The Prince William County Model Railroad Club assisted in building a layout at a local train hobby shop, the Rip Track in Woodbridge, Virginia.  Unfortunately, the Rip Track was forced to close and the layout was removed.  The photos and drawings provide an excellent step-by-step guide to building a medium sized layout.  Designed by Brion, club members are providing their talents and expertise to bring the plan to reality.  The Rip Track provided the materials for the layout construction.  Other than basic lumber, all train related materials are off-the-shelf products.  Construction started on September 5, 2002 and we achieved our goal of having trains running by Thanksgiving.

Week Three

Cookie Time.

Click on any image to enlarge.

This is the track plan as drawn by Brion.  The plan calls for a wide variety of scenery and construction methods.  Visitors were able to see many different aspects of model railroading.  The plan provides for the ability to convert the layout from HO scale to On3 by changing structures and rolling stock.

This is the left lobe of the layout showing the plywood top having been cut using the "cookie-cutter" method.  This area will later have a mine, hills, a bridge and a stream, waterfall and pond.

This is a good view of the underside of the left lobe showing the L-girder construction, the cross braces, gussets and the cookie-cutter top.

A fine example of the cookie-cutter approach.  This will become a stream flowing over a waterfall into a pond.  As construction progresses, we'll keep watch on this area to see how the scenery is applied.

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