I am fairly new to American Railways and I am trying to model an Ngauge switchyard. I live in Norfolk, England and so actually viewing, the American Railroads other than videos is difficult. Oh! , by the way I am also wheelchair bound. The question I have is, is it possible to scale down the Engine House to Ngauge and if so are there any plans anywhere I can get these from? I found the article fascinating and inspiring and if I may would point out that the space is fairly limited for my model but the central area of my layout is where I am planning to place the Engine house.

Once again thanks for a fascinating article.

I re-read the column that this post is linked to and find no mention anywhere of an engine house.  I looked up N scale structures on the Walthers site and found this:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/150-2843

One thing to consider before you put an engine house in the center of your layout is if you have the ability to reach in.  You didn't mention the size of your bench work.

Dave, In MRH Mag Issue 4, 4th quarter 2009, Les started a column "My Modular Adventure" where he describes his building of an HO scale roundhouse and turntable on a Freemo module frame. The roundhouse, from what I initially read in his first article, was scratchbuilt ("kit bashed"?) from a Heljan kit. If you download that issue (#4) and the subsequent issues continuing his "adventure" you can appreciate more his methods in constructing the roundhouse and the New York Railway Supply turntable he is using. There are some offerings of the Heljan N scale roundhouse item #643 from sellers on EBay. I could not find other sellers on the internet for the Heljan #643.

Bill and Dave, the roundhouse is totally scratchbuilt.

I must not have remembered correctly. I did read this article completely a year ago, but skimmed it when I was making my reply here, so the mention of a Heljan kit threw me off track. Now that you mention scratchbuilt, I remember you did some special brick wall work in a later article.

Bill, no problem, the main reason I scratchbuilt the roundhouse was the lack of a kit that I could kitbash. The Heljan kit helped me set some dimensions. Beleive it or not I actually bought a 15 stall roundhouse at a train show and finally did nothing with it besides using it as an example for certain features.

Les,

You are doing a great job with the model; however, a roof that is near flat or "low slope" as we say in the industry would not be standing-seam metal.  Such a roof in days gone by (or even today) would be of built-up tar or asphalt felts with a gravel topping.  Today, another choice would be elastomeric sheets.  On such a low slope, standing seams (or similar alternatives) would leak.

Dante

Thanks for the kind words Dante. Somebody should tell these guys that their roof will leak...VBG http://ageofsteamroundhouse.com/Album_48.html. They are actually doing that kind of roof today. Don' t forget my roundhouse model is dated in the late 70's early 80's! This was posted on another thread see here:
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh-2012-02-feb/modular_adve...

You're welcome!  I believe that the roof slope on your model is less than that on the actual roof depicted-certainly the near flat roof would be a problem.  And if they have to deal with much ice and snow-good luck to them!

Dante