Observing Real Life

Before I started to model the various landscape features on my layout, I gathered several pictures of similar features in real life.

Here is a photo of a modern viaduct that takes railroad tracks over a highway.

By using this approach, I will be able to better duplicate the details of actual railroad implementations of the bridges, trestles and viaducts. The only risk is that I will make my layout look more modern than the actual 1950's implementation of these features. To avoid these problems, I had to do some more reading and browsing the web for period photographs.

Once I had this information I was ready to start building the mountain ...

Roadbed & Track in Place

After a lot of experimentation with cutting depressions into the foam base, I finalized the location and depth of the river and the roadway. With these in place, I was able to lay the final cork roadbed for the outer main line and to lay all the turnouts, viaducts and track.

I was also able to route the wiring for the track power and the turnouts. A hole was drilled immediately under each track piece that requires power that allowed the wires to go down through the foam base and to emerge under the wood base frame. The wires were then routed through the various holes in the frame to bring them all to the main control point.

Now that the track was in its final location, I was able to run the trains on all the available routes to once again make sure I had all the clearances right to handle the long passenger cars. During this process, I discovered that the Super Chief's dome observation car (the longest one) brushed the inside walls of the viaduct overpasses. By lowering the height of each inside wall by filing them down I eliminated this problem.

I am now ready to glue the track in place and begin building the major landscaping features ...

Planning for Major Landscaping

To make sure all the bridges and viaducts worked correctly and looked realistic, I made several test implementations of these features before I cut into the main layout's foam board.

I had to determine the proper scale depth for the highway underpasses, and make sure the various bridges worked. I had planned to implement 5 viaducts over the highway, 2 trestle bridges (1 single track and 1 double track) over the river, and 2 plate girder bridges over the creek below the waterfall.

It was a good thing I did this testing as I messed up the foam board on my first attempt, and completed 2 more tests before I had the technique of cutting & gouging down that left a realistic resulting landscape.

Laying Out the Track Plan

The next step in the process was to layout the track plan on the foam board. The easiest way to do this was to lay out and connect all the track, power connections, turnouts, bridges and viaducts.

Once everything was connected and properly aligned, I ran the trains around the layout to make sure all the clearances were correct. Then I marked the location of all the roadbed with a pencil.

Since my foam board was sealed with a layer of thin cardboard, and I was planning on creating several depressions in my landscape, I had to peal off the cardboard everywhere there was no track and roadbed. I was planning on laying down an additional cork roadbed on my main outer line so it would be higher than the inner lines, so the cardboard helped keep the inner lines just above the surface of the foam.

Finally, I drilled the holes for the wires to the power blocks and the turnouts. I was now ready to start digging out the depressions for the river and the highway ...

Choice of Power & Control

My next big choice was how I was going to power the layout and control the trains. This turned out to be a HUGE topic that took several weeks of study to resolve. There currently are two main ways to approach this decision ... DC & DCC.

DC, or Direct Current, is the traditional, less complicated method to provide power to the track & accessories, and to control the actions of the railroad engines. DCC, or Digital Command Control, is the more modern, more technology focused approach.

Naturally, I was drawn toward the technological solution. After all, did I want a simple power pack to run the trains, or did I want to use a computer? Well, even though this was my tendency, after considerable discussion with a local DCC expert, I was convinced to put this approach off to the second phase of my hobby.

I will not go into the complexities of the decision here, but suffice it to say that while DCC is a simpler solution to power the track, it opens a whole new way to spend big bucks on the digital computer control side. This still intrigues me, and I may upgrade sometime in the future, I am now running my trains with a Tech4 MRC 280 dual DC power pack & controller.

Using this device I am able to control both power blocks of my layout independently. So I can run two trains (steam & diesel) at the same time. The trains can be going in different directions, and can operate at different speeds. This enables me to implement both my passenger and freight trains on the same layout.

Choice of Track

After several weeks of reading, and talking with several of the model train store owners in Phoenix, I made my choice of track.

I was told the "real modelers" made all their layouts from flex track, and only "amateurs" used sectional track. However, I was also advised that if I wanted to avoid electrical problems, I should use the sectional track.

Not wanting to build a layout that would not work the first time, and since I really am an amateur, I chose Kato sectional track and started ordering the components I needed.

This track comes pre-installed on a grey plastic roadbed, and has a huge selection of configurations, including a double cross-over turnout that is available from no other manufacturer.

Track Layout Planning

I did considerable research on the various track planning software packages that were available. I was able to download and test 3 different applications before I finally settled on XTrkCad.

This versatile (and free) program took a little getting used to, but once I figured out the controls I was off to making track plans.

Since I wanted to run both a passenger and freight train, I needed at least two main lines that could be divided into two power blocks so I could run both trains simultaneously. I also wanted a passenger depot area, a freight area, and an engine maintenance facility.

The size and basic layout also provided me room to eventually build a mountain that could support a tunnel on the outer main line. This mountain would also be the water source with a waterfall providing the start for the creek and river.

Lastly, the design would provide space for the buildings and the roadway in the center of the layout.

Now that the track design was complete, and I had a track component inventory, I was ready to order the rest of the track ...

Layout Base Material

Once the frame was completed I installed the 2" foam board that would become the basic scenery platform to support the layout.

This foam board was chosen because it would be easy to cut out the depressions for the river and the highway underpasses I had planned.

Here you can see some of the first pieces of track and passenger cars that I acquired. With regard to my purchasing, I started very slowly so I had plenty of time to study each component before buying.

Next comes the final track layout planning ...

Building the Bench

Once I had settled on N scale for my railroad, I laid out a preliminary track plan. This led me to decide on a 3x5 foot total layout size.

I then began the construction of a bench to hold the layout. Using 4x1 inch pine, I built the frame and underlying supports.

Each of the interior supports was then drilled to support the wiring that would come when I installed the track's power grid and turnout controls.

Scale and Layout Size

There was considerable time spent deciding which scale (N or HO) I would use for my layout. I very much liked the general size and detail of the HO engines and cars, but the resulting size of an interesting layout would be too large for my requirements.

I wanted a table top unit that could easily be stored in the garage when not in use. Without a basement or extra room to devote to the hobby, I was limited to a size I could carry back and forth when needed.

The price of the track, turnouts, electrical, engines, cars and accessories was also a factor. After much on-line shopping, I saw that there was very little difference between the scales, but that in general, N scale was slightly cheaper.

The choice of N scale led to the next big choice ... layout and bench configuration. More on that next time ...