@RSJB18 posted:

Happy Thanksgiving to all !

Bob

Same to you and your family, Bob. Can’t believe they’re not showing Charlie Brown Thanksgiving this year

I repaired a Lionel set for a client earlier this year.  Just got this video of it running around their Christmas tree.

Note the curious kitteh at middle left... 

Mitch

Happy Thanksgiving to all here and their families.

Andy

Happy Thanksgiving to all a day late. Family here yesterday.

I've been washing/cleaning my Plasticville station platform and reseating the figures, lampposts, phonebooth, etc. in addition to stripping my Marx switch tower completely, washing the plastic parts, lubing the gears, disassembling the solenoid (cleaning and oiling that) all in preparation for placement under the Christmas tree.

Additionally I mounted all the Walmart "Adventure Force" vehicles in/on my Lionel MPC-era two-tier auto carrier (using dabs of GOOP on the wheels) and still have to mount the vehicles on my three-tier auto carrier of the same vintage.

I'm waiting on a delivery of parts from East Coast Train Parts in Englishtown N.J. so I can rehab my recently acquired Postwar Lionel "Z" transformer, it's getting a new cord, rollers, and a circuit breaker.

Picked up this beauty yesterday at Trainland in Lynbrook, NY. This paint scheme is known as Goodfellow gray, after Thomas Goodfellow, president of the Long Island Railroad from 1956-1967. I’ve been waiting to add this to my fleet for a while.

Andy

@Steamfan77 posted:

Picked up this beauty yesterday at Trainland in Lynbrook, NY. This paint scheme is known as Goodfellow gray, after Thomas Goodfellow, president of the Long Island Railroad from 1956-1967. I’ve been waiting to add this to my fleet for a while.

Andy

Andy, the gray and orange look fantastic together. Thomas Goodfellow had good taste.  You should post this on Buy anything cool lately

Hi guys, WOW what great work being done!

Sorry I haven't checked in for accouple days as I have been working on Christmas lights so I can get back to removing more track and cleaning it as I go. I am almost done with the lights and now I have to get my tractor ready for possible snow! The way it is looking it might be tomorrow before I get back to the train room.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with your family and are all doing well! I hope you all get a chance to find time for some fun on your layout and with your trains!

Great idea Dave, just posted there, thanks.

Andy

Changing out my fastrack for a more postwar look, going to super O.  Also changed my train yard and added a return loop. Super O is awesome, quiet and reliable. Have lot of buildings to add and of course wiring.

Started breaking ground on my layout, or more accurately, boring tunnel openings.   This end of the layout will do a turn back loop in our shared “plant room” where my wife will start seedlings around February.  Of course there was a water pipe in the 2nd opening - let the change orders begin !

@Steamfan77 posted:

Picked up this beauty yesterday at Trainland in Lynbrook, NY. This paint scheme is known as Goodfellow gray, after Thomas Goodfellow, president of the Long Island Railroad from 1956-1967. I’ve been waiting to add this to my fleet for a while.

Andy

Is that the C-liner Andy? I like that paint scheme too but I've usually seen them with orange hoods.

Bob

@franktrain posted:

Changing out my fastrack for a more postwar look, going to super O.  Also changed my train yard and added a return loop. Super O is awesome, quiet and reliable. Have lot of buildings to add and of course wiring.

The super O is a big improvement over the FT Frank. Looks like your helper is having a ball too!

@trestleking posted:

Started breaking ground on my layout, or more accurately, boring tunnel openings.   This end of the layout will do a turn back loop in our shared “plant room” where my wife will start seedlings around February.  Of course there was a water pipe in the 2nd opening - let the change orders begin !

Look on the bright side....at least you didn't cut into the pipe!

Bob

Andy that is a nice historical addition.

Frank the Super O looks quite different and far more realistic.  Looks like you have good help.

Trestleking pipes are a hazard and include an automatic adjustment clause that allows you to relocate things without a penalty from the plant lady.

For weeks Paula has been working on Christmas decorating, Thanksgiving meals, and stuff. Speckled trout have interfered with daily routines and also created field trips from school for our grandson. So the layout hasn’t gotten as much attention as usual.

Rich was here yesterday and the three of us installed a portion of the Level one retaining wall and our first tunnel portal. It is far from being complete but we have to start somewhere and the scenery lady will handle the imperfections.

Paula sent an order to Scenic Express today for scenery supplies and took advantage of their Black Friday 15% off sale.

One of the photos shows wires in front of the retaining wall. These are for Millhouse turntable and transfer table controllers and each are about 4” X 4”. Any ideas on where to install them? I said on the wall and was chastised by the carpentry and scenery team.

I finished weathering a scrap load today for a gondola I recently purchased.  It is a K-line gondola with a heavy die-cast frame that is very well built. It rides so smoothly. The scrap load was originally all one color, black. My first attempt at weathering. Used a wide variety of paints and weathering powders to give it some realism.

Good evening everyone! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Things have been busy at home with high school and college tours/applications. Thankfully, I was able to get a break and made progress on the layout. Today, I added more ground cover to the front of the layout and got Christmas decor set up. I also got a wild hair and put up some telephone poles I had since I was 3 or 4 years old. It think they bring a new level of depth to the layout.
Any tips on telephone wire?

Thanks for reading, and happy railroading!

I added some trees to this area. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Hi Guys and Gals,

I have been lurking and commenting here and there, but man there is some motivation in the last couple of pages that I missed. Great work all around. DD has taken over the layout. I was motivated enough to complete basic assembly of two more DD buildings. Now the fun begins.

Dave

Finished up my first airbrushed engine. Also first engine I added some extra details to. Switched out the crew members, added some plastic rods inside the cab. To give the look of the values and gauges. Painted the boiler in the cab as well as the walls green. Can’t really tell unless you get really close. Topped it off with a string for the bell rope, at least the holes are already there.

@RSJB18 posted:

Is that the C-liner Andy? I like that paint scheme too but I've usually seen them with orange hoods.

Bob

Bob, yes that’s the Fairbanks Morse C-Liner. The C-Liners were seen in the following schemes: Tichy, Goodfellow gray, or the Orange nose. The Orange nose was seen more in the late 1950’s to 1960’s.

Andy

Bill, can’t beat time spent with family. Nice progress too.

Cinci, the scrap load looks great.

Trainmaster, coming along nicely.

JD, the trees looks great.

Dave, the buildings are looking good, can’t wait to see.

Nate, the engine looks terrific.

Andy

Good evening everyone! Things have been busy on the layout for the past two evenings. I started a new weathering project on a Polar Express set that used to be my cousin’s. I started with a clean tender. Since the engine runs through the snow I decided to make it look frosty. So… out came the white paint. I then moved over to the locomotive and gave it a similar white wash. Once I got them both weathered I moved over to adding rust onto the boiler bands and rivets. To top everything off, I added icicles on both the tender and locomotive. The Woodland Scenics water effect still needs to dry but it gives an idea of the final product.

@Trainmaster04 posted:

I started a new weathering project on a Polar Express set that used to be my cousin’s. I started with a clean tender. Since the engine runs through the snow I decided to make it look frosty.

🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Trainmaster04, I really like the white. Looks perfect.

@Trainmaster04

Nice job, looks really good. Not to heavy, just right.

Yesterday set up my Christmas layout featuring the AF 3 rail train Santa (my dad) gave to me the first Christmas after he returned from Germany in 1946.  He apparently purchased one of the AF 3/16 3 rail O gauge sets built from prewar components. (the majority of 1946 AF production was 3/16 scale S gauge).  The set in the photo is a reacquisition as I wore out the original.  Subsequent O gauge Christmas layouts featured Lionel.  I've been a Pennsy fan ever since that first train.   Sixty plus years later I commissioned noted Philidelphia area scratch builder Frank Miller to create a 1/48 scale model of PRR K5 5698 which runs on my other layout.   

A couple ounces of ultra-glo decopage resin, some mod podge and aquarium stones and my reason for a bascule bridge is complete. Figures are Woodland Scenics and Arttista, pilings are from Scenic Express.

@Keystoned Ed posted:

Yesterday set up my Christmas layout featuring the AF 3 rail train Santa (my dad) gave to me the first Christmas after he returned from Germany in 1946.  He apparently purchased one of the AF 3/16 3 rail O gauge sets built from prewar components. (the majority of 1946 AF production was 3/16 scale S gauge).  The set in the photo is a reacquisition as I wore out the original.  Subsequent O gauge Christmas layouts featured Lionel.  I've been a Pennsy fan ever since that first train.   Sixty plus years later I commissioned noted Philidelphia area scratch builder Frank Miller to create a 1/48 scale model of PRR K5 5698 which runs on my other layout.   

Very nice set up Ed, thanks for posting. On your Christmas display, are they Dept. 56 buildings?

Jay

This past weekend I used a spare piece of plywood and track to practice my track weathering technique. @PRRMiddleDivision has been giving me some pointers here. I used Floquil Rail Brown for the rails, which I'm super happy with. However, I'm still trying to decide the color for the ties. The ties in this test sample is Rail Tie Brown by Mission Models. I'll try a few more options this week.

And yes, I know ballasting is the last thing to do on a layout. This is a test piece and I'm just trying to get an idea of what it's going to look like

- Jason

Pleasantly surprised with how close the color is to the real thing. This photo was taken at my favorite railfan spot, just West of Vermilion, Ohio on the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line.

- Jason

Another client has her Xmas AF layout set up and looking good!  I'm proud to have helped produce this...

Mitch

@M. Mitchell Marmel

That is a GREAT layout! The scenery is fabulous!

@Randy Harrison posted:

@M. Mitchell Marmel

That is a GREAT layout! The scenery is fabulous!

Agreed!  She does good work! 

Mitch

@jdstucks posted:

This past weekend I used a spare piece of plywood and track to practice my track weathering technique. @PRRMiddleDivision has been giving me some pointers here. I used Floquil Rail Brown for the rails, which I'm super happy with. However, I'm still trying to decide the color for the ties. The ties in this test sample is Rail Tie Brown by Mission Models. I'll try a few more options this week.

And yes, I know ballasting is the last thing to do on a layout. This is a test piece and I'm just trying to get an idea of what it's going to look like

- Jason

Jason,

Looks awesome. What did you use for ballast?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

@M.Mitch Marmel, Mitch, great video, really nice train and the scenery is beautiful. American Flyer trains are cool do to the realistic two rail, thanks for the video. @jdstucks, Jason, that’s a cool ballasting job, your layouts coming along very nicely, and I like the beautiful Conrail diesel… @Trainmaster04, now thats a great weathering job on the famous Polar Express locomotive, cool job, it certainly has that Snow Storm effect…. Happy Railroading Everyone

@NJCJOE posted:

Jason,

Looks awesome. What did you use for ballast?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Woodland Scenics Coarse Gray Blend. I darkened it further with flat black spray paint. I think I'm going to try and darken it more with flat gray.

- Jason

Yesterday the carpenters installed the backdrops behind the Equestra Train Club Christmas layout today we installed all the amusement park attractions and incorporated that into the main table. I did a test run of all the tracks and while everything was running I took a couple of videos; one with the lights on and one with the lights off so I’ll show them here.

@pennsyfan posted:

Yesterday the carpenters installed the backdrops behind the Equestra Train Club Christmas layout today we installed all the amusement park attractions and incorporated that into the main table. I did a test run of all the tracks and while everything was running I took a couple of videos; one with the lights on and one with the lights off so I’ll show them here.

A great looking holiday display Bob.

You may want to have a chat with the motorman on the BUDD cars......he's about to run over Santa's elves....

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

A great looking holiday display Bob.

You may want to have a chat with the motorman on the BUDD cars......he's about to run over Santa's elves....

Bob

Thanks Bob, yeah that bump and go provides some excitement for the kids.  

Wow, so many folks working on their layouts, adding ballast to their track, even matching it to real railroad track, (@Jdstucks Jason) and seeing trains set up under Christmas trees brings back so many fond memories of yesteryear, (@M. Mitch Marmel with the beautiful American Flyer video, a Wow,) and so many others, @Pennsyfan, Great Videos, awesome work.  Today I added the aluminum StationSounds diner to my B&O passenger train, the Colombian. Yes, we are into the best Holidays of all, Christmas. I wish everyone Merry Christmas and enjoy your families and of course, your trains. Happy Railroading Everyone