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• INCLUDES FULL-COLOR SCHEMATICS

• A SUPPLEMENT TO MODEL RAILROADER MAGAZINE

Workshop tips
25 ways
to make your model
railroad better

• How to take your model railroad from good to great

• Features a handy checklist for planning your layout
• Suggestions for improving the space around your railroad
• Includes information about additional planning resources 618314
2015
25 ways to make your model railroad better 1
 MAKE A
Five things you can

GREAT
do to create a layout
that’s remarkable,
inspiring, and fun
to operate
By John Pryke
Photos by the author
unless noted otherwise

MODEL RAILROAD

Boasting numerous appearances in

Model Railroader and Great Model
Railroads magazines, Kalmbach
Books, and as a feature of the Great
Model Railroads video series, John
Pryke’s HO scale New Haven layout
includes many of the attributes
found on truly great model
railroads. Photo by Dave Frary

T
here are some truly great model railroads within our • Stick to a specific prototype and/or time.
hobby. These layouts appear on the covers and in the • Plan for reliable and prototypical operation.
pages of our favorite magazines, and in some cases the All of these elements need not be present to create a great
owners even have videos made to feature them. model railroad. Choose the two or three that interest you the
What is it that separates these distinguished layouts from most, and you’re on your way to making a layout like those
those we’ve labored over for years? More importantly, what that delight and inspire us. Let’s take a look at these attributes
steps can we take to improve our ability to build the next great one by one.
model railroad?
We’d all like a simple answer, but there just isn’t a single at- Now on ModelRailroader.com
tribute that defines a great model railroad. However, there are
a few suggestions you can use to start the transformation: Looking for more layout ideas and inspiration? Model Railroader
• Create a neat, clean, and comfortable layout space. subscribers have access to more than 500 track plans in the on-
• Include realistic detailing that’s easily viewed. line Track Plan Database at www.ModelRailroader.com.
• Use a variety of natural colors to craft scenic terrain.

2 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

1. Create a neat, clean, and comfortable space for your layout
Masonite backdrop
Many layouts in the United curves around corner Backdrop painted light
blue to simulate sky
States are built in basements – Abundant fluorescent
areas that may be unfinished and room lighting
also used for storage. However, the Acoustic-tile ceiling
concrete walls and floor, rafters with hides insulation and
helps control dust
insulation, and single-lightbulb
fixtures create a dim and often damp
space in which to work. Making your
basement into a neat and orderly
train room is a great way to help
make your layout look more inviting. Valance hides
lights from view
Special-effects
Walls. The first step is finishing the lighting control
walls. After you’ve checked your with dimmer
local building code and secured the switch
proper permits, start by installing Blue lights
2 x 4 studs, spaced 18" apart, against White and/or
the concrete walls. You’ll want to yellow lights
complete this framing with insula-
tion and drywall, as if you were Layout
building a new room. Where your
walls form a corner, consider coving
them with thin tempered hardboard
or a similar flexible board to elimi-
nate an unrealistic 90-degree joint
behind the layout. Finish the edges
like drywall so they are smooth.
The easiest way to color the wall
is to roll on a coat of light blue latex
paint to simulate “sky” behind the
layout. Another option is to create a
color-graduated wall, simulating the Illuminated
actual color of the sky: light blue at buildings
and signals
the horizon and a much darker blue if
Finished
you look directly overhead. fascia

Backdrop. When the paint dries, Cloth drapes

use spray adhesive to fix commercial Hidden
or custom backdrops to the wall. In storage
beneath
either case, you’ll want to trim away layout
the printed sky portions that don’t
match your backdrop color. You can 2 x 4 stud
also add clouds to the wall above the wall against
backdrop by dabbing on paint with a outside wall
Industrial-grade
sponge or with stencils. carpet covers concrete floor

Illustration by Rick Johnson

Carpet. To make operating your
layout easy on your feet, legs, and the layout. Shelves to store supplies replace incandescents used in small
back, lay some indoor/outdoor can be built under the benchwork. fixtures such as track lighting.
industrial-grade carpet on the You can also add additional
concrete floor. A dark, solid carpet Ceiling and lighting. Acoustic tiles lighting above the layout to create
color (gray or navy blue) won't hung underneath the floor joists help special effects. For example, you can
distract the eye from the colors on keep dust off your layout. You'll also simulate changing daylight condi-
your layout. want to install lighting fixtures with tions by using blue and white
diffusers in the ceiling to provide colored lights hidden behind a
Hidden storage. When you even lighting over the entire area. hardboard valance.
complete your benchwork and Fluorescent lighting is the most Using electronic dimmers to
roadbed, the legs and structural economical, so consider using cool control the intensity of colored lights
members supporting it may be white, warm white, or combination creates dramatic effects that are
hidden by a drape made of inexpen- of both bulb types in each fixture. heightened when you also include
sive dark cloth stapled to the edge of Compact fluorescent bulbs can even illuminated buildings and signals.

25 ways to make your model railroad better 3

 These beautiful passenger cars are exact models of the New Haven RR’s What makes this car truly great is its
crack express, the Merchants Limited, as it appeared in 1948. Each car has a interior. The tables have separate
detailed interior, which can be seen through its windows. tablecloths and individual place
settings. Every knife, fork, and spoon
was individually made from silver
2. Include realistic detailing and points of interest wire. Even the chairs are wire frames
with separate seat cushions.

Including details and various specific interior colors for your rural areas or every street in an
points of interest that visitors can equipment, you can generally paint urban setting would be a huge
easily enjoy is another way to partitions cream, beige, or light blue; undertaking, and make the layout
enhance your layout. Fine details the upholstery dark green, dark blue, look cluttered. A more practical idea
can be integrated into nearly every or maroon plush; and the tabletops is superdetail small areas, creating
aspect of a model railroad, including white. You can also add other details “islands of detail.” This lets viewers
trackwork, motive power, rolling such as plates, made with a paper skim over less-significant areas and
stock, structures, and scenery. punch and aluminum foil, and focus on the highlighted scenes.
window shades, cut from a strip of In rural areas, the "islands" might
Passenger cars. Many come with a green or tan construction paper. consist of a farm field being planted,
one-piece, single-color, plastic In addition to detailing passenger billboards on country roads, or a
interior. With the roof off, use a fine car interiors, you’ll also want to trackside industry with a siding and
brush to paint the interior prototypi- consider adding external details. freight platform. Urban scenes may
cal colors. If the car has no interior, consist of a street under repair, a
you can craft one using sheet Scenery details. Since scenery backyard garden, or trucks unload-
styrene and cast furniture, available covers your entire layout, superde- ing at a commercial market.
from various parts manufacturers. tailing every rock, tree, and bush in The proper separation for your
While there are reference islands of detail depends largely on
books to help you determine the Pilgrim Office the terrain you model. A good rule of
Warehouse Produce Building UFRR yard
thumb is to allow 12" to 18" between
scenes in rural settings and 6" to 12"
in urban or town settings.
Meat
market
Trucks are busy
unloading freight at a
Atlantic commercial city
Cold market. The Coastal
Storage Express Trailer backs
Plumbing Island into a loading bay,
supplier of detail while a warehouse
A&P Gas foreman requests a bill
Building UNION station of lading from another
truck driver. Photo by
Two-story
storefronts
FREIGHT RR Dave Frary
Guy’s
HO scale
Diner Islands Scale of plan: 1⁄2" = 1'-0", 12" grid
of detail

NE This highly detailed Many city lots have

Beverage road gang digging up small patches of
a side street is an vegetation hidden
“island of detail.” The behind buildings. Here
streets on each side you can see a small
of it are sparsely garden fenced off from
Block
detailed with a few the street.
of stores
people and a parked
car or two.

Restaurant

4 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

Two New Haven DL-109 diesels carry the Federal Express out of Boston’s
South Station on the author’s HO layout set in September 1948. The New
Haven switched color schemes in 1944, so the lead unit in its 1944 Hunter
Green-with-aluminum-striping scheme is as prototypical as the Pullman
Green-and-gold trailing unit which was delivered in 1941. Photo by Dave Frary

3. Adhere to a specific prototype and period Even though Eric Brooman’s HO

scale Utah Belt isn’t based on a
specific railroad, it has detailed
Most great layouts depict either a Period details. In addition to the diesel power, rolling stock, and
real railroad or a freelance road that locomotives and rolling stock, the sructures adhering to prototypical
follows prototype practices. scenery and details on your layout standards. Photo by Eric Brooman
There are technical and historical should match the railroad and time
societies devoted to most major you’re modeling. The scenic terrain 1940s. In these issues you’ll readily
railroads in the U.S. that offer may be dictated by the prototype – find a wealth of period detail
members a wealth of modeling infor- mountains for the Rio Grande, desert including pictures of contemporary
mation. Mechanical drawings and for the Santa Fe, and rolling hills and cars and structures, products that
paint schemes of motive power, rivers for the Pennsylvania are some were advertised on billboards, and
rolling stock, and railroad structures typical examples. examples of clothing styles and
as well as track and yard diagrams What isn’t so obvious is the colors for miniature figures.
are also available to help you make accuracy of the details within the At railroad shows and swap
your layout closely resemble a scenery. On a steam-era layout set in meets, you may also find vendors
specific prototype. 1949, an SUV, Corvette, or over-the- who sell old photos of your favorite
road truck with a 53-foot trailer are prototype. Also, be sure to look
Avoid anachronisms – items on as out of place on the roads as a through your own collection of old
your model railroad from the wrong billboard for the Pepsi Generation. photo albums, model magazines,
period. For example, if you model Determining the details that should and books.
the steam-to-diesel transition era in be there requires some research. It The Internet is also a great
the late 1940s-early ’50s, you don’t isn’t that difficult and is often an resource for information. Search it
want cars and trucks from the 1970s exercise in which you learn more for photos, as well as data on when
on your layout roads. Check the road than you thought you would. things existed.
names on your freight cars, and Period research doesn’t
survey the type of rolling stock you necessarily require a trip
have on your layout. Eighty-five-foot- to the library. In your attic
long container cars and all-door or basement there may be
boxcars didn’t appear in trains until a pile of old magazines
the 1980s and ’90s and don’t belong (such as Life, Time, and
with wood reefers, single-sheathed National Geographic)
boxcars, and a caboose. going back as far as the

A 1947 Chevrolet Sport Line sedan passes a billboard advertising

Spam as one of America’s treats. These details, plus the white
posts with steel cables, complete this accurate period scene.

25 ways to make your model railroad better 5

 4. Creative use of various natural colors
Rutland Ten-Wheeler no. 74 rumbles The colors and architecture of the
across a stone arch bridge on Lou buildings – brick, concrete skeleton,
Sassi’s West Hoosic Division. Lou’s a green iron front, stucco, and even a
layout was set in the fall, and he bright blue diner – add color to this
used the color of autumn in New urban scene depicting Boston.
England effectively. Photo by Lou Sassi Photo by Dave Frary

You’ve probably determined the fall. Unfortunately, most people think Urban scenery. If you have
terrain surrounding your railroad, a desert is an endless expanse of urban scenery on your layout, color
but have you thought about how yellow sand and rocks. There’s can be used to make it stand out.
color will help it stand out? Let’s look plenty of color in the desert if you Many railroads ran through the older
at three examples of scenic color. know where to look. The rocks and sections of cities – factories, ware-
surrounding mountains have shades houses, and tenements – where
Eastern forest. Most Eastern of gray, ochre, yellow, orange, and buildings were made entirely of brick
layouts have hillsides with green dark red in them. There are often or cast-concrete skeletons with brick
trees and streams with blue water, fantastic rock formations of differing curtain walls.
right? With the exception of ever- colors, which you can replicate on a Brick comes in a variety of colors
greens, the color of deciduous trees backdrop. – dark red, light red, beige, off-white,
and bushes changes with the Most desert vegetation is either and yellow. Most brick structures
seasons. In the fall they blaze with dark green scrub or light green have decorative granite lintels and
red, orange, and yellow. cactus. If your railroad climbs into sills above and below the windows,
To accurately re-create fall the mountains, however, trains will and the brick wall may have architec-
scenery you’ll want to reference be surrounded by an increasing tural shapes, such as curves above
photos of a natural-growing fall number of evergreens. Often found windows, that are defined by the use
terrain. Over the course of several growing within the evergreens are of different-color bricks. Building
weeks, shoot images of the same some mountain deciduous trees walls are great places to advertise
location or area to see how colors whose leaves change from green to products, and any wall without
change with time. orange and red in the fall. windows is often covered with
poster ads.
Southwestern desert. If you
model a Southwestern railroad that
runs through a desert, your scenery
can still be colorful even though it’s
different from New England in the

Pelle Søeborg’s former HO scale

layout captured modern Union
Pacific action in the West. He used a
variety of scenery colors and natural
rock to create an expansive desert
scene. Photo by Pelle Søeborg

6 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

5. Reliable and prototypical operations
Great looks and flawless opera-
tion denote a great model railroad.
DISPATCHER NEW HAVEN PROVIDENCE BOSTON

Reliable and realistic trackwork. T-1 Cab A: Move Yankee Clipper Clear blocks 45, 3, and 4 for Dispatch Boston Local to Get B&A 2-8-4 from roundhouse.
from New York (block 51) to inbound Yankee Clipper from Attleboro via blocks 29, 30,
In recent years, the quality, realism, New Haven and hold in blocks 3 New York. and 31. Begin making up B&A Freight
on block 38 (12 cars).
and 4.
and reliability of prefabricated track Move DL-109 from ready track Begin making up Mainline
Cab B: Move Local from to block 10 and hold. Freight for New Haven on
has improved greatly. HO scale track Providence (block 30) to
Clipper arrives from New York.
blocks 21 and 22.
Attleboro (block 33) and hold.
comes in rail sizes ranging from Clear blocks 31, 30, and 29 for
inbound Boston-Providence
code 55 to code 100. If you prefer to Local.
hand-lay your track, weathered rail is T-2 Cab A: Move MU cars from Clear blocks 5, 6, and 46; Receive Boston-Providence Dispatch Boston-Providence
New Haven (blocks 5 and 6) to dispatch MU cars to Mt. Vernon. Local in blocks 29 and 30, seize Local to Providence via blocks
available, along with a variety of Mt. Vernon (block 47) and hold. and hold. 44, 46, and 37.
Remove EP-4 from Clipper; store
switch and crossing kits. Cab B: Move on ready track. Continue making up Mainline Clear blocks 37, 46, and 44 for
Boston-Providence Local from Freight. inbound local from Providence.
The introduction of Digital Boston (block 44) to Providence;
Continue making up
Command Control (DCC) has also terminate in blocks 29 and 30.
B&A freight.
simplified the wiring required by
Cab A: Move Eastbound Dispatch Eastbound Peddler Reverse RS-1 on Boston- Receive local from
older cab- and block-control sys- T-3 Peddler from New Haven to Providence via blocks Providence Local. Recouple to Providence in block 44;
(block 8) to block 16 and hold. 8, 11, and 13. other end of train and store in seize and hold.
tems, in addition to forging the way blocks 29 and 30.
Cab B: Move Providence Local Move DL-109s from block 10 Continue making up B&A freight.
for authentic sound and lighting from Attleboro (block 33) to onto Yankee Clipper and hold in
Move New Haven 4-6-4 from
Boston; terminate in block 44. blocks 3 and 4.
effects in many new locomotives. roundhouse; couple onto the
Federal in block 41.
Once installed, your track must be
cleaned and maintained to ensure This sample of a sequence timetable shows how train movements relate to
that trains run smoothly and without each other across locations and times.
derailments. Depending on how
often you operate and how well those train movements on the main To make your railroad's freight
you’ve protected the train room line, in yards, and on sidings that operations even more realistic, you
environment, track cleaning may be take place during each period. can create a card-order system,
only a few times each year. Depending on the number of people which assigns one or more loads of
it takes to run your railroad, the freight to individual freight cars,
Prototypical operation. As in the timetable may be coordinated by an along with the pick-up and destina-
prototype, moving passenger and operator or by a dedicated dispatch- tion points for each load. A “waybill”
freight trains from one location to er. The timetable can be as short or listing the load(s) to be carried by
another should be the center of your as long as you want, covering any each car follows that car around your
operation. This usually requires a period from a few hours to a full layout; pockets on the fascia make
timetable, which can take several “day.” It's possible to add a fast-time this easier. The routing of individual
forms. The simplest is a sequence clock plus departure and arrival freight cars on your model railroad
timetable, which defines a number times to your timetable to make it can be part of the waybill, or incor-
of consecutive time periods and more sophisticated. porated into your timetable.

A Union Freight 44-tonner spots a reefer and

boxcar at a Boston industrial siding. The
yellow card in the operator’s hand is the
waybill for the reefer, which lists its load,
pick-up point, and destination. The orange
card is the waybill for the boxcar.

25 ways to make your model railroad better 7

Design a better layout
10 principles (and a checklist) to help you plan a great model railroad

By Jim Kelly

Model Railroader's own HO scale

C
ongratulations! You’ve already layers, isolating the problems to be Milwaukee, Racine & Troy RR is
taken the most important steps in solved. Or you can go high-tech, using freelanced, but one could easily
designing a great model railroad one of the track-planning computer pro- assume it’s based on an actual
layout. You’re reading and thinking grams available for purchase from a vari- railroad. Designed by former MR
about it. The more planning you do, the ety of vendors on the Internet. editor Andy Sperandeo, the MR&T is
better. Obviously, giving a lot of thought In the sidebar on page 12, I’ve listed believable because everything about it
to the top of the layout, what you’ll see, some track planning books which you’ll is consistent with its theme: a regional
is most important, but it’s best to go be- find useful. Start with John Armstrong’s railroad set in the 1990s, running from
yond that to the benchwork, the wiring, Track Planning for Realistic Operation, Milwaukee, Wis., to Fort Madison,
scenery, and all the rest. the classic in the field. Iowa, to connect with the Santa Fe.
Take legs or other supports, for Better layout design has nothing to Bill Zuback photo
example. Where should they be and how do with the layout’s size, shape, or cost.
few can you get by with? (They get in the A 4 x 8-foot layout can be a planning Now on ModelRailroader.com
way when you’re crawling underneath!) gem, while a huge, basement-filling rail-
It’s easier to move a joist that’s in the way road can be a disaster, and vice versa. Seven railroads you can model has
of a switch machine on paper than on the Ultimately, it all boils down to con- track plans in HO and N scales.
layout itself. cept and purpose. It just so happens Download by clicking the "Shop" tab
A drafting board and a pad of graph- that’s the first of the 10 basic planning at www.ModelRailroader.com.
or tracing paper will help you plan in principles I’ll describe here.

8 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

1 Get real
In one sense, the prototype
2 Dump the spaghetti
Lots of model railroaders The same logic applies to model
modeler has it easy since so cram in too much track. The railroads. Even if money isn’t an
much information about many of result is a bowl of spaghetti that important factor, most of your
the real railroads (photos, makes no sense to the viewer, has maintenance requirements will
timetables, rosters) is available. no room for scenery, and is no fun come at turnouts. If a single track
That said, you don’t have to to operate. Turning to prototype can serve several industries, so be
precisely model a specific practice here will help us build it. Why lay a maze of tracks that
prototype. I can think of lots of more-satisfying layouts. Track your trains will have to snake
examples of outstanding free- costs real railroads a lot of money through? Not only will keeping such
lanced lines, starting with Allen to lay, and then the maintenance a principle in mind make your track
McClelland’s Virginian & Ohio or expenses keep on coming, so natu- configurations more realistic, it’ll
Bill Darnaby’s Maumee Route. rally they prefer to get by with as also introduce interesting switching
These layouts work because the little track as possible, particularly challenges you wouldn’t have
designers have thought through when it comes to turnouts. otherwise considered.
history, location, routes, traffic,
locomotive rosters, and more.
However, neither approach is
Improving a 4 x 8 HO track plan
inherently better. For example, a Preliminary plan This track ties the sides of the layout
so-called Santa Fe layout running together visually and makes it look like one
Can’t do much with a short crowded town with a loop of track around This curve is way too sharp to get
everything from Ten-Wheelers to five-track yard, each track it. It also introduces the wiring complica- a car around it. What’s your
SD70s in a sampling of every holding only one car. tions of a reversing loop. minimum radius for industrial
paint scheme the railroad ever track?
applied would look a little odd.
On the other hand, a totally
freelanced railroad (let’s call it the We don’t need a passing siding on
a double-track main line.
Kentucky & Virginia) set in 1980
with a fleet of six GP40s, four
Where’s your scenery?
SD40-2s, and several EMD It seldom works well if
switchers, all of them painted in added as an afterthought.
the same plausible scheme, could
be a quite believable railroad. Too many switches and tracks
to get to these industries.

3 One scene at a time

Real scenes, crowded
Why a double-tracked main line on such a
small layout? (Might be okay if that’s your
Crossover is a good idea, IF you really want a two-track main.
(But in that case you should use two.)
prototype or you’re representing a high-speed
industrial areas in particular, cross-country carrier.)
often are haphazard and artless.
The best model railroads gener-
ally improve upon that. Good Improved version
layout designers do for us what This is a good start on designing a neat railroad.
Now we have a reason for a
great photographers and painters passing track, which doubles as
have always done: they frame We can spot any type of a runaround track.
car at this team track.
and compose scenes.
Roads and driveways allow Our railroad has to
Bob Hayden and Dave Frary, Nice place for an enginehouse. truck and auto access. (You curve because this
who usually work together, often Don’t forget fuel and service. also need some on the other lake lies in its path.
think of planning in terms of side of the layout.)
areas they want you to focus on, This tail track must be
long enough to hold an
separated by neutral areas where engine and one car.
there’s nothing much to capture
Need a way to disguise
your attention. On a model this hole in the backdrop.
railroad we usually want to call
attention to the tracks and the A backdrop allows us to model
trains. We model the ditches, independent scenes on each
side and makes the layout look
fences, section houses, and other larger.
details along the rights-of-way.
We include the baggage wagons
and benches on station plat-
forms. They’re important to Acme Manufacturing is a
complete our portrait of a Connection to XYZ RR and rest A highway bridge over a railroad track complex that uses
railroad. We place less emphasis of world. We can use it as a always makes an interesting scene, as several types of loads.
on elements in the scene that are fiddle track or to take us to a does a highway on a hill dropping
small staging yard. down to a town. This mountain forced
not railroad-related. the line to curve.
Illustration by Rick Johnson

25 ways to make your model railroad better 9

 4 Plan for operations
Whether you ever actually causes you to think about what kinds want aisleways parallel to the layout
operate your layout or not, of trains you’ll want to run on the edges that will allow us to always be
you’ll design a more-satisfying layout (local freights, high-speed within sight and in reach of our trains
railroad if you plan it with opera- passenger trains) and how many, in a continuous fashion. We don’t
tions in mind. It will look more and that determines what kinds of want to watch the train disappear
realistic simply because it’s engines and cars you’ll need, which into a tunnel and then have to walk
designed to do things that real in turn determines what kinds of halfway around the layout and back
railroads do. This holds true for yards and tracks you should have. the way we came to catch up with it
switching layouts up to multi-level Planning for operations leads to again. Nor do we want to climb up
basement empires. other important design consider- on the layout or swing in on a
Planning for operations also ations. For example, most of us want grapevine every time we need to line
simplifies the rest of your planning. It to walk along with our trains, so we a turnout or clean up a derailment.

5 People space
A model railroad ought to be (You can assume that you and most
a place you enjoy being, a of your friends are only going to get
place where you can operate trains bigger over the years.) You can
without bumping elbows. It ought squeeze down to 24" in short
not to make you feel like a mouse stretches, but the traffic there can
caught in a trap. be only one-way. You can work in
Most of us plan for walk-along passing pockets where one person
operation, which means we need to can “take the siding” while the other
think about moving people around goes through. Duckunders, which
just as much as we do the trains. often would be better called “crawl
Then there are the inevitable guests unders,” are best avoided, and it's
and open houses. Thirty-inch best not to expect your operators to
aisleways are about as small as you have to progress from one operat-
can go if you expect two people to ing pit to another and pop up like
get past each other; 36 is better yet. prairie dogs.
Drawing by Rick Johnson and Jeff Nepper

6 Backdrops

Backdrops. Without a backdrop (above), the viewer’s background clutter is removed, by adding a backdrop,
eyes can wander, not focusing on the trains and the viewer’s attention is focused on the railroad and our
foreground we’ve worked so hard to detail. Once the exquisite craftsmanship! Photos by the author

In planning a model railroad, our backdrop’s first mission – hiding backdrops (a.k.a. scene dividers)
goal is to design a 3-dimensional items, such as water heaters, can work wonders on a 4 x 8-foot
representation of reality incorporat- furnaces, and concrete-block walls. layout; the scenes on each side can
ing tracks, trains, buildings, and (The second mission is suggesting be miles apart and represent
scenery. To complete the picture, we things you do want to see, such as different areas and topography
need to suggest what lies beyond hills and distant buildings.) (e.g., mountains on one side and a
the immediate foreground. That’s For relatively little work, back- city on the other). The same flexibil-
where backdrops come in. Even a drops pay huge dividends, and the ity can be imparted to large layouts
simple blue backdrop is better than smaller the layout, the more effec- by running backdrops down the
none at all because it performs a tive a backdrop can be. Double-sided middle of peninsulas.

10 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

7 Staging
If your trains are to run heights can be perfect, and your
Design checklist
beyond the layout, they need wheels can be perfectly in gauge,
someplace to go (preferable to but sooner or later you’ll have I know where my railroad is
plunging to the floor at both ends of derailments on your staging tracks. located and when.
the main line). Enter the concept of Crawling under a layout and trying
staging tracks, similar to the wings to untangle a 20-car derailment on a Trains will appear to be going
on a theatrical stage. It’s here that staging track is no fun at all. from one place to another.
the trains await their turn to step out Staging tracks can take the form
on the stage and participate in the of huge off-scene yards or be just a The railroad goes “beyond the
drama that is an operating session. track or two that accesses the layout basement.”
Staging extends time on a through a hole in the backdrop. A
Every track is there for a
layout in a way similar to the way in long staging track can hold several
reason.
which backdrops extend space. As trains that will appear on the layout
a general rule staging needs to be in order as an operating session
I’ve made a list of the trains
hidden from those viewing the proceeds. This we call serial or
I’ll run.
layout; otherwise, the concept is linear staging. If you change out
defeated. At the same time, it needs equipment by hand on staging
Curves are large enough.
to be accessible. Your trackwork tracks, then we call them fiddle
can be bulletproof, your coupler tracks, a term we owe to the British.
Aisleways are large enough.

Turnouts are within easy reach.

Places where I’ll be uncoupling

cars are easy to get to.

I’ve avoided laying straight

tracks parallel to the layout’s
edges.

I’ve considered layout height.

There’s sufficient clearance

where tracks cross over one
another.

I’ve figured out track elevations

for all areas.

Grades will work.

Setting the scene. If you want to run trains realistically, you’ll likely
want to include staging. This photo, taken on the Milwaukee, Racine & My yard(s) has a drill track.
Troy (Kalmbach Publishing Co.’s employee club layout), is typical of a
hidden (but accessible) staging yard: track, subroadbed, and trains. My passing sidings are long
Strictly functional. Bill Zuback photo enough for my trains.

I have some scenic features

8
between the edge of the layout
Sharing the road and the tracks.
It’s important that our You really need to plan for those
railroad extend “beyond the roads, parking lots, and driveways I have at least one large
basement” to the rest of the before you start building. We can industry with multiple switch-
world, but we also need to think cheat and still get the effect – a ing spots.
about how it relates to the non- road can be a bit narrower than
railroad portion of the transporta- prototype. A factory might employ I have at least one team track.
tion system in scenes we are a hundred workers, but allowing
actually modeling. In the 19th for a parking lot to accommodate a I’ve planned in highways,
century, that was usually either half-dozen cars is OK if it's sug- roads, and parking lots.
water transportation (canals, gested more parking lies “just
ferries, and ports) or horses and around the corner.” Some of the I’ve planned for backdrops and
wagons. Today, water transporta- most interesting scenes involve the will install them early.
tion is bigger than ever, but the intersections of rail and highway
path of transportation that most transportation, whether at grade or I’ve thought through wiring and
affects us is roads and highways. separated by bridges. where I’ll install gaps. – J.K.

25 ways to make your model railroad better 11

 9 Higher is better

Low level. This gives you a birds- Mid-level. The author suggests Eye level. Highly realistic, but
eye view, and that’s fine, but don’t “sternum height.” You get a realistic scenes can’t be deep because your
complain about having to crawl look at the trains, plus room below reach will be impeded by trains,
underneath the layout to wire it. the layout for troubleshooting. structures . . . and your tummy!

Why build a layout high? First of than down on them. Also, a taller outs and uncouple cars becomes
all, the trains look more realistic layout is easier to work under when awkward at best.
because you’re seeing them as you you have to troubleshoot wiring, Eye-level scenes are dramatic on
usually see their real counterparts. tune switch machines, and so forth. the high points of layouts with
Also, the transition from model Since we aren’t all the same grades, but avoid complex trackwork
railroad to backdrop is far less height, you’ll have to what works and deep scenes at those heights.
obvious. We become less aware of best for you. I’m 5'-10" and sternum Also, avoid coming so close to the
those sharp (by actual railroad height (50") works well for me. Build ceiling that the scene appears
standards) model curves because the railroad much higher, though, cramped. You first may need to put
we’re looking across them rather and reaching into it to throw turn- the highest scenes lower down.

10 No Cheating!
Early in your planning you maximum grades, minimum-length
Getting started
need to set the standards for sidings, and all the rest depend on
your railroad, and then you need to many things, including the period Track Planning for Realistic
stick to them. Lots of planners begin you’re modeling, the sizes and types Operation, Third Edition. Written
with the best of intentions but then of equipment you’ll be running, how by the late John Armstrong and
start compromising. “It won’t hurt long your trains will be, and a first published by Kalmbach
to have a 20"-radius mainline curve number of other factors. The many Publishing Co. in 1963, this is the
here, even though my minimum is available track planning books will granddaddy of track planning
24".” Pretty soon you have a help you set these standards. The books and the one you should
railroad that’s bound to disappoint. point is, stick to them! Don’t undo begin with. John’s approach to
Your minimum-radius curves, your careful planning. designing model railroads was
simple: Understand what real
railroads do; follow their leads.
Over the years, Kalmbach
Publishing Co. has produced
dozens of books on all aspects of
model railroading, including
many devoted to track planning,
collections of new plans, as well
as plans previously published in
Model Railroader. To get them,
visit www.modelrailroader.com
and click on the "Shop" tab. – J.K.

• Shelf Layouts for Model

Railroads, by Iain Rice
• Track Planning for Realistic
Operation, Third Edition
by Tony Koester
Uh oh! Sooner or later the compromises you make will come back to • Basic Trackwork for Model
haunt you. Plan ahead, set your standards (curves, grades, etc.), and Railroaders, by Jeff Wilson
stick to them.

12 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

10 tips for staging yards
From benchwork to track, how to make offstage yards operate flawlessly
By Tony Koester • Photos by the author

T
he hidden, stub-ended staging Certainly, hidden, stub-ended stag- move any trains between me and the de-
yard was relatively unexplored ing yards are limited in terms of opera- railed equipment out of the way, then
territory in model railroading tion since trains can’t continuously cycle fish out and rerail the cars. It will take
when I incorporated it into my HO scale through and re-appear onstage. Howev- only a few minutes longer than dealing
Allegheny Midland layout in 1973. Very er, on my NKP layout there is no need with similar problems in a fully accessi-
few, if any, model railroads totally de- for continuous running or turning ble, visible staging yard.
pended on this style of staging for oper- trains during an operating session. I’m not concerned about derailments
ations back then. Trains come out of the east- or west-end in the hidden staging yard, though. Like
I quickly discovered that hidden staging yard, run across the railroad, my current NKP layout, the AM had
staging was ideal for my situation and end their runs in the hidden staging one readily accessible and one hard-to-
because it saved space and kept the yard at the other end of the line. reach staging yard. Years of experience
trains out of view, giving the impres- showed that the better use of space
sion they were miles away. So when it Drawbacks and benefits gained by burying a staging yard far out-
came time to design staging yards for Even though early tests of the hidden weighed the occasional hassles. The new
my current HO scale Nickel Plate Road staging yard have been largely error-free, and improved design for the NKP’s hid-
layout, I knew a hidden staging yard I realize that a derailment will happen at den staging yard should prove even
would once again be in the plans. some point. In such rare cases, I will more trouble-free.

1 Bulletproof benchwork
2 Roll-out storage
3 Subroadbed & roadbed

The key to a smooth-oper- Several steps help minimize

ating hidden-staging yard is With the basic benchwork expansion and contraction on
good benchwork. Most of the completed, I built storage my layout. Before I begin
benchwork on my HO scale shelves underneath. Bad idea! building benchwork and
Nickel Plate Road layout was The shelves were located in installing Homasote (or
made using pseudo 1 x 4s (cut places I had to access to HomaBed) roadbed, I let the
from ¾" AC grade plywood). attach feeders to bus wires materials dry in the basement
I space the joists no more than and install switch motors. for several months. I also
16" apart to prevent the ¾" To resolve this, I used the cover all exposed surfaces
plywood top from sagging 16"-wide plywood shelves to with latex paint and keep the
over longer spans. build cabinets. Then I added basement dehumidified
hardboard backs to the during the summer months.
cabinets and painted them
before attaching casters. Now
I can roll them of the way
when I work under the layout.

25 ways to make your model railroad better 13

4
Another option is a visible double- ing sessions could continue with
ended yard. David Barrow used this waybills being cycled in real time.
Double-ended staging on his former Cat Mountain & Santa Having several staged steam
Fe layout. It simulated an outlying trains sitting out in the open isn’t
holding yard where trains waited to realistic, though. A solution would be
enter the main classification yard. to get locomotives from a nearby
With the double-ended yard, operat- engine terminal prior to departure.

Missouri Pacific connection Mesa

Highway overpass West Mesa/East Hill Crew shack Scale: 3⁄16" = 1'-0"
Highway bridge 24" grid
HO scale
East
West

5 Turnouts
6 Switch motors
7 Feeder wires

I got fine performance from

dozens of Tortoise switch Although code 100 rail is too
motors on my old Allegheny heavy for use on the Nickel
Midland, and I use them on Plate Road (I’m using code 70
the lower level and lower on the main and 55 else-
staging yards on my NKP where), I wanted to use the
layout. I like them because strongest rail I could in
they have enough power to staging. Since I had plenty of
operate Peco’s snap-over Atlas code 100 flextrack left
For my hidden staging yard, I point mechanism (it’s easy to from the staging yards on my
wanted reliable turnouts with remove the Peco toggle old layout, I simply reused the
points having a solid current springs, though). track on the NKP.
path independent of contact However, I’m trying to keep Rail joiners can’t always be
with the stock rail. the depth of items hanging counted on to conduct
I used Peco’s large-radius down from the upper-deck electricity, so I soldered an 18
code 100 turnouts. Since the roadbed to no more than 2" – gauge wire to every rail, then
turnouts are hidden, their the depth of under-cabinet connected these feeders to 10
large rail and British-style fluorescent fixtures. Since gauge bus wires with 3M
curved frogs aren't visible. As installing horizontal mounting Scotchlok insulation displace-
a test, I shoved a string of brackets added complexity to ment ("suitcase") connectors.
full-length passenger cars the project, I’ve tested other I've never had one fail yet.
through the yard ladder at switch motors including
high speed without so much Lemaco and Fulgurex. I don’t
as a click from the flange recommend the above-the-
hitting a point or a frog, let ties points linkage that comes
Now on ModelRailroader.com
alone a derailment. For with the Lemaco motor. Looking for additional staging yard
insurance, I added Atlas code Instead, I rigged a fully ideas? Read Andy Sperandeo's
100 rerailers between every concealed rod like those used "Three types of staging yards" at
other section of flextrack. on the Tortoise motors. www.ModelRailroader.com.

14 25 ways to make your model railroad better • www.ModelRailroader.com

8 Occupancy detection
9 Air rights

It’s important to know what’s where on hidden

tracks. Since I had good luck with Irdot infrared
detectors (from Micro Mark, http://www.micro-
mark.com) on the AM, I'm using them even more Building the superstructure for Cayuga over the
extensively on the NKP. east-end staging yard required thought. There was
I wanted to avoid having the detection circuitry no room between staging tracks (spaced 2" apart)
tied in with track power. I prefer to keep all staging for vertical support posts, and there's only 2¼" of
tracks electrically dead to prevent the needless space between the outside edges of the ties on the
heating of decoders, protect engines from electri- first track and the benchwork edge.
cal glitches and AC power surges, and to keep the To resolve this, I erected 39"-long 1 x 4
sound systems of staged locomotives turned off. plywood joists over the staging yard. These span
The Irdot-1 and -2 modules shine an infrared between the 2 x 4 stud wall and 1 x 2 risers along
beam upwards. If a car or locomotive is above the the front edge of the benchwork.
beam, the light is reflected back to a detector, I extended the risers through notches in the yard
which turns on a warning light-emitting diode. roadbed down to the underlying 1 x 4 benchwork
(Before installing the mid-level subroadbed over grid. I cut the risers a bit shorter than the actual
the staging yard, I painted its bottom surfaces flat deck separation distance so that only the horizontal
black to prevent false detection.) Since the Irdot is joists (and not the tops of the risers) would contact
self-contained, no light source needs to be placed the subroadbed. The overlying structure could be
above the detector. adjusted to the correct height and kept level.

10
Original lower level
Scale: 1⁄8" = 1'-0"
A change of plans 48" grid
HO scale West
Lake Erie &
Raised deck for yardmaster Western District
I redesigned the original east-end staging at Charleston, Ill., on upper level
yard throat so all turnouts would be
Clover Leaf
located near the front or rear edges of the Second Subdivision
benchwork. The original staging yard (Delphos) staging
throat was based on conventional ladder
designs, but this placed most of the
turnouts too far in from the aisle to
maintain or replace them after the LE&W District (Sandusky
overlying town’s benchwork was in place. Division) staging–12 tracks
The new design (below) makes it easier Revised lower level
West
to reach the turnouts for maintenance
11 Peco large-radius
and replacement. (The four turnouts in
turnouts close to
the Second Subdivision five-track staging Clover Leaf District (Second aisle for access
yard can be reached via the Charleston Subdivision) staging–5 tracks All 42" radius
yardmaster’s alcove.) 4 Peco large- curves
The downside to this yard design is radius turnouts
close to yardmaster’s
that some tracks are long while others
alcove aisle for access
are a bit short. I’ll stage short passen-
ger trains and local freights on the
shorter tracks.
Illustrations by Rick Johnson

25 ways to make your model railroad better 15