00 Railway layout General Advice

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

Hi,

I’m an absolute newbie. I’ve done a bit of scale modelling and have decided to give trains a go, for the larger more continuous project that it could offer me.

I don’t know jack about trains or model trains and am slowly learning. I’ve built a 1200 x 2400 mil (4 x 8 ft approx) base board. and have a very small 00 trainset. I was planning on using b]Atlas Layout HO-31 Waterlevel Western[/b]. This is an HO plan but I was planning to use 00 and go with a british Steam setting, imaginary place set before desiel become prominent. That’s all I’ve narrowed it to.

I have a couple of questions:
will this plan work with 00?

  1. If anyone is familiar with this layout, were would be a good place to put the stations (I was thinking 2), There’s a turntable; so somewhere near the turntable, and on a ‘side’ so I can divert the train to the station and then isolate it. so I could run two.

If anyone is familiar with this plan, or has any general Advice on simple ‘scenerios’ I could work on a layout of this size I’d be grateful.
Thanks in advance

2

Gareth,

I have built a couple of different 4’ x 8’ layouts (one with a 9" turntable) – I’ll send you the plans when I get home (to the scanner) tonight.

Meanwhile, here are some pics of British (00 scale) steam.

http://mike-stevens.fotopic.net/c982142.html

3

[#welcome] Gareth

You will not breaking any modeling rules for trying out any plan you like. If you are not using Atlas brand sectional track, you may have to make some changes or deletions in the process if you are using another brand sectional track and there are differences in radius and/or length. But it won’t hurt to give it a go. OO track is the same gauge as HO, only the scale of the model is different (1/76 vs. 1/87).
I would suggest buying the Atlas book. It will show you where to put rail insulators for blocks or passing tracks and wiring so you can operate more than one train if you are not using DCC. The turntable is for turning the locomotive, not the whole train and for routing the loco to service / storage track.

A word of caution Gareth. Edit your profile and add your e-mail address there. It will add an e-mail icon to your post and folks can contact you through the forum. Otherwise you are asking for spam or worse.
After that, edit this post and delete your e-mail address.

If you want to know when someone has answered your question, you can check the box at the bottom message reply area (not quick reply) to be notified when a response is made to the thread.

4

gary157,

First, let me bid you a kind [#welcome] to the forum! We don’t get a lot of OO scale people here, but there’s plenty of scale modelers here to help you out in any way possible.

One thing I would suggest: Get a copy of “Track Planning For Realistic Operation” by John Armstrong. I know it may sound a little strange since you’re using a pre-printed plan, but trust me, you’ll use this thing over and over. One of the main things it does is it describes how trains use their tracks and why. Once you have a grasp of that, the positions of things like stations, RIP tracks, yard tracks, and so on and so forth, will literally jump off of the plan and you’ll see things (possibilities) that you never would have seen before.

As to the plan posted above, when changing the scale of a plan one of the big things that needs readjusted is the track centers of parallel tracks. These don’t always scale out the same as other aspects of the plan, so beware and be ready to change that. Another thing I noticed is the lack of sidings on the plan. I don’t know about you, but I’d get real bored real quick just watching trains chase their cabooses. Round and round, round and round, that’s it. Adding some sidings (businesses that need switched) will help to add interest and give your railroad a reason to “be”. Also, you may wi***o explore your own dream for a layout instead of building someone elses dream. If you want to create your own track plan the book I suggested would help a bunch, plus, there’s free track planning software available, and there’s always us to bounce your ideas off of. Some people don’t have the time for that, but if you wanted to give it a go it’s not that hard.

You also mentioned isolating a train on a track. You can easily do this with DC control. It’s just a matter of throwing a couple of electrical switches. One thing you’ll probably notice after a while though is that you’re really driving switches,

5

Hi All, thanks for the kind welcome, I was expecting a major mocking for the breaking of some arcane code, you know how it is!! :slight_smile:

Thanks for the photos Michael there’s a lot to get through so I’ll check them out, that looks like a huge layout, look forward to any plans you can provide, cheers.

Gary have done as you suggested, and edited my profile and removed my email from the post.

I’ve bought the book by atlas HO King-Size Plan Book. I was planning on buying bits of track and laying them on my baseboard as I have the money. Using a few buildings and using it like a trainset until I’ve got all the track I need and then fixing it down with cork underlay(?).

I probably will use Atlas sectional track and points, with some flexi track cut to fit.(was thinking for the straight sections and those less severe bends) I was thinking I’d buy the points without motors initally and then add them later (prior to fixing the track permantly in place).

I thought progressing up in this way would give me an idea of what is actually fun to do, and play with.

Phillip, thanks for the suggestion of the book that sounds like what I need I’ll try and get a copy of that. Will watch the parrell lines. I had thought, I could maybe get into DCC later, as I thought this was a lot more expensive…?

I also had concerns about this plan as it seems a bit ‘busy’ almost like it had too much track and not enough yard, or maybe not enough uninterrupted center to make a nice scene in, I don’t really know.

I don’t now what ‘RIP’ is, could someone tell me please.

I heard atlas had some free track planning software and I registered with them but am waiting for a confirmation email ( strangely slow in this modern age) I’ve also got a copy of Trainz 3.1 which is quite fun, but crashes a bit, and I’m trying to put that layout into the mchine to try it out.

Thanks for the warm welcome all. Cheers
Gareth

6

Welcome,

If you have a vision of what your railrad looks like start from there. Rather than finding a track plan and making your vision fit, expand you vision and modify the track to make your vision work. Looking at plans is not a bad thing, but look at finshed layouts and see what is possible. There are plenty of examples here. You can also wander around railimages.com.

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Funny thing about how that works out. After you get DC up and running for a while you start to aquire a few loco’s. Then you go to switch to DCC and suddenly you have to not only get the DCC system, but now you have all these loco’s to convert. THAT can be expensive! Sure, you can buy loco’s that are decoder equipped but run on DC, but the selection of those is lower, so you’re limited in what you can pick from right out of the starting gate. Look at it this way; I just went on line and looked for a decent HO powerpack and I found the “MRC Power Command 9500 Power Pack for $87.98” and the “MRC Control Master 20 for $149.98” from a random retailer. You might be able to find it for a bit less, and there are cheaper powerpacks out there, but these are just a couple of nice powerpacks that would give years of service. Now lets look at DCC. For around the same price you could get the “Digitrax Zephyr Basic DCS50 Throttle/Command Station/Booster (2.5 Amps) for $155.99” (Thats from the same retailer as the above powerpacks.) or the “Bachmann E-Z Command DCC Controller System for 75.99” (This system is a little low on power, so you might do better with other choices. I just included it for illustration purposes.)or the “NCE Powercab System for 139.99”. There are also other DCC manufacturers out there with similarly priced systems (The MRC Prodigy Advance come to mind). The point I’m trying to make is that it might not make sense to pay for a DC powerpack, and then later, a DCC system. It would be cheaper to bite the bullet up front and just go with the DCC system right from the get go. Make sense?

8

Here are those 4’ x 8’ layout drawings;

http://mike-stevens.fotopic.net/p30769273.html

and

http://mike-stevens.fotopic.net/p30769272.html

Enjoy.

9

Hi Guys, cheers for the info, my Dad has just got back form overseas holiday he’s been away for a while, now he’s back I’ve told him about the railway idea, and he’s got some stuff it turns out. A triang locomotive double ended that lights up and a couple of caridges all HO, and a bit of track, a couple of points left and right, some track sections, so I’m looking a little more in the direction of HO… but I’ll see how good his stuff is, it’s bound to better than what i’ve got, (one hornby 0-4-0 engine, some mixed carridges and a small oval of track). I’m less commited to the waterlevel western than I was, think i’ll play with some arrangments and see what they’re like without fixing them down.

thanks for those plans Michael I think I’ll try entering them into trainz and playing with them. That’s a choice photo space mouse, will check out the link.

cheers

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Hi Gareth
I did a little searching for Tri-ang and found Tri-ang.com. Your dad must have some pretty old stuff. They may not run as smooth as new locomotives, but I suggest keeping them original to retain their collectable value. Just clean the wheels and lubricate the running gear lightly with plastic compatible oils and grease.

If you are thinking purchasing a DC power pack or DCC system, be aware that in New Zealand the voltage is different than the voltage required by systems made for the North American (N.A.) market. You would need a step down transformer suitable for electronic equipment to drop the voltage down from 220 volt to 110 volts.

As for DCC systems I don’t know what is available to you, but when deciding which DCC system you want, note that Marklin DCC uses two different protocols which neither are compatible with the National Model Railroader Association (NMRA) protocol. Lenz of Germany and all N.A. made systems use the NMRA protocol.
There is a DCC controller by Uhlenbrock Elektronik that handles multiple protocols called Intellibox.

11

Gary: as a modeller of British prototype in Canada, I have a couple of cautions for you.
Your Tri-Ang loco will be most unhappy on Atlas track, or almost any modern track. The British suppliers have improved their products immensely, and the wheels standards are incomparably better (still not perfect).
The Atlas layout doesn’t look very British. This may not matter too much – as long as you get running. There will be no size problem with the track layout for OO.
British models may not be easy to convert to DCC – mostly they didn’t provide for it and half the wiring is the frame. Some just don’t have room for the chip.
Peco have a few booklets like “Plans for small layouts” that may help. (Not sure if they’re still published!)
And look for the British Railway Modellers of Australia.

12

Hi,
I believe that an increasing number of OO scale locomotives from Hornby and Bachmann are now ‘DCC ready’, with a standard NMRA socket (although I have heard some compaints about the lack of space around the socket in some models, to actually fit a decoder into!!!).
Also, Hornby are preparing to release their own DCC system (their ill-fated Zero-1 system was one of the first, many years ago), so you can expect to see more locos from them ready-fitted with decoders (http://www.hornby.com/pages/hornby_digital.aspx).

13

gary: a bit of toy train history.
A company called Rovex started out making a plastic OO gauge train around 1950. They were absorbed by the large toy making firm Tri-Ang. The holding company for Tri-Ang went broke, although the train division was profitable, and the train division was spun off. They had, in the 1960s, taken over the Mecanno corp, which included Hornby Dublo. When the train division was spun off from Tri-Ang, they couldn’t take the name so they used the other one they had rights to – Hornby. That’s why today’s Hornby trains look more like the Tri-Ang than like Hornby Dublo.
The Hornby Dublo locomotives and some cars were passed to Wrenn (which was part of the group at one point) and from Wrenn they went to Dapol. Dapol issued some cars incorporating H-D bodies and parts. After some teenagers burned their factory, they never quite located all the moulds for the H-D locos.
and I won’t tell you about Airfix, Mainline, Lima and Dapol and how they relate.

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Airfix, now theres a name I havent seen for a good long time, takes me back to building airplane kits of Spitfires, Hurricanes and the like when I was 6 and older back in the UK, happy days… Good info David, thx.

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and AIRFIX (to me as a kid) was a “Wellington” or a “Lancaster” – my Dad was a “Radio Op.” on several missions on both types toward the end of WW2.

Now – I especially like their (Airfixes) ROR British goods wagons

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Hi gary 157
Yes you can run a British style OO scale model on the plan you speak of,
but be aware US and UK railway practices are diferent as more often
than not are the track plans.
Also note Atlas and Peco track is reasonably compatable but I would sugest using peco points and crossings, for level crossings you have no choice
it must be Peco for UK style ones.
Note if you have any old triang stock you will have to re wheel it to use the modern track psst! don’t tell the collectors.
regards John