HO Seething, Illinois

[Joe-lo]

Hi Folks

Its been c.10 years since I posted on here, my modelling interests have see-sawed from 7mm to 4mm to HO in that time. I started a few layouts but never actually completed any, although a couple were exhibited in a partially finished state. However, I'd like to introduce my substantially complete layout, Seething, Illinois.

Set in the Chicago suburbs on the Rock Island in the 1970's (nominally 1976) and representing the edge of a large industrial complex.

It is modelled in HO gauge, measuring 9 feet by 15 inches and is built to be erected in a spare room at home, or taken to exhibitions.

The track and point are all Peco code 75, the latter being modified in angle and appearance and rewired for extra reliability. Train and point control is by NCE PowerCab and uncoupling magnets are controlled via servos activated by toggle switches.

All loco's and freight cars are from various manufacturers, and are all weathered to varying degrees. No factory fresh stock will appear on the layout! The layout structures are either scratchbuilt or modified Walthers kits.

This is my first attempt at a US outline layout, and it has been a huge learning curve in terms of stock recognition, and simple things like general detailing of structures etc. There are still a lot of things to do on the layout, which is an ongoing project.

The layout made its public debut at the Falkirk show in November 2023 and is booked to appear at the Greenock show in October this year.

A few photographs...

 

[Joe-lo]

After the last exhibition (and first!) I decided that a little extra length would be handy for the arrival/depart road on the right hand side of the layout so I decided to build a 12" extension.

Due to my apparent inability to count, the 12" extension is 13.5 inches long, still every little helps! It will consist of 2 tracks surrounded by buildings.

Below are a few photos showing the mock ups of the buildings, I'll have this all done by the time the layout is exhibited again in a few months...

 

[Roger Pound]

After the last exhibition (and first!) I decided that a little extra length would be handy for the arrival/depart road on the right hand side of the layout so I decided to build a 12" extension.

Due to my apparent inability to count, the 12" extension is 13.5 inches long, still every little helps! It will consist of 2 tracks surrounded by buildings.

I know just where you are coming from - I had a similar problem making a baseboard for my DB layout. I put it down to having an elastic tape measure.......! The extension looks to be coming along with excellent prospects. I look forward to seeing it in situ with the original layout in due time.

Roger

 

[Joe-lo]

I've been beavering away this week and have advanced construction a bit on the new factory buildings...



The structure on the left hand side will be low relief, standing slightly proud of the backscene, at a slight angle. The 2 story part of the main building will be offices, with the entry/stairwell on the protruding part. I've still to build the office entry doors and stairs. At the moment the roof and inner first floor are just resting in place. I plan to fit lights and interior details at a later point so the right hand side of the building will be removable.

These are built on a balsa wood frame, topped with a thin card layer with cut outs for window frames, and then overlaid with a mountboard layer to represent the concrete frame of the building, the cut outs will be filled with embossed brick plasticard.

 

[Joe-lo]

Another thing I've worked on the past couple of months has been a way to avoid stretching along the layout to flick the switches to move the uncoupler servos. Originally the toggle switches for these were to be mounted in the middle of the layout (the layout is front operated mostly), but this would mean getting in people's view at exhibitions.

After a bit of head-scratching, I came up with this...



A basic balsa box which connects to the layout via a twin phono cable, and fits snugly on top of my NCE handset...



Time will tell how successful it is at the next exhibition outing in October, though initial tests at home are encouraging.