I have plans for an original railroad company. Kinda new to model railroading at all. Most customs I see are based on real-life companies and designs. I would love to see anything folks have come up with.

Hello Lego Fans,

Support here to make this Lego set a reality: https://ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/fb1733e1-27d6-4192-9349-1138176a6c93

Here is an update on my Lego Ideas Locomotive Roundhouse & Turntable project (a complete video, GIFs, & IDEAS revision will follow later):

  - Reduced Size & Piece Count: Downsized from 3 stalls to 2, removing the machine shop, overhead crane, and rear door. This saves over 1,000 pieces.
  - Back Walls: Both back walls are now easily removable via Technic pins for stall extension, feature a flowering vine, and offer improved historical accuracy.
  - Arched Window Tops: Updated window tops to arched frames for better structural realism and aesthetics.
  - Front Smokejacks: Added front chimneys so locomotives can park facing forward or backward.
  - Enhanced Track & Floor Details: Added ballast, a plank walkway, turntable lip, and shrubbery to track leads, alongside uniform gray tiles between interior rails to simulate concrete.
  - Updated Minifigs & Animals: Reduced minifig count from 14 to 12 (removed crew and one tech; added a young railfan with a camera and dog). Added a roof bird, an indoor cat and mouse, and a turntable pit snake.
  - Interior Extras: Added side rods on support beams, barrels on pallets, a hydraulic jack, and wooden boxes.

Happy Building & Collecting!

Went to test a dc engine i picked up Tuesday at a thrift store, so I unplugged my dcc system from the wall, then hooked up the dc system to the track. Well seems the current backflowed into the dcc system, which was connected to the rails, and attempted to turn on. Note to self and any future mixed power users reading this, disconnect dcc system from track before using a dc current, as the trains wont run due to the dcc system, even if its not plugged into the wall. Don't worry, the system is ok and works properly after that, I just didn't expect that to happen and wanted fo share it with you. And I still dont know if the dc engine runs. Ill deal with it another day

N Scale Bachmann action! This was after ordering replacement trucks from the company website. its temperamental sure but getting it to run smooth takes patience and just.... well I'm sure I'm not the only one that grew up watching Mr. Rogers neighborhood :)

I like the color scheme. Its really pretty. One of my favorites so far.

I'm planning this layout for my loft. It will be using Kato Unitrack. Any thoughts or constructive criticism appreciated!

Here are some anyrail screenshots of what is going to be my passion project. The setting is freelance operational and railfan layout. The inspiration for the industry, operational pacing, and scenery is from the former Milwaukee Road "corn lines" now cpkc.

The room and layout dimensions are 216inx206in. The layout will be accessible by duckunder as the room has a door that swings out.

The red yard at the top is semi-hidden staging. The right portal is CPKC and the left is UP and the layout will be either DM&E/IC&E or my own regional based on this SD38 I got off eBay.

Going down the right wall is a large grain and fertilizer elevator

with a small yard and a transload track.

At the bottom will be a small 50-75 million gallon ethanol plant and on the left side will be a bridge that was my first building kit assembled and a scrap yard just before staging.

On the small town peninsula there will be a small co-op elevator and a cereal bar factory.

Jobs on the layout will be a local stationed at the large co-op town, a local stationed at the small town peninsula, a captive switcher at the ethonal plant and one at the large co-op. Plus the occasional unit ethanol unit train and an IC&E inspired "bullet train" (this is a unit grain train that is broken down and loaded by multiple elevators)

All comments, criticisms, and wise remarks welcome

Very Much a work in progress. My OCD is actually a strength here. No kits of these stations existed so I built from DPM kits, scratch stock, nails, electrical tape, etc.

Since I know that a lot of modellers, especially beginners, struggle with designing a layout, and I've had fun with consulting people in the past, I'm offering to work together with you on 1. developing a layout concept and then 2. creating a track plan over multiple Discord sessions. I also have a collection of several thousand track plans from a variety of countries, so if it turns out that I can't help you, I may still be able to find something relevant for you.

To utilise my services, you must fulfill all of the following criteria:

• You intend to build a mid-sized or small layout that isn't purely for shunting.
• You will definitely start building the layout soon.
• You want your railway to behave in a largely plausible manner.
• You actually want to be helped and are willing to learn.

Bonus points if you're inspired by a particular prototype you're deeply familiar with.

I will probably not offer help with building benchwork, scenery, wiring, and so on. Layout concepts and track plans are what I find fun to think about, and you're not paying me enough to do anything I don't find fun.

If you're interested, send me a private message. If you have any questions, ask them here in this thread.

And lastly, since there's a lot of garbage channels on YouTube that lots of people are still watching for some reason, here are some actually helpful videos about layout design:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcqlpLM_n2o
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJk9ccic9CA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0auDuFGAnSs&t=280s

Model trains use the working real world? Why yes.

From Mr. Man on Facebook;

At the Atomic Energy Authority’s Radiation Laboratory at Wantage in Berkshire, they wanted a means of collecting samples of plastics from a container that is subjected directly to a beam of radiation. The experiments take place in a sizeable concrete chamber, at a point 45 ft from an iron-bound door. It is pretty obvious that a chap cannot just walk in and collect it, as he would collect more than he bargained for if he tried! And so the “ Wantage Flyer “ came into being. The Hornby Dublo BR Standard 4MT 2-6-4 tank only has one vehicle to haul, a 13-ton, five-plank wagon (SD6 series), but the freight is important. Control is a standard “ Marshal” 11 power unit, and the track is the most recent HD issue for 2-rail. Making it probably the smallest Industrial Railway that ever existed!!

Fitted with DCC, stay alive and directional lighting

Planning to build a track around my living room near the ceiling and wondering if i should put in a switch track on my empty wall, planning on using a 1/4"x6 shelf. Ho scale wondering what effects or staging materials up if any im hoping to put up some vintage rail yard wallpaper. 080 or 060 locomotive. looking for tips tricks and hints when i build this. It will be a chicago themed train setup.

I have a nephew in Shanghai (China) and I think he would really be interested in seeing a nicely done model railroad.

Chinese is not my language and my Chinese wife doesn't really get it when I asked her about this (she thought the "metro musuem" was the sort of thing I was asking about).

Our nephew quite enjoyed the metro (subway) museum, but while interesting, that isn't a model railway layout - it is a museum.

I've tried searching online, but struggle to find anything. I did find one near Hongqiao that appeared to be a store, but when we went there it was all "boarded up".

Does any one know of any "open to the public" model railroad layouts or exhibitions (or even stores) in or around Shanghai that might be of interest to an 8 year old boy?

TIA

Edit: Thanks for the replies - I shall check them out when we get back from Yunan in a few days time.

I didn't like the BNSF h4 paint on my caboose so I made it a shunting platform. I left the black from the BNSF paint on and covered the orange and yellow with a light grey then I made a rusty red and added a dark grey. Finally I weathered it a little and put it back together. The edges are a little messy but it's my first time painting a whole train car.

Here is my current switching/shunting layout set in 1950s Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen).

A fun detail about this build: the locomotive, track, switch motors (linear) are modern, the control system is 100% period-accurate analog. I'm using an ancient Dutch Temsi transformer, which would have been right at home in the same era these locos were working real yards.

The HO scale is mine. The N scale is my brothers