What did you do on your layout today?

John, Nice looking work on the switch! From the pictures you also have a nice looking layout from what I can see!

John R, sorry about your video not posting, but it sounded good!

After going out this morning to hang Christmas lights, I had time to work in the train room! I wanted to get as much done on the west wall as I could before I had to wait till I laid track and covered it with the upper loop. So I got the southwest corner and pretty much of the incline going back down to the bridge deck level. It still need a little tweaking but its in place which is a big plus! Here are a few pictures of the west wall.

John R, video worked for me. Nice video.

Mike looks like you got some layout time in. Grade ame out good.

Well this evening I finally did some soldering and got 4 passenger cars put together ready for testing tomorrow. I have two left to put together. Not sure if I am going to put the observation car together and down the road take it apart again to install the wiring for the rear lights. Pics..............Paul

My 5 year old grandson is staying with us for a few days.  He was after me to run some trains, so we set up a loop of track in my garage this afternoon.  Here’s a video of him running a train.

Larry

So this is so odd.  I have been getting emails from other topics, but not this one.  I'm still following it.  Nothing is SPAM.  That happens sometimes, but I don't know why.  Well, we will see if I have emails tomorrow. 

Wow, everyone has been busy today!  Great updates, everyone.  Me?  I dug out some of the ceramic buildings we haven't used for a couple years, and started putting a few in place on the Christmas layout.  More later.

Paul, that cars look great! As for the grade I am still working on it. I want to get it as good as I can before I secure everything down.

Larry, nothing better then spending time with the grandkids and trains! LOL

Mark, If you haven't used the buildings in a couple of years they will fit right in as a new and improved Christmas layout!

Well, sort of/kind of on the layout......not really.  This project will allow me to do some layout things.  I promised the CEO that I would refinish the kitchen island maple top.  Got to use the new cordless orbital sander.  So much better than using my corded 1/4 sheet sander.  4 coats of mineral oil and it's like new.

Today another 3-6" of snow.  20f by Thursday!  BTW Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Table looks nice Matt! Keep the CEO happy and anything is possible !

       looks good Matt !!

Matt, I have never used an orbital sander, but I see you did a great job on that table.  The sander will certainly find use on the layout!  You can make cabinet grade finished benchwork.  

Yes, I'm sure you have some snow.  We have a high of 23 degrees predicted for Thursday.  Some people still don't have electricity here after the ice storm Thursday night.  We were spared the outage at our home, but my sister was out until yesterday.  They went over to our parents' empty house, turned up the heat, did her wash, and made good use of the place.  

Happy Thanksgiving to all, as well!

                               here is my kitchen table usually...

My oldest grandson is almost 14, he's sort of lost interest in trains since we had a large garage floor layout about 4 years ago.  Now the youngest one kind of likes them and was bugging me to "play trains."  I fired up the pellet stove in my garage so it would be at a halfway comfortable temperature to run them.   It was 41 degrees when I fired it up earlier in the morning.  By them time we made it up there, which was after lunch it was up to the mid 50s, a much more tolerable temperature.  A couple of his friends came over and we ended up adding more cars to the consist.

Larry

This morning I went back to finishing wiring the last two passenger cars and I no sooner was done and there was a knock on the door. It was Mr. Brown with my Niagara. Had to sign for it. I opened it up in the living room as the wife watched. Once I unwrapped it she said "beautiful engine".........good choice. After showing it to her I wrapped it all up and put it back in the box. Seeing it is Tuesday night and our weekly Tuesday night get together I may take it with me and run it there. Then I took three of the passenger cars to the attic, placed them on the track, and then applied power. I have to pat myself on the back. 3 for 3... they all lit up. Later this afternoon I'll bring the rest of the cars and the other A unit along with the B unit and put them all on the track. Pics ..............Paul

Very nice work on the cars Paul. That is going to be one sharp looking train when its all done.

Matt- The view out your kitchen window looks quite depressing. Nice job on the butcher block

Glad we're not going to the Macy's parade this year. We did for a few when the kids were younger but it's going to be WAY to cold this year. Hope this is not a sign of what winter in the Northeast is going to be like.

For the inner loop around the Christmas tree, I'm using a Plastruct bridge I built years ago, but was damaged when it fell from a shelf.  When I posted a WTB for piers, a very generous forumite gifted me the bridge in the photo, the piers it came with and a second set of piers.

In order for the track to be level on LIONEL's elevated trestles and the LIONEL bridge, it was necessary to cut off a fair amount at the base of the rock piers which I did this a.m.

Here's where my hobby math figures into this project--I bought a pair of C-clamps since I had none ~$16 at Amazon--and needed only one.  Fortunately, I already had a Zona saw and two good blades.

NOTE:  I was going to spray the bridge with flat black later today, but the photo captured a needed repair which I had not noticed previously--so I'll address that instead.

Cleaned track & ran trains!

Ran B&A Steamer with Beer Reefers on the short line.

Then used the 0-6-0 steamer with the Rutland Plow & Cabin Car.

This was a fun morning after yesterday's refinishing of the kitchen island for the CEO.

paul 2 posted:

This morning I went back to finishing wiring the last two passenger cars and I no sooner was done and there was a knock on the door. It was Mr. Brown with my Niagara. Had to sign for it. I opened it up in the living room as the wife watched. Once I unwrapped it she said "beautiful engine".........good choice. After showing it to her I wrapped it all up and put it back in the box. Seeing it is Tuesday night and our weekly Tuesday night get together I may take it with me and run it there. Then I took three of the passenger cars to the attic, placed them on the track, and then applied power. I have to pat myself on the back. 3 for 3... they all lit up. Later this afternoon I'll bring the rest of the cars and the other A unit along with the B unit and put them all on the track. Pics ..............Paul

Paul

I like that weaver piggyback train

John d Sewell posted:

Lee share with me please the overall  height in inches from rail to top of the C&O tractor trailer found in your video consist tonight.

I have a Lionel 624 C&O switcher like your black one also in your video tonight.  Will u kindly tell me what the use of the circular wheel with the vertical shaft found on the top front on our switchers?

thanks

John d.

John

I haven’t forgotten you just haven’t been to the garage yet to get the measurements 

Working on scenery however I get distracted easily and have to play. 

Thanks for the welcome and the encouragement folks! As I mentioned I've been lurking this thread since its inception. I may have even posted way back once or twice.  I've really enjoyed seeing all of your layouts progress.  Thank you for all the inspiration and ideas.  I'm excited to finally contribute! ....sporadically of course. 

This will be the fifth iteration starting with my original 4x8 when I was 9.  It sat for a while during my junior high rc car days. In high school I lengthened it by another 4x8 and In college I cut it in half and widened it to 3x8 and 27"x8 (I have no recollection of why I went with 27") semi-portable tables.  In its travels its grown by several more tables based on that "standard".  In the last house I was up and running and just about to start posting when we decided to move!  I think we'll be here for quite a while so I'm looking forward to finally get something "permanent" going.  The biggest challenge so far has been having to constantly relocate all the other junk in the basement and then put it all back under the layout sections as they go up, due to the tighter space. What a pain!  Getting around furnace mountain is going to actually be interesting, since I'm going to have to build an actual piece of bench work for the first time. ... and that is where I'm at! I'll keep you all posted.

We got the foam board all glued down on the layout. Going to let it sit a few days before painting it. Little helper wanted to see what it looked like with a train and track on it

Lee, the TOFC's are all Weaver. I started to buy them after they went out of business. I have over fifty now plus I was able to find undecorated trailers which I plan to paint and add them to flat cars I have.

John, the bridge is an old Miami Valley bridge when they were kits make out of cedar. It is a 6 foot bridge.

Today I got the last three passenger cars on the layout. Still have to get the other A unit and B unit added. Later today. Pic of the fantasy paint scheme. This is the wife's train.....................Paul

This is probably my last chance to be on OGR until tomorrow, so Happy Thanksgiving, brothers!

                      have a great  "HAPPY THANKSGIVING"  everyone !!

That's a lot of neat things folks are doing!!

Paul, the trains look great on your layout!  The L&N passenger train is really great looking!  The Niagara of course looks great!  The Weaver TOFC collection has to be one of the largest.  How many cars have you pulled at one time?

Joe, it is easy to get distracted when trains can be run.

Carl, That's a good repair and replace job on the bridges and piers.

Ed, Your helpers are doing a great job!  They will feel a part of the layout and learn skills as they go along.

Matt, Nice trains running!!

Brian, All good photographs.

I got a chance to go through all the buildings and come up with a theme.  We haven't used a lot of these cheaper Dickens Village buildings for 3 or 4 years, so we will have Dickens Village this year.  We are still deciding whether to move any buildings before putting in lights, then people, trees, and other items.  Here is what we have right now.

To follow up on my repair on the 15-year old Hyundai.  They still have it, but there were no surprises after they got the hood off.  Someone said the used replacement hood needs a racing stripe, which I said reminded me of Herbie.  Well look what I saw in the music store parking lot today.

Mark Boyce posted:

That's a lot of neat things folks are doing!!

Paul, the trains look great on your layout!  The L&N passenger train is really great looking!  The Niagara of course looks great!  The Weaver TOFC collection has to be one of the largest.  How many cars have you pulled at one time?

Joe, it is easy to get distracted when trains can be run.

Carl, That's a good repair and replace job on the bridges and piers.

Ed, Your helpers are doing a great job!  They will feel a part of the layout and learn skills as they go along.

Matt, Nice trains running!!

Brian, All good photographs.

I got a chance to go through all the buildings and come up with a theme.  We haven't used a lot of these cheaper Dickens Village buildings for 3 or 4 years, so we will have Dickens Village this year.  We are still deciding whether to move any buildings before putting in lights, then people, trees, and other items.  Here is what we have right now.

 

To follow up on my repair on the 15-year old Hyundai.  They still have it, but there were no surprises after they got the hood off.  Someone said the used replacement hood needs a racing stripe, which I said reminded me of Herbie.  Well look what I saw in the music store parking lot today.

With that layout, the Polar Express bridge, the snow layout, what a TOTALLY FANTASTIC CHRISTMAS LAYOUT!!!! Plus an added bonus with the Hogwarts Express. And funny thing, we just saw Fantastic Beasts 2 yesterday evening in the theaters, but no Hogwarts Express in that movie. But Hogwarts Castle was.

And with the car, as in Rudolph, Herbie - "I'm in dependent, I want to be a dentist". Oh wait, this is Herbie the Volkswagen beetle, LOL.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!  Gobble, Gobble, Gobble.

Finally got some power to the track and gave it a test run with a postwar Lionel 2026 👍 Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone, I would really like to say something really neat but Mark already covered everything! But I will say this,

John if you run out of things for the helpers, a=send them my way! LOL!

Paul, what a great looking train on a wonderful layout! You have everything to make a persons jaw drop in the amazing things you do with your layout!

Mark, That is one wonderful Christmas layout! Its funny I have like 6 or 7 of the Dept. 57 buildings and the wife has me put them up every year. But when I ask to add a train the answer is always the same, Maybe Next Year! LOL

JD, Its a start, nice work!

Mark Boyce posted:

That's a lot of neat things folks are doing!!

Paul, the trains look great on your layout!  The L&N passenger train is really great looking!  The Niagara of course looks great!  The Weaver TOFC collection has to be one of the largest.  How many cars have you pulled at one time?

Joe, it is easy to get distracted when trains can be run.

Carl, That's a good repair and replace job on the bridges and piers.

Ed, Your helpers are doing a great job!  They will feel a part of the layout and learn skills as they go along.

Matt, Nice trains running!!

Brian, All good photographs.

I got a chance to go through all the buildings and come up with a theme.  We haven't used a lot of these cheaper Dickens Village buildings for 3 or 4 years, so we will have Dickens Village this year.  We are still deciding whether to move any buildings before putting in lights, then people, trees, and other items.  Here is what we have right now.

 

To follow up on my repair on the 15-year old Hyundai.  They still have it, but there were no surprises after they got the hood off.  Someone said the used replacement hood needs a racing stripe, which I said reminded me of Herbie.  Well look what I saw in the music store parking lot today.

Excellent!!!!! 

Masked up my Razorback Traction rolling stock today...

The end result:  A not entirely unreasonable facsimile of the SP Daylight consist!  

Considering I was working with Wallyworld rattlecan,  I'm rather pleased with the result. 

Happy Thanksgiving,  all! 

Mitch 

Tom, Thank you!  I have the new Bluetooth Polar Express for up top, and I can run the Halmark Toymaker, or a North Pole Central too.  

Was the dentist Herbie or Hermie?

Mike, Thank you.  Well yes these came from the thrift store.  If I could only get MTH Premier trains at the thrift store, I would be set!  LOL

Matt,  Thank you! 

JD, nice run!

Today I spent several hours under my train tables to see if adjustments could be made to the wiring in order to eliminate voltage drops on the layout. As shown below, I have a huge nest of wires in front of my transformer.

The thick white wires are connected to the track with lock-ons,  and the other end of the feeder wires are soldered to 2 copper strips (one hot and one ground) in front of the transformer. And short wires run between the hot copper strip to the transformer,  and the ground copper strip to the transformer.

Climbing under the train tables is my yoga. It involves a lot of bending and stretching.  I feel like a contortionist when I make these dives under the tables. LOL

What I did today only slightly improved the performance of my trains on the layout. However, it was good for me to take some action. I made a New Years Resolution that in January (after the holidays), I will eliminate the voltage drops by completely re-wiring my layout the proper way. I will run bus wires underneath the tables, and for every few feet of track I will run feeder wires from the track to the bus wires. There will be only be 2 wires (the bus wires) connected to the transformer for track power.

Arnold

Wiring improvements are not fun but worth it, Arnold!

Mark Boyce posted:

Wiring improvements are not fun but worth it, Arnold!

Part of my inspiration and motivation for doing the re-wiring, which I used to dread, is that I've seen Scrapiron Sher's layout ( Eliot's layout) who lives near me. His wiring is so well organized and good that it looks like an electric utility company like Con Edison did it. And his trains run flawlessly on his massive layout.

Arnold, the Con Edison comparison  hits home.  I worked at a power company when in my 20s and 30s, our wiring did look like a work of art.  After 22 years at the telecom company, the best of our wiring looks, well okay, when compared to the power company!

Neat, tagged, and documented.  That’s the way to go!  

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The end result:  A not entirely unreasonable facsimile of the SP Daylight consist!  

Considering I was working with Wallyworld rattlecan,  I'm rather pleased with the result. 

Wow Mitch - they look very nice... and not a pantograph insight!!!

P.S. your switches need a really good dusting  

P.P.S. and a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and the menagerie too.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Today I spent several hours under my train tables to see if adjustments could be made to the wiring in order to eliminate voltage drops on the layout. As shown below, I have a huge nest of wires in front of my transformer.

The thick white wires are connected to the track with lock-ons,  and the other end of the feeder wires are soldered to 2 copper strips (one hot and one ground) in front of the transformer. And short wires run between the hot copper strip to the transformer,  and the ground copper strip to the transformer.

Climbing under the train tables is my yoga. It involves a lot of bending and stretching.  I feel like a contortionist when I make these dives under the tables. LOL

What I did today only slightly improved the performance of my trains on the layout. However, it was good for me to take some action. I made a New Years Resolution that in January (after the holidays), I will eliminate the voltage drops by completely re-wiring my layout the proper way. I will run bus wires underneath the tables, and for every few feet of track I will run feeder wires from the track to the bus wires. There will be only be 2 wires (the bus wires) connected to the transformer for track power.

Arnold

 

 

 

Does your layout have blocks? If not the the bus wire with the drops should work fine. Use 14 gauge wire minimum for the bus and the track feeders. You should see no voltage drop that way. 

Arnold, if you are handy with soldering, you might consider it and eliminate the lockons at the track when you do your rewire.  I think it provides better conductivity.   Fendermain

In reply to Lou, the answer is Yes, my layout has blocks. Each of the 2 main lines is a separate block, and each of the 8 sidings is a separate block. 

I use an MTH Z4000 to power the 2 main lines. The sidings and accessories are powered by a ZW with the use of Atlas switch controls. The approximately 15 022 switch tracks are powered by another ZW.

Any suggestions on how best to use the bus bars (or bus wires) and feeder wires  would be greatly appreciated. Arnold