Home of the OZARK MOUNTAIN STATION 4

HO Model Train Layout
of Ted Luedke; Ava, MO

Updates March 20, 2006

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Not a lot of time to work on the rail road this winter but some progress made..

All of the basic bench work is completed with the run to elevate to the 4' height from floor bridge across the door way installed and operational. The bridge drops down when not in use with a mechanism I picked up from one of Model Railroad books on Benchwork. If I must admit, it worked out rather well and I am very pleased. (big smile). I thought I could get all the main lines set up and worry about the track from the turn outs later. So while some areas have a rough plan already sketched on paper, most will be worked out as I work on the section.

Still working off one single train MRC DC power pack but I have wired most of the stubs, every 6 feet. Have decided on the basic placement of power block buss lines. As I mentioned earlier I am planning 3 distribution blocks with the elevated (block C) its own block and splitting the main table into a left (block A) and a right (block B), just to be sure I can easily zero in on power problems as they come along.

The service yard and its support services area is off along side the door by itself and it still houses all my junk and supplies, but I have begun doing some basic planning ... just puting my thoughts on paper while searching magazines for practical applications detailed by others.

With the 220V electric heater I can keep the room constant. Kept the room around 58 degrees all winter and while I notice the electric bill for that barn went up, it is well within tolerances. Glad I insulated with full wall and ceilings of 8". I turn up the heat when I am working, but most of the time justadding the lights and my body heat brings the temp up to 64 or so. I also have a portable air conditioner for the summer months and its high humidty. It too drives the electric bill up some, but again well worth it. I drilled a hole in the interior barn wall for exhaust and a hole for a hose to drain off the water. Works very nicely.

Just as you enter the room, straight ahead is theright return loop of my modified Dog Bone lay out. Hard to see yet, there is a work hatch roughed out in the frame work toward the back. This loop area is inside the 33" inside main line track and was designed to house a Powere Plant and a Mill with its elevator, grain bins, grain dryer and all that. Reality set in that I planned way more that could be housed in this space so I made some very painful exclusions, but I like what I kept.

All the major planning was done on graph paper with compas and scare rule. For these yards I assembled the buildings and placed them on the lay out to help me gain insight on using the space well. Over planning what I want will haunt me until all areas are roughed out, and reality has brought me down to scale. Boy, I need a lot more room for this lay out? :-)) ;-)

Return Loop

Below is the city service yard stretching along the narrow stretch along the outside wall to the left of the return loop at its right. I wanted a big yard with many freight cars being positioned and formed. I settled for just 2 full tracks with a 3rd at the left for passenger service that quickly connects to the other two. On the right there is also a 3rd that quickly stubs off as a Team Track. These are hard to make out as I am still in the moving of track pieces around, but it is taking shape. By the way, besides the Woodland Scenes tack bed I described earlier, I am using their sheets of the material to cover the yards, later cutting out where I see fit for drainage and the like. Again this material is just awsome.

All my turnouts are the Walthers DC/DCC in code 83, made by Shinohara. Every time I start another track laying project Walthers has run out of what I need and it is several months before the slow boat from China gets here. I used to live in Milwaukee and was used to driving to Walthers to get what ever I needed ... when I needed it! Used their search dealers routine to find some of what I needed (Springfield, MO does not stock any of this) and was able to move on with laying some yard track ... but it's been my only major set back to date.

In this yard I will have a small passenger station, freight houses, very small industry and Team Track.

Straight Yard

Drainage

The next photo is the open hatch cover for the return loop which is to the left of the door ... the other end of the layout. This is a two level part of the layout, with the return loop mostly in a large mountain. Above will be mining and a lumber operation and the connection to the door way bridge at about 46" off the floor. The last photo is of drainage tunnels I erected to allow for laying of track.

Mountain Hatch

Drainage

Click for the next 2-27-2007 update.

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