A Few Photos of My Previous Layout

Trackwork is proceeding and (I know I've been delinquent about blog entries lately) and I should be able to have something running...now that I will have track on which to run it...soon. In the meantime, here are some photos of my previous layout when we lived in Eagle, Idaho. These were taken just prior to dismantling the layout.

Turnouts

I haven't written in here for a few days. I've been busy building turnouts. I've constructed quite a few over the years, but before starting a new track laying project, I always find it useful to review the articles and books I've acquired. I'm sure most of you have a library of magazines and materials, as I do.

There is Model Railroader, of course, which I've been reading since grade school. Between years of subscribing and swap meet acquisitions, I've got quite a few issues. Also, we lived in Portland, Oregon from 1975 to 2001 and the main public library there has an extensive archive of that magazine, including the original 1934 issue. I photocopied it and a ton of articles, drawings, etc. I have organized this material into files. Also on my train room bookshelf are many copies of Railroad Model Craftsman, the old S Gauge Herald and S Gaugian, plus some copies of Trains from the mid-1940's. When I need to add a structure or car, these publications are a great resource.

Anyway, back to turnouts. I use No. 6 turnouts; I'd like to use No. 8s, but they just take up too much space. As it is, for a small layout I'm using pretty large radius curves, ranging between 36" and 45", and No. 8s just wouldn't fit in my scheme. Because of the 28" shelf width, I can use Caboose Industries manual ground throws. I also use "hot frogs" so there's smooth running through the frog. I tried insulated frogs on a couple of previous layouts, but didn't like them as well.

My first handlaid turnouts were constructed following an S Gauge Herald article by Richard Karnes. I bought the article in reprint form from the Herald (obviously, this was a long time ago!). In the mid-1970's, I had the privilege of being part of an S scale group that visited Mr. Karnes' Seattle-area home and I saw some of his turnouts, which were in a section of track from a previous layout he'd had. He was about to start a new layout, I recall. His handlaid track was the finest, most realistically detailed I've ever seen. And his article is a resource I value to this day.

That article, as I said earlier, is one of many I refer to before getting to work on track laying. There is so much to learn from other modelers!

Materials

DEV had some further, very thoughtful (and much appreciated) comments regarding my choice of materials, as well as some suggestions.

He expressed reservations about using particleboard, citing a tendency to sag. I've heard this before, but having used particleboard in all but one of my previous layouts, I must say I've never encountered the problem. I think, as he mentioned, that proper bracing is important. I would also add that the thickness is significant; I have used 1/2" particleboard and have had no problems in the past. In my previous post, I said I'm currently using 5/8" particleboard, but I need to correct that statement. The particleboard I'm using was left by the previous homeowner, extra material from an attic flooring project...I just measured it and it is actually 3/4"!

With particleboard, humidity is indeed a concern with such materials and, admittedly, when we lived in Boise, Idaho, humidity was extremely low; Boise is in high desert and I've seen the humidity there down to 10%. Where we live now, in southeast Texas, it's at the extreme opposite end of the scale. However, before Boise we resided in Portland, Oregon, which is notorious for its damp climate, and I had no problems there with a layout in a semi-heated garage room. Again, I agree good bracing is a must.

DEV also mentioned celotex ceiling tile as a useful scenic material for landforms, etc. I can second that...I used it on a layout I built some years back and liked it.

Again, the comments are constructive and welcome! I've enjoyed hearing from you, DEV, and hope others will join in!

Track and Layout Construction

I've got to get my track plan and progress photos on here. Soon! Until then, I'll try to describe what I'm up to. Also, I want to respond to DEV's comment and his questions about roadbed and scenery.

Over time, I've found what I enjoy is switching and scenery construction, including structures. So my layout is strictly a switching layout, running along three walls of an 11' x 13' spare bedroom. The entry door and closet are on the same wall, which is really fortunate. There's one window, exactly midway on the 13' wall. I'm building the benchwork in sections in the garage; the sections are 28" wide, in 2-1/2' and 4' lengths, depending on where they'll be placed. Once a section is completed, I haul it upstairs and join it to the others. I hope we never move again, but just in case, the layout can be easily dismantled; the same advantage applies if the bedroom window needs replacement.

Each section has fairly simple construction, using 1" x 4" white pine for the frame, legs and bracing. The surface is 5/8" particle board. Most sections are 42" high; three that will have "water" are 40" with two levels of particleboard. This type of construction doesn't allow for much height variation, but I'm modeling a very flat area. Wood screws are used throughout, and sections are joined together with carriage bolts.

Now for the plan. The layout, set in April 1947, represents a small seaport and its terminal railroad at the end of a branch line of a fictitious Texas coastal railroad (name to be determined) that runs from Houston westward. There is a short segment of main line that disappears behind trees at one end and, at the other, ends at a passenger depot/freight yard. A turntable and three-stall roundhouse are adjacent, along with a freight house. At the other end of the layout is the port area, with two railroad wharves and five industrial sidings. Though I won't be running any passenger trains, I plan to build several passenger cars (I have one already completed) and the depot will provide a place to display them...plus it will add to switching opportunities.

The layout will also have space for non-railroad businesses and a small residential area. I think these are essential in setting the era and locale, because of advertising signs, types of retail stores, automobiles, etc.

I'm laying track on 1/4" x 1-3/4" white pine roadbed, ripped from 1" x 4" x 8' planks courtesy of my son-in-law Craig. On curves I cut the roadbed into 4" segments. Turnouts are on 12" x 3" pieces. The roadbed is bonded to the particleboard baseboard with white glue. I then cut ties from 1/8" x 1/8" balsa, which I stain with acrylic burnt umber. The ties are then put down with white glue. I lay the track in place, except for the turnouts. I find it's easier to build those separately on their bases and then insert them into the intended locations.

DEV's comment asked whether the white pine roadbed is noisy. Although I am still building and haven't run any trains yet, I have used a few cars coupled together to test the trackwork, and the noise doesn't seem excessive. More so than using Homasote, but not bad, I think. I do like the way white pine takes spikes. I considered white pine in the first place after reading Paul Mallery's Trackwork Handbook for Model Railroads. His advocacy of white pine and the fact Homasote is expensive provided the impetus to give it a try, and I'm glad I did.

DEV also asked about scenery. In the past I've used cardboard and foam for terrain shapes, and real dirt and ground foam fixed with 50/50 white glue and water mix. Roads and streets were patching plaster sanded flat and colored with acrylics. I think I'll probably take a similar approach on this layout. More about scenery in a later post. I'll try to also post some photos of my previous Idaho layout to show scenery examples.

One more thing...the railroad's name. I'm still working on the fictional mainline railroad's name, but for the port railroad I have settled on Gulf Harbor Terminal Railway. Guess that makes my port Gulf Harbor, Texas, somewhere west of Houston (and there's a lot of Texas west of Houston!).

The NW-2 Arrived

The NW-2 switcher arrived promptly and is all I hoped it would be. I paid a little extra to have S Helper Service install scale wheelsets and wire it for DC running. What a nice locomotive! It has excellent detail.

We've had family visiting the last couple of weeks so work on my layout is just now resuming. I have several feet of track laid, including the first turnout. My Code 100 rail has been used on four previous layouts, as have my spikes...not bad recycling, I think! I'm using white pine for roadbed this time, and so far I like it better than homasote, especially the way it holds spikes.

I'm also researching websites for vintage photos and advertising signs I can use on my layout, though scenery construction is some months away. Laying track, wiring and testing the whole works thoroughly of course must come first. However, I do enjoy the historical research aspect of the hobby and I want to do my best to recreate the look of April 1947. From what I've found so far, it won't be a large shift from my previous layout's portrayal of 1939. Not much changed in the appearance of towns; World War II put a lot of things on hold.

Choosing a Year

Now that I'm starting a new layout, it's time to consider whether to stick with modeling 1939, or to try another era. It's not an easy choice for me, because I really like the look and feel of 1939, and my structures, vehicles and, of course, rolling stock are faithful to that year. Modeling Texas instead of Idaho will mean some changes, anyway: altering my 0-6-0 switcher (my only loco...so far) to represent an oil-burner rather than a coal-fired loco, new industries, different scenery, etc. Nothing drastic, really, if I stick with the same year.

But there's another consideration that has only recently come to mind. I'd like to have a second locomotive, another switcher, since I plan to model a terminal railroad in a small Texas port. Right now, there doesn't seem to be an S scale steam switcher that is both available and (for me) affordable. My 0-6-0 is a Rex kit purchased about 18 years ago from Sandusky. I've been very happy with it, but I'm mindful that it's no longer brand new and (I hope) I have at least another 20 years of active model railroading ahead.

While mulling this over, I ran across S Helper Service's NW-2 diesel on their excellent website. It's affordable, looks good, and, as it happens, is a loco first built in 1939! I first read about the NW-2 in the book "Vintage Diesels" and liked its appearance. It was a very successful locomotive, sold in droves to mainline railroads. So while it is unlikely a small terminal line on a tight budget would be able to buy an NW-2 in 1939, it is reasonable to assume it would acquire one within a few years, by the second half of the 1940's.

So I'm moving ahead in time a little, from September 1939 to April 1947, which happens to be the month and year I was born. Since 1947 didn't look much different than 1939, I can use my rolling stock, structures and vehicles with little modification...maybe a few signs will have to be changed, along with the feature film advertised on my movie theater marquee. In 1947 steam locos still outnumbered diesels six-to-one, and the 0-6-0 would have another half-dozen years or so of life remaining, so it can run alongside the NW-2.

I'm happy with my decision, and I just ordered the NW-2 today.

Welcome!

As a lifelong model railroader, I'm glad to have this opportunity to write about this hobby that I have enjoyed so much. My start in this blog is a gift from my daughter Ann-Marie and her husband Brett, at the suggestion of my other daughter Jenny and her husband Craig, and I think it's a great idea! I hope that those who read this and view photos of my work will find it interesting and helpful. I know I've learned a lot and been inspired by others' work and the advice and information they've been kind enough to provide...and I'm still learning.

I'm a firm believer in Model Railroader magazine's longtime adage, "Model Railroading Is Fun." And, as one writer put it, "this is a hobby and not a religion." My personal approach is to strive for an accurate, scale representation of prototype railroading, faithful to locale and era. However, that's only one way to go about this hobby; for example, many years ago I visited a Seattle man's layout that "broke all the rules," that was quite a mixture of equipment, eras and even scales! And I've never seen anybody enjoy a layout more than that man did his! That's an important lesson.

Now, briefly, about me. I've been married to Susie for nearly 36 years, a VERY patient woman who has always encouraged me in my hobby. We're both Pacific Northwest natives and, until about a year ago, had always lived in that region, most recently in Boise, Idaho. Our daughters and their husbands relocated to the Houston area in 2008 and kindly suggested we do likewise. We did, and we sure like being close to them and our two granddaughters, Hayley and Emily.

I got started in this hobby at age 6 months when my Dad brought home an American Flyer S gauge train set, and I've stuck with it ever since, though now I model in S scale rather than "tinplate." Over the years I've tried to improve my modeling skills, and now I handlay my track and do quite a bit of scratchbuilding as well.

When we moved I of course dismantled my layout, which represented a small northern Idaho town in 1939 on a "freelance" short line typical of the area. Now I've just begun construction on a layout that will be set in a small Texas Gulf Coast port; I'm still nailing down the era, but I think I'm going to settle on 1947. I'll talk more about that decision in a later post.