# 7 Months of Work Coming to Fruition!



## SSBN743

Well, back this past December I started thinking about doing a model train and even asked for advice on this very forum. In the end, I decided to do a very simply oval loop with one siding layout with my Dad’s old 1950’s O-27 Marx train set.

This is my first real train set, but, after 7 months of planning and puttering around, I got it done and am pleased with how it turned out. In hindsight, I would have done many things differently, but that’s what hindsight is for right? I’ll post a few photos and you can let me know what you think!


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## Big Ed

I just posted this before, a copy and paste.
I added your handle to it. You have a lot of pictures, please consider doing this.

A copy and paste,

Hey SSBN743 if you want to, it is so much better to look at a photo instead of going back and forth clicking on each link.

To make the pictures show as a picture is real easy.
If you want,

go back to the last 2 posts (make the go back to your post) and click edit, then click go advance, then go up top to the paper clip and click.
Then click insert all, they will all show up as a picture in your post now, instead of a link.

If you only had one picture you do all that and just click what shows. But more then one picture it will say insert all.

Try it?
If you want.


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## Magic

Looking very good. :smilie_daumenpos:
Your lake came out better than mine is so far.

Magic


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## SSBN743

big ed said:


> I just posted this before, a copy and paste.
> I added your handle to it. You have a lot of pictures, please consider doing this.
> 
> A copy and paste,
> 
> Hey SSBN743 if you want to, it is so much better to look at a photo instead of going back and forth clicking on each link.
> 
> To make the pictures show as a picture is real easy.
> 
> If you want,
> 
> go back to the last 2 posts (make the go back to your post) and click edit, then click go advance, then go up top to the paper clip and click.
> 
> Then click insert all, they will all show up as a picture in your post now, instead of a link.
> 
> If you only had one picture you do all that and just click what shows. But more then one picture it will say insert all.
> 
> Try it?
> 
> If you want.


Thank you very much – I was trying to figure out how to do that when I initially posted


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## SSBN743

Magic said:


> Looking very good. :smilie_daumenpos:
> 
> Your lake came out better than mine is so far.
> 
> Magic


Boy, the lake… Everything I read said it was the easiest thing to do but it gave me a lot of problems. I re-did it at least 4 times and it took 4 weeks by itself. My first few attempts I tried to use black and blue and green for the lake bottom; but I hated it every time.

So in the end I went with the Woodland Scenics method with earth tones for the lake bed. To be honest, I still don’t really like it and would rather it be blue-ish in color, but I don’t know it turned out well enough I guess.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Looks great, you did a lot in that time! I like the treatment of the tubular track, that's a nice touch. :thumbsup:


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## Big Ed

It looks like you could have built it a lot larger huh?

It is much easier to look at pictures instead of clicking links especially if the thread gets large.

Yours are like mine, too large. 
note to all, Hit control and the minus sign at the same time and you won't have to scroll back and forth side to side to read. 

I think mine is in my camera setting, I have been waiting for an answer on a easy way to make them smaller, been waiting for a while now. I don't like using Photobucket.

Nice layout, the lake does look good. Did you take pictures of the steps you used in it's construction?

Expansion on the horizon? :thumbsup:


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## rkenney

Looks great! :appl: I really like the water tower perched on that ledge, but I like all of it.

The only thing left over from Grandpa's day were stories of his Christmas layout (standard gauge, mix), and a single Grey Iron conductor figure. My first set of O was Marx.

Actually I bought a bell ringing Marx crossing sign first because it intrigued me and then a Marx set. Marx trains are cool for their simplicity and the tin litho designs. :smilie_daumenpos:


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## golfermd

Looking great! Love your scenery and just how much you were able to do in a small space without making it look like you shoe-horned it in.


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## SSBN743

Oh yeah – I took a ton of pictures, 246 to be exact, the ones I posted are just the major steps.

From the start I had a general idea of what I wanted, but some of the stuff was winged plain and simple.

The water tower for example and hill it’s perched on. I didn’t like the tower kit’s instructions for constructing the base, in fact the instructions were virtually non-existent and I found the lengths of wood very hard to accurately work with. With the base being so exposed, it didn’t look good at all.

So, I bought a new desk lamp that came in the box with Styrofoam – Styrofoam that became that little hill for the water tower to sit on; it was the perfect width and height. Then I just cut the base of the water tower as desired and am really pleased with how it turned out – but really, it wasn’t planned at all.

The corners are also very functional. The original power pack for the Marx train had a stuck rheostat or something. It worked, but only at full throttle; I bought another one off of E-bay and had the same problem. At that point I just bought a new Lionel power pack but quickly noted that it had a much higher power output, albeit at the same voltage, than the original Marx transformer. So, with not much effort at all it was easy to get the train moving so fast it would fly off the track at the corners, hence the little hills around each of the corners.

It’s funny too, that old Marx train is amazing; the light bulb in the front still works and has never been replaced to my knowledge. But it’s old too; it takes a couple of laps to warm up but when it does it starts moving and you need to throttle down or fly off the track.

Anyway, it obviously doesn’t do scale speed like DCC or anything and performs exactly like it was designed, as a toy train, but it was really fun for me to build. I had a general plan, mostly in my head, but in the end it became a culmination of design and necessity – pretty fun! In a way - it’s kind of sad now that I’m done! I’m sure I’ll find something else to add on 

I’m already plotting a HO train this winter!


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## Big Ed

Have you ever took the shell off of the locomotive and serviced it?
Takes a few laps to warm up? It might need a little cleaning and lube?
Clean rollers and wheels help in the running too, as with clean track and tight connections.

You have at least put a little lube on it right?
If so what kind? A lot of us just use mostly regular motor oil. Though some parts on certain locomotives do require a little heavy lube. Mostly on a worm gear. That Marx doesn't have a worm gear so your good with just motor oil. 

Oil or lube I stress use a LITTLE, too much is no good.


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## T-Man

WO W I like the scenery and the pond looks great too!

That does it. any more words pop up with links and I am spacing them out to get rid of them.


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## Kenjuro4449

Great work!


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## tjcruiser

Just seeing this layout. Nice work. I especially like the pond surface, and love that you've brought some new life into your Dad's old Marx trains. Enjoy, and thanks for sharing!

TJ


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## Model Train Structures

Excellent job and great looking scenery. The lake is awesome!

D.A.


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## Shifty1

Very nice job, BUBBLEHEAD! lol!

FT2/ss SSBN 728 (B)


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## SBRacing

Beautiful layout. Three S's small, simple, and scenic. Is that O27 track?


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## Patrick1544

Looks great. I like your corral and livestock. Keep building.


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## SSBN743

Shifty1 said:


> Very nice job, BUBBLEHEAD! lol!
> FT2/ss SSBN 728 (B)


You picked up on that huh? I was an ETR1/SS when got out; started off as an RM but got cross rated to ET right before I got to the boat. Also did runs on the SSN 773 and the SSN 23 – always nice to talk to another bubblehead!



SBRacing said:


> Beautiful layout. Three S's small, simple, and scenic. Is that O27 track?


Thank you, yes it’s my dad’s Marx O-27 track and train. He believes that his dad bought it for him (used) when he was a kid. He was born in 1954, so we’re figuring 1960-1964. So we think it was made in the late 50’s – I’ve also found a website that helps gauge the age of the old Marx stuff, so we think it’s like 1956-1958; and the headlight still works. My dad thought it was a smoking loco too – but it’s not, so that helped us date it too.

Anyway, I’m glad you like it – been working on an HO layout for a year and haven’t got very far. There’s so much to learn and buy now that it’s almost unbelievable. One day, I’ll get a bead on it!


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## jwbegor

I remember reading ”three rail trains are still in the toy classification“.
Clearly they aren't based on the effort put into this layout. Looks fantastic, hope my ho scale layout is close to that good. I am going to use felt for grass. So not nearly as detailed as yours.
Awesome job!


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## A&NRR

I love everything about especially the lake and the ballasted 3 rail track. Makes me want to break out my brothers old marx bug rail set he got for Christmas back in '69. I took from him back in '81. Great job.
!!!


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## A&NRR

I love everything about it, especially the lake and how you ballasted the three rail.


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## teledoc

Excellent finished product. No layout here, been too busy restoring some postwar trains that were returned to me from cousin, after 45 yrs., and got snookered into working on Prewar Tinplate. I think I have 9 locos in various stage of restoration. Great job on the layout, but you know you have to go bigger!!!!!

Another Bubble head-- RM2/SS, SSBN-654 Geo. C. Marshall, 1966-68.


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## SSBN743

teledoc said:


> Excellent finished product. No layout here, been too busy restoring some postwar trains that were returned to me from cousin, after 45 yrs., and got snookered into working on Prewar Tinplate. I think I have 9 locos in various stage of restoration. Great job on the layout, but you know you have to go bigger!!!!!
> 
> Another Bubble head-- RM2/SS, SSBN-654 Geo. C. Marshall, 1966-68.


A 41 for Freedom boat huh? I always wondered what those were like, I had a LPO that served on the Tecumseh, but they were all razor blades by the time I came around. Well, I think the Kamehameha is still around.

Anyway, I was also the last RM class. We got converted to ET-R's right as I reported to my first boat.

I'm working on a HO layout now - although pretty slowly - but it's coming along.

Josh


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## teledoc

Amazing that RM's are now IT's. No longer called Radioman. Went thru "A" school in San Diego, Ca. Only one assigned to Subs, expected to go to Hawaii for sub school, but sent to Groton. Only one in my class to get a "Boomer", brand new construction. Struggled with getting CW speed up to 20 women, to graduate, and CW a thing of the past. Got Amateur radio license eventually, can copy around 40 w.p.m, during contests. Of course radio on back shelf, and doing Prewar restorations. Presently working on three Prewar 1681's, two 1688E's, and just repainted a 1661T tender.

The "Kamfish" is also razor blades. The Ohio is first on list of still active subs, and all the earlier boats are scrapped already.


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## SSBN743

teledoc said:


> Amazing that RM's are now IT's. No longer called Radioman. Went thru "A" school in San Diego, Ca. Only one assigned to Subs, expected to go to Hawaii for sub school, but sent to Groton. Only one in my class to get a "Boomer", brand new construction. Struggled with getting CW speed up to 20 women, to graduate, and CW a thing of the past. Got Amateur radio license eventually, can copy around 40 w.p.m, during contests. Of course radio on back shelf, and doing Prewar restorations. Presently working on three Prewar 1681's, two 1688E's, and just repainted a 1661T tender.
> The "Kamfish" is also razor blades. The Ohio is first on list of still active subs, and all the earlier boats are scrapped already.


Yeah, CW is kind of a World War 3 thing I guess. They even phased out typing – I had to take a typing course in A-School but it was a joke; everyone passed no matter how fast they typed. To be 100% honest, it’s all E-mail and chat rooms nowadays – the captain does his own typing most of the time. The only thing from the old days is the double encryption unit (I forgot what it was called).

We were ET’s from the start but had special rating badges – we still got to wear the sparks. But that all changed too; and we started having to wear the normal ET rating badge. Everyone became ET’s, the QM’s and IC’s all became ET-N (Nav) and ET-C’s. Up forward it’s now just ET’s, FT’s, and SM’s (Sonar – I’m not actually sure of the abbreviation – who cares, it’s just Sonar ), oh and TM’s I guess. Well Cooks and Yeoman too, but the cooks are now CS’s, Culinary Specialists – guess what the slang for CS is? 

For us, when the boat assignments came out it was a disaster and was last minute. So, all the single guys got boomers because all the married guys were committed to base housing in Groton – kind of backwards huh? But oh well, I didn’t mind – and I did fine on the boomer. After the 743 I transferred to Pearl and picked up a run on the Cheyenne (773) – it’s all just banter, a sub is sub, and a boomer is just as cramped as a fast boat. We did have a crews lounge on the boomer though, so I guess there were a few perks – oh, and I can’t forget the porcelain toilets; that’s a favorite hazing point of every fast-boat guy in the fleet.

Good talking to you – I’ll start getting some pictures of my HO layout up on here and look forward to anything you can post.

Josh


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## sean Buick 76

Very well done setup! Did you scratch build the fence for the cows? Nice work, keep us posted!!


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## SSBN743

sean Buick 76 said:


> Very well done setup! Did you scratch build the fence for the cows? Nice work, keep us posted!!


Yep - I don't remember the dimensions, I just grabbed some balsa wood sticks from the hobby store that I thought looked like scale fence posts (I do vaguely remember getting the calculator out, so I may have actually bought scale fence posts). I did buy a O-scale corral kit, but it looked terrible, so in the end I just built my own.


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## sean Buick 76

Very nice work!


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## SSBN743

sean Buick 76 said:


> Very nice work!


That's neat - my dad did something similar for me when I was a kid. His he attached to pulleys so you could raise it up to the ceiling for our basement - but hinged to the wall is just a good an idea!


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## sean Buick 76

SSBN743 said:


> That's neat - my dad did something similar for me when I was a kid. His he attached to pulleys so you could raise it up to the ceiling for our basement - but hinged to the wall is just a good an idea!


That is a good idea too! Out of the way, more room for doing other stuff in the room.


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## WxToad

You did a great job on your layout for that old Marx train set. A whole better than my first attempt at a scenicked Lionel layout some 60 years ago.


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