Build a model train

In order to create a more realistic looking model train layout, Rob wanted to copy what is found on a real train roadbed.  The ties of real train tracks are surrounded by small stones or cinders called ballast.  In addition to a raised roadbed, ballast allows for drainage and holds the underlying roadbed from washing away.

In a scale model, the ballast is not loose as it is with real train tracks, but glued down.  Considering that the real ballast is only an inch or two in size, model train ballast has to be pretty small to look right.  Ballast may be purchased from train and hobby stores.  In order to keep costs down, some model railroaders use masonry sand.

Ballast is added only after the track is fixed to a base, generally of cork or styrofoam.  This base is to simulate the raised bed of real trains.  A useful feature of ballast is that it covers screws, joints, and wire holes resulting from laying the track.

There are several suggested methods of adding ballast.  Rob, however, failed to remember what he had read and made some errors.

He first spread regular gravel left over from an old dump truck load.  He then saturated it with a 50%-50% white glue-water mix and it looked okay.

Then he added a layer of cheap, fine sand from home depot which had been bought for an outside project.  Unfortunately, the sand contained some magnetite particles which caused problems and led to a major clean up job.  The sand also didn’t work very well with the process previously used on the gravel.

In order to finish the ballasting on Barbara’s HO layout, Rob’s plan is to get some non-magnetic, non-conductive sand and proceed as follows…

1, Carefully spread it where it is wanted with a soft brush, keeping it below the ties and out of the moving parts of the turnouts.

2. Soak it drop by drop with alcohol from an eyedropper (note: the paint used on the track should be tested to make sure it doesn’t run when in contact with the alcohol).

3. Soak it with the 50%-50% white glue-water mixture, starting down the center between the rails and then along the edge of the side, letting it wick into the ballast thoroughly.  Note – a few drops of India ink added to the water-glue mixture will “age” the ties and the ballast.

4. Clear the tops and insides of the rails to prevent derailment of the trains and let dry.

In the south it’s a popular thing to have a community dinner after church. To provide for such events, Rob has added space for benches behind the church on Barbara’s HO layout. Now the parishoners can have dinner on the grounds. Note they are still working on the road leading to the church.

At the other end of the hill, Gil, the delivery guy, appears to be making a delivery to the old farmhouse. A trackhoe nearby is digging out a future pond. Perhaps it will be used as a swimming hole by the farmer’s kids.

Still in development, the area around one of the model train tunnel portals is being built up. I can’t wait to see how Rob finishes it. Note the blue lines where Rob might create a deeper entry to the tunnel.

To suggest to the viewer that the mountains on Barbara’s model train layout continued beyond the table, Rob, with his artist’s eye, squared up the corner. This added an area for Barbara’s getaway cabin.

In the hill country, heavy machinery was brought in to build a road to a new farm on the ridge. The road is currently gravel, but Barbara is considering a paved surface.

At the other end of the hill country, the local church has been erected and a road is under construction for the town’s people to get there on Sunday.

While Rob was working on Barbara’s HO model train layout, there was criminal activity in the trailer park. All of the police in Sherman’s Crossing, the town in her layout, were on site.

This criminal activity frightened the town’s only other inhabitant so badly that he rented a U-haul, intending to move away.
So goes the story as Barbara’s HO table continues to develop. As I have stated before, developing a story to explain your layout can make it more fun. Imagination is the key.

Further developments have been made elsewhere and Rob’s artistic talents are beginning to appear. At the entrance to the tunnel, Rob has added a very realistic portal painted with a few old acrylic paint washes. The smoke residue at the top was created with black chalk. Some additional supports were colored with the same acrylic washes.

Rob has also added more sheetrock mud and other materials to continue developing the HO model hill country. Dabbling in ink washes and utilizing dirt prebaked in an oven to sterilize it, he is slowly bringing this model train layout to life.

Rob wanted to build up the canyon walls beside the stream on Barbara’s HO layout, once again using left over building materials.

Cutting and bending some old fence wire for support, he attached torn sections of leftover blown foam insulation.  Leftover wire from securing rebar for the house foundation pour was used to secure the foam to the framework while the glue set up.

While detailing and painting may consume a lot of time, this intial construction went very quickly.  The result reminds me of the structures in some Disneyland rides – puffy and cloud-like.  Of course, they may look very different when finished.

Barbara’s model train table had to have a river, so Rob got out his handsaw, drill with a wire wheel attached, and his shop-vac.  Carving the foam with the handsaw, he roughed up the surface with the wire wheel while dragging the shop-vac hose back and forth.

Next, he mixed up tile adhesive, Elmer’s glue, and reddish colored grout and spread it one place and another.  Its primary purpose is to secure the platforms the trestles will rest on.  The trestles themselves are not glued down at this point for easier painting access.

Natural flat rocks from the slope outside his workshop will be added later.  He is still experimenting with various goops and will eventually paint the riverbed with acrylics and add the final clear coats to make it look like water rushing through the canyon.

As he put it. “This is only the start, there is a TON of work to do ahead.”  Next on the agenda will be to create a wire frame for the canyon walls.  Keep coming back for more developments.

Rob has also begun the early work on the little canyon on his own N scale model train layout.

What is a model train layout without a drive-in movie theater where movies actually play?  Barbara wanted her little people to be able to enjoy getting out on Saturday night dates.

After cutting a hole in the 2 inch foam base, Rob continued cutting a hole in the table itself.  Adding spacers, he installed a support board for a DVD player which will serve as the movie screen.

The removable parking lot was cut from scrap lumber and placed so as to hide the lower part of the DVD player.  Black paint sprinkled with sand gives the desired parking surface.  More sand will be added later along with tire tracks.

Rob’s – actually Barbara’s – HO model train layout continues to evolve.  What is a model railroad without a tunnel?  Again, Rob used left over building materials to create one.

A piece of leftover blown foam insulation was cut to fit the end of the table.   Glued down to cut sections of 2 inch pink insulation to raise it up, it was then scooped out to create a tunnel.  A section in the back was cut out to allow easy access in case of a derailment and the underside was painted black where it could be seen when in place.

Once the floor of the tunnel was painted black as well, the mountain was glued in place and held down with bricks until the glue dried.

Rob is considering using the leftover tile adhesive and/or wallboard compound to create a pasture area the Mrs wants to have on top.

Barbara has decided to delete most of her Old West style structures in place of new ones.  In the two photos below it is indicated where she plans to add some structures.

Meanwhile, Rob has cut out the tarpaper used for road base and is holding it flat with bricks until he can mix up the goop to cover it.  Soon the roads will wander across the layout!

I am getting closer to diving in on my own Z scale model train project.  Perhaps next week!

My brother, Rob, while stating that his N scale model train scenes may not reflect the detail his artistic talent is capable of (time will tell if they do or not), does believe that scenes should bear some appearance of realism.  This includes allowing for space and not crowding a scene into an “unrealistic” area.

In planning his wife Barbara’s HO table, he designated an area for her lumber mill which included road access for lumber trucks.  She decided to move the mill into a much smaller space at another location where there was no way for a lumber truck to get to it.  Does a scale model really need such access?  Of course not!  It’s a model.

Rob went on to note that Barbara “squished 3 mobile homes between two curved tracks with hardly any room for the little folk to hang their laundry”.  Her answer… “They live on the wrong side of the tracks.”  Again, he was opting for “realism” while she was approaching it from a viewpoint that would satisfy her.

What I see in these examples is the wonderful capacity of model railroading to appeal to different preferences.  Whether one aims for duplication of actual locations, imaginary but realistic scenes, flights of fantasy without ties to the real world, or just a display for an engine and a couple of cars… a model train layout is a very personal proposition and there is no right or wrong way to build it.  It only needs to satisfy the one who owns it.

As Rob mused, “Hey, what can I say (let alone do), it is HER layout, right!?!?  Guess I’ll be thankful she is interested.”  In planning and building a model train layout, the best advice is be yourself and have fun.

Rob wanted to include an old Route 66 type highway in his model train layout, one which showed weathering and a few potholes.  To create this he mixed some ceramic tile adhesive and cement grout, both available from any hardware store, with Elmer’s White Glue and spread it on a piece of tar paper.  Once it had dried, he rolled it every which way until cracks and potholes appeared.  The results speak for themselves.

He is still experimenting with the concept, looking to reduce the number of “potholes”.  With strips of the proper width and center lines added, one can see from the photos that it will give a good appearance of weathered tarmac.

Once again, he is using left over building materials.  He shows how, with a bit of ingenuity, you can have fun creating realistic scenery for minimum cost for your model train layout.