# Beginning to build a 10' x 11' layout



## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Good day everyone!

I have started my build. The table is constructed, and I have begun making trees from twisted wire strands. I'm also beginning to build some bridges that I have acquired over the past few months as I started to assemble all the supplies I'll need.

This is going to be a fictitious river scene along the Ohio River with West Virginia on one side and Ohio on the other.

On one side of the river will be a good size village with a couple small industries. The other side of the river will be a dairy farm and a logging site. So I'll need a lot of trees.

I'm really enjoying this so far! I hope to post some pictures of my progress. Although, progress will be a little slow until Fall... I have too much yard work to keep up with while it's warm enough for grass to grow, LOL!


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## DonR (Oct 18, 2012)

You can also use dried sprigs from small bushes as
the trunk and limbs for your trees. 

Don


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I haven't come across anything suitable around my yard yet. Although, I haven't really gone out with the intent to find a good source of armatures. So far, I've made a handful of twisted wire trees. They have turned out pretty good, but they are a bit time consuming. I'm guessing that once I get the technique down, I'll be making about 1 every 15 minutes. That seems like a long time when I consider that I'll need to cover several scale acres in a forest. I've got a couple of hours into these first few trees, and they are just now ready for some paint, then foliage. So, each one still has a few minutes remaining in the production line.

I saw a person who used Goldenrod that he cut and dried. We have that all along the country roads out here, so later this summer, I may go out and see if that could be a good source. It seems like the natural armatures I have found are all too large for N scale.


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## Madman (Aug 22, 2020)

Power on ! Building a layout is as much fun as operating it. Well, almost as much fun.....LOL Lets see some pics as you progress along the main line.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm really enjoying this so far! Building the bridges from kits is rewarding. 

I have built 2 of these in double-track width. At 31.5 inches total combined length, It will span the river from the tops of the hills on either side. I'll need to fabricate some piers using left over foam pieces to get the height right.









I'm in the process of building 2 of these from Walthers. These will be used to cross the river at ground level (slightly elevated). Each one is a little over 14 inches. Not sure yet if I'll use these together to make a 28 inch span, or if each will cross the river at different points. I'm leaning toward using both to make a 28" length. The river will be at least 12" wide. I'll need to think about that for a while.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

Sounds cool, my family is from the Ohio River valley on the WVa side. Beautiful area! I look forward to your progress. 

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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

My family is also. My mother's family is from Weirton and my Father's family from the small town of Follansbee. I was a third generation at Bethany College. Interesting note about Bethany... It was founded in 1840, so it was chartered as a Virginia School.

Anyway... I was always fascinated by the trains and barges, so that's what I intend to model. However, my river isn't going to be as wide as the Ohio, but will be wide enough to support barge traffic... more 160 - 200 feet across or so, which is about the width of the intercoastal waterway at its narrowest. Twelve inches at 160:1 is equivalent to 160 feel. Fifteen inches would be 200 feet. I'm still debating with myself on the width of the river. If I go wider than 12 inches, then I will have to use more than one bridge to span the water. I was also fascinated by the steel mills, and all the related industry in that area. Although, modeling that wouldn't be very fun, because it was all ugly... fascinating, but ugly.

I'll try to get some pics up later today. Not much to see right now... a series of desk tops all connected into a big U shape, and a few structures I have built.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

That is what I think about modeling industrial areas too. It might be very desirable on your layout to give your trains purpose, but it is still generally a visually ugly thing to model.

Steel production, mining of nearly any type, quaries, etc. 

Tank farms and petroleum production is marginally better. I think lumber mills and grain processing or loading & unloading of grain products would be about as far as I'd be willing to model for commerce.

Probably why I chose to model passenger trains (mostly) rather than freight trains on my railroad. A peacefull postcard village scene is infinitely more pleasing to my eye than heavy industry.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I'm leaning toward a logging site and a dairy farm on one side of the river and a village on the other. I figure logging would be fairly simple to model and would still be somewhat pretty to look at. And Woodland Scenics' little cow collection comes with their own cow patties, LOL!


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

OK, here is the table. It's 9 pieces of desktop on top of metal legs with casters. They are held together with brackets that used to hold them into desks with returns. All that material was free. A storage unit was being cleaned out, and I grabbed what you see here before it went into a dumpster. They are solid wood planks joined together, so no pressboard issues with moisture. This is in a basement, but it is very dry. We keep dehumidifiers down here. This is on my side of the basement. Stephanie has the other side for her crafting. She doesn't know it yet, but she's going to share some of her acrylic paints with me!

My workbench is off to the right.

The track that is on the table is Bachman EZ-Track that my wife bought me back in 1994 when our first daughter was 1.5 years old. This past winter was the first time I have done anything with it since they were really young.












Here are pics of the bridges I have built over the past few days. I still need to paint / weather them.


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## vette-kid (May 2, 2020)

We were a little south in New Martinsville, WV and Sardis on the Ohio side. 

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## 65steam (Dec 18, 2019)

I will be excited to see how your river turns out. 

You might consider a steel mill on a printed backdrop, which can help set the scene but not dominate your layout.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

That's a good idea! Although, my layout will be floating in the middle of the basement, so there aren't any walls to put the backdrop against. But you have my gears turning.


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## 65steam (Dec 18, 2019)

How about using masonite or thin plywood to create a scene divider down the middle of your layout? This would make your layout feel bigger by encouraging viewers to walk around it rather than simply to look across it. A steel mill on a backdrop on the scene divider also would make the layout feel significantly a larger because it could be seen in the distance from one part of the layout but not from another, making things seem farther away from each other than they actually are. You might search scene dividers online to find some ideas.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Interesting idea!


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Got 6 trees done today. I think they turned out pretty good!


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)




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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

JeffHurl said:


> OK, here is the table. It's 9 pieces of desktop on top of metal legs with casters. They are held together with brackets that used to hold them into desks with returns. All that material was free. A storage unit was being cleaned out, and I grabbed what you see here before it went into a dumpster. They are solid wood planks joined together, so no pressboard issues with moisture. This is in a basement, but it is very dry. We keep dehumidifiers down here. This is on my side of the basement. Stephanie has the other side for her crafting. She doesn't know it yet, but she's going to share some of her acrylic paints with me!
> 
> My workbench is off to the right.
> 
> ...


You have a lot of space to work with.
Your not going to have any kind of sidings anywhere?


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

Well... I'm pretty set on the table-top configuration, although, I may change the top to go all the way across instead of having it just in the middle.. But I am still playing with the overall layout. I don't have any plans for DCC. That's an expense I don't see adding. And I'm only going to run one train. I really don't see myself getting into shuttling train cars around from spur to spur much more than to pick up / drop off at 4-5 areas (2 piers in the river, a logging industry in the West, and a depot / train station in the village).

I know many of you will think I'm being short sighted, but I'm thinking about where I am in life. Our oldest daughter is getting married next summer, and I expect grandkids to begin a year or so after that. So, it'll be several years before I let a grandkid really operate the trains other than to watch then go around. And in the meantime, I see myself playing with the layout for an hour here and an hour there. I'm not even going to start building the layout until it gets cold here in Ohio, so probably November or December.

I'll be surprised if I get bored with this, as I plan to make it interactive enough with switching to about 4 major sections... 2" high on either side, and ground level on either side.

And if I do get bored with it, at least it'll be pretty to look at. I'm not into modeling train yards or large industry... to me, those are not attractive. To me, the train and track should highlight the scenery, not the other way around. And I want a few tunnels and bridges.


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## JeffHurl (Apr 22, 2021)

I probably should have noted that the track on the table is just there to play with while I assemble all the things I need to begin the build when the weather turns cold. It is really old Bachman EZ-Track. When I build the final layout, I plan to use Peco Code 80 N gauge

I may add a 2nd table at the top to square it off rather than have 1 that is in the center. The current layout design has 4 scale miles of track, but it is still a work in process.


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