Hey, some of you may know me from a few places (like the Bachmann and TYCO forums, Facebook or YouTube…), or if you don’t, I thought I’d share my unique HO-scale train layout!
Although I enjoy HO-scale model railroading, I am also into some of the “old school” HO train stuff, especially older products made by companies like AHM, Bachmann, Life-Like and TYCO. (It helps that my first electric train set when I was starting out was a Life-Like set!) This layout features a nifty combination of older and newer stuff, and while it may not be totally realistic or prototypical, it’s lots of fun, and I enjoy running it like a real railroad. It features older operating “action” cars and accessories, some classic rolling stock from the '60s to the '80s, structures from that same era, and more! Yet there are still plenty of “newer” model railroading entities utilized, such as DCC, knuckle couplers, nickel-silver track, etc.
I first began building it in March 2014. It is on an L-shaped platform made out of two 4x8 plywood sheets; one of them is supported on an old modified dining table, and the other is on 3x2 lumber benchwork with a shelf underneath for storing stuff. Landscaping was done with painting directly onto the table, with the appropriately-colored ground foam (mostly Woodland Scenics) added in necessary areas. Most of the track is Atlas Code-100 nickel-silver snap-track, except for a couple of grade crossings and the lighted bumpers.
My main railroad that runs on my layout is the BNSF Railway, along with Amtrak passenger service. There isn’t really a set time period on my layout, as sometimes you’ll have steam and diesel running together, the BNSF using an old Santa Fe F3 on one train and a modern BNSF Dash-8 on another, etc.
The purists and “true and real” model railroaders amongst us will probably shudder when looking at these pictures, but I bet you had (and still have) a lot of fun with that layout - and that´s all what counts!
53 years ago, my model railroading career began with a Marklin HO scale tin plate starter set, and for some years I have been making plans to build a nostalgia layout using exclusively the materials available in those days.
It´s a yet unfulfilled dream, but who knows, maybe one of these days …
I LOVE IT! Mostly because it just looks like a lot of fun. It might not be an exact museum scale model but I bet it’s more fun to play with because you can actually unload the cars. My first layout was Tyco trains and slot cars. Over the years I upgraded but I still run a lot of my old Tyco rolling stock. The Tyco engines died a long time ago. I replaced the Amtrak F7 with one from Altas.
With a couple of after market parts the Walthers B40-8Ws can look pretty sweet.
I have many of the same structures including the Tyco house which I also have a pool in the backyard.
If anyone doesn’t like your layout they don’t understand that what you are doing is Toy Train Collecting and it is not trying to be scale. [8D]
That layout looks like a blast to operate! Yes it’s not a highly detailed prototype layout, but this hobby is about having fun. Thank you for sharing. Chris
My original HO layout dated somewhere back to the late 1950s, so I recognize some of cars and buildings, too. I still have most of what I had then, and I’ve incorporated a lot of it into my present layout, which I try to make look like a “real” model railroad, if you don’t look too hard.
This is a Life-Like model, but I doubt they ever built one like this:
These Plasticville buildings do seem a bit small for HO, but in the back of the layout they work fine. The Post Office is intact. I took the Supermarket and turned it into a ski shop, and the Hardware Store kit is now part cigar store and another “vacant” shop that may some day be a Chinese restaurant.
I think I’ve got 11 of these old Tyco “clamshell” hopper cars. The hopper doors open when they pass over a special actuator. I can also fill the cars with “coal” from this old Vollmer loader, with the chute doors operated by solenoids.
The cars may then be unloaded at this bin across the layout. The pile of coal under the track is built like a volcano, and the hole in the center allows the coal to fall through and be caught in a box below.
Thanks for sharing your layout with us, and thanks even more for keeping some of the old fun of our childhood train sets running.
Those vintage Revell MR kits were lifesavers for a lot of young folks trying to build a decent layout. Back in the '60s, I had them all and without them I suspect my interest in the hobby would have gone downhill.
BTW, I took two of the engine houses and kitbashed them back to back, and they fit right into my current “1950s” era pike.
IMO, Revell and Atlas and MRC and Athearn were the key companies in getting this hobby (HO) to where it is today.
I find your approach lacking and disappointing. We expect better on this forum; No green plastic TYCO actual fan driven steam whistle? Tell me you have at least one on the layout and redeem yourself! I think they had it “hidden” in a petroleum tank. And a good ol’ tender driven Chattanooga Choo Choo to use it with would be a nice addition, keeping with the overall fidelity of your otherwise fine train set.
I will say that your control panel is probably the crowning touch. I’m trying to remember, where in the distant past have I seen a similar classic example of such uniformity and neatness? It looks so familiar it’s downright nostalgic. Ohhh… Mmmm… It’ll come to me.
