HO Train Layout
by Paul Hartley
| Most of you know John Messersmith, and several members (including me) learned to fly RC airplanes with John's help. He was a member of TCWS for a number of years, club president from 2004 to 2005, and was very active helping out at all of our club events. John got out of the RC airplane hobby towards the end of 2007, and is now fully involved in building a very nice HO scale train layout. Although this has nothing to do with planes, I figured many of you may have some interest in model railroading, and you might be interested in seeing how John's new hobby is shaping up. The latest photos are first, and the early construction phase photos are towards the end: |
Photos from Februrary 2008:
--Early Construction Photos--
His layout is built around his workshop area.
The track runs along the walls (left, back, and right).
Left foreground is a single level loop section, and
right foreground (mostly cut out of the photo) is
a multi-level loop section with a motor drive turntable:
Looking to the right in the photo above, we see
the multi-level loop with the roundhouse and turntable:
The "bridge to nowhere" will ultimately go to yet
another loop section on the table in the center
of the room (see first photo again):
A couple of bridges over a river/creek
(along the right wall in the first photo):
A photo showing the gravel ballast being
applied over the foam track bed:
He has several sidings along the back wall
to allow multiple trains to be set up
and switched on and off the main lines:
A simple black "tunnel" keeps the workshop
stuff from interfering with the trains running through:
Here is the single level loop section
(on the left in the very first photo above):
Here's a sequence of photos showing his
motor-driven turntable in action...
...it rotates to align with a steam locomotive...
...the locomotive drives onto the turntable...
...the turntable rotates to put the locomotive
onto one of the main line tracks...
John uses a Digitrax DCC control system to control his
locomotives speed, direction, and sound:
He has a push-button diode matrix
circuit set up to switch his tracks:
