New HO layout for the local model train museum!

[wiley209]

Now before I begin, there's gonna be a LOT of Bachmann stuff involved in this layout, thus making it perfect to share here!

For some who don't know, I volunteer at a hobby shop in Brockton, MA (Hogie's Hobbies), and the owner is setting up a museum in his shop. Me and a few other volunteers will be putting together an HO-scale layout for this museum! There will be plenty of Bachmann stuff, as the shop is an authorized Bachmann dealer. So far we'll be starting with a large L-shape framework that will get bigger in size over time. For now we have this temporary setup:


It's pretty neat, I will say.


I recently got this for the museum. Bachmann sold this pack in the early 80s, and it was a pretty interesting idea to do so. We can display the box as a museum exhibit, and use the structures on the layout! Two birds with one stone!


Currently we're running the "Thoroughbred" train set on this temporary layout. Mr. Hogan usually sells this since the Norfolk Southern runs in the New England area. He's also planning to sell Bachmann's new "Coastliner" train set, because the freight trains running through our area are typically pulled by CSX GP40 locomotives, like the set has:

(The MBTA owns the track line running through Brockton, but CSX runs the freight trains on the route, taking it over from Conrail.)


Walthers Cornerstone Merchant's Row I, Bachmann dual crossing gates, and a TYCO/Pola Howard Johnson's building! (We got this because of how Brockton used to have a Howard Johnson's restaurant.)


The real layout will be built using E-Z Track, with 22" radius curves for the outer oval. We also plan to get Bachmann's "Digital Commander" train set to start it up, so we can have a DCC unit and a couple of decoder-equipped locomotives to get started. Anyone who's volunteering can bring their own equipment to run as well. (I have some Amtrak stuff I think would look good on the layout.) Since the owner is also into vintage model train stuff, you can expect to see quite a bit of vintage Bachmann stuff on the layout (along with A.H.M., TYCO, etc.)

I'll post more updates as I go along.

[Len]

Since the locos got split between them, you might want to consider a 'Conrail' loco with either 'CSX' or 'NS' stenciled under the road number on the cab. CSX and NS both run through Raleigh, NC and it's not unusual to see a blue unit mixed in on the head end of either's trains.

You also might want to consider making an upside down 'L' with some 1x3's to extend the table top a bit. The tracks pretty close to the edge in the pictures, and it wouldn't take much of a bump by a visitor to put the train on the floor.

Len

[wiley209]

Well, the real setup will not be going where it currently is now.
And we do have a Bachmann Plus Conrail B23-7 from the mid-90s. Maybe we could stencil "CSX" underneath or something.
And as for that split thing, I noticed how Conrail and NS's GE Dash-style wide-cab diesels have the headlights placed above the cab windows instead of on the nose. I guess it's a matter of preference. It also makes it very easy to tell if a CSX wide-cab GE locomotive is an ex-Conrail unit, like this:

[jward]

to be more accurate, the conrail units got patched and renumbered. on csx, the old white conrail number was patched over with a new yellow one. on ns, things were a bit more complicated. the original plan was to patch them with a black number on a white patch. many were dome this way. less common was a white number in the standard ns font, on a black patch. the rarest version was a conrail blue patch with a white number in the ns font.

for a b23-7 transferred to csx, paint out the number in blue, then use yellow numbers from a csx decal set for the renumber. under csx, the b23-7s were renumbered 3144 to 3192.

as for the conrail c40-8ws, on csx they were given a number series separate from the existing c40-8ws, conrails are in the 7300s while csx runs from 7649-7917. there were a group of lease fleet locomotives marked lms, built to conrail specs, which got the numbers 7918-7929. ns on the other hand had no c40-8ws, so the conrails are the only ones of their kind on the roster. they are easily spotted by being the only widebody types with number boards on the nose rather than the cab, and the use of the older style ge trucks instead of the high adhesion type with individual axle springs common on the dash 9s.

[Len]

Interesting info Jeff. I hadn't paid that much attention, except to notice Conrail blue units rolling through Raleigh, NC now an again.

Len

[trainmainbrian]

So Far good looking Layout... Is it going to be complete with scenery from Bachmann...I'd like to see the difference from Bachmann to WS products...

[Len]

While they offer kits of preselected wall sections to build specific structures, WS Design Preservation Models (DPM) is mainly noted for a wide selection of walls and windows to design and build your own buildings with. The nice thing about DPM kits and modules is the pieces are interchangable with Small Town USA kits, and Tichy Train Group doors and windows. So it's very easy to avoid the, "I've seen that on every layout in the country.", situation.

Bachmann kits can also be modified to some extent, but they're not specifically designed for it. It is possible to combine some kits, and there's a lot that can be done with painting, weathering, and adding detail parts like ladders and outside stairways.

Len

[jward]

Interesting info Jeff. I hadn't paid that much attention, except to notice Conrail blue units rolling through Raleigh, NC now an again.

Len

I was working with conrail and ns around the time of the split so I had a front row seat. diesel locomotives are my main niche in this hobby, so I followed the renumberings pretty closely.

[Trainman203]

A truly accurate and researched museum layout is a lot harder to do than a lot of people think.  I'm already starting now on the research for a prototypical historically accurate layout I'm going to start at least three years from now when I retire and move to a layout friendly house...... collecting primary source data, getting sources for period maps, going after period photographs, measuring surviving buildings to scratch build before the layout starts if possible, planning some field trips to photograph what remains ..... There's no end to it if you really get going.  It's not for everyone, that's for certain.

[Len]

Trainman,

You don't say what area you'll be modeling, but if it involves Illinois you should check this out:

http://www.illinois.gov/ihpa/Preserve/Pages/construct_mainstreet.aspx

Lots of cardstock models of historical buildings.

I'll have to dig the URL out of my old computer, but there's another site with free downloads of actual railroad structures to print and make your own cardstock buildings with. It also includes instructions on adding glueing tabs, etc., to your own photos into printable cardstock buildings.

Len

[Trainman203]

It's a long gone MP / NOT&M branch called the New Iberia and Northern, in south central Louisiana.

[wiley209]

One of the guys who's also working on this layout got another Bachmann Sound Value locomotive...

A Boston & Maine GP7! It does sound pretty cool. I also like the bell sound on it (the steel EMD bell sound; I frequently hear it on the MBTA F40PH locomotives I almost always see pulling the commuter trains in my area.)
He also has a 2-6-0 Sound Value steam locomotive (Burlington Route.) Pretty neat stuff!


I also got this for the layout. Can't have too many autos, and I've always liked the look of TYCO's signs. The seller also included some Lima-made autos and the Plasticville crossing signals and gates in the box. How nice
For those unfamiliar, TYCOSCENE was a layout board TYCO sold in the 1980s that you could set up your trains on if you didn't want to nail the track down onto plywood or whatever. A few TYCO train sets came with it as well. We plan to get such a layout board for the museum. (Bachmann had a similar layout board included with their "Powerhouse" train set in the 1980s.)


Just a nice view.


The train passing through the railroad crossing.


The temporary setup, again. The real layout is going to be a variation of one of the track plans from Volume II of Bachmann's "Model Railroading Made E-Z" track plan book.
We also peaked at the new Bachmann 2015 catalog online. The owner will order a physical copy of it as well. There's a LOT of stuff in this catalog we may get for this layou, like some more sound-value locomotives, like the upcoming Amtrak GG1 or the Conrail "Heritage" unit. (the CSX sometimes borrows it from NS.)

[wiley209]

Well, we already got part of the framework built!


Here is the track plan we will be doing so far...

[wiley209]

Now we have the foam placed on the board and the track laid!


As we planned, the outer loop uses 22" radius curves, while the inner loop has 18" radius curves. One of the club members suggested a trolley line running in the downtown part, and we thought that was a good idea. Currently it uses old Code-100 brass track, but seeing as it's just the trolley line, which is going to be controlled independently from the main E-Z Track layout, it seems to make sense.


This BNSF locomotive is property of the museum. It does look like mine, except this is a GP38-2 (mine is a GP40-2).


The TYCO Howard Johnson's is already where it will be placed on the layout.


A car stops at the Bachmann crossing gate. We'll be installing another one of them somewhere else on the layout, as well as setting up another railroad crossing with working signals.


The trolley line is still a work in progress. That's an older TYCO trolley with the Mantua MU-2 drive.


This Amtrak train is mine. The passenger cars are Bachmann Silver Series Amfleet cars (a coach car and a snack car), and they operate very well on the 22" radius curves. I also love the lighting on them, especially the red tail lights.


The Amtrak train passing a steam-powered freight (Bachmann Sound Value 2-6-0).

We have more plans in store for the layout. We're going to do more landscaping soon, including the grass, roads, a swamp and a mountain. We also plan to install a few operating Bachmann and TYCO accessories, and we'll also be getting a KFC, Dairy Queen, 7-11, even a drive-in theater!

[jbrock27]

**S Curve Alerts**

One in the direction the BNSF is heading, the other in the shot with the HoJos, on the track the B & M caboose is on-follow the track to across from where the Trolley is.