What did you do on your layout today?

    say cheeze...

  " Me?  I'm the little blond haired boy looking in the window of the

    Menards Hobby Shop!   "

Yup!  That is exactly the same guy as the one eating the huge sundae!!  

Thanks, Brian!!  Me?  Tack on about 4 years of facial sags to the photograph that shows up by my name, and you got it.  

briansilvermustang posted:

  " Me?  I'm the little blond haired boy looking in the window of the

    Menards Hobby Shop!   "

You got it!!!  

RSJB18 posted:

decoynh posted:

 

BTW, if you have never changed a Corvair fanbelt, your first time is gonna be a treat.  Doing it during a sub zero frrrrrrreeze is the thrill of a lifetime.  😈

Bruce

 

Bruce - As I said b4, ex-wife’s ‘66 convertible was a nice looking little car, but seeing it go down the road in Syracuse was one of my happiest memories. Another happy memory was seeing my ex go down the road in 1980.  This Friday I’ll be celebrating 28 happy years with wife #2.  

LMAO!!!!!

Gave me a good chuckle too.

WTG on keeping #2, Matt!

Bruce

Placed some of my new buildings that I purchased at York on the layout to see if I like their location.  Tried running my new engine from York but it's DOA so lucky the gentleman I purchased it from is a licensed tech so he will fix the issue.  Also not layout related but forum related changed my profile pic just to annoy my friend. 

Bryan, I’m glad he will be able to fix the engine for you!

Now I’m really sad I missed York and the Thursday evening meal!  Missed seeing the Tuesday Night Ohioans!

Mark Boyce posted:

Bryan, I’m glad he will be able to fix the engine for you!

Now I’m really sad I missed York and the Thursday evening meal!  Missed seeing the Tuesday Night Ohioans!

Don't worry Mark, Paul had a great time at the dinner so I'm sure just like Tyson-Holyfield there will be a rematch between us come April.

Mark, you miss York when you don't go and then read all the stories and all the good buys. I got the wife trained. York is twice a year. Although after the traffic tie up this York I may rent a helicopter to fly to York the next time LOL.  And if I would of known how to photo shop I would of definately put some space between Bryan and myself. What did Khan say in Star Trek.......He tasks me............He tasks me LOL. Anyways back to the topic at hand. I had more laundry to do so since I bought new solder decided to solder all the wires while waiting for the washer to finish. Well unfortunately I made more work for myself. Leaning over to solder wires I broke my swinging gate in the scrap iron yard. I had to add tubing to the end of the fence. I also made up tubing to hold a long wire to go down to the end of the fence. Got it all pieced together and the wire brace glued to the end of the gate. This redo looks better then the original way I had it. I'll let the glue set up then I'll go back and paint the white tubing and the wire with aluminum paint. Plus I think I will use my black paint to paint the wires so they blend in a bit instead of standout. Pics....................Paul

First Pic is the original gate

LOL Bryan!!

 I hope to be there in April!  I was thinking Foreman-Ali.  There was much more hype for those matches than Tyson-Holyfield!  LOL.

I still need to visit the training camps in Ohio before that!  

Paul, Bag the Turnpike!  The toll is getting so high to pay for the extra lanes that it’s getting worth the Extra miles to avoid it.  I already use US 422, 22, and I-99, but you can also stay on I-80 and head south past State College.

Sorry for the gate accident, but rebuilds often turn out better!  The industrial area is looking great!!!

rain some Prewar and my RK PRR M1a....who says MTH steamers don't smoke...

Ok I took some better pictures of the Corvair enjoy them Bruce 

Nice fix there Paul2, must have been that extra beer you had at York that caused the extra width to the working area! LOL Nice work!

Lee, things sure are looking good over there at your place!

Started swapping out batteries for bcr's that I picked up in York.  Have about 6 more to go.

Paul, swing gate looks really good. Might have to steal that idea for an area on my layout.

Mark, Ali Foreman was way before my time. Actually if I wanted an analogy from Paul's era I would have used Cain vs Abel. Lol

Lee - nice photos of the famous "Corvair" !

Mike G & Pete F:   Thanks for positive feedback..   Pete, just wondering if you ever knew a gentleman by the name of William  "Bill" Lucy from Waldwick NJ....   He introduced me to the TCA around 1972 or 1973...  I bought alot of trains from Bill when I was growing up in Oradell, NJ. 

Paul,  progress looks good.   I noticed a couple of black screws in your gargraves track (almost look like sheet rock screws ?)    Might I suggest using a # 4 sheet metal screw, they are made in both button head and countersunk,  I either buy them at the better local hardware store about $6.00 per hundred, or I order them in  4 x 3/4, or 4 x 1 " long from a hardware supplier called BoltDepot.com....   I found a #6 countersink drill bill bit that makes the pilot hole and the counter sink through the ties without hitting the rails.   Then I grab the driver with a  #1 phillips driver and sink it.    When I go to ballast, I paint them with flat black, or burnt umber paint and they disappear from view.   Just a suggestion.  I'll shoot a photo of the drill bit and and the screws and post them tomorrow. 

I am moving along on the lower level, decided to black out the table top and most of the cork as I may not get back to doing scenery here for a while, and I hate looking at bare plywood....

The siding on the left hand side with the 2 boxcars is the "interchange siding" where cars will be picked up and dropped off for the imaginary connecting railroad...   Just took some unpacked buildings to put down some place savers and get an idea of an eventual layout of warehouses and service road.  

I’m calling this All Nations Car done finished it tonight 

Looks great Chris! But be careful, you have a drop off on the track behind the buildings! LOL

Lee, I would have called it done to start with! LOL Great work!

Bryan,  I like the new profile picture, but which one are you?

I am glad Paul and you had a good time at York.  I look forward to seeing the progress on the layouts in the coming months.  Winter is arriving quickly this year in Cleveland, Ohio.  I brought the Yucca tropical plants from poolside into the patio just in time.  I have been babying them for over 15 years.  At 8-plus feet tall, they officially now weigh one-and-a-half hernias.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Looks great Chris.

 I agree the car looks great, Lea!

John, you are like us with hibiscus plants.  Two are in the proposed layout area right now.  My wife promised they will end up somewhere else, my guess is I will volunteer the old train room that will be my workshop again this year.  LOL

Added a new App to my Model Train Apps. Next to MTH DCS Wi-Fi. Called Star Seek 5, on my iPhone 7 Plus.  $14.95

Kind of fun to leave the train room and head out to the back yard and look up and south to see the following. In the eastern time zone about 9 PM. Should be able to see Mars tonight with your naked eye or binoculars.

Will also be in the train room tonight working on the seated figures and watching game one of the World Series.

Gary

I have been working on my industrial park lately.  I have five buildings in their permanent place and four of them lighted so far.  I switched gears today and started building my Wonder Bread Bakery.  I worked for CBC for 33 years and managed three bakeries, so it is a must to have a bakery on the layout.   I am using prefab, modular panels from Korber.  The building will be 5 panels wide and 14 panels long.  I would make it bigger, but that is all the room that I have.  

When I am done with that, I want to make a John Morrell Packing Plant from two Atlas Dairy kits.  And next is a flour mill from PVC pipes and a scratch built head house.

Art

I said I'd post some photos of countersink drill bit and screws I use for anchoring Gargraves and Ross track...   I have tried numerous techniques, this works pretty well and it's affordable.  The only other screws I like are the really fine track screws marketed by Atlas, but I have trouble finding them and IMHO, they are way too expensive.   

The countersink drill bit is for #6 size wood screw, the drill is a 3/32" diameter and the depth of of the exposed drill bit can be adjusted.   Obviously the screws are #4.   A good well stocked hardware store will have them, but in recent years, as most have gotten away from the loose screw drawer and bins, they're harder to find.   

Paul,  I sent you some of these photos via email in case you needed to enlarge them and still have the details.   

chris a posted:

I said I'd post some photos of countersink drill bit and screws I use for anchoring Gargraves and Ross track...   I have tried numerous techniques, this works pretty well and it's affordable.  The only other screws I like are the really fine track screws marketed by Atlas, but I have trouble finding them and IMHO, they are way too expensive.   

The countersink drill bit is for #6 size wood screw, the drill is a 3/32" diameter and the depth of of the exposed drill bit can be adjusted.   Obviously the screws are #4.   A good well stocked hardware store will have them, but in recent years, as most have gotten away from the loose screw drawer and bins, they're harder to find.   

Paul,  I sent you some of these photos via email in case you needed to enlarge them and still have the details.   

Chris when laid my Gargraves down over cork roadbed I used a #4 screw with a pilot hole. After ballasting and letting it dry I removed the screws since they were no longer needed.

I am currently in the 'sit back' and thinking.....   'What else can I do'  phase.   

Looks good, Chris.  Thank you for the bits and screw sizes.  A little dab of paint, and it will look better than the GarGraves screws.  It will look better even if someone doesn't like to ballast.

Joe, You have some great trains running smoothly over your well laid track.  What else to do?  The sky is the limit.  I'm sure you will think of something!  

Updated control panel (I think I can run anything now, except for DCC...)

Chris,

You're getting some serious work done man. I hope you take time to enjoy every step of your creation. I really appreciate your posts and showing us all of the process it takes to get to excellence.

Dave

For a change I actually did some work on my trains today. 

I cannot remember the last time I cleaned my track; it's been at least 10 years since I've done that, and it might be over 20 years.

The work I did today  was not cleaning the track. I may never do that again.

What I did was scrape the built up crud on the wheels of my Postwar operating coal dump cars and oil tanker cars. I also put one drop of oil on the inside and outside of each wheel. I may do this once a year, around this time of year.  Makes a big difference running trains of 10 to 12 cars through the sharp curves on my layout without derailments. 😊

Chris, thanks for the extra pics. Now I have to decide if I want to replace all the dry wall screws. I am sort of thinking if I do the new screws should go in flush without maybe having to countersink. I did not get to the basement to do any layout work. But the girl who is doing the painting on my passenger cars sent me an email to say the painting is all done and she will be applying the decals. Looks like I will be able to pick up the cars this Sunday. Then I can put in the led lighting and put the cars back together and run them. Here are a couple of pics she sent of the cars all painted..............Paul

Paul, I’m looking forward to seeing the cars when you get them!

Well this is far as I got tonight which in not very far 

Dave,   thanks for the kind words.   Still recovering from major shoulder surgery, (week 14),  so I need to keep busy, and keep moving.   I won't be able to go back to restoring old windows till early 19, so I have a window of opportunity here to try and get this to the point where trains can run all the way around the main line.   I don't know about achieving excellence, but I am trying to continuously improve, and always striving for excellence.   The results are pleasing and I can see definite improvements since I started this a couple of years ago. 

When I can finally run a train on the entire 220 foot mainline that's when the "enjoyment" and sense of achievement will really hit me.  

Definitely learning new things everyday.  Most of the techniques I am employing now, I have read about over the years, but never put into practice - like use the widest radius curves space will allow, don't lay too many tracks, roads or scenery in straight parallel lines, even small elevation changes and grades, and wide sweeping curves, add to the realism.  Of course all these things make the build process longer, but in my case, this whole layout is designed and built in modules that can be taken down, moved and set up again. 

So, I keep telling myself, the extra time spent now building in modules, won't be wasted as it won't have to be demolished to be moved, inherited,  or sold off. 

I had bought a bunch of wide radius ross curved track, 096 up to 0128, but now I am realizing I really get better smoother turns with transition "easements", by bending gargraves flex track.   I might end up with quite a bit of Ross leftover,as I am starting to enjoy, and getting more proficient, bending the gargraves.

I went back to the bench for a little bit have to paint the latters and these will be done

Lee,  impressive work on those boxcars.   I have never put a car kit together.   Very nice work.  

Chris, I'm glad you are making the most of this opportunity!

Lee, the cars look really great!

Chris, you are the goto Man for information! Your layout is looking great with the wide sweeping curves along with everything else! Just keep what your doing!

Joe, nice looking engines and very smooth! Your layout looks like its going to be a fun one when completed!

Paul2, She sure has done a great job on the painting for you! I bet your getting excited to get them back on the track!

Lee, Looks great! I am just wondering how many more do you have left to do?

                       adding a new ramp to go to some staging tracks...

                  and putting in some more shelves down underneath too...