To be honest, I've had some layout work envy with all the great work that I've seen on here lately. So today I finally added a coat of stain on the facia boards that I have on so far. Its gonna be a while before I finish the rest of the facia. Originally put it off because I wanted to fill the holes and make it perfect, but I finally told myself that it wasn't worth it. I will add a couple coats poly here soon.
love the convenient beer fridge
Thaddeus posted:To be honest, I've had some layout work envy with all the great work that I've seen on here lately. So today I finally added a coat of stain on the facia boards that I have on so far. Its gonna be a while before I finish the rest of the facia. Originally put it off because I wanted to fill the holes and make it perfect, but I finally told myself that it wasn't worth it. I will add a couple coats poly here soon.
Hi Thaddeus, I liked how you built right around that lally column. I did, too, around two of them...
...and another one right behind the "Hotel" sign here...
... behind this village "Modesta's Market" neighborhood...
It's enjoyable figuring this stuff out, right?
FrankM
Brian, don't switch to many cars, you might lose track of where they are! LOL
Thaddeus, the facia turned out looking great! Don't worry, its a train room!
Frank, Nice way to incorporate the poles into your layout!!
Adriatic posted:Hey, I know exactly where Butler is. It is the county seat.
I used to go to the Butler County fairgrounds yearly on Father's Day weekend for a HUGE swap meet. It would take all day at a brisk pace to look it all over. We went for vintage car parts and bulk supplies of all kinds. The savings and rarities made the trip very worthwhile. We would pack every vehicle taken, seldom really having enough room (or cash) for every thing considered for purchase. There was usually one or two train specific venders if I recall. They were in the buildings with more scattered throughout the outdoor tables and blankets; but I was still just a Holiday Runner of,my old stuff at that point. My last visit, I was trailer hitch shy of a new trailer from one fellow and an Argo from another.
I went to see a few band festivals and concerts in the area as well (zydico, bluegrass, metal, and a string quartet that does metal cover tunes comes to mind among others)
I loved driving those hilly roads.
With all those hills to climb and valleys to decend through, I'd bet you might even make it to Detroit faster than to Philly if you had light traffic going west. Especially with the better highway speeds of today. My first trip east I couldn't believe how long it took compared to a map's point to point comparison of flat land time.
Yes indeed, Adriatic! That's the BIG Butler Fairgrounds! They always advertise as BIG!
Hmmm....Barney Google reports:
Detroit: 4 hours 33 minutes (288 miles) It would be closer, but you have to loop around the end of Lake Erie
Philadelphia: 5 hours 12 minutes (323 miles) I couldn't do it that fast.
John Rowlen, The passengers are fantastic!!! Thank you for the tutorial!
So my son gave me a new to me "digital camera" for my birthday.... Been playing around taking some photos of the layout with it today.... What a difference from my small Nikon point and shoot ! The last 5 photos are from the same original, I just kept cropping it and zooming in the operator dumping the coal out of the On30 coal dump car.... This is fun, now I see why so many model RR's take up photography....
Exceptional, Chris A, all of it and every bit of it. Beautiful.
FrankM
Chris, congrats on the new camera! But its not that camera that makes the layout looks great. It's all the hard work you have put into it that makes it great looking! You sure do some of the best work around! It's all you, and thank you for sharing it with the rest of us!
I’m sorry Dennis you have moved out of your house. I hope you get used to the apartment soon
FrankM and Mike G: thanks for the very kind compliments. I have countless OGR members to thank for sharing an endless collection of ideas, photos and modeling tips here.... I can say with 99% certainty that I doubt my skills would have developed without the OGR forum, it's a great resource due the really active and generous membership and well designed OGR forum website...
There are other model RR forums, but I always find this one to be the easiest to navigate, search, read on-line and see great photographs...
chris a posted:FrankM and Mike G: thanks for the very kind compliments. I have countless OGR members to thank for sharing an endless collection of ideas, photos and modeling tips here.... I can say with 99% certainty that I doubt my skills would have developed without the OGR forum, it's a great resource due the really active and generous membership and well designed OGR forum website...
There are other model RR forums, but I always find this one to be the easiest to navigate, search, read on-line and see great photographs...
I agree wholeheartedly, Chris!!
Ran trains and snapped a few photos.
mike g. posted:FutureRail Productions posted:mike g. posted:Thanks Bruce! Yep no Fastrack here, I am going to use all Scaletrak!!
Yeah, sorry, Mike. I've had nothing but problems with Scaletrax. Fastrack will always be my number one choice of track. Until I hand-lay my track for my Civil War themed layout I got running in my head, along with my Promontory Summit 1869 display with interchangeable eras. I'll use Lionel's old tubular track and cut it with a hacksaw, and use my own ties. Trickerery part will be keeping it in gauge as I'm going to remove the original clip ties.
Just wonderind what problems you have with scaletrak?
Well, it could have been a bad batch, but most of the track I got with this M&M Trolley set I bought for Christmas didn't connect properly at the joints, and sometimes one rail was higher then the other on another piece of track, so my trolley kept jumping the tracks. Fastrack just seems to connect better and stays straight...most of the time.
Far from complete but at least it's off my bench, another portion of Halloween town placed this morning.
scene looks awesome Marc ! GREAT job !!
dropping off some of the invisible passengers down at the station...
briansilvermustang posted:
dropping off some invisible passengers down at the station...
Hold on, that house in the background has spiderwebs on it. U holding out a Halloween scene on us?
Dennis, I to am sorry you had to move. I am sure it will happen to all of us at one point or another. Good luck on your new apartment!
Chris, I agree with you all the way ! This is a great forum and such wonderful people! But My point still stands, you have a great looking layout!
Trumptrain, great pictures! Sure looks like you had some fun running the trains at the same time!
FutureRail, thanks for letting me know what problems you ran into, but I am still going to use ScaleTrak as it looks the best to me!
OTTWA MARK, Nice work, that really turned out looking perfect for a Halloween Town!
Nice Brian! Oh Mark don't worry I think the spiderwebs are for the lack of the cleaning lady! LOL Brian has so many train rooms the cleaning lady might get to each one twice a year! LOL
Yep, gonna need an extra cleaning lady I think... 
yeah Mike, I wouldn't be dusting his layout either, oh wait, I haven't dusted my layout in awhile and its small.
Brian, Its all good! Gives it style!
As a relative newbie in this hobby (5 months) I feel like a a deprived nitwit when I see the beautiful layouts you men have created by so great an investment of time, trouble, treasure, and talent.
John's attention to detail on painting those figures is heroic, and makes all the difference in the world. Brian's many posts and pics are so real that one could easily think they were taken in a rail yard. Thaddeus has a wonderful work in progress. I hope he figures a way to use a crane car to lift a cold frosty one from the beer fridge. Frank's layout is nothing short of magic. I love it! I don't know which is better: Chris' photography or the beautiful world he created in his layout. Patrick's layout is bursting with personality and humanity with those kids caught in the act of being kids. Marc's Halloween town shows how whimsy so readily captures our imaginations, and how suited our hobby is to whimsy.
The counterpoint to all this is Dennis' post, an object lesson in why we do what we do. Dennis, at first I felt sad for you when I saw the empty space where once stood your shining accomplishment. It is natural to regret change when something wonderful is ended. Those hundreds, if not thousands, of hours you enjoyed creating your layout, however, are not lost. There is no tragedy here. No doubt, as we all adapt to inexorable changes in our lives we will find new and different ways to enjoy this wonderful hobby, perhaps transitioning from operators and collectors to mentors. God bless you, Dennis, as you move into your new stage in life.
Pete
HCSader73 posted:The counterpoint to all this is Dennis' post, an object lesson in why we do what we do. Dennis, at first I felt sad for you when I saw the empty space where once stood your shining accomplishment. It is natural to regret change when something wonderful is ended. Those hundreds, if not thousands, of hours you enjoyed creating your layout, however, are not lost. There is no tragedy here. No doubt, as we all adapt to inexorable changes in our lives we will find new and different ways to enjoy this wonderful hobby, perhaps transitioning from operators and collectors to mentors. God bless you, Dennis, as you move into your new stage in life.
Pete
Well said, Pete.
Welcome to the hobby.
Thanx, J.D.
Dennis posted:It's been a sad month: sold our house, removed all my trains, destroyed my layout, and moved to an assisted living apartment.
Sad indeed. I had thought you moved to Fl. permenantly. Are you back in town now or staying in the Sunshine State?
mike g. posted:Dennis, I to am sorry you had to move. I am sure it will happen to all of us at one point or another. Good luck on your new apartment!
Chris, I agree with you all the way ! This is a great forum and such wonderful people! But My point still stands, you have a great looking layout!
Trumptrain, great pictures! Sure looks like you had some fun running the trains at the same time!
FutureRail, thanks for letting me know what problems you ran into, but I am still going to use ScaleTrak as it looks the best to me!
OTTWA MARK, Nice work, that really turned out looking perfect for a Halloween Town!
Nice Brian! Oh Mark don't worry I think the spiderwebs are for the lack of the cleaning lady! LOL Brian has so many train rooms the cleaning lady might get to each one twice a year! LOL
Not a problem, Mike.
Thanks for the kind words. We have wintered in Florida for six months for the past four years, and for three months many years before that. It put a near stoppage to progress on my layout but I had all the track and wiring in, a mountain, a train station, two yards, a river, and enormous fun playing with my trains for many years. I just imagined all the scenery done.
Strangely, I never took any pictures of my layout at the apex of its existence. All my shots are several years old. Attached is a photo of my RR Track plan though.
Nothing as big or as special Dennis, but there are a few throttles always crying for even more attention Downriver. Don't spite yourself and fail to ask when the urge strikes 
Ottawa_Marc posted:briansilvermustang posted:
dropping off some invisible passengers down at the station...
Hold on, that house in the background has spiderwebs on it. U holding out a Halloween scene on us?
Nah, Brian just hasn't dusted in a while. 
Thanks to the monthly update, I haven't posted over here in almost two weeks. Not all that much going on on the layout, mostly clean up. Patrick is coming over tomorrow, and I have a half dozen little projects in mind. We'll see what we get done.
Toe update: Went to the doctor on Wednesday. My regular doc was on vacation again, third week in the last six, so I saw his associate again. It's like they have a "good cop, bad cop" routine going, with my regular doc being good cop. Bad cop is a good doctor, but I swear he is left to do the dirty work, while my guy is all unicorns and rainbows. He took another X-ray, and the bone is just getting worse. They always say get a second opinion, but what if it's worse news than the first? Unfortunately, I am a believer in science, and the pictures don't lie. I'm probably going to have to lose this thing, before the infection jumps the "fire break" and gets to the next bone. This has been a real roller coaster ride, but I've come to grips with it regardless.
Back to the layout! I did manage to take a few pictures earlier this week.
I've been using extra containers as scenic elements. I once had them stacked neatly over at Park Junction, but they weren't pinned together, and when we used the impact driver on the layout, the vibration knocked them over. Now they're pinned and more stable. What you don't see in this picture is the hole on the backdrop for the track by that CAST container. That was the point of this exercise to hide that.
If you really look, you can still see it, but at a glance it's not bad. BTW, there are really stacks of empty containers in this area between the BNSF and UP intermodal facilities.
Here's another effort at covering backdrop holes, using an old Korber building and a Korber flat.
Here's that same hole from the other side.
I was having a "crummy" day. I think I ordered too many green cabooses, but they're so pretty, aren't they Mike?
Look what I did to the Menards well car. I jammed an Atlas 40 footer into the well. It's a tight fit. Then I stuck a 53' on top. Looks sharp, very prototypical.
More scenicking with containers over at University Junction. I wouldn't do this if the railroads didn't do it first. These piles are associated with CP's intermodal terminal at Shoreham, and they really are organized by owner, not necessarily by color, especially the Hapag Lloyds and the Hamburg Suds.
See?
Hold on, that house in the background has spiderwebs on it. U holding out a Halloween scene on us?
Nah, Brian just hasn't dusted in a while.
I thought it was scale ash
A link to this thread in about mid Oct. of last year for Ottawa Marc. In case he wasn't already lurking then. No scenes except rolling ones, but I had 4 "Terror Trains" by the 31st. There is usually a few good "group" threads and individual build threads every year; you're just ahead of the game right now. Gather your build pics together and you'll be yet another step ahead in the inspiration game 
I'll try to hunt for a thread link to at least one other, but I got an update earlier and advanced search may not work well for me today.
Marc, Very nice scene indeed! Your foam work turned out really good!
Brian, I have cob webs on the Ceiling Central RR as well. They give the scene a nice homey look!
Pete, those were nice words for Dennis, and all of us can learn from them. We never know what the future holds, so we should just enjoy each day God gives us!
Dennis, Well I do feel a bit better to know you have sort of eased into it with living away from the layout for half the year. So which state will you be living in now?
Elliot, Yes, I was afraid of that about the toe. Based on our experience from my father-in-law, it may be better if the toe goes. Those infections and gangrene can just keep creeping on up your foot. Since I don't see many real inter modal facilities and don't model the modern era I never really thought of using the containers as scenic items and view blocks. They actually work great!!
Adriatic posted:A link to this thread in about mid Oct. of last year for Ottawa Marc. In case he wasn't already lurking then. No scenes except rolling ones, but I had 4 "Terror Trains" by the 31st. There is usually a few good "group" threads and individual build threads every year; you're just ahead of the game right now. Gather your build pics together and you'll be yet another step ahead in the inspiration game
I forgot about your terror trains!!!
Still lurking from a remote location. Heading home tomorrow. Halloween already? And calls from Alan for Christmas layouts??????
I refuse to give up on summer just yet. You all are just gonna have to wait.
Bob
PS- Brian- we have a saying in our house- you can write in our dust, just don't date it 🤣.
PS- Brian- we have a saying in our house- you can write in our dust, just don't date it 🤣.
Like the old Red Skelton goodie.
She asked me " what's on TV? "
So I said " Dust! "
And that's when the fight started....
Bruce
Adriatic posted:A link to this thread in about mid Oct. of last year for Ottawa Marc. In case he wasn't already lurking then. No scenes except rolling ones, but I had 4 "Terror Trains" by the 31st. There is usually a few good "group" threads and individual build threads every year; you're just ahead of the game right now. Gather your build pics together and you'll be yet another step ahead in the inspiration game
Adriatic: Thanks for the link. I have been lurking for a while, in-fact found my old username from 2004 but couldn't remember the password and we changed isps since then.
RSJB18/Bob: Halloween already? oh h*ll yes. Think about it all year, though I am late this year building props for this years outdoor setup.
Elliot: That looks like a huge layout and a cool container setup.
Guess what I am doing tonight. Ordered box #132 & 133 of Preiser 65602 Twenty-four Unpainted Seated People from Questmark on Ebay. The item is getting difficult to find again, like four years ago when they all sold out. Walthers, Hobbylinc, and others are currently Out-of-Stock.
Preiser is professionally painting four people for $26.00, (plus the additional shipping), making the people $6.50 each. The only objection, other than price, is that they will all look the same. Preiser only offers two different paint schemes, A and B. This causes the same people to be seen in every car of a seven-car passenger train.
I like changing the clothing and hair colors to minimize the repetition when I paint the blanks. I figure I save $5.00 a figure (minus paints and brushes) by painting my own figures.
(The China painted figures are all painted the same, (no variation), often with glossy paint.)
The upper level of my layout is waiting for me. It is time to change tasks.
Sincerely, John Rowlen
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