NJCJOE's New Train Room - 04/16/24 - Making Trees and Progressing with the Landscaping

You're cruising right along, that's going to be a really great looking layout!

6/17/22 - The inaugural run of the standard gauge has taken place! Still need to make some tweaks. The accessories were just placed on the layout. However, their final positions will change over time as scenery is constructed.

Congratulations, Joe!

Joe your making great progress and that run was certainly a milestone. Nice and smooth, sit back and enjoy and let those beauties run for a while.

Congrats on the first run Joe. Must feel great to finally run a train again.

Bob

Congrats, Joe.....an important milestone to be sure......

Peter

Beautiful! What bridges will you use for the other end of the river....more Hellgates or what? That Hiawatha set is gorgeous. Well done, Joe!

@jay jay posted:

Beautiful! What bridges will you use for the other end of the river....more Hellgates or what? That Hiawatha set is gorgeous. Well done, Joe!

Thanks John.

I actually did consider using two more Hellgate bridges to span the river. However, I can't fit two side by side in this location and there was no way to modify the track layout. I didn't plan ahead for four Hellgate bridges.

I plan on using the deck girders I had from two O scale deck girder bridge kits. I got these kits in a train lot purchase and when I opened the boxes there were no decks, tracks or railings, just the girders. The girders are made of metal. I thought about cutting them to use them as girders, but then my wife came up with the idea to use them as is, above the layout surface. Thanks sweetie! .

I plan on making a deck out of wood and painting it black. It will look like a larger plate girder bridge. It will be different. And since it's on the standard gauge portion of the layout, it doesn't need to be completely realistic.

Looks awesome bro! 👍

Love what you have done thus far. Please post pictures weekly of your progress.

Scott Smith

Congrats Joe on the first run, it's looking fabulous!

Alex

@NJCJOE posted:

6/17/22 - The inaugural run of the standard gauge has taken place! Still need to make some tweaks. The accessories were just placed on the layout. However, their final positions will change over time as scenery is constructed.

Joe, This is incredible! I always loved your layout at previous home, thinking wow, this would be hard to beat!? Look at you now! Wishing you many years of health and enjoyment. It is well deserved buddy

Best,

West Coast Joe

Thanks guys. Felt good to run trains again.

Wow, @NJCJOE, Joe, you’ve come a long way from finishing your basement to this inaugural run. It’s beautiful. Great video’, and I know it feels good seeing train movements on your layout. Happy Railroading Everyone

Beautiful!

Peter

Lookin' good Joe, great to get the trains out of storage and back on the rail!

I haven't made a lot of progress lately. Started adding some foam board to the layout to create some basic scenery contours. I also did a little more work on the girder bridge.

Most of my time has been spent learning how to carve and paint rocks out of 2" thick foam board. A lot of trial and error. I'm working on the rock faces that will line the river bed. I'm hoping to get to the point that meets my satisfaction soon so I can work on the river. Here are some earlier test tries.

9/1/22 - I made some more progress on the river. I finally got the rock walls carved and colored to my liking. The river bed has been painted. Next I have to add details to the river and then paint on the Mod Podge water.

@NJCJOE posted:

9/1/22 - I made some more progress on the river. I finally got the rock walls carved and colored to my liking. The river bed has been painted. Next I have to add details to the river and then paint on the Mod Podge water.

That is so nice.  I can't wait to see the final result.  Fantastic job!

Really, really nice job !!