Hello all,

I've been thinking and dreaming about having a Disneyland layout of my own for quite some time now. I've been a longtime follower of these boards and I must say that everyone's enthusiasm has motivated me to finally do something about it. So, here we go!!

This is my first attempt with any kind of model railroading whatsoever. I decided to go with a simple 4'x6' rectangular HO scale layout and would try to emulate Disneyland Main Street as best I could. For a starter set, I had the Walt Disney Carolwood Pacific HO Bachmann set. Given the size restrictions of the layout, I know that I won't be able to get everything in. I'm looking to just model the main entrance, the two entrance tunnels, town square, and the main street shops just going back enough to fill up the layout. I also want to create a berm surrounding the display.

And thus it begins. The track is down as a guide for the risers and I have construction paper cutouts to scale of the station, sidewalk, street, and the town square center.



The risers going up and in place....for now. I imagine that once I lay the buildings and everything else down I might change a few things. Oh, I also want a bridge/trussel going over at the far end of my main street like at the Toontown station and entrance.





I'll keep working on this a little bit by little bit. Please, any feedback or questions would be welcome as I'm sure I will have many questions for all of you as we go along.

Thanks!!

Looks great so far and should be a really fun project! My only thought would be that the Main Street structures will have to be rather shallow in order to fit within your loop of track. Just curious, do you plan to model the street buildings as actual free standing structures (as in a real town) or as simply false fronts on a big warehouse like they are at Disneyland?

Edit: I see that you have Bachmann steel track (the black roadbed stuff) mixed with nickel silver (the grey). For more reliable operation, I would recommend using all nickel silver track; under power, the steel stuff tarnishes almost instantly and will mess with electrical conductivity.

Looks good. With a little selective compression of the buildings, you'll have a neat model railroad.

Second Dave's thought on nickle silver track--plus, the DRR has grey ballast.

Here's a paper model of Main Street Station you can print out in HO scale:

http://www.disneyexperience.com/models/station_model.php

Thanks, guys! I knew the little track detail would catch someone's eye. I'm just using the nickel silver track because it was what I could find in a 15" radius to give me as much straightaway in the front as possible. The EZ track is just there as a place holder until the mock-ups are all done and then I will lay down a real rail bed with the cork, track, and ballast.

I was planning on just purchasing a couple of the Walthers Merchant's Row kits for the Main Street Buildings. I've seen some of the most awesome work here in other threads where many have kit bashed a legit Main Street Station, Courthouse, Walt's Firehouse and apartment, etc... I don't think my skills are quite there, yet. Maybe soon.

Thanks for the paper model link, Steve. I came across that site a long time ago and have forgotten about it. Now I've got some renewed interest. If I save the and download the file as a PDF, do you or anyone else know what percentage I need to shrink it down to in order to print in HO scale?

Is the monorail going to be part of the layout too? Also, I haven't heard of anybody use 15" radius other than for narrowguage, so I don't know if that would be a problem but the 4-4-0 does have a pretty short wheel base.

I hear ya, TFN. It's a tight turn with the 15" radius, but the 4-4-0 locomotive makes it alright. I do have a problem with the front wheels popping off the track and needing to be weighted down a little bit better to stay on the track especially around these tighter turns now.

And Yes!! I very much want to include the monorail. While I'm landscaping I will take note and allow for where the pylons will sit and arrange as necessary. I'll need to expand the layout more later on to accompany the larger turn radius of the monorail track, but I wanted to put it in the picture there for visualization's sake. I hope to pick up the DL Mark VII one day and then modify the engine to run a little faster.

Well, I'd think about turning your layout 90 degrees and putting the station on the 6 foot side. that way you can use the 18 inch radius curves making operation easier. The walthers merchant row 1 & 2 can be very nice main street buildings. Merchant row 3 is really a larger bank with only one business, it could be used as an Emporium but you have to modify the roof and add a coupula on the corner.

An interesting project please keep us all up to date.

I think Steve's paper model link also has the Disneyland castle, which you may want at the back of your layout.

I thought about turning the display sideways as well and debated about it for a long time. I decided that I really wanted to get the length of main street and would work with an abbreviated width. Take the Main Street Station for instance. My thoughts are to have the building to scale and not cut corners there, but I will definitely have to cut the platforms on either side a little short.

By the way, jazzfan4. I really admire your lighted train station and main street buildings I've seen in earlier posts. I hope to replicate that as time goes on.

I also was torn about the Castle, but thought I wouldn't have enough room until I expand the layout. For now it's just the "Grand Circle Tour of the Front Half of Main Street U.S.A."

BTW, there is a Main Street station in HO. It is based on the Missouri Railroad Station. I looks dead on Disneyland, but has an extra wing so you have to modify it. It requires 2 kits for the modifications. I will post pics of it and the maker when I get home today. There is also an HO GFRR station and water tower for Frontierland if you so desired.