Take two.....

Well a few weeks ago I decided to start my layout over. The more and more I looked at my layout, I could not help but think that this isn't what I really wanted. So after some modifications to the basement (removing a pantry, which was only taking up space) and coaxing my wife, I tore down my layout and started fresh.

The new benchwork is completed (pictures to come soon). It is an 7' x 16' rectangle, with access in the middle.

I am freelancing the track plans, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I want to keep it simple, but at the same time, have an element that makes it more complex then just to main lines running in a circle. I am currently focusing on my yard and engine terminal.

Train Weekend

Last weekend back home was the Horseheads Historical Society Heritage Festival. We had our miniature railroad operating for the afternoon as part of the events around town. We had a pretty steady flow of people throughout the day, but not enough to have both trains running. Not only did we have the train running, but got some of the other antiques out for display.

Here we are rolling on the rails.

Me and my new born son getting ready to pullout of the station.

Approaching the train station.

Approaching the tunnel. This tunnel is actually a tanker car on it side.

Sounding the horn as we approach a crossing.

Just left the station.

A view back to the station.

Waiting on a siding for action.

All Aboard!

We will be running the trains again on October 24th and 25th.

Adding an overpass and tunnel

Bridges and tunnels are always a fun to have trains go under and through. I added some height to my layout pretty easily using scrap pieces of the pink insulation foam that I have used for my base.

In this picture you can see that I will have a road going above four tracks. The two tracks on the left are the main lines and the two tracks on the right are sidings that lead to a train station. I have just recently finished the bridge that will connect the two hills. All I did was stack pieces of foam together until I was happy with the shape. The parts of the hill that you see that look like rock is the retaining wall. This is just simply plaster that I spread on the flat areas of the hills and then painted to simulate a cement/rock like retaining wall.

Before: I stacked scrap pieces of foam and crumbled newspapers to give the tunnel a more natural look.

After: I covered the tunnel with plaster cloth. I will finish this up by spreading scultamold or something similar to give it a smoother look before the final scenery.

Customizing

I have never been one to be artsy since I can hardly draw a straight line with a ruler, but I have seem to surprise myself when it comes to painting/detailing structures and train cars.

The above Pennsylvanian Work caboose has been one of my favorite cabooses, but since I have a lot of Erie Lackawanna rolling stock and locomotives, I decided to paint and decal this under the Erie Lackawanna roadname.

This is what is looks after a paint job and some decals. The 250-ton crane with the work caboose was undecorated to begin with. I have had this for a very long time, and did not want to take it apart, in fear of not being able to re-assemble it, to paint it. So I added some decals to make it part of the Erie Lackawanna fleet.

Passenger trains have always been a favorite thing of mine, but finding Erie Lackwanna passenger cars posed a few problems: 1.) They were hard to find; 2.) They were too long to make my turn radius or 3.) They were way to expensive. So my solution...purchase some undecorated cars and paint them myself.

They aren't perfect, but I am pleased with the way they turned out. I am just missing the correct type of lettering order to put the Erie Lackwanna roadname on each car, but the paint scheme alone shouts Erie Lackawanna.

Laying the ground work

After I had the framework all done, I needed to add some "ground work." I chose to use pink insulation foam. This way I could carve the foam for scenery purposes as I went. I have seen other layouts that use cutouts from the plywood on the frame work, but then that would mean I would have needed everything planned out. Using the insulation foam allowed me to construct on the fly. As you can see from the following pictures I had some elevation changes and areas cut out under bridges.

In later pictures you will see some additional uses of foam such as small hills, overpasses and tunnels.

The keys to buying your first home

When my wife, Teresa, and I began to look for our first home in 2007 we knew what kind of house we both had wanted. However, I had one thing high on my list that the house needed that was not high on Teresa's list....a large basement or attic.

Well we got both in the house we purchased in Kenmore, NY, a northern suburb of Buffalo, NY. Since this was going to be our first home outside of our parents house, I knew I wanted a large enough basement or attic that would house a model train layout larger than 4' x 8'.

After doing all the work that needed to be done on "living areas" of the house such as painting, install molding on baseboards and appliances/furniture/decor, I was able to work on my

"man area's" of the house.

Not only do I have a love for model railroading, but I also have a love for baseball memorabilia and the New York Yankees. So I turned the attic, which is finished off, into my own little "Man

Room" complete with couch, TV, computer and all my baseball memorabilia. So, the train layout would have to be housed in the basement.

During the 2007 winter, I was able to finally begin constructing my new model layout. I did a lot of planning of what I wanted and where I wanted, but as you know, once you get going, one begins to change their mind constantly.

Here is an early sketch of what I wanted to do. Not much actually changed on today's layout.

Pictures of the benchwork.

Getting into model railroading

I can remember getting my first model railroad set like it was yesterday. It was a simple circle with a single spur for staging rolling stock. I would spend hours watching a small train go in circles....as you can tell I was easy to please. This "layout" stayed at my grandparents house on their pool table, for what reason it had to stay there is unknown to me.

As I began to get older and my mind became more creative, I wanted to expand my simple circle into something more. Something that would allow for a longer train to be operated and this is when my love for model railroading started. In my parents basement I turned this circle layout to layout that was more oval. I began adding structures, paper mache tunnels, poster board streets with micro-machines cars and more staging areas for rolling stock to sit. As I made the layout bigger with more structures, more rolling stock, train stations, bridges and an amusement park, I took over half of the basement. At this point I thought I had the best train layout in the world and I was hardly a teenager.

Then one day it all changed.......I realized that I could build a better looking layout. My childhood best friend, Justin, that lived three houses down from me shared the same interest in model railroading. So our summers and weekends were spent working on his layout and mine. When we got hold of some Model Railroader magazines and frequent visits to Altoona Shops to expand our layouts, we started to learn more about the art of model railroading.

By the time I was in high school (1995), I had scrapped everything I basically had in my first big layout in order to start fresh. I found a simple track plan for 4' x 8' layout. I was going to do this right...build sturdy framework for the layout, have structures that needed painting and assembling and turnouts that could be operated from my control area. After years of on and off again work during my high school years, I was very proud of my layout:

This layout had everything I wanted it to have and more. I had operating street lights, buildings that were painted by me and lit up, homemade trees, a bridge and control panel.