* Note: Only room size, walls, and track layout are to an actual scale.
: Buildings and other structures, parking spaces are not to a scale.
: Some sections of the layout are still under construction and will resemble the drawing when finished.
: The layout is 4ft-7in high.
: Buildings and other structures, parking spaces are not to a scale.
: Some sections of the layout are still under construction and will resemble the drawing when finished.
: The layout is 4ft-7in high.
Details
of Layout
44 turnouts
Approx. 158 feet of N-scale track
9 staging tracks
3 passing sidings
Approx. 4.0 scale miles of mainline
2 MRC power supplies
1 scratch-built handheld throttle
2 AristoCraft "Train Engineers" radio control throttles.
Approx. 158 feet of N-scale track
9 staging tracks
3 passing sidings
Approx. 4.0 scale miles of mainline
2 MRC power supplies
1 scratch-built handheld throttle
2 AristoCraft "Train Engineers" radio control throttles.
Most buildings, businesses,
Streets, Rivers & Lakes are named after family or close friends. I do a little
at a time. I don't work on one section until it is done but work on a section
for a little while then move on to another section. Some sections are more done
than others. I have expanded my layout into the next room tunneling through the
wall and am making it into a canyon with the tracks going along the river. This
canyon is called Rock Canyon. The town of Midnightville is named after a black
cat named Midnight that we had. The longest train I have ever run on my layout
is 4 Atlas engines (Santa Fe freight - blue & yellow), 40 different box
cars ranging from a 35' car to a 70' refer car, and one Atlas Santa Fe caboose.
Running my passenger train at about scale speed of 60 mph it takes almost 4
minutes to go around the layout, 70 mph little over 3 minutes.
I started the layout in 1991. Started really slow, then at times, I did a lot and then tapered off. I have not done much since 2014.
I started the layout in 1991. Started really slow, then at times, I did a lot and then tapered off. I have not done much since 2014.
Updates Starting in 2001
Spring 2001:Purchased 2 Atlas GE B23-7 Santa
Fe freight engines from Train Showcase.
October 2001: Purchased 2 AstroCraft Radio Control "Train Engineer" throttles from eBay
November 2001: Got back on my Trestle bridge and should have it completed, painted, and detailed by the summer of 2002.
March 2002. Worked out most bugs. Ran my fight train with 3 engines & with 28 cars also ran my Santa Fe passenger train for over an hour with no problems. Been working on my expansion.
October 2002: Finished building Trestle bridge. Weathered it and worked on the top.
November/December 2002:Detailed farm area, making a cabbage field, pumpkin field with ripe pumpkins, making corn stalks, and a few farm/ranch houses and yards.
October 2001: Purchased 2 AstroCraft Radio Control "Train Engineer" throttles from eBay
November 2001: Got back on my Trestle bridge and should have it completed, painted, and detailed by the summer of 2002.
March 2002. Worked out most bugs. Ran my fight train with 3 engines & with 28 cars also ran my Santa Fe passenger train for over an hour with no problems. Been working on my expansion.
October 2002: Finished building Trestle bridge. Weathered it and worked on the top.
November/December 2002:Detailed farm area, making a cabbage field, pumpkin field with ripe pumpkins, making corn stalks, and a few farm/ranch houses and yards.
UPDATES for 2003.
February 2003: Worked on panel board,
have 94% of switches and track wired. Adjusting turnouts. Train YARD is now wired
and works. Can pull into yard or back trains into the yard. A little more
adjusting and start detailing the yard. Took a few pictures - will have them posted
as soon as I get them back.
February 2003: Bought an Atlas Dash 8-40B Blue/Yellow freight Santa Fe engine at "The Great American Train Show" in Denver. Attached it with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7 and 20 cars. I was really amazed, looked good and had no problems
March 2003: Worked on train yard, added 2 more turnouts and 2 more sidings. One for cabooses and switcher. ballast train yard. Scanned/redrew/colored a train station on the computer for the background of the train yard. Built canopy for the station. The yard is completely finished. Laying the ground for the farm area and then next will be adding rows and rows of corn. Lots of fun and lots of time.
March 2003: Worked on many box cars, Bought a pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase and did 10 boxcars, others with unimate couplers & adding weights. Now with my new Atlas Dash 8-40B and my 2 Atlas GE B23-7, I pulled 25 cars around my layout 10 times, with no problems. Now the feat of parking them all in the yard.
July 2003: Bought another pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase. Now I have 27 cars that are with Kadee trucks and couplers, 1 with Atlas new wheelsets, So now I can pull 30 cars, one Atlas caboose with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7s. A 36 car train with all three engines. The length of the train is 150" long, which is 12― feet long.
July 2003: Started working on Lake Charles area. Added trees and mountain background.
September 2003: Bought a McDonald's building off eBay and placed it where the school was.
February 2003: Bought an Atlas Dash 8-40B Blue/Yellow freight Santa Fe engine at "The Great American Train Show" in Denver. Attached it with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7 and 20 cars. I was really amazed, looked good and had no problems
March 2003: Worked on train yard, added 2 more turnouts and 2 more sidings. One for cabooses and switcher. ballast train yard. Scanned/redrew/colored a train station on the computer for the background of the train yard. Built canopy for the station. The yard is completely finished. Laying the ground for the farm area and then next will be adding rows and rows of corn. Lots of fun and lots of time.
March 2003: Worked on many box cars, Bought a pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase and did 10 boxcars, others with unimate couplers & adding weights. Now with my new Atlas Dash 8-40B and my 2 Atlas GE B23-7, I pulled 25 cars around my layout 10 times, with no problems. Now the feat of parking them all in the yard.
July 2003: Bought another pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase. Now I have 27 cars that are with Kadee trucks and couplers, 1 with Atlas new wheelsets, So now I can pull 30 cars, one Atlas caboose with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7s. A 36 car train with all three engines. The length of the train is 150" long, which is 12― feet long.
July 2003: Started working on Lake Charles area. Added trees and mountain background.
September 2003: Bought a McDonald's building off eBay and placed it where the school was.
UPDATES for 2005.
March 2005: Worked on
Lake Charles... Painted the bottom of the lake, and added rocks, and seaweed to the bottom of
the lake.
April 2005: Worked on Lake Charles... painted 3 boats, painted and put fishermen at the lake, painted sunbathers. Added boat ramp, boat dock, and permanently mounted pillars for both bridges. Weathered both bridges.
May 2005: Replaced 4 old Atlas turnouts with 2 Peco turnouts... Wired one turned out on the bridge and hooked up another turnout with piano wire linkage.
Also in May: I bought a set of Kato Alco PA-1 #52 and PB-1 #52 and PA-1 #54 also bought another 10 pack of Kadee wheelsets and fixed up 10 more freight cars.
June 2005: Bought an Atlas B36-7 (#7490) Santa Fe blue and yellow. I also bought a Model Power metal USRA 4-6-2 Santa Fe to haul my 6 heavyweight Santa Fe cars. I Ran 4 Atlas engines and 37 cars around my layout. Now I feel like I am finally getting somewhere.
July 2005: Finally poured my lake using "Woodland Scenic's Realistic Water". What a nice product.
December 2005: Started planting pine and aspen trees around the lake. Repainted the wall for the background. Also in December I finally ran 40 cars behind my 4 Atlas engines without a glitch. The train is a wall and a half long, what a nice site.
April 2005: Worked on Lake Charles... painted 3 boats, painted and put fishermen at the lake, painted sunbathers. Added boat ramp, boat dock, and permanently mounted pillars for both bridges. Weathered both bridges.
May 2005: Replaced 4 old Atlas turnouts with 2 Peco turnouts... Wired one turned out on the bridge and hooked up another turnout with piano wire linkage.
Also in May: I bought a set of Kato Alco PA-1 #52 and PB-1 #52 and PA-1 #54 also bought another 10 pack of Kadee wheelsets and fixed up 10 more freight cars.
June 2005: Bought an Atlas B36-7 (#7490) Santa Fe blue and yellow. I also bought a Model Power metal USRA 4-6-2 Santa Fe to haul my 6 heavyweight Santa Fe cars. I Ran 4 Atlas engines and 37 cars around my layout. Now I feel like I am finally getting somewhere.
July 2005: Finally poured my lake using "Woodland Scenic's Realistic Water". What a nice product.
December 2005: Started planting pine and aspen trees around the lake. Repainted the wall for the background. Also in December I finally ran 40 cars behind my 4 Atlas engines without a glitch. The train is a wall and a half long, what a nice site.
UPDATES for 2006.
Summer, 2006: Painted
all rocks and details around Lake Charles.
Planted ground cover and trees for Lake Charles and a lot of details.
Lake Charles area is almost all finished. Just need to detail a few vehicles, people, and general detailing.
Planted ground cover and trees for Lake Charles and a lot of details.
Lake Charles area is almost all finished. Just need to detail a few vehicles, people, and general detailing.
UPDATES for 2007.
March 2007: Added
flashing campfires to Roebel's Campground. I have three campfires made with a
red LED, and I hooked up an old transistor radio to each one, each radio is on
a different station so each campfire blinks/flashes at a different rate.
UPDATES for 2008.
November/December 2008: Did
not get to work on my layout until late in the year. I started adding docks and
buildings to the west side behind the passenger station where I only have about
an inch from the track to the wall. So the buildings are just the back of buildings
with a dock. I have three buildings done and working on two more. I will have
some interiors with the dock doors open and will have active workers and loads
ready for shipments. I finished "Travis' Dinner". Built an entryway
with steps to an old train car for "Travis' Dinner". Paved the depot
parking lot and street. I still make trees once in a while so I can have thousands
and thousands when I need them.
UPDATES for 2009.
At different times
throughout 2009:I did one more dock building and dock. I tried to make some
more wheat for the field. That is a lot of work. Made a few small aspen trees
for my Rock Canyon.
UPDATES for 2010/2011.
I have mostly been working on Rock Canyon. To
check out what I have done on the canyon go to layout 2
November/December 2011: I have started
detailing the farm area. I built three different styles of fences. On Hoernlein
Horse Ranch, I built a three-rail fence. On another farm, I built a barbwire fence
using track nails, tapped them in every 10 feet (n-scale feet) then stretched
fine thread from one post to the other. Three rows. Another fence I took an old
mine track and made an open wood fence from it. Painted some John Deere
Tractors, made some hay rolls, and other fine details. Detail the old barn in
the back of the layout. Started scratch-building a farmhouse to replace the
dollhouse. it is a dollhouse for a dollhouse that is out of scale. More details
to come. I replaced a bright light bulb with an LED in a Kato caboose and added
two marker lights. The light was way too bright. I also took another caboose
and put 3 watch batteries in it, a switch, and an LED and added a marker light. I
like the idea that the caboose does not flicker when going down the track.
UPDATES for 2012.
February I started detailing the backside of my layout behind the stores, the church, and the engine house.
Painting and ballasting track - putting up background pictures, making a road, and trying to force a 3D look from the track to the wall about an inch of scenery.
Finished Tom's Junction except for a few details and some more street lights.
Spring Pulled up old grass from Kia's Park and replaced it with N Scale grass. Fixed the swing set and playground equipment. Made a volleyball sand court with two men playing volleyball. Added about a dozen or more street lights. Tom's Junction is almost completely finished except for detailing the buildings and vehicles.
December. I bought 500 scale feet of 6-foot chain link on eBay. Took out the old (not to scale) fence around Kia's Park and replace it with a 400-foot fence that looks much better and to scale. It was easier than I thought. Broke McDonald's apart, added interior lights, detail, and a few employees. Added lights to the outside, and lit up the McDonald's sign. McDonald's parking lot is finished except for a few details. Printed out a cinderblock wall on the printer and glued them to a thin piece of wood and made a block wall around McDonald's - Bought 30 double street lights on eBay, (which are a little oversized) but put two inside the engine house and lit up the engine house. Bought 30 trees on eBay. Nighttime looks much better in Tom's Junction.
Spring Pulled up old grass from Kia's Park and replaced it with N Scale grass. Fixed the swing set and playground equipment. Made a volleyball sand court with two men playing volleyball. Added about a dozen or more street lights. Tom's Junction is almost completely finished except for detailing the buildings and vehicles.
December. I bought 500 scale feet of 6-foot chain link on eBay. Took out the old (not to scale) fence around Kia's Park and replace it with a 400-foot fence that looks much better and to scale. It was easier than I thought. Broke McDonald's apart, added interior lights, detail, and a few employees. Added lights to the outside, and lit up the McDonald's sign. McDonald's parking lot is finished except for a few details. Printed out a cinderblock wall on the printer and glued them to a thin piece of wood and made a block wall around McDonald's - Bought 30 double street lights on eBay, (which are a little oversized) but put two inside the engine house and lit up the engine house. Bought 30 trees on eBay. Nighttime looks much better in Tom's Junction.
UPDATES for 2013.
January: I Bought another 500 feet of
chain link fence on eBay and 100 super bright white LEDs. I Lit up Jeramy & Megan's Mexican Cantina.
Lit up David's gas station. I added two lights over the fuel pumps (which I had
for a while). Hooked up the lighted Texaco sign which my friend Tom made me. Added interior to the Texaco station. Finished Micah County library and county hall.
I will be adding interior and light soon. Made a flashing cross signal from a
battery-operated flashing LED Christmas light set. Now am looking into reed
switches to make the train activate the signal. If this works, I will be adding flashing cross signals to all my crossing gates.
February: I Bought
11 Rapido "Easy Peasy" lighting kits for my passenger
train. I Lit up 9 of my passenger cars and ran my train at night. What an
awesome sight.
September My friend Tom built me a
Santa Fe Depot and freight house from Walthers. The model is based on depots
built systemwide on the Santa Fe circa 1908. He did a great job and looks good.
He called it "Congdonville". It replaces my old Santa Fe station. It
is next to Travis' Dinner.
UPDATES for 2014.
January I
detailed and finished two buildings. One called "Taylor's Surplus".
Named after a great friend of mine who went to be with the Lord in 2012.
Painted the building, added a dock, and put on decals on the back of the building.
The building is only one-sided, against the wall. I
added a light to the "John Deere" building and put glass in the
windows. These buildings are across the tracks from the Congdonville train
station.
UPDATES for 2022
In the spring of 2022, I purchased 2 new Kato SD40-2 engines and a Kato U30C engine. They are really nice. Cannot run as long of a train with only 2 engines but they do run smoother. Had to fix a few tweaks in the track as these engines have smaller flanges but I really like them.
Summer of 2022, went to a train show and swap meet in Wyoming. Bought a 10-pack of Kadee couplers and put them all on my tanker cars. I have the Kato U30C pulling them. Only about 11 cars.
2023 I added a field of corn stalks (Bluford Shops - N-Scale - Cornfield - Summer Green - 201) to my wife's childhood home. I painted all the tops yellow and twisted each stalk so they were more 3D and not 2D. That was a lot of work but looks really nice. I redid a section of track and a switch going into the yard and the other room. It is a lot more straighter now. Redid several switch controls in the yard and fixed some dead sections in the yard. I added a face board to areas that did not have any. Labeled all switch pulls, towns, and areas on the face board. I also added an LED speed light monitor that I built. It shows what direction the train is going and how much power it is using. (So I can kind of tell how fast a train is going depending on the engine).
In 2024, I got a bunch of vehicles, people, and detail parts from a friend who now is going to Z-Scale. So I have been finishing the logging mill and Cora Town in room 2. (Check out Room 2 Expansion Page for updates).
Sections are completely finished now
Kai's Park (100% Done)FINISHED
Engine House and area (100% done) -- FINISHED
Kai's Park (100% Done)FINISHED
Engine House and area (100% done) -- FINISHED
Mountain in room #2 (100% finished)
Saw/Limber Mill in room #2 (100% finished)
Rock Canyon in room #2 is Finished
Sections most detailed now
Train Yard (100% done) -- Maybe add a few workmen, etc.
Lake Charles (100% done and 80% detailed) -- Needs a few vehicles, people painted, and some fine detail.
Sections most detailed now
Train Yard (100% done) -- Maybe add a few workmen, etc.
Lake Charles (100% done and 80% detailed) -- Needs a few vehicles, people painted, and some fine detail.
Micah County area - (95% finished, needs
lighting and a few details)
Downtown/Station background (100% done)
450' Bridge (90% detailed) -- Needs some wood planks on top and weathered
Farm Land Area (90% done, 60% detailed) -- Need some details in areas
Tom's Junction (90% finished, need some details to buildings, vehicles, people & other details)
Train Depot area -- Need lots of work. but am working on this area
Midnightville (50% detailed) -- Need lots of details
Downtown/Station background (100% done)
450' Bridge (90% detailed) -- Needs some wood planks on top and weathered
Farm Land Area (90% done, 60% detailed) -- Need some details in areas
Tom's Junction (90% finished, need some details to buildings, vehicles, people & other details)
Train Depot area -- Need lots of work. but am working on this area
Midnightville (50% detailed) -- Need lots of details