A shelf layout to fit in the closet

We’ll be going away for a couple weeks so I thought I would finally enjoy some time just playing trains and shunting around! I am very impressed with the running (one quite clean track), only a little bit of stalling at slow speed over points. 
I’m pleased with the wiring and the track plan as well, it’s nice to have an inglenook with some flexibility on the length of sidings. 
Also got four new pieces of rolling stock (mainline wagons in front row ). Bought them on Facebook marketplace in Ontario and shipped there here..! 

Nice wagons Darius.  I wonder, are they expensive in Canada ?

Well, the problem is that it’s almost to find anything in a local store in Canada. Even in the cities I frequent (Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg) the only British things they’ll have is a Hornby trainset for $300+

These wagons were $15 each plus $20 for shipping. $20 a piece or about 10gbp. How does that seem?
Thats the cheapest I’ve seen rolling stock for sale in Canada.
Generally I’ll save up a bunch of things and make one larger order a year from the UK to save on shipping. 
I may buy another loco after Christmas and was thinking to post here first and see if anyone had a spare to sell. It’s also hard to find specific things for a decent price here. Not a ton of choice!

Had a couple minutes, so I decided to break out the paint again. 
This is my first wagon… it has often looked strange to my eye, and I recently discovered it’s because it was originally designed as one of hornby’s troublesome trucks. 
Not perfect but some paint definitely improves it. 
My wife is wondering how it took my so long to get so little done…

I'm not totally up to speed on wagon prices in UK Darius - they are expensive here in France but your £10 looks slightly cheaper than in Blighty.

OO gauge stuff is also difficult to find on the Continent.  There are a few shops stocking bits but, like on your side of the pond, everything is HO.  This means I buy virtually everything from UK but since Brexit, that has become expensive so I tend not to buy unless I'm over there.

Nearly forgot - your new paint job looks the bees knees. 

Thank you Peter!

It’s been some time since I lands posted. I was travelling for a bit, and of course the Christmas season is always busy! 

In other news: my desk and workspace is gone, I now have a smaller folding desk and my tools are hidden away.  Why?
Because my wife is pregnant! 
Hooray! 🎉 
That means there will be some changes in the future I suppose.

I got some money for Christmas for the rr, went to the local model shop today to buy some supplies. 
I carved some scenery into the foam, glued track down, and the points are secured with double sided carpet tape, which I just applied the ballast directly to. 
Last time I ballasted points the traditional way it messed up the engine’s performance, and I didn’t want to risk my peco 3-way pt. 

I setup some of my buildings and some stand ins to get an idea of what things may look like. It will be much more crowded than is realistic but hopefully not overdone. 
I had planned to use my beat up brake van as a grounded station halt building, but now that it’s in place It looks a bit strange to me. I may try scratchbuilding something. Opinions? Does anybody know if grounded vans being station halts? 

 I’m quite excited to finally have all my track secured and to fully start on the scenery!! This is about as far as I usually make it on a layout before shifting gears but thankfully I feel like I still have a plan and vision. 

Here is a picture of the ballasted points. It worked out pretty good but not as perfectly as I’d hoped but I’ll take it if it saves me stress when ballasting. I might go over the edges of the point with traditional ballasting, I can see a bit of the tape on the shoulders,  it especially for inside the rails and the switching mechanism it’s fine.

Hi Darius,

Happy New Year and congratulations with extending the family.

The ballasted points look very good.

Cheers,
Claus

Congratulations to you and your wife Darius and Happy New Year🍾

Your ballasting looks a lot better than mine ever did, well done 

Congratulations Darius, good news indeed !

Looking at your 'plank' design, what about :-




Your track is almost at the shoreline anyway ? You don't need an actual ferry, just some stuff to create the dock edge bit

Many congratulations Darius - that's great news to introduce 2026.  Unfortunately, you won't be able to afford any modelling material for the next 18 years (if it's a boy) or 55 years plus (if it's a girl) ……………  


Oh yes, nearly forgot - did someone say something about ballasting  

Thank you all for your words of encouragement! Both for the family and the railroad 😃 
I am very excited to become a father! 
Peter, I guess I’ll have to stock up now in the next six months! 
Matt, I like that suggestion! That’s a very unique idea for a shelf layout, but I don’t think jt would fit with the vision I have for the rest of the layout. 
I am very tempted though… 

Had some fun today playing trains!
All the track is secured now and wiring still seems ok. Got some automatic uncouplers (the clear plastic strip method) because uncoupling by hand was making me crazy.
Reorganized all my tools and our shelves so that I have easy access to what I need but also so that it doesn’t look too utilitarian for the wife (since this is all in our living room) 
I was a bit worried with the Dapol pug’s small wheelbase and the peco three way point, but it does very well! It stalls more on my hornby right hand turn out than the three way. The yellow building is a stand in for where the waterwheel will be. 
I got this perfect antique box for my 8 pieces of rolling stock for the shunting layout too! I’ve just stored them all in their original boxes which is a pain to unload and load up every time I want to use the layout, so now things will be much smoother. 

Hoping to finish carving the scenery in the next week and paint everything with a base coat, then I’ll tart weathering and ballasting the track. 
Also expecting to make an exciting purchase with my Christmas money soon 😃 

Got two wooden boxes and some foam from an Amazon delivery to store all my most used rolling stock. Much better than taking each piece out individual boxes each and every time I want to do something. 

Got all my sleepers dirty (on the main section) my rails rusty, and the dirt dirty (or at least brown). 
Not perfect but it doesn’t need to be, just to get an idea of what it will look like. 

That's looking really good Darius.   I'm guessing you didn't do the 'dirty' stuff in your living room or did you wait until Mrs Darius had gone out for the day …………..?

Make sure you keep your hands on those storage boxes - they look to me as if they'd make a great crib ……………..

I actually did the painting in the living room while we were watching TV together…! I’m just very careful and she doesn’t mind thankfully. 
Last night I had some fun shunting again while watching tv. She doesn’t mind at all. 
Hahaha the bay will be 1:1 scale, not any smaller 😅 

It must be normal in this hobby to have multiple things going at once… with plans for about ten more things  to be done, eh? 
While organizing my things I found this kit master Italian tank body shell (I think from Silverfox) and the Hornby “class D” 0-4-0 from Toto, I thought I’d try putting the Italian tank on the 0-4-0 chassis. I have two class D’s and the one I chose to use has a plain military livery so I don’t love it.  Took the Dremel and got it to sit just about right, I think I may use some plasticard to make the running plate and secure it to the new chassis. 
Obviously lots of future work… I have toyed with the thought of turning this into a crane tank engine. For now I’ll just get it on the chassis