My just OK layout, with some nice buildings

Stickframe · 16 July 2024 08:17

Hello model builders, or in this case, model railroaders,

I was recently trying to organize a couple of remote hard drives and was taken down the proverbial memory lane, or, again, in this case, the old tracks, when I stumbled across some folders with these photos. Some time in the mid 2008s, I became a model railroading enthusiast, but if I am honest about it, I became a big fan of making HO scale model buildings, which happen to also have had a railroad forcibly woven around them!

My layout was not good - primarily because of limited, and oddly shaped space - which prevented me from making what could be described as a good layout, As such, I used relatively tight radii, restricting all of my power to units with BB axles.

I started with a simple loop, but as that would not suffice, I eventually added elevated track sections and unnecessarily complicated tails, with all sorts of weird switching which was good fun. While not a good layout, all of this variety certainly kept me busy trying to figure out how to keep it all operational - and with DCC, all went as planned!

Eventually I ran out of plausible ways to extend anymore - which meant the demise of my railroad. It was built, and I realized I liked building it a lot more than running it. I eventually sold if off to a guy who is a full on rail enthusiast and very knowledgeable about rail operations, but not a great model building builder - he loved the chance to populate his layout with some buildings, and with that, no more railroad for me. As he seemed to really like the buildings, I didn’t feel too bad about seeing it go. I really enjoyed all the construction and have taken a lot from that into dio and other model building projects.

Rather than posting lots of single pics, I made the following groupings, which show most of it -

Hopefully you like seeing these oldies:

Uhh, yes, I went for the density of a real town - lol - without square inch of wasted space -

The basic idea is there is a fairly nice downtown, surrounded by a variety of other districts - so some buildings are pretty tidy and other a lot less so

One of the legs had a trolley loop! running around an elevated engine yard - And I used a lot of basswood - for everything

It’s a mix of kits, kitbashing and scratch building -

As you can see above, I went well out of my way to get changes in elevation and well, some pretty “out there” track work And naturally, did all of the “wrong” things - a classic was using a switch on a grade…with on track going up hill, the other down…yes, it took quite a while to make that work…

And there you have it! Sorry the pictures are a bit of a hodge podge, and not all in crisp focus. While I have lots of images, I wasn’t rigorous enough to take them in a way that they could tell a clear story - that fact annoys me a bit, but well, not worth worrying about now!

So, thanks, and hope you like seeing it

Cheers
Nick

Uncle-Heavy · 16 July 2024 08:56

You certainly managed the crowded look
The shipyard was a very cool idea, not a common feature on railroads
Loved the AC Cobra

The first time I got a good overview of the tracks going into Zürich (Switzerland) railway station it reminded me of a model railroad catalogue.

Johnnych01 · 16 July 2024 09:47

Simply WOW

Dioramartin · 16 July 2024 10:41

Holy……it wouldn’t surprise me if you laid out the drainage & sewer systems first! I hope there was a well-equipped Fire Dept there, it would go up like a bomb. Utterly spectacular – how long were you working on it?

Barney · 16 July 2024 10:50

That was very cool. I’ve dreamed of having a railroad layout, however a military career de-railed that idea, haha. So, I never got into it.

Tojo72 · 16 July 2024 11:33

I really love it

Tank_1812 · 16 July 2024 12:27

Yep just ok work Nick.

JPTRR · 17 July 2024 02:34

Nick, your work is amazing! Did you keep the buildings?? The layout is a feast for the eyes. The track plan looks pretty fun, too.

Thanks for showing it!

Stickframe · 17 July 2024 05:50

Thanks for having a look -

@Uncle-Heavy, you know, I really didn’t want this project to end, so I went out of my way and comfort zone to keep adding to it, so why not figure out a way to add a boatyard? The overarching lesson here was that I enjoyed building all of this a lot more than looking at it when it was done

@Johnnych01 , thanks, John - a perfect reply!

@Dioramartin, well Tim, as a fellow dio builder and whatnot, I’ll bet you’d do something similar! This took about 4 years to make, but, when it was done, it was done. While the trains ran as hoped, I just didn’t get that much enjoyment running them around - tho, I made the track work complicated enough that it took some effort to get an engine from the inner yard onto the embarrassingly short mainline, a term I use very loosely on this layout! The several short lines were much more interesting! If I only had a mile or so more of track runs!

@Barney thanks - it’s quite a coincidence you’d say that - I was not in the service, but for several years travelled way too much - at one point international flights about every three weeks for several years - which left me perpetually jet lagged, so I was wide awake at 3 in the morning - not good at all. I finally got sick of late night TV and decided I needed a hobby. If you’re out of the service now, or will be some day, why not take it up? No need for a giant layout, unless you have the space and the desire - I really enjoyed making this -

@Tojo72 thanks!

@Tank_1812 well Ryan, thanks - I wasn’t tying to be a wise guy here - While I think the look of the layout was fine - in fact, I really enjoyed making it and like the results; but as far as being a functional layout…that’s another story - I crammed a lot into a relatively small space, and when it was all done, well, not a very good layout for running trains on. It was essentially a really big diorama that happened to also have a model railroad!

@JPTRR thanks very much Fred, I really appreciate it. No, I sold it all - the guy who bought it tore all the scenery and buildings off to populate his own railway! Good for him, and I hope he still likes looking at them!

The layout grew in complexity as I realized I was running out of space. There was a mainline, which was a loop that was too short - and from it I added several short lines which were accessed by an elevated line that had serval spurs, a few at grade short lines, and a trolley loop! I just kept building until I ran out of real estate! I do believe that I used every square inch for buildings, scenery, or tracks! and them one day, I ran out - and the line was closed

Thanks again for having a look -

Cheers
Nick

Uncle-Heavy · 17 July 2024 07:19

This is a common behaviour with model railroaders

Dioramartin · 17 July 2024 11:08

Indeed I can cite another example of that syndrome. My very good friend Alistair Gilmour spent 12+ years on his layout. Demolished the house they were living in and built a new one with a dedicated wing for it & workshop. Then, having run 10 or 12 trains simultaneously round it for a few months (mainly to show local railroad groups) he donated it to a regional museum (in New South Wales) in the area his layout represented. He & his wife then moved house.

Nick please forgive the photo-bombing but it seems kinda relevant, and hopefully afficionados will enjoy these samples taken last year when it was a few months from completion: