# Small Holiday ONP Layout.



## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok so I have been working on getting back into model trains. So far so good, I have purchased almost everything back that I sold a few years back. The main difference is I’m now I’m modeling N scale. 

So remembering how good my Kato locomotives were in HO I went hunting for some in N scale. This is where I discovered a wonderful charity organization called Operation North Pole. They take a Chicago Metro train, wrap it up in holiday livery and for a day it becomes the Polar Express for sick and special needs kids. I never knew until recently about this charity, and I would love it if the Sounder would do something similar. But...

Any way I bought both the ONP trains available from Kato and decided to build a small holiday layout. I found inspiration from YouTube on building small N scale layouts. I took inspiration from a couple different videos I watched and started to build this weekend. Enjoy the pics.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2017)

You're off to a very good start. I had not heard of ONP before. It sounds like an excellent theme for a Christmas layout. Please post pictures as you make progress.


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## 89Suburban (Jan 4, 2017)

Looking good!!!!!!


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*11-12 update*

Ok got a bit of work done on the layout. It’s coming along well and the mountain is starting to take shape. I had to go with double tunnel portals as the tunnels were starting in corners and my equipment was too long to clear. No biggy I think these look good where and how they are. I got the other viaduct kit and added it to the other and now I have the lower bridge. I have to make a step in the river to prevent the water from being up to the tracks deep but that will come in a couple weeks when I get start the scenery.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Oh I almost forgot. 

Ignore the weights, they are assisting with the glue drying. 

And in the pic below is what I’m going to use as a transformer for the trains. I have 2 of them one for each level. I need to find some SPDT switches for the direction control, and make a control panel. There is a little volt meter as well which is pretty accurate when unloaded. I’m going to check the output of the transformer on my O-scope to make sure the output is not too dirty, I don’t want to damage the locos.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*I was surprised by the results*

Ok so I will have to admit after testing the Kato throttle against my homemade power supply the results were not what I was expecting. 

First the Kato unit was tested. The throttle uses an external wall wart transformer that has an out put of 15v ac at 1.5a. Unloaded I was reading about 20v ac (rms voltage for those in the know). The output of the Kato throttle looked more like a sawtooth wave going only positive or negative depending on the position and in brake mode a sine wave of .5v. The first pic shows the waveform at 75% throttle, no loco. 

Now my little power supply. I was expecting this to have a poor signal due to the lack of zener diode in the final. There are 2 germanium diodes but they look more like part of the volt meter assembly than the final filter. But low and behold a good steady dc signal that actually matches the little volt meter pretty closely. There was no noticeable wave in the output and I even checked at the highest sample rate my O-scope can read. So all and all this seems to be a good source of clean DC power. Second 2 pics are the little power supply.


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## Guest (Nov 13, 2017)

You're making good progress on the layout. The electronics stuff is way over my head. hwell:


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## Yellowstone Special (Jun 23, 2015)

Massey said:


> Ok so I will have to admit after testing the Kato throttle against my homemade power supply the results were not what I was expecting.
> 
> First the Kato unit was tested. The throttle uses an external wall wart transformer that has an out put of 15v ac at 1.5a. Unloaded I was reading about 20v ac (rms voltage for those in the know). The output of the Kato throttle looked more like a sawtooth wave going only positive or negative depending on the position and in brake mode a sine wave of .5v. The first pic shows the waveform at 75% throttle, no loco.
> 
> Now my little power supply. I was expecting this to have a poor signal due to the lack of zener diode in the final. There are 2 germanium diodes but they look more like part of the volt meter assembly than the final filter. But low and behold a good steady dc signal that actually matches the little volt meter pretty closely. There was no noticeable wave in the output and I even checked at the highest sample rate my O-scope can read. So all and all this seems to be a good source of clean DC power. Second 2 pics are the little power supply.


So, Top Ramen?


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Yellowstone Special said:


> So, Top Ramen?


Would you believe I have been spending too much money on trains and that’s all we can afford to eat?


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*Update 11-18*

Ok so I got the foam work all laid out how I want it. Not I’m waiting for glue to dry... how exciting is that. Hopefully tomorrow it will be dry enough to shape and then I can move on to the real details. I also attempted to shave the cliff to make is look like rocks were cut away. I think after I get some grey paint and a wash in there it will look ok. 

I tested the DIY power supply with a locomotive today and all seemed well. The loco started moving at about 2.5 volts and could pull a full 5 cars by 5v at a good speed. I put both power supplies on a single sheet of plastic and fed them with one cord. Tomorrow I’m gonna try to find something to build the control panel out of. Enjoy the pics. Comments are always welcome


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## Nikola (Jun 11, 2012)

Really cool! Nice neat work!


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*Update 11-19*



Nikola said:


> Really cool! Nice neat work!


Thanks! 

Ok so I got some more work done on the layout. It was messy and fun all at the same time. I carved the foam to the basic shape, then used foam spray foam to finish the contours. Well the foam was taking much longer than the instructions said to cure enough to sand and carve so I guess we wait till next weekend for that. 

I bought a sheet of mohagany ply for the facia and cut it into shape. I’m not gonna attach it to the layout until after the foam is shaped and the base is painted. I’m going to stain the ply a dark glossy color. Enjoy the pics.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I got a bit more work done, sorry I didn’t get any pics after finishing carving the foam and putting the plaster on but here is some after the base paint is applied. No more pink prairie. Enjoy the pics and as always comments are welcome.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok so I got some detail work done. I did some experiments with washing the rocks and the painted areas and all turned out ok. The rocks for the most part turned out like I liked. I tried to use the washes to simulate the exhaust stains on the rocks but it didn’t turn out right. I’m gonna try using some chalks or airbrushing some soot. 

So I set up the tracks and a couple of the planned structures. Ignore the battery box in the creek bed, it will be gone soon, I’m planning on powering the lighting from a small power supply in the throttle.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

So this weekend was pretty productive. I was able to get some color on the pink prairie landscape. I’m starting to build the structures, and soon as all my parts arrive I will be building the throttle. The facia is in place but there is glue drying and there is a ratchet strap squeezing the layout together right now. Next weekend I’m hoping for some grass and snow. Enjoy the pics and as always questions and comments are welcome.


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## Fire21 (Mar 9, 2014)

Massey said:


> Ok so I will have to admit after testing the Kato throttle against my homemade power supply the results were not what I was expecting.
> 
> First the Kato unit was tested. The throttle uses an external wall wart transformer that has an out put of 15v ac at 1.5a. Unloaded I was reading about 20v ac (rms voltage for those in the know). The output of the Kato throttle looked more like a sawtooth wave going only positive or negative depending on the position and in brake mode a sine wave of .5v. The first pic shows the waveform at 75% throttle, no loco.
> 
> Now my little power supply. I was expecting this to have a poor signal due to the lack of zener diode in the final. There are 2 germanium diodes but they look more like part of the volt meter assembly than the final filter. But low and behold a good steady dc signal that actually matches the little volt meter pretty closely. There was no noticeable wave in the output and I even checked at the highest sample rate my O-scope can read. So all and all this seems to be a good source of clean DC power. Second 2 pics are the little power supply.


I guess I don't understand: You were comparing AC output to DC on the scope and are surprised at the results? 

I don't understand electronics, but it seems to me you're comparing apples and potato chips.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Fire21 said:


> I guess I don't understand: You were comparing AC output to DC on the scope and are surprised at the results?
> 
> I don't understand electronics, but it seems to me you're comparing apples and potato chips.


Not exactly... the Kato throttle is supposed to be a DC throttle, and it is, but it’s pulsed DC and that is what I wasn’t expecting. Pulsed DC is kinda like AC but the voltage never goes in reverse... it stops at the 0v point and rises again. AC voltage goes from negative to positive by the same amount over and over. 

Knowing this now explains why the LED lights on the locos flicker when the speed is really low. My little DIY power supplies actually run the trains better at a slower speed and in my testing so far they don’t get even warm when in slow mode. 

I’m going to build a custom throttle for the layout using these 2 DIY power supplies and a 3rd LED driver supply that will produce a constant 3.3v DC. I will post pics and what not about that when I get that far.


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## 89Suburban (Jan 4, 2017)

Nice work man!!!!


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok, my weekly update is a bit late but here we go. I didn’t get any time this weekend to get any work done but I did today. I wasn’t needed at one of my jobs today so I got to go home a bit early. Anyway...

The parts for the power supplies and thus the throttles are now in the US so I should have them in the next couple of days. One of my neighbors did a bit of fetching for me and I got some sand from a local freshwater beach. 

So with said sand I started getting the riverbed details with sand, and 2 sizes of talus. All glued in place with Mod Podge. Hopefully soon I will have the grass down as well as the buildings done... speaking of buildings... I got my merchants row 2 painted up for the most part and ready for assembly. Enjoy the pics and as always comments and questions are welcome.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok so I had another night off work, this time for my Son’s orchestra concert. And I did a bit of ballasting and grass growing. I know most all of this is going to be covered in snow by the time I’m finished but I wanted to make the scenery natural before it gets snowed on. I did a snow scene on a HO module using white paint and snow flock but it didn’t look very real... too white. 

Anyway enjoy the small corner I worked tonight and as always comments and questions welcome.


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

Looking pretty good. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Might not want to cover it with snow.  

Magic


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Magic said:


> Might not want to cover it with snow.
> 
> Magic


I agree -- that might see some good service as a year round layout.

One thing I've read about is applying fake snow without adhesive, then just vacuuming it off in the spring. Deciduous trees can be done in two styles -- leafless for winter and fully leaved for summer. Just plant them without adhesive and replace as appropriate.

A lot of work, and kind of wasteful, but effective.


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## charliem (Dec 23, 2012)

WOW! Very similar to what I'm wanting to build as a holiday themed layout. Only wanted to go with a steam engine, mountain old timey theme. How big is the entire layout? And what did you use to cut / carve the foam? Same on the spray foam?


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*I’m back!*

Hey guys, I’m back. Sorry I just fell off the forums but I had life happen and had to get some studying for a cert to keep my job. It took a while to pass the cert and by the time I did, Xmas was past and I really didn’t feel like working much on the layout. But times are now different. 

Gone is the table for the large layout, we simply just don’t have the room for it and I don’t have time to build one that large right now. So back to the Operation North Pole layout. I found that Kato is taking orders for the 2017 set and I placed mine last week. Tony should be sending it soon. This year it’s a full set with book case too. 

As the layout goes, I sanded the facia and stained it a dark mohagany and I poured the first coat of envirotex in the creek bed for some water. I installed the access door with little hinges and a clasp as well. What’s not shown here is the start of the custom throttle. Basically a mohagany box with the power supplies inside and some other goodies too. I will get pics of that tomorrow... err later today... 

As always enjoy the pics and comments are always welcome.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok I got a couple pics of the start of my throttle. Bad news is it’s not gonna be able to turn out how I wanted so I’m gonna make this work and build a V2 later. A 3D printer would be awesome right now. 

The water pouring is finished now, I will come back in a couple days with some Mod Podge and water effects to create the falls and ripples. Enjoy, and as always comments are welcome.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Massey said:


> Ok so I will have to admit after testing the Kato throttle against my homemade power supply the results were not what I was expecting.
> 
> First the Kato unit was tested. The throttle uses an external wall wart transformer that has an out put of 15v ac at 1.5a. Unloaded I was reading about 20v ac (rms voltage for those in the know). The output of the Kato throttle looked more like a sawtooth wave going only positive or negative depending on the position and in brake mode a sine wave of .5v. The first pic shows the waveform at 75% throttle, no loco.
> 
> Now my little power supply. I was expecting this to have a poor signal due to the lack of zener diode in the final. There are 2 germanium diodes but they look more like part of the volt meter assembly than the final filter. But low and behold a good steady dc signal that actually matches the little volt meter pretty closely. There was no noticeable wave in the output and I even checked at the highest sample rate my O-scope can read. So all and all this seems to be a good source of clean DC power. Second 2 pics are the little power supply.


I really need to get one of those.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

MichaelE said:


> I really need to get one of those.


The scope, kato throttle or the diy power supply? I’m guessing the scope...


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok, here is the throttle... I’m not happy with it but it will work for now. The biggest issue is how thin the mohagany is. It only takes a few swipes and you are through the veneer and into the ugly yellow glue. I have ideas how to make this better and will build a new one later, but for now here is what I got.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Well we have a failed experiment here. I got the throttle attached to the layout and nothing... Opps my fault for writing down the pin configuration incorrectly when I made the patch cable. No biggy once I figured that out it was a simple fix. Now I have the patch panel wired to work with my throttle and cable, and here is where the failure comes in. 

The Failure... After about 5 minutes of running with the large loop and 10 or so minutes with the small loop the locomotives start acting strange and jittering and moving at a lower than a creeping pace. I was concerned that this may have been an issue with the loco and it running on straight DC (see above posts about my throttle and power supply). When I attach a normal throttle to the layout the engines move perfectly normal again. 

I tried again this morning, all well for 5 minutes before I had to shut down and go to work. Got home from work and everything died on me again. So what I am finding out is this power supply is overheating and causing problems. 

I dont really need DCC for this small only 2 loops layout but a Zephyr with a second throttle is looking very good all the time.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

The scope.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

MichaelE said:


> The scope.


I fond the one I have on eBay for less that $200. It is all digital and works well. I am used to using analog scopes so the slight delay in the data processing is a bit to get used to. Once you do, the thing works very well.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

I got the scope I have on eBay for less than $200. It is all digital and works well. Being digital there is a slight delay with the data compared to an analog meter but it works well all and all.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Great little layout! I am totally lost on the electrician lingo, but, still fun to watch.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

OK so the red white and blue delivery truck dropped off a couple new boxes at my door today. Inside were a Digitrax Zephyr Extra, a UR92 and a UT4D throttle. I have decided to just go DCC. I want independent control of both engines but I don't want 2 DC power packs. The DC dual throttles cost almost as much as the Zephyr anyway so... 

Hopefully this weekend I can get some more work and show off some more pics.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

I am leaning more toward the DCC now as well......but, I need to get the rest of my payout here......


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

The decodes arrived today. I didnt get alot of building time in today, but I went on a supply run and got some scenic stuff to add to the layout. Im going to make a video of the decoder installation in the morning.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*Weekend update 9-16-2018*

I love lazy Sundays. So even though it was a lazy day, I did some work on the layout. I decided to build a set of legs and a “bench” for the layout. It will still be portable, just different than I planned. 

So you see with the pics that I am test placing my structures. I worked a bit on 2 others that I want to use as well. Keep in mind that the 2 on my work bench are both still a work in progress. 

Enjoy the pics and as always comments are welcome.


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## sid (Mar 26, 2018)

looks fantastic . love the lighted tree.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

The structures are really giving it a fuller look, more purpose....


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Well, it took longer than I wanted to build, but I got it done. Here is the final stand the layout will live on... minus the trim work. I built a drawer for the command station, there will be a programming track in there as well. There will only be 2 wires going from the bench to the layout which will be for the DCC signal, the power managers will be on the layout, but all DCC devices will be in the stand. I will also have this wired for dc operation through the plug on the side... DCC can also be plugge in on the side port. This will allow me versatility in power as well as portability. 

I will pos pics of the wiring when I get it done. 

Enjoy for now.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok not much happened today but I got started on the wiring. Here is the start...


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Ok got a bit more work done before bed. Actually I got 99% of what I wanted to do today finished. The last thing is to cut a hole for the control panel, and I can do that tomorrow. 

Here is the wiring of the DCC with pull out drawer, wired with the command station and a programming track. 

As always comments, questions and critiques are always welcome.


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Oops, I forgot to show the finished wiring. I need to add a switch to break the jumper that is on the top of the junction block so that an analog controller will have independent track control. I don’t have one at the moment so I just went with a jumper wire. I went with 2 EB1s for power management and they work great, a short only drops the track with the issue, and they will work with both analog and DCC. 

The wires going over the top of the layout are the DCC input. I looped them around a cable tie to prevent accidental pull outs. The last part of this is going to be building lighting which will come after I get a final location of all buildings. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to do the lighting quite yet, but in analog mode the input feeds are already there, in DCC mode I’m thinking of using an Arduino and turning it into a decoder for the lighting... we will see. 

Enjoy!


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Looks pretty darn good to me.....


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Here is a quick video I made the other day.


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## Guest (Sep 25, 2018)

The layout looks and runs great! Excellent work!


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Looks wonderful and runs very smooth!! Nicely done.....


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

*9-30-18 update*

This weekend’s update is more of a logistic update, than a construction one. I found apple trees for the little house on the hill. They are quite big next to the house where I wanted to put them, but look fine on the bottom of the hill. 

I finalized the locations of the buildings. Putting them at an angle maximized my use of space as well at brought attention to the middle with the tree. I got some matte board for making the roads, and some basswood for the sidewalks. Where you see the crossing piece, will be a bridge leading off layout. I’m going to make a minor change to the mountain, where you see the tunnel portal will be a car tunnel to make it look like there isn’t just single street in or out, mainly to give the illusion of a larger town. 

Lastly, in the last pic there is a grey piece of plastic being used as a placeholder for a small passenger depot. I downloaded the plans, and I’m going to either make it out of basswood or cardstock, but either way scratch built. 

Enjoy the pics.


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Looking great!!


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