my £100 layout project in oo gauge

[NHY 581]

I really want to exhibit the layout I'm currently planning and it is one of my life goals I've not managed to achieve yet.

Go for it, Luke. Great fun. I took Sheep Lane to it's first exhibition in Jan this year ( see below. Apologies for the fat bloke in the image) .....Sheep Lane is my first completed layout. There are now a few booked for next year.

 

Mutton's first exhibition is next Jan.

Edited July 14, 2017 by nhy581

[MatthewEWS]

Love the idea of this, going to use the same idea for my new layout I think. Definitely followed and looking forward to seeing this progress

[Andy Hayter]

Extruded* Polystyrene or Polyurethane sheet is what you are looking for.  But I would strongly recommend a solid wood surround.

 

Cannot give you any brand names since they are different here in France, but I got 1250mm (4ft 2in) x 600mm (2ft) x 30mm PS sheet for around £4 equivalent.  The wood surround was more expensive.  However if you are happy to go skip dipping you could probably get timber for free.  

 

*  Note extruded and not expanded.  Expanded PS sheet is the stuff they pack around electrical goods to protect them during delivery - aka styrofoam.  

 

I do know that one brand of extruded PU is called Kingspan and is coated with foil, but it is likely to be very expensive against "lesser" brands.

[luke the train spotter]

I have another layout other than the one in planning and I want to paint the fascia black. I've got the paint ready in a tin but I really don't want to ruin the appearance by mucking this up. Is there anything I should do before I put the paint on?

[NHY 581]

I glue card onto my fascia. Saves drama with primer paint etc.

[luke the train spotter]

Good idea.

[luke the train spotter]

So here is the initial proposed track plan. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[Liam]

For a £100 layout that fits the bill nicely. From that I take it you're not going to have any passenger operation?

[luke the train spotter]

Here is the annotated version:

One quick thing to note is that the dimensions on the side of the diagram are in cm.

There will be a halt station as seen in diagram 2

[luke the train spotter]

Passenger operation will be by a 1/2 car multiple unit or maybe a top tail for fun

[Liam]

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/33434-outon-road/

 

It was later extended, but I suggest you look at this layout's original format. About the same size and very similar track layout.

[The Johnster]

Good luck.  I intended Cwmdimbath to be much cheaper than it was, but loco failure replacements have long ago blown that out of the water!  That apart, the spend has not been excessive, and cannot be allowed to be either, as I am a poor pensioner on a limited income.  I used skip raided baseboards, supported by equally skip raided central spine framing mk1 coach style, originally sitting on top of plastic cabinet units but more recently on Ikea tables blagged from the flat across the hall when it was being 'done out', with the landlord's permission (actually, he offered them to me)., Ikea shelves like nhy, and hand operate points and signals.  Wiring is minimalist to say the least (sorry); an ancient but perfectly functioning Guagemaster controller feeds the track at the point between the station throat and the fiddle yard and power goes where the insulfrog points tell it to, with kickback roads wired in to the outside rail; thee are no switches or control panel. I reckon the layout, 14 feet by 18 inches, came in at about £85 for track, pva to stick it down, and wiring, and another £15 tops for ballast and scenery come to the magic £100, but that does not include signals, platforms, lighting, any detailing, painting background colour.  I tried initially to keep an account of it but that soon got abandoned, though i've probably spent about another £100, with lighting being the most expensive single part of that.  Platforms are a mixture of card, expanded polystyrene faced with card or Wills stonework, and a piece of batten skipraided as part of the baseboard project.  Scenery formers and the scenic break bridge, such as it exists to date, are cardboard, but the bridge will have to be faced in something, and that'll cost a little

 

Note that this is for a home layout; it is not intended for exhibition and does not have to be designed light, strong, and portable as a result, or look any smarter than I am comfortable with; this has made things much easier to manage as 'any old piece will do' in a lot of cases.  It is designed to come down if necessary, and the wisdom of this was proved when my flat was 'done out' a few months ago.  Do you already have stock and a controller? and if so are you attempting to build the layout for £100 not including those items?  This should be do-able with care and ingenuity, but I would avoid DCC as the costs will rocket unless you already have the controllers and locos.  Modern image vehicles tend to be bigger and more expensive than 'traditional' ones, but this means that you will need less of them so it probably balances out.  A problem you won't so easily circumvent is signals, which have to be colour light and cannot be hand operated, unless you model a situation that still has traditional signalling or something like the Central Wales, which has hardly any.

 

If you are including the controller and stock in your £100 limit, you will have to be minimalist in the extreme, and I frankly doubt DCC can be done at all at that price.  I have found secondhand stock to always require something doing to it, and never as cheap as it looks; factor in 50% extra for this.

[JohnR]

Look forward to seeing this project develop.

 

Heres a similar previous attempt at a £100 layout on here - its given me plenty of inspiration, hope it does the same for you.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/60731-the-100-project-a-complete-layout-build-described-in-9-days/

[luke the train spotter]

So I currently have 2 dcc fitted locos (Bachman 108 2 car and a Bachman 25) both in Br green. In terms of rolling stock I have a couple of gwr and lms coaches but nothing special. I am currently looking into repainting some bargain bucket coaches into network rail yellow and modifying them into a 2 car test train. In the £100 budget I do not intend to include rolling stock and controller as I already have a basic Bachmann ez controller. I will check out the links tonight for some inspiration.

[luke the train spotter]

I only got locos for my birthday (October so a little wait a way) but I've got my eyes on either a 37 or a Hornby sentinel that I would repaint. By the way, that oulten layout looks amazing and really inspirational. Using fruit crates means that I can build and extend (hopefully) in the future with ease due to the modular shapes of the fruit crates and I only have to eat a few strawberries to get them.

[luke the train spotter]

Obviously building a layout on the floor makes it very vulnerable to damage and difficult to work on. I have little to nothing wood work skills and would like to raise my layout up off the ground. What methods do you use to raise your layout off the ground?

[Zomboid]

Obviously building a layout on the floor makes it very vulnerable to damage and difficult to work on. I have little to nothing wood work skills and would like to raise my layout up off the ground. What methods do you use to raise your layout off the ground?

I built some legs with my non-existent carpentry skills - if I can, then chances are you can too. (Seriously, I had to buy a saw especially, that's how little carpentry experience I have).

But in the house I have it set up on top of a chest height book case. You may have some suitable furniture in your house. I knew this was the plan before I started, so bought baseboards (laser cut kit) to fit. If you go down a similar route then I recommend measuring whatever it is that it'll live on top of, and designing your track to fit that.

[Liam]

Obviously building a layout on the floor makes it very vulnerable to damage and difficult to work on. I have little to nothing wood work skills and would like to raise my layout up off the ground. What methods do you use to raise your layout off the ground?

Don't worry, I'm not brilliant at woodwork either. When I was in B&Q once I noticed that they have a service where they cut your wood for you to your required size. It might not be free, but at least it means you only have to hire the tools to fix the woods together.

[DCB]

Skips are a great source of materials.  A manky old interior door can make a great free baseboard. Very light, and with a smooth lower surface wont scratch the Dining Table/ coffee table/ bed spread.  I have used several, shortened them, hacked them about.  For a new build I would take one, shorten to taste and then cut round the track bed and cut away the surplus leaving the track raised and the cardboard honeycomb exposed but with framing round the outside, than way you can have scenery below track level, the lack of which ruins many otherwise admirable layouts.

 

My present N gauge layout costs are negative if you discount petrol.  Damaged Layout from skip £ 0 (Yes I did ask permission) Extra wood from skip ( ditto)  Pannier, Toad, power unit, 2 X 00 gauge locos and 3 00 gauge coaches from Ebay £ 8.80.    Sale of one 00 loco £ 10.   Profit so far £1.20.  

 

Plan A Tidy layout up, scenery etc.   Costs Paint   from Freecycle   Free.   Glues  from Freecycle  Free.    Plan A (i) Sell completed layout for £100 with controller but no stock.  Profit £ 101.20 = about 50p per hour!    Perhaps I need to re think this.

[luke the train spotter]

Well sounds good anyway. I wondered about legs for the layout but due to the width of the layout I dont think that they will be stable enough. Like the ideas of trestles so will probably go with those but wont build them till later on. The layout will probably be balanced on furniture whilst it is being built or put up in the loft for storage.

[luke the train spotter]

So to keep the door of layout extension open , i will make 2 baseboards (scenic + fiddleyard (still included in £100 challenge)) and i need a secure method of connecting these baseboards so they are a snug git and the track lines up perfectly. Any ideas or experience?

[73c]

Pegs and holes should help alignment. Keeping them together, hook and eye might hold them tight, other than that your looking at proper catches etc.

[Andy Hayter]

Probably cheaper. is to use 2 hinges (one front, one back) set everything up with the hinges holding the boards together.  When happy, lknock out the pins.  Alignment will be assured and can be held together by reinserting a pin - probably not those you have driven out.

[Alister_G]

Hi,

 

I'm currently building a layout which uses the thick insulation foam for the baseboards.

 

Brand names you want to look out for are Kingspan or Celotex. It comes in 25mm or 50mm thicknesses, and has a foil layer on both sides, but it is easy(ish) to strip that off to give you a surface to model on.

 

The 50mm thick stuff is more than rigid enough to create a baseboard by itself, but I added 19mm ply ends and 6mm ply sides to allow for some protection of the edges of the foam, and to be able to join baseboards together end to end.

 

Here's what one of my boards looks like:

 

 

That's a 4 foot by 2 foot board.

 

 

To join two boards together I used pattern-makers dowels, which are brass pegs and sockets,

 

 

 

and overcentre catches to hold them together.

 

 

 

All the best,

 

Al.

Edited July 14, 2017 by acg_mr

[Alister_G]

Just another thought, for raising the layout up to a working height, you can buy folding wooden pasting tables from the likes of B & Q, Wickes and Homebase for around a tenner, which for a small layout would be sufficient.

 

Al.