What did you do on your layout today?

TEDW, nice display with the shelves. Are they out of reach of someone brushing against them. I have a friend who had his walls lined with shelves. They covered all his walls on the one side of the stairs. The stairs mentioned did go to the attic. When we were all going down the stairs the clothing one of the people in front of me caught a shelve and unfortunately two engines went to the floor. Might be better to leave the trains higher on the wall.

UTOWNTECH, nice looking backdrop and the size of the area you have will make for a nice layout. Keep posting of your progress.

Mark, looks like you are getting to the stage of construction this winter. Long time in coming but it will be worth it...........Paul

paul 2 posted:

TEDW, nice display with the shelves. Are they out of reach of someone brushing against them. I have a friend who had his walls lined with shelves. They covered all his walls on the one side of the stairs. The stairs mentioned did go to the attic. When we were all going down the stairs the clothing one of the people in front of me caught a shelve and unfortunately two engines went to the floor. Might be better to leave the trains higher on the wall.

Good point Paul, the lowest shelf is at 60”, so someone would have to have a lot of wine to clonk those shelves, I think.  I’ll screen my visitors closely... 

I agree that backdrop is nice!  Did you glue onto plywood and hang that using the ledger board?  What is the length n width of backdrop. Guessing 15’-17’ x 3’ and 5’x3’?  Looks great.

The backdrop that I ordered came with an adhesive back.  All I had to do was peel and stick it directly to the hardboard that was already mounted to the wall. The photo backdrop came in 4 individual pieces (each 75" in length). The width of the photo backdrop is 3'.  If you go on their website the have set dimensions for backdrops you can order.  For example they come in lengths of 72"/96"/ 120"/ 144" & widths of 18"/ 24"/ 30"/ 36", or you can have them custom design a photo backdrop like I did..... The long wall is 20' and the smaller of the two walls is almost 5' in length.  The company that I ordered it from; Railroad Backdrops/ Affordable Model Railroads, has a YouTube page that has a how to video for putting up their photo backdrops.  I included the link.  How to video on installing photo backdrop

That's great, Utowntech!!  That is just about the space I will have to work with when I get started on my new layout this winter (I hope)!  I'll be glad if you post your progress so we can follow along!!

Thanks Mark!  I always enjoy your post.  I will try to include updates on my layout as it takes shape.  Good luck with yours!!  Maybe both of us will be running trains on our new layouts by Christmas.  That's what I am working towards.

UTOWNTECH, with the length of the backdrop how were you able to keep a straight line going and keep wrinkles out. Did the adhesive allow for going back redo.............................Paul

paul 2 posted:

UTOWNTECH, with the length of the backdrop how were you able to keep a straight line going and keep wrinkles out. Did the adhesive allow for going back redo.............................Paul

Paul...the photo backdrop came in 4 - 75" long pieces.  I would only peel half of the adhesive back off of a 75" piece at a time and get it in position.  Once it was adhered to the hardboard/ Masonite I would then peel the other half off and apply it.  You also had the option of spraying the adhesive back with some water mixed with 1 - 2 drops of dish soap. That would give you a little more time to play with the backdrop if you need to make some adjustments.  I did use that technique when I got to the corner section.  On the long straight wall I applied it without spraying the back.  With such long pieces (75") it definitely helped having a second pair of hands (my wife) get the photo backdrops in position.    Check out this YouTube video link in my last post.  It was made by the company that I purchased the backdrops from ...I definitely used it as a reference.

Mark Boyce posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Thanks!  DRM = Digital Reverse Module,  i.e. a solid state E-unit.      

Mitch 

Ah ha!  Mitch, I was wondering too; I hadn't seen the acronym before.  Thank you!

A more common acronym is DRCU (Digital Reverse Control Unit),  for what it's worth.   

Mitch 

Utowntech posted:

 

---

That's great, Utowntech!!  That is just about the space I will have to work with when I get started on my new layout this winter (I hope)!  I'll be glad if you post your progress so we can follow along!!

---

Thanks Mark!  I always enjoy your post.  I will try to include updates on my layout as it takes shape.  Good luck with yours!!  Maybe both of us will be running trains on our new layouts by Christmas.  That's what I am working towards.

Thank you!  I'm always glad when I learn someone has enjoyed or seen value in what I post.  I'm not shooting for running trains by Christmas, but since my Mianne benchwork for the 12-foot wall should be shipped in early November and I have my roll-out turn-back section built, it is a possibility I could have some track down.  

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Thanks!  DRM = Digital Reverse Module,  i.e. a solid state E-unit.      

Mitch 

Ah ha!  Mitch, I was wondering too; I hadn't seen the acronym before.  Thank you!

A more common acronym is DRCU (Digital Reverse Control Unit),  for what it's worth.   

Mitch 

Yes, that is the term I have seen.  I'm used to things having more than one name to describe them.  

Brian, Something looks oddly familiar in that last photograph, though I just can't put my finger on it!  

I did nothing, because yesterday I was swearing, because the day before I...

  Placed a covered bridge that was 1/16th too narrow

Dropped two whole trains 8 feet

Burnt up one direction on an MTH trolly

Broke a drive band on a VW mow van

Set up too small a diode chain for other locos and they got hot enough to fall appart; melted solder...onto my hand

Removed a bridge roof and replaced the bridge only to discover the pilot on the only motor suited to run on the power supply hits the bridge....

so I aint doing  nothin' 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

A more common acronym is DRCU (Digital Reverse Control Unit),  for what it's worth.   

Tried hooking up the bridge rectifier.   The motor,  which had run at least briefly on a DC power pack,  simply hummed and let out Magic Smoke.   

Examined the E-unit.   When wired to AC track power,  it works fine,  cycling from forward to reverse and producing the proper DC voltage.   

So,  guess the Hogwarts  Express stays on the disabled list until  I can afford a replacement motor... 

Mitch 

The last branch line now laid into the last town. Great satisfaction at this point.  just need about 7' more track laid to the engine house and the last TT., then finished laying track.  Next step, final wiring.  Big layouts can be a drug out event.  Wish I had made it smaller.

Hosted my very first guest for brunch and to run their own engines yesterday.  

An hour here and an hour there can get stuff done if you stay at it. 

Sounds great Tom!

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

A more common acronym is DRCU (Digital Reverse Control Unit),  for what it's worth.   

Tried hooking up the bridge rectifier.   The motor,  which had run at least briefly on a DC power pack,  simply hummed and let out Magic Smoke.   

Examined the E-unit.   When wired to AC track power,  it works fine,  cycling from forward to reverse and producing the proper DC voltage.   

So,  guess the Hogwarts  Express stays on the disabled list until  I can afford a replacement motor... 

Mitch 

Mitch;

You any relation to Dr. Frankenstein (or is that pronounced “Fronkensteen”???). 

If I remember correctly, I have an old Lionel GP-9 (possibly a 6-8477 - won’t be sure till I get back home). Any chance that would help your motor issue???

Sincerely;

Eye-gor 

I want to thank you Mark for your help on this project and others I went back and corrected these this evening and hand painted the tops. Think I’m going to stop here tonight. 

Apples55 posted:

You any relation to Dr. Frankenstein (or is that pronounced “Fronkensteen”???). 

That's FRONKENSTEEN!   

If I remember correctly, I have an old Lionel GP-9 (possibly a 6-8477 - won’t be sure till I get back home). Any chance that would help your motor issue???

Worth a shot, I suppose.  If nothing else,  I could use the Geep to push the Hogwarts Castle around... 

Mitch

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Apples55 posted:

You any relation to Dr. Frankenstein (or is that pronounced “Fronkensteen”???). 

That's FRONKENSTEEN!   

If I remember correctly, I have an old Lionel GP-9 (possibly a 6-8477 - won’t be sure till I get back home). Any chance that would help your motor issue???

Worth a shot, I suppose.  If nothing else,  I could use the Geep to push the Hogwarts Castle around... 

Mitch

OK, Froaderick... I’ll send it along. As the chihuahua said in that Taco Bell commercial... (and please read this in your best Mexican accent) - “I think I need a bigger box”.

Sincerely;

Abby Normal

Ran trains, created a scene for Team Track Tuesday Thread and took photos.  Enjoyed the entire process!!  

Well, I’m still installing LEDS in Passenger Cars when I get the  time.  I did an MTH full dome car.  It was quite a bit more challenging than a standard coach since there are two lighted levels.  It used about twice the amount of LEDs than a standard coach does.  The original lighting strips, upper and lower, were separately powered by each truck.  I ran extra wire between the trucks so the pickups were in parallel and between the LED power supply and the opposite end of the car for the upper level LEDs.   Probably spent more time figuring out how to do the install than actually doing it.

Larry

                busy down at the station last night...

                                   that B&O switcher had a lot of work to do...

Adritaic, Sounds like a good day to take off!

Mitch, sorry that wasn't the fix, but you amaze me how you always look at the positive side of things! 

TOM TEE, congrats on reaching this point on your layout! Just remember its all about the FUN!

APPLES55, what a great gift to Mitch! That's what I love about this forum! Big Hearts!

LEE, things are looking good!

LARRY, sure sounds like a lot of work! But I bet it looks great and lights so much better! Please post a picture when you get a chance!

Apples55, That is a great help to Mitch!  He will make something out of it all!

Brian, That is a busy station area for sure.

Pat, You always make such great "action" scenes!  That is a lot of activity for sure.

Larry, That's great you are getting the LEDs in!  I have 9 cars, and 2 to be added, plus all the LEDs and electronics from Gunrunnerjohn that I got at York in April.  None are dome cars, so I will have an easier time.

Adriatic, I was sort of down and didn't feel like doing anything yesterday or this morning for different reasons than you.  Being a semi-retired telecom engineer, working on an open ended contract, I have been working only three days a week for over a year, after 2 years of full time work.  I had 6 weeks off in the summer, and it looked like there would be work again for a while, but the permanent engineers are too few with too much to do to do the field work, so I can document it.  I waited over my long weekend only to learn yesterday morning that nothing is ready for me to continue with.  They don't just tell me, we don't need you for 6 weeks, they just leave me hanging.  Waiting to learn if I should reopen my unemployment claim got me down.  I guess coupled with all the problems I had helping the elderly relatives over the weekend got to me.  I also learned the youngest, healthiest aunt has breast cancer.  I just felt like laying down and doing nothing yesterday.  Very strange for me.  I'll get over it, I need to go to the bank and Wal-Mart now.  Too bad we don't have a Menards here.

Thank you everyone here on the OGR Forum for being there.  Your comments that I just read now were an encouragement and you didn't even know it!!!  

Yesterday I took a little time and finished prewiring the last 2 switches for my power cart! Now I can go back to putting the bench work top on and buying track!

That sounds great, Mike!!

Mark Boyce posted:

Apples55, That is a great help to Mitch!  He will make something out of it all!

Brian, That is a busy station area for sure.

Pat, You always make such great "action" scenes!  That is a lot of activity for sure.

Larry, That's great you are getting the LEDs in!  I have 9 cars, and 2 to be added, plus all the LEDs and electronics from Gunrunnerjohn that I got at York in April.  None are dome cars, so I will have an easier time.

Adriatic, I was sort of down and didn't feel like doing anything yesterday or this morning for different reasons than you.  Being a semi-retired telecom engineer, working on an open ended contract, I have been working only three days a week for over a year, after 2 years of full time work.  I had 6 weeks off in the summer, and it looked like there would be work again for a while, but the permanent engineers are too few with too much to do to do the field work, so I can document it.  I waited over my long weekend only to learn yesterday morning that nothing is ready for me to continue with.  They don't just tell me, we don't need you for 6 weeks, they just leave me hanging.  Waiting to learn if I should reopen my unemployment claim got me down.  I guess coupled with all the problems I had helping the elderly relatives over the weekend got to me.  I also learned the youngest, healthiest aunt has breast cancer.  I just felt like laying down and doing nothing yesterday.  Very strange for me.  I'll get over it, I need to go to the bank and Wal-Mart now.  Too bad we don't have a Menards here.

Thank you everyone here on the OGR Forum for being there.  Your comments that I just read now were an encouragement and you didn't even know it!!!  

Mark,

My mom has copd, lung cancer, and a broken hip. She is 79, dad is 83. They live in my brothers duplex, we are over there all the time helping. It does take a toll on you but it is the right thing to do. 

Stay strong Mark, God never gives you more than you can handle.

  You have been going seemingly non-stop for a bit Mark. You deserve a break; I'm just pouting till my luck changes. 

 Don't wait to file, your already going to come in under the expected. 

( Do as I say, not as I do )

Tightened tabs and sulked a bit over two dings in the fallen Marx tinplate. The CV landed on the oil tender setting it askew on the frame and knocking out the thick lens I added to the shell for the first time since I put it there. The lens had gone in the hole for a test fit and and I could never get it out again to fine tune the circle .. My "lemonade"  

 The headlight visor is a tiny bit loose now too, which worries me as it was soldered or tack-welded and I'd not seen that before. It also had an undocumented bulb-style smoke unit when found Unpainted it rusted away to dust in about a year oroso after I unburied the engine in the old carraige house's dirt floor.

Other than that, I haven't noticed any "sore thumb" damage. If there is, it will be an axle or flange I'd guess. The other Crusader CV was fine, as we're the both the two wheel and four wheel passenger cars.

Hang in there Mark my brother just had a kidney removed that was cancer he’s fine and cancer free now at this time last year my youngest girl had heart surgery she very healthy and doing well. It looks dark now but it will get better. This fourm is supportive with good people to back you up.

Thank you Mike, Adriatic, and Lee!!!  If I worked full time, it would be harder to do everything for everyone!  I can see God's hand in it over 3 years ago when the "retirement" came.  My wife just hobbled in from work.  It would be great if she wasn't working instead of me.  Who know, we may find that to be the case tomorrow!!    My morning devotion book today was expounding on the fact that we are to be prudent to do our work, but God is the one in control of the results. 

Mark Boyce posted:

Thank you Mike, Adriatic, and Lee!!!  If I worked full time, it would be harder to do everything for everyone!  I can see God's hand in it over 3 years ago when the "retirement" came.  My wife just hobbled in from work.  It would be great if she wasn't working instead of me.  Who know, we may find that to be the case tomorrow!!    My morning devotion book today was expounding on the fact that we are to be prudent to do our work, but God is the one in control of the results. 

Mark - God bless you & yours. 

What Mike said.  Hang in there,  Mark!   

Mark

I love reading those morning devotions especially when I need God to speak to me. May God pour out his devine spirit on you Mark. 

Thank you Matt, Mitch, and Lee!!! You are all the best!

Our thoughts and prayers are with you, Mark.

Mark Boyce posted:

Apples55, That is a great help to Mitch!  He will make something out of it all!

Brian, That is a busy station area for sure.

Pat, You always make such great "action" scenes!  That is a lot of activity for sure.

Larry, That's great you are getting the LEDs in!  I have 9 cars, and 2 to be added, plus all the LEDs and electronics from Gunrunnerjohn that I got at York in April.  None are dome cars, so I will have an easier time.

Adriatic, I was sort of down and didn't feel like doing anything yesterday or this morning for different reasons than you.  Being a semi-retired telecom engineer, working on an open ended contract, I have been working only three days a week for over a year, after 2 years of full time work.  I had 6 weeks off in the summer, and it looked like there would be work again for a while, but the permanent engineers are too few with too much to do to do the field work, so I can document it.  I waited over my long weekend only to learn yesterday morning that nothing is ready for me to continue with.  They don't just tell me, we don't need you for 6 weeks, they just leave me hanging.  Waiting to learn if I should reopen my unemployment claim got me down.  I guess coupled with all the problems I had helping the elderly relatives over the weekend got to me.  I also learned the youngest, healthiest aunt has breast cancer.  I just felt like laying down and doing nothing yesterday.  Very strange for me.  I'll get over it, I need to go to the bank and Wal-Mart now.  Too bad we don't have a Menards here.

Thank you everyone here on the OGR Forum for being there.  Your comments that I just read now were an encouragement and you didn't even know it!!!  

Mark, you fill these forums with your kindness and good will day after day with a cheerfulness no one can match. I had no idea you were going through so nerve wracking an employment crisis. Please forgive my ignorance. You are not alone, brother. Many of us have endured similar challenges, and it seems that the job growth statistics  have not applied to anyone over 50 for years. Just  keep positive, and trust in the Lord.

We will miss you at York!

The work being done on the many individual train layouts is fun to watch.

The friendly support that the members of OGR Forum offer each other is by far the best asset of this web site.  Thank you for sharing your good work and friendship.

Sincerely,  John Rowlen

Arnold, Thank you very much!  I am always appreciative of prayers.

Pete, Thank you very much for the nice comments and your prayers.  Yes, it can be difficult for the young and old to get acceptable employment.  Our daughters and their husbands all in their mid 20s are certainly paying their dues at low income and moonlighting as well.  It is best I decided to not go to York this time.  My Dad has been having issues at the personal care home where he and Mom live.  We have an elderly aunt and my mother-in-law who need help too, so I am kept busy!  That is another age group that is unprecedented in the numbers we have now.  I don’t know how people who don’t have faith cope!  

I will miss seeing good friends more than looking for bargains at York!

John, you are so right.  A common interest brings us together from all walks of life, and I appreciate everyone here!!

Looked at the layout and made a list of things to look for to put on the layout for York.  Packed the car and will be leaving right after work today.  Safe travels to all who are venturing over to the mecca of train shows over the next couple of days.