What did you do on your layout today?

Tis the season to get the layout ready for Christmas and we got the scale PE train out from storage and placed it on one of the layout's main lines.

I would imagine that your beautiful, wonderful layout makes a visit to it feel like a holiday any time of the year. "Tis the season" touches must make the whole experience pure magic. Have fun, the best of health, and a joyful season all year long.

FrankM.

And congratulations on so handsome a presentation of your treasure in OGR, I am sure it is a Run many hobbyists will save.

I began cutting and fitting elevation piers for my top level around the new engine servicing facility and yard.

Patrick H made the grinder use for carving mountains look so easy...NOT but still having fun. Base painting getting closer.

Installed a second light on my Lionel freight station. It's the one with that vibrates and the men ride the carts or trucks around a track that goes in and out of the building, and around the track.

     The building is lighted, but the area where the men and their carts are most visable is dark. So it was a simple matter to install a socket and bulb to highlight their action.

Bill 

Finally finished "enhancing" the bridge for the 132' ROSS turntable.  Four weeks about 2-3 hours a day for my first attempt at this stuff.  It was a lot of fun actually.

Next comes the arch when it drys then mounting in the pit.

Might even have it running in a couple of days!

Today, I finished cutting and fitting the elevation piers and ramps for 2/3 of the descending track around my new engine servicing facility and yards.

Finished Kadee install on two tough ones. My K-Line caboose and a MTH coil car. Should have been easy but I just had to make them ride lower. Now that I done those once the other ones like them will be easier.

Pretty much finished the Christmas Carpet Central............this evening was wiring up the station platforms.   darn if it doesn't look good.............I will post pics soon.

After down-sizing for my retirement layout, I created a new plan from re-cycled track and module sections to fit my 11' X 14' space. I just finished re-ballasting the Atlas"O" sections down each side and fully ballasted some new American Models flex track for my "S" line (formerly Gargraves); the AM flex is much better looking and electrical pickup is better on my new SD70ACe to boot.

Gentlemen,

   Put the final touches on the US Army Special Forces Passenger Train.

PCRR/Dave

Well I'm back again............I went to the Train Meet in Westminster Md.  Seems larger than in past years.....it was well attended.  Scored BIG TIME with 4 MTH PRR Passenger cars.  They were the right price and there at Lou's table at the right time.

    So i guess these are additions to the Christmas Carpet Central.   Now my K Line Mikado has passenger car company.  And looks Tuscan GREEEAAATTT!

Dave,

May I ask where you bought your figures? My wife would like some in our Christmas train. I saw some on the MTH site, but emails asking if they fit the 2012 Christmas passenger cars have gone unanswered. Obviously, I like what you've done with the cars.

I am going to put this signal bridge on the layout, but don't know what the maker is, or the connection sequence...anyone know anything about this bridge?

I just found out it is a "JUNIOR BRIDGE COMPANY" signal bridge!!!

Didn't accomplish anything on either of my two "regular" layouts, but I did spend some time getting the around-the-tree layout partially ready.  I just need to haul the tree out of its garage storage area (actually, I have several tress to choose from), and then drill a hole in the table top I use as a foundation for the tree, which is mounted on the top half of a whisky cask, so I can get the tree's light cord through the thing.  That hole will also serve for the light cord from the half-dozen or so Snow Village buildings that will be placed around the base of the tree.

I test-ran the MTH PS3 tinplate Christmas train just to make sure all was well there, and also ran a second tinplate train on the inner oval.  Control is with an MRC Dual-Power transformer with tethered controller.  Works fine.

I guess I should admit that I cleaned my track and rollers and got my engine running again. I'm so embarrassed at how I over-reacted when it just quit running like it did and all it needed was a cleaning.

Finally took a photo of the scrap iron electromagnet I finished about a week ago.  This is a Crow River kit I weathered and assembled.  It will end up on a Lionel construction crane in the layout's Weirton Steel area.

George

Finished wiring up sound for a helicopter with rotating blades and installed the speaker in an adjacent building. Ordered a sound module for my James Bond museum and installed small switches to control lighting and other accessories. Terry

The Boss granted me permission to bring the Christmas platform up early this year. I'm not setting the town or anything else up until we cut the tre down, but that woun't be for a couple weeks. I did have my 2046 and four 2400 passenger cars running today.

Yesterday I finished the descending loop of track around the future engine service facility. Today I begin the outer, ascending loop.

Double Daz,

   Dave thanks much for your life time of service to our Cuntry, pass along my thanks to your Son in-law also.  Was with the 2nd Group Military Intelligence Special Forces out of Ft Devens, Mass during the Viet Nam era, then CID after that.  Have great respect for the military men and ladies, did everything I could to make sure bad people could not take advantage of them, as they protected our country and way of life. You asked about the pistol, the long hand gun with the 12" rifle barrell, is an old H&R .22 Mag mountain pistol, my father bought it for me.  Loved to hunt Squirrels with it when I was a boy.  Thanks for the heads up about accessing my pictures, it's not suppose to happen in this manner, will need to check on it.

PCRR/Dave

Dave,

I kind of thought you might not have known that the photo link let us access your other photos too. I guess I could have sent you an email, but I didn't think of that and I was interested in the pistol. I seem to remember a TV cowboy who used a long barrel pistol. Must have been quite the thing back when you were a boy.

As for my service, thanks. I did a tour at Da Nang in '71-'72 and have now been retired for 20 years as of Oct 1. I was a computer operator at the time, so spent much of my time in air-conditioned rooms.

Oh, and I wasn't snooping. I just clicked on the photo and saw the arrows before I realized it was showing more photos than you uploaded. Of course, then I couldn't resist checking the grouse hunting shots, etc. Hope that was okay.

today the area for the Christmas layout was cleared and the base bought out..a little black touch up painting around the base and on some lift blocks of rate base…a new riser for  the tree is under construction and the layout goes up this Friday…try traditional for me…just as when I was a boy…only updated additions are some Lemax buildings I have been buying for the wife…sticking with the Lionel 3rail PW look of the 50's…

jz

I purchased the lumber and hardware for the Christmas layout for under the tree today...all mostly cull lumber too! Going to start building it tomorrow!!!

Repaired the broken throw bars on 7 old Right of Way switches. Still have some old Ross ones left to fix. Getting ready for the big track laying push in 2014.

Did some more straightening up and trash can filling. Lots left to do on that front.

I learned that I'm going to have to make some modifications to the layout in order to accommodate 89' flats and autoracks. The problem is the layout was designed before before any of those cars existed. It's either that or operate with restrictions.

i have a section of raised track that i put power to today.  also found out my new lionel silver bells engine doesn't run.  tomorrow, i have to take it to the repair shop...thanks lionel.  i believe that's about the LAST starter set i ever buy.  tomorrow, i'm starting on 8' of "brick wall" to go under my raised track.  i love vacation when you can't go outside and work!!

Getting closer to finishing our winter scene on the JKL Railroad. Kay's mountain is looking good. We're making lots of fir trees, all sizes, from bumpy chenille.  Figure between now and Christmas we'll have several hundred more to dot the mountainside. But working on wiring for animating animals, polishing the track and running trains will occupy us through Thanksgiving.  There are whimsical critters playing in the snow are just down the track! MTH's KCS Business train thunders through a tunnel above the human area of the winter scene.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I finished building a Christmass tree platform for under the tree...it is only 48" x 39" but will fit an oval of O gauge track, and a small village around the tree....

here it is!

today i ran my new lionel silver bells engine to the local lionel repair shop.  i cut the foam for my "under the track" wall.  i decided to go with a print-out of a brick wall since my intent is that it will be mainly blocked by trees and/or city.  i glued the sheets to the foam.  tomorrow i'll flip the foam over and secure the sheets around the foam.  i also got my tunnels ready to go.  i'll "stagger" the wall a couple inches out from the raised track and fill the area in between with plaster cloth and then put on the ground cover.  in my mind, it'll work out great!  jeff 

I cleaned the track again and this time cleaned all 78 wheels, 12 per on the passenger cars as well as those on the engine/tender. Boy, my hands sure got dirty.

Car Show Season is over for another year.   Another long, cold, lousy Northeast Ohio Winter is settling in. The good news is, I will finally be getting back to work on my train layout!! I have lots of scenery to do. Last weekend I picked up where I left off this past April constructing a mountain. I hope to get a lot more done on my layout this Winter than last Winter.

Bob.

Worked on setting up the Christmas layout today.  Still have some additional accessories to put out.  Looking forward to making bigger and better with each passing year.

Since I'm "grounded" until this weekend, I finalized a switching layout design I'm going to build over the wife's objections. Worked on a couple of locomotives and switched some Weaver cars over to Kadees and scale wheels.

Matt....there can be no objections.  You should be able to get a doctor's note stating that switching is "good therapy" for you.  All joking aside we all know that every aspect of this hobby is good therapy

(except, in my case, the constant teardown and rebuild phases I tend to repeat perpetually).  Hope you are feeling better.  Please share your design when you can.

Thanks,

Rick

Glad your back. 

Nice to see you posting, again.

Full recovery pal.

George

I'm always amazed at the work that gets done and displayed on this thread.

I'll tell ya, this working for a living really interferes with model railroading progress.   

George

Well, I do not feel quite as bad. I ordered the Silver Bells set for my wife and she wanted it put on the track so we did last night and it runs but no smoke at all. We are thankful that it runs and sounds but bummed on the other. I did some cleaning and moving some trees/buildings/people around. My wife is going to call the repair person and switch off the smoke so she can at least use it through Christmas.