O Scale Trains Magazine Online

Building a Small O Scale LayoutPart FifteenMichael CulhamIf we are to build a layout with scenery and buildings, wewill also need roads for the automobiles. Over the next threeparts of my series, I will be showing you how I make these,starting with grade crossings.On our layouts, as in real life, railway tracks and roadwayshave to cross each other. If it is a main road with raillines crossing each other, there is usually an over- or underpassusing some form of bridge, but in an industrial areathey cross each other at grade. I have two such crossings onmy layout (Photos 1 and 2). Grade crossings can be madeof timber or asphalt (Photos 3 and 4). I chose to build mineusing timbers. Figure 1 shows you how a timber crossing islaid out. Photo 5 shows an asphalt grade crossing that hasbeen built through a turnout. The rails on either side of thiscrossing had been removed by the time I took this photo,but you can still see that the roadway was built between thefrog and the points. Having grade crossings adds a lot to theoperation of your layout, as you cannot park your train onthe crossing. This makes it more challenging for your traincrews doing the switching. As I run my layout with DCC and134226 • O Scale Trains - May/June ’07