Coloma Rails - N Scale Model Railroading

Trainfest 2017...Photo Dump (recap to follow).

While I am in a holding pattern for new track pieces to arrive and some extension wiring I thought it was a good time to start on a shelf for my command station. As I mentioned in my previous post, the plan is to run DCC with the ability to also run DC.  I am keeping the KATO electrical turnouts on the KATO Turnout Control Switch’s and they need to be powered by the KATO Power Pack (or DC Converter) and then for my DCC I will be running a NCE Power Cab.  My plan is just to be able to unplug one command station and plug in the other when I want to switch from DCC to DC.  This way when we get a new DC engine and we do not have the DCC chip yet, we can still give it a test run. I had some 1x4 left over from making the wood blocks for the legs and another piece of 1x8 left over from another project, so I screwed the two together and got my command station shelf. Once I get all the wiring completed and run through the bar, I will be painting the command station shelf for Part ...

After staring at the track layout for 2 days and then discussing it with the wife to get her opinion, I decided to already do an expansion to the existing “Manning Oaks” layout.  I was not very fond of the idea of a ‘dead end’ track, and seeing that I had 2 loops and half of a 3rd loop, I thought why not have the ability to have 3 loops.  Once all the wiring is completed I will be running DCC on this track (with also the ability to run DC) and one of the benefits of running DCC is to be able to control multiple trains at different speeds.  Also one of the reasons for building this layout is just to be able to watch the trains run.  So by adding a 3rd loop I can have the enjoyment of watching 3 trains go around the track without having to work any of the turnouts. I put my existing “Manning Oaks” track layout into a program called SCARM, and then I was able to remove the pieces that I no longer was going to use and add the pieces I needed to complete the 3rd loop, I c...

After waiting for my wife to arrive home from work last night (I wanted to show her a test run) it was time to start and hide some of the wiring.  The track was traced with pencil (good thing I went with the light brown paint, the pencil marks were very easy to see) and I commenced on drilling some holes under the track.  Below each of the turnouts needed a hole, and I needed 5 more holes for the power feeds.  I have 4 power feeds under the double crossing and 1 more across on the other side. Once I fed all the wiring through the holes, I also began to secure the track to the trackboard with screws.  My plan with this layout is to be able to move it off the bar if the need arises. As of right now, I am quite happy on how it is turning out.

This morning it was time to start laying out the track and hoping that everything fits together.  It was great to be able to follow the “Manning Oaks” layout that I got from the KATO USA website, having the product number of all the track pieces made it a breeze. Track pieces all organized.. Track pieces all organized . It took me about an hour to lay all the track pieces on the board, and then maybe about another 30 minutes to hook up the temporary wiring.  For now I just wanted to get the track quickly wired up so we can do a test run. Once it was wired up, it was time for the test.

Last night I ran back to my Home Depot and bought a quart of paint.  I wanted to give the door a basecoat instead of just a plain wood color.  I also knew that I wanted something light enough so I can still see my pencil markings but provide a foundation color for when I do start on some scenery.  I elected to go with a very light brown color. I took my time today and applied three coats to the benchwork.  I probably did not need that many but I wanted it to look nice and smooth.  I still have enough paint left over to also use on modules for when I get into T-Trak. Coat #1 Coat #2 Final coat is dry.

I am not much of a woodworker and I knew cutting plywood and 1x4’s with my limited tools would be very tedious.  So I needed to come up with another way to build my benchwork.  I remembered back to one of my previous layout attempts and that I purchased a hollow door from store.  That door back then was only 30” wide so I needed to see if could find one that is 36” wide.  Sure enough my local Home Depot sells 36”Wx80”L for around $38.00, I thought that would work perfect and save me some time.   So now the trackboard is set and I needed to think how I was going to wire the layout.  Having the board sit right on top of the bar would not allow me to do my wiring underneath the board.  I decided to purchase a 1x4 abd cut 4” blocks to use as legs.  I figure the blocks just being used as legs my cuts do not have to be perfectly straight, a jigsaw would work. My next issue is my bar top is made of tile.  I thought the wood block would probably easi...

Knowing that I wanted to use KATO Unitrack for my model railroad track I went and visted the website at  katousa.com  to see what kind of layouts they have.  I wanted to use as much space as possible on top of my bar, yet if need be, be able to move the layout and re-use the bar.  I brought my youngest son (now 12) down to take a look and get his opinion.  I was not into just doing a switching layout, I wanted to enjoy watching the train go around, but also play with some switches occasionally.  I came across a layout called “Manning Oaks” and thought it would be perfect.  The layout was designed to fit on a 36”x72” board and that would fit perfectly on my bar.  It provided 2 full loops where I can watch the trains go around and some turnouts to be me more involved with the layout.

Welcome to “Coloma Rails”, the plan for this blog will be to document my process of building a N Scale model railroad using KATO Unitrack. All my life I have always wanted a model railroad layout, and have tried on numerous occasions.  Majority of my issues have been space, or we ended up moving to a new location and I never finished a layout. As a child, I could not have a permanent layout in my parents house, so when I became an adult it was time to finally get a layout. I first started when I was 21 with N scale and like now, with KATO Unitrack.  I chose N scale at the time since my plan was to build the layout on a shelf system.  The shelves were built and the track was laid and then I moved. My second time at the hobby was a couple years later and I thought I may have a spare bedroom.  This time I was going to build in HO scale.  I purchased all the lumber to work on the benchwork and completed most of the assembly to find out my wife was pregnant w...