Around Jan of this year I started down the HO scale path and because of some unfortunate luck I had not been able to complete a layout to the point of running a train until today, yup, the long wait is over.
The layout that I’m now working on in the new addition has only the outer circle track up and running but I can at least run some trains until the rest of the interior tracks and scenery are completed and I’m so grateful for this.
If it were not for the long phone calls too and from Cuda Ken at this site I’d still be trying to figure out why no train would stay on my tracks. THANKS KEN, because of your guidance I’m up and running and without derailments, I’m in your debt.
Also thanks to all those who helped me sort all this out and a special thanks to Loathar who has also helped me avoid some costly mistakes, I owe all of you a Hugh debt of gratitude today, I was getting so frustrated that I was about to just buy the ugly easy track (just my opinion) and say to heck with trying to put down atlas track but I didn’t give up and it paid off.
Now when I got the cork road bed down “which was an adventure all in itself” I was using squares of 12" X 12" X 1/8" cork board and for the straight sections it wasn’t bad but making the right bends for the curved sections and keeping them uniform was a trick and a half but I was told that I should use cork road bed in the least so I did.
Cuda Ken helped me pick out my first real locomotive and Athern F7 Blue & Yellow paint scheme with an unpowered B unit , he lubed it and adjusted it for me before shipping it out and was nice enough to send me about 100 better wheel sets to get rid of the plastic ones, he also made me a great SF box car gift to keep as an example of what the correct weight, couplers height (knuckle couplers) and the proper wheel sets should look like so that I can use it as a standard when I redo my old stock, he could tell you mor
DON’T USE KITTY LITTER ON THE LAYOUT IF YOU HAVE A CAT!!! For obvious reasons![:-^] The layout is looking good so far, and you have a couple of good friends helping youi out!! Let’s see some more pics!![8D]
I would paint the plaster with brown or grey latex and look for some local items for ground cover. Sifted sand or baked dirt, sawdust you can dye, ground up leaves. There are lots of natural items out there you can use. just make sure you get a magnet to run through the dirt or sand and bake the stuff in an oven to kill any organisms. Hope that helps. J.R.
Okay, DON’T use sifted kitty litter for ballast–especially if you happen to have a ‘sifted gray kitty’, it’ll turn out to be the most popular feline ‘disposal’ unit you’ve ever seen, LOL! Actually, IMO, the ballasting would be the LAST thing I’d worry about–get your trains running perfectly, the rest of the scenery in, the buildings situated and THEN–do the ballasting. Remember, in Nature, the railroad came AFTER the land was there.
Really like the progress, my friend. Keep us posted.
Well I’m happy to say that I do not have a cat I picked up the kitty litter when I first started this hobby, some one suggested it here but only 1 person so I was wondering why it is not more widely used, I’m thinking because of the whole HO scale thing???
I think I will wait until all the land scaping is done, putting down grass, bushes, trees and so on.
I will be making the buildings interchangeable for some fun.
I will be painting the boulders different natural colors and I’m concidering making the quarry a pipestone quarry, it is a red rock that is found only in Pipestone Mn. and it is mined under permit for Native Tribal Members only to make our Ceremonial pipes (No NOT that kind of pipe) I know what your thinking but not my tribe…!!! [:-^]
So I thought it would be a unique type of mining operation.
Oh well I’m off to push the speed limits of my F7s to see where the “OH NO” point is.
Hey good for you Red Horse, you have gone through some tough breaks but now you can see the effort paying off, are you glad you toughed it out now? nice work so far, keep it up!
Yes, I’m very happy that I stayed with it, well to be honest I was going to throw in the towel but a few good folks here encouraged me to push forward or I would have done all this for nothing in the end, so I owe a lot of my layout to them.
I still have a ways to go but now I know that with the right help I can do almost anything with my layout.
It takes more than just a vision it takes the wisdom of those who have been there before me.
I can’t say enough good things about the Hobbyist that dwell here, they are the very best and it is because of them and people like you that this hobby has survived so long.
Happy Rails my friend.
Jess red Horse of the “Hopeful people” Tribe [(-D]
That first train run after an eternity of building, benchwork, roadbed, tracklaying and what ever. It makes all the effort worth it. I had first train run on my layout just two weeks ago. Fantastic.
I never saw a kitty litter fine enough to make good HO ballast. I just spent $10 on a bottle of Woodland Scenics fine gray ballast.