What did you do on your layout today?

Hello Mike, I use a great outfit called trackside scenery, Joe is a great guy and will help you out  with a large selection.

http://www.tracksidescenery.com/index.php

Good folks to deal with,

one more photo

Looking good Mo, going to be a long tunnel! I hope you are going to have access. But it looks like it's going to be GREAT!

mike g. posted:

Looking good Mo, going to be a long tunnel! I hope you are going to have access. But it looks like it's going to be GREAT!

Thanks Mike.

Im going to have the "upper street" able to lift off of the base, (I'm thinking of doing it in three sections) in case anything goes amiss. 

Looks like everyone is into one great project or another!!  Excellent work, everyone.

Having finally gotten trains running on my Ceiling Central Railroad, a project that was on hold the last two years due to health issues; I went back today to my 4x8 layout in a spare bedroom that I transformed before Christmas into my Christmas layout.  It has languished (collected dust) all winter. So on the first day of spring, I dismantled it, put all the Christmas buildings, people, horse-drawn vehicles, lights, and pine trees away.  All that is left is to remove the snow blankets and start back in putting my regular buildings and vehicles back on the table.

Congratulations John on the lights. Getting that many to work has to give you a really good feeling. Now if they will just stay lit as long as they gave been advertised to later, you should have a long time if enjoyment.

John Pignatelli JR. posted:

one more photo

Say!  Does the Williams Peter Witt work on those sharp Superstreet curves? 

Mitch

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

John Pignatelli JR. posted:,

one more photo

Say!  Does the Williams Peter Witt work on those sharp Superstreet curves? 

Mitch

Thanks Bill.

Mitch, unfortunatl they do not. I have a larger radius cures on order, hopefully I hope they do.

Once again looks great, John ! I'll definitely have to check out Joe and the backgrounds. Thanks for the info and keep up the good work!Keep us posted with more pictures .

Mike

I put a CAB1L/BASE1L command set on my layout. I was lucky enough to come across one for a good price. My friend who is a independent Lionel dealer ordered it for a fellow who never picked it up so it sat for a year at his house. He wanted to get rid of it so I took it off his hands. I got a kick out of running my Weaver U25B that has ERR railsounds and command boards. I ran it conventionally until now.

Today was a pretty good day. Got the cross braces on the legs and painted the bottom portion of the table black. While the framework was open I drilled holes in the upper cross braces for wires. I placed the plywood on but won't fasten it down till after dinner. After that all that will be left is to level it and on the back screw it to the wall for stability. Pics of the progress........................Paul

Installed Steps and did some staining for the loading dock. Everyone's input would be great if I should weather it and if so I would love your suggestions.

Started wiring on section 2 of 6. Knees are howling   I hope to have it finished this weekend.

On the weekend I added Cruise Commander to my faithful old E6 Atlantic.  I took advantage of all those extra pinouts to add an LED headlight. 

In celebration, it was an all Pennsy steam night on the new layout.  I swapped out several engines but always had 2 trains running simultaneously on the single mainline.  For added excitement, one train would be diverted onto a reversing loop line which would require manually throwing 4 or 5 switches. 

Bruce

Nice looking engines, Bruce. 

Thank you Paul and Mitch for liking my loading dock!

This morning I got the plywood screwed down to the table and pushed it into place. When I put the leveling screws in I lucked out and when I pushed the table into place I only have one front corner to bring up. This afternoon I hope to get the second table together. Another week and another Tuesday night train get together. A pic of the table.....Paul

when I built the shelves for Dad's trains, it opened up a section of a curve on my #1 mainline. when I added this part, it was a quick get it done to run the train, and it looked it. I tore this old out and redid it better this time. the track on the curve had a ton of shims, not any more.nice and flat ( I won't go so far as say it's level...)

The under-the-layout train shelf storage project is complete. My son Chris and I finished it this afternoon. We have doubled our storage space and got the trains that were on the carpet up above the carpet in case of any basement water damage. here is the photo.

While cleaning the area under our layout to install the shelf system, we found a box with an unfinished project from years ago, a circus train that my son and I were decorating and building. Chris took it upon himself to finish one of the flat cars and circus wagons. Below are the photos. Chris has plans for additions to the circus train in the future.

Love the train...and the station platform!

Wow... you guys are busy... I ran trains again last night...

The management of the Great Northeastern Railway has decided that it is time to let the cat out of the bag.

The Great Northeastern Railway, "The Chazzie System", has finally completed and opened its headquarters in the new industrial area at the Mt. Randolph yards. It joins newly arrived industries such as the Garfield Belt Company, Unoco Motor Oil, Doggy Doo Canine Laxative and the Fartzwell Baked Bean factory at the thriving Mt. Randolph yard location. Photos are below (if you haven't yet figured that out).

The relocation of these industries will mean much commerce and many new jobs for the residents of Terryville and Christopolis. The community has given its unanimous approval.

Randy,

I LOVE IT!  Great humor!!

Nothing fancy, I built my first mountain and double tunnel out of foam.  I enjoyed it even though it is not as nice as some I have seen.

looks pretty good to me Ken!

I've been splitting my time this month between my layout and my former club the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum. I joined that group 30 years ago, but dropped out 25 years ago. The group has been forced to move to a new location, and I decided to help with the move.

For a week and a half, we cut the massive 2 rail layout into pieces. Then last weekend we moved the whole thing over to the new space. Tuesday we got the legs back on 4 of the sections. Thursday one of the guys is bringing a surveyor's transit so we can set the final position and start connecting the pieces back together.

When they removed the cover that I had cobbled together over the trestle, not a single stick was broken. A testament to the quality of the construction, and the care with which it was moved.

This is just like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle. I spent a good part of the afternoon running around searching for, gathering and sorting the legs.

The process goes, get a couple legs on one end, then prop up the other end on the boxes and put on the remaining legs. Repeat 23 more times.

I'm really quite surprised at how smoothly and quickly this process is going. It helps that we have six people on the case.

Day off at the club today. Time to work on my layout.

Good show !!   Nice !

jim pastorius posted:

Good show !!   Nice !

Thanks Jim, wait until you see the completed museum. It will take some time to get to that level though. I finally saw the plans yesterday, and it's going to be really neat. Beside the "crown jewel" 2 rail layout, a gentleman in California donated his Clarke Dunham Studios built, 3 rail layout, with a Minnesota theme. That layout may need a little rework to fit the space better. There will also be a variety of smaller layouts representing different scales and types of trains.

Hello everyone. Well I have been working on a few models. Today was in the mid 60's and now the temp is dropping to the low 30's tonight. That is the reason I brought into the house.

Today I got the frame and legs up for the second table. Going to have to relocate the plug in the wall below the table top. I'll see what tomorrow brings. Looking at the pics I am not quite sure about the width of the table at the end where my panel box is. But here is pics of the work today............Paul

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

jim pastorius posted:

Good show !!   Nice !

Thanks Jim, wait until you see the completed museum. It will take some time to get to that level though. I finally saw the plans yesterday, and it's going to be really neat. Beside the "crown jewel" 2 rail layout, a gentleman in California donated his Clarke Dunham Studios built, 3 rail layout, with a Minnesota theme. That layout may need a little rework to fit the space better. There will also be a variety of smaller layouts representing different scales and types of trains.

Elliot,

That is a really nice new space for the club!  Also, it is great to see that just a few guys were able to move a club sized layout successfully!  The trestle sure was built well!  It sounds like an exciting club, and with the Dunham Studios layout, it will even be better!

paul 2 posted:

Today I got the frame and legs up for the second table. Going to have to relocate the plug in the wall below the table top. I'll see what tomorrow brings. Looking at the pics I am not quite sure about the width of the table at the end where my panel box is. But here is pics of the work today............Paul

Paul,

I have your solution for both the outlet and the breaker box.  Buy one of the new Menards power stations and hock it up right between the two.  That will keep everyone guessing!  ;-)

The carpentry looks great!  Neater than mine ever is!

Thanks for the compliment Mark. I have been doing my framework like this for many years. Getting better at it measuring right and throwing less wood out.  I like your idea about the Menards power station. I picked one up for this layout last week. I will leave the panel box showing and attach two wires from station to panel box......Paul

Looking good Paul, I just love when members put up pictures of there progress of there layout. It always gives me ideas.

Thanks Mike G, me too.  The old saying is you can't teach a old dog new tricks but this forum proves that wrong. I have pick up a lot from people here over the years...........Paul

Mark Boyce posted:

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

jim pastorius posted:

Good show !!   Nice !

Thanks Jim, wait until you see the completed museum. It will take some time to get to that level though. I finally saw the plans yesterday, and it's going to be really neat. Beside the "crown jewel" 2 rail layout, a gentleman in California donated his Clarke Dunham Studios built, 3 rail layout, with a Minnesota theme. That layout may need a little rework to fit the space better. There will also be a variety of smaller layouts representing different scales and types of trains.

Elliot,

That is a really nice new space for the club!  Also, it is great to see that just a few guys were able to move a club sized layout successfully!  The trestle sure was built well!  It sounds like an exciting club, and with the Dunham Studios layout, it will even be better!

Actually Mark, the moving was done with the help of around 60 different people over the two day stretch. The set up can be accomplished with a small crew of just 6 - 8 people depending on the weight of the piece.

A couple of other members and I built that trestle. I take a lot of pride in that layout, because I was involved with so many different projects over my 5 year tenure. It's great to see that they've survived all this time as well as their move.

I have posted a 6 part video series chronicling the move on my YouTube channel.

1. Separating the first piece from the layout
2. Moving the first piece out of the old space
3. The first piece arriving at the new space
4. Moving the Stone Arch Bridge
5. Moving the Third Avenue Bridge
6. The last piece arriving at the new space

Thanks Paul2, brwebster, and Steamer. This was my first attempt, I made my own foam cutter and used some scrap foam that I had laying around. I figured it had to be useful for something.

What I had planned for the day didn't work out but it was still a good day. I got the cross braces on the legs and painted the frame work that will be in the open. I had to go to the Depot for more paint and a few other things and didn't get started till after lunch. I was leveling the table and found that the floor slopped at a good rate. The leveling screws I put in were not long enough so I made up a couple of small blocks to go under them. That worked out. So tomorrow first will be to move the plug down below the table. Also I bought tongue and groove wood for the shelving under the tables. Couple of pics...............Paul

paul 2 posted:

What I had planned for the day didn't work out but it was still a good day. I got the cross braces on the legs and painted the frame work that will be in the open. I had to go to the Depot for more paint and a few other things and didn't get started till after lunch. I was leveling the table and found that the floor slopped at a good rate. The leveling screws I put in were not long enough so I made up a couple of small blocks to go under them. That worked out. So tomorrow first will be to move the plug down below the table. Also I bought tongue and groove wood for the shelving under the tables. Couple of pics...............Paul

Paul: That is first class bench work! Bravo!

Chris brought most of our trains back from the storage locker after his morning class. We spent the early afternoon emptying the two storage tubs of trains and putting them on our shelves. Chris has our 20-car box car train arranged on the shelves in descending weight order so, if you put the cars on the track in sequence, the heavier cars are at the front of the train and the lighter ones are to the rear.

After emptying the tubs, Chris assembled and ran a 22-car hopper train for about an hour. It was great to see the long freight train crawl around the layout at 10 scale miles per hour. We had a GREAT time.