TRAIN THEME THURSDAY : close up shots around the layout......

New York Central highball freight shares trackage rights with the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad....

Well it's technically Friday, however, this time is the end of my Thursday schedule.  Delightful photos everyone!!  Here are my close ups for today.

NSDTrains posted:

AGHRMatt posted:

That is a beautiful engine! Do you mind my asking what manufacturer made it? Also, your layout looks awesome.

That's a CNW H-1 Northern by Sunset Models' 3rd Rail Division.  The 3rd Rail website shows the engines are still available and also has a video of the locomotive in action.  It is indeed a beautiful model.

RTR Mark

NSDTrains posted:

AGHRMatt posted:

That is a beautiful engine! Do you mind my asking what manufacturer made it? Also, your layout looks awesome.

Thanks. The SD9 is also a Sunset/3rd Rail model. They're sold out, though. Here's the video they used on their site from the club layout. I made a special trip down to the club the day I got it to shoot the video.

Here's the one I shot along with the above photo after I finally got a set of passenger cars after searching for more than three years.

Two outta three ain't bad.......

TJ

                                                       one out of two.....

PRRronbh posted

Frank, thanks for these images.  I so much envoy seeing the photos you have been posting.  Thought with all the attention to detail in each and every vignette that the space had to be there.  

Do realize joy from these.

Ron

I am very grateful for what you have said here, Ron. Hearing from OGR forum voices that have any  interest at all in my layout is rewarding, but to receive such enthusiasm is beyond fun. Thank you very much.

gandydancer1950 posted: 

without a doubt one of the finest layouts I have ever seen....and I've seen a bunch! Well done!

Super to hear that from you, especially since I have enjoyed so many handsome layouts by our fellow hobbyists that have been posted on this fore, through the years. The variety and success of so much self-expression and creativity is a joy, truly.

Thanks for including my layout among those that your have liked a lot.

FrankM

Diverging Clear posted:

Frank "Moonson": I always like seeing photos of your layout, great detail, and, very realistic scenery! Your photos tell a story to the one viewing them, in my opinion.
Rusty

That's such a nice way of expressing your approval of my layout work, Rusty. Thank you very much.

Its very enjoyable for me to receive such kind words. In my imagination, when I work on any particular piece of miniature real estate, I try to make every element relate to each other, which includes every tree, shrub, vehicle, building, figure, or lack thereof, and miscellany, etc., just like in real life, where everything is present with purpose, isn't it. I'm gratified you are reading my little stories with such awareness.

FrankM

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

Frank - apologies for the lengthy delay in responding to you. Yes, I guess many of us do try to do too much at the start. You seem to have hit on the right "formula", so to speak, if you and your guests enjoy the layout much more now.

And I agree with your creative adventure theory. "Imagining up" scenes and then trying to turn them into reality on the layout is a fun way to spend some time.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Moonson posted:

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

Spoken like a true poet. Your words are what makes this hobby an art form. Thanks for sharing.

And Thank you, Luvindemtrains, for your very kind words.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Zeke posted:

Frank - I believe this is the first time I've seen the entirety of your layout. Very impressive! I really like that you created an entire town and got the trains to blend in so nicely, as opposed to trying pack in too much trackage. Thank you for the tour!

Thank you, Zeke, Good to hear from you.

I must confess that I started out like quite a number of us do, with what's been referred to  as a "Spaghetti Bowl" of tracks and switches. I've heard a lot of us do that, in our enthusiasm . I used to have DOZENS of switches on my layout, both 027 and 072, with side tracks galore, even a turntable planned.

However, one day, while my wife and I were sharing our layout with guests, for the umpteenth time, we realized most guests were done with seeing the layout after about 20 min. max. I had never really been throwing switches, much, while having company, and didn't even do so much when running the layout alone. I guess that turned not to not be the way I played.

My wife gestured, during one of our debriefing sessions, in the layout room, while standing next to where the turntable was to be inserted amidst its roundhouse and yard, "Get rid of this." I had an epiphany, at those words. She was right. Guests were not interested in what I had in place, because neither were we.

In the next few days, I stripped the entire layout down to the plywood and began again, one inch at a time, and in no hurry whatsoever.

This is the site......of the previous roundhouse and  accompanying rail yard.

We enjoy this story better.

It gives us more to see and remember and gives our guests a bit more adventure. Nowadays, they stay for approx. an hour-plus, even when urged to return to the first floor for refreshments !

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

FrankM, Moon Township, USA

wonderful, nostalgic photos Frank....Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you, Gandy! Always good to hear your perspective.

One of the houses, a gift to me, in that neighborhood is of our home (tall house, white-n-gray, angular, in the middle of the back row). It was crafted by an architect upon the commission of a dear friend.

Also  present is a model I had crafted of my wife's childhood home (little girl in a red coat on the front porch, reaching for the doorknob).

The whole neighborhood is the result of pure imagination (that sound like a tune I heard somewhere.)

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

FrankM

Yes Frank, Moon Township is amazing, fun to watch, and truly a work of thought, Imagination, Determination, a gift from above...Happy Thanksgiving...

Yes, today is a day to be Thankful, eat gobble till we wobble, and run trains . Here’s a few of the Looney Lines RR.

leapinlarry posted:

Yes Frank, Moon Township is amazing, fun to watch, and truly a work of thought, Imagination, Determination, a gift from above...Happy Thanksgiving...

Thanks, Leapin! Good to hear! Real good!

FrankM

Happy Thanksgiving Thursday!!  " End of the line for turkeys" & " Peacock counts his blessings " 

                                                            ' tis the season...

Be careful what you ask for.

Worst layout photos EVER! I ran across them just this week.

I took these, late 1950's (note my new Burro crane). Kodak box camera, flash (ya' think?). Got all the background in focus - the desk, part of the dining and living rooms - but not the desired subject. Too bad I didn't try again - I had a pretty nice permanent 027 layout: buildings, 4 switches for 2 spur tracks, and one passing siding for the combination passenger station/freight house.

One nice thing:  all the equipment you see (2055 Hudson, Burro, rolling stock, buildings) I still have, on shelves.

Ready? This would have been around 1958. I was 10.

There was, ah, "scenery". The house beyond the crane was scratch built by my father, and is a compressed model of the house in which the layout sits. Yes, I still have it.

Moonson posted:

Thank you, Gandy! Always good to hear your perspective.

One of the houses, a gift to me, in that neighborhood is of our home (tall house, white-n-gray, angular, in the middle of the back row). It was crafted by an architect upon the commission of a dear friend.

Also  present is a model I had crafted of my wife's childhood home (little girl in a red coat on the front porch, reaching for the doorknob).

The whole neighborhood is the result of pure imagination (that sound like a tune I heard somewhere.)

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

FrankM

Imagination....that's what it's all about. The church on my layout is a Christmas decoration in near scale that plays Silent Night! Lol!

gandydancer1950 posted:

Moonson posted:

Thank you, Gandy! Always good to hear your perspective.

One of the houses, a gift to me, in that neighborhood is of our home (tall house, white-n-gray, angular, in the middle of the back row). It was crafted by an architect upon the commission of a dear friend.

Also  present is a model I had crafted of my wife's childhood home (little girl in a red coat on the front porch, reaching for the doorknob).

The whole neighborhood is the result of pure imagination (that sound like a tune I heard somewhere.)

Happy Thanksgiving, indeed!

FrankM

Imagination....that's what it's all about. The church on my layout is a Christmas decoration in near scale that plays Silent Night! Lol!

I have a few porcelain Dept56-type churches tucked in here-n-there on the layout, too.You can spot some of them in these photos. One is tucked-in as part of a Catholic School vignette, on the other side of that stand of trees on church property.

The others are on their own level, the 3rd Level, among an entire community dedicated to the porcelain buildings phenomenon in our hobby.

My wife had given all that you see here of them as a Christmas gift, decades ago, because, back in 1995 when I first stepped into this hobby, we were not aware of many people making buildings by-hand or commercially, at the time of our initial immersion into this hobby. Of course, they are all lighted, up there, by a couple strings of traditional Christmas-type colored lights, no less, inserted in them.

We decided when I re-did the entire layout, this last time, that a dramatic presentation of all of them was fitting, since they held a meaningful place in the creation of our layout for us , too. They are a bright, cheerful presence, aren't they.

FrankM

Ok, this thread inspired me to go take some newer pictures, this is a very good day to be Thankful  for all our blessings....

 .,..close-ups of part of one small town neighborhood...

(It must be early morning, because few pedestrians are about...)

FrankM

Close look at the cab of an Atlas O B28.

Here's my MTH RailKing Hudson with orginal PS from around 1999.   Works perfect - smoke , whistle, bell, chuff sounds, brake squeals, remote uncoupler, yard sounds.

Moonson posted:

 .,..close-ups of part of one small town neighborhood...

(It must be early morning, because few pedestrians are about...)

FrankM

Exceptional photos Frank!

a few scenes from the Cuyahoga Valley........

Very, very nice, Gandydancer. Wouldn't change a single thing!FrankM.

I have a few close up images, but mine may look more like a Post-Apocalyptic World with the cars and locomotives looking brand new, with no people aside from the one's in the Locomotives and Passenger Cars. With that being said, it is still very much a work in progress. I have not being doing much because I have a few bigger things I need to get, as well as the backdrop put up. 

A busy station.

Signal Crew at work.

                                        do they need any more bulbs...

briansilvermustang posted:

                                        do they need any more bulbs...

Nope all good here. They were waiting for the local power company to run the secondary circuit to power the signals. As soon as the lineman could fold his old body into a pretzel to get under the table the job was completed.

The Northern Pacific on the S&Y RR

Here's some for this fine Thursday!

Well, ya comin’?

closed-ups, here-n-there..

Playing with the camera effects on team Track # 2

BNSF underway, B&O pulling out and some 'conversation over a coke'

Zeke posted:

very nice photos!

Moonson posted:

closed-ups, here-n-there..

Moonson, your work continues to amaze me....well done!

Bob, that’s a cool effect.  That in your camera editing or software?

A picture of a American Flyer Penn Salt tank car taken back in the 70's.

 

 

I have a theory. Our affection for trains becomes a creative adventure, an intellectual joyride to create a miniature world that gives the trains purpose, a place to be and a place to go, and places from which to return, beyond our nostalgic love for trains and for times gone by.

 That's my personal theory.

What a beautiful way to sum it all up!

Gons...

*

My Aunt Mary celebrating Christmas with a friend.

 A few Weaver PS-2 covered hoppers.

Though it's Sunday, let me take this moment to say Thank you to all the forum voices who sent me "Likes" (on 11/61; 11/30; 12/14) for my postings of photos on Thursday theme:

Bobby D; trainsrob; gandydancer1950; va rodder; briansilvermustang; Trussman; PRRronbh; AZGary; RSJB18; Tom Dansel; chessie1971; c. sam; trumptrain; Boo Man; JohnnieWalker; luvindemtrains; bigtruckpete; lea;pinlarry; Zeke; Diverging Clear; CAPPilot; delwoodjef; CNJ#1601; Mayor Magoo; LaramieJoe; p51; Garrett76; strangtrain; Lou N.

And for their comments, I Thank:  gandydancer1950; Diverging Clear; Zeke; leapinlarry; LaramieJoe.

I'm gratified you liked what you saw.

FrankM

Moonson posted:

Though it's Sunday, let me take this moment to say Thank you to all the forum voices who sent me "Likes" (on 11/61; 11/30; 12/14) for my postings of photos on Thursday theme:

Bobby D; trainsrob; gandydancer1950; va rodder; briansilvermustang; Trussman; PRRronbh; AZGary; RSJB18; Tom Dansel; chessie1971; c. sam; trumptrain; Boo Man; JohnnieWalker; luvindemtrains; bigtruckpete; lea;pinlarry; Zeke; Diverging Clear; CAPPilot; delwoodjef; CNJ#1601; Mayor Magoo; LaramieJoe; p51; Garrett76; strangtrain;

And for their comments, I Thank:  gandydancer1950; Diverging Clear; Zeke; leapinlarry; LaramieJoe.

I'm gratified you liked what you saw.

FrankM

Merry Christmas Frank!

Merry Christmas, GandyDancer!

FrankM

Boxcars...!!

Warming up in the bullpen:

Anyone for a bike ride?

One of our childhood favorites:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

Things could get beary interesting!

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

 

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

SteveC posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

 

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Don't get caught on the cell phone with your pants down like this guy:

Kind of like the scene in Jurassic Park when the dinosaur eats the lawyer while he's on the toilet.

I loved that scene and I happen to be a lawyer! LOL

Here's some close ups from the Free State Junction Railway in Patsburg, Md. 

CNJ #1601 posted:

Boxcars...!!

Fabulous work weathering and detailing.  

Switch crews warming up the Plymouths for a busy day in the yards.

trumptrain posted:

Here's some close ups from the Free State Junction Railway in Patsburg, Md. 

I particularly like the figures sitting at the station. We could be them when we meet.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

One of our childhood favorites:

The Flight of the Bumblebee (Rimsky-Korsakov), with Heifetz on violin. Turn up the volume:

Coalwood station....

The engine crew servicing Hudson No 5344 before a run

Don't you guys wish you were O scale and could join all these little guys in these pictures?

Better watch out for the cats: they are killers!

trumptrain posted:

Here's some close ups from the Free State Junction Railway in Patsburg, Md. 

In spite of the preparation a few months back, I see the snow never arrived in Patsburg.  Lucky for the crews!

Its 6F (-11F wind chill) here in Ohio.

As always, great work.

Lou N

Boo Man posted:

CNJ #1601 posted:

Boxcars...!!

Fabulous work weathering and detailing.  

Thank you very much, Bob!

TrainManMike posted:

Mike, that little guy with the wheel barrel really gets around. 

282 magnet crane is the best!

Nice looking turntable and love seeing the beloved gang car there raring to go.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

TrainManMike posted:

Mike, that little guy with the wheel barrel really gets around. 

282 magnet crane is the best!

Nice looking turntable and love seeing the beloved gang car there raring to go.

Thank you!  Love the 282 and gang car.  Turntable is a PW 375.  

CNJ #1601 posted:

Boo Man posted:

CNJ #1601 posted:

Boxcars...!!

Fabulous work weathering and detailing.  

Thank you very much, Bob!

Joe,

I would love to see more of your layout.  Can you post some additional photos?

Thanks,

Bob

Many of us in the Norteast had a snow day today. It was delightful staying home with my wife, running the trains, taking a few photos and videos of them and sharing a few laughs with you folks on this Forum.

I particularly enjoyed videotaping the gang car racing around the layout, in fits and starts, with The Flight of the Bumblebee playing in the background. That music really goes with the gang car IMHO.

It's cold..................

corsair29 posted:

Real nice, Steve. Great video shot of train passing by station. Looks so real.

SIRT posted:

It's cold..................

More great pictures; particularly liked the one with the kids and the snowman, another possible postcard.