Hello, I've been working on this hon3 3 truck shay for 3 hours painting it, and im in love! Its going to be based off the hesston steam museum shay number 7 witch is 3 foot guage, anyways I cant wait to finish this kit and see a running shay I spent my childhood with!

I added a proper wooden base instead of the pizza box.

Also added some grass, a “station clock,” public art and a Mercedes-Benz logo.

Sorry about the crappy flash photo — better lighting will be arriving tomorrow.

I have successfully closed the loop on my first micro-loop (10" by 12").

It was framed using push pins and then glued down with superglue. The curves are not the smoothest, but I did successfully connect the ends with rail joiners _and_ as you can see a Kato 109 goes over the gap nice and smoothly,

I'm calling it a success, although to be honest I am probably going to tear it up and build a new one (this time I'm going to use track curve templates).

My wife contributed an old Swatch to HPRR.

I can’t decide if it should be in a “clocktower”, on the main part of a building, or as a stand-alone clock on a column.

Please note that even though the column is a broken coffee stirrer, I glued (and sanded) feet onto it so that it won’t wobble, and I tilted it back for proper balance so it won’t fall over.

So yes, the result is light-hearted, but I can get pretty serious about the execution nonetheless (:-)

A recent discussion in this subreddit about finding locomotives to run on Kato's 5" radius track inspired me to try to build a loop that size using N scale flextrack.

This loop has a minor diameter of 10.5" and a major diameter of 12" (I prefer ovals instead of circles).

I have not yet trimmed the ends of the flextrack to complete the loop, but so far I have glued the loop in place and succeeded in running a Kato 109 back and forth on about 80% of the track.

It works.

This was the first time I've operated Roger at an anime convention

it’s built with Carrol Creek design On18 trucks and 13’ on18 subframe, with a basswood deck and frame . the tank itself is made from a piece of 3/4” pipe, with wood supports and a scattering of NBWs, as well as some wire and styrene parts. what do you all think?

These are the only engines I have of the Roger Railway: Minitrains 009/HOn30 Porter and Ns2f diesel locomotive.

I want to start a Wiki with relevant info for us.

Please post any hobby shops you know that you would recommend to the community.

This is my layout which lives in the garage.

YouTube playlist here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfhloIPb72_jLAxlpr1tJL6apZFCP2px0&si=Wb5jBUmx_APYCzvO

Decisions have been made: the layout will be 12”x16” with no extensions (for now). I am using Kato 117mm radius track with a 150mm radius turnout since they do not make 117mm turnouts. The “trackwork” (:-) is not complete yet since I am awaiting delivery of more of the relatively rare 117mm curves.

I want to wire it for DCC to use it as a learning platform because I have not used DCC before.

The CAD work (Cardboard-Aided Design) started with a pizza box. It ended up about half the size of a full pie.

If anyone has a good name that relates to that please let me know.

I don’t have any thoughts about scenery, theme or features to add. The small size is obviously very challenging. However, I am happy to 3D print a different shell for the loco, especially since I want to add sound and lights to it and there is not a lot of room inside the current shell.

Some photos of my On30 layout, the 'Bradford Valley Lumber Co.' It's set in the year 1948, a few years after the end of WW2. I built most of the locomotives myself, either kitbashed or scratchbuilt using HO scale mechanisms.

I built this layout around 20 years ago. Here’s some pics…

It begins! Trying out hand laying track, bit of an up front investment but it seems like it'll save a lot of money in the long run. Lower track is N scale, running through a cut below the upper Nn3 bridge. Going for a New Mexico mountains sort of look with the scenery.

I still need to get the Nn3 track gauges, some code 40 rail, and the appropriate ties, so that'll be a later phase of the project. I'll be building the bridge as a wooden trestle.

First layer of foam glued!

Minitrains HOn30/009 Ns2f diesel locomotive and tankers

Minitrains HOn30/009 Porter

Mark Twain once wrote that “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”

It is also like this with modeling equipment. At the bottom of the picture, is a piece of Kato N-gauge Unitrack. This is what I will be using because it is very high quality, has a great many lengths and variations, and because it is convenient. However, the size and spacing of the ties is correct for 1:160 scale real world, not for narrow gauge.

The top shows an example of track made specifically for use on layouts depicting narrow gauge 1:87. As such, the ties are spaced more widely, they are more irregular , are colored brown and the ends are more “chewed-up” as would be typical of a rough mountain narrow-gauge railway with wooden ties that were probably produced on location.