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Bills' Hobbies ...somewhere on line...

On this page begins the story of my N-Scale Home Layout, the Ridgeway-Keeler Railway

The layout had its earliest beginnings about January, 2005, I think.  I bought some Lifelike brand Power-Loc track from a local Hobby Lobby store, just to see what is was like.  After setting up an oval, I was hooked. This product presented a BIG challenge.  What could be done with a track system that had only one radius available, 9 3/4 inches, only one size of turnout, with the 9 3/4 radius thru the diverging route, and only one length of straight track?  I played with this track for almost 2 years before finally deciding on a track plan.  Using a Model Railroader magazine track plan (The Madison Central, HO scale,  from one of their 5 Easy Track Plans booklets) I have created an N scale model railroad in a space 36" x 48".

The base for the layout came from a discarded project board I had built up for my wife. She needed a steam pressing board for steaming flat those sweaters she knits.  With 2" thick blueboard glued on top of the plywood, and covered with cloth, she gave it a try.  Not long after that, she bought a special machine to do the job, and the board came back to me. I stripped off the cloth, and stashed it for future use.

During my experiments with that Lifelike track, I bounced back and forth between a 32" hollow core door and the steaming board, finally settling on the 36" x 48" board and the Madison Central trackplan.



The Final Track plan


The only turnout "style" available


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