Weekend Photo Fun 10-14-21-??

Looking spooky Scott great job!

My grandson wanted to run my SP MTH 2 rail scale daylight train and decided to add the shiny Silver California Zephyr passenger set K-Line cars also scale 2 rail. Used a O-120 loop K-Line Super snap for a quick set up need the wide radius the 2 rail scale stuff running all around the house. And also just finished painting up this Great Northern VO 1000 and compared to Crown Zellerbach VO 1000 I painted up earlier in the year. These run great.

I was in Michigan for a weeding this week, so I stopped by the Henry Ford Museum.

An early start this week...

My son and I used to see prototype PPLX rotary hoppers in long coal trains on the former PRR  Middle Division when we would go railfanning.   Lionel models of these cars were cataloged in the 2016 catalog, but did not get produced until this past year. My son went nuts over them, and I ordered him 3 sets of all the numbers (24 cars) for his high school graduation. More recently, we also pre-ordered four of the die cast dark gray PPLX hoppers that were recently released. This past weekend we built a new storage rack for them and FINALLY assembled them into a train. So here's a shot of them crossing the Tuscarora Creek bridge at Port Royal. He took three of the four double end rotary cars out of the train to be prototypical, and sprinkled the four dark gray ones in with the stainless steel cars as per the prototype. They were frequently hauled by SD-60M's, so we created a lashup of three MTH NS and CR SD-60M's to pull the train. Thought you might like to see how it looks now that we have all the cars assembled into a train.

The second image shows some of our train storage racks underneath "View" interlocking.  Depending on their size and how we build them, they each hold either 30 or 60 cars, so they make efficient use of the space under the layout. We have built 15 of them over the past ten years or so.

And unlike my usual images, this week you get to see some panoramic views of the layout, including the fascia and even the floor!

With York coming up next week, that probably does it for the next two weeks! If you are attending York, have a blast. For me, it's my 43rd year of attending!

PRR G5s 5740 is an MTH PS1 model that has been running trouble free on my 12'-by-8' layout for more than twenty years.

MELGAR

Lots of things small things happening this week.....

Ballasting the yard......

I picked up a generous donation for the modular group with some older PostWar trains centered around a 2035....

...and, I packed! No one can mistake which suitcase is mine!

Have a safe and great weekend, folks!

Safe travels to all.....

Peter

Here is the layout (as expanded) I built with my grandson Mason about 9 years ago. Landlord (his parents) cancelled the lease and it was reduced in size then finally taken down a couple of years ago. Great fun while it lasted and wonderful memories constructing it with him. It started when he was 4 years old and is on "pause" now until sometime in the future when the train bug bites him again!

While waiting for my wife at the dentists office, I took some pics of a long trestle I had wanted to photograph for some time. This was originally a two track bridge in Kingston PA used by Norfolk Southern.

A couple shots of my “downtown.”

JDFonz, Just Outstanding!!

                            A few new rides for everyone ...

@JDFonz posted:

A couple shots of my “downtown.”

WOW!!!  How about participating in the "Tall Building Tuesday" thread!!  Looks like this would be a great layout to feature in the magazine!

Shots of the club's permanent layout's double-ended yard, turntable, roundhouse, and control panel/transformer:

As a fairly new member, I found the operation to be very straightforward.  Not shown are the yard transformers: three Z1000's which control one pair of tracks each.   This set-up allows member(s) to assemble trains and move about the roundhouse independent of operations on the four mainlines.

Note:  Click on an image to view full size.

Thanks Scott for getting rolling!   Here are my photo of the fun kind for this fine weekend!  Have a terrific weekend everyone!!  Be safe = Be well!

These to pictures needed to be part of the pre-York weekend group:

Jim and Marty, we will miss you.....but, we know your spirit will be with us!

Peter

Planning for 2021 Christmas Layout Memories

I've settled on a design and a scenery configuration.  Building starts mid-November.

I still prefer pencil and paper over software.  My paper is a grid where each block represents 2'x2'.

Lower Level track and scenery plan ( the red rectangle lower left will be a 4'x7' elevated plateau.  In my drawings dotted lines are ramps.

Plateau:

I plan out everything.  This image shows lockon positions (the red circles) and placement of dummy pins for track "separation":

I also plan out what elements will be connected to each of my 2 AIUs, including how I will name them in the remote:

And finally, I also plan out how I will layout the Homasote pieces.  I put down same-sized blue board first and run wires in the gaps that I leave between then.  Then I cover that with the Homasote:

My goals were very, very simple and basic for 2021:

1. Have the lower tin-plate trackage reverse direction

2. Have a smaller than usual 4'x7' plateau

3. Use the MTH bridge

4. Use my 10' long ramp.

5. Plan on 2 AIUs

I absolutely LOVE the planning stage, more, I think, than building and running.

- walt

@walt rapp posted:

Planning for 2021 Christmas Layout Memories

I've settled on a design and a scenery configuration.  Building starts mid-November.

I still prefer pencil and paper over software.  My paper is a grid where each block represents 2'x2'.

Lower Level track and scenery plan ( the red rectangle lower left will be a 4'x7' elevated plateau.  In my drawings dotted lines are ramps.

I plan out everything.

I absolutely LOVE the planning stage, more, I think, than building and running.

- walt

Walt,

That is an outstanding piece of planning and comprehensive design. Doing it with pencil and paper makes you think carefully about the best way to build the layout. In my opinion, it may even be easier than using software. Very nice!

MELGAR

Thanks Melgar.

Scott: I always enjoy seeing images of how you change the layout for different seasons.

JDFonz: beautiful !!!!

- walt

I moved to a studio apartment earlier this year and wanted some way to run my smaller trains. I picked up an old 8’x30” table by the street. The table is old but made of thick plywood and the folding legs are heavy duty. I cut the table in half and added some support so I could add hinges. Then I cut a 4x8 piece of plywood into 2’x4’ sections, then drilled holes thru the top plywood and the table structure so the panels could be bolted on top. The idea being this layout is modular. I find the process to set up takes about 25 min including laying the track. Id like to someday screw the track to the individual panels so I don’t have to take the track on and off each time and I can add limited scenery. I really enjoyed building this as Ive been wanting to build a modular layout for a while. The only issue is weight! This thing is heavy!