Tall Warehouses Pack Deal

Rail yards can provide a huge amount of operational enjoyment (and frustration), and are generally a great addition to any model railroad. To ensure there’s room for enough track space, a sensible compromise is to use industrial model train buildings against the background. This is instead of trying to recreate huge 3D industrial structures which take up an enormous amount of space (that could be used for more track). That’s not to say you might not need a lager engine shed, or freight depot closer to the foreground.

Industrial backdrops (like the one’s featured in the printable plans for these downloadable paper buildings) will look incredibly realistic without eating up track space for your rolling stock and trains. As most experienced model railroaders have already discovered; industrial backdrop scenery is all about creating the illusion of a model railroad scene being bigger and busier than it actually is. The model train buildings that are positioned in the background can still have plenty of fine detailing and still serve a functional purpose on the railway, such as a factory, a freight depot for loading and unloading goods in transit, or even a workshop.

You can access the download designs (PDF plans) for these low-relief backdrop model train buildings without waiting for the mail to arrive, because they are delivered straight to your computer by instant download… well, almost instant… it takes only a few seconds to a few minutes depending on the speed of your internet connection. So, you be starting construction on your model train buildings within minutes.

You can these save the plans for the PDF paper buildings on your hard-drive or to a USB memory stick or keep them handy on a portable hard drive for future use.

It is then just a case of printing out the paper design and adhering it to corflute (you can also use card or foam sheets). I personally prefer corflute for backdrop model train buildings, because it is especially strong, not to mention the low price of buying it from a DIY store. I paid less than $5 for a big sheet 3ft (900mm) long x 2ft (600mm) wide. The store had bigger sheets too.

Follow the diagrams that come with the printable paper designs… they are very straightforward, and a more detailed instructional manual is supplied at no extra charge (in case you want some extra direction or more tips). After purchasing you simply log in to the MY ACCOUNT tab at the top of this website to access the instruction manual. There are also lots of helpful videos showing how to construct model train buildings on this website. The link is at the top of the page.

With these printable model train buildings you will become a master of scenic backdrops, because they’ll look so real positioned against your background You can add little finishing touches like making steps and posts from scraps of balsa wood or positioning signs above a building with a balsa wood support, so there is still room for some extra creativity if you want to do that. There’s definitely more to these paper models than appears at first glance… the real looking highly detailed weathered textures are something to be seen.

How to design and plan model railroad yards and staging yards to maximize space and operational efficiency around your model train buildings

Moving cars to and from industries and staging yards is a key function on most HO scale, N scale and OO gauge model railroads, but for operational efficiently, it is necessary to move cars in a logical and organized manner… the same as would happen on a real (prototypical) railroad. This takes some careful thought when planning the layout’s design to ensure the right train tracks are positioned in the right place and that the model train buildings are located in the perfect and practical position to as to be easy to access, yet not get in the way of operations. Having space-saving “low-relief” type industrial and warehouse buildings against the background scenery can be a very clever use of layout space.