Tom's New York Central HO Layout

Tools and Materials

 

1. RIX PRODUCTS HO-scale Railroad Telephone Pole kit (Stock #628-0032): (1) pole & (4) cross braces

2. (2) ATLAS N-scale (plastic) truck wheel sets (for making pulleys)

3. (1) 5/16" OD wood dowel or styrene rod: 1-2" long

4. A-LINE #29220 chain: 12" long, 27 Link per inch (black)

5. Adhesive: Styrene (thin) & Cyanoacrylate (thick)\

6. Flat file: medium

7. X-ACTO knife: Broad tip blade

8. Flat-nose pliers

9. Flush-cutting nippers

10. Tweezers: Flat-nose & needle-nose

11. Razor saw/miter box

12. (4) TICHY #3015 18" HO-scale Drop Style grab irons (or 0.015 OD brass rod)

13. 0.02" OD brass rod: 1-2" long

14. Drill bit: #76 & #79

15. Primer (for wood)

16. Paint: Reefer White, Grimy Black & Engine Black

 

 Diagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes/hindsight

 

1. If you don’t want to use the RIX PRODUCTS telephone poles, you could use 1/8” OD styrene rod or tubing for the pole and dimensional 1 x 2 for the supports.  Again, I just used what I had on hand.

2. Also, if using 1/8” OD styrene: You can roughen the exterior of the pole by scraping it horizontally with the teeth of a razor saw.  Rotate the pole so that the grooves are evenly distributed but still somewhat random.  I do this also for my exterior light poles.  When painted with Floquil Roof or Rail Brown, it looks very much like a wood pole.  For metal poles, don’t scrape exterior.

3. Lanterns would have been added for viewing/seeing ball signal at night.