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CATEGORY: Layout Designs

Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 17, 2023 at 16:25:00 AST.)

Friday, February 17, 2023

HO SCALE: Seaboard Air Line (Paper Mill)

Back in June of 2021, a member of my JoMRD Facebook group requested a paper mill to fit his 13x78 inch space done in HO scale and set in the 1950s to mid-1960s era. I knew from the beginning that the space was not ideal to represent an entire paper mill complex, so I had to choose what I was going to included. In the end, I settled on...

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Views: 526 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 17, 2023 at 10:20:00 AST.)

Friday, February 17, 2023

On30 SCALE: Bishop Creek & Sierra Railroad

This On30 scale layout was developed for a member of the RR-Line Forums back in 2017. The bench work was already built in the room as a series of modules to make any future moves easier. The track was to be hand-laid with #5 Fast Track turnouts using Micro Engineering code 83 rail. He planned to use an minimum curve radius of 24-inches on the...

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Views: 339 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 17, 2023 at 7:08:00 AST.)

Friday, February 17, 2023

HO SCALE: Silver Star Mining & Railway Company

Simplicity is the first step on the road to believability in layout design, and I feel it is always a good idea to respect the KISS principle, and this design lives up to that principle. This HO scale track plan was done for a client back in February 2008 who wanted to depict an end of line station on an ore mining branch set somewhere in a south...

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Views: 263 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 17, 2023 at 0:06:00 AST.)

Friday, February 17, 2023

HO SCALE: New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board, New Orleans (LA)

This is my take on a track plan for the New Orleans Sewerage & Water Board plant in New Orleans (LA) which was posted to my JoMRD Facebook group by Tony Creamer on November 12th. I always wanted to design a layout for an outside corner, since it was a configuration I don't think I have ever used for a layout in the past. The way the...

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Views: 302 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 23:20:00 AST.)

Thursday, February 16, 2023

HO SCALE: Cass County Railroad in Logansport, Indiana by Tom Johnson

I was asked recently by Tom Johnson to sketch up a track plan for his bedroom-sized Cass County Railroad. The layout depicts the town of Logansport, Indiana during the autumn of 1978, and is built around three walls of his U-shaped 11'4" x 10" x 8' space. Tom used Peco Code 83 track with a minimum radius of 24 inches and #6 turnouts. Staging is...

2023.02.16F-[AA].jpg (523583 bytes)

Views: 528 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 22:51:00 AST.)

Thursday, February 16, 2023

HO SCALE: Brattlebridge (End-of-Line Station)

This HO scale prairie branch line track plan was done for a client back in March 2020. He loved my 24x72-inch Falls Creek Siding track plan which I had designed about a year earlier, and he wanted something similar. However, the footprint of his space was only 12x72 inches, so I knew the Falls Creek design was not going to adapt well to his small...

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Views: 685 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 19:55:00 AST.)

Thursday, February 16, 2023

N SCALE: Whitfield & Northern RR

This N-scale layout was done for a client back in June 2017, who wanted a design loosely based on a track plan for the Ettrick & Northern RR by Gordon Odegard. (It was featured as a 'railroad you can model' in the September 1987 issue of Model Railroad, page 84.) I always like the simplicity of the Gordon's track plan for the E&N RR...

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Views: 264 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 14:11:00 AST.)

Thursday, February 16, 2023

HO SCALE: Backwater River Railway

I am going through some of my old files and unfinished projects that I can update and share on my blog. This simple HO scale layout was done for a client back in March 2020 who originally just wanted an Inglenook inspire track plan that served a grain elevator he had sitting on a shelf along with a few other typical 'small town' industries. With a footprint...

2023.02.16A-[AB].jpg (157879 bytes)

Views: 623 | Comments: 0



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 22:17:53 AST.)

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

N SCALE: Lapeer Industrial RR (Lapeer, MI)

A member of the Micro/Small Model RR Layouts Facebook group requested an N-scale track plan for the Lapeer Industrial RR located in Lapeer, Michigan to fit his 6-foot long space. Since I was already familiar with the prototype, I knew it wasn't going to be much of a challenge fitting in into that footprint. I had played around with a HO-scale track...

2021.06.26B-001.gif (31692 bytes)

Views: 4586 | Comments: 3

TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Theme: Regional / Short Line Railway, Theme: Single Station / Town, Type: 3 Turnout Layout, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Michigan, American Railways: Lapeer Industrial RR



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, February 12, 2023 at 14:30:05 AST.)

Sunday, February 12, 2023

HO SCALE: Lexington Junction (ISL)

I was contacted by a client back in August 2018, who was looking for my input on a design he was contemplating to fit in his L-shaped space. He also sent along a few concept drawing of what he had planned for his version of the modern industrial switching layout. After looking at his drawings, I thought the space could be better...

2020.01.01C-001.gif (21213 bytes)

Views: 3816 | Comments: 2

TAGS: Design Feature: Interchange, Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Theme: Single Station / Town, Theme: Switching Operations



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 03, 2023 at 22:13:29 AST.)

Friday, February 03, 2023

On30 SCALE: Palmetto Brick Company Railway

Back in 2017 I found a thread on another railway related forum that highlighted the Palmetto Brick Company's railway located in Wallace, South Carolina. The 3-foot gauge line used small 8-ton Plymouth locomotive to haul steel side-dump clay cars from its quarry to the brick kilns, which were still in service at that time...

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Views: 1936 | Comments: 7

TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Theme: Industrial Railway, Theme: Narrow Gauge Railway, Type: 3 Turnout Layout, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): North Carolina, American Railways: Palmetto Brick Company Ry, Types of Industries: Clay Processing Plants, Types of Industries: Quarries



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 9:29:15 AST.)

Thursday, November 17, 2022

HO SCALE (6-foot Broad Gauge): Middleburgh & Schoharie RR in Proto87

I was asked by a member of a railway forum to design a layout based on the Middleburgh & Schoharie RR during its 6-foot gauge era. Although the client only wanted a freelance railway using a combined time saver design and inglenook, I thought that Middleburgh would make an excellent single station LDE design after I did...

2019.10.12O-001.gif (27342 bytes)

Views: 2435 | Comments: 4

TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Single Station / Town, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): New York, American Railways: Middleburgh & Schoharie RR



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Saturday, November 12, 2022 at 13:09:42 AST.)

Saturday, November 12, 2022

HO SCALE: Pacific Northwestern

A member of the Micro/Small Model RR Layout group requested a lumber and pulpwood reload facility to fit his 24x48-inch space done in HO scale. It didn't take me very long to see that it was going to be problematic to fit what I wanted to see in the footprint, once I started placing a mainline and some turnouts. With the length of...

2021.09.26A-001.gif (40128 bytes)

Views: 1245 | Comments: 3

TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Sector Plate, Theme: Single Industry, Type: No Run-Around Track, USA (Regions): Northwest, Types of Industries: Pulpwood Dealer



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 14:12:17 AST.)

Thursday, November 10, 2022

N SCALE: Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway

This layout was done back in 2000 for a client that was quite a railfan, and I just recently updated the design with some roughed in 3D scenery. The owner of the layout loved watching and taking photos of trains, especially those running through some of the most beautiful scenery along the Bras d'Or Lakes on Cape Island....

2019.10.21C-001.gif (73475 bytes)

Views: 1387 | Comments: 6

TAGS: Layout Size: Medium Layouts, Staging Options: Staging Yards, Theme: Mainline Trains, Theme: Regional / Short Line Railway, Theme: Scenic (Bridges), Type: Based on Actual Location(s), Canada (Provinces): Nova Scotia, Canadian Railways: Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Ry



Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 10:40:49 ADT.)

Sunday, October 30, 2022

HO SCALE: Omaha, Lincoln and Beatrice Ry (OLB)

This is my version of the Omaha, Lincoln and Beatrice Railway (OLB), "The Big Red Line", which still operates in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, as a 2-mile long Class III switching railroad. The line interchanges cars with Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe and serves industries such as Ag Processing, Inc., ADM Farmland, Snyder...

2020.03.01C-001.gif (66040 bytes)

Views: 1806 | Comments: 3

TAGS: Layout Size: Small Layouts, Theme: Single Station / Town, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Nebraska, American Railways: Omaha, Lincoln and Beatrice Railway

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