What did you do on your layout today?

Bryan, Nice that  you got the sound working on your engine! You wouldn't happen to have a photo of it would you? I am thinking if it wasn't for Paul you might have had to put it on the shelf! LOL You 2 sure are a great team and its nice to have a friendship like you guys have! How's the modular build coming along? LOL I hope you have a great day today and a nice turnout!

Jim, The engine is coming right along, nice job on the head lamp! Once you get your smoke machine going your engine will be coming to life! Wonderful idea on the builders plate!

Brian, Nice Santa Fe! When you get time you should shoot a photo of the different colors of Santa Fe you have!

Johan, Great Photo! The Maine care looks Perfect and the background you cant tell where the layout table ends and the backdrop starts, Wonderful Job!

Paul 2, That sure was nice of you to help out Bryan! Sometimes you just have to feel for the needy! LOL Sure looks like you have enough to keep you busy for awhile, but I do hope you take time to go over to Bryan's today! He may need some more help! Really I hope you have a great day!

Well Yesterday I got a package from our friend Briansilvermustang, so on request from Brian I shot a little video for you all to enjoy! LOL Really its not much of a video, but I got some more Amtrak cars from him. 2 passenger cars 2 superliners, and a observation car. At least I think that's what its called. He also sent me a box car to help me with a scene I will be working on!

I hope you all have a great weekend and fun times with your trains!

Hey Guys, I am so sorry I missed some many great post here I didn't comment on, I must have fell asleep while I was waiting for the video to upload! I will get back and comment later, but right now the CEO is calling! LOL

Mike, I am so behind on comments, it isn’t funny.  It is slow going typing on the phone.  The computer is off limits unless my wife is here to supervise me going downstairs and bringing the walker along.  Annie just won’t help!  LOL

Those are nice looking cars Brian sent you!

@Odenville Bill tells me that the milk platform I sent him has arrived safely!  Pics from him to follow, hopefully.   We've also worked out a swap for his Lackawanna MU cars...   

Mitch 

      Mike, the Amtrak train looks good,   here's a couple of the S F colors...

Got some plywood down on the bench work frames. Laid some green carpet. And put down some track.  My Southern passenger train finally gets to stretch its legs. Taking some snowbirds down to Florida. :-)

mike g. posted:

Bryan, Nice that  you got the sound working on your engine! You wouldn't happen to have a photo of it would you? I am thinking if it wasn't for Paul you might have had to put it on the shelf! LOL You 2 sure are a great team and its nice to have a friendship like you guys have! How's the modular build coming along? LOL I hope you have a great day today and a nice turnout!

Jim, The engine is coming right along, nice job on the head lamp! Once you get your smoke machine going your engine will be coming to life! Wonderful idea on the builders plate!

Brian, Nice Santa Fe! When you get time you should shoot a photo of the different colors of Santa Fe you have!

Johan, Great Photo! The Maine care looks Perfect and the background you cant tell where the layout table ends and the backdrop starts, Wonderful Job!

Paul 2, That sure was nice of you to help out Bryan! Sometimes you just have to feel for the needy! LOL Sure looks like you have enough to keep you busy for awhile, but I do hope you take time to go over to Bryan's today! He may need some more help! Really I hope you have a great day!

Well Yesterday I got a package from our friend Briansilvermustang, so on request from Brian I shot a little video for you all to enjoy! LOL Really its not much of a video, but I got some more Amtrak cars from him. 2 passenger cars 2 superliners, and a observation car. At least I think that's what its called. He also sent me a box car to help me with a scene I will be working on!

I hope you all have a great weekend and fun times with your trains!

Mike. Thank you Sir. I like a lot those Amtrak trains, cant wait when i can see longer videos in your layout with a nice scenery. 😀🤝😀

Johan

Too cold outside to try and paint so I found a space in the basement and made a make shift paint booth out of newspaper. Got the two coats of paint on the walls done and as soon as that dries I can paint all the windows. When I came ups stairs the wife ask what that smell was and I told her it was the sweet smell of model railroading LOL. Pics.............Paul 2

The sweet smell of model railroading!  Great answer Paul!

Just had the last people leave from my nmra layout tour.  Total attendees around 24 with most staying around 45 minutes and asking lots of great questions.  Favorite areas according to people who came 1. Amusement park, 2. Red light district 3. Subway stations 4. Baseball field 5. Prison  Best comments were everyone loved my unique scenes from posters, billboards, and "people staging".

MIKE here is pic of that Amtrak engine.

geysergazer posted:

Thanks, Mark. I need to learn about weathering because white trucks sure wouldn't be sparkly for very long under a locomotive. The pic of the prototype shows pretty heavy fading and grime.

          you're right Lew...  "sure wouldn't be sparkly for very long"

                   the crew sure got it dirty'd up working over at "SWSat" today...

The building walls were pretty dry so I moved them to another spot to finish drying. I found a can of Hunter Green spray paint and decided to do the windows on this building with that color. That's a wrap for tonight. I'll let the walls dry till tomorrow and then I can apply the mortar. Pic.............Paul 2

Mike here is also a short video of it.

Bryan, I’m glad you had a nice turnout for the open house!!

paul 2 posted:

Too cold outside to try and paint so I found a space in the basement and made a make shift paint booth out of newspaper. Got the two coats of paint on the walls done and as soon as that dries I can paint all the windows. When I came ups stairs the wife ask what that smell was and I told her it was the sweet smell of model railroading LOL. Pics.............Paul 2

I thought that's what smoke fluid was for.....

Great answer Paul! 😂😂

Forgot this one Brian

I want to begin stringing some telephone poles.  Hopefully will begin tomorrow.  I did take a few photos of the layout today trying out some new camera angles.  The water in the lake needs a little vacuuming  but heck for now it's just debris floating in the water. The last two photos are helicopter shots take from the Mountain Division looking west on the layout. 

Pat, I like the new photograph angles!  I’ll look forward to seeing the pole wiring progress 

Mark Boyce posted:

Pat, I like the new photograph angles!  I’ll look forward to seeing the pole wiring progress 

Thanks so much Mark!  My goal tomorrow is to string 3 poles

Hey y'all, as per request, here are pictures of my track upgrades and a short video of my latest acquisitions.  Thanks Mitch.

I didn't sleep last night so I'll dive in the old waterbed early.

trumptrain posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Pat, I like the new photograph angles!  I’ll look forward to seeing the pole wiring progress 

Thanks so much Mark!  My goal tomorrow is to string 3 poles

Three sounds like a reasonable plan for the day

Bill, Looking good!!  Mitch is the man!

Odenville Bill posted:

I've been working on the railroad.    place musical note here

   I popped up like toast at 5AM.  I was in the train building at 5:10.  I replaced more O27 with O gauge.  I used all my straight pieces.  I have to shorten one piece yet.  I hate to cut track.  Is there such a thing as 3 rail flex track?   I took a nap from 10 to 11AM, then back to work .  Maybe I'll get to run a train tomorrow.  Heidi, my first Maine Coon, says meow (they really don't meow.  Maine Coons vocalize). 

I had a maine coon tabby, 17 years we had Max, he was a good fetcher, coons loved to play fetch the mouse. I thought I had a real smart cat, turned out most all maine coons will chase a mouse toy and bring it back to you.

I took down the halloween layout    on the temporary 8x8 layout, today was the last of it and I put it away 

Tomorrow, I start the Christmas Layout on the 8x8.        

Can you tell I like the  Christmas layout better...because it is Christmas!

season of love,  pease, good will, tinsel, presents, and TRAINS!

I like Christmas much better too, John!

John Pignatelli JR. posted:

 

Tomorrow, I start the Christmas Layout on the 8x8.        

 

 

Now you're cooking with gas!

trumptrain posted:

I have a couple photos ( photos 5&6 ) of my recent York purchase from Richard Kreig of the Railroad Crossing ... The " Little Tavern " was a small chain of burger places around Washington DC.... open 24/7.    The burgers were cheap and tasted quite fine  Folks would buy them by the bag full.  There was one located on Route 1 in Laurel, Md. ( Building is still there ) and one on Rt. 1 in College Park, Md. serving the University of Maryland community. ( others were scattered throughout the DC area )  When I was in school at UofM our nick name for the Little Tavern was " the Club LT"  I ate lots of LT burgers and drank lots of their coffee over the years for sure!   

The Little Tavern Hamburgers where also around Baltimore. The front room with the counters and stools had shiny white walls. I have heard some of the patrons say that they were dining in the porcelain room at the Club LT.

Five years to the day when the first train was run to each end of the layout, onto the powered turntables.
This is the very last of my "five years to the day" series showing the progress of my layout.
So much has changed, you can't even see the same coach is tacked onto the locomotive (which was changed from 12 to 9 after the original shot was taken)...

The funny thing is, you can't get the exact original shot anymore, as there are trees in the way of where the camera was in the original shot!

Odenville Bill posted:

Hey y'all, as per request, here are pictures of my track upgrades and a short video of my latest acquisitions.  Thanks Mitch.

The Geeps are settling nicely into their new home!   

Mitch 

Lee, You accomplished so much in 5 years.  I am so glad I was along for the ride!!

Ran trains for a bit yesterday after helping the CEO try and organize our basement. Didn't make much progress on that front except to admit that she keeps way too much stuff. And of course the "well its all your train stuff" comment was spoken several times.

"Ever notice how your stuff is stuff and other people's stuff is C***" (George Carlin)

I've been running my new LIRR RS-3 (MTH PS2) and it occasionally stalls on a couple of my 5121, 5122, (027) switches. I also have a pair of 042's and it runs fine over them.  It seems to happen when the front truck gets over the frog and turnout, on both the straight and turnout legs. I first thought it was a loose wire but I bench tested the loco and it runs with test leads on the pick up roller of either truck and any of the 8 wheels. Part of me thinks its just not happy running on track designed way before these locos were built but since its erratic I am still digging. I may open the shell today and verify that the wiring is solid.

Any thoughts?

And of course I still had fun!

I am trying not to get too carried away with the "little" details.   I am creating a "steam dome" on top of the boiler, and handrails along the side of the boiler.  I also want to put on some "sun shades" on top of side windows.

Less then a week to go.  I should be able to test out the smoke unit tomorrow, as the smoke fluid comes today from Amazon.  

Mark, sometimes its just takes so much to comment on everyone's great work and I am tired, that's why I had out a lot of likes sometimes! Brian sure did send me some nice cars!

Brian, Great Photo's! I didn't know Santa Fe had so many different colors!

Jeffpo, That Southern Passenger train sure is balls to the walls! Must be running late! LOL

Johan, Thank you Sir, I would have posted a longer video I just don't know how to upload a longer video here!

Paul 2, Things are looking good! You sure have an understanding wife!

Bryan, I am glad you had a good turnout for your NMRA Tour! Also thank you for the picture and video! It sure makes me want to have one!

Patrick, Wonderful photo's of your layout. Great job thinking out of the box by adding floating debris in your lake! Most people make them smooth and crystal clear! LOL I really like the Helicopter shots of your town!

Bill, You have quite the layout going! Looks like it would be a blast to run, just set it and relax!

John, Have fun building your Christmas layout! I sure hope you will post pictures for the rest of us!

Lee, WOW, Very Impressive! You sure are a Master Modeler in my eyes! Everything looks so real! Nice work!

Bob, I hope you can get the basement done soon, so it will free your time up for more trains! My CEO always tells me do you know how much money you have wasted on trains! I tell her yep and I need more money! LOL I sure hope you get your problem with your engines figured out!

Jim, the engine is coming along nicely! I hope you will be able to shoot a short video of it in the parade!

Well there wont be any train room time today as I can see. Yesterday the Furnace went out and we are luck to have a friend that is in the heating business coming today to install a new one! Man what a drag, first the roof, now the heat, whats next! I know what not next today, TRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!

But that ok, I really hope the rest of you are having a great weekend and your teams do well today! Remember to save time for trains! LOL

Wow Mike!  Sorry about the furnace!  I’m glad you you have a friend you can trust!  
Yes there are do many good things going on here it is hard to keep up!

Jim, the float is going to be a prize winner!!

Thanks guys

Don't worry I will get some video.

The engineer and fireman are all ready to go!

I can't take credit for the penguins, they were from a previous years float.  I do need to put a throttle in the engineers hand, and a shovel in the fireman's. 

EGGCELLENT!  

Well Paul and I are test fitting our modules with our new "MOD Squad" module group.  To help out the group we each decided to buy in and get our own module so there wouldn't be an odd number.  Now I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't sabotage mine because he knows mine will be better. Lol

Okay this is a Paul classic we just tried our first test run and Paul wasn't paying attention so when they turned on the smoke unit Paul yells out stop stop the module is on fire....when it was the engine smoking.  We are now in executive session determining if Paul stays in. Lol

RSJB18 posted:

Ran trains for a bit yesterday after helping the CEO try and organize our basement. Didn't make much progress on that front except to admit that she keeps way too much stuff. And of course the "well its all your train stuff" comment was spoken several times.

"Ever notice how your stuff is stuff and other people's stuff is C***" (George Carlin)

I've been running my new LIRR RS-3 (MTH PS2) and it occasionally stalls on a couple of my 5121, 5122, (027) switches. I also have a pair of 042's and it runs fine over them.  It seems to happen when the front truck gets over the frog and turnout, on both the straight and turnout legs. I first thought it was a loose wire but I bench tested the loco and it runs with test leads on the pick up roller of either truck and any of the 8 wheels. Part of me thinks its just not happy running on track designed way before these locos were built but since its erratic I am still digging. I may open the shell today and verify that the wiring is solid.

Any thoughts?

And of course I still had fun!

I love that engine. 

So for the stalling part, I have a Railking NYC GP-7 of the same vitage. The layout uses Ross turnouts and Gargrave track a;; on wood ties. I had a particular turnout that the engine behaved in a manner similar to your experience with the 5121-22 turnouts. The stalling would occur when the locomotive ran by itself. If it was pulling a train with the first car having a metal coupler mounted on a Metal truck m there was no stalling. This led me to look at loosing ground as the engine went through the turnout which what seemed to be happening. I solved my problem by tying the common rails together around the turnout and have sincea done that with all track sections.

I can also recall a Conventional Classics FM doing that on a curved section of Gargraves and found undulations in my cyrve caused the truck wheels to come away from the rail that had the ground connection. Tying the rails together soplved that problem.

The MTH 4 wheel truck diesels have traction tires on an axle in each truck which limits the ground points. Not sure if the 5100 series have non derailing feature which insulates one of the common rails in the turnout so the ground tie might not work. Try running with a car in tow that has all metal couplers and trucks . 

Hope this helps.i

LIRR Steamer posted:

RSJB18 posted:

Ran trains for a bit yesterday after helping the CEO try and organize our basement. Didn't make much progress on that front except to admit that she keeps way too much stuff. And of course the "well its all your train stuff" comment was spoken several times.

"Ever notice how your stuff is stuff and other people's stuff is C***" (George Carlin)

I've been running my new LIRR RS-3 (MTH PS2) and it occasionally stalls on a couple of my 5121, 5122, (027) switches. I also have a pair of 042's and it runs fine over them.  It seems to happen when the front truck gets over the frog and turnout, on both the straight and turnout legs. I first thought it was a loose wire but I bench tested the loco and it runs with test leads on the pick up roller of either truck and any of the 8 wheels. Part of me thinks its just not happy running on track designed way before these locos were built but since its erratic I am still digging. I may open the shell today and verify that the wiring is solid.

Any thoughts?

And of course I still had fun!

I love that engine. 

So for the stalling part, I have a Railking NYC GP-7 of the same vitage. The layout uses Ross turnouts and Gargrave track a;; on wood ties. I had a particular turnout that the engine behaved in a manner similar to your experience with the 5121-22 turnouts. The stalling would occur when the locomotive ran by itself. If it was pulling a train with the first car having a metal coupler mounted on a Metal truck m there was no stalling. This led me to look at loosing ground as the engine went through the turnout which what seemed to be happening. I solved my problem by tying the common rails together around the turnout and have sincea done that with all track sections.

I can also recall a Conventional Classics FM doing that on a curved section of Gargraves and found undulations in my cyrve caused the truck wheels to come away from the rail that had the ground connection. Tying the rails together soplved that problem.

The MTH 4 wheel truck diesels have traction tires on an axle in each truck which limits the ground points. Not sure if the 5100 series have non derailing feature which insulates one of the common rails in the turnout so the ground tie might not work. Try running with a car in tow that has all metal couplers and trucks . 

Hope this helps.i

I suspected that the traction tires on the same axle may be the cause. I was going to remove one to see if the problem persists. 

The 5100's are non-dr so I can't jump the rails. 

Thanks for the advice. 

Bob

before you remove the tire, try running with a car in tow that has all metal couplers and trucks and see if that helps things on the 5100s. 

Bryan in Ohio posted:

Well Paul and I are test fitting our modules with our new "MOD Squad" module group.  To help out the group we each decided to buy in and get our own module so there wouldn't be an odd number.  Now I have to watch him to make sure he doesn't sabotage mine because he knows mine will be better. Lol

Sounds like all is going well.  Are the modules setup in the Painesville building in the photographs above?

Mark,

We set up in wildwood cultural center in mentor.  One of the guys has full time access to it. 

Bryan, That’s great time have access to a place like that to setup and get the modules organized 

Jdevleerjr posted:

I am trying not to get too carried away with the "little" details.   I am creating a "steam dome" on top of the boiler, and handrails along the side of the boiler.  I also want to put on some "sun shades" on top of side windows.

Less then a week to go.  I should be able to test out the smoke unit tomorrow, as the smoke fluid comes today from Amazon.  

How fun and exciting for you and the scouts!   Will this fit over a garden tractor?    Great project!!!!

Cheers, Dave

PS:  Jim, I think you're a page or two past being carried away and that's wonderful!

Well I have I have not heard from the executive board yet as to my standing with the Mod Squad. And of course Bryan had to be there to see me do a classic thing. Well I say better to be safe then sorry. The track being used on the modules is fast track and I guess because I have heard that shorting can cause melting of the base and we were having trouble with the track in one spot I did yell out because where I was sitting the track actually looked like it was smoking. So on a high note for myself I was able to convince Bryan to get his own module. The unfortunate part was we may be butted together. But this may be a blessing in disguise. On the way home I contenplated what I was going to do as to a scene. I decided to make an active volvano and have the lava flow onto Bryans module. ......Paul 2

Paul, Safety first, I say!  You should receive a commendation from the group!  Lava flow onto Bryan’s module!  LOL 

paul 2 posted:

Well I have I have not heard from the executive board yet as to my standing with the Mod Squad. And of course Bryan had to be there to see me do a classic thing. Well I say better to be safe then sorry. The track being used on the modules is fast track and I guess because I have heard that shorting can cause melting of the base and we were having trouble with the track in one spot I did yell out because where I was sitting the track actually looked like it was smoking. So on a high note for myself I was able to convince Bryan to get his own module. The unfortunate part was we may be butted together. But this may be a blessing in disguise. On the way home I contenplated what I was going to do as to a scene. I decided to make an active volvano and have the lava flow onto Bryans module. ......Paul 2

WELL DONE PAUL!   I'm on your side!

Cheers, Dave

I've been giving my postwar locomotives some exercise this week, taking them down from their shelves, renewing the lube where necessary and turning them loose on the layout.  All of them run great.

Then I got the urge to take my 783 off the ready track where it has spent the summer months.  This is an exceptionally smooth-running engine, and it crept away and accelerated to top speed as soon as I put it on the main line.  Tomorrow I'll have to get my Atlas scale NYC passenger cars out and put them behind the 783.

Well guys like I stated earlier, sometimes I just hand out a lot of likes. Today was one of those days. They say things come in 3's and It stands true, just hope there isn't a 4th! LOL The furnace came out with a hitch, but once we got it out I found out not only do I have to replace the furnace, but I also have to replace the floor under it. Its amazing it didn't fall threw onto the ground! I guess that's what you get for living in a 1987 manufacture home.

So I spent all day cutting out the bad Press board, can someone tell me why they use press board! Any how I got all that done, but cat get replacement lumber cause as most of you know I cant drive till next month. I hope when my neighbor gets home he has a scrap piece of 3/4" Plywood I can get from him. If not it will have to wait till Thursday when my brother comes to visit!

I hope you all had a great day and lots of fun!

Wow, Mike. I can't "like" that!   So it sounds like the furnace exhaust stack has been allowing rain water to leak in and rust the furnace to death and rot the floor beneath? But I'm glad you caught it and it is all repairable/replaceable. 

Wow, Mike!  I agree that is unlikable.

Supported a train show by showing up..usual lately experience of finding nothing of interest.  I find so few structure kits among the orange boxes, l am tempted to go back to setting up, but with as many O scale structure kits as l can find to stock.  There was a couple that hit Timonium and the O scale conventions doing that.  They didn't do York.  Finding a continuous variety of stock looks like a challenge...it is to find interesting kits to build.

Let's see....what'd I do today?

I have three Fastrack track switches in a row and there has been a small hesitation or jerkiness when my SW1500s go through those switches at switching speeds so I pulled up those switches and soldered the underside busses to their respective rail-tabs per GRJ's recommendation (to insure electrical continuity).

....and the hesitation went away.

So on the Waxhaw Division, made some progress on the other side of the upper level. There is a spur that comes off the main and feeds two tracks. One track fronts a depot for the occasional passenger train, a feed store and a Stone building. Not sure what will be in there.The second track runs down past all of this and ends at a Mebards furniture factory.

I was envisioning a road coming from behind the Stone building turning into the foreground between the feed store and the Stone building, crossing over the siding. Thinking either a coal yard or junk yard would fit nicely between the two sidings to the left of the road. The road would continue to the right and the area in front of the feed store could use the outer siding as a Team track . I think the rood would cross over the tracks just past the depot. 

The  track is formed in place on roadbed and attached to the table. I even took the feed store and the stone building out of the packaging. So it seems its moving towards permanence. 

Going to look on line at some Background to place behind this town. Need to run  some jumpers for the track power and the building lights. There are two menards buildings at the end of the layout . These require a 4.5 volt walwart which I did buy. It has three feeds so it will serve the two buildings there.

enjoy the photos.

LIRR Steamer,  That is an outstanding greenhouse you built around the cabinet shop.

Mike G,  I bought this house (axles removed-not mobile) in 1998.  Big selling points for me were plywood floors, copper wiring and PVC lines.

Today I ran my N-T-M GP's back and forth.  The main line is still open in two places.  After a dinner of steak, baked potato, brussel sprouts, and cherry pie, I brought a dummy GP and my favorite caboose to the big house.  I want lights in the GP and the bulb in the caboose went out.  I will install two 10MM LED's in the engine.  There is a hole dying for a switch and lots of room for batteries.  Another doctor visit at 9:00AM tomorrow.

Bill

I am very happy to see"What did you do on your layout today"  I worked on my layout finishing up top layer of pink board. Nothing big, Except the last time I worked on it was Oct 2012.( Found my notes) Life sometimes gets in the way. Well no more pesky work to hinder my progress as Im newly retired and putting in 5-6 hour days on my train. Glad to be back.  Has much changed in our hobby? Best wishes 

Steve T

Bill, Your Sunday meal sounds excellent!  The non powered Geep will look great with light.  I’m praying for your doctor appointment!

Steve, Welcome!  Believe me I know how life can get in the way of things we would like to do.  Congratulations on your retirement and happy train layout time.  I’m recently retired too, but still have obligations to some elderly relatives and am recovering from knee replacement.  Hopefully in the new year I’ll be able to put more time in on my layout too.

Welcome to the thread Steve.   I understand about this life thing, as I am the one who started the thread, and spent several years away from the thread and the layout.  

Feel free to post photos of your progress. 

geysergazer posted:

Wow, Mike. I can't "like" that!   So it sounds like the furnace exhaust stack has been allowing rain water to leak in and rust the furnace to death and rot the floor beneath? But I'm glad you caught it and it is all repairable/replaceable. 

Hi Lew, come to find out the drain pipe from the washer has a screw on p-trap that was only tightened had tight or worked loose over the some odd 30 years. It was dripping when I took out the sheet rock and found it. Now its as tight as it can get and tested with no leaks.

Lew, nice work on the switches. I am glad it was an easy fix!

Lirr Steamer, Looks like you have a very nice plan! It's really going to look sharp when your done!

Bill, The GP is going to look nice with lights in it! I hope everything goes well at the doctors appointment!

Steve, welcome back! Your in the right place as there is a bunch of folk's here with an abundance of information and willing to share it with others!

I hope to get a little time in the train room today, but we will see what life has to bring today! LOL I still have to get the floor back in the furnace room, also put up new sheet rock before Saturday so it will be ready when my friend comes back to install the furnace.

I hope everyone has a great day and finds time to enjoy there trains!

Looks like an Electric kind of day at Brianville. 

mike g. posted:

 

I hope to get a little time in the train room today, but we will see what life has to bring today! LOL I still have to get the floor back in the furnace room, also put up new sheet rock before Saturday so it will be ready when my friend comes back to install the furnace.

I hope everyone has a great day and finds time to enjoy there trains!

 

Mike, it's a very good thing you bucked, split and stacked all that firewood! Now it's going to keep you warm while the furnace is awol. 

Happy Monday!

Mike- when it rains it pours. At least you found the source of the water. That can be a PITA to locate sometimes.

Steve- Welcome back. Please share some photos as you progress.

LIRR Steamer- very nice. I like the greenhouse too

Paul and Bryan- Just make sure your tracks line up where your modules meet.

Lew- good idea on the FT. I only use it for my Christmas layout but its getting to be a few years old now. I will inspect carefully before assembling this year.

JD- that float is amazing! Looking forward to the parade video.

Bill- 8:40 AM and I'm hungry! When's dinner?

So I did stuff on my layout yesterday too. I investigated my RS-3 issues further. I tried @LIRR Steamer's advice and ran the loco with one of the LIRR coaches in tow. They have all metal trucks/ couplers. It ran a little better but nothing to say conclusively that I found the problem. I need to take the side frames off the trucks so I can see the wheels better. I hadn't mentioned before that I'm running the engine in conventional mode. At higher voltage/speed it does seem to clear the dead spots.  I also rewired the K-line MP-15 # 168 in series. The gray one was done already. It runs much better now. Ran trains and had fun!

PS- nice shots Brian. You posted while I was writing mine.

Great stuff guys took me a bit to catch up. I moved some stuff on the layout thing I might go west for awhile but I have to get a western power unit until then enjoy the pics 

I’m glad you have a handle on the furnace project, Mike.  It reminds me of the toilet seal that failed because the flooring guy my mother-in-law hired Jerry rigged it instead of putting the right one in.

Bob, I’m glad the RS3 is running well again!

Lee, great looking cars and trucks!

Brian, Amtrak looks great 

RSJB18 posted:

Happy Monday!

Mike- when it rains it pours. At least you found the source of the water. That can be a PITA to locate sometimes.

Steve- Welcome back. Please share some photos as you progress.

LIRR Steamer- very nice. I like the greenhouse too

Paul and Bryan- Just make sure your tracks line up where your modules meet.

Lew- good idea on the FT. I only use it for my Christmas layout but its getting to be a few years old now. I will inspect carefully before assembling this year.

JD- that float is amazing! Looking forward to the parade video.

Bill- 8:40 AM and I'm hungry! When's dinner?

So I did stuff on my layout yesterday too. I investigated my RS-3 issues further. I tried @LIRR Steamer's advice and ran the loco with one of the LIRR coaches in tow. They have all metal trucks/ couplers. It ran a little better but nothing to say conclusively that I found the problem. I need to take the side frames off the trucks so I can see the wheels better. I hadn't mentioned before that I'm running the engine in conventional mode. At higher voltage/speed it does seem to clear the dead spots.  I also rewired the K-line MP-15 # 168 in series. The gray one was done already. It runs much better now. Ran trains and had fun!

PS- nice shots Brian. You posted while I was writing mine.

I looked at the cabinet factory and there seems to be 1/4 in scale employees in there working on Tables for Christmas train layouts. Lot of noise and sawdust so the "Greenhouse" keeps it inside.  Hoping to take it out of its packaging next day or so.

Glad that the RS-3 was working better. There was another thread on the MTH 44    tonners where users noted that the rollers MTH used had insulated end and one user replaced the rollers which eliminated the slow speed stalling. 

Yesterday I entered the train room with the intention of stringing three telephone polls, however, the muse pulled me in a different creative direction.  For quite some time now, I've wanted to paint the facia of my layout.... since the new can of black paint was sitting there on a shelf with a brush beside it.... I decided to paint the entire facia.  Instead of a fabric skirt around my layout, I use black foam board panels.  The wood facia is now painted black with the black foam board panels below it. Doing this results in naturally drawing the eye to immediately focus on the layout.  

I'll try to dig up some before shots, taken a while back, and show before and after to you guys here on this thread.  

Next .... stringing those telephone poles. LOL!! 

I did get to the layout for a bit today and cleaned it off.  I really would like to start ballasting soon.   

Here is a berk parked on the siding, spotting a box car in the elevator.  

Now back to the float build this afternoon.

mike g. posted:

Mark, sometimes its just takes so much to comment on everyone's great work and I am tired, that's why I had out a lot of likes sometimes! Brian sure did send me some nice cars!

Brian, Great Photo's! I didn't know Santa Fe had so many different colors!

Jeffpo, That Southern Passenger train sure is balls to the walls! Must be running late! LOL

Johan, Thank you Sir, I would have posted a longer video I just don't know how to upload a longer video here!

Paul 2, Things are looking good! You sure have an understanding wife!

Bryan, I am glad you had a good turnout for your NMRA Tour! Also thank you for the picture and video! It sure makes me want to have one!

Patrick, Wonderful photo's of your layout. Great job thinking out of the box by adding floating debris in your lake! Most people make them smooth and crystal clear! LOL I really like the Helicopter shots of your town!

Bill, You have quite the layout going! Looks like it would be a blast to run, just set it and relax!

John, Have fun building your Christmas layout! I sure hope you will post pictures for the rest of us!

Lee, WOW, Very Impressive! You sure are a Master Modeler in my eyes! Everything looks so real! Nice work!

Bob, I hope you can get the basement done soon, so it will free your time up for more trains! My CEO always tells me do you know how much money you have wasted on trains! I tell her yep and I need more money! LOL I sure hope you get your problem with your engines figured out!

Jim, the engine is coming along nicely! I hope you will be able to shoot a short video of it in the parade!

Well there wont be any train room time today as I can see. Yesterday the Furnace went out and we are luck to have a friend that is in the heating business coming today to install a new one! Man what a drag, first the roof, now the heat, whats next! I know what not next today, TRAINS!!!!!!!!!!!

But that ok, I really hope the rest of you are having a great weekend and your teams do well today! Remember to save time for trains! LOL

 

 

Mike. You're welcome. Maybe you can use YouTube and just post the link here.

Johan

Yesterday I added some lights around the "finished" side of my turntable.

Speeder action.

trumptrain posted:

Yesterday I entered the train room with the intention of stringing three telephone polls, however, the muse pulled me in a different creative direction.  For quite some time now, I've wanted to paint the facia of my layout.... since the new can of black paint was sitting there on a shelf with a brush beside it.... I decided to paint the entire facia.  Instead of a fabric skirt around my layout, I use black foam board panels.  The wood facia is now painted black with the black foam board panels below it. Doing this results in naturally drawing the eye to immediately focus on the layout.  

I'll try to dig up some before shots, taken a while back, and show before and after to you guys here on this thread.  

Next .... stringing those telephone poles. LOL!! 

  Good for you Pat.'  I've been meaning to do the exact same thing for quite some time now'.. I know the black works and looks great as I've seen it on many other layouts'... I am going to try and get mine done this week'... Thanks for the inspiration'.....

Jdevleerjr posted:

I did get to the layout for a bit today and cleaned it off.  I really would like to start ballasting soon.   

Here is a berk parked on the siding, spotting a box car in the elevator.  

Now back to the float build this afternoon.

Definitely one of the best shots I've ever seen.

Put together some lighting out of scrap wood, pieces from a string of mini-lights, and a WS nano led.  Plugged into a WS light hub under table.

trumptrain posted:

Yesterday I entered the train room with the intention of stringing three telephone polls, however, the muse pulled me in a different creative direction.  For quite some time now, I've wanted to paint the facia of my layout.... since the new can of black paint was sitting there on a shelf with a brush beside it.... I decided to paint the entire facia.  Instead of a fabric skirt around my layout, I use black foam board panels.  The wood facia is now painted black with the black foam board panels below it. Doing this results in naturally drawing the eye to immediately focus on the layout.  

I'll try to dig up some before shots, taken a while back, and show before and after to you guys here on this thread.  

Next .... stringing those telephone poles. LOL!! 

Patrick, you know what they say....pics or it didn't happen  

Lou1985 posted:

Yesterday I added some lights around the "finished" side of my turntable.

 

Very impressive project!  Well done! 

Cheers, Dave

Started my module.  I planned this out...going with a raised platform on the back half about 6 inches above the base of the modular.  I'm either going with run down city block or abandoned commercial district up on that level.  Hopefully I can incorporate this bridge somewhere or do something spanning the split I want to create up top.  The bottom level will be overgrown vegetation near the tracks with maybe some hobos hanging out. Plan on having vehicles on both levels and as you can see got my first level road in and glued down...

Ok Paul what did you do on yours today should be alot since your retired.

From Johan: Patrick, Wonderful photo's of your layout. Great job thinking out of the box by adding floating debris in your lake! Most people make them smooth and crystal clear! LOL I really like the Helicopter shots of your town!

Thanks so much Johan!  

Quarter Gauger - Ted - Glad that I could inspire you to paint your facia as well. 

Lew - I'll definitely get those photos up soon   It DID happen and my photos will be the proof.  I know you are holding me to it!  LOL!! 

I put a YLB Rechargeable Battery in the Lionel 1931810 New York Central Hudson #5415 that arrived from Mr. Muffins today. The 10510 has a plug that goes directly into the sound board socket. The battery provides electricity to the sound system when the tender center rollers hit dead spots in my Atlas O #5 switches. It eliminates sound drop off.  The YLB Battery is available from Henning's Trains and made by Gunrunner John.

Here are a few pictures of the process.  Note that the red and grey wires are center pick-up roller wires.  The Black wires are from the wheels on the outside rails.  I tucked the YLB Battery on top of the zip tied bundle of wires and put the tender shell back on the tender.

The YLB Battery provides 5 seconds of power to the sound system to help the tender over gaps in the center rail, such as at switches and cross-overs.

Have a good Thanksgiving.  Mom and I are headed to a Bob Evans Restaurant again this year.  Turkey brought right to your table --- now that is something to be Thankful for.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Big day, got the last pieces of track cut and laid for the upper level. Ready to move on to roadbed and electrical.

Well Bryan, you look like you have a plan. I just got my module out of the truck. Right now it is sitting a corner of the kitchen. Maybe tomorrow I can get it down to the basement and work on it a bit tomorrow. I might just make up a sign that says under construction......check back in the future..........Paul 2

Bryan and Paul, What are the dimensions of your modules?

trumptrain posted:

From Johan: Patrick, Wonderful photo's of your layout. Great job thinking out of the box by adding floating debris in your lake! Most people make them smooth and crystal clear! LOL I really like the Helicopter shots of your town!

Thanks so much Johan!  

Quarter Gauger - Ted - Glad that I could inspire you to paint your facia as well. 

Lew - I'll definitely get those photos up soon   It DID happen and my photos will be the proof.  I know you are holding me to it!  LOL!! 

 

Patrick. Thank you. I am glad you like it. It's always interested try made a something different. 🤝

Johan

I think Paul and Bryan should start a build thread and we can see who finishes first.

Mark, I believe the modules are 45 inches long and 24 inches wide.

Johan, great pics.

Mike g, I hope you got the last of the problems taken care of so you can return to working and running the layout.

Bryan, nice start. But you are a lot younger then I am and have a lot more energy. I have to pace myself. 

Last night I got the module to th kitchen. I did make a trip to Menards to get a piece of Luan board to make a separate piece to sit on the table as a scene rathr then a permanent one attached to the table. This way I can make a few scenes to change out the look of the table. But yesterday before and after dinner I had to work on the Korber building flat some more. I wiped down the mortar and added aged concrete paint to the walls. Today I'll seal the flats, but I may wipe off more mortar first, then apply some black wash and glue in the windows. And while that is being done I'll work on my module...Pics........Paul 2

Sorry Bob, I just saw you reply. Hands down Bryan will finish first. I on the other hand are like fine wine and it takes time. LOL..............Paul 2

                            here we go...  THE  GREAT MODULE BUILD OFF !!!

                               Good Luck to both of you !!      let the game begin...

Hi guys, I wasn't on yesterday so there is a lot for me to catch up with so this might be a little long. Please forgive me.

Brian, Wonderful phots! Must be commuter Monday!

Lew, All the wood I bucked and split is for next winter, but don't worry we have plenty for this winter. It really hasn't been that cold around here yet!

Bob, I sure hope you get the bugs figured out in your engine! Nice Pictures

Lee, West is the only way to go! But be careful if you go to far you will fall in to the water!

Mark, Thanks you! I sure hate it when the Pro's Jerry Rig things and then you have to go back after them and fix it!

Patrick, Sounds interesting, I cant wait to see the before and after photos!

Jim, I am glad you had a chance to get into the train room and have some fun with your trains on your layout! What a wonderful photo, Great looking scene! I sure like the Red tuck in the grain building!

Lou, The finished section looks great! Nice job on the lighting!

Johan, Very cool looking speeder! But its not in the Shark Bay colors! LOL

Steve, The lighting really brings the scene to life! Nice job!

Bryan, Great start! We have the sounder here in Seattle and it runs between Everett and Auburn to take folks into Seattle. Except when we have mud slides! LOL

John R, Nice work on the battery install! The train and sound are very impressive!

Bruce, very nice, your track work looks great! What is the size of your layout and where do you park your cars now! LOL

Paul 2, Thank you, everything is getting done on the repairs, maybe a little slow but getting there! Nice work on the Kober flat! It should look great on the layout when your done! Don't worry about Bryan, you 2 have different taste and I bet both will look great!

Well I have a little more work to get everything ready for the Furnace install, but I think I will be able to get a little time in the train room today. I got some time yesterday but only did a little cleaning! I know Lew, no pictures it didn't happen. Well if I took a before and after pictures you would still see a mess so I didn't see any reason to take pictures! 

I hope you all have a great Tuesday and find time for your trains and layouts!

briansilvermustang posted:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure Brian, sneak in some more photos while I was typing on my post! LOL Nice Rio Grande! 

          thanks Mike !   good luck with your furnace...

                            and hopefully you will be able to get in some train time today !!

Good morning all.

My wife and I will spend the day with my parents.  No trains today.  At 2:33PM central time, I will be 60 years old.  That is 420 in dog years.  Please send O gauge engines to.....

Bill

Put some finishing touches on the parade float.  I installed some handrails, a steam dome and relocated the whistle to on top of the dome.  

Now to clean off the trailer and the scouts will be adding "snow" and decorations all around the float.  

darlander posted:

Lou1985 posted:

Yesterday I added some lights around the "finished" side of my turntable.

 

Very impressive project!  Well done! 

Cheers, Dave

Yes very impressive job well done 

Paul, Thank you on the dimensions.  That is a good idea to make removable scenes.  Slow and steady wind the race.  LOL

Brian, your graphic for Paul and Bryan’s module build is funny.

Mike, Thank you.  It is good it hasn’t been too cold.  One night last week went down to 9 degrees and most the last two weeks were down in the 20s.  Our furnace has definitely been running.

Happy Birthday Bill! It doesn’t seem like your 60 I thought you were younger than me and I’m 51 I’m thinking I might be the teenager on this forum. Enjoy your day with Mom and Dad while there still here 

Odenville Bill posted:

Good morning all.

My wife and I will spend the day with my parents.  No trains today.  At 2:33PM central time, I will be 60 years old.  That is 420 in dog years.  Please send O gauge engines to.....

Bill

Happy birthday, Bill!  My younger (only) brother turned 60 last month.  Welcome to the club!