After a 30 year break I decided to build an N scale train layout. Come join me for the ride as I build a 4’ by 8’ “block C shaped” short line. The era I am modeling is late 70’s to mid 80’s. All feed back, questions and critiques are welcome!
And in the beginning there was press-board, cork and flex track:
As you can see there are some low radius curves so I went with suitable rolling stock. An Atlas GP-9 Phase II was chosen as my first loco. All rolling stock will consist of short cars only. So far I picked up 2 small hoppers and am going to acquire some beer can tankers and some ore cars. I’ll eventually make a transition to DCC:
3 days later and my main line was laid out. I also started marking roads and some street lights.
Since I really like night lighting I picked up 6 Model Power brass St. lamps for $2 at a toy fair. The lampshades melted after a few minutes so I came up with a quick fix. I used some clear thumbtacks and turned them into shades:
I also dropped the voltage quite a bit and like the amber color as a result:
Making the guard rails is tedious but easier than I thought it would be.
I first made a jig with some leftover flex track and drilled the holes at every other tie. No measuring just eye-balling it:
I use piano wire and balsa wood for quite a few things. I prefer balsa wood over bass because it is softer and does not split as easy. It also bends with less fuss. Once its sealed and painted it is quite strong. I also only use Elemer’s regular glue in case I make a mistake or want to change something.
I use magents to handle the piano wire and sharpen the ends with a dremel:
[#welcome] Those street lamps turned out pretty sweet! I’m interested to see thow that bridge turns out. Pick up a scale ruler, and never under/over scale projects again. Great job so far. Good luck
30 so years huh? That would be 70’s? Lighting and the table cloth are showing the age!
All kidding aside, great progress. I like the track layout with all the sweeping curves. The street lamps are sweet and I like the railing. Looks darn good. Looking forward to following this one.
Thanks for all the kind words everyone! I am glad a lot of you like the lamps. I am also experimenting with colored “light-bright” pegs.
As far as the disco lighting I do light shows for live bands and have lasers, a fog machine, and effects lights in the train room. Here are some pics:
I used the cork sheets because I got a box of the stuff real cheap.
As far as the steep grade is concerned. It rises 1" in 14" (7.1%). I know it is very far from prototypical but this is fantasy land. So far I can get the GP-9 to crawl 7 short cars up the grade with no problems (pushing and pulling). I had to remove the weights from the caboose though. I am not looking to run long trains on this layout and rolling stock will consist of mostly oar cars, beer can tankers and 2 bay hoppers. 2 of the main lines will be used for staging cars and longer trains will only run along the non-elevated tracks after coupling with the parked cars.
You will spend lots of money, force use of space for a layout, you will have spare parts of things you didn’t know you needed, spend hours and hours of time away from family and friends with that thing!!!
Thanks! I already spend hours away from family and friends these days. I have also noticed a lot of this n scale stuff really holds its value but you can’t put a price on the satisfaction you get from creating your own little world. I want this layout to be a work of art when its done. I have an artistic background and had my own art gallery in N.Y.C for many years.
Today I picked up a couple of ore cars and promptly removed the proto weights. I also grabbed a Bragdon weathering kit and look forward to working with it. Eventually I am mostly going to run short unit trains with either all beer can tank cars or ore cars. The 2 bay hoppers will be parked along the 2 staging lines most of the time.
Here is a pic of a 7 car “shorty train” going up the incline:
lol, welcome back to the wonderful world of N scale. I have an atlas GP9 myself; in fact my active fleet consists of a GP9, GP35, and U23B (all atlas). looks like a good start to your alyout, looking forward to seeing how it progresses out.
Thought I would post a quick update on my progress. I blocked off sections of track and lengthened my approaches to the elevated section. I am also adding a couple of spurs.
Here are a couple of night shots of my first completed building. I made the interiors and lit them with 7 wheat bulbs and 6 LEDs.
Welcome back~ Thanks for the thread… and don’t stop… give us a chance to learn and see how you do this…I would love to see this progress… and just keep the thread going. Fantastic !
