# Small O Scale Layout - Pennsy Style



## PennsyFan

New member here - thought I'd share the layout I've been working on, mostly in the last year.

Here's the room I started with shortly after we bought our house...









Then some white paint...


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## gunrunnerjohn

Room is fine, but where's the trains?


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## PennsyFan

Installed track lighting working on the table...









Track planning...


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## PennsyFan

gunrunnerjohn said:


> Room is fine, but where's the trains?


Sorry, John - I started way back in time!


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## PennsyFan

Finally a little running...









Transformer shelf...


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## gunrunnerjohn

OK, now we're talking!


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## PennsyFan

Attempting scenery work...


















Flush-mounted an MTH operating gas station...









And the beginnings of a tunnel...


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## PennsyFan

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c171/andy450r/Trains/DSC_1102_zpsd94af9d2.jpg


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## PennsyFan

Road work...








Lines and weathering...


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## PennsyFan

Brennan's yard ballast...


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## PennsyFan

Woodland Scenics's Morrison's Door Factory...


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## gunrunnerjohn

Not so small after all, thanks for all the pictures.


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## PennsyFan

Yeah, maybe it is just tad past small  

Hope you enjoy the pictures - there are still more progress to show!


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## Magic

Looking very nice. :smilie_daumenpos:
Nice detail work and interesting layout.

Welcome to the forum. :thumbsup:

Magic


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## Cycleops

Like all the activity. Small is meant as a joke, right?


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## sjm9911

Great job on the layout, the scenery is great


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## PennsyFan

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I consider it a small layout for O scale, but it is the largest one I've built so far.


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## PennsyFan

The beginnings of my town area...


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## PennsyFan

Sidewalks and streets...


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## PennsyFan

OK, that catches everything up to the present. Recently I painted lines on the roads and finally bought WS's Frank's Grocery, which might be my favorite WS building.


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## PennsyFan

I've had the same Plasticville coal tower for years, so I felt like switching it for something new. I like the Lionel tower, but it really needs to be weathered.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Keep the pictures coming, it looks great. You've created a fine looking fantasy world.


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## PennsyFan

Thank you, John. There will be more progress once the cold weather hits. A big project will be IHC engine house kit to replace the current MTH one.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Sounds great, bring it on!


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## PennsyFan

Today I spent some time installing streetlights and weathering streets...


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## Cycleops

Beautiful work!


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## PennsyFan

Thank you! From just looking at the photos, I still need to do something with the tree bases.


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## Big Ed

PennsyFan said:


> Thank you! From just looking at the photos, I still need to do something with the tree bases.


Looking great, your right about Frank's Grocery store. It really lights up the block.:smilie_daumenpos:
It all looks great.:thumbsup:


I was thinking the same thing about the trees bases. 
What you could do is make a little box around the ones on the sidewalk and add some dirt? Box them out with some wood? Or some get boxed in with stone?
A lot of trees planted where you have them on the sidewalks are boxed up around my area.
It would hide that base.
Some would look better planted a little closer to the roads curb line, instead of in the middle of the sidewalk?

Looking good.:smilie_daumenpos:


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## PennsyFan

Definitely one of my favorite buildings. The part of the room where it is has poor lighting, so I'm thinking about putting a small spotlight across the street to shine up on the IGA sign.


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## Chatelet

Wonderful layout ! :appl: Can't wait for the next pics.


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## wu11ie78

This is absolutely stunning, great work there. 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk


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## Big Ed

PennsyFan said:


> Definitely one of my favorite buildings. The part of the room where it is has poor lighting, so I'm thinking about putting a small spotlight across the street to shine up on the IGA sign.


Why not put small spot lights at it's base to light it up?
Is that missing some of the top stone work right under the S in the sign?


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## GK Trains

Great street detailing. What material did you use for the street surface?


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## Patrick1544

Looks great. Nice idea showing the progression of construction. I like the city at night and the Billiards Hall.


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## PennsyFan

GK Trains said:


> Great street detailing. What material did you use for the street surface?


It's actually 3M sandpaper.


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## Mark Boyce

Your layout really looks great! Thank you for all the really nice photos! How many trains do you run? All PRR, I suppose. Can't beat that! :thumbsup:


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## PennsyFan

Thanks, Mark. I mostly run Pennsy, but there is some Conrail mixed in too. I typically run two trains at a time, but occasionally I'll three or four at one time.


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## Mark Boyce

Pennsyfan,
That sounds good too for some diesel fun.


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## PennsyFan

So here's what I'm currently working on: a small hillside street (I'm thinking about calling it Plasticville Hill). I made it to be easily dropped into place or removed. Each building has its own power terminal to hook up lights easily; all the wires come together at the bottom inside the foam. All I have to do is drop two wires through the table for hook up.


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## Mark Boyce

Excellent job PennsyFan! Reminds me of a story. Near where I work at the local telephone company in the far northern suburbs of Pittsburgh is a high end development that has an Arnold Palmer designed golf course and high end housing, clubhouse, etc. Anyway, there are two sections, one section has the most expensive houses, huge stone and brick. Across the road are less expensive houses, still many times more expensive than my house. They have some vinyl siding. The telephone installers tell me the folks in the most expensive section refer to the other section as....you guessed it...Plasticville. True story.


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## PennsyFan

Great story -now I'll have to call it that for sure!


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## Mark Boyce

Glad you like it!


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## PennsyFan

Some progress on the hillside - I'd figured I should temporarily throw something together for Thanksgiving...


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## PennsyFan

Random shots around the layout...


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## gunrunnerjohn

Nice church, did you see the church thread?


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## Mark Boyce

Yes, Plasticville Hill has the Plasticville Cathedral! I just have the Plasticville country church! The layout looks great! I really like your downtown!


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## PennsyFan

Arial view...


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## gunrunnerjohn

That looks great, you fit a lot into that space.


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## L0stS0ul

Such a nice layout and great use of space!. Love the guitars on the wall too. I have a few near mine as well


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## longbow57ca

Hello, Nice layout my friend, I sure love it I hope you enjoy running your trains on it. It looks so very cool. Sometimes small layouts are the best I find. Thanks longbow57ca.


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## Steamfan77

Nice layout! You have a lot of action there. Great scenery too...


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## PennsyFan

I finished up a crossing...
















And here's the next crossing to complete...


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## Steamfan77

Nice work on the crossing! I like the way the road is weathered too. Who makes the crossing signals? 

Andy


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## PennsyFan

Thanks! The post signals are from Custom Signals and the cantilever is MTH.


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## gunrunnerjohn

That looks really nice, very good job on that one. :thumbsup:


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## Guest

I love your layout PennsyFan. I looked through the whole thread but didn't see the dimensions. I'm guessing it's about 10x16. It that about right?


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## PennsyFan

Thanks for the comments, guys.

Joe, 

you're close; the table is 16' long by 6' wide. The the left side is an additional 2' wide.


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## PennsyFan

I finished up ground foam work along the back of the layout. I was getting tired of getting green foam on my cloths, so I finally glued it down.








Here's an early look on what's to come on the last layout corner...








And I took a stab at weathering...


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## cole226

pennsyfan, 
your layout looks really good:thumbsup: and I mean all of it. roads, ballast, groundcover.:smilie_daumenpos:

you might have been a little tentative on the coaling tower weathering. but looking at your work i'm sure you'll get it how want it


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## doorman29

Trains, Garden Tractors and Guitars, my 3 hobbies as well.


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## leadsled

That is a very well executed layout!

I really like your main street! Great Work!


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## PennsyFan

doorman29 said:


> Trains, Garden Tractors and Guitars, my 3 hobbies as well.


Yeah, I love old garden tractors too! I had fun restoring my Wheel Horse, but I lost momentum towards the end. I have a dump cart that's waiting to be done next.








Here's what I started with...


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## Lemonhawk

I think I had one of those back in the 70's. It had a snowblade with it but could only push about 4" of snow. Worked in Indiana, but the move to Minnesota required a John Deer with a snow blower!


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## doorman29

She's a beauty.


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## Guest

Excellent work on the layout. The Magic Water pond looks like it will be a great addition to the scenery.


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## Mark Boyce

Yes excellent work on the layout! The crossing looks great, as does your new coaling tower. Just new construction, that's the answer why it isn't dirty yet. ;-)


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## PennsyFan

Well the crossing looks good - but it's not functional! I don't know why I didn't test the crossing with my equipment - I always do this with stuff near track. I found out the hard way tonight and sent a Lionel 2025 into the ditch!


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## cole226

OUCH


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## PennsyFan

Another crossing...


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## Mark Boyce

Very nice work Pennsyfan!!


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## PennsyFan

Thank you, Mark!


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## PennsyFan

Something that's been bugging me since I did it a few months ago was the stone around the oil company - it looked too mono-grey. So I added a few other materials to it. I still need a tank truck and more details for this scene.

Before...








After...


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## Steamfan77

Great job, Pennsyfan. I like your additions too. Weathering is subjective, and has to look right to your eye. If you want it lightly or heavily weathered, as long as you're happy, that's all that matters. 

Andy


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## Guest

The gravel lot for oil company looks great. Mixing a few colors really makes a difference.


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## PennsyFan

I'm not all that great with weathering - I've done on and off for the last eight years or so and I think it's just one of things I haven't nailed. I have learned it's easy to weather too much and just start out lightly.


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## PennsyFan

Here's a project that will start soon...


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## cole226

*Weathering*

Always easier to add some than to try and calm it down.


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## PennsyFan

It's been awhile since I posted an update, but I've been busy!

Added table skirting to hit all my junk. I used 1X3's attached to the table legs to mount the skirting. Then I painted it black and attached Velcro with staples. I bought the polyester skirting from eBay.


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## cole226

That looks good.


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## Guest

The skirting looks great. It really dresses the layout up.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Covering the bottom really does dress a layout up, nice looking skirts.


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## PennsyFan

Thanks! I was pretty happy with the quality of the skirting.


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## PennsyFan

This kit has been pretty time consuming. It's a large building, so I'm bracing the walls to make it more rigid. I built one of these years ago when I was a kid and did't take long for it to fall apart, so hopefully I do better this go around!


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## gunrunnerjohn

That is a big kit. I have that building on my modular club module. I added lights, fan driven smoke, and a welding simulator with sound for a little interest.


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## Chiefmcfuz

I would love to see the track plan. This looks awesome.


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## PennsyFan

gunrunnerjohn said:


> That is a big kit. I have that building on my modular club module. I added lights, fan driven smoke, and a welding simulator with sound for a little interest.


I'm working on improving my welding scene just outside the shop - I want to try a Arduino kit to control a random welding sequence. I also thought about adding a smoke unit. As far as lighting, I want to use fixtures with a green shade.


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## PennsyFan

Chiefmcfuz said:


> I would love to see the track plan. This looks awesome.


I don't have a track plan, but maybe this aerial can help...


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## Mark Boyce

I just looked at all the photos from the beginning. The first is in mid September. You have really accomplished a lot in six months! Really nice!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## PennsyFan

Mark Boyce said:


> I just looked at all the photos from the beginning. The first is in mid September. You have really accomplished a lot in six months! Really nice!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I wish I worked that quick, LOL. I really started about four years ago on the table, but then it sat idle for awhile. But I really became motivated about a year and a half ago.

Here's 18 months ago...








And now...


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## Mark Boyce

Ha ha! Joke's on me!! Excellent job no matter how long it took!


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## gunrunnerjohn

Clearly the layout is more *musical* now.


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## josef

Outstanding. Been following for awhile and must say, love it.


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## PennsyFan

Here's the new engine shed. I'm really happy with the switch of buildings, but I still have a lot to do with getting the roof stable.


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## gunrunnerjohn

That's a great building, but the hinges are very fragile, so be careful opening the doors.


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## PennsyFan

Two of the plastic doors from the kit were already broken! So I ordered these wood ones from Korber; they're the same as Korber's roundhouse doors. I'll get around to staining them this week.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Told you they were fragile!


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## trains galore

Lovely looking layout. :thumbsup:
Has that carriage been converted into a shop? Not a bad way to reuse broken ones actually!


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## jlc41

Very nice layout and modeling. I really like all the lighting.


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## Patrick1544

Nice Engine house! I'm working on mine as we speak. The roof is a bit of a question. I'm thinking a few supports glued onto it to make it more rigid and one piece.


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## PennsyFan

Thanks everyone for the comments!


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## PennsyFan

Patrick1544 said:


> Nice Engine house! I'm working on mine as we speak. The roof is a bit of a question. I'm thinking a few supports glued onto it to make it more rigid and one piece.


Yeah, there's just not enough there to hold up the large roof sections - the plastic truss that came with the kit is thin and flimsy. I'm planning on building three trusses from 1/4" bass and I'll leave the roof pieces loose for access.


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## Patrick1544

Nice work!


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## Mark Boyce

I like it! While I would like a roundhouse, I will never have room either. I could readily accept an engine house like yours on my layout! It will come in the future.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## Guest

Mark Boyce said:


> I like it! While I would like a roundhouse, I will never have room either. I could readily accept an engine house like yours on my layout! It will come in the future.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


I would love to have a turntable and roundhouse but I don't think I'll ever have the room. Like Mark, I would be very happy with an engine house like yours. Heck, I'd be very happy with a layout like yours.


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