Scrap Train.

Seven gons full! 

Awesome Rock GP38 heavy duty  power. 

New industry equipment looks great mate!

Pierre.

Thanks Pierre.

I've been away for a week down south and when I get home I have a play with the trains till I'm in the mood to start work again. I have started to plan the Blast Furnace at long last I said plan not build, It has to fit in a certain area and it can be seen from all sides so I can't cheat anywhere! Take care.

Roo.

Great train action!! Awesome scenes & industry!

Roo,what building materials do you use on your rolling mill? I'm at that stage where I want to start buildings,but can't find  something sturdy yet economical.

Thanks for the pic's,always inspiring.

Al Hummel

Hi Al.

The material I decided to use for the Rolling Mill and the Foundry (not in the picture) is 3mm MDF and wood shapes clad with plastic corrugated iron sheets you can glue plastic to wood successfully if you cover the glue completely on the wood or sheets it's a messy job I use my fingers and wash my hands straight after you could use a brush but the glue I use dries very quick. I use wood for these projects  because it's easily available and cheap,  for the blast furnace building I am going back to 3mm styrene when I can find someone to pick up the 8X4 sheet at the plastic business the delivery fee is almost the cost of the sheet! Roo. Here are a couple of photos mate.

Great scene Roo! Nice details in the yard. Looking forward to seeing progress on the rolling mill. 

Andy

Very interesting large structure.  I spied the (MTH?) hot metal car. Very nice.

I have converted one  for two rail operations. Not quite sure where to employ it!

Have a good week mate.

Pierre.

Roo,

Thank you VERY MUCH!! I wish we were closer,I'd be happy to pick up the material for you in my pickup. 

As with EVERYTHING on your layout,your buildings are absolute perfection! I would like to get my hands on similar plastic sheets just what I'm looking for but even hobby stores don't carry it. I have several complexes in mind, that material would look great on.

Thanks again & also,thank you for the great photos always enjoy them.

Al Hummel

Al

Such kind words deserve more help. These are the sheets I use, disregard the "00/HO" they are more O scale than the smaller scales I buy them from Hattons in England. Of course you can use silver foil and score your own and there are other brands of corrugated Sheets around I prefer the Wills sheets. Thanks Roo.

 ....there are other brands of corrugated Sheets around....

You might consider inquiring over on the Scenery side of the forums - for example: Builders in Scale sells all sorts of corrugated metal roofing that is also suitable for siding, etc.

Thank you for the help will do.

Al Hummel

Roo,

Thank you will definitely look into it & many thanks.

My kind words are fact. Sure wish we were closer. you could use my basement & combine layouts,that'd drive the wife crazy,she thinks I've driven her near insanity with the trains so far,she'd take off then.Lol

The level of craftsmanship is fantastic on this site,whether it be buildings,engines,freight cars,etc.,it's all TOP NOTCH!! There are fine levels of craftmanship in all scales,but O has so much less to choose from,it makes the mind work extra.

Thanks again to all.

Al Hummel

Evergreen has corrugated styrene sheets in several sizes up to 12" x 24" sheets.  The large size isn't as commonly stocked. Caboose Hobbies had plenty in stock of smaller sizes, but I had to order mine in for the large sheets.  I needed a 16" length to represent a nailable floor surface on a boxcar.  Of course it turned out the corrugations ran the wrong direction for what I needed.

Anyhoo....from the Evergreen website......

Big Train:

Thank you for the info&pic's. 

Al Hummel

Love the blue!

There is a lot of good information here. Thanks to everyone for taking part even if it started with a scrap train! Coming up soon I will show you a little critter that I made up out of two different Locomotives it's nothing special.  This critter will be for switching cars around the workshop at the Steel mill it's not something I do normally most of my time is spent on the layout. Roo.

Roo,

Great stuff! I like to "see" a lot of track visible like in your scene. Sometimes modelers overdo it jamming scenery in until you can't see the railroad! Keep up the good work mate!

Simon

Thanks Simon.

Today's photo is a small slag train. Roo

Wow! two photos in one day I can't have to much to do. This is the latest plan of the railroad you can see the Steel Mill dominates the layout I chose to model the Blast furnace a Foundry and a Rolling mill because those three fitted in with an operating plan for a steel mill that only exists in the owners imagination I call it Republic Steel for one reason only ...I like the name!

When I am by myself and just want to run a common carrier railroad I make up a train at Yulan Valley yard and run it around the room to Valley Forge I set the train running then just turn around and wait for it to arrive at Valley Forge. There is no continuous link I don't want to duck under or have lift ups of fold downs besides I like switching and operation so an end to end railroad suits me and the operators. The steel mill can be run by myself but takes a lot more effort and sometimes I'm tired and don't want to think to hard with all the switching moves the steel mill has so the common carrier fits the bill all the turnouts are worked with switch machines from numerous control panels uncoupling is done by hand it is a DC only layout and it doesn't faze me even though some people call me a dinosaur which I feel is not warranted because I don't knock Digital controlled layouts in fact I admire them, especially the steam sound from those  3-rail layouts, I just happen to prefer what I have. I must tell you showing you the track plan is not an ego trip or bragging I am just an ordinary Suburban  bloke with a modest income plain and simple nothing flash about me. Roo.

Fantastic track plan! 

jpv in France

ROO,

To me,this layout is FANTASTIC!! Gives me ideas for my layout. My layout is set loosely from the 1990s-2016,which is totally immaterial, the only reason I mention it is I have to plan for longer cars probably,thoughthere really shouldn't be that much difference.

I have your layout at 26ft longx22&1/2 ft wide approximately-is that right?

What number are your switches? Do you use Atlas turnouts? What is your shortest track radii?

I printed your layout out so I can study it in depth to help my layout ideas.

Don't cut yourself or your layout short,my friend,it's a work of art in every respect from what I've seen!!

Keep up the GREAT work & as you have time,keep the  photos coming,please&thank you.

Thanks again for the track diagram & photos.

Al Hummel

Thanks jpv69 and Al.

The idea right from the start maybe 30 years ago was to never duck under if you look at the plan when you walk into the room you can have access to any part of the layout standing up this is important as you get older as your back could be a problem the room is about 26X26 it has it's own Air conditioner due to the intense West Australian heat.

The room is not really big for O scale, curves have always been a problem in O I went to an Industrial type layout almost from the start for two reasons passenger cars were very expensive once (brass), kits were to time consuming then the problem was curves so passenger cars were ruled out at an early stage steam locos went the same way.

Diesels to me were the only way I could run a sharp curved layout and I am happy with that I use English Peco track with some English Marcway turnouts in fact a lot of them the sharpest curve is about 34" I find with easements (short piece of straight track at each end of the curve) all my diesels will get around them without derailments. I could write a book on running a trouble free Layout in 2-rail  but it would only be my opinion, one thing I know it works for me I don't like hassles or being frustrated with my hobby I have four children and nine grandchildren they provide the hassles in my life not my trains!

Have to go off to the Gym for a bit of exercise have three little girls coming soon to look after while their mum goes shopping. Thanks, Roo.

Roo,

My friend,you've got the BIG problem well taken care of-YOU ENJOY your railroad!! You have a LOT of railroad in a small area & it looks nothing less than fantastic.

I liked the scale look of Marcway early on in my O Scale learning,but the importer I talked to about the track was in Florida & always had to go as the UPS delivery man was always at his door. I've heard a lot of bad stories about products coming out of Florida,a lot of rip offs,so I never did get any nor find any other dealers that carried it.

I printed your track plan off so I can repeatedly study it to enhance my track plan ideas.

Many thanks&have a good day.

Al Hummel

Scrap gon

Fun guys! I'm enjoying the posts 

Great stuff Scratchbuilder, looks like the real thing, it really is well done I like it!

Erik, I'm happy to hear that because your a great modeller and photographer and I follow all your work.

Roo.