What did you do on your layout today?

Mike g, I don't backlight the windows. I really tried to get some kind of color that would mimic incandescent light but gave up on that. Some windows are painted black to simulate dark rooms.

 Kevin, I like what you are doing on your attic layout. Is it a seasonal layout or do you have heat and air conditioning up there.

Yesterday I painted the doors of the building which I almost forgot about. Today unfortunately will be to train time. Weatherperson said sunshine today so I had dirt ordered to fill in a low spot in the yard. Although from tomorrow on it is showing rain till next Friday so maybe I can get a lot done layout wise. We shall see.........Paul 2

paul 2 posted:

Mike g, I don't backlight the windows. I really tried to get some kind of color that would mimic incandescent light but gave up on that. Some windows are painted black to simulate dark rooms.

 Kevin, I like what you are doing on your attic layout. Is it a seasonal layout or do you have heat and air conditioning up there.

Yesterday I painted the doors of the building which I almost forgot about. Today unfortunately will be to train time. Weatherperson said sunshine today so I had dirt ordered to fill in a low spot in the yard. Although from tomorrow on it is showing rain till next Friday so maybe I can get a lot done layout wise. We shall see.........Paul 2

Hi Paul - thank you! It is a permanent layout, HVAC provided by the Pacific Ocean. When a storm comes through, I close off the vents at each end of the room to keep the moisture out. Otherwise it stays very temperate all year. For that we are lucky. No good train stores nearby, though, like in other parts of the country. 

Putting final touches on my last expansion. Only option left is to break through the wall and take my neighbors basement  by Eminent Domain. LOL  Doug

Aliquippa & Southern posted:

Putting final touches on my last expansion. Only option left is to break through the wall and take my neighbors basement  by Eminent Domain. LOL  Doug

Doug - just wow!

Continue work on Proses engine house. Glued windows inside of both side of the buildings.

Patrick, The Proses enginehouse is looking even better now that I am seeing it on the computer screen and not on my iphone 6s! 

Doug, Eminent Domain sounds good to me!    The night scenes look great!

Brian, Great night scenes as well!

Paul, You sure do know how to use up a good day!  I only fill in holes that I can twist an ankle in or cause a fall.  With the rotting roots under the yard from two husky maples my in-laws had taken down a few years before we took the house cause me more holes every spring!  I need to hit the dirt pile behind the shed!

Mike, I'm glad you are getting a bit done on the layout while you are recuperating!  I take it you have avoided infection!  The second wisdom tooth I had pulled got infected.  Ouch.  I still have the other two, they never broke the gums.

Butch, the barn looks great!! 

I am afraid I didn't get anything done on the layout, although I did buy 4 Atlas O steam era classics cars from a gent on a FaceBook group yesterday.  Two fishbelly hoppers and two sheathed boxcars.  All Western Maryland Round Herald!  Surprise, surprise, surprise!!  They should be here for Father's Day. 

I did see a neurologist yesterday.  Guess what?  He said there was nothing between my ears!  Now that explains it!!!  No, I had a little tipsy episode a while back and he was very interested in my drop foot from the sciatic nerve problem.  So he scheduled me for 2 tests in early July and thinks he will do two more after that!  Probes on my head and all that!  I just hope he doesn't put in Abby Normal's brain!!    Could be an improvement though!     I have really been a loser at this new part time tech support job!

popping out.....

Doug, your layout looks great! 

Patrick, all I can say is it is going to look amazing when your done!

Mark, thanks no infection. But they still hurt like hell!

I got a little done yesterday, I was able to run 2 trains at once for the first time! I added my Amtrak F40PH with cars. I also added a few engines to sit on the sidings. I don't think I will get anything done today as I have an HOA meeting to go to and those seam to last forever! Here are a couple of pictures!                                          I think I might swap out the Up engine cause when I power the track up it just makes a god awful noise. The other ones just sit there with the lights and engines running! I have a couple Blue and Yellow Santa Fe engines I might throw on the layout!

Everyone have a great Saturday! Remember have FUN!

          your layout is looking GREAT Mike

briansilvermustang posted:

 

          your layout is looking GREAT Mike

 

Thanks Brian! Its been along time waiting, with a little more track then its on to scenery ! Then the fun really begins !

Great stuff Mike. Cool to see the layout coming to life.

Bob

PRR box car with a wood load.

               not too much train time lately,  Marci,  IZZY and

                                        I  have been busy  working outside in the yard...

               a lot more trimming and some painting to do to do...

                      still have a lot more work to do out here,

                                             especially with all the rain we have had...

                            hopefully will get to run some trains later tonight...

                                           have a GREAT weekend everyone !!

Mike g, you may not be putting a lot of time in on the layout but you sure have made headway.

Johan, another nice weathering job. What did you make the load in the doorway out of.

Elliot, good news indeed to hear it is just a small fracture and no need for surgery. You'll just have to take it ewasy for a while longer. Shirley had taken a fall two weeks ago. After a few days we went to get xrays of her hand and ribs. The ribs were okay. On the first reading of the xrays they said everything looked good but on the follow up and a second series of xrays the doctor found a small fracture in one of the small hand bones. She now has a cast to imobile it. The second xrays save her from going through a surgery down the road if they had not caught it. But we are still looking forward to seeing you two and again and it will be nioce meeting your son too. 

Got all the dirt moved yesterday but decided to get the grass cut this morning with the report of rain coming in later today and they are calling for rain for the next 7 days. Maybe this time raindays will work out to layout time. I was going to start putting the building together but then I realized I need to add age concrete to the backsides of the flats. I forgot the roof will sit a 1/4 inch down from the top. So got that out of the way along with finishing the doors in green. Pics.......................Paul 2

Get ready you boys in the east.  I’m sending it your way...   

        been raining here all day, just what we need, more rain, thanks Ted

                           yeah, but we can stay in and run some trains 

                                     oh,  how we doing on ice cream...

paul 2 posted:

Mike g, you may not be putting a lot of time in on the layout but you sure have made headway.

Johan, another nice weathering job. What did you make the load in the doorway out of.

Elliot, good news indeed to hear it is just a small fracture and no need for surgery. You'll just have to take it ewasy for a while longer. Shirley had taken a fall two weeks ago. After a few days we went to get xrays of her hand and ribs. The ribs were okay. On the first reading of the xrays they said everything looked good but on the follow up and a second series of xrays the doctor found a small fracture in one of the small hand bones. She now has a cast to imobile it. The second xrays save her from going through a surgery down the road if they had not caught it. But we are still looking forward to seeing you two and again and it will be nioce meeting your son too. 

Got all the dirt moved yesterday but decided to get the grass cut this morning with the report of rain coming in later today and they are calling for rain for the next 7 days. Maybe this time raindays will work out to layout time. I was going to start putting the building together but then I realized I need to add age concrete to the backsides of the flats. I forgot the roof will sit a 1/4 inch down from the top. So got that out of the way along with finishing the doors in green. Pics.......................Paul 2

Paul. Thank you. They take wood load out one by one. The background buildings looking nice, great work.

Johan

Mike g., great progress, you have really accomplished a lot over the last year, it’s fantastic, Briansilvermustang, Great Pictures and great yardwork, Beautiful dog,  Johan, Great PRR  weathered box car, looks real, Paul 2, your progress is great to, I like your window work, TedW, looks like a collection of rain water???, Gandydancer1950, Great looking scene, the Locomotive coming out of the great Lionel Tunnel, Awesome, Everyone’s Pictures are really nice, Happy Fathers Day to you All....

leapinlarry posted:

Mike g., great progress, you have really accomplished a lot over the last year, it’s fantastic, Briansilvermustang, Great Pictures and great yardwork, Beautiful dog,  Johan, Great PRR  weathered box car, looks real, Paul 2, your progress is great to, I like your window work, TedW, looks like a collection of rain water???, Gandydancer1950, Great looking scene, the Locomotive coming out of the great Lionel Tunnel, Awesome, Everyone’s Pictures are really nice, Happy Fathers Day to you All....

Larry. Thank you. Your layout looking a really nice. 

Johan

          "Briansilvermustang, Great Pictures and great yardwork, Beautiful dog"

                 thank you Larry !      still have a lot to do, if it ever stops raining !

                     going to go with bright colors this year,  a tropical theme..

                      I really enjoy seeing photos of your layout !   looks GREAT

           awesome engine area !!    keep posting shots of your layout,  thanks...

           like your scenery a lot !     cool train room !      have a good weekend !!

               will be running some trains tonight after I get home from work

Hey Paul,

thanks for the heads up on your backdrops. I may take some pics to my local printer. FYI if you ever want a nice frosted window look on the inside of your buildings, there is a spray paint called frosted glass that works well and looks good from the outside too. I believe it’s Krylon or Rustoleum.

Mike, The layout is looking great!

Brian, the gardens look great!  

Johan, that boxcar really looks nice!

Howard, that is a neat looking scene!

So, when I stored my trains when I got older in the early 70s, I wrote a diagram of the then layout. I've had that paper since and decided to try to replicate that layout from when I was a kid. It was O27 and now I'm using Marx O34 curves but th layout is the same. The only problem brought over from that time is the train can't switch and reverse direction. Near impossible to find a place to add a switch to send it the other way. Oh well, I'll check anyway but will keep the layout anyway. Here's the layout being screwed down ETC. 

darlander posted:

Kirk R posted:

Now that my swing out gate has an energized track over it I went back to look at some switches to confirm they operated properly.  One switch is a curved RH O72-O54.  See below.

I got it second hand with other Ross switches but is it really a Ross?  No markings and doesn't look exactly like a Ross curved RH O31-O54 I recently purchased (sure... designs do improve).  Can anyone confirm this?  Also which of the two sets of outer rails would be the ones wired for anti-derail.  Where the green pencil points or where the white pen points?  What are your feelings on even installing the anti-derail here since the points can be pushed away pretty easily.

Would appreciate any thoughts on the switch and anti-derail installation.

Kirk R.

It could be a Right-O-Way turnout which are very similar to modern day Ross products.   Check out:  https://right-o-way.us/index.php.

I would gap and isolate the two rails next to the pencil at the rail joints.   Anti-derail requires the use of a snap switch machine.    When you say pushed away, do you mean by a moving train passing through the switch against the proper point alignment?   Most engines would probably work through the switch but lighter cars may cause unwanted derailments.   Have you tested various engines and cars running through and moving the switch points as they passes?   If it works fine, that might be the way to go.  

Cheers, Dave

Dave, thanks for the input, exactly what I needed. 

Yes, when I mean push away I mean to basically push the point away from the outer rail against the switch machine "spring" which I've read a lot of people doing.  Certainly do understand that a lighter car may not be able to do this and then you get a derailment.  Since I use either older Lionel switches with built-in anti-derail or Ross switches (with this one possible exception) with a DZ1000 wiring for anti-derail is simple to install.  I have to assume that I can still use a control panel and future AIU to control the switch with no problem if the switches are wired for anti-derail... never done this before but assume it's possible.

Kirk R

Kirk, I'm pretty sure Dave is right about your switch. One way to tell a Right of Way is the small screw in the plastic frog. A close up picture of the frog and the spikes would confirm it. I have close to 100 old Right of Way switches on my layout. I know them quite well. They weren't the highest quality, but they were more economical than Ross or Curtis back in the day.

Mark Boyce posted:

Mike, The layout is looking great!

Brian, the gardens look great!  

Johan, that boxcar really looks nice!

Howard, that is a neat looking scene!

 

Mark. Thank you.

Johan

JDFonz, thanks for that info about the paint. I went through my photos and found this which would help to show how big I had the HO flat pics blown up.........Paul 2

Kirk R, Elliot is right there was a difference between Right of Way, Ross and Curtis. One time my buddy and I took a trip to Akron when Right of Way was having one of their open houses. I lived in western New York at that time. Anyways he decided to buy some of their switches. I didn't but bought a 50 pound box of their rubber ballast which I liked. The Right of Way switches did not have the re-enforcing strips running through the ties on the bottom and after a short period of time they would start to curl up a bit. I think that may have been due to the rail being on a roll before being turned into the rail..............Paul 2

Happy Father's Day guys!

Bob

Virtual Railfan just added a new camera at Strasburg !

Yeah Paul, the lack of a spline reinforcement running through the ties is another defining characteristic of the Right of Way switch, and not in a good way either. They actually used super glue in combination with simple sheet metal spikes, which were more like staples, to hold the rails to the ties. They were OK when first installed, but in my case, when they were removed as salvage and stored for years, the glue failed to keep the ties in place, and they could easily go out of gauge. Some of mine were so bad, that I came up with an idea to use a thin sheet of black Evergreen plastic and 77 spray adhesive, to basically mount the switch to the plastic, and hold the ties in place until they were ballasted. Worked pretty well too. Sure was cheaper than replacing them with Ross, new or even used.

Mark Boyce posted:

Patrick, The Proses enginehouse is looking even better now that I am seeing it on the computer screen and not on my iphone 6s! 

Mark,

   Thanks. 

Patrick 

mike g. posted:

Patrick, all I can say is it is going to look amazing when your done!

Mike,

Thanks. 

Patrick 

Late morning I got down to glue the supports on the building flats. I was pretty sure I read the directions right. It said to glue the 12" strips of wood to the long flats 1/4 inch down. I applied glue and when I went to glue them down they were too long but I already had the glue on so after the glue dries I'll have to go back with my dremel and cut off the ends. Pics..........Paul 2

paul 2 posted:

Late morning I got down to glue the supports on the building flats. I was pretty sure I read the directions right. It said to glue the 12" strips of wood to the long flats 1/4 inch down. I applied glue and when I went to glue them down they were too long but I already had the glue on so after the glue dries I'll have to go back with my dremel and cut off the ends. Pics..........Paul 2

Don't let your wife see this Paul

Bob

Hi Guys, First of I would like to thank everyone for the nice comments! So Brian, Bob, Paul2, Larry, Elliot and Mark thank you so much for the kind words!

Johan, wonderful job on the PRR box car, the wood load looks perfect!

Brian, Your yard is looking very nice! Marci must have a green thumb! LOL I have been slacking on yard work in exchange for train rom time, but I think the CEO has a different plan coming up! Izzy is looking good, but I would have to say she looks like she might be getting shorted on her share of Ice Cream! LOL

Paul 2, The flats are looking really good, I am sorry about the poor directions that came with the building! I know it was not your mistake, but things like that do happen. If it isn't one thing its another, I know it happens to much in my world! LOL I am glad you can fix it!

Larry, every time I see pictures of your layout my jaw hits the floor! You have such an amazing and beautiful layout! Something you would see in a museum !

Mike23, It sure is nice that you were wise enough to keep your layout plan from your childhood! Its really looking good and a fun layout to just sit back and run trains!

Well guys I did get some time in the train room today and ran my F40ph Amtrak train, the funny thing is with its small wheel base it found 2 dead spots on the layout that the Es44ac went threw with no problem. Its all good cause it was an easy fix. Then I started working on the drive motor install for my crane. I got the hole and grove cut next to the track got the drive motor and 3' all thread mounted under the table. Then I ran into a small problem, the 2/56 screws are not long enough to reach the grove so tomorrow I will go to ace hardware and see what I can find. If I can get what I need I hope to have it up and running by tomorrow night!

Well guys I hope you all had great fathers day! I know  I did, the wife took me fishing first thing this morning at 5 AM. Was back by 10 with 2 fish and plenty of time in the train room! She really rocks!

I know it sucks, but tomorrow is Monday, but try and make it good! And remember HAVE FUN!

This evening I glued all four sides together and clamped them for the night. A lot of errands to run tomorrow soI won't get back to it till late afternoon. Pics...........Paul 2

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Kirk, I'm pretty sure Dave is right about your switch. One way to tell a Right of Way is the small screw in the plastic frog. A close up picture of the frog and the spikes would confirm it. I have close to 100 old Right of Way switches on my layout. I know them quite well. They weren't the highest quality, but they were more economical than Ross or Curtis back in the day.

Big_Boy, I do have a ROW switch with the screw but the problematic switch was not it.  Anyhow got the problem fixed.

On other news on this Father's Day, I had 4 second-hand Ross switches that all had issues one way or another but fixed them all so now I can run my mainline O64 loop over my swing out gate.  All blocks are connected using twist on wire connectors just so I can test out my new layout so it's a rats nest for now.  Just got a yard to do and then I can do some fine tuning of block power.  Long ways to go but all good!

Paul 2

Nice work on the building.  Impressed with how you got all the clamps to work. 

My bridge isn't finished by any stretch of the imagination, which is what my model train architecture firm is called, "stretch of the imagination designs."  But here is a photo of the "bone structure", as I like to call it.  Again it's modeled after a bridge I saw on line built somewhere in North Carolina and I like the open air design.  I plan to start skinning it when I get the roof line bones finished and get the trusses a bit more squared up.

Paul , the building is really looking good! Just wondering where on the layout is it going?