing gates go up and down. These considerations will bear on every subsequent decision you make, from the size and type or motive power, to rolling stock acquisition, to structures, building codes, and zoning ordinances, to style, era and condition of completed projects.

2. Are you a carpenter? Do you have a basic carpentry shop, with a table saw, chop saw, jigsaw, cordless drill and orbital sander?

If you can't answer yes to both of these questions, stick with your plywood benchwork.

If you can answer yes to both these questions, open benchwork may be a better choice. The extra effort required to suspend the road bed in 3D space is balanced by gaining great flexibility in constructing scenery both above and below track level. A Kreg jig will pay for itself the first day in reduced tension, and every day you run your trains in the sturdy stability of your "foundation".

If you can answer yes to the first question, but must reply no to the second question, then involvement, no matter how temporary, in outside projects, may ease the process of obtaining Board Approval for support equipment (tools) acquisition. A modular master bedroom closet upgrade (the more shoe shelves, the better) can and has translated into a well funded hobby workshop, if exercised with appropriate levels of duplicity, sincerity, and cunning. YMMV.

3. Now you plan your track layout. There is no substitute for downloading and learning to use the software mentioned earlier in this thread. (RTS from Atlas) Start with the basic master plan, a loop here, a folded dogbone there, a yard and a wye over there, get the main line reasonably "set in concrete" and save it as "Layout 1A". Every time you make a minor change that you like, save it as "Layout 1B" (or 1C...1D...etc.)

When you shut down the PC and come back later for more planning work, be sure to load the latest iteration. You'll get pretty confused if you don't make this a regular practice, with parallel ideas in various stages of development all over the place, never sure of what is in which file, a potential hair-pulling mess.

When you make major changes, like moving an entire yard or folding a dogbone, change the name to "Layout 2A". Now you have a record to go back to. The new tri-folded bi-directional return and reversing dogbone looked good at first, but now you can't quite fit the 23 track ladder switchyard there without moving the turntable and roundhouse into the river, so you have to go back one major step and return to the bi-fold dogbone plan, which you can if your previous files are in order and properly saved.

4. Major overall objectives, check. Skillset and supporting equipment assessed and allowed for, check. Track plan hashed out and re-hashed out, check. Now it's time to make some sawdust and some noise.

When the cloud-o-dust settles, you'll have your benchwork, roadbed and track all set in place and finish fastened. The track will be wired up, and every locomotive and car you own (or ever will own) will handle the entire mainline at maximum speed, with nary a derailment ( or even a wobble) passing through multiple turnouts off camber (super-elevated or tilted) on a 5% grade. Heh. Then you'll come out of the daze and be back to looking at bare benchwork. Turnouts and crossovers and wyes probably ought to sit dead flat in three dimensions, and transitions from flat to sloping ought to happen gradually, and off-camber (tilted or super-elevated) track will learn you to re-rail 70 car consists in record time, over and over, right up until you rip out the entire section and re-lay it flat.

Tracklaying, be it sectional, flex-track, or hand laid, is a process. Build some benchwork, smooth it out with a straightedge or level, and some elbow grease with the orbital or belt sander, lay some roadbed, spike down some track, run a loco and a few cars over it, note the problems, pull the problem areas back up, fix the underlying benchwork issues, lay the track again, test successfully, on to the next section.

Once you have the whole mainline, and as many of the branches and spurs laid and successfully tested under extreme operating conditions, and not one minute earlier, then it's time to start actually "modelling".

5. Big terrain features first. Method 1 - make a skeleton from plywood, one by whatever, screws, nailguns or staple guns, glue, whatever it takes. Cover it with intermediate support, like hardware cloth, or screen or chicken wire, something strong enough to span the open areas between the skeleton's "bones", something weak enough to shape without requiring a sheet metal brake, (or anvil and 3 pound hammer and forge), something strong enough to support a building or tree and hold its shape without sagging into a drooping U between supports. Coat it all with something sloppy. Plaster of paris, texture paint, plaster cloth, paper mache, bondo, Crest, spackling compound, (peanut butter doesn't dry well and attracts insects). Let it dry for a week or so and then slather it again. Have the proper solvents and cleanup rags close at hand BEFORE starting.

Method - 2: Styrofoam, a hot wire knife, a surform, various sawz-all blades with wood block handles, a variety of gouges, all sharp, 2.7 million dollars worth of Moto-tool bits, and a world class vaccuum cleaner of the non-carpet sweeper variety. Deploy as needed. Vacuum noisily and immediately, if not sooner. You will still end up with styrofoam "grommets" all over the house and inside every vehicle you own, but the noise of the effort can be invaluable in constructing a successful "mitigating circumstances" defense during subsequent prosecution.

Always, always, always remember Spike Murphy's corrollary to brother Murph's law, "derailments, turnout malfunctions, and intermittant electrical conductivity (when you prefer "mittant" conductivity) are naturally attracted to inaccessible layout areas via a force stronger than the natural attraction between tornados and mobile homes".

6. Paint it up. All of it. Drab colors, no gloss. Dampen everything first with a water spray bottle and a few drops of dish soap to reduce surface tension so the water soaks in instead of beading. Gray for rock areas. White for snow areas. Brown for dirt areas. Green for vegetated areas. Rusty/weathered brown for rails and ties. (You can write a book on prepping track for ballasting, many have, read some first.) This is a base coat. Disasters happen, and you WILL ding your scenery later on. Odds of the perp confessing are orders of magnitude less than shify eyes and vague references to "bad pets", so you'll be the one fixing them. A base coat simplifies this process. A quick and careful wipe with a solvent cloth (if the solvent is other than water, the pre-wetting step above will cause considerable problems) across the rail tops while the paint's still wet will save much wear on the Mr. Bright eraser later on.

7. Ballast the track. See previous section for the only hint you need to accompli***his.

8. Retest the track, every loco, every car, every turnout and branchline and spur, in both directions.

9. Retest the track, every loco, every car, every turnout and branchline and spur, in both directions.

10. Retest the track, every loco, every car, every turnout and branchline and spur, in both directions. (Terminology will vary according to circumstance. In the presence of fellow engineers, brakemen, yardmen and switchmen, this practice is usually referred to as "operating", and may be accompanied by beer when appropriate. In the presence of major stockholders, especially Board Members, usually impatient to at least see some finished scenery, this practice must be referred to as "exhaustive testing". Failure to do so may result in grave consequences.)

11. Individual area modelling and detailing. Towns, yards, bridges, tunnel portals, waterfalls, escarpments, mines, port facilities, etc. all fall into this category. If proper advance planning is undertaken, this phase of construction never ends. Board Members may appreciate this practice being referred to as "maintenence".

The wise modeller will conduct "maintenence" utilizing a modular approach. The uninitiated will superdetail all structures and terrain features in place for approximately two weeks, subsequently spend a minimum of three additional weeks in the hospital or bed, and return to "maintenence" procedures with a new appreciation for the modular approach and perhaps some titanium pins in strategically located vertebra. Build it on the workbench, place it on the layout, repeat.

12. Expansion and stock replacement. In the minds of many Board Members, these variables are inversely inter-related to some extent. A well planned and well advertised campaign to reduce operating expenses will go a long way towards securing Board Approval for route expansion. During any pre-expansion campaign, critical "maintenence" needs can sometimes be met through judicuous birthday and holiday purchasing decisions, though some discretion will be beneficial here. Buying 2.5 year old Junior a $1250.00 brass Big Boy when he's already expressed a preference for Thomas the Tank may not fly, on one or more levels.

A detailed discussion of these points must include individual Board Member idiosyncracies, which are beyond the scope of this author.

There you have it, in 12 easy steps. Understand going in, it isn't an operation, with a clearly defined beginning, execution, and end, it is a process and a lifestyle.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

I second the opinion of having two layouts.... I got lucky when a friend of mine was switching from HO to G, and sold me a 4x6 layout. I put short legs on it for the kids... now four years later, they're "operating" trains on my DCC controlled layout.

Also... try to find a club or other modelers in the area. They can be great sources of inspiration and help. Most of all, enjoy the hobby!