What did you do on your layout today?

I got the flat completed and installed late last night. I just need to add some small details and weather/clutter up the loading dock:

I can't see how.

 

Lots of stock stuff fits right in and ever single piece is "kit bashable".  The variations are endless.

True. I'm not into stock Plasticville, but I've seen some really good work done from kit-bashing and modifications of those kits on layouts over the years...

Frank

 

The parade has that small town touch where most people know each other, which can be way better than the big ones.

Organized the train room a bit.  Put in place some simulated wood grain rubber flooring ( to accommodate a bit of ease on the knees when standing and working on the layout for long periods of time) along the isle.  Looks nice enough! 

 

All the while I did this I ran a couple trains.  I still need to get inside the tunnel to fix last weeks derailment.  Hopefully tonight.  It should take 30 - 40 minutes from start to finish because once I'm inside and fix the derailed engine and caboose, I'll probably want to  make a few adjustments around the entry area.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!!

So I will have something to do tomorrow I went to my LHS and picked up Kalmbach's new book on the RR 50s and then went to Home Depot and bought 5  1x4s  to use as a border around the top of my layout. Will have about 3/4" above the top of the Homosote as a curb. Plus, I plan to install new white mini lights around the on the top edge to help light the layout. Sort of like foot lights. Have the old ones on the edge of the Homosote now and it makes nice indirect lighting at night. Also purchased another O gauge engine from the forum and a nice standard gauge set for that part of my collection.

gee Mitch..those have miles left in them! my 2026 has holes worn in them, dropped some solder on them till I get a new set and runs like a charm.

The crowd is gathering on the sidewalks!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 that guy behind the second horse doesn't look too happy.....

He has good reason, right?

Loaded the software into the K-Line Allegheny I just finished a PS2 upgrade on. Sounds, speeds, lights all work great.  This upgrade was a real challenge. 

 

bruce

I appreciate your seeing/feeling and saying that, Suzukovich. That atmosphere was not deliberate - not planned. It just seemed to emerge from memories, I assume, of times and places I have seen, somewhere along the way. If somebody asked me to explain precisely what I did to impart such an impression, I could not describe it to them. Yet, somehow, the place came into realization, which is why I said here that I appreciate what you said. I think you are the first visitor to describe the village and its parade in that way. Thank you.

FrankM.

I turned this baseball special Berkshire into this ersatz CN Mikado. Still have to get it numbered and jury-rig a way to control the smoker since it won't shut off.

 

very nice Daniel!

Great work Daniel. Love the paint job.

David

My O gauge is still in the planning stages. That is because my railroad room is not finished.

But my N gauge is up and running.

 

 

Today I fixed the trucks on FIVE CARS that I have been procrastinating on. I feel a deep  sense of accomplishment! 

Suzukovich, you nailed it!  Growing up in a rural area and going into a small town nearby, I know just what you mean.  We now live just outside my wife's hometown, and it seems she knows everyone.  

 

Frank, your Main Street could be just the same one as hers.

Daniel,

Super job on the Berkshire!  Yankees fans may think it a sacrelidge, but I would send a Pirates engine to you to do the same thing with.  (Note, I've followed the Pirates since the mid '60s and even through the 20 years of losing.)

Nicely done!  Hitting the switch in the cab doesn't shut it off?

 

Mitch

Cut some wood to re-enforce the storage doors I had to cut to get in them. Took them up to the layout and ran some trains for awhile.......................Paul

I juggled....five projects...the pickle cannery, the MoPac Am. Std. Car Co. gas electric

kit, and two Hallmark pickup repaints, and a pickle car repaint.  The pickups are a tedious pain....the 1937 Ford comes in green, it is now gray with black fenders (body color fenders were a deluxe option on pickups in that era), and the white 1936 GMC is now blue.  Various paint comptabilitiy problems with both, but the Ford is done.  The gas electric is almost done, but I caught a paint touchup, and it will be done.  There is much more to do on the cannery, sides are almost covered with courrugated siding, but roof is not done. Loading platform is built, but not painted, and I am going to put a canopy over it. The tubs on the Lionel pickle car have all been covered with wood slats and painted, and I am putting bands around them.  Not enough time in the day...

Fixed the tunnel derailment on the Mountain Division.  After doing so I decided to plant 50 ever greens onto Mt. Randolph.  I also put some HO scale backpackers hiking atop of Mt. Randolph. 

 

I still have to put the Bollman bridge back into place and give a test run. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all fellow train runners... may we all give thanks to those

most deserving... each of us have our own special someone in our lives we are most

thankful for........

 

Take care and may God bless us all.

 

Jesse 

I'm preparing Sun Turkey.  It's like Sun Tea, only you cook the turkey in the sun until it reaches 165°. 

 

[DISCLAIMER:  No, I'm not.  Don't be silly.]

 

Anyhow, got the bird stuffed and in the oven, with veggies, giblets and such in the roasting pan to make stock while the bird cooks! 

 

And while the bird cooks, I took the 1666 out for a little run with the future Crimson Comet consist...

 

(Photo taken shortly after Norma Bates Kitteh sat down on the tracks, got bumped by the train and indignantly decamped.)

 

Mitch

Did some scenery around the station and made a small fence.

 

 

Well the wood I cut yesterday for re enforcing the storage doors was too short. I should of measured three times instead of twice. This time I checked my measurements four times to make sure they were right otherwise it would be a trip to Home Depot to get wood..................Paul

For those not in a fowl mood, try the Ham Radio.

 

Bruce

 

Finished putting the wood around the edge of my layout to make a low curb(3/4") and put new white mini lights on the top. Makes it brighter when the lights are low at night. Plus ran some trains.

Learned something interesting today: 

 

1) 681-15 rollers fit into Lionel Polar Express contact assemblies neatly.

 

2) Unfortunately, they're slightly larger in diameter.  Just large enough to hold the wheels off the track just far enough to nearly eliminate any tractive effort, so the loco just sits there and spins its wheels.

 

Obviously, this will require some rethinking... ;^.^

 

Mitch

Sun Turkey will only work at Badwater on the floor of Death Valley, in August, and even then, prepare to meet Salmonella.  I, today, avoided the turkey, as usual, and had ham,shrimp, and roast beef.  I also FINALLY finished my RMT powered MoPac version of the Am. Std. Car. Co. gas electric kit.  I got all the walls of my pickle

plant covered in corrugated siding, but not the roof...where I am wondering if I might

go to another material.  Painted the Lionel pickle car body after filling the stamped

lettering, and finished wrapping all the wooden staved tubs in bands.  And I touched

up the filled holes of the Hallmark 1940 Ford pickup, and wonder if Hallmark made

others than this one, the 1936 GMC, and the 1937 Ford (1940 and prior).

OT:  Here's the boid just after it left the oven. 

 

Obviously, it no longer looks like this, but it DOES taste as good as it looks...

 

Mitch

I realized that people want to come over and see you layout over the holidays and your in the middle of major work and nothing is ready so I had to scramble to get everything cleaned up and running again so I took a short video of a test run before everyone came over

First I had to get all the boxes between these tables moved somewhere else. Once I did that I was able to get the extra piece of wood in place. I can now move the station and extend the sidings another 4 inches back. After dinner I'll get the cork down. A pic of the section. It's only 4" X 17"..............Paul

Nice run and nice layout!  Thank you for the video!

Got the cork glued down and moved the station down to its new position giving me 4 more inches on each siding. Tomorrow I'll paint the cork let it dry and then piece in the track. Pics........................Paul

Here is the mountain that I have been working on. They are also just different picture of the layout. 

Have a great weekend everyone,

David

Added a new addition to my train room

Built a short bridge and dock

I built and installed this display rack for some of my post war Lionel.

I found my Ross curved, sectional track to go with newly acquired GG straight Phantom rail straight sections for a Christmas layout.