Rookie Model Railroader Explains Layout Construction Progress

December 14, 2008

Model railroading “rookie” Jim has sent in this progress report on the model RR he is building (supervised by his wife and young nephew).

I wanted to share with your readers the beginnings of my model train set. It doesn’t look like much yet, but I am very proud of how far I have gotten. I started last spring. I built the table 4 x 8. It is still missing the wood molding to further strengthen the legs.

Last summer, the combination of high gas prices and such forced me to work a lot of hours and so I didn’t get back to until recently. My young nephew wanted to come over and work on it after our Thanksgiving meal so I brought him down to mess with it.

I wanted my track to have 22 degree curves to accomadate my 89 car carriers, but I couldn’t do anything more fancy than an oval that hugged the edges of the table.

I had one engine derail and it ended up on my concrete floor so I got very gun shy about running the set until I could find a solution. I went back and forth to the house to dig up all my old 18 degree radius’s and began replacing the 22’s and I remolded the track to look as realistic as possible.

My nephew ran my GP 35 Rock Island that he named “Stanley” up and down the tracks to where I had stopped saying “I am bringing up the work train to help you.” He then backed the engine the other way. I also started cutting the lake out and the river so I could put in a train bridge for my nephew. He enjoyed running “stanley” over the bridge.

Some days later my wife and I went to Lowes to buy a dry wall saw to use with making landscapes (her butcher knives just didn’t cut it). My wife helped me with some of the cutting and she cut up and down. At first, I went back to cut the bank to 45 degrees and then left some of the banks alone because it added a nice effect and variation. I then glued the foam to the board.

I am principally modeling the Missouri Pacific. At first, I wanted to have a small town plus a farm scene, but I don’t think that will work out so I am going to make this a pastoral scene. My only industry will be a grain elevator (Rix products) with a double siding.

I will put up two farms if possible and a road will cross by highway overpass the main line and siding. I have finished all but one of the grain bins and I have started working on the bridge over the rail yard.

At 0400 I cut the first layer of my hill that will hold the bridge up. I discovered that the pier was way too tall so I had to cut it down. In the process, it broke the plastic so I had to start all over. I put together two piers and a 50 foot section of bridge including painting the I beams. While the other project dried, I continued piecing the grain bins and augers together. This morning, I glued the third grain bin to the conveyer leg.