we are GLAD to see you back Mitch !!
have a great weekend and take it easy...
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Great to see you back on the Forum Mitch. Bet it feels good to be home. Hope you continue to recover and get back to 100% soon.
Bob
Great to see you back Mitch! Take it easy and slow! But I sure hope you have fun!
It is good to see you back, Mitch. I was watching for you and hoping all would be well.
FrankM
briansilvermustang posted:
Glad to see that you're enjoying those passenger cars. It makes me want to board the train! Great shots.
really liking them Matt ! thanks again...
can't wait to run then thru some snow covered scenery on the new layout !
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Welcome back, Mitch!
Mitch - good to know you are back home! Wishing you great health and a great fun with your trains!
luvindemtrains posted:Steamfan77 posted:CSX Al posted:Andy lift up section looks good. Do you have an idea on how to conceal the hinges? What is going in that area of the layout?
Al,
The track plan is below. The first picture shows the main layout, and the second shows the staging under the yard. The hinged section is in the upper left corner of the layout in the first picture. This may give you and anyone interested a better perspective as to where the lift up section is in the room. I’ve also taken a few pictures looking into the room from the lift up. Al, nice turntable right up front in the second and third picture!
Andy
Andy,
Every glimpse of your layout leaves me wanting to see more. It looks stunning.
Dave
Thank you for the kind words Dave.
Andy
Glad to hear you’re home Mitch!
Andy
Mitch, it is very good to see that you are indeed keeping on keeping on. Getting out of Hospital sure gives me that Friday-after-work feeling 
Lew
briansilvermustang posted:
really liking them Matt ! thanks again...
can't wait to run then thru some snow covered scenery on the new layout !
Looks like Brian's house is where wayward passenger coaches go to live out their lives 🤣🤣🤣😎
Built some terrain:
Kovalchic Scrap is ready to do bidness. We just need some nice ferromagnetic bits. Oh, and controls for the Gantry Crane.
Lew
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briansilvermustang posted:
really liking them Matt ! thanks again...
can't wait to run then thru some snow covered scenery on the new layout !
I look forward to next winter. It’s like the real deal.
Finished up my Western Maryland flat car and trailers this morning. I did glue the trailers together but not to the car. The "cables" are hot glued under the car. Everything can be taken apart if necessary.
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pretty COOL Bob like it !!
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Thanks Brian.
Went to the MT Hope train show with Bryan. Niether one of us found anything to buy. It was a big show with a lot of tables. Not a lot of real new stuff. It was a mixe of older trains and toys. But it was a nice trip down there. And there were a lot of people there. Once I got home and had some lunch I got back down to the layout and added ground turf along the backdrop and in the gorge. I'll let that dry and then start placing some trees and shrubs in there. Getting closer to putting the bridges in and laying track through there. Pics..........Paul
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Well , Watch the Moon fall out of the Sky, the ARR is getting some Press time
for any new person , That is ALASKA RAILROAD, and Not
Always Ready to Rumble !!!!!!!!!! ahahhahah
Mitch, Welcome back! I see the trains were in very good hands during your absence!!!
Bob, the flat car with trailers looks great! just like your prototype!
Paul, I'm glad you and Bryan got to the Mt. Hope show. I decided not to try it after driving to appointments and visit Mum and Dad on Thursday. I was hurting too much. I see one doc Monday and another the next Monday and hope they come up with something so I can make the drive out to Bryan's by the end of April! The trees look great with your backdrop painting and water falls!
I posted some photographs on my topic Blackwater Canyon Line yesterday of my upper loop base while I am waiting for my second shipment from Mianne. I didn't want to spend the money on Tim doing this custom, and thought I could do that much. I found some 1x2 poplar for lateral braces and 2x2 poplar for supports at the local Lowes. That little bit of poplar didn't set me back too much. I have a 5-1/2" space between to reach in for derailments. The top is 8" higher than the lower level which gives me a 3% climb up the mountain just like the prototype Blackwater Grade. I have more information and photographs on my topic Blackwater Canyon Line but here is a teaser.
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briansilvermustang posted:
Way to go Brian, Alaska Day! Love it!!!!!
Double Cheers, Dave & Barb
PS: The conductor, in the passing locomotive #4317, handed me the calendar! I was standing in the vestibule at the time. Great way to enjoy Alaska!
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Bob. this pic is for you those trailers on that flatcar are looking nice. I took this pic many years ago 
Mitch. welcome back glad you’re feeling a lot better and out of the hospital take it easy buddy Play with Trains.
Brain. I think you’ve knocked it out of the park with those Alaskan pictures I love it.
Andy your layout is so nice and clean and tidy it is very discrete
Picasso Paul your paintings are looking very nice before you know it you’re going to have this project completed
Guys thank you for all the likes and if I missed somebody sorry.
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paul 2 posted:
Paul, it is really looking great! Cheers, Dave
I ran my new milk cars with my steamer this afternoon for a little bit then it was time to till the garden I just got done with the garden and it started raining so I went back in and got some more train time in.
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Lee, The milk train looks great
Dave, That looks like it was a great time at the Alaska RR.
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Finally out of the hospital! A little celebrating with Fortescue, Thomas, and Norma B. Kitteh, with Sylvia Siamese just offcamera...
Mitch
Mitch, glad you are home and hopefully on the mend. Keep on "track" for a good resolve!
Cheers, Dave
John, Your molds look great! It looks like you will have marks of the wooden forms just like on many real life concrete works!
Brian, what great pictures of the Alaska RR! It looks just like home where I live!
Lew, That sure looks great!
Bob, Nice job on the flatcar with the trailers! Don't you just love hot glue? The wife bought me a hot glue pot and it is so cool, I cant to wait to really use it!
Pete, Turned out very nice!
Paul, sorry you and Bryan didn't find anything at the show. But your new ground cover is looking amazing! I cant wait to see the bridges in place! But do me a favor don't forget to touch up the first tie on the outside track! You might have to hire a RR painter now that your into water and trees! LOL It all looks GREAT!
Lee, looks nice! I am thinking you ran it more then a little bit! LOL
John, those looks like there going to be a home run! Very nice work! I really like the Santa Fe Engines!
So today I had to go to a meeting till noon, then came home and got started in the train room. I got all the cork re-laid for the main and sidings. I started with this .
Down at this end I had to put it down to an 072 curve and will I was looking at it I said to myself, you have room why not join everything together! So I made the outer track longer to flow around the corner and join back up with everything else! 
It is really going to give me plenty of room for longer trains! The sad part is at the other end I had to drop down to one Engine House because I don't want to fight with tight curves so I used one of my defunked 054 switches and mated it up with some extra 080 curves! Looks nice to me!
Once I get my truck back I can go get another sheet of plywood and some more 1x4 to frame in and sheet for the rest of my reverse loop and get the cork down on that. Then all I will be doing is waiting on track! LOL
Ok Guys, I got it done sooner then I thought I would. so here is the updated layout plan! LOL
Everyone have a Great Sunday!
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Mike, the cork looks great!! I hope you get that truck back soon
Mark Boyce posted:Mike, the cork looks great!! I hope you get that truck back soon
Thanks Mark, I am really starting to like driving the wife's Jaguar! LOL It might be hard to give up!
mike g. posted:Mark Boyce posted:Mike, the cork looks great!! I hope you get that truck back soon
Thanks Mark, I am really starting to like driving the wife's Jaguar! LOL It might be hard to give up!
Jaguar!!! When my ‘04 Hyundai was in the garage, I took her to work in her rusty ‘04 Caravan! LOL
mike g. posted:So today I had to go to a meeting till noon, then came home and got started in the train room. I got all the cork re-laid for the main and sidings. I started with this .
Down at this end I had to put it down to an 072 curve and will I was looking at it I said to myself, you have room why not join everything together! So I made the outer track longer to flow around the corner and join back up with everything else!
It is really going to give me plenty of room for longer trains! The sad part is at the other end I had to drop down to one Engine House because I don't want to fight with tight curves so I used one of my defunked 054 switches and mated it up with some extra 080 curves! Looks nice to me!
Once I get my truck back I can go get another sheet of plywood and some more 1x4 to frame in and sheet for the rest of my reverse loop and get the cork down on that. Then all I will be doing is waiting on track! LOL
Ok Guys, I got it done sooner then I thought I would. so here is the updated layout plan! LOL
Everyone have a Great Sunday!
Looks good Mike. I know I've been busy but how did I miss the elimination of the reverse loops and new plan??? I remember discussing how to add a wye a while back...now you've got two!
I'm sure you already thought about how to reach the back corners, right?
Bob
Lee, Mark, Brian, glad you like the flatcar. It was a fun little project.
Pete- the station house looks great.
John- The scratch made molds for the piers could BE the piers. Very nice work. Can't wait to see the finished product.
Paul- the details are really rounding out the gorge scene. Can't wait to see the bridges in place and a train over them.
Lee- The new milk cars are nice. And I thought I bought a lot of trains 
Dave- great photos from the ARR. My former boss and his wife did a Alaska cruise a few years back and took the train up to Denali. It's a bucket list item for me. I used to watch the ARR show on TV all the time but lately the narration and scripted comments by the crews have gotten too corny. Almost cringe worthy.
Bob
Another Railroad Rescue!
I always enjoy a good restoration challenge, but this one was BAD! Recently bought this Lionel Leigh High Valley 2-bay hopper car on eBay for $10. I knew it was in poor shape when I purchased it, but the posted photos didn't do it justice. I believe someone at one time had used it as a planter or an ashtray. There was a generous coating of sand, charcoal and a few used book matches in the bottom of the hopper when I washed it out. The wheels barely moved on the arbors they were so rusted. Did some research on this car before I stripped it and came to find that over it's production period there were 14 versions of the Leigh High Valley hopper car. Based on the paint, trucks and road markings, this little car was made in 1954. It was originally molded in white plastic and painted using Lionel's "dip" method. It's interesting to see how details disappeared from these cars over time.
After many years, she runs the rails again under a new assignment to the C&NW hauling coal. Car 61327 was part of an order placed by the C&NW in early 1929 with the Standard Car Co., later purchased by Pullman, for 250 hopper cars.
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I added a few bird's nest to the layout. Frankly, I don't think many of them will be spotted, as real birds nests aren't easily noticed. That said, I had to put one out in the open it was easy to see.
I used N scale ballast, spray-painted white, for eggs at the bottom of the one on the Buladeen depot chimney.
I'm sure people will notice that one, and considering it's always summer time on the layout, I don't think it's unusual that a bird would have made a nest right next to a chimney that wouldn't be used in this time frame.
I'm already thinking of moving that to the space at the base of that chimney, though...
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Bob, the flat car and trailers look great. Paul, the gorge is really coming together, can’t wait to see more. Pete, the station house is looking good. Lew, the crane looks good in action. Mike, you’re making some nice progress, I like the changes. John, I agree with Bob, the molds could be the piers themselves. Lee, I like the milk car and night run. Erica Ann, The hopper looks good, nice work.
Andy
This has got to be the best topic going for inspiration and ideas. Kudos to everyone one. You're all doing great.
Lee and Johan, you two keep raising the bar on the small details to make already great looking layouts look even better.
Mike g, the first thing I did today was paint that tie that you caught. I am going to have to really look hard at my pics before I post them to see if I missed something LOL. Your layout is looking good. I like the long runs.
ERICAANN, nice restoration job. It came out very good.
So after painting the tie I put the back bridge in to see what I had to work with as to height under the bridge. Rounded up all the boxes of trees and started planting them. I think tree wise I am done but after the ground turf glue dries, I had to add glue because I missed some spots I'll start filling in spots with some small bushes. Pics....Paul
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Paul 2,
That is some incredible scenery! Great work!!!!
