Category Archives: Layout Design

Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 4

A Septuagenarian’s Approach to Layout Wiring

Nelson Moyer is back with an installment on wiring his layout. Click on any image here to review a larger size.

I’m getting old, I wear trifocals, and I have severe astigmatism that is only partially corrected. The most unpleasant thing about building a layout as far as I’m concerned is to have to work under it. I have sought to minimize the amount of wiring I have to do underneath the layout by doing as much as possible at the workbench.

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Roadbed and Track – Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 3

Nelson Moyer returns with another installment on his layout developments.

With a substantial part of the benchwork in place, I turned my attention to the right of way. I want bulletproof track. I’ve operated on layouts where derailments are common, and I find that they steal my joy. I want quiet track, so that I can hear decoder sounds at reasonable levels without blowing out my operator’s hearing aids.

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Overcoming Adversity – Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 2


Nelson Moyer returns with another installment on his layout developments.

My inaugural post provided a capsule history of how I arrived at the decision to build a model railroad, and it described the evolution of the track plan. While the track plan captured my dream with surprising fidelity to the prototype, I have only 312 square feet to model a mile long yard in Burlington and the 53 mile branch line to Washington. The full realization of what this would entail hit me when I counted the number of rooms that the railroad must occupy, and the engineering marvels that would be required to make it happen. It’s easy to draw your ideal track plan, but quite another thing to actually design and build the benchwork. This month, we’ll look at overcoming some of the impediments my house presented to the fulfillment of my dream. Sometimes you just have to play the hand you’re dealt.

Continue reading Overcoming Adversity – Layout Design with Nelson Moyer, part 2

Jim Six Layout Update

Jim Six sent a few images of his layout progress recently and gave permission to share them on the blog. Jim has been rebuilding his HO scale layout that reflects northern Indiana towns. He had grown dissatisfied with the layout that was featured in the 2010 Model Railroad Planning and has decided to focus on one main town. What follows are some notes and photos from Jim. Enjoy.

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