Building My First Layout


My Burlington Northern decals arrived in the mail yesterday, so I was able to finish my BN depot.

I had some extra clear plastic model windows left over, so I scored them with a hobby knife, then cut them with my hobby saw.

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I used a small diamond file to smooth the edges, spray painted them green, placed the decals on them, then glued them to the end walls of the depot.

I also used this time to install my Miller Engineering BN billboard on the roof. I can't believe these animated billboards have 46 different patterns to choose from... very creative on their part!

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My next step is to assemble this school

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Then trace the track and get ready to attach the cork roadbed.
 
I've figured out where most of my buildings and streets are going to fit. I've made some minor adjustments to the original track plan as well.

The 3x5 cards simulate the roads. This is probably 95% accurate for placement of the buildings and structures.

The water will go on the lower part where the brown towel is.
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There is some assembly that needs to be done on the four oil storage tanks, but it's not a priority yet.

This layout uses all but a few of the buildings my dad bought, and most of the track. I started with 13 turnouts. Now I have 30, and 145ft of track.
 
Today was the first time I've ever tried to measure cork and cut it from a 24" x 36" sheet of 3/16" cork. I chose to start with the rounded piece for the turntable. So I took some measurements and made a jig out of a piece of trim molding. I put a piece of plywood under my working piece of cork. Maybe this was the hard way, but I couldn't think of a better way to do this part. It worked out just fine.

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I didn't use the turntable as the template on the cork sheet because I didn't want to be wrong about estimating where the center of the turntable was. Once I had the lines drawn on the cork, I removed the jig and set the turntable and track on the cork to make sure it would fit properly before I started cutting.

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I was happy with my measurements, so I cut out the shape with an exacto knife. I fastened the turntable to my bench and lined everything up again to see how it would fit.

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I haven't glued the cork down yet, but I'm happy with how it fits. I'll be wiring the turntable motor when I do the other wiring. But until then, the manual crank works just fine.

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I might have broken some unwritten rules in regards to laying down cork, but I wanted the railyard cork to fit some specific curves and objects.

I left the track in place, and slid the cork sheet under the track. I then marked where I needed to cut the cork. I pulled the cork sheet out, made my cuts, then slid the cork back under the track. Surprisingly, I only used 2 sheets of cork, (the 2ft x 3ft sheets), and I still have quite a few scrap pieces left over, plus 3 full sheets in the box. I ordered the 5 sheets on Amazon.

All of these rerailer tracks will be replaced with 9" straight track
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None of the cork is glued down yet. Today I will start to remove the mainline tracks and the industry tracks. I need to sand down some of the joints where the different table tops were bolted together, then glue the Midwest Products cork strips in place. After that is completed, I'll glue down the cork in the railyard.
 
Marlin338MX said:
I might have broken some unwritten rules in regards to laying down cork, but I wanted the railyard cork to fit some specific curves and objects.

I left the track in place, and slid the cork sheet under the track. I then marked where I needed to cut the cork. I pulled the cork sheet out, made my cuts, then slid the cork back under the track. Surprisingly, I only used 2 sheets of cork, (the 2ft x 3ft sheets), and I still have quite a few scrap pieces left over, plus 3 full sheets in the box. I ordered the 5 sheets on Amazon.

All of these rerailer tracks will be replaced with 9" straight track
View attachment 178643

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None of the cork is glued down yet. Today I will start to remove the mainline tracks and the industry tracks. I need to sand down some of the joints where the different table tops were bolted together, then glue the Midwest Products cork strips in place. After that is completed, I'll glue down the cork in the railyard.
Click to expand...
Something you might want to try is cutting the cork into strips the same width as the track and then cutting that in half again, makes laying cork under your curves easier and saves you a lot of usable cork for later.
 
Smudge617 said:
Something you might want to try is cutting the cork into strips the same width as the track and then cutting that in half again, makes laying cork under your curves easier and saves you a lot of usable cork for later.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip, much appreciated!

I should have enough of these 3ft cork strips for the rest of my layout. I have a full box of 25 pre-cut strips.

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I've already started laying these strips on the curves this morning.

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I'm stopping for now because I don't have enough push pins to glue another strip. That orange 1 pound dead blow hammer sure does save the thumbs, and it only takes a light tap on the push pins. This is the only cork that is glued down so far.
 
Marlin338MX said:
Thanks for the tip, much appreciated!

I should have enough of these 3ft cork strips for the rest of my layout. I have a full box of 25 pre-cut strips.

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I've already started laying these strips on the curves this morning.

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I'm stopping for now because I don't have enough push pins to glue another strip. That orange 1 pound dead blow hammer sure does save the thumbs, and it only takes a light tap on the push pins. This is the only cork that is glued down so far.
Click to expand...
I didn't realise you had the pre-cut strips as well, I can't seem to get that stuff here, more's the pity.
 
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