Make the Most of Your Model Railroad Fascia
Allen KellerDescription
Installing model railroad fascia board can serve multiple purposes. For instance, it marks the edge of your layout and provides an overall polished look to your entire design. Fascia board can also provide valuable space for hanging informational materials and organizing your railroad model essentials. Expert Allen Keller explains how to make the most of your model railroad fascia in this video.
Making good use of your model railroad fascia
Allen walks you along his model railroad to demonstrate multiple possibilities for using your fascia board to the fullest potential. The fascia board serves as a great location for mounting various model railroad goods, but keep in mind you want the fascia to remain subtle. The goal is to have your audience looking at your layout, not the the fascia. Follow along as Allen presents a model railroad display with various suggestions.
Allen begins by identifying the model railroad fascia as a great location to house the throttle plug-in and throttle. Mounting a holder for the throttle provides quick and easy access to the mechanism.
Allen also recommends using this valuable space for mounting educational signage and instructions. For example, this particular layout is modeled after the Jackson Tennessee Bluff City Southern. Allen points out a sign alongside the fascia with information regarding the towns and their directions. Allen also identifies an instructional sheet with information about the operating session.
A third suggestion given by Allen is the use of a mounted box to hold car cards. The box Allen demonstrates in this particular layout has three individual compartments to hold the “set out,” “hold,” and “pick up” cards. He also recommends mounting a shelf to place car cards to help classify the new cards that you are working with.
Allen offers several other ideas when it comes to making the most of your model railroad fascia in this video. Experiment with a few or all of these suggestions on your own model railroad.
Besides having a fascia to mark the edge of the layout, you can also add things to the fascia. Here we have a plug-in for the throttle, a holder for your throttle, a sign for Jackson Tennessee on the Bluff City Southern telling you towns in this direction, and towns in that direction, so you don't get mixed up, then a ready track holder for your train that'll be going out shortly, a box to hold your set out, hold, and pick up cards, and here each car has a car card that tells you what happens to it. Then we move on down the line here. We come to the whistle and horn signals, telling you about that, these are informational signs, then a few rules. Over here on the shelf, we will put our car cards, hold them here, and this'll help you classify and pick up and set out the new cards that you're working. You get new cars you're working with. Moving on down the line, we come to a instructional sheet that has all the information about this town, what's going to happen here during the operating session, tells you everything that you need to know. Move on down a little bit more, and we come to the tracks that are used for classification. And there's a group of cars ready to go out on this track next time we operate from Chattanooga. There are other tracks that represent other places and they happen to be empty at the moment. And then finally, as we move farther down, we have the pick holder, and this is just a tube, simple tube with a bottom on it, and it's a good place to store your picks that you use for uncoupling and throwing the turnouts.
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