Buying used Ross Switches

One of the reasons I delayed starting this layout for several years was the fear that I wouldn't be able to afford to build it. I don't have much disposable income as I used to, and there are different priorities right now. I need only about a half-dozen switches for my layout, as well as a crossover. But they are regularly about $100 or so new, which while reasonable still adds up. So, I have been on the look out for deals.

I found a pair of new-in-box LH switches with motors (which I don't need) from a fellow Bridge Line Historical Society member for $20 each! Another pair (two RH) came from an OGR Magazine forum member for $45 each. Each one helps me fill out my track plan.

I am still on the prowl for deals, and I am not in a rush because train show season is coming up. Hopefully, the mainline will all be in by Christmas.

Gargraves track

When it came time to pick the track for my layout the choice was clear: Gargraves. I like the look of the wooden ties, I like the tie spacing, and I especially like that it is manufactured right outside my hometown of Rochester. The fact that it matches in appearance Ross Custom Switches which I also plan to use sealed the deal. Many people say that Ross switches are the best brand made today.

For two-rail layouts in N or HO, the go-to choice for many years was Atlas. Their sectional track was what every beginner started with, and their flextrack opened up so many options for track planning different bends and curves that didn't fit into the rigid geometry of their snap track curves. Atlas also currently makes three-rail section track that looks incredible, complete with tie plates and spike details and properly shaped rail profiles. In fact, their O scale 2-rail track and 3-rail track are pretty much identical except for the middle third rail. See the picture below. 

The problem is that to my eye the illusion is wrong. O scale 3-rail trains have oversize flanges, larger clearances underneath for the trucks and couplers to swivel, and other compromises. I fully concede that they will never be as realistic as their 2-rail companions. But, when properly weathered and ballasted it can look pretty good. I experimented with this a couple of years ago.

But when you stick a third rail onto a piece of track with prototypically spaced ties, rail size, and other track details such as the Atlas track, it all becomes very jumbled. The ties look too skinny and too close together. I am not sure if I can adequately explain it, but it is much too busy looking. Even if you paint the middle rail black (which I think also looks bad) it still stands out. Lionel Fasttrack has the same problem.

The best solution in my opinion is to use track that has larger ties spaced a bit further apart. This gives the middle rail more room to breathe and in my opinion it looks better overall. That is why I am using Gargraves track and Ross Custom Switches on my layout.

Installing cork roadbed

I knew I wanted my track at multiple elevations, with the mainline raised up a bit and sidings dipping down (or going up in the case of the coal trestle). I have used cork, foam, and vinyl roadbed in the past and prefer Vinyl stuff the best because it is firm enough to not bend when you lean into the track to clean the rails, but soft enough to remain pliable for years. But the Vinylbed supplier (Hobby Innovations) changed their formula several years ago to a more foam-like material so for this layout I chose cork. Cork is also split down the middle which makes forming curves easy... though to be fair, foam and vinyl can easily be split with a knife too.

But there is an international cork shortage due to the droughts in Portugal, where most cork come from. It is not only affecting the model train hobby but the wine business too, as companies are switching over to plastic caps on their bottles. I found stores selling cork online but including shipping it would be about $80 for 75 linear feet. That seems steep when I only need about 20' feet right now.

Serendipitously, while visiting a hobby store during a bus trip near Boston I asked the owner if he had any O gauge cork road. He dug out a box of stuff that was ripped open, partially broken, and clearly used because at least one piece had paint on it. But, at $1 a piece (or $20 for the box after I counted it) it was an excellent deal. He also had a case of old-style Vinylebed too... but the cork was a lot cheaper. 

The cork came home with me, and it is probably enough for the entire layout.

At the baseboard joints I wanted to make sure that the track stayed in perfect alignment. Relying on cork glued to foam didn't seem a good idea, so I looked on Amazon for some laser-cut plywood pieces were 3/16" thick (to match the cork) that I could glue at each joint. Craft stores probably have something similar, but I found a bag of sixty pieces (each 2.5" x 3.5") for $14 delivered. At less than a quarter each, they were perfect. 

I marked a center line and then glued them to the foam with lots of Aleene's tacky glue and let them set up for a while. To make sure that they didn't extend too far off the edge of the benchwork (my roughcut foam lines weren't good enough to measure this) I used a piece of gatorfoam to line everything up. I actually pulled each piece back a smidge to give myself a little extra security. 

Since I already had a full-size paper template of the trackplan on the foam I only needed a toothpick to punch little holes along the centerline. I took a marker and connected them and soon the trackplan was transferred. I used the tacky glue to also attach the cork to the foam. It was held in place with 1.5" long T-pins until the adhesive dried. The pins were pretty flimsy but at $5 for 100 I should have expected that. I jumped around here and there as I worked on the mainline and passing siding, and when I ran out of pins I went upstairs for a break.

I planned to use HO scale and N scale cork on the sidings to represent less built up foundations for the track. Imagine my surprise when I pulled out some old HO cork and discovered it was 3/16" thick... the exact same as my O scale stuff. But, I can still use it under some tracks where its smaller width will force the track ties to extend over the edges of the cork, resulting in a much smaller ballast pile shoulder.

I only did the mainline and passing siding now because I am still trying to figure out what type of turnout I should use at the left end where the siding branches away. I need clearance for the station, which might mean a wye switch would be a better choice. So, I played around with templates and full-size switches to see what would work best. The limiting factor is the third switch just to the right of these two that I cannot allow to straddle the benchwork joint. 

I love laying roadbed and track so I took my time over the course of a weekend, working on it here and there until I ran out of T-pins and had to let the glue dry. I did all of the main line and the start of some sidings, but left the rest undone until I have finalized the types and locations of my industries.

Initial track plan ideas

I enjoy drawing plans, but usually it is just an academic exercise that goes nowhere. Here was a chance to do something I had never done before: design a layout in O scale. Unfortunately, after all of operational faults of my previous HO layout I was concerned I would make the same mistakes here, so I first looked in 40 years' worth of Model Railroader magazines for ideas. Not many were in O scale, but I figured an HO scale plan fitting in an 18" x 72" space would be the same. But that didn't help.

Next I looked at pictures I had taken of other layouts I operated on for town areas that I could copy in my space, but that didn't work either. I did get lots of ideas for structures and industries, though. So, I reached out to Ross Switches (the manufacturer of the O gauge switches I plan to use) and they sent me full size switch templates I could print out. A friend with a large printer then made me a 12' long piece of paper with 12" squares laid out, and I was in business!

I wanted this section of the layout to be a "Layout Design Element", meaning a complete small town would fit on the layout. It may later be expanded but for now it could survive on its own. I added a passing siding and some spurs which would allow trains to pass and some switching. I don't know if I will I ever really use it as a switching layout, but I enjoy scratchbuilding structures so some of the sidings were just excuses to build industries or park train cars there. As a child, my favorite track plan feature was a diamond crossing, especially when it is formed by two sidings branching off from the main line and intersecting each other. So I made sure to include that too. 

One day in August 2021, I mocked it up full size on the floor and it all fit. But a 12' long piece of paper is unwieldy so I drew it up to scale with 1" = 1' on a pad of oversize graph paper.  

I realized that the main line runs parallel to the front of the layout in a very straight lines, but there is room to add a gentle curve to it. Also, I need to be careful so that the switch throwbars don't line up with the benchwork crossbeams or mounting underside electrical motors will be difficult later. 

Over this past winter I then took my 1" = 1' diagram and built some scale benchwork using stripwood. Bits and pieces of wood and styrene were painted to represent industries, and some Monopoly houses and hotels were cannibalized to make more structures. On the right is an open lumberyard (like the old Atlas kit) and a coal trestle/dealer, and on the left is a creamery and then some sort of red brick factory or mill. An old grounded boxcar and handcar shed are on the front left. I want to include a passenger station too.

My problem is that I don't really enjoy doing scenery, and can't visualize how to make a layout "work" scenery wise. Few of my layouts ever get there, and on my previous D&H layout I only had to copy the prototype which meant the "design" work had been done already. For this layout I am just taking New England-ish scenes and trying to combine them into something cohesive. I did leave a lot of space on the back of the layout for either a forest, a hill, or a road with some additional buildings.

Much of the final planning will occur over the next couple of months and I won't finalize the track arrangements until I have a better idea of what will fit where. I also need to plan for the structures now. For example, I am thinking of incorporating an Atlas O passenger station but to do that I will need to shift one siding a bit more. 

I also realized... three years after designing the plan... that it would be a tight squeeze in the basement. I only factored in the 3' x 12' layout sections I had planned first (shown in red below) and not the turnaround curves on the ends or the back two sections. I want to use 054 diameter curves (O gauge track always refers to diameter, not radius) but this will mean my layout will be very close to the walls, a support pole (shown as those black dots) or the basement steps. If only that one support pole on the right wasn't there! At least my layout is on wheels and can be rolled around. 

But, at least I am off to a good start.

Benchwork: insulation foam

I topped the plywood with 2" thick extruded insulation foam, which is common place now for layouts. It is extremely light and strong and it is easily carved. This is important as I want to model the rolling terrain so common in New England.

Unfortunately, I own a small SUV so I had to cut the 4x8 sheet up in the Lowes parking lot with a knife and metal yardstick. The people driving through must have thought I was crazy. I searched everywhere for foam handy panels (2x4) but they don't seem to make them anymore. But it all arrived home safe. I needed 36 square feet, but a 4x8 sheet yields only 32, so I purchased a few extra 1" thick 2x2 panels that I can laminate together.

I used DAP acrylic caulk with silicone to attach the foam, laying down generous beads and spreading them out with a putty knife. Two tubes wasn't enough but I had a leftover half-tube on my paint shelf so I used that too. I still ran out and had to buy another tube, which still wasn't enough, and I finally grabbed some other caulk from my supply to finish the job.

I used some heavy weights to hold pieces down and did it in stages over the course of the day (because of the numerous hardware store runs for caulk) and it went pretty quick. 

I needed the ends to be perfectly square and flush because additional layout sections would be joining up (concerns that wouldn't apply if I was building a large solid table top) so I cut up my foam into squares and did the ends first, then filled in with other pieces. 

The back required a long strip that was about a foot thick. All of this resulted in numerous gaps which I attempted to fill with foam scraps.

Scenery will hide it all so it isn't a big deal, but I decided not to fill them in further with Sculptamold or "Ground Goop" at this time. I plan to use a foam cutter to sculpt the foam and it probably won't go through any hard binders so I will wait.

Then, I gave it a clean slate so to speak by painting it a dirt brown color that I matched at the store to the actual dirt I plan to use. 

Benchwork: plywood tops

There are several good reasons to use thick plywood for layout baseboard construction, though it comes at the tremendous cost of money and weight. Another school of thought advocates for 1" or 2" insulation foam (pink or blue) alone as a baseboard, but that has its drawbacks too such as it is tough to mount things to the underside of it and trains running on it can be noisy.

I wanted my layout sections to be lightweight, relatively strong, and easily modified for scenery. I don't need my layout to support my weight and I don't plan to walk on it. Nor am I concerned about it sagging between the cross braces. So, I went with a combination approach: plywood and foam.

The first layer is some thin sanded 1/4" plywood. This ties the wood framing materials together and it easily bonds to the top of open-grid benchwork with wood glue. So, after going to several big box stores to purchase plywood (it took several to find a store with a working saw to cut it 3'x6' so that it would fit in my car) I brought it home. I laid it on top of the my benchwork and marked the location of the joists with yardstick. 

Then, I applied a layer of wood glue to the top of every joist and around the edges and set the plywood on top, being careful not to slide it around or it would squeeze the wood glue out of the joints. Finally, I used 1" long panel nails to hold everything until the glue fully set. I didn't use screws because they would require pre-drilling every hole or else run the risk of splitting the plywood box frame.

The only casualty was a brand new T-shirt that got wood glue on it when I leaned over the benchwork to nail on the far side.

No matter how I skewed it, the plywood wasn't a perfect rectangle and it extended slightly over the benchwork edge. This could cause interference with future layout sections and it had to be removed. A power sander would make quick work of it but I didn't want to get sawdust all over everything. So, I clamped my yardstick to the edge and used a utility knife to cut away the offending plywood. Since it was only 1/4" thick, it was easy.

Next to come is the foam.

Ballast test track

In March 2022 I wrote a construction article about an O scale caboose I had scratchbuilt, and since I didn't have a layout then I decided to build a small test track to use as a photo diorama. The project would also allow me to experiment with ballasting O scale track. 

I obtained piece of Gargraves track from a friend, and I supplemented it with a piece of Lionel tubular track to get the necessary length of the board. Then, the track was sprayed with Rustoleum camouflage paint to unify the color of all three rails (I dislike it when the middle rail is painted black).

A gentle hill was formed behind the track with some crumpled newspaper, and that was covered with paper towels dipped in a yellow glue and water mixture. A bit unusual, but it was during the pandemic and I didn't want to spend a lot.

Then, everything was covered with a layer of Ground Goop. After that came a bunch of ground foam and various greenery. I noticed right away that it is difficult to glue down large bushes and stuff, something that wasn't an issue when I was in HO scale.

I bought chicken grit for ballast (which was recommended online) but the brand I bought had a lot of red-pink pieces in it. Most of the pictures I saw online were pure gray, so this was annoying. But, a stone company is literally about 30 seconds down the road from me and they gave me a free cup full of gray stone that I sifted down until I only had the smallest rocks. This I used for ballast and it worked okay, but I don't think I will take this route on my layout.

The left-most portion of track isn't ballasted, and that is where the Lionel track is. The rest is Gargraves, which I like better. All and all, it was a fun diversion, though in the end I never actually used this to take pictures with.