What did you do on your layout today?

Beautiful video, Lee.

Looks great, Lee!!

Big day for the dude!

A year ago, I paid $3 for an Althearn 34 foot ribbed PRR hopper. The kit was perfectly assembled, but the owner couldn't get the couplers                  attached. To my surprise, when the store owner gave me the box, the couplers were inside.

It's my only Althearn, and none of my other cars had a similar coupling system. I figured that since the hopper was perfectly assembled, the builder must have been right to give up on the couplers.

Today I carefully disassembled the trucks, and after carefully trying different set-ups, I got the couplers installed. It runs great, even pulling heavy cars behind it.

Bob and Mark thanks for the encouraging words on getting the power working. 

Johan, that is one nice switcher.

Lee, enjoyed the video and thanks for the compliment on the crossover. I wanted to try something different. And because of all the good pics of your vehicles you have started another quest for me to look for trucks.

So today I got to the train show. It was 95% S gauge but it was nice to get out for something train related. The rest of the day was planting flowers. But a highlight was the mail person dropped off two trucks I found at die cast direct for a reasonable price. They were 1/43 but they should work. Pics.............Paul 2

Last operating session of the season pictures.

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...14#85198616506692114

Vincent, Mark thanks for the complements it was fun to get it out again 

Paul thanks for the complement glad you enjoyed it. I have several of those Pete’s and KWs they are nice that van trailer is awesome and should work well Patrick and others use them all the time and the look good. Newray just re- realeased those last year good score. Here’s one of those Pete’s I Customize I put it on a AMT frame to give you some ideas

early morning postwar run.......

Perfect, Gandydancer. That vignette has everything a model railroader would want.

FrankM

paul 2 posted:

Bob and Mark thanks for the encouraging words on getting the power working. 

Johan, that is one nice switcher.

Lee, enjoyed the video and thanks for the compliment on the crossover. I wanted to try something different. And because of all the good pics of your vehicles you have started another quest for me to look for trucks.

So today I got to the train show. It was 95% S gauge but it was nice to get out for something train related. The rest of the day was planting flowers. But a highlight was the mail person dropped off two trucks I found at die cast direct for a reasonable price. They were 1/43 but they should work. Pics.............Paul 2

Paul. Thanks. That is a my scratch built Alco HH660. 

Johan.

lee drennen posted:

Guys everyone has so much great stuff going on 

Brian great yards very nice

Elliot. I also will be praying for you This September I’ll be driving 30yrs I’m 50 and had hip and knee trouble since my teens. I feel your pain 

Paul. I like that crossover and your layout is looking nice

Johan. Always enjoy your reefers cars I have  a soft spot for them

John. That’s a great pic of your layout 

Mike. Your layout is really coming together and thanks for the complement 

 

Lee. Thank you. I am glad you like it. You have always really nice looking stuff there.🤝

Johan

Just playing around my cell phone a little this afternoon...

So for those of you who has seen my carpet central set up in my girlfriend’s living room on Sundays, I ran into a problem today. I have been running a Williams GP7 but today I ran my FARR number 4 set and I forgot steam engines weigh more than diesels. The track kept moving down into the carpet so I broke down a big amazon box and used it as a platform. She said, “that is some redneck engineering!” 

The trains ran well but I did try using my super-o switches and that was interesting...they definitely need some work. But off to the work bench! 

Hi everyone, I hop you all had a great weekend!

Johan, I was an Embassy guard in Sofia, Bulgaria and Vienna, Austria. Love the time I spent there. A buddy and I would travel everywhere we could on the train! Nice work on the Altoona car, but then again everything you do turns out looking wonderful!

John, Looks great! Really like all the action you have going in! Very well done!

Elliot, I sure hope you are doing ok after your fall! Don't you know we are all getting a little old to be falling! LOL Please get better soon and prayers out to you!

Paul 2, I am so glad you got your track problem fixed! Now you don't have to pull up any stair treads! LOL The 2 new trucks look really nice, they should fit on your layout perfect!

Yardmaster, Congratulation! Nice looking room and very impressive work!

Butch, very nice work! Sure looks like alot of popsicles! You must be stuffed! LOL

Brian, Looks like you had a lot of chores to do this weekend.  Sure is a good thing you have a beer delivery train at your house!

Lee D, Great pictures and nice little video Thanks for sharing!

Vincent, Way to keep at it, sometimes you just need to try different things! Look nice!

Lee, all I can say is wow! It's amazing how your layout looks, just show why you get published! Nice worrk!

So this weekend we had Family over and I didn't get a lot of time in the train room. But I did get a chance to get a couple building wired up for lights. Here are a couple pictures! Enjoy and I hope everyone has a good Monday!

Nice work Mike, All the buildings look great! The rotating party light in "Oak Point Nuclear Power Plant" is a trip ... especially with the lights out ... lol 

Rusty

On the second day with my new building I began by properly finishing reinstalling 14 feet of fence.   I swept the building and made careful measurements.  I established the main board height at 30 inches.  I finally get to use my laser level!  I attached a full length 2x4 to 3 walls and a forth board four feet from the back wall.  I found a piece of plywood just for a picture.  I will clear my original 4x8 setup and cut it to 4x7' 3".  I'm still looking at track plans as a starting point.

One thing is bothering me early on.  I think I want to turn the building 90 degrees.  This would fix a problem with water running off one building on to the porch the other.   By time I gave out, I was working by the light of a kerosene lamp.  I put an engine and caboose in the building to make it all official.  Track soon.

p51 posted:

Just playing around my cell phone a little this afternoon...

Lee. Really nice pics, fabulous scenery. Please, check out of July Classic Toy Trains Magazine, there is a six pages story to our Shark Bay R.R.👍

Johan

  I made some aged signage for around the peddler's stand, and now it's time for a camera close up... since I really can't focus on this stuff well anymore. Thick craft acrylics don't flow well either. This was tough this small as the bush was drying, needed cleaning, every 6-8.

  "Jerky" needs shortening on the J's hook, K&Y suck. I might just skip that sign too. The blob in the "Duck" K  needs smoothing...or not. Like the two colors in "Rabbit"; it's only immediately discernable by camera. To the eye it is  "one color" for most folk viewed at 2-3 ft off.

That's not all folks! 🐷      

Always count your change mon.     

mike g. posted:

Hi everyone, I hop you all had a great weekend!

Johan, I was an Embassy guard in Sofia, Bulgaria and Vienna, Austria. Love the time I spent there. A buddy and I would travel everywhere we could on the train! Nice work on the Altoona car, but then again everything you do turns out looking wonderful!

John, Looks great! Really like all the action you have going in! Very well done!

Elliot, I sure hope you are doing ok after your fall! Don't you know we are all getting a little old to be falling! LOL Please get better soon and prayers out to you!

Paul 2, I am so glad you got your track problem fixed! Now you don't have to pull up any stair treads! LOL The 2 new trucks look really nice, they should fit on your layout perfect!

Yardmaster, Congratulation! Nice looking room and very impressive work!

Butch, very nice work! Sure looks like alot of popsicles! You must be stuffed! LOL

Brian, Looks like you had a lot of chores to do this weekend.  Sure is a good thing you have a beer delivery train at your house!

Lee D, Great pictures and nice little video Thanks for sharing!

Vincent, Way to keep at it, sometimes you just need to try different things! Look nice!

Lee, all I can say is wow! It's amazing how your layout looks, just show why you get published! Nice worrk!

 

Mike. Thanks. Never visit in Bulgaria, but in Austria couple a times. I like a lot their Zillertal narrow gauge line and Achensee Bahn. Jenbach is a small nice town, where you can see a three  different gauges, 1435mm, 1000mm and  760mm.

Johan

Bill. great start! Now that shows dedication working by the old lamp!

Butch, I think all the signs will work just fine for your little peddlers stand!

Johan, Everywhere we went was mostly by rail, either city transit or country to country rail! I would really like to go back again!

Well its Monday, have to go tubbing today then come home and clean the pond. Not sure if I will get anything done in the train room today. I will check in later to see what wonderful work you all have done today!

Everyone have a great Monday and start of the week!

Lee, those are great black and whites pics

Johan, that is one awesome kitbash. What did you start with as an engine to do this project.

Mike g, sounds like you have a fun day ahead of you tubing. Wish I could say the same thing but the wife gave me a list of things to do along with what I have to do outside. The only thing I can say that is train related is one of her things for me is to clean off the dining room table so that may be my only train fun today. But there is always tomorrow.......Paul 2

Happy Monday- no train time again this weekend. We actually had two consecutive days of sunshine! Got lot's of yard work done. My son power washed all of the patio furniture and we set it out for the season among other things. 

I mentioned the other day that I was pondering a change to one of my elevated loops. Both grades are way too steep, better than 3%, but the one on the right through the pass is the worst of the two.  A loco pulling more than one or two cars can't make the top without help from the hand of god. Gotta hold your breath on the down hill run with free-wheeling post war locos too. So I'm considering eliminating this grade and making two spurs out of the track, one on the base level and the other elevated. This would give me a little more room to park equipment and more switching options, and since I rarely run a train up that grade it's really wasted track which is at a premium on a small layout. I played around in SCARM last night and came up with this. It should work. Now I gotta make some time to do it.

I can still run trains between the two loops on the left side which is something I don't want to totally give up.

Bob

This is the hill my locos can't climb.

We are celebrating our 42nd wedding anniversary today. But Nancy is angry at me:

Last night she was watching the final episode of Game of Thrones, which I do not watch. I walked in just as Daenerys and John Snow were kissing in front of the Iron Throne, and I said "One of them is going to stab the other one."

Now my wife is mad at me for spoiling the surprise.

SPOILER ALERT.  For those who have to watch it on DVD when it comes out because they don't get HBO.

  I'm a spoiler factory too. Most drama is just too predictable once the right card are showing. I'd be hunting down a first release next day air or video subscription Vincent.

  @RSJB18 , before you tear things down hastily, take a strip of two sided tape and run it on one of the inclined rails. Don't worry, it won't come loose.

Detack it with your fingers, and maybe some layout dust . One strip lasts up to a few years. It nearly vanishes once applied because it's nearly transparent. Doesn't come loose, and doesn't noticibly gunk things up. (for a while at least, it picks up dirt off the wheels.)

 Even if you want a track change, give this a try for the experience please. It's gonna make you laugh how much better you can climb.  I can pull a dozen up a 5%, all on thr grade, with an single boogie drive pulmore.  You may be looking for an excuse to change, but breathing some new life into the grade for a bit isn't hard either imo, and I think you've lost out a bit on fun in that respect. Grades let you constantly test locos, but that also means vigilant attention is required, even when not desired. Blocks can make it a no hands affair. 

  For the decline.. (are you running one dircetion only?) ,  I use a block set to barely deliver enough voltage to nudge it downhill (cclkw travel; pre-w Z, lower left big dial-C=ground level; big D= uphill; sm. top right dial B= elevated lvl; sm top left A= downhill. B is set higher than C because it needs to finish off some of the grade work.)

  A 25w transformer could likely be dedicated to your downhill to minimize that pita. Maybe a 5v acc line lol.. 

 One wire, two slices with the dremel, and an open power tap.  Blocks are soooo useful. Once your base layout wires are done, block expansion is zip,zip,1 wire on track center to switch, 1wire from sw. to power, 2 blocks all done.

  E.g. 4 blocks, A 4PDT (2 pos, 4 circuit) and you can be back to manual(1 main throttle) or (2 block) semi-auto downhill (or climb) or "full" auto-pilot (X?-blocks) with a click or two and one wire per block.

I use the skinny 1/2" Frost King tape for winter window shrink-plastic. It is rubbery, maybe vinyl, peels off in one piece pretty well, and is exacty the right size for tube track. Use a rubbery tape vs some plasticy Scotch types that might break on removal...pita (? Scotch might be rubbery too?). I would avoid or at least detack both sides of a plasticy tape

New mag came in.

200 pages, including the covers.

Only read to page 15 but, so far, very impressive.

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

p51 posted:

Just playing around my cell phone a little this afternoon...

Lee. Really nice pics, fabulous scenery. Please, check out of July Classic Toy Trains Magazine, there is a six pages story to our Shark Bay R.R.👍

Johan

Johan,

Thanks for the kind words, really.

I rarely ever check out CTT magazine but I will for sure look for your article as I'm a big fan of your layout!

There's a crew at our house today, replacing all of her interior doors. This is the one for the train room, still lacking the trim and door knob at the time this was taken.

Brian, quite the selection of NYCS Engines! Very Nice!

Butch, some great information there. If I were to use it I would have to read it 4 or 5 times for it to sink in, then another 10 time to understand it! But Its o cool you are sharing I the information!

Sam, look like a good read, next time I go to the store I will have to see if they have it in stock!

Lee, nice looking new door to the train room! I hope you don't get stuck in there without a door knob! LOL

I didn't get anything done today in the train room. Got home and the wife thought it would be a good idea to clean the fish pond before the big weekend, it really didn't matter that it was raining! LOL Lucky me!     I don't think I will get anything done tomorrow or the next day as I have tubbing and then work right after words. But you never, we will see.

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday and have some fun with trains tomorrow!

  I'm a spoiler factory too. Most drama is just too predictable once the right card are showing. I'd be hunting down a first release next day air or video subscription Vincent.

  @RSJB18 , before you tear things down hastily, take a strip of two sided tape and run it on one of the inclined rails. Don't worry, it won't come loose.

Detack it with your fingers, and maybe some layout dust . One strip lasts up to a few years. It nearly vanishes once applied because it's nearly transparent. Doesn't come loose, and doesn't noticibly gunk things up. (for a while at least, it picks up dirt off the wheels.)

 Even if you want a track change, give this a try for the experience please. It's gonna make you laugh how much better you can climb.  I can pull a dozen up a 5%, all cars on the grade, with an single boogie drive pulmore.  You may just be looking for an excuse to change, but breathing some new life into the grade for a bit isn't hard either imo, and I think you've lost out some on fun in that respect.

 Grades let you constantly test loco ability, but that also means vigilant attention is required, even when not desired. Blocks can make it a no hands affair. 

  For the decline.. (are you running one dircetion only?) ,  I use a block set to barely deliver enough voltage to nudge it downhill (cclkw travel; pre-w Z, lower left big dial-C=ground level; big D= uphill; sm. top right dial B= elevated lvl; sm top left A= downhill. B is set higher than C because it needs to finish off some of the grade work.)

  A 25w transformer could likely be dedicated to your downhill to minimize that pita. Maybe a 5v acc line lol.. 

 One wire, two slices with the dremel, and an open power tap, thats it.  Blocks are soooo useful. Once your base layout wires are done, block expansion is zip,zip,1 wire on track center to switch, 1wire from sw. to power, 2 blocks all done.

  E.g. 4 blocks, A 4PDT (2 pos, 4 circuit) and you can be back to manual(1 main throttle) or (2 block) semi-auto downhill (or climb) or "full" auto-pilot (X?-blocks) with a click or two and one wire per block.

I use the skinny 1/2" Frost King tape for winter window shrink-plastic. It is rubbery, maybe vinyl, peels off in one piece pretty well, and is exacty the right size for tube track. Use a rubbery tape vs some plasticy Scotch types that might break on removal...pita (? Scotch might be rubbery too?). I would avoid or at least detack both sides of a plasticy tape

Replaced my Plasticville Station with a Marx Girard Station that I recently acquired:

Added these Bachmann Scenescape construction figures, a Corgi back-hoe, a Mathcbox King Size Crane in addition to the woodland scenics trees and the 2 Tamiya brick features. Soldiers in this "commy" area overseeing the construction, diecast figure in the lower right is a spy.

Model Power Styrene brick that I'm using as a transition area around this station and station platform. Wellys Escalade, Matchbox Classic Series Benz(broken down, husband is pushing from the back). CIA & Army meeting at the bottom. Construction worker is a lookout undercover.

Thanks for the tips @Adriatic.

Bob

paul 2 posted:

Lee, those are great black and whites pics

Johan, that is one awesome kitbash. What did you start with as an engine to do this project.

Mike g, sounds like you have a fun day ahead of you tubing. Wish I could say the same thing but the wife gave me a list of things to do along with what I have to do outside. The only thing I can say that is train related is one of her things for me is to clean off the dining room table so that may be my only train fun today. But there is always tomorrow.......Paul 2

Paul. Thank you. Alco HH660 is a one of mine fav. engine, waiting many years but MTH, Lionel or Atlas dont like made them. So i start the project. I found one Lionel TMCC Alco S2 where was a broken body, but i can use the cab, trucks, motor, TMCC. All another is a scratch build. Maybe next time i use 3D printer.

Johan

p51 posted:

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

p51 posted:

Just playing around my cell phone a little this afternoon...

Lee. Really nice pics, fabulous scenery. Please, check out of July Classic Toy Trains Magazine, there is a six pages story to our Shark Bay R.R.👍

Johan

Johan,

Thanks for the kind words, really.

I rarely ever check out CTT magazine but I will for sure look for your article as I'm a big fan of your layout!

Lee. You are welcome. It's a big honer to us. My work is only made a scenery, build a some buildings and weathering all.

Thanks again,

Johan

mike g. posted:

So this weekend we had Family over and I didn't get a lot of time in the train room. But I did get a chance to get a couple building wired up for lights. Here are a couple pictures! Enjoy and I hope everyone has a good Monday!

Mike, The lighting looks great!  By the looks of it, the nuclear power station is going the way of Chernobyl!! 

Brian, great pictures from yesterday!

Mark, thank you, but I have to tone down the Morton Salt building, just a little to bright for me.

As I thought I didn't get any train room time yesterday and probably not again today. Oh well that's what life does to you!

I hope everyone has a great Wednesday!

Mike- didn't comment before but I like the lighting too. I agree that the Morton's factory is a bit bright. Maybe that's why the nuke plant is glowing .

Bob

Mike I have the Ambulance Station 21, Morton Salt and the Pepsi Plant from Menards. Let me say THEY ARE ALL EXTREMELY BRIGHT! I agree they need to be toned down just a little. Everyone laughs at the Ambulance Station because the Ambulance Headlights light up a 4 foot by 6 foot area. But I love the buildings. Going to add the greatest drink ever to the Pepsi Plant. The Drink every on talks about. Everyone ask "What's Up?" Of course the answer is 7. Seven Up, 7Up. Can you tell I like 7Up? LOL

Curtish, i really want the fire station and police plaza,  but only after I get the Brewery! Can you tell I like beer! LOL

I've been in at Augsburg University in Minneapolis all of last week attending and performing at an international music conference and festival.  Lots of great music and great times!   

I also enjoyed the light rail system in Minneapolis too!   

Once I got home Tuesday morning at 12:15 a.m.  I immediately went to the train room and ran trains for a bit.  Nothing like seeing my N&W Y6b emerge from a tunnel lugging a long mixed freight!  Seeing that was music to my eyes!

Patrick, you should have let me know you were coming to town. Everyone on the forum is invited to visit my layout. On the other hand, this week was a little rough with my most recent knee injury.

Thanks to all of you for the well wishes from Friday. Saturday, I went in for an x-ray, which came back negative, so that's good, but it still hurts.

Good news on the knee, Elliot!  Hopefully the pain will go away soon.

Thanks Mark, since it's my right knee, I haven't been able to drive since I dd it. You have no idea how much I hate the way my wife drives, so maybe by Friday I'll get back behind the wheel, even if it hurts a little.

Too much time on my hands... I decided to do this Lionel PW F3 a favor and give it a make over as a B&O F unit in later blue dip scheme (just a dummy unit).

More of a paint test than anything else. It all looks good until you put it next to a scale F unit. The lack of detail and slightly smaller size become apparent then. And while I was at it, I figured that if model train manufacturers can sell you an F3 shell and call it an F7, so can I.  I gave it an F7 number and painted the grilles to add to the illusion.  

I'm going to do this again with scale stuff. Even with its faults, I'm sure that this is the happiest this PW F3 has ever been!  

Ralph, the F3-7 looks great!

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Patrick, you should have let me know you were coming to town. Everyone on the forum is invited to visit my layout. On the other hand, this week was a little rough with my most recent knee injury.

Thanks to all of you for the well wishes from Friday. Saturday, I went in for an x-ray, which came back negative, so that's good, but it still hurts.

Good News!   Now stay out of trouble!!!!!!      Happy mending!

Cheers, Dave

Hey Y'all,

Me again.  I been building the benchwork in my new railroad building.  Progress has been halting but not painful.  I am no carpenter and a worse plumber.  If you want a hot rod built, I'm your man.  The CFO said $0.00 budget for the move and that is where we are.  I used only what I had on hand.  The patchwork 1/2" bench top will be covered by a single, thinner sheet of plywood that my trains use now.  It's not pretty but it's square and level.

  I put 200 pounds of sweaty fat guy on the bench for proof testing.  By the time I pick up my toys it will be dark and the kerosene lamp will be lit not to hammer and screw but to look at my favorite caboose in my new building.  I still want to turn the building 90 degrees.  Y'all busy Saturday?

Bill That is an excellent job!!!  Square and level is what counts!!  Keeping the CFO happy is priority!!  Using what you have on hand or can scrounge from wherever (without stealing) is admirable!  Now that I’m on Social Security and working for a few bucks part time, keeping cost down is important!  Sorry I’m to far to help you to spin it!  Years ago I jacked up a shed and corner of a garage by myself because the previous owner had let them go to pot!  Now my low back and sciatic nerve bark at me lifting 20 pounds!  I’m looking forward to seeing the layout progress!!!

I placed a newly acquired switch tower on my layout. Thanks to TIMOTHY SPRAGUE this is a kit that I didn't have to build.

Nice job Tim!

In the future I will install some lights and a interior; as well as ballast the track and do the landscaping.

Nice tower Bob and Tim!

Last day with students today so I started to prioritize the train projects I want to get done while on summer break.  I'm hoping to finish my elevated line, the last subway station, and the lake area.  Starting tomorrow I will get to feel like Paul and see how "retirement" (albeit only for the summer) feels. 

Well grasshopper (Bryan) once you get a taste of "retirement" you may wish you were back teaching. Now you will see the pressure I am under every single day.........Paul 2

Ralph M posted:

Too much time on my hands... I decided to do this Lionel PW F3 a favor and give it a make over as a B&O F unit in later blue dip scheme (just a dummy unit).

More of a paint test than anything else. It all looks good until you put it next to a scale F unit. The lack of detail and slightly smaller size become apparent then. And while I was at it, I figured that if model train manufacturers can sell you an F3 shell and call it an F7, so can I.  I gave it an F7 number and painted the grilles to add to the illusion.  

I'm going to do this again with scale stuff. Even with its faults, I'm sure that this is the happiest this PW F3 has ever been!  

Ralph, I am not a great lover of diesels but that B&O locomotive really looks sharp.

paul 2 posted:

Well grasshopper (Bryan) once you get a taste of "retirement" you may wish you were back teaching. Now you will see the pressure I am under every single day.........Paul 2

Thanks Dave. It's pretty hard to get into trouble sitting at the kitchen table doing jigsaw puzzles. I suppose if anyone can, it would be me.

Patrick, sounds like you had a great week! But also sounds like you missed your trains. Must be an honor to perform there! Congrats!

Elliot, I am glad nothing is broken! Don't worry about driving, you will be back behind the wheel in no time! I cant do jig saw puzzles as they are to hard on my brain, kind of like wiring! LOL

Ralph, Nice work on the F-3 unit!

Bill looks like a nice start, I am with Mark square and level is priority! Don't tell the CFO and sneak a buck here and there! LOL

Bob, the tower looks good on your layout Tim did a wonderful job!

Brian, enjoy the summer and trains! Don't rush the retirement, when you don't work you will find out there are a lot of other things the wife can find for you to do! Like Laundry in your basement train room while your trying to work on your layout! LOL

Well its almost the weekend and I don't have to work today or tomorrow, but do have to work the weekend which sucks! I hope to get something done even if its just running my train around and around! LOL

Everyone have a great Thursday and remember tomorrow is FRIDAY!

Ralph M posted:

Too much time on my hands... I decided to do this Lionel PW F3 a favor and give it a make over as a B&O F unit in later blue dip scheme (just a dummy unit).

More of a paint test than anything else. It all looks good until you put it next to a scale F unit. The lack of detail and slightly smaller size become apparent then. And while I was at it, I figured that if model train manufacturers can sell you an F3 shell and call it an F7, so can I.  I gave it an F7 number and painted the grilles to add to the illusion.  

I'm going to do this again with scale stuff. Even with its faults, I'm sure that this is the happiest this PW F3 has ever been!  

Thanks everyone. Here is an example of my inspiration. As you can see this ol' F7 was pretty beat up by 1974.

(photo by  Kim Piersol via RRPicture Archives.NET)

mike g. posted:

So this weekend we had Family over and I didn't get a lot of time in the train room. But I did get a chance to get a couple building wired up for lights. Here are a couple pictures! Enjoy and I hope everyone has a good Monday!

Mike, you better be careful - with all of the lights and beer drinking, a dance party might break out in there! haha 

Looks great!

I continue to make alterations to the scenery base.  Looking forward to the long weekend and saying goodbye to the pink.  

The mail person just dropped these off to me today. A couple of older type trucks from Diecast Direct. With these I am going to see how a Weaver trailer looks with them. I have bought a bunch of undecorated trailers for future painting. These past few days I have not had anytime for the layout. Friday I have to do a day run to western New York. I hope this weekend I can get something done on the layout. Pic of the trucks..............Paul 2

I need more of these!!! So cool

jgtrh62, thanks for the compliment. The trucks are 1/43. I had no other option to go with so I had to make the liftout in that area. I did not have enough real estate to curve behind the washer/dryer and I did not want to go over the front of the washer and dryer. ......Paul 2

Bill you are moving fast!  Excellent!

When it rains outside, I get a chance to work on projects around the layout. I decided it wouldn't take long to get another car weathered. I just have the wheels left to do. I make them a dusty, oily black from ''leaky journals.'' Wonder if it'll still be raining tomorrow?  Have fun guys. 

My train layout runs behind washer and dryer also

Thanks Mike and John. 

Mike - I went to see my regular doctor today. Saturday was just a walk-in clinic visit to get the x-ray done. Unfortunately, It's almost an hour drive across town, but I got behind the wheel. It went well, but after about half an hour, the knee started barking a bit. He poked at it, and really pinpointed what I had done to it. He explained how things in the lower leg are connected, and why the pain radiates down my shin to my ankle. It's been a week already, and it's way better than when I first did it. Patrick and I were going work on the layout Saturday, but I told him I wasn't going to be up to it, so we'll try again next week. When it comes to jigsaw puzzles, I have always liked them, and been pretty good at them. They may help exercise parts of the brain that we use in model railroading. If you want to build that skill, two suggestions. First, start with a small number of pieces, probably under 500. Second, find a picture that you like! A lot of my puzzles are train related, but not all.

Here are a couple I did recently:

This one was 2000 pieces of the Las Vegas Strip. I loved the bright colors, and we stayed at the Luxor in the lower left corner when we visited a few years ago.

I got this Larry Fisher print, from Larry himself, back at the 1999 NMRA National Convention when it was in St Paul. He did this and a second Minneapolis piece  for the convention.

Some local train guys recently pointed out that it was available as a puzzle, so I had to have it. It was fun until I got to the sky. Then it became a real pain.

Elliot, if I may ask,  what did the doc do to the knee?  Patch or long term fix?

Thanks JD, I don't get enough people over for a dance party so I am safe there! But I am glad you like it!

Paul 2, the trucks will look wonderful on your layout!

John, Looks like a bold plan! I sure hope you don't get any leaks from the water lines. Are you going to go down to 2 tracks behind the washer and dryer?

Bill, very cool video! I will have to remember that load for when the grandkids are here!

Myles, wonderful job on the weathering! Looks great!

Elliot, I am glad to hear your on the mend, sorry you have to put off train work for another week! I really love the print you have, Buti am still not into jigsaw puzzles, my layout is enough puzzle for me. The wife does them all the time!

So my plan yesterday was to get out to the train room, but that went out the window when there was a deadly accident near the store and the employee's couldn't get to the store. So Mike to the rescue and went to work so the wife could get out of there. By the time I got home it was 6 PM time for dinner a little T.V. then bed. Maybe later today after I mow the lawn and blow the roofs off! LOL We will see.

Well its Friday of a 3 day weekend! I hope everyone has fun and please be safe! Enjoy your family, friends and please take a minute to remember all vets!

Tom Tee posted:

Elliot, if I may ask,  what did the doc do to the knee?  Patch or long term fix?

Nothing really Tom. It's essentially a bruise in a particularly sore spot just below the actual knee cap. I just have to wait it out. It is getting better, much more quickly than when I did the left one back in November. He did renew my pain med prescription. Fortunately, I had some left over from the last time.

Did a little 1:1 modeling today. Paints done, and the labeling now complete.  All that's left is to install the new number boards. Loco is a GP 38-2 now equipped with phase 3 electronics. This one began life as leased GM 2267, now after de-greasing, air sanding, and a spray coat of DuPont industrial urathane gloss black paint , the Loco rolls out as CCGX 4207!!   Gotta get it out in the sun! Now we'll go home and run a train.  

I got the door to the layout room done.

Before this, it was the cheap plywood panel door that came with the house.

Behind the door, I'd had a hug stack of large paper pads and portable drawing surfaces, completed drawings and paper stuff in large flat photo negative boxes (from when I worked in a newspaper ages ago) and other random stuff. Replacing door forced me to relocate a lot of that and send a great deal of it to Goodwill or the recycling bin. I was glad it was done when I was finished as that door couldn't be opened all the way in a very long time. When people would walk in the door, it was only opened about at a 45 degree angle as that was as wide as it'd go. On the short wall facing you as you open that door, I have the first page from every published model RR magazine article I've had done (and the cover from one that featured my layout). Naturally, my OGR article in there, which I'm very proud of. Anyway, you couldn't see those very well before and they're very clear now that you can open the door all the way.

jgtrh62 posted:

paul 2 posted:

 

Great stuff guys! Paul, love those ERTL vintage trucks, are they 1:43 scale? I also liked what you did with your bench work to get across the laundry room. I've come to a similar situation and am going to route behind them, I am going to name this town... Kenmore.

Elliot, really glad to hear you're doing better!
Johan, incredible modeling and weathering as always!
Mike G, your layout is really looking great, the various lighting really looks cool!
Lee Drennen, your layout is really looking great, loved the video too! Looks like you have a really good collection of very nice O scale tractor trailers.
Lee, (P51), very cool B&W photos of your layout, it's amazing how nice of images cell phone cameras can capture, I use mine all the time to take photos and seldom ever use my DSLR anymore.

Sorry if I missed anyone else, really enjoy seeing what everyone's got going!

John: Thank you very much. 

Johan

jgtrh62 posted:

paul 2 posted:

 

Great stuff guys! Paul, love those ERTL vintage trucks, are they 1:43 scale? I also liked what you did with your bench work to get across the laundry room. I've come to a similar situation and am going to route behind them, I am going to name this town... Kenmore.

Elliot, really glad to hear you're doing better!
Johan, incredible modeling and weathering as always!
Mike G, your layout is really looking great, the various lighting really looks cool!
Lee Drennen, your layout is really looking great, loved the video too! Looks like you have a really good collection of very nice O scale tractor trailers.
Lee, (P51), very cool B&W photos of your layout, it's amazing how nice of images cell phone cameras can capture, I use mine all the time to take photos and seldom ever use my DSLR anymore.

Sorry if I missed anyone else, really enjoy seeing what everyone's got going!

Love that 2 rail

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

I love this shot. Among many virtues of this shot, it proves that 3-rail doesn't have to look toy like!

romiller49 posted:

jgtrh62 posted:

paul 2 posted:

 

Great stuff guys! Paul, love those ERTL vintage trucks, are they 1:43 scale? I also liked what you did with your bench work to get across the laundry room. I've come to a similar situation and am going to route behind them, I am going to name this town... Kenmore.

Elliot, really glad to hear you're doing better!
Johan, incredible modeling and weathering as always!
Mike G, your layout is really looking great, the various lighting really looks cool!
Lee Drennen, your layout is really looking great, loved the video too! Looks like you have a really good collection of very nice O scale tractor trailers.
Lee, (P51), very cool B&W photos of your layout, it's amazing how nice of images cell phone cameras can capture, I use mine all the time to take photos and seldom ever use my DSLR anymore.

Sorry if I missed anyone else, really enjoy seeing what everyone's got going!

Love that 2 rail

You guys running behind washing machines.....Is this the modern Water Level Route????

Doing some paint work on trestle and mountain scenery behind washer and dryed

After a week of slacking off, I put in a pleasant three hours today replacing a steel HO track with a nickel track (much better conductivity), sadly returned a worn-out Consolidation (2-8-0) steamer to its box because I can't get it to work right, watched a heavy-weight German passenger train cruise smoothly through my lay-out, switched out two small locomotives, scrubbed a lot of tracks with rubbing alcohol, and added more tracks to my elevated switching yard. 

p51 posted:

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

I love this shot. Among many virtues of this shot, it proves that 3-rail doesn't have to look toy like!

Lee. Thanks. I love to take pics around the layout and looking at my new Samsung S10+ has a quite good camera.

Johan

Johan, that is a great shot looking down the track. Looks pretty darn real.

Everyone is posting good stuff. Although I think we are slowing down a bit because a lot of us are having to do work outside. Myself included. Although today I do plan to measure the flats I had blown up and get to Hobby Lobby to get the black foam board. Cut the buildings out and get them glued to the foam this weekend. Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day Weekend..............Paul 2

Paul, for me it's not the yard work, it's the time spending at the Dr. And the store! Haven't been in the train room for 4 days!

Looks great, Vincent and Johan.

 I’m stuck too.  After my 5 1/2 hour part time job, I drove down to mow part of my Dad’s yard.  2 hours of pushing the mower then sweeping last evening and this morning I don’t feel like doing anything.  I woke up early too stiff to go to sleep.  LOL. I should go see Mum and Dad at one personal car home and my aunt at another home. Round trip driving 1 1/2 hours.  My wife just told my I should lay down and take a nap!  Good idea!!!  Maybe I can get to the train room later.  LOL

Mark Boyce posted:

Looks great, Vincent and Johan.

 I’m stuck too.  After my 5 1/2 hour part time job, I drove down to mow part of my Dad’s yard.  2 hours of pushing the mower then sweeping last evening and this morning I don’t feel like doing anything.  I woke up early too stiff to go to sleep.  LOL. I should go see Mum and Dad at one personal car home and my aunt at another home. Round trip driving 1 1/2 hours.  My wife just told my I should lay down and take a nap!  Good idea!!!  Maybe I can get to the train room later.  LOL

Nap in the train room!

John D. posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Looks great, Vincent and Johan.

 I’m stuck too.  After my 5 1/2 hour part time job, I drove down to mow part of my Dad’s yard.  2 hours of pushing the mower then sweeping last evening and this morning I don’t feel like doing anything.  I woke up early too stiff to go to sleep.  LOL. I should go see Mum and Dad at one personal car home and my aunt at another home. Round trip driving 1 1/2 hours.  My wife just told my I should lay down and take a nap!  Good idea!!!  Maybe I can get to the train room later.  LOL

Nap in the train room!

It's nice and cool there on a warm day. 

Didn't drag my feet. I got out to Hobby Lobby and got my black foam board and to top it off all the foam board was 40% off. Now I can start cutting out all the buildings flats. Pic..............Paul 2

Paul, that's showing us to to just get up and do something!!  Good inspiration!

I need a Social Security Nap.  It's hot working in a small metal building.  I'm drinking heavily.  Tap water only.  I have all my original 1965 train board cut down 9" and safely in place.  It took three tries to figure out the moves needed to put 7' 3" paneling through a 36" door and turn it to lay flat in a 7'3" room.  I won.  I added a transformer and locomotive.  The track is less than 12" from the board.  See y'all when the lazy-boy is done with me.

Bill

Bill, It looks great in there!  Good idea drinking lots of water in the heat!  You deserve some time in that Lazy-boy after all of that!!! 

Odenville Bill posted:

I need a Social Security Nap.  It's hot working in a small metal building.  I'm drinking heavily.  Tap water only.  I have all my original 1965 train board cut down 9" and safely in place.  It took three tries to figure out the moves needed to put 7' 3" paneling through a 36" door and turn it to lay flat in a 7'3" room.  I won.  I added a transformer and locomotive.  The track is less than 12" from the board.  See y'all when the lazy-boy is done with me.

 

Bill

Bill, be careful! Don't let anything happen to that Lionel controller!

(My dad had one, and I still love it).

Lots of ground goop and painting today on my West Of Nowhere layout.  

Great cars, Johan!

Those scenes are looking great, Greg!!

I drilled some holes for wiring today.  No need to waste server space on photographs. 

Great work everyone! I would call you all out but I am to tired! Maybe I need a nap like Mark! LOL I hope everyone is having a great weekend and Please be safe out there! I think I am off to dinner then bed. It really sucks getting up at 3 AM!

 BAR GP7 #63 posted:

.

That's a good-looking set of boxcars. I don't know if they are supposed to be weathered or just have faded paint, but you did a nice job on them.

This evening I got all the flats cut out ready for gluing to the foam board tomorrow.......Paul 2

Mark Boyce posted:

Great cars, Johan!

Those scenes are looking great, Greg!!

Mark. Thanks.

Johan