What did you do on your layout today?

I have the p-51 and the corsair I would like to do the whole set there's a hellcat redtail p-51, zero , spitfire, p-40 there made by testors and are 1/48 scale. I saw some on e-bay and the guy was asking a really high number for them so I figured I can do the same thing but cheaper so I started out with 2 and bought 3 more flatcars matching the one I had in mind for it. for a total of 4 flat cars 2 for wings and 2 for fuselage. plan has been to paint the flatcars flat black with wooden decks and the stands grey I have a chain to hold it down to the flat car it's just not on it yet.

 

       
       


Alive and well at the Black River and Western Railroad in Ringos New Jersey

Mitch

 

Great idea.  Something else for me to plagiarize.  I have no shame.

Aligned track and added rail joiners and track power feeds to another 50' of track on the outdoor layout + found another soccer ball in the middle of the layout.  This is going to get expensive to the kid and his father next door when they start taking out the Atlas bridges with those balls.  Oh well, jr's father owns a hydroponics supply shop and seems to have plenty of money.  

Replaced one of the 6-wheel trucks on my Atlas Trainman RPO car.  The roller on the old one hadn't been making very good contact, causing flickering.  Looking at it, I saw that it was somewhat crooked, and didn't seem to be pressing downward with much force.  Thinking that I might try straightening it out, I applied a pair of needlenose pliers...

 

That's when I discovered that the rollers on those trucks are held in place by a small, fairly fragile, metal fork that's a cast-in part of the truck body itself.  One of the fingers of the fork snapped off, leaving me with nothing to support the roller at all.

 

With the assistance of several helpful folks here on the forum, I ordered a new truck from Atlas, and yesterday was the first chance I've had to install the new one.  With soldering iron and tools in hand, I removed the old, broken truck (it'll make a good gondola load, I guess), and set about putting the new one in its place.

 

It ought to have been pretty straightforward, but, like Lionel, it seems that Atlas never uses wires that are one single millimeter longer than they absolutely have to be.  I had to splice in extra wire to have enough length to work with while wiring up the new truck, which made it a longer job than it would otherwise have been.

 

Eventually, I did get the new truck installed.  Its roller has a slightly different design than the old one, and my flickering problems are fixed. 

 

As an aside, while I was inside the RPO car, I saw enough of its innards to be favorably impressed with the quality of design and workmanship.  Whatever Chinese artisans were involved are to be congratulated.

I put the bunker crew to work! They are having a day!

I started mine off by screwing up the paint job on a loco that I am restoring, will have to wipe it down and start over, at least I know the colour is a match. 

well played some more after yard work. Outside grass yard work hired my daughter and granddaughter to go into the back yard and get some rocks for the layout. I wired up another signal for the opposite direction. then cut out a drainage ditch into the quiet brace and lined it with real Georgia red dirt also from the back yard. also took one of the SD90's I have apart it had no lights they were unplugged. must have been when the pervious owner had it and burned up the smoke unit I need to order a smoke unit for it and one ditch light led. but looks a lot better with lights now though. after all  of that I just spent the rest of the night cleaning up my messes and letting a train run around. if you haven't noticed I am partial to Union Pacific. but tonight Santa Fe got a chance to run! in the video you can see the signal light of the opposite direction switching too. they both run off of the same controller.

 

Today's work was something that can't be seen, but improves operation. We had slow-speed stalling on  Ross #8 curved turnout. Problem is that we were losing the common connection on short locomotives because the closure rail on the 48" radius (O-96) part of the turnout wasn't grounded. Using the built-in relay contacts on the Tortoise motor (which I replaced because the original one was pretty old), I connected the closure rails in such a way that the unused rail becomes an extension of the hot lead while the closure rail in use (supporting the wheels) is tied to common. Our normal operating speed of 25smph was sufficient to get short locomotives past the gap, but now short locomotives can creep through at 5smph. Got it done just in time for next weekend's Open House.

 

Jeff Waldman and Dave O'Connor swapped out our Car Wash. The original SpeeDee had some sticking problems, so we installed a Bikini Car Wash in its place. That one began sticking. Thanks to Dustin's re-engineering on the SpeeDee Car Wash, it's now back in place and working well.

 

Howard "AGHRHowie" Packer made more trees for the narrow gauge area using our tried and true balsa wood/Ming Fern. The technique is time-consuming, but yields great results.

Plagiarize,
Let no one else's work evade your eyes,
Remember why the good Lord made your eyes,
So don't shade your eyes,
But plagiarize, plagiarize, plagiarize -
Only be sure always to call it please 'research'.

 

-Tom Lehrer, "Lobachevsky"

 

 

Mitch

well lets see I seen it on an auction site made 4 cars Mitch you seen it here liked it might make some and Al Gallli likes it too and is gonna do the same did we start a trend

 

Could be the hottest thing since giraffes! 

 

Speaking of which, May 9th was National Train Day, and the gi-raffes (plus one zebra) made their annual pilgrimage to the Fort Smith Trolley Museum! 

 

Because of inclement weather, the crowds (and the consists) were somewhat reduced, but the kids that did show up enjoyed the show! 

 

Mitch

I now have twins

Building long temporary fantasy  bridges to connect all my modules.

Well yesterday was suppose to be the day for adding the plaster but outdoor work got the better of me. But today I got the plaster on, just barely. I just had enough Gypsolite to do both embankments. Looks like an order to scenic express will be in the next day or two. Anyways here are pics of plaster done. Now I can add coloring maybe tomorrow......................Paul

On one layout,I installed some terminal blocks for streetlights,the other one I did some urban renovation. removed one building and a water tower,covered it up with new grass.

A good day for the trains and layout. Stopped at a outdoor, small, flea market and bought a nice #450 signal bridge that I had wanted at a very affordable price. Later I was at my favorite antique store that had just gt in a Lionel loco. It was a 2065 but someone had changed the numbers with decals. I had some trade items so came away with the loco plus a Lionel passenger car NIB for very little $$. The passenger car is Tuscan but a wee bit smaller than the other two but it will work until I get the one I want. Then this new will probably be converted into a  interurban car or an RDC. So the new loco gives me  2065s but you can never have enough power especially if it is a good deal.

today didn't do to much mothers day and all. but she wanted to relax today. so that gave me time to play a little. one end of the layout I still didn't like the route the trains took and scenery was going to be difficult. so what I did was redesign that end of the layout. then I took some night photos for fun.

Quiet day after the fuss of Train Day.  Did a little light maintenance (new rubber fingers on my 3535 Security Car's revolving searchlight, glued the chimney back on a K-line caboose, that sort of thing).

 

Also resoldered the motor wires on one of my 44 tonners for the umpteenth time.  I rather suspect that the 1950s vintage wiring has stiff insulation, which makes for excessive flexing of the wire at the solder joint and premature failure.   Prolly gonna rewire the E-unit one of these days... 

 

Did a little preliminary fitting of my P-51 Mustang onto my Lionel flatcars as well. 

 

Mitch

Painting time at the HCRR. Some new horns and Sinclairs for my new F7s. My new K4 got her driving and pilot wheels refinished.

Mitch

here's where I got the Idea. he's asking $99.00 for them.

Maybe it will give you an idea on the structures to hold them. mine I made out of balsa to fragile. need to remake the ones for the wings since they both broke and the wings now lay on there sides  

 

My layout; progress vs. completion, is what would have to be described as "mature".  I began this particular layout in 1998 and all of the track is in place, there is scenery on virtually every location and most of the wiring is done.  Sure, I have some buildings that need more detail, the ground cover can stand some attention, I still add new details now and then and I still don't have every switch motor wired.  Small future projects.

 

A few weeks ago, I had our usual Tuesday nite bunch over for one of our weekly evening sessions.  But this time I promised the guys that my railroad was going to be "completely different"  All new, I said. 

 

I have always been a Milwaukee Road fan and virtually all the engines on my layout, plus all of the passenger cars, way cars, cabooses, etc. are all lettered and painted for the "Road".  I take a lot of teasing from the guys around here, in the Cleveland area, because they are all NYC, Pennsy, B&O, Erie, etc. fans and most of them don't know "from Orange and Maroon".  However, over the years, I have also collected a substantial number of Chicago and Northwestern (mostly Green and Yellow) equipment, but these items were generally left beneath the table in storage.

 

So, what I did to accomplish this "complete change" in my model railroad was to take ALL of the Milwaukee Road stuff off of the lay out and replace it with all Chicago and Northwestern stuff.   So, now my railroad was completely changed, right?  I mean, it was no longer Milwaukee Road but was now Chicago and Northwestern.  How much more of a change can you have than that?

 

You know what?  Nobody noticed!  About 30 guys were here, soda and beer was available, snacks and desserts were provided and TRAINS RAN.  But, nobody noticed the "complete change" until I pointed it all out.  I even had arranged that on the double track section of the layout, the C&NW trains were running the left hand main the way the Northwestern functioned.  Nobody noticed!

 

Man, what a disappointment!  Went through that whole exercise of taking all the Milwaukee trains off and putting them away.  Then hauling out all the C&NW stuff that hadn't been run for a while, charged up batteries, lubed axles and gears, tested out everything and nobody notices!  Boy, doesn't that suck!!!  (I think that, given the promise I had made, the guys thought that I had torn up the whole layout and started all over again.  That ain't happenin'!)

 

So now, I'm gonna start the change back again.  Cleaning, charging, lubing, etc, all the Milwaukee Road stuff and putting the C&NW away for another year (or more)  Keeps a guy busy.

 

Paul Fischer

I never liked the way the Bachmann On30 4-6-0 number plates looked, so I'm in the middle creating my own. I'm not 100% sure how I'll attach them, either printing them on decal paper and putting them over the pre-existing plates (which are just bronze colored circles with the engine number in black, of course the opposite of what they should be and all Bachmann ten-wheelers have the same serial number on them).

I even have the right serial numbers for the locomotives I'm modeling, as well as the correct dates of delivery as would have been on the actual builder plates:

slow day in the office only a few calls. so I spent some time working with scarm dressing up the layout with buildings I have and ones I know I want. some I have had to add to the layout like the ogr tool and die building. some don't look just right because it's hard to make a sphere in scarm. added bridges and a river because of all the layers the drawing doesn't look just right like tunnels don't show up and sucj but you get a good idea of where this layout is going to go. a yard added to the lower level my transfer table added to the lower level things like that. everything on the layout I already have other than the tool and die building it's just a matter of finishing the layout and putting stuff on in the right spots. I still need to get about half of the track for the elevated level so here is the plan and as we all know they change as you go along.

here is the big bridge I waiting on hopefully to be the focal point of the layout

 

"remember,SCROUNGE"

Mitch did you get that from Walt Hulsweder?

fresh from it's South Pacific island crash site, this Mustang has a lengthy restoration ahead...need to fab a proper cradle for it.

I like it

 

Man, there are a lot of P-51s on flatcars on layouts these days!

that's because that big 'ol radiator underneath had a big bullseye on it! as for me...I'll take a Thunderbolt!(or a Corsair..air cooled all the way!)

Didn't do too much on layout today, however, I cut some masonite on my table saw into eleven 1 1/8 inch pieces and five 2 1/4 inch pieces.  These will be used as TIES under the 027 curve pieces comprising the reverse loop in the trolley yard so as to mate with the 031 O-gauge track...  (height-wise) ...

 

And, the mailman brought me another 45-feet of 25-pair phone cable as well as that neat Rail King "Greyhound Bus Depot" with the dancing lights on the Marquee.

It is fantastic!  Comes with a Greyhound Bus--but the seller also gave me a nice

Trailways Bus as well at no extra cost.  Great price--Free Shipping...  All the way from Maine !!  Made the trip in good shape!  But boy, that bus station takes up space !!

 

KRK

Vane A. Jones in the old Traction and Models Magazine.   

 

Mitch 

anyone else having issues posting photos

? never mind server went off line for a minute and now it works again.

 

 

another way hosted off of my server when I try to upload I get file processing error. this is what I worked on today just a tunnel opening and bridge abutment. but had more fun talking with my daughter as the train ran up and down the levels for over 2 hrs without a single hiccup. it was the first time she came in to see the trains run for any length of time. she just couldn't figure where the train was going to go the next time around  

no p-51 here here's a corsair

 

 

 What a weekend!

  Only a couple days of running after the wiring was done, and I decided to tear some of the wiring off the four power supplies to move the layout to the other side of the room, so I could work on the backside, and remove the last of the carpeting we began pulling awhile ago. Pulling the 'table' from its 6'x10'nook, then turning the 4.5' x 9' frame, and then moving it across a room full of furniture, really required some Zen thought! And a little luck. 

 First two new legs had to be made. I used some scrap hardwood to replace the shelves it normally sits on, before the trip could be made.

  At the halfway point the couch faced the layout. Someone sat on the couch asked me "Why did you build it so high up? I cant see". I had built it to fit shelves, it sat 39.5" up, and from far away, it didn't matter much. But they were right! It was a little too high up close, so I decided to cut the legs down since it was in the center of the room. And I put wheels on it, so I can move it by myself now to.

  It sits at 35.5" now, and will drop 2" more when I pull the wheels.

    I will lose the top set of shelves to trimming too, but I'm also quite happy being able to reach everything much better now.

 

 Tonight I finished another good chunk of the plateau's mine, permanently attaching the final track supports, and finishing much of the lower level rock face that is making up the crumbling base of the hillside. A side by side mine entrance got built instead of the single entrance shown. 

Oh that reminds me, what got me going inside, was rain outside.

 I had checked the weather about 36 hours earlier, and laid 80' of tubular Lionel G gauge to run the old Gold Rush, an 0-6-0 Porter(?), and the quietest engine I've ever ran.

 Anyhow right after I got it going the sky turned dark, and I quickly pulled the rails again. That gold, or brass plated tubular isn't very moisture friendly.

Finished the coloring of the areas around the bridge. Just have to add some grouind foam and a few trees in spots. Some pics................Paul

When I built my new layout in the dining room area I trapped a nice corner cupboard there with some memento type items in it. There was nowhere to put it at the time so last night I cleaned everything out and removed the cupboard-piece by piece. I had thought about some scenery or buildings but think I will lave it open for now. It gives me another angle to watch the trains.

IMHO, excellent!

FrankM.

Some days you plan for your layout, some days you work on the layout  I'm not sure which category this falls into, but today I ordered more led lights for building flats and bought a second Lionel industrial tank that I've been looking for. 

When I saw I was post 4999 I couldn't resist posting again to be number 5000!

 

i also sent off a Williams GP to have TMCC installed with lighting, sounds and electro couplers.

Had a new furnace and hot water tank installed in the utility room. Setting up my second of five work benches. Train Room, Utility Room, Darkroom, Garage and Shed. This room I have to share with the wife. This project is an example of, The best tool in my tool box is my check book.

     Still working on the peg board. Debating the who's who of space on the peg board. See photo below. Click to enlarge.

Five workbenches!!  The only one the ladies will let me have is the sawhorses and old door I set up outside on the patio when the weather is nice.  My wife and grown daughter have so much stuff, that when I clear off a space to work, I come home to find more junk on it.