Travis' 'N'scale Layout Page

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Travis' N scale layout

Santa Fe Super Chief Sign '

This page was updated February 9, 2014

Scale: 3/4in = 1ft - 0in ..............................................................Room size: 8'-9" x 10'-6"
* Note: Only room size, walls and track layout are to a actual scale.
: Buildings and other structures, parking spaces are not to a scale.
: Some sections of layout are still under construction and will resemble the drawing when finished.
: Layout is 4ft-7in high.

Details of Layout

44 turnouts
Approx. 158 feet of N scale track
9 staging tracks
3 passing sidings
Approx. 4.0 scale miles of main line
2 MRC power supplies
1 scratch built hand held throttle
2 AristoCraft "Train Engineers" radio control throttles.
To see more details click on layout information.

Most buildings, businesses, Streets, Rivers & Lakes are names after family or close friends. I do a little at a time. I don't work on one section until it is done but work on a section for a little while then move onto another section. Some sections are more done then others. I have expanded my layout into the next room tunneling through the wall and am making it into a canyon with the tracks going along the river. This canyon is called Rock Canyon. The town of Midnightville is named after a black cat named Midnight that we had. The longest train I have ever ran on my layout is 4 Atlas engines (Santa Fe freight - blue & yellow), 40 different box cars ranging from a 35' car to a 70' refer car, and one Atlas Santa Fe caboose. Running my passenger train at about scale speed of 60mph it take almost 4 minutes to go around the layout, 70mph little over 3 minutes.

To see the phases of my layout please Click Here.

Latest news:

Spring 2001:Purchased 2 Atlas GE B23-7 Santa Fe freight engines from Train Showcase.
October 2001: Purchased 2 AstroCraft Radio Control "Train Engineer" throttles from EBay.
November 2001: Got back on my Trestle bridge and should have it completed, painted and detailed by summer 2002. (pictures to follow)
March 2002. Worked out most bugs. Ran my fight train with 3 engines & with 28 cars also ran my Santa Fe passenger train for over an hour a peice with no problems. Been working on my expandsion. See Expandsion page for more details..
October 2002:Finished building Trestle bridge. Weathered it and working on top.
November/December 2002:Detailed farm area, making a cabbage field, pumpkin field with ripe pumpkins, making corn stalks and a few farm/ranch houses and yards.
UPDATES for 2003.
scroll up to see earlier updates
February 2003: Worked on panel board, have 94% of swicthes and track wired. Adjusting turnouts. Train YARD now wired and works. Can pull into yard or back trains into yard. A little more adjusting and start detailing yard.Took a few pictures - will have them posted as soon as I get them back.
February 2003: Bought an Atlas Dash 8-40B Blue/Yellow freight Santa Fe engine at "The Great American Train Show" in Denver. Attached it with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7 and 20 cars. I was real amazed, looked good and no problems
March 2003: Worked on train yard, added 2 more turnouts and 2 more sidings. One for cabooses and switcher. ballast train yard. Scanned/redrew/colored train station on computer for background of train yard. Built canopy for station. Yard is completly finished. Laying ground for farm area and then next will be adding rows and rows of corn. Lots of fun and lots of time.
March 2003: Worked on many box cars, Bought pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase and did 10 box cars, others with unimate couplers & adding weights. Now with my new Atlas Dash 8-40B and my 2 Atlas GE B23-7 I pulled 25 cars around my layout for 10 times, no problems. Now the feat of parking them all in the yard.
July 2003: Bought another pack of 10 Kadee wheels sets from Train Showcase. Now I have 27 cars that are fully with Kadee trucks and couplers, 1 with Atlas new wheel sets, So now I can pull 30 cars, one Atlas caboose with my 2 Atlas GE B23-7s. A 36 car train with all three engines. The length of the train is 150" long, that is 12� foot long.
July 2003: Started working on Lake Charles area. Added tree and mountain background.
September 2003: Bought a McDonalds building off Ebay and placed it where the school was.

UPDATES for 2004.
scroll up to see earlier updates
March, 2004: updated pictures for web site......
Did not do much on my layout in 2004. Putts here and there and mainly worked out tweaks.

UPDATES for 2005.
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March, 2005: Worked on Lake Charles... Painted bottom of lake, added rocks, seaweed to bottom of lake.
April, 2005: Worked on Lake Charles... painted 3 boats, painted and put fisherman at lake, painted sun bathers.
Added boat ramp, boat dock, permanent mounted pilers for both bridges. Weathered both bridges.
May, 2005: Replaced 4 old Atlas turnouts with 2 Peco turnouts.... Wired one turn out on bridge and hooked up another turnout with piano wire linkage.
Also in May: I bought a set of Kato Alco PA-1 #52 and PB-1 #52 and PA-1 #54 also bought another 10 pack of Kadee wheel sets and fixed up 10 more freight cars.
June, 2005: Bought an Atlas B36-7 (#7490) Santa Fe blue and yellow. Also bought a Model Power metal USRA 4-6-2 Santa Fe to haul my 6 heavey weight Santa Fe cars. I Ran 4 Atlas engines and 37 cars around my layout. Now I feel like I am finally getting somewhere.
July, 2005: Finally poured my lake using "Wooland Scenics Realistic Water". What a nice product.
December, 2005: Started planting pine and aspen trees around the lake. Repainted wall for background. Aslo in December I finally ran 40 cars behind my 4 Atlas engines without a glitch. Train is a wall and a half long, what a nice site.

UPDATES for 2006.
scroll up to see earlier updates
Summer, 2006: Painted all rocks and details around Lake Charles.
Planted ground cover and trees for Lake Charles and a lot of details.
Lake Charles area is almost all finished. Just need to detail a few vehicles, people and general detailing.

UPDATES for 2007.
scroll up to see earlier updates
March, 2007: Added flashing campfires to Roebel's Campground. I have three campfires made with a red LED, and I hooked up an old transister radio to each one, each radio is on a different station so each campfire blinks/flash at a different rate.

UPDATES for 2008.
scroll up to see earlier updates
November/December, 2008: Did not get to work on my layout until late in the year. I started adding docks and buildings to the west side behind the passenger station where I only have about an inch from the track to the wall. So the buildings are just back of buildings with a dock.I have three building done and working on two more. I will have some interiors with the dock doors open and will have active workers and loads ready for shipments. I finished "Travis' Dinner". Built a entryway with steps to an old train car for "Travis' Dinner". Paved the depot parking lot and street. I still make trees once in a while so I can have thousands and thousands when I need them.

UPDATES for 2009.
scroll up to see earlier updates
Different time throughout 2009:I did one more dock building and dock. Tried to make some more wheat for the field. That is a lot of work. Made a few small apsen trees for my Rock Canyon.

UPDATES for 2010/2011.
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I have mostly been working on Rock Canyon. To check out what I have done on the canyon goto Layout 2 - click here.
November/December, 2011: I have started detailing the farm area. I built three different styles of fences. On Hoernlein Horse Ranch, I built a three rail fence. Another farm I built a bobwire fence using track nails, tapped them in every 10 feet (n-scale feet) then stretched fine thread from one post to the other. Three rows. Another fence I took old mine track and made a open wood fence from it. Painted some John Deere Tractors, made some hay rolls, and other fine details. Detail the old barn in the back of the layout. Started scratch built a farm house to replace the doll house. it is a doll house for a doll house that is out of scale. More details to come. I replaced a bright light bulb with an LED in an Kato caboose and added two marker lights. The light was way too bright. I also took another caboose and put 3 watch batteries in it, a switch, a LED and added a marker light. I like the idea that the caboose does not flicker when going down the track.
UPDATES for 2012.
scroll up to see earlier updates
February I started detailing on the backside of my layout behind the stores, the church and the engine house. Painting and ballesting track - putting up background pictures, making a road and trying to force a 3D look from the track to the wall about an inch of scenery. Finished Tom's Junction except a few details and some more street lights.
Spring Pulled up old grass from Kia's Park and replaced it with N Scale grass. Fixed the swing set and playground equipment. Made a volley ball sand court with two men playing volley ball. Added about a dozen or more street lights. (click to see pictures) Tom's Junction is almost completely finished except for detailing the buildings and vehicles.
December I bought 500 scale feet of 6 foot chain link on Ebay. Took out the old (not to scale) fence around Kia's Park and replace it with 400 foot fence that looks much better and to scale. It was easier then I thought. Broke McDonalds apart, added interior lights, detail and a few employees. Added lights to the outside, and lite up the McDonald's sign. McDonald's parking lot is finished except a few details. Printed out a cinderblock wall on the printer and glued them to a thin peice of wood and made a block wall around McDonald's - Bought 30 double street lights on Ebay, (which are a little over sized) but put two inside the engine house and lite up the engine house. Bought 30 trees on Ebay. Night time looks much better in Tom's Junction.
UPDATES for 2013.
scroll up to see earlier updates
January Bought another 500 foot of chain link fence on Ebay and 100 super bright white LED. Lite up Jeramy & Megan's Mexican Cantina. Lite up David's gas station. Added two lights over the fuel pumps (which I had for a while). Hooked up the lighted Texaco sign which my friend Tom made me. Added interior to the Texico station. Finished Micah County library and county hall. I will be adding intrior and a light soon. Made a flashing cross signal from a battery operated flashing LED Christmas light set. Now am looking into reed switches to make the train activate the signal. If this works, I will be adding a flashing cross signal to all my crossings gates
February Bought 11 Rapido "Easy Peasy" lighting kits for my passenger train. I Lite up 9 of my passenger cars and ran my train at night. What an awesome site.
September My friend Tom built me a Santa Fe Depot and freight house from Walthers. The model is based on depots built systemwide on the Santa Fe circa 1908. He did a great job and looks good. He called it "Congdonville". It replaces my old Santa Fe station. It is next to Travis'Dinner.
UPDATES for 2014.
scroll up to see earlier updates
January I detailed and finished two buildings. One called "Taylor's Surplus". Named after a great friend of mine who went to be with the Lord in 2012. Painted the building, added a dock, put on decals on back of building. The build is really only one wall against the a wall. I added a light to the "John Deere" building and put glass in the windows. These building are across the tracks from the Congdonville train station.

To see updates on expandsion room 2 click here
Sections completly finished now
Kai's Park (100% detailed) FINISHED
Engine House and area (100% done) -- FINISHED

Sections most detailed now
Train Yard (100% done,90% detailed) -- Just need ground work
Lake Charles (100% done and 80% detailed) -- Needs a few vehicles, people painted and some fine detail.
Downtown/Station background (95% done) -- Left side needs back ground
450' Bridge (90% detailed) -- Needs some wood planks on top and weathered
Farm Land Area (90% done, 60% detailed) -- Need to plant corn, grops, and detail area
Rock Cayon (90% finished, just a few more trees)
Tom's Junction (90% finished, need some details to buildings, vehicles, people & other details)
Train Depot area -- Need lots of work. but am working on this area
Midnightville (50% detailed) -- Need lots of details

Sections not detailed at the time
Micah County area - (Inside the loop is 100% finished, out the loop is not done - started working on it)
Mountain area with town and lumbermill

Click here to see room 2 expansion

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