By Greg Kopp on
8/23/2008 8:56 PM
 I've made a lot of progress on the model railroad since I last blogged about it. All of the trackwork is done, the electrical is done, the DCC system is wired up. I bought a NCE Powercab from Al's Trains and Hobby near me. It was very easy to install. I recessed it into the side of the layout and plugged it in.
The scenery has a bit more wo
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By Greg Kopp on
6/23/2006 9:15 PM
  I could then use the styrofoam as a template to cut out the 1/2" plywood subroadbed to match using a jig saw. I designed into the cutout a wider area around each turnout for placing the Tortoise slow motion switch machines. I should have done more research. I assumed that the Atlas code 55 turnouts were operated like the HO turnouts I had years ago, by a hole in the center of the the throwbar between the rails. Oops. The hole for the switch machine actuator is at the ...
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By Greg Kopp on
6/23/2006 9:14 PM
 Now that I have my track plan, it was time to get down to actually building this thing. Off to Lowe's for some lumber. The benchwork is constructed of 1x4s glued and screwed. Everything went together fine and I kept making sure everything was square while the glue dried.
 Now that the base of the benchwork was built, I decided to use it as a temporary workbench to work on the subroadbed. I cut a piece of styrofoam slightly larger than what I needed and taped my full size track plan to it ...
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By Greg Kopp on
6/13/2006 10:43 PM
After realizing the Atlas code 55 track was the way to go, I redid the layout using the new switches. I also measured some of my existing structure kits and found measurements of kits on the market today and created templates in XTrkCAD so I could easily place them and consider the space needed.
 I decided to move the tunnel to the lower left to make room for the right two sidings in the timesaver part of the layout. Then I sketched out a possible plan for the sructures and any roads. I often have a tendency to over plan or under plan a project, and I didn't want this one to be the latter. Many of the plots for structures are taken from DPM kits. I already ...
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By Greg Kopp on
6/12/2006 10:36 PM
What can you possibly do in a 2 ft. x 4 ft. space? Well, quite a bit but not enough, actually.
Scenery has always been one of my passions when it comes to model railroading. It's why I gravitated toward N-scale, I guess. So I knew, that unless I stuck with a simple loop and one or 2 sidings, there was little chance for that "long" tunnel and "towering" mountains.
But I also wanted something that provided more than just a loop of track. I wanted to be able to operate. I use the word operate loosly here, as there is no way I am going to be able to really operate this small railroad in any prototypical fashion, but I at least wanted to have enough sidings and industry where I can do some switching.
 I recalled reading an a ...
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By Greg Kopp on
6/10/2006 10:17 PM
I've been an "armchair" model railroader for years. I would read the magazines and have lots of interest, but I haven't gotten around to actually building a layout. For those non-modelers out there, a "layout" is a model railroad, no matter the size. It has track, maybe some buildings, and trains that travel on the track.
When I was a kid, I had a few HO sets. I even had the proverbial 4x8 loop. But how much fun can that be? Well, for a kid, watching the train go round and round can be fun. But as an adult, maybe not so much!
The closest I actually got to a real layout was a 4x6' HO loop with 2 sidings and a tunnel. I got as far as laying down the track and had the fist layer of the scenery shell. I put the hobby aside for a little while. One day, my young (at the time) nephew decided he wanted to test the strength of the mountains, and, well, you can guess the rest.
I've always liked scenery and details, but always wanted more than I had space for. That's whe ...
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