Janesburg Team Track

My first large scratchbuilt project was Janesburg Team Track. Janesburg is a small town on my friend Jim's HO Scale layout, the Trent, Lorin and Chad railroad. I've been part of Jim's operating crew for a couple of years and I have watched as the scenery has been updated and finished in many of the locations, yet Janesburg had not been touched. So as a thank you for including me in his group, I asked Jim if I could build the Team Track scene. He said yes.



I started at Jim's house with a large sheet of paper. I placed the paper on the layout and ran a pencil around the track to create a sketch of the space available. When I returned home I cut out the space creating a paper template of the space. I then used the template to transfer the space to a large piece of Styrene. I then painted the Styrene an Earth colour and let it dry 24 hours.

In the photo above you can see the base already painted and with some of the work already complete. The structure is a DPM kit that I used as the team tracks office. The platform was scratchbuilt from a sheet of .040" Styrene. Sorry, I didn't take any photos of the beginning of this project.



As shown in this photo, I had to extend the platform as Jim needed it long enough for two 40-foot cars. I used an old platform I had in a structure box. One thing I would have done differently would have been using more Styrene to build an extension. I created the backstory to explain the different sizes. The older kit was the original teamtrack, then the extension and ramp was added in the mid-50's when there was a need to transfer loads from rolling stock to larger delivery trucks.

Under the model was a piece of foam core that I used as a tray to protect my work surface. I glued the track directly to the Styrene before painting the base. The base scenery was then added using Woodland Scenic materials. I mixed three different grass colours into one container for a nice random looking mixture.



My first scratchbuilt tree. Not great but acceptable. Once the base grass had dried completely I then added clumpped material as bushes around the base of the tree as well as the base of the office and platform. The road was the first thing added to the scene (seen in the photos at the top and bottom). This was a piece of .040" Styrene glued down with a sheet of flat black Styrene glued on top of that. I used Woodland Scenics foam filler to build shoulders on the road, as well as to add very slight changes in elevation on the scene. After the road was installed I covered it with drafting tape (works like masking tape, but peels off real easily) to protect the road from the scenery process. In the photos, the drafting tape has been removed already.



The final step was detailing. The men on the platform have been standing there since the late 90's, but other details, such as the CN delivery truck at the office were added new to fill out the scene. You can also see that the track has been balasted. During one of my visits to Jim's during construction I made note of the balast that Jim used so that I could match the rest of the railroad. The one detailed not seen in the photo above are the wheel stops. These were added far enough from the platform to ensure the couplers would not be pushed in the platform, which would damage them.



And this final photo shows the team track installed on Jim's Layout. The grey building to the right is the Farmer's Co-Op Storage Shed. To the left is the DAD's Cookie Plant (the red brick building above the CN boxcar). Also in Janesburg is Miranda's Bananas to the left (not pictured). I've spoke to Jim, I am going to extend the scene on the other side of the tracks so that I can extend the road that leads to the team track.

Next Month : Construction finally begins on my new TH&B - Grace Hill switching layout. I am photographing everything so there will be plenty of photos for you to enjoy. In a future blog I will detail my scratchbuild project - Grace Hill Grain Elevator.

The Layout Finally Begins ...

In the last two months I have designing and redesigning my plans for the new Grace Hill. Although it has changed, it really hasn't changed. Below I have included the latest trackplan.



Since the June plan, the layout has been expanded. First, I have added a 6 foot extension with three staging tracks. This area will be behind the bed and therefore, hidden from general view. Along the bottom, I have pulled McKenna Yard around and put it on it's own 7 foot extension. The final details are not laid in stone at this point. Many of the industry sidings will utilize various background buildings. All industry tracks may change based on the structures I'm going to use. The tracks will all be just long enough to serve the industry.

With August upon us, I can report that the frames of the benchwork have been built. I just need to buy the 2x2x48's that will be installed as the legs. I've decided that the hight will be about 50 inches off the ground. This will put the layout around my upper chest area, a great height for viewing the layout.

I've spent the last month trying to decide if I wanted to hand-lay the track or not. I've decided to use Peco track and flex track. Today's track has a number of molded details built in that hand-laying just doesn't have. This led to some other plans and ideas. Switches will be controlled by under the table motors and they will be built on a piece of masonite at my desk and installed on the layout once built, weathered, and ballasted (a blog will be written as I build the first turnout).

The plans for August is to get the benchwork standing and then threading the bus wires through the entire layout before installing the table top. I figure it will be easier to install bus wires from the top of the layout, rather than from underneath. My future blogs will be instructional in nature. Many of them will be construction articles as well as hint and trips.

Coming next month :



Building the Janesburg Team Track for Jim.

A New Beginning

This is my first blog about my new HO Scale Model Railroad. The layout will occupy a corner of my bedroom. As planned at the moment, it will be a 10 x 12 L-shaped switching layout. The hope for this blog will be to detail the construction of my new layout.

The picture about is of my current project. I am scratch building a modern grain elevator from sheets of styrene. An article about this structure is coming soon. There will also be an article about a team track I kitbashed for a friend's layout. Then we will begin the articles about Grace Hill.

I have named my layout Grace Hill. It is a fictional, medium-sized community in western Ontario on the mainline of the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo in 1985, only two years before the TH&B was absorbed into the Canadian Pacific Railroad. I decided on a fictional railroad because I want to design the industries around an operations. Since the entire layout is a single town, it is important that the layout is operational.

I have operated a number of railroads over the last decade and I have come to the conclusion that the model railroad really doesn’t come alive until that first operation session. Whether it is a single individual operating a small switching layout or a half-dozen people operating a large railroad empire. That is my primary goal. Operation.

In a future article I will discuss the planning of the layout and you will see that your operational plan is just as important as your track plan.

Speaking of which, let me first this first blog with a first draft of my new Grace Hill layout. This version 2.0 is not the final version, but it is almost there.



Welcome to Grace Hill, I hope you enjoy your experience.

Steve