What did you do on your layout today?

LOL, Not what I did, but rather my wife. She said she wanted to try weathering, (actually she said, "age"), a building on layout. She said the "Power House" looked so shiny and bland. I said "go for it". Here's her result finished this morning, she also took the photos.

josef

You may want to keep her in the train room more ofter .

Larry

Just a short day today. I started laying out the tracks for the station and industrial area. Going to be sort of a jig saw puzzle because I have a few manual Ross switches from an older layout that I am going to fit in somehow adding switch machines to them. I am figuring I can get a double track siding for the station, a single track siding  and a double track siding.....Paul

On Friday the UPS driver dropped off this large mailing tube from,

Glenn Snyder Display System

I have been out fishing, so I got the tube today.

Hope to install the shelfs sometime this week.

This is my second order from them, and I like The Glenn Snyder Display Systems

She is starting to really enjoy running the trains now. I was surprised when she volunteered to weather the building, and thought she did a good job. Picture doesn't do justice to the bricks and light and darker bricks.

Ran my outdoor and indoor trains today. Raised the far loop of my outdoor to level it out more. Thought about putting bricks under it but went with some limestone chips I scraped up to build up the embankment. More fun to mess with the gravel. Had to put in a tin culvert so rain water would drain under the track. Used a tin can flattened a bit.

I am doing it, waiting for the epoxy to set on the styrene rails I am running down the

inside of the soldered and rearranged Walthers gas electric sides I am using on this

Industrial Rail trolley chassis.  The rails will allow me to lower the sides to just clear

the trucks and make for a lower and more realistic level for the body, and not so

much daylight above the rails.  (I need to do that for an MTH doodlebug, too, but it

didn't look as easy)

As I was running my scale Lionel J 611 this morning on my layout, I made a knee jerk decision to jump in the car and go see the real J 611 in Manasas VA today!  Glad I did it!!!  WOW WHAT A THRILL!!!!!  I have loved this engine since I first saw it in the Lionel catalogue in the late 1950s.  To see and experience the real 611 in action was absoluteley AWESOME!!!!!!!!

Yanno, I betcha a K-Line RDC would make a nifty doodlebug; the motor's in the truck, so it'd be easy to mount on a floor. 

Mitch

Dunno about the K-Line RDC... I have an RMT one that I picked up to consider making

it into a scale length RDC-3, by extending it, but that looks difficult, vs. some other, expensive, shorty RDC-3's that are out there.  RDC's came after my modeled time period, so I have no business with one, anyway.   I will probably use this RMT chassis for a much longer gas electric than the one under construction.  I had to cut the side rails off and redo them last night, as the original location was to low on the sides and the sides still set too high (trial and error..do it right or do it over) I did it over. Epoxy is setting now on a much better relocation that does just barely clear the trucks.

Nice work!

You can add my silhouettes and blinds to add more realism.

http://www.riverleafmodels.us/...ttes-and-blinds.html

Andre.

I like that Idea. how do they work are the silhouettes free standing or go against the inside of the structure against the window. the blinds I figure go against the windows.

The blind are close to the glass as in the real life. The silhouettes have to be 1/4" away from the windows to create the effect. My recommendation is stick a  1/4 square dowel in the bottom of the window and then stick the silhouette on the dowel.

Andre.

Planned the placement, cable run and program action of an additional 4 LCS Sensor Tracks.  The four I currently have on my track (2 for grade crossing and 2 for sounding the bell) are such great fun that I am planning an additional 4 (2 for another grade crossing, 2 for arrival/departure fro station). 

Continued breaking in the 3rd Rail NP 2626 while starting to un-package the fueling rack setup Crescent Locomotive Works put together for the CL&W!

Nice to be working on something other than a darn automobile for a change!

This morning to work on the industrial area I had to move all the boxes and engines I had stored there. That took a bit of time to figure where I could put those boxes. Now that the table is clear I can lay out some more track and switches to see what will work and figure which buildings I'll use..........Paul

I found another redo....but didn't have to cut anthing off.....had to add another set of

styrene rails down the side to widen the RMT trolley chassis, as the cast (lead alloy?)

gas electric front from a Walthers kit is wider than the chassis.  While that is taken care of, I didn't want to use the heavy Walthers cast rear end, and stole a lightweight

plastic one, with better detail, doors, steps, etc. out of a Williams plastic coach kit..

(yes, Williams once offered coach kits).  The glue is now drying on that.  Needed to

get one end on so I could be sure the sides lined up and fitted as they should.  Do not

know if I will shape the kit roof, or borrow one already shaped from one of my junk box

found gas electrics.

finally got the junk off the round house roof.

and trying to figure out a storage method for the extra rolling stock.

plus I tried a different tender behind the 2055, and she ran some varnish today.

I purchased a NKP 8617 Atlantic set from a good Forum friend recently, so I thought it fitting to setup the 027 track on the Patio Pacific and give it a test run.  Worked great just as advertised.  I knew it would.  Interesting thing I didn't know, the 8617 looks to be the exact same as the Wabash 8604 a friend gave me in a trade recently.

While le I was at it I gave an ALCo AA Texas Special that I bought off a gent on a FaceBook group.  It ran very well too!  Now I need a passenger set for the the TS.

Now if anyone is wondering why I got these, the way I see it I had better stock up because the way things are going, I'll be one of those 'fixed income' guys by the time there are any grandchildren coming to see Pappy's trains!  I want them to have something that doesnt have details little hands will easily break.  I think I will have to run the Imperials and Premiers on a mountain division, a high mountain division, and these can take the water level route, low in the valley.

I have been working on wiring up lights. and wiring the bridge. here's the results. not a light was on in the whole room except the layout there was some light coming in from the hallway.

Got back to trains now that a major project was finished with my 'Hot Rod'. Summer is here so I'm going to try my hand at making sisal twine trees this weekend, now that I can work outside. Maybe even finally start messing with my airbrush. Stay tuned.

     Wow in Jhainer post of his layout in pictures 10-11 even on peoples train layouts there are sink holes. You better get some caution tape up before someone falls in and you get sued. Just kidding you layout looks great take care. Choo Choo Kenny

Jhainer, the lighting looks good!

that's a pop up hole with no pop up I call it the Bella hole my granddaughter use's it to see the trains at her level

thank you if you look in one of the pics of the bridge it looks lite up on the out side I was testing a led light shining up on the bridge as a spot light I slide the led into a piece of tubing then put shrink wrap around it so only the tip was sticking out and then drilled a hole in the base of the layout to mount the light in and pointed it at the bridge.

Yes, I noticed the spotlight.  The lights on the bridge itself are good too!

The Bella hole is a great idea!

wish I had a pic of her standing in the hole my daughter who's 13 use's it too but she can stand in the hole and her head is just under the upper level so not much longer will she be able to stand in there .

Me I have to be on my knee's

Still working on shelfs for the train room. Taking longer than planned.

Power outages from storm, and fishing slowing me down.

Most of the shelfs are "Glenn Snyder Display Systems"

Some custom work with the table saw.

Gary

Cheers from Michigan

Today I made a wooden terminal strip out of a piece of Oak.  Sure did make the drill bit hot !  This will be where the various Transformers terminate.  Feeders will come off the appropriate "binding post"..  I must have drank too much Jim Beam because I feel stupid for drilling the bolt holes all over the place.  I drew a straight line, too, and spaced the bolts 3/4" apart.  Really embarassing too !

The other photos show Suzie's 027 train set making its first test run over the inner loop.  More to come.

KRK

The young dog(110lbs) got tangled in my low hanging wires under layout. And...well, some of the wires lost. All the "wrong" wires were off the terminals.

 So again, I worked on the right 1/2, loose, under-table, "spaghetti wiring".

But this time, was easier. 

 One by one, strand by strand. Rerouting each one carefully.

  Running groupings of 3 track busses; accessory control by area; 3 voltages for access. functions, and turnout controls for the super O line, and 0-27.

   The El.s timer was neat and clean the first time.

  On the Super-O, a back-in, two passenger car length depot siding is all I have.

It ran full time track power at the bumper end. It also got a constant voltage un-coupler. And between the un-coupler and the turnout, is a track block that can have the power killed, sized just right for a switcher.

 When that short siding block is energized by switch, the mainline semaphore signal energizes too, now occupied/stop.

 Soon, I think I'm going to ad another block to the mainline, that shuts off when the short siding block is on. And ad second, switch killable main line section,(small), to hold the switcher a minute at "half loop".

 I need one more Super-O un-coupler in the long run too. 

  That would allow me a little better switching even though its mainly a decorative siding.

Ken,

I could have drilled those holes like that without Jim.  That's one reason I don't drink.  Who knows, I might hurt myself.  lol

Suzie's train looks real smart on the layout.  You are making some good progress!

The dog is the safety inspector telling you this wiring just won't do.  ;-)   Did you ever have someone come over check your work on whatever, and rip it apart?  I had that happen once, the guy wasn't even my manager, and he started ripping on my wiring.  I told him if he had let me finish everything would be bundled neatly.  Something I observed he didn't do before he was manager.

Dog - 1

Adriatic - 0

You're making good progress.

Getting ready for my first-ever op session on Sunday.

I had made a panel of track as storage for extras cars, it finally went under the layout, very late last night. I have mostly book cases and dressers filled with stuff from my WW2 collection (and random other stuff) under the layout...

wow this thread has more life to it the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway!!!

That's for sure, Steve!  What a great question Jim asked to start it off!  I just don't see it ending.

This is the thread that never ends

It just goes on and on my friend

Some people started posting here not knowing what it was,

And they'll continue posting here forever just because . . .

Mitch

Mitch,

I thought of that song when I was typing my message.  

I remember it from Shari Lewis' show with Charlie Horse and Lamb Chop!

Still piecing the industrial area together. I spent a good hour and a half moving track and switches around. I think I may have a final solution. What was going to be two sidings for the power/chemical plant is now one. The MTH station is now going to have three tracks to it. Two sidings for RDC cars and one for box car unloading. Next to that a small siding for one small industry. I stopped there and I am going to think about it till tomorrow. If I still like it I'll mark everything off and glue down cork.......Paul

Right now, I'm waiting on a call-back for a new pw engine deal today.

Waiting again 

 My wiring works before I solder, or bundle.

Old spaghetti wired pinball machines got me over the fear of birds nests. Some of those are real pieces of s...um, work.

 Proper groups and hanging doesn't mean Puppy wont want to taste the quality of the work, to see if its close to that of chicken.

  My having touched it alone, means it must be inspected by wet nose at least 

You should have seen him press his nose against 6-9volts on the G scale track!  "Ahh...you big dummy"  Sometimes I'm sooo glad he's not really mine 

Shari may have been my first crush

 I knew Lamb Chop was too cool to hang with a "fake"

  Meeting her flustered me. I talked to Lamb Chop, and she eased me into conversation with eye contact.  A great lady.

...still waiting......

Yep, and it really could just keep going.

I love it because everyone gets to share and you get to see people's posts you might not normally see otherwise.

I also love 'in progress' reports and photos, too.

Well, I just finished unpacking some more Trolleys.  There are now EIGHT trolleys awaiting their call to duty in my new trolley yard.  There are about SIX more out in my Shop somewhere which includes three PCC's.

Getting ready to start the trestle network to the 2nd level using K-Line and Lionel trestle pieces.  Have never done trestles before so wish me luck.  Yesterday, I made a custom lift-out section for the outer mainline loop.  When not in place, it allows me access to be able to reach over the table, here and there.

Cheers.

KRK

I wanted to run a tank car train (9 tankers, one 2 bay coal hopper and cabin car) pulled by a Lionel Consolidation.  I quickly found places where recent ground cover installation trackside left a film on the track.  I cleaned that track and as the train moved along a kept finding more places that needed cleaning.  But I also thought that the loco wheels and pickup rollers might need a cleaning so I put the Lionel Consolidation on my bench.  When I inspected the rollers on the loco and tender, they were dirty but I also found the front loco roller to grind a little when I tried to move it.  It did not spin freely.  I had no Lionel roller so I replaced it with an MTH roller from a long dead railking Consolidation.  Two little wings on the roller base interfered with it seating flat and firm so I removed those with a dremel.  The bolt that holds the roller base is over an inch long and is secured with a nut inside the loco. I had to remove the shell, find the nut, remove a wiring terminal screwed just aft of the smoke stack to screw the bolt into the nut.  It worked!

So now another thing on my maintenance list is checking rollers for free spin and lubrication.  BTW, are Lionel pickup rollers difficult to find.  I might invest in a couple back ups. 

Train Tender has plenty of rollers in stock, and they're inexpensive.  Buy 'em in bulk! 

Mitch

MMM...do you want to translate that Cockney statement?  I took a train ride in GB

from London down to a cathedral town where you could catch a bus out to Stonehenge.

Only, the conductor or whomever that was announcing stations had a Cockney accent

that was unintelligible, and I missed my station and had to take a train back to it.  So

I was on the last bus out to Stonehenge, and after exploring it, found there was no

ride back to the station.  Inquiry revealed a bus did come to a country cross roads five

miles from Stonehenge.  I had a nice walk in the English countryside to that cross

roads, but, sure enough, a bus showed up and I rode back to the station and back into

London.  There isn't a snowball's chance if I was stuck anywhere in rural America, a

bus ride is gonna show up at a remote country crossroads. 

Today I did some painting, flat black on all the interior of this kitbashed gas electric,

and sprayed the soldered sides yellow.  I also shaped the roof, which fits the back

Williams car end but does not fit so well the Walthers heavy alloy gas electric front

end casting.  I may need to lower it on the frame or take some metal off the top.

I finally got part of the upper shelf built, it will have 2 tracks looped and travel 88 feet around the loft, with a 12'x20' 3 finger layout against the far wall (377 feet of track), 8 of 12 benchwork complete, so much to do and so little time.

I put my bridges back up and put the track back on so trains can be run until I work next. The house till is work hard but always leave the layout in full running order between work sessions. Also got Billadelphia pretty much done except for the details but I'm doing high lever work right now then I'll come back n add the stuff that makes it special.

Deconstructed my UPS area.

I know the UPS area had special meaning to you Spence. Sorry to see it go.  Looking forward to an even better UPS on your rebuilt layout. 

Matt

Looks like your powering your layout with windmills.

Larry

After a month on the road, almost 2 months off the layout and a week back home, I finally went down stairs. I needed a project that was easy on the body and the brain. I started with a little vacuuming and tool gathering.

A while back I purchased some small wooden knobs which will be used with radio control push rods to throw manual switches, that are too hard to reach, on the upper deck.

This is a picture of my prototype. There is a 2-56 Allen head screw that threads right into the yellow tube. In order to accomplish this with this knob, a number of drilling  operations have to be performed as well as inserting a plug in the original hole.

The first operation is to drill through the face of the knob with a size just large enough for the screw head.

Next the original hole in the knob needs to be plugged. I superglue a piece of dowel in place. The new hole I just drilled is smaller, so there is a shoulder on the inside that stops the plug.

There are still a number of operations left to complete each knob, and there are about 100 knobs in the project. Time to get back to work.

well I finally poured another layer of water on my river. not to get into too many details like saying somehow I messed up but some spots never hardened ?? so poured over it tonight made sure I measured and stirred correctly. then I changed lights in the room from regular bulbs to LED's wow what a difference I went with daylight bulbs. then I ran trains for about 2 hrs and painted my bridge Black. last pic is of the old bulbs

I cleaned my train room and under my platform, and I organized just about everything. 

What is this "clean" of which you speak? 

Mitch

Atmospheric and inviting to the eye (I repeat only two of your photos here to use a minimum of space for my reply.) You must be quite satisfied with these good looking results. I love it all.

FrankM.

Last night I did what most RR modelers can't do - I stood over my layout with just the layout light on and watched from overhead my trains running 15 ft. below. Pretty  cool. My lighting "system" is a mix of bulbs and LEDs  and the rough sawed brown wood of the ceiling gives it a warm golden glow. My bedroom is a loft above the LR/DR space where the layout is so you look down on it. Perfect for self defense.

thank you very much FrankM that means a lot that also means I have learned something from the forums. 2 years ago I had no clue on how to build a layout. one thing I have learned it I am some what artistic LOL I enjoy the scenery.

Steamer, more photos of your turntable, please tell us about it, looks interesting.

got it at Home Depot. My Uncle was working on the seat of his back hoe one day, and the swivel was shot. He stumble onto this at HD, and I thought that would make me a great turntable. $25 and a couple Lionel bridges, and it works great. 

Steamer,

That is inspiring, simple, yet with lots of possibilities for enhancement, like flipping the bridges upside down, giving them a strong, thin one piece deck that over hangs a bit for the side walkways, some railings, then recess the entire thing so that it is level with the tabletop, dress up the pit and walls, and perhaps add the rail around the inside perimeter of the pit, even if only for looks, and finally add a bridge tower and a control box building on the deck.    

Ideal!  Either leave as is or dress it up like Tim W says...almost endless possibilities.  Sure suits a PW themed layout and seems to be able to handle the largest of PW motive power.  WTG Dave

Bruce

and you could probably motorize it as well. thanks guys.

 And then you could mass produce them and make a fortune selling them to all post war fanatics!   Oh, I may be getting carried away.

Dave,

What is so great is its simplicity in design, and yet does the job fantastically.

gee...maybe I better get this thing copyrighted! 

On June 9th, I posted some photos which included a transformer distribution strip I created.  The long bolts were all over the place as though I was "on the wrong sauce".

See Photo 1.

Photos 2, 3 and 4 are the NEW strip I finished this afternoon.  My wife Suzie said to forget it.  No one will see it!  Well, I will, and it bugged me.  So I tore apart the old one and THIS time, instead of drilling free-hand, I used my Atlas bench drill press for both drilling and countersinking the back side for the flat head bolts.  Made all the difference in the World.

Photo 2 shows the new strip.  From Left to Right, the first FIVE bolts are for A, B, C, D and U for PW--  ZW # 1.   The next FIVE bolts are for A, B, C, D and U for PW-- ZW # 2 and the next FOUR bolts plus single bolt BELOW them will be for A, B, C, D and U for my PW-- KW transformer.  The two bolts at far LEFT below other bolts are (+) and (-) terminals for my 12vdc Regulated, 30 Amp power supply.

TVS diodes will be wired across various terminals as required.  Soldered power leads to track will be utilized as well as Lockons.  TVS diodes will be installed across EACH separate control block.  I have several Proto sound equipped locos but I refuse to try them out until these Diodes are in place.  Thanks for your attention!

KRK

That thread running about losing dropped parts sure applied today.  I was drilling the

back of a brass casting of a headlight for this kitbashed gas electric, and the thing

slipped out of pliers when the drill snagged, three times....the third time it grazed my

cheek and went into oblivion.  I can use the original wiring and bulbs for the car, at

this length...longer ones will need wiring spliced..but I only had two brass headlight

castings one for the front, and this for the back.  I then hunted through my parts

stash.....and found no more.  Will have to fabricate one out of styrene tubing...well

maybe I have some brass tubing.   Before that I had successfully gotten  the roof and sides mated and had bell and horn, ventilators and roof exhausts, ready to mount.  Any

shop with this headlight casting would be in Chicago or Detroit, IF there.

Previous post:

I wanted to run a tank car train (9 tankers, one 2 bay coal hopper and cabin car) pulled by a Lionel Consolidation.  I quickly found places where recent ground cover installation trackside left a film on the track.  I cleaned that track and as the train moved along a kept finding more places that needed cleaning.  But I also thought that the loco wheels and pickup rollers might need a cleaning so I put the Lionel Consolidation on my bench.  When I inspected the rollers on the loco and tender, they were dirty but I also found the front loco roller to grind a little when I tried to move it.  It did not spin freely.  I had no Lionel roller so I replaced it with an MTH roller from a long dead railking Consolidation.  Two little wings on the roller base interfered with it seating flat and firm so I removed those with a dremel.  The bolt that holds the roller base is over an inch long and is secured with a nut inside the loco. I had to remove the shell, find the nut, remove a wiring terminal screwed just aft of the smoke stack to screw the bolt into the nut.  It worked!

So now another thing on my maintenance list is checking rollers for free spin and lubrication.  BTW, are Lionel pickup rollers difficult to find.  I might invest in a couple back ups. 

Update: I used an MTH roller and base for this relatively minor fix. The MTH roller base I used was shorter than the Lionel base and the roller did not extend forward enough to allow the roller to swing into a dimple on the underside of the chassis.  That coupled with a slight misalignment of the roller frame prevented the roller to swing leading to the pilot wheels derailing and shorting. So I retrieved the Lionel version and found by slightly bending the frame near the roller, the roller could spin freely.  Should have tried that initially. Sorry for the tedious explanation, but I wanted to advise about problem with my first fix. Now the engine operates well.  Time to run another train.  Let's see, how about a string of reefers headed by an M1a?

Can anyone tell people what they have been doing?

Spent the day building the table for an HO scale layout for my dad

Spent the day putting risers on my layout. Using them to support the main level. I am just starting to put a extensive subway on the lower level.

ICRRE8

Been doing a bit of brainstorming on a concept of mine:  Custom horn sounds. 

The principle is simple enough:  Get one of those programmable sound chip devices, load the appropriate sound (say, for example, an F3 horn for a postwar Lionel F unit) and use a horn relay to trigger it... 

Mitch

Last night I unpacked my new Weaver piggy back flat car and trailer ( B&O ) which look great!!  I put the car into a freight consist and it looks fabulous!   

Other than that, I've had not much time for doing anything on the layout.  Work has been taking lots of my time lately.  

I ran these through the table saw. I tightened up the spacing so the gap between the windows was uniform. This is always a pet peeve of mine with the way Ameritown flats look when placed next to each other. I'm going to add another floor below it.

 Now that I am posting I see I need to alter the cornice. I missed a spot.

And I started a repaint on a junker 520.

Started the spring cleaning and tune up of our main layout today. It felt good to work on it. Placed several new vehicles on the roadways and replaced some track.

Back to it tomorrow.

PTC

You realize Spring is almost over!  

Al

Finally hooked up my Miller rotating Sinclair sign from underneath. Looks and works great! Terry

took a couple overhead shots 

After a fairly thorough discussion with my wife Suzie, we're thinking about changing part of the track plan so as to eliminate a LOT of the 45 and 90 deg crossings seen in the attached photo, before I start wiring and otherwise, get too far down the line.

The "crossings" are causing too much stuff to either derail or hop up and down.

I'll keep you guys advised !

Cheers.

KRK

I actually found some time this evening to change out one of my ZWs with the MTHZ4000 that I just got back from repair from MTH.  The Z4000 powers my two lower level main lines.  I have another ZW which powers the Mountain Division and elevated trolly line.

It was nice to make progress on the layout again.

Actually did this last Sunday, but forgot to take a photo. We had a problematic older Atlas turnout on the primary mainline causing some derailments and bumpy operation. What had happened was it was deteriorating (rails coming loose/misaligned). Since we're running and open to the public Saturdays, we met on Sunday to yank out the old one (and strip the ballast and road bed) and replace it. It works much better than the old turnout. Now we have to track down AGHRHowie and have him give a clinic on track ballasting for the new guys.

Crossings will do that, partcularly with lighter weight cars (modern Lionel Birneys, for example, don't like crossings in the least)...

Mitch

Steamer exactly what is the swivels original use? A seat?

Is it an "on the shelf" item?

Shimmed to height where? 

Breathed deeply, swallowed hard and began working on the signaling on the Scotts Crossing Road block on the C&C; it is going well and our inexpensive/cheap Chinese made LED D type signals combined with various Logic Rail applications is working well!

off the shelf at Home Depot. about 8 years ago my Uncle Jim had bought an IH backhoe. the seat swivel was shot. he went to HD and found this. Identical to what was on the backhoe. I don't know if the PO of the backhoe had got the seat swivel from HD..or IH used the same thing....but it makes a great turntable for me.

I have been working on the Industrial Rail.Walthers gas electric kit bash.....got the

roof details on there, but had a paint problem with compatibility with the sides, so

having to redo one of them....tried to brush paint doors....after spraying sides...will

have to mask and spray doors...details and decals (to follow) are slow progress...

    Still cleaning, trimming, and neatly refastening, the last of the spaghetti wiring.

I clipped out about 20 ft of loose excess all together and most wires can easily be followed visually from one knee, without going under.

 Played with adding a couple of lights to darker areas.

 The culvert loader has a lit office interior now, and a homemade yard floodlight fashioned from a plastic top hat is being mounted on, or at least near, the water tower tonight.

  Drilled 12 closely oriented holes in a 2x4 on the layout frame and mounted a dead subwoofers thumb screw terminals, for a neat and clean transformer input to the 4 tracks. 

 I have a few spring loaded speaker terminals that will take on the lower amp constant low, med, high voltages for lights, turnout, and accessory inputs.

Since I lowered the layout, my shelves wont fit under anymore. Not without losing 1 of 5 shelves, and they will hinder moving the layout easily again.

   After adding wheels to the layout, I don't think I like my shelves so much anymore, but they were also my transformers mount. So I dug out a unused scrap of chrome piano hinge about 3 ft long, and I'm going to experiment with a shelf that will flip up, hang down behind the "curtain", or flip up & under to store.

  If it works out well enough, each of the four 1033s will get its own fold away shelf. 

Finished retooling some of the track on the main lines. Everything runs smoothly now. Next is sprucing up some of the scenery and adding a CAT water tower, some of Jack Pearce's lighted vehicles, and work on the refinery with new Miller Engineering signs.

We are working hard to be ready for guests who are visiting us on July 11th.

Passenger Train Collector...Who makes the CAT water tower (picture?) you're talking about installing? I'm a CAT fan myself along with Jack's lighted vehicles. They are great.  Thank you, Terry

Beautiful Dave, just beautiful!!   Thanks for showing us more photos, and providing more details.    Very ingenious.

thanks Tim.My Uncle was a mad genius, and could fix anything mechanical. I guess a little rubbed off. If I had cut the plywood so the pivot was flush, I wouldn't needed to shim up the roundhouse floor.

Finally was able to add some coal ballast and ground cover for my coal area. 

A sneak peek at a future project...

Pittman single truck work motor shell + Lionel 59 switcher chassis = future outré snow sweeper! 

Mitch

I have been moving buildings and temporary roads around to see what placement gives me the most real estate for a town on my 4x8.  I like the look of streets placed at an angle to the track straights, but that didn't give me as much space as making everything parallel and perpendicular.  I'm including one photo of how I have it now.  This isn't final, but look at this one whole area in the foreground waiting for the realtors to get buyers.  The large MTH white house on the right will get a sign as an inn or bed and breakfast.  In the far left, I have the AmeriTown store under construction.  I just received River Leaf Models drug store that my wife is giving me for Father's Day.  I just ordered some Task Board that was mentioned on another topic to try as streets and sidewalks.  I wanted to get the best street layout first before making something permanent.  Right now I am using sections of roofing paper, which doesn't look half bad for asphalt.

I had to make another panic retreat, but didn't go AWOL.  I found when lining up the

walls on this gas electric, that the roof sloped to the back due to mounting tabs' location on the Williams pass. car end I used.  Had to take end off, cut tabs, beef up attachment location, and remount with glue drying now.  Did get all the bells and whistles (bell, horn, ventilators, headlights, etc.) on the roof and have it painted.  Wiring for lights as existed on the bashed trolley work.  Not happening fast.

I had a real milestone today, my first op session ever.

The guy who did most of my DCC wiring and a guy with a very well-known HO layout in the area who really is into operations came over and we had a session for just shy of 3 hours.

I knew ahead of time I was out of my depth and told them so, in that this was a work in progress and was mostly to determine the best course in operations.

They seemed to enjoy themselves, and gave me a lot of really good ideas. I can't imagine anyone comes up with a good operating scheme on their own, and with these guys I now have a much greater grasp of how to keep two people solidly busy even on a layout the size of mine.

We totally changed my initial idea, and I really liked where we went. I deleted passenger runs in favor of mixed trains. It worked pretty well. It was also odd to watch two other people run my layout, as before it's been pretty much me alone.

Even my pup, Charlie, was on the same page. Instead of bugging everyone for loves and treats, he actually curled up in the door of the layout room, something he's never done before.

Thanks to Steve and Brian (and Charlie the wonder pooch as well as my Wife) for a wonderful afternoon!

PS: I'm not kidding, I had the window open for the layout room and while we were talking about train flow, one of the guys pointed out the window and said, "Hey, there's a blimp!"

Seriously, the Goodyear blimp was heading North, not far from my back porch. The US Open starts next week just North of here, I can only assume they were heading up there for that...

the Bella Hole in use I haven't done much lately. I built a hill/Mountain and my daughter also built her first hill/mountain. the brown one is the one that my daughter built. I think she should build some more for the layout

Congratulations Lee!

Sounds like Charlie is like our Annie.  Maybe she will take a lesson and cooperate if someone comes over to see my layout.