Some pics of my progressing HO layout

[Southwest Chief]

My bus didn't make the jump. Although there was nothing to jump to.

To use one of my favorite quotes from Speed..."Oh Darn"

I'm wondering how best to finish the highway approach? Extruded Foam insulation I guess might work. But I've never worked with the stuff before. It has to be pretty thick so I can then "carve" the approach and then put Durham's Water Putty on top to match the existing scenery.

Any suggestions on what material to use for the highway approach and where to find it?

 

[Yannis]

Impressive layout Matt, very inspiring indeed!!!!

 

[NYC_George]

Nice station and layout Matt.
George

 

[A2TwrOpr]

Cool layout. You've got a lot packed into a small space without crowding it. And your diorama looks nice too

 

[goscrewyourselves]

Extruded Foam would work and is easy to work with. It cuts well, is light and able to be carved. All you would have to do is look at the thickness. From memory, it comes in 1/2" 1" and 2" thickness', generally in an 8 X 4' sheet.

 

[Southwest Chief]

Thanks Tony.

 

[Southwest Chief]

The bridge to nowhere finally goes somewhere

I spent most of the day cutting, shaving, and sculpting foam board to make the embankment for the overpass. My local Home Depot had 2' x 2' squares of 1 inch thick foam board. They call them project panels.

It's great that the Greyhound Scenic Cruiser isn't stranded on the bridge anymore.

 

[fcwilt]

I'll bet the first thing that driver does is hit a restroom.

 

[Lynnb]

Nice little layout and backdrop really looks good.

 

[goscrewyourselves]

Nice job on the over pass Matt, and I am sure that Greyhound driver and passengers, are glad to see it as well

 

[Southwest Chief]

Did some work on the motel and the retaining wall.

 

[Rico]

Wow how did I miss this thread?
Very nice layout Matt, and great motel scene!!

 

[logandsawman]

The parking lot and landscaping around the motel really make it. Nice job!!!

 

[Southwest Chief]

Testing out the Motel "neon" sign and some other lights. Hmmm, hard to capture the "neon" lettering with my camera. Well at least it looks good in person

 

[Southwest Chief]

Been hooking up more and more structure lights.

Here are two pics showing some of the layout lighting:

 

[montanan]

Nice photos Matt, well done. Looks great.

 

[A2TwrOpr]

Cool night shots! The lighting is coming along nicely

 

[Southwest Chief]

Been a long time since I updated this thread.

But I finally got the wiring hooked up to my CTC style control box for the HO layout. The track diagram was custom made for us by ControlTrainComponents. The metal shell (ctc box) was custom built by a friend who works with metal fabrication.

Link to large image

Link to large image


The top 6 switches control the 6 turnouts on the layout.

The 8 on/off toggle switches control various layout features such as; building lights, neon lights, crossing gates, and even an air raid siren.

The 2 switches on the right control a station order board signal.

 

[Lynnb]

I like the control panel. I have always had a hard time figuring out the map for the switches.

 

[Southwest Chief]

Thanks Lynn,

It was pretty easy mapping switches on our layout since there are only 6.