I have had a request to start a thread on my layout, as many seem to think I have done something unique and worthy of a discussion and they don't want to hi-jack the threads my posts have already been in. So here it is... My layout is an HO scale 12 x 16 foot shelf layout dedicated to modern switching. The layout is about a year old (started in October of 2006), and has seen a number of philisophical changes before ending up as it is below. When I started the design I was attemtping to be a prototypically accurate modeler - picking a specific place with a specific set of industries laid out in as accurate a manor as the space would allow. But after many months of dissatisfaction and not very much progress, I decided to try "proto-freelancing" - which is chosing the industries and track layout with the prototype in mind, but with less constraints on what would go where. All of the pieces started to fall together when I received a SOO LINE GP38-2 shell with the intention of painting it to match one of my favorite prototypes: the MoPac. But when I opened the box my wife exclaimed with a glint, "That's what you should model!" So I began researching the SOO (and the CP) and found that almost everything I had ever put on a "Givens & 'Ruthers" list was able to come together with a switch to the SOO LINE. The real bonus of all of this is that now, when I find time to operate, I am drawn to the layout with desire and interest - which was really the goal all along. Switching is fun when you are watching the layout you imagine come to life in front of you!! So here is the layout's plan and some photo.... Over the next few days I will try and answer any questions that come up. Plus I will show how I run the layout. The system is based on the common 4-cycle way-bills, but as you will see, there is a twist to help my small layout seem a little more interesting. Until then, comment and ask as you may wish.... ~Donovan in Dallas
Not until tomorrow. One of the things about this layout is it is in my sons bedroom. Tomorrow I will take some over-all photos and show them. Here are some interesting "then and now" shots.... Originally I planned this to be a DRGW based layout. The theme was the Belt Line... ...to be continued....
When I realized that the Belt was simply too big to represent in my space, I tried the FEC... but I couldn't get the look of Miami the way Lance Mindheim did, so eventually I gave up.
I was moving towrads modeling Southern California's CCT with a UP/SP interchange when I ordered the shell...
The original plan.... The FEC plan... And the first SOO plan... I'm done for tonight. Be back in the morning. Go Cowboy's! ~Donovan in Dallas
If you still have those other locomotives, you could rotate out which road to model over a set period of time, then switch to another road. Simple as changing out engines. Personally, I liked your version of the FEC just fine. Mindheim is an awesome modeler, and has set the bar high for finely detailed shelf layouts. Personally, if I can get an idea or two off such layouts, so be it- I'm not out trying to duplicate someone's layout tree-for-tree. Do you have any plans to expand, say along the next wall?
Donovan: Great Pics! Your weathering and grafitti add a lot of "grittiness" to the layout. Do you have any close-ups of the heavily weathered cars in the Saturday posts at 11:41 and 11:39? Where did you get the Starbucks logos for the windows?...cut from a napkin or Starbucks flyer, or printed off of something from the Internet? How did you secure them to the windows?
Primarily I use oil paints. But I am not afraid to use a little of this or that. Over time I get my results by the layers of this and that. Besides oil, I have used chalks, acrylics (especially cheap craft paint), air-brush, and water color. Hee's one of my personal favorites (unfortunately, I no longer own it, Mike Budde does)... It had started out as a stock Atlas MP GP38. By the time of this photo it had been air-brushed, oil weathered at least twice, powdered, and re-decalled to get the look. I have no plan when I start weathering, I just do whatever it takes to make it look right to my eyes. D in D
Thanks for posting all the pics of your layout. It's very nicely done. I think what I like most about it is that it's simple. It has tons of operating action. Most of all, it only has a pair of locos on it at a time. How long have you been working on getting your rolling stock fleet together? Has the car fleet been migrated from one layout to another? It all is so nicely weathered. You should consider doing a weathering tutorial for the how to section. I am not very familiar with using oil paints for weathering. Don't they take forever to dry?
The car fleet had migrated over the years. I have always been the most interested in whatever is going on around the train world "now" when I go out railfanning. Since I usually buy rolling stock that is so current, I have little to no problems changing the feel of my layout by haveing more of this or less of that (for example, there are 6 MP cars sitting in a drawer right now because that many on this sized layout makes it seem too much like the MoPac to me). I don't have too much problem getting the oils to dry - I don't get to handle my cars often enough that the two week dring time is only a blink of an eye to me. That same working time also allows me to push the paint around until it is the way I like it easier than other types of paint. I find I do bery little wair-brushing. For me that is because I have to go outside to set it up. But it is also because I don't like the control I have with an air-brush. Once the paint is on the model, it is pretty much stuck there with this method - not so with oils. Hope this helps. D in D
So, do you find the limitations of a switching layout to be constricting? By that I mean do you wish you were running the "big trains" instead of switching all the time? That's the only thing that gets to me--I love to switch/operate trains, but sometimes I just want the option to sit back and watch them run. Do you hae any plans for expansion to make it so you can just sit back and run trains if you decide to? What about your car roster? Do you always have a certain number of each type car that is always on the layout or does it vary? What's the maximum number of cars and locos you can operate with on the layout? After a car is switched, does it transfer to an "off system" railroad and go into a box to be rotated back at a certain time? I'd guess that you're pretty specific about what you buy so you don't end up with a box (or several) full of cars. Did you think about N scale at all before going with HO? Most of the time it seems that limited spaces lend themselves to an N scale layout for more operations. My last question is how you do your operations. It looks like from the pictures you use car cards. How do you organize an operating session? I really appreciate you posting up your layout and photos and taking the time to answer some questions. I think your layout ranks right up there with Lance's and Wolfgang's.
You ask a lot of good questions. Many of them are still being dealt with - especially in regards to operations. But I have started to formulate a plan and I think I can give an inteligable response - hopefully. I am working on the OPS for the layout. I have begun trying to fill in the way-bills as the cars come into the layout from staging. Any hopper is a hopper, any boxcar is a boxcar on my layout. So I draw from a stack of way-bills about 8 cards, then place those cards in the first apropriate car front to back. This is to create a somewhat random set of movements, as 2 boxcars that are next to each other in the train because I pulled them from the same industry last time will now be going to two different places. Or maybe they won't - I won't be sure until I pull the cards at random. Another step is that all hoppers go to the holding yard for inspection of the grain. Then as the cars at the mills are emptied (variations in unload times on the cards means that not all are emptied at the same time) then I get that same amount of cars from the front of the line. There are always suppose to be 4 hoppers at the GM elevator. And 2 at the cookie factory. So if the way-bills say pull 3 empties from the GM elevator, then I get 3 cars from the front of the line in the yard. BUT the cars have to be billed to GM and not the cookie factory, so there may be some extra handling to get the right cars for the spot. I have about 20-25 cars on the layout at a time. I do rotate them somewhat, but I find that I keep my favorites on more than I should. I own about 40 cars at the moment. I still need more hoppers and tank cars primarily. I am a huge proponant of continous run layouts (loops of some sort) but I have not got the space in HO scale. I was in N scale ever since I can remember (early 70's) until 2004 when I decided to try HO scale. I have since decided that HO is for me. But I still help others lean towrds N scale when I think it fits their desires. Here are a few photos from my last N scale layout (circa 2004)... I like to think I was a good N scale modeler, but as stated above, I have decided it's HO scale or nothing for me. I don't miss running "big" trains. I find that almost every "big" train on a layout is pitifully short. I'd like to have a HUGE switching layout fed by staging into a main classification yard and the rest be industrial tracks with various zones - a lot like David Barrow's recent industrial district layout, but with more scenery and detail. To me even a 25 car train is simply a local. I'd love to have a 100+ car coal train running through a yard, but that is a dream away from my here and now. Hope this helps, Donovan
Donovan, You have some mighty nice modeling there! I love the late model cars--the 70's Chevy pickup, the Camaro, but I'm not sure what the owner of that blue exotic car was thinking when he parked that close to the tracks! The Starbuck's takes the cake..... Nice 'Grande Geep, too!
It's interesting how many times you've changed roadnames - and how adaptable this layout is. The FEC version looks fine.
I have yet to determine if there is true meaning in the following statement, but ever since I switched to the SOO/CP I have had more fun playing with the layout. I've enjoyed switching cars more, building and finishing scenes more, and just plain old looking at it more. But as it has been noted, I have changed my interests a lot, so until some theme or another has been with me for at least 1 full year, I won't promise anything. That exotic car? His wife just wanted a Starbuck's Latte so he had to stop. TTFN, D in D
