Things you will never see on my ho layout

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

1 spider webs on the mainline

2 o scale automobiles

3 1 inch trees in the foreground & 6 inch trees in the background

4 real water in the lakes and streams and especially in the ocean scenes.

5 traction tires on a caboose

6 engines pulling more than 200 cars around the layout

7 a wye in a tunnel

8 a spur track in a tunnel

9 a turntable in a tunnel

10 a cab forward pulling an ac6000 around the layout

11 a night scene with no lights

12 footprints

13 real weeds growing between the ties of the track

14 purple houses

15 elephants grazing along with cows in a pasture

16 brass rail

17 a mortuary scene

18 telephone poles with scale working wires

19 an airport with 7 fullsize passenger planes on the runway

20 engines that go over 150 scale mph

21 x rated scenes

22 curves sharper than[:D] 14 inches

23 manual switches on the back of the layout,further than 4 feet from the edge of the layout

24 a sign saying, Im finally thru with my layout

2

You nailed pretty much everything on your original post. I do have two on your list; first I have a hidden spur track in my mountain (behind a tunnel) for storage. The other thing that is very hard to get rid of is spider-mite webs. That reminds me, it’s Bug Bomb time again.

Mel

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

Bakersfield, California

I’m beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

3

Most of those that you’ve listed plus graffiti and smoke. Tag…you’re it.

Tom

4

Mel,friend of mine modeled a weed killer car & put insecticide instead of weed killer in the car.Worked pretty good til a roach died on the tracks & derailed his new 2- 8- 8 -2…Just kidding.[(-D]

5

Tom,I forgot to mention real rain water[(-D] to match my rolling thunder,your it.

6

About that purple house…Sorry to disappoint there is or was at one time a purple house on RT.4 outside of Attica (Oh) several years ago.

I will add freight cars that does not fit the era I’m modeling.

7

Here’s a few more:

  1. Dinosaurs

  2. Hot Wheels vehicles

  3. Round “tennis ball” like trees packed into the background

  4. Political signs referring to actual campaigns in progress or hot-button issues

  5. Small cards or thumb tacks attached to the roofs of my rolling stock

  6. Fake grass mat

  7. Un-realistic smoke from my locomotives

8

Remember guys,I said you wont find them on MY layout.If you want to include any of the above mentioned,be my guest,just so your having fun. I do have a ho scale world war two tank im thinking about putting on the layout with a crushed auto behind it.

9

All of the op’s list except 18, 21 and 24 (the layout wont be more than a 30" reach to any point). Also add no battery powered locomotives, just capacitors. You cant have current detected signaling if you dont clean the rails.

10

A single track main that goes double just as it enters a tunnel.

11

Everything must be to scale, no ifs, ands or buts!

12

If you’re trying to avoid ‘whimsey’ (are you?), why not put the tank (some version of the Sherman M4 I guess, those are pretty common models in HO) on a plinth (well, a square representing a concrete pad) as a stuffed and mounted model. Hey, if it worked for old steam locomotives…

Now, as to the other items on your list…
12 footprints – No muddy areas or swampy land on your layout? Footprints (assuming human…actually, what about deer or horse tracks?). Tire tracks?

13 real weeds growing between the ties of the track – Real weeds? OK, what kind of micro-bonsai bio-technology are your refusing to use here anyway? OTOH, little used spurs and branches are vegetation magnets, and there is quite an availability of model foliage and grasses nowadays

14 purple houses – There was one not far from my house, next to the LIRR Montauk line. That said, such colorations for houses (such as pink, purple, turquoise, etc) can be pretty rare if they are not used as retail outlets or art/antique shops…

18 telephone poles with scale working wires – I presume you mean EZ Line thread here, and while there is definitely a tangle hazzard using it, the results do look nice (and it does snap back under mild deformation).

21 x rated scenes - You’re no fun anymore…

For me, it’s

No cutsey/overused scenes like cops hiding behind billboards or dogs wizzing on hydrants or firemen rescuing a treed cat (COUGH!woodland scenics mini-scenesCOUGH!)
In conjunction, keep company/business names reasonably realistic (No W.E. Snatchem’s here).

No industries with building smaller than the freight cars they recieved will be modeled. Instead, either they will be modeled

13

I actually want to string code line for my signals and actually transmit over it. Thinking of using magnet wire.

14

for my protolanced wheeling-

NO CSX smaller than a six axle.

No modeled derailments

no equipment older than 1990

15

A flatcar with a missile launcher.

16

Handlaid track.

17

WW II tank can be a static display in a memorial park. I have a 105 mm howitzer, if I ever get the layout going to put a park on.

Have fun,

Richard

18

What the saying? Its your layout and you can put or not put whatever you want on your layout.

19

I model 1954, both M4 Shermans and 105 howitzers were still active duty…

Sheldon

20

My layout sits dormant all summer, and I have a lot of hidden mainline track. You should see what the loco looks like, when I run the first train, in the fall. The front handrails are draped with cob webs. [(-D]

Mike.