Peters Model Train Page

Well here I am.
This post gets edited and added to as time goes by,
Last Edit APRIL 05, 2008

Click NEW ENTRY to go there now.
This is going to be about my attempt to make`a model train layout and the success and fun I have doing so.
There are two layouts now HO scale and the new N scale.
Plus I hope to add a Garden train this summer.



I bought a layout someone started many years ago sometime in the 1960's and never continued. Some Original Train Table pictures here.

He got the main part of the bench-work done and put some of the plywood down and started laying track then there it sat, in the corner collecting junk and dust.
Finally it was up for sale, and a friend of the son of the person who started it, told me about it and I bought and picked it up, which required taking it apart and moving it to my location and reassembling it.

But first I had to finish the train room otherwise known as the garage.
This involved re-wiring the whole room fixing dry-rot rebuilding and then
insulating, putting up drywall, & painting the walls and ceiling. Work In Progress
I left the original size garage door but changed it to a wall that opens, by building the doors the same as the walls, 2X4 with drywall on the inside, insulated & plywood sheathing on the outside Then I put down carpeting put in the lights and AC for summer and heat for the winter.

But all that's done now and I can work on the table between going to work and all the other projects around the house, things like a new fence to protect the dogs from the next door neighbor, painting the new closet I had to build downstairs for the water softener, all the little things involved in being a home owner.

OCT. 26
Painting the closet turned into painting the whole room and what a mess that turned into.
I thought I would be smart and put primer on first, two coats later could still see the old paint.
I figured the new would cover and that would be that, NO WAY, four coats later could still see shadows, I think because I used cheap paint. Bought some better quality paint and am going to try again. Hope this time it covers in one coat like the salesman claimed, then I can get back to the train layout.

OCT. 31
Got the painting done but the drips need to be cleaned up left it to get the haunted house organized, big mistake paint is dry and going to be a bugger to get off.
Halloween tonight.
Finished the Haunted house looks good to me.

Nov. 03
Well had to take everything in the haunted house apart and put it away, then got interrupted by work. Oh well got to make the money somehow. Now we are reorganizing the storage trailer so Christmas stuff is at the front and the rest is in the back, this is going to take a while, so no haunted house pictures yet but there will be.

NOV. 11
Still no haunted house pictures yet but got the basement office reorganized. Had the flu shot while at work now I feel just awful. Moved a shelving unit out to the train room and the rest of the buildings I have to finish, got all the paint cans off the floor and in one spot. I have been so busy no time to even add a new entry till now.

Nov. 13
Been moving train stuff stored in the office out to the train room and sorting it into the new shelving I put up, also took a few minutes to play with the printer to try out the brick work walls for the tunnels. Looks good but now I have to decide how to double curve the roof to the walls because the tunnels are curved and, I want to curve the roof line as well.

Nov. 22
Well been sick with Viral Bronchitis since Nov. 11. Went to the Dr. And got a note to stay home for two weeks. Just starting to feel better and not living on cough syrup & Puffers anymore, so am back to work in a few days. The trees got pruned today and the office got rearranged downstairs. Not a thing got done with the train setup, unless you count thinking and dreaming about how it's going to look when done. I made a spool holder for the different wires I will need when I start on the buss wiring & turnouts, hope that will keep things neat. I still have to get under the table and drill holes for the buss lines I think I can just run one set for parallel tracks instead of having to follow each track.
Oh well got all winter to get things done.

JAN. 06
Christmas is over & so is new years, so much has been going on that I haven't had the inclination or time to sit and add anything to this. Had A Medieval Feast for the family as the big Christmas gift to everyone LOTS OF FUN hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did.
No new work on the train and not much to say otherwise, till now.

We got passes to the "Y" and hope to go on a regular schedule, loose the holiday weight and get into shape, so I can crawl under the train table and pull buss wires & solder on the feeders. Solder is cheaper then suitcase connectors if a little more work. Once the wiring is done I can run a train and see where any problems are.


JAN. 18
Well Precious had her New Puppies on the 12 the. And just had time now to put the pictures out there and available. Six fat little healthy pups, mom had a hard time of it with a long labor and could not do anything to take care of them, to start we had to do everything cutting the cord and breaking the sack so it could breath. She had the first 5 and a long break we thought she was done, then one was born without us there and it died before we knew it was even born.
Very hard on us such a beautiful little girl. Then she had another one later still by that time she had recovered enough to take care of it all by herself.


JAN 29
Well I have to stop going to the hobby shop. Every time I go in there I usually see something I want. This time it was an "N" Scale table top layout that caught my eye. It needs work but I can run trains on it as is, just need to clean the track. The sides need to be put on to protect the Styrofoam landscape and of the wires that are scotch taped in place under the table half are hanging loose. There are no legs but all in all I think I got a good deal. I got four Locomotives and several pieces rolling stock. There are some buildings and I have two kits to add.

FEB 24

Took the puppies on a road trip today to Salmon arm. There is a hobby shop there the owner bought one of the puppies so had a visit. While I was there I saw some stuff I needed for the HO layout and something I needed for the G scale layout. The Puppies whined for about half an hour as the start but settled down after a while. not much else to say tonight.

MAR 01

Was having a lot of trouble getting into this site the last few days
Four of the puppies have new homes in a few weeks, two to go.
Wanted to paint the control panel but the paint can leaked and made a mess
Tried to put a different paint over the first and everything bubbled, made a
real mess. Have to clean all the paint off and start over. Oh well back to work.

MAR 18

Sitting at work right now not much happening so decided to catch up here.
After coming back from Salmon arm found an e-mail asking the price of a second puppy so ended up having two go to Salmon arm. The person getting one for her grandson ended up getting one for herself as well, so now four are spoken for.
the puppies went to the vet for first shots and check up and the first two were off to new home in Salmon arm the same day. the next two went a few days later. Only two left to find new homes for. Checked with the wife and the last male is on his way to a new home tonight so now only the female is left, poor Poppy it will be your turn soon.

Then NO MORE PUPPIES poor me, I'm going to miss them. The wife told me NO MORE, she likes the puppies but not the work or stink.


APRIL 16
Well the girls are back from the Vet. Had laser surgery to get spayed, they were up and home the next day. Spent some time on the train layouts.



NEW ENTRY


APRIL 05 2008

Took a long break without writing anything here.
Finished a few things that never made it to this list and made a few changes to the HO layout

Click MORE to go there now.



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Building The N Train Layout:

FEB 13
I had to put legs on the table first and then I could look under it to work on the wiring.
What a mess of little pieces, all different colors all mixed up together.
was easier to cut all the lighting wires off and prepare to rewire, than to sort out the miss-matched colors. I put two screws beside each light and am going to run same color buss wire pairs to each set of screws, then attach the lights to the buss. I also have to build a removable control panel, with quick connect plugs.


FEB 14
I have to design the wiring diagram then plan switch & indicator light locations, decide what kind of quick connect I want to use, this depends on # of wires in the harness, which depends on the # of functions I want to control. I will be using single Cab control and panel activated sidings as well as street lights and individual controls for housing, althought I could just turn on all the lights with one switch if I want. Once I know what I want I can build the control panel with track diagram & [on /off] switches, indicator lights, Control Cab, and start to wire it.

FEB 19
Well I bought the stuff I need to make the control panel. Found an electrical supply store that had aluminum face plates, S.T.D.P. switches, & LED indicator lights, multi pin plugs & the mountings.
Now I have to transfer the track drawing I made the other day on paper to the panel and drill the mounting holes for the switches and lights next to each siding. I am going to use green LED's for showing track live power, and red to show no power just because I have the red LED's. I will use green LED's to show power to the buildings as well as for the street lights. The box for the panel will also hold the cab, all in one housing, with a milti pin plug to the the layout. The idea is that one half of the switch is DC for track power and the other half is AC for accessories to turn on the indicators and power the lights. I might put a separate power supply in for the lights first I need to check the power rating on the Cab I want to use.


MAR 18

Well I scraped the paint on the control panel and repainted it with the white, then built the console box, now I have to mask out the track plan and paint the panel black, drill the mounting holes for the switches and L.E.D.'s and wire everything. I still have to finish the wiring under the layout and then connect the two. Something was rattling inside the speed controller so I took it apart and fixed that. Now I still have to sand the sides of the control box and paint it then the panel top can be put in place. The wiring is going to take a while eight sidings and several buildings need lighting controls not to mention street lights which will be in groups.


APRIL 16
The black finish is on the panel and the housing is done, but needs to be painted.
Drilled the holes for the switches and L.E.D.'s and installed them. Now I just have to string the wires, both on the panel and under the layout.



MORE NEW ENTRY




Click MORE to go there now.


Till next time

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Building The HO Train Layout:

I had to put everything back together that I took apart to move it.
the track that was installed had become brittle and was breaking every time it was touched so off it came. There was a mess of wiring under the table top and it was cut to move the bench so it got removed as well. Seemed like I was going backwards there for a while taking things apart not putting it together, OH well wanted it right.

Then I started to build.

First I put down new cork roadbed then I started on the track, because I wasn't sure about how to lay track by hand and didn't really want to learn on the first setup I decided to use flex track with soldered joints. The joints were staggered because I was laying on a curve, and I didn't want to waste any rail, also I thought it would help prevent kinks at the joint location. So far it seems to have worked.
Because I want to go with DCC control I didn't put in as many insulator joiners` as I saw in the plans I was building by, I guess time will show if I'm right.

Now my own little addition is to put up curved tunnel walls of thin plywood, (because the lead is going to be a camera car), in stead of leaving everything open access.
Tunnel Pictures So far I just have the sides up. They will have stone work glued on when done.

I realized that I have to solder on the feeder wires before I put up the rest of walls, so that's where I am right now Progress So Far .

OCT. 24
I drilled the the holes for the feeder wires, now I just have to place & solder the wires to the track rails. Then after I attach the turnout wires I can continue the tunnel walls.
Picked up the stationary decoder for the turnouts today now I can start wiring them. It is a single unit that can control four turnout devices, choosing either straight or diverging.
One pair will always be either both straight or both diverging so only one set of signals is needed for that location. A second turnout is needed for the reversing loop and a third for joining parallel tracks into a single line, leaving one output for a siding turnout farther up the line. Now I have to decide if I want a manual yard or DCC controlled turnouts. I am thinking manual will be better in the yard and DCC on the main.


NOV. 11
Got the feeder wires prepared and now its time to place and solder them. Once the hidden feeders are in place I can route the buss lines & the switch control wires. Decisions decisions where am I going to put the stationary decoder for the turnouts & the boosters for the DCC control? Also I have to finalize locations for the cab jacks.
No new pictures yet but there will be.

JAN 06
Well I crawled under the train table and pulled some buss wires & soldered on some of the feeders. Solder is cheaper then suitcase connectors if a little more work, having to strip wire and wrap joints, test connections and solder them, then wrap tape over the joint.
I got a deal on stationary decoders so am going DCC for the whole yard & line not just the main, but am still waiting for the rest of the cab jacks to arrive in the mail.
I am thinking of reworking one turnout switch from left hand to a right hand and making the other route the main line not sure going to wait till I can run a train over it and see if derailing is a concern. Changing the switch will make less of a curve at that point, if I can find a new switch I think I will rip track and rework it.


JAN. 18
Only one feeder line installed so far, just enough to power the track for testing.
Ran trains on the piece of finished track and derailed the engine. A friend told me that I put the spikes too close to the switches so the track dips right in front of the joint, now I have to go and check all the joints that aren't soldered and fix them. Once that's fixed I can cont'd the feeder line and set up the reverse loop. After IM sure it all works all the time both ways I can finish the tunnel walls and cover them with the next level of track.


APRIL 16
Took the old turnouts off and replaced them with new ones in two places but am changing the track layout in the last location because makes more sense to use a right turnout. Have to mod the roadbed & track and then I can test it.




JUNE 21
Well I saw a club layout I really liked, a while ago now I made changes to the train table

JUNE 23

I separated the two sections of the layout and added a 4X4 section between them for the new pieces of track.I plan to put a valley in that needs a trestle to cross, and because of the multi leveled layers I have to modify the existing track as well, a tunnel with a window or otherwise just exit the tunnel for a while not sure yet which it will be.


JUNE 29

Rejoined the sections and laid the cork, then off to work for 3 days


MORE NEW ENTRY

APRIL 05 2008

Took the 4x4 section apart again and built a 4x8 section instead


This is a list of things to do for the HO Train. I hope I've got all of it in the right order .

Train Table Bench Framework :
Reassemble Main Table Sections [DONE]



4X8 Valley Addition Framework :
Build Table Section Framework [DONE]
Put On Mid Level Decking
Put On Cork Roadbed [DONE]
Put On LowerLevel Decking [DONE]
Put On Bottom Level Decking [DONE]


Put On Flextrack
Tunnel Walls Installed
Wire Switch Control Lines Wire Power Lines For Track DCC Districts [started]
Ballast Track & Paint
Install Tunnel lights Wire Tunnel lights
Put On Upper Decking
Build Mountainsides
Build & Place Trestle
Landscape Mountainsides
Put On Cork Roadbed
Put On Flextrack

Lower Hidden Decking (L) Side:
Put On Decking [DONE]
Put On Cork Roadbed [DONE]
Put On Flextrack & Switches [DONE]
Tunnel Walls Installed [started]
Wire Switch Control Lines
Wire Power Lines For Track DCC Districts [started]
Ballast Track & Paint
Install Tunnel lights
Wire Tunnel lights

Lower Visible (R) Side :
Put On Decking installed [DONE]
Put On Cork Roadbed [DONE]
Put On Flextrack [DONE]
Tunnel Walls Installed [DONE]
Wire Power Lines For Track DCC Districts
Ballast Track & Paint

Upper Decking (L):
Put On Upper Decking [started] & removed
Put On Cork Roadbed [started]
Put On Flextrack & Switches
Wire Switch Control Lines
Wire Power Lines For Track Blocks
Ballast Track & Paint

Upper Decking (R) :
Put On Upper Decking
Put On Cork Roadbed
Put On Flextrack & Switches
Wire Switch Control Lines
Wire Power Lines For Track Blocks
Ballast & Paint track

Mountain (A) Base:
Put On Decking [DONE]
Put On Cork Roadbed
Put On Flextrack
Wire Power Lines For Track Blocks
Tunnel Walls Installed
Ballast & Paint track
Tunnel Top Installed
Install Tunnel lights
Wire Tunnel lights
Build removable mountain

Mountain (B) plateau Top:
Put On Mountain Top Decking
Put On Cork Roadbed
Put On Flextrack & Switches
Wire Switch Control Lines
Wire Power Lines For Track Blocks
Ballast & Paint track

Siding Track:
Put On Siding Decking [DONE]
Put On Cork Roadbed [started]
Put On Flextrack & Switches
Wire Switch Control Lines
Wire Power Lines For Track Blocks
Ballast & Paint track

Build Or Finish Bridges (KITS) [started]

Build Or Finish Buildings (KITS) [started]

Build Or Finish Rolling Stock (KITS) [started]

Weather Above Kits & Put on Track

Build Mountains
Put In Tunnel Entrances

Landscaping

Paint & Install Lake Bottom

Run Trains & Enjoy


At least that's the plan

Peter




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Building The Garden Train:

Lots to do here, its just in the planning stages.
Some of the things that need to be done, plus stuff that needs to be done before I can even start

Landscaping
Install Lake [pond]
Build Mountains
Put In Tunnels
lay track
hook up power

Run Trains & Enjoy