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Posted in Layout Tours by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, January 24, 2022 at 11:02:00 AST.)
Monday, January 24, 2022
LAYOUT TOUR: Aaron Riley's Metra Service Centre Layout
Here is a link to Aaron Riley's adaption of my HO-scale design for a Railcar / Locomotive Maintenance Centre done in March of 2020. The story of the layout is done in a few parts (links at bottom of page) by site owner, Andrew Martin. It is so wonderful seeing this design coming to life.
LINK: Aaron Riley's Metra Service Centre Layout
Views: 662 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Types of Industries: Railcar / Locomotive Maintenance Centre
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 16:46:00 AST.)
Sunday, January 23, 2022
HO SCALE: Railcar & Loco Maintenance Centre
This is one of those designs that took a twisted route to get from here to there. When originally contacted, my client was looking for a HO-scale layout that included a small yard and a station where he could stage his CN, VIA, and GO locomotives, with some limited switching thrown into the mix. He also wanted to provide allowances for...
Views: 1152 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Theme: Single Industry, Canada (Provinces): Ontario, Types of Industries: Railcar / Locomotive Maintenance Centre
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, January 21, 2022 at 23:15:55 AST.)
Friday, January 21, 2022
HO SCALE: Weston (End of Prairie Branch Line)
This started as a simple Inglenook plan, but as I added more structures, I could see that I needed more track to get the industries I wanted in the design. I was hoping to include as many car types as possible to make operations a bit more varied. As it is now, there are options for grain cars, box cars, flats, gondolas, tank, hoppers, reefers, and...
Views: 3374 | Comments: 11
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Canadian Prairies, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Single Station / Town, Type: 3 Turnout Layout, Type: Inglenook, Type: No Run-Around Track, Canada (Provinces): Alberta, Canadian Railways: Canadian National Ry
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 22:40:19 AST.)
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
You might be surprised to know that this track plan actually started as a switching puzzle in the December 1989 issue of Model Railroader (Coal Caper at Coal Canon by Eugene W. Browning). My client really liked the moves needed to switch the town, and wanted to use it as the basis for prototypical small town switching layout. We swapped out a few of the...
Views: 2523 | Comments: 11
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Single Station / Town
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 9:13:49 AST.)
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
HO SCALE: Ingramport (Port City on the Pacific Coast)
Back in March of 2018, I wanted to do a port city with a small piggy back service yard since it was something I didn't see very often on a small layout. I kept the design fairly simple, and it would be pretty straight forward to switch. There is a provision for a connection to staging on the right hand side, and it is pretty much almost require to...
Views: 4773 | Comments: 7
TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Waterfront, USA (Regions): Northwest, Types of Industries: Wharves
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 8:49:20 AST.)
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
HO SCALE: 22nd Avenue Warehouse & Freight District
I recently started going through my old 3PI layout files, and I remembered this design as soon as I opened the file. I played with this for fun back in 2000 and it was my adaption of a track plan that I found online. The original design was for a 1-foot by 4-foot space, and used a track arrangement very close to...
Views: 3406 | Comments: 14
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Car Float, Theme: Terminal Railway, Theme: Waterfront, USA (States): New York
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, November 15, 2021 at 18:12:12 AST.)
Monday, November 15, 2021
HO SCALE: Canadian Pacific Branch Line
Many of my small layout designs focus on branch line operations that make it easier to portray in a small room. I also tend to make them as generic as possible so they are easily adapted to a variety of prototypes, and this design is a good example of that approach. This is an HO-scale design for a small end of a branch line operation that would easily...
Views: 2523 | Comments: 2
TAGS: Layout Size: Small Layouts, Staging Options: Staging Yards, Theme: Branch Line Railway, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Passenger Service, Canadian Railways: Canadian Pacific Ry
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, November 02, 2021 at 10:19:59 ADT.)
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
HO SCALE: Prairie Dog Central Railway
I designed this for a client way back in August of 2000. Back then I wasn't doing a lot of 3D work, so the layout had to wait 20 years for me to finish it. At the time, the owner wanted a layout depicting a Canadian prairie setting, and wanted to run both diesel and steam. Although meant to be purely fictional, his premise was based on the Prairie Dog Central...
Views: 5449 | Comments: 1
TAGS: Layout Size: Small Layouts, Staging Options: Staging Yards, Theme: Branch Line Railway, Theme: Canadian Prairies, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Passenger Service, Theme: Steam Excursion Trains, Canada (Provinces): Manitoba, Canadian Railways: Prairie Dog Central Railway
Posted in Resources by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, November 02, 2021 at 3:40:13 ADT.)
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
If anyone needs to test their freelance paint schemes on diesel locomotives, you can download drawings from the link I listed below or click on the image. The images included with this posting are from my own testing of a paint job that I developed for my fictitious Nova Scotia Railway. At the moment, I am contemplating whether to do an HO-scale switching layout based on this proto-freelance line, or to build an On30 layout based on a local coal-hauler that operated in the late 1800's.
LINK: Trainiax
Views: 1245 | Comments: 2
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, October 25, 2021 at 6:42:21 ADT.)
Monday, October 25, 2021
On2 SCALE: Gilpin Tramway (Plus the Colorado & Southern Ry in On3)
This is quite a different design for me. As you may know, I prefer layouts built around the walls on narrow shelves, and generally stay away from shelves over 30-inches wide. However, I felt to do this design justice I had to go another route. The layout called for wider bench work to accommodate both the scenery...
Views: 1248 | Comments: 2
TAGS: Layout Size: Large Layouts, Theme: Industrial Railway, Theme: Narrow Gauge Railway, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Colorado, American Railways: Gilpin Tramway
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 10:38:05 ADT.)
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
N SCALE: Reading Blue Mountain & Northern RR (Humboldt Industrial Park)
This design was done for a member of the Micro/Small Model RR Layouts Facebook group, and is an N-scale version of the Humboldt Industrial Park served by the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern RR (RBMN) in eastern Pennsylvania. While the industrial park is a fair size, the layout owner was able to narrow his selection of companies down...
Views: 4700 | Comments: 3
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Theme: Industrial Park / District, Theme: Switching Operations, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Pennsylvania, American Railways: Reading Blue Mountain & Northern RR
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, October 03, 2021 at 11:36:55 ADT.)
Sunday, October 03, 2021
This design was done for a client back in February 2017, and was originally done in an 24" x 96" space with a staging yard added to the left end. The owner wanted to depict a small New England railroad branch line set in the transition era, using smaller diesels as motive power. He wanted smaller, mostly wood foreground structures, two to...
Views: 3267 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Single Station / Town, Theme: Switching Operations, USA (Regions): New England
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, September 30, 2021 at 8:12:00 ADT.)
Thursday, September 30, 2021
HO SCALE: Canadian Pacific Railway (Branch Line in Northern Ontario)
This design was done for a client who wanted to see a HO-scale Canadian Pacific branch line set in Northern Ontario during the transition era. I didn't have any control over the bench work configuration since it was already constructed in the roughly 8 x 11½ foot space in his family room.
Views: 1069 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Design Feature: Continuous Run Option, Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Theme: Branch Line Railway, Theme: Passenger Service, Canada (Provinces): Ontario, Canadian Railways: Canadian Pacific Ry
Posted in Articles by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, September 23, 2021 at 17:27:30 ADT.)
Thursday, September 23, 2021
ARTICLE: The Sissiboo Pulp & Paper Mill (Getting the most out of your small space)
This article is more about getting the most out of the space you have available than it is about modeling a pulp and paper mill. I just used a paper mill as an example of how an industry that covers a great deal of real estate in the 1:1 world can be shoe-horned into a reasonably sized footprint. However, to attain my goals for this project I had...
Views: 6146 | Comments: 9
TAGS: Design Feature: Train Elevator, Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Industrial Railway, Theme: Single Industry, Type: Inglenook, Type: No Run-Around Track, Types of Industries: Pulp and Paper Mills
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, August 27, 2021 at 8:46:56 ADT.)
Friday, August 27, 2021
On30 SCALE: Sydney & Louisburg Coal & Railway Company (Havenside)
As you probably know, I have a very avid interest in the two-footers of Maine. In fact, I have plans to base my On30-scale layout on look and feeling of those lines. One of the most appealing prototype scenes to me is the waterfront in Wiscasset (ME) on the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington RR (WW&F). Through the year, photos...
Views: 1771 | Comments: 4
TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Narrow Gauge Railway, Theme: Single Station / Town, Theme: Waterfront, Canada (Provinces): Nova Scotia, My Projects: Sydney & Louisburg Coal & Railway Co, Types of Industries: Wharves