What did you do on your layout today?

@farmerjohn - thanks for explaining how you did the portals.  I just removed one (on a curve) - the vista dome car would snag on it.  I will utilize your technique to replace it.

Dr. Steve. I'm not finished with this scene. Thanks for the comment. When I am a little further along with this scene I'll post some more pics. It's got a long ways to go. From trees to fences it takes time but so much fun . Farmer John

Gluing up more styrofoam, realizing I should've started this project sooner on the temporary Christmas layout. Most importantly made the inaugural run through the tunnel. Hoping to have the rest of the foam work done before heading out of town this weekend.

@chabs posted:

Gluing up more styrofoam, realizing I should've started this project sooner on the temporary Christmas layout. Most importantly made the inaugural run through the tunnel. Hoping to have the rest of the foam work done before heading out of town this weekend.

@chabs

Your project is good so far. When building a tunnel, make sure you allow yourself an access to get derailments out of the tunnel. Even though a train has run 100 times without incident over the section of track to be covered by the tunnel, once the tunnel is in place, it is almost a sure thing that a derailment will happen under your new tunnel.

Great work. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Jon Chabs, don't worry about thinking you should have started sooner.  Just adapt the project for the time you have available.  I have seen where folks have just taken Styrofoam cut like yours and covered it with white ice and snow to make a nice cold looking Christmas scene!

The new layout is progressing. I'm heavily into the accessory and switch wiring stage now. This is the back side of my control station which was featured in Run 327. I have capability for conventional, DCS, TMCC, and Legacy. At the moment, there is one other AIU which is located some distance from the 2 here. I figure I'll need another 2 AIUs before I'm done.

Chris

LVHR

Looks good, Chris!

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the video I posted yesterday. Today, I was able to work on the industrial row of my layout. This area is meant to be the old part of town that never got updated. As a result, the roads were never paved and the centuries old brick work still stands.
Now, onto what I did. It turns out there really is not any readily available “brick roads” to purchase. Until, my local Michele’s stocked Christmas decor. A Christmas village company called Lemax, similar to Department 56, produces vinyl brick roads. Bingo! I was able to grab a one and off I went.
So, tonight I was able to cut, iron and place two sections of road  so far so good. I will continue to go down this row and fill in the alleyways section by section.
On other news, I got accepted into Baylor University to study Mechanical Engineering. Yay!

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

Congratulations on the acceptance to Baylor University and the Mechanical Engineering Major.

@Trainmaster04- congrats on Baylor. Mechanical Engineering is a great field to work in. Best of luck. The town is looking good too.

@lehighline- lot's of wires to make a toy train go round and round. It was a lot simpler when we just had to snap a lock on to the track and hit the throttle.....

@chabs- nice work on the tunnel. That was the first thing I did when I started my layout too. Just check you clearances carefully.

Bob

Morning guys, it's been a couple days since I have been here, been a little busy!

@Dallas Joseph Dallas good luck with the hip replacement!

@farmerjohn John thank you for the step by step instructions for the porthole!

@lehighline WOW Chris just looking at the makes my brain hurt! LOL Looks good!

@Trainmaster04 Have to say your industrial area sure is looking outstanding!

Well guys I took a little hit from Mark and did some track staging as I need to make sure I get the bridge alignment right! Here are a couple photos. I was able to get my grade from the upper loop almost down to the main table grade. This morning I installed some cork and waiting for more to arrive!

I am trying to get as much done as possible before snow again this weekend and knee surgery next month. I am sure that will slow me down for a little!

I hope your all having a great week and are finding time to have fun with your layout and trains!

@mike g. posted:

Morning guys, it's been a couple days since I have been here, been a little busy!

@Dallas Joseph Dallas good luck with the hip replacement!

@farmerjohn John thank you for the step by step instructions for the porthole!

@lehighline WOW Chris just looking at the makes my brain hurt! LOL Looks good!

@Trainmaster04 Have to say your industrial area sure is looking outstanding!

Well guys I took a little hit from Mark and did some track staging as I need to make sure I get the bridge alignment right! Here are a couple photos. I was able to get my grade from the upper loop almost down to the main table grade. This morning I installed some cork and waiting for more to arrive!

I am trying to get as much done as possible before snow again this weekend and knee surgery next month. I am sure that will slow me down for a little!

I hope your all having a great week and are finding time to have fun with your layout and trains!

Good start Mike, did you post a final plan on your other tread? Also, sorry to hear about your knee everything on me hurts except my knees.

Hi Dave thank you for the kind words. I dont know if I did or not, but I will. I just have to remember what I titled it! LOL

I have been working on making my die-cast hoppers look more realistic. They were originally plastic molds. I glued some black diamond sandblasting material aka coal slag then applied black spray paint.  They really sparkle. The pictures do not show how great they look. I have attached a before and after.  The overhead photo of the hopper is the before photo. I have 12 of these in tow behind my JLC C&O Allegheny. I also worked on the tender to my NYC L3 Mohawk.

@The Cincinnatian Looks great I love the nice long train! We have a lot of them that run through WA. State still! Nice work on the new coal loads!

@Trainmaster04 posted:

On other news, I got accepted into Baylor University to study Mechanical Engineering. Yay!

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

Congrats!!!!

Peter

@The Cincinnatian posted:

I have been working on making my die-cast hoppers look more realistic. They were originally plastic molds. I glued some black diamond sandblasting material aka coal slag then applied black spray paint.  They really sparkle. The pictures do not show how great they look. I have attached a before and after.  The overhead photo of the hopper is the before photo. I have 12 of these in tow behind my JLC C&O Allegheny. I also worked on the tender to my NYC L3 Mohawk.

The Cincinnatian,

What exactly is the sandblasting material you speak of?

Dave

@luvindemtrains posted:

The Cincinnatian,

What exactly is the sandblasting material you speak of?

Dave

Dave, the product is Black Diamond Medium Blasting Abrasives, FTS245. Comes in a 50 pound bag and can be purchased at Tractor Supply. They sell a fine and a medium selection.  I chose the medium and they had to go in the back to get it for me. I learned about it on this forum by doing a search. There are videos on YouTube as well.  Some people refer to it as black beauty.

Spent the afternoon carving the top half of the mountain and then gave it a test fit so my wonderful wife (city planning department) could decide where to place the buildings. Coat of paint to go on this evening before we head out of town for the weekend. Super happy how it’s turning out for my first go at working with foam.

@chabs posted:

Spent the afternoon carving the top half of the mountain and then gave it a test fit so my wonderful wife (city planning department) could decide where to place the buildings. Coat of paint to go on this evening before we head out of town for the weekend. Super happy how it’s turning out for my first go at working with foam.

Looks great. Rigid foam is very forgiving (and cheap), so if you don't like the results it's easy to add some new pieces and continue carving.

Adding plaster cloth over the foam gives it a more natural look and smooths out the sharp edges too.

Bob

Evening at the Grindstaff store, right before the end of the day. The local air raid warden is going to yell at them to 'put out that light' soon enough if they don't close up for the day...

I've been so busy with work, my pups and other things that I haven't gotten around to anything for the layout in a while. Heck, I haven't even sat in my WW2 Jeep after I worked so hard to get the brakes rebuilt and test drove it! Each time my wife gripes about some chore she demands gets done in that millisecond, I remind her I haven't gotten to the things I like lately, either!

Since we had a blizzard this week in SD, I had some extra home time & made progress on my Plant Room turnaround loop.  Next is to test-fit my hole-in-the-wall so everybody fits thru.

Great projects everyone!

@p51 Lee I really love the B/W photo and the story to go with it!

@trestleking Looking good! I wish I had a room to bust into! LOL

Well guys it has been a busy day today. I was able to get the rest of the upper grade outer loop laid and the main level outer loop laid to where the bridge is going. The hard part is getting the angle cut on the decking that the bridge is attached to. I am getting close and will work on it again tomorrow.

There really is no hurry right now as I have no more cork, but then again, I still have a lot of tracks to still take up and clean. I just want to get this end of the room track laid so I can move everything under the layout on the other end! LOL

Here are a couple photos of today's work. I know it doesn't look like much but the angle for the bridge decking is kicking my rear! LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find time to have fun with your trains and layout!

My hole-in-the-wall is “so far-so good”.  I have about a 4” wide opening - which should be plenty for anything I will run. The fact that I had to vertically sawz-all-an intrusive 2x4 doesn’t need to be discussed!  Next will be the loop’s upper level and some train guardrails, it’s a long way to the floor.

My neighbor bought this set for me at thrift store for $60.00.  Having it checked out by our dogs, before I had to remove it from our living room.

Looks like they approve!

@mike g. posted:

Great projects everyone!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find time to have fun with your trains and layout!

Aha Mike .......now I know what that pile of track was for.    Glad to see you are having fun.

( nice under table lighting Mike )

@Stevemny posted:

My neighbor bought this set for me at thrift store for $60.00.  Having it checked out by our dogs, before I had to remove it from our living room.

Love their enthusiasm.  Maybe tolerance is a better expression of their behavior!

Cheers, Dave

MikeG: Impressive work. I can only imagine the time and effort to design the bridge support and mechanics for deploying the bridge. Awesome.

@mike g. posted:

Here are a couple photos of today's work. I know it doesn't look like much but the angle for the bridge decking is kicking my rear! LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find time to have fun with your trains and layout!

Mike, The bridge installation looks great!  Yours as mine sure went faster the second go round!

@mike g. posted:

Great projects everyone!

@p51 Lee I really love the B/W photo and the story to go with it!

@trestleking Looking good! I wish I had a room to bust into! LOL

Well guys it has been a busy day today. I was able to get the rest of the upper grade outer loop laid and the main level outer loop laid to where the bridge is going. The hard part is getting the angle cut on the decking that the bridge is attached to. I am getting close and will work on it again tomorrow.

There really is no hurry right now as I have no more cork, but then again, I still have a lot of tracks to still take up and clean. I just want to get this end of the room track laid so I can move everything under the layout on the other end! LOL

Here are a couple photos of today's work. I know it doesn't look like much but the angle for the bridge decking is kicking my rear! LOL

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and find time to have fun with your trains and layout!

Looks like it's shaping up nicely Mike !  I'm sure you'll figure out that lift bridge.

@mike g. posted:

Well guys it has been a busy day today.

That's amazing, Mike!

I was able to visit with a good friend today and borrow his new Legacy SF 2-10-4 to do a review on. It is engine 5001 in the infamous black bonnet paint scheme. The detail on the Indian head is incredible! Here are a couple videos of it running like a champ. Product review of it and a Christmas running session coming soon!

@p51 posted:

That's amazing, Mike!

I'd like to second that Mike.

@p51 posted:

Evening at the Grindstaff store,

I've been so busy with work, my pups and other things

Excellent photo of the Grindstaff store Lee.

I know what you mean about the pups...........we were delivered our two 8 year old rescues from Ohio today.    A great new regimen has begun again after our last one passed earlier this year.

Have a fun and peaceful holiday season Lee.

Cleaned my track last night. Then ran a train for a bit.

Bob

@mike g. the new lift bridge placement looks great. Now you will be able to enjoy watching trains roll over from both sides.
@p51- great photo Lee.
@Dallas Joseph- glad to hear the pups arrived on time. Please share a pic when you catch your breath.
@trestleking- I'd say the MOW crew did a great job.
@Trainmaster04- That steamer is a beauty.
@Stevemny- I would say the dogs are not impressed..... Obedient though.....

Have a great Sunday,

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Cleaned my track last night. Then ran a train for a bit.

Bob

Nice relaxing video Bob.                       Watching trains run reminds me of years ago when I had a 30 gallon tropical fish aquarium..............never needed any sleep aids or tension suppressants.

Good to see the READING bringing home the bacon.

@RSJB18 posted:

Cleaned my track last night. Then ran a train for a bit.

Bob

Bob, Your new acquisitions are looking good!

@RSJB18 posted:

Cleaned my track last night. Then ran a train for a bit.

Bob

Bob…there is the magic!  Great lighting implementation!

John