What did you do on your layout today?

CHECK IT OUT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

Christmas Train running main!

No! Not Billy Idol.... Neil Young! ........(What's his name? Joey? Sid Not Very Vicious? You have to mosh me for GG A1lin) 

LOL!

I have a PW car with a big spotted pony too. My grandfather modified it to rise only over un-coupler magnets. Done by using a heavy copper wire lug, and a screw. The trip levers hit his platforms, so he did this mod. often cutting off the lever ends. Would you like a photo of it before your done here?

Yes please! 

Mitch

I ran it for my Thanksgiving guests. All had fun!!!

I'll say it is a long, long train!  I thought it was never going to end!  That's a nice Christmas train running on your very nice layout, John!!

It only counts if it was in your trainroom  and providing Sid Vicious the giraffe also flatten the tires.

Doug

Hooked up the last of three sets of MTH Flashers with sound.  Also got the switches set up to get wired tomorrow.  I also swore alot.  I hate wiring, so I'm good for about one accessory hook-up every couple of days.  

Well, I DID inflate the tires in my train workshop.  Can't ask Sid at the moment; he's at the painter's, having his stripes applied... 

Mitch

I broke out several freight cars which have all been in boxes since long before the layout benchwork ever got started (including the only Bachmann 'shorty' coach  kept and have compared it to the AMS coach I bought and repainted recently). I also sanded off the road #s of one locomotive in anticipation of renumbering it.

Still been slowly working on  my second level highline.  Made some progress on the trestle part.  The plan is to add steel trestle detail where appropriate such as the upright beams in the second picture will have some lattice added.

You didn't ask, but let me offer you a heart-felt perspective. Are you certain you want to have Lionel 0-72 switches right inside those tunnels, especially connected directly to each other?

In my subjective experience (I had twenty 20 of them on the first iteration of my layout, all of which have been removed long ago for endless sins - theirs, not mine, I think,) they are very, very ,very fond of derailing locomotives, esp. and for example my scale Lionel Dreyfus Hudson, and esp. when backing through them on the way into a yard.

Just askin' and advisin' , if you wish.

FrankM

Got the Gold Edition PE up and running. Good stuff!!!

Oh!  And here's the link!

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...-later-type-gi-raffe

Mitch

I added a mountain, back in what had been a ugly corner.  Now its not ugly anymore - not really pretty, but acceptable.  

Here is the corner before.  You see some of the tools I was using and the open access hatch while I'm working.  It is four feet from the access hatch edge to that back corner - Ugh!  That back corner is really ugly!

Here it is after.  Looks better.

Hi Frank,

Oh no, no tunnels, that'll all be open.  The switch at the far right background will be just outside the mouth of the tunnel.  Thank you for pointing that out just in case, but I'm trying to make sure I do not obscure any of these switches.  Those two upside down U shaped "portals" will eventually be (I hope) steel girder supports for the trestle, hopefully like this...

Thanks for your kind reception of my comments, Dennis. You made that enjoyable.

FrankM

P.S. I can see, now, on second reading, that I read too quickly and misinterpreted "...upright beams" in your explanation. In my mind's eye, I "saw" tunnel portals, obviously, and did not read for your intended "girder supports" (pretty sorry for an English teacher, huh. ) Oi-vey.

You folks don't create layouts. You create wonderlands full of joy. Wow. What heartfelt creativity!

FrankM

Working on a video RR thumbnail • Using Photoshop & Illustrator. Running into chaos. it needs some improvements. I enjoy working out these issue's to keep my computer skills up to date. Technology is moving to fast.......  

Ah, the good ol' West Philly High Line.  Up until 2003, my battered ol' Mercedes could be seen at the Drexel U. parking lot in the background (across Chestnut St.)...

Mitch

It looks GREAT!!

This "work" was so much fun, I just have to share more of it here with OGR. This is more of what I did on Lionel's layout @ F.A.O. Schwarz, 5th Avenue, NYC, in time for this Thanksgiving Day holiday start-up to the Christmas season. This thread asks what we did, so, here, I am actually in the act of working on crafting and installing a Christmas tree vendor in the village. Also, you can see a shot of Scenic Express's "Matte Medium" being applied with an eye-dropper to snowfall details. (That stuff really works well !)

FrankM

I constantly had in mind the possibility of my work being seen on visits by OGR Forum members during the Holiday season, so such a consideration motivated me marvelous well to do my best, not to mention having a Lionel exec. working right next to me on the project, all enjoyable factors, truth be told.

Frank,

I really like the layout.  It is nice seeing photos of you at work.  Thank you for your effort, I really appreciate your modeling and your insight in general!

Looks mighty good, Gary!  Yes technology is moving forward too fast.  It is hard to keep up!

Thanks very much, Mark.

So many children, adults, and store employees walked up to me, during the five hours I was there, to ask questions and/or to share their experiences with having had Lionel trains that the whole event of being there to re-craft the layout became a personal joy, as well as an obvious serious responsibility. I say "serious" because, when one thinks about such a layout in such a popular store as F.A.O. Schwarz, one can see that many lives may be touched in impossible to imagine ways, in the near and distant future, by seeing such a happy play-land as a model train layout. Doing it right and keeping it well-groomed has to be done with serious personal commitment and ethic, IMHO. Touching lives is a serious matter, to me, and for those to whom trains have meaning, showing respect for their joys by modeling as best I can is an obligation. I want them to enjoy. And remember. Something fun.

FrankM.

Frank,

That is certainly a good desire to show folks something really good that will instill their interest for a long time.

I had to look up the quote, "When people are attracted to realism, they sense the emotion. A.Wyeth"

Now I realize I have seen many of Andrew Wyeth's paintings.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 A true craftsman at work. Its not just the trains but the scenery as well why we as kids watch the displays until our parents or our wives drag us away..  

Doug

Doug,

How true that statement was and still is of me!

After putting up the Christmas tree, I got to work some on the Christmas layout in our recently married daughter's old bedroom.  I painted a couple of coats of white on the old foam board that I had pulled old track off in preparation to put down a Randy Harrison snow blanket.  My wife also started to dig out her grandmother's porcelain buildings from the garage closet.  I carried them upstairs.  They are mostly Dickens Collection and Lemax, with a couple Dept 56 thrown in.  I forgot how many Grandma had purchased over the years.  Wow!  I will post photos once there is something more interesting than a white table and a bunch of boxes.

Oh, also, last evening I put down my two loops of track O-31 MTH and O-36 Fastrack on the unfinished board to see how it would work.  I want to run the Polar Express 2012 on the inside loop and the MTH NYC Hudson with MTH Madison passenger cars on the outer loop.  They just don't quite pass with out hitting on curves.  I would be fine if I had the Hudson pull a freight train.  I ordered a loop of Fastrack O-48 for the outside loop.  The only problem is my board will be a couple of inches too narrow, so I will have to splice something on the back end.  Stay tuned!

Picked up an operating Marx rig, complete with platform, at the Joplin, MO train show...

Yanno, for someone who's purportedly into tinplate traction, I'm sure picking up a heckuva lot of Marx 666es... 

Mitch

They are like rabbits you know, once there are two......  Darn it, how often is there a show in Joplin?  I come through there several times a year to visit relatives in OK and SE KS.

BTW, nice looking Marx rig!

Thankee!

Yes, they ARE like rabbits, aren't they?  And now I feel obliged to pick up more scissor coupler-ed waifs... 

The Joplin show is usually twice a year, around the end of March and the end of November.  

Mitch

I Love this shot, I wanted to model this Hi-Line trestle for the longest time, However it would be a massive job to do it right. The only way I could see it being done is to have someone photo etch the cross truss braces on the supporting framework on the main girder supports.

I saw this Hi-Line every day when I went to school at Saint Francis Xavier elementary across the river and also was very lucky enough to see just about every type of Loco Pennsy owned running on it.

I had a bunch of honey do's to do today, but I did get a little bit more done on my hi-Line.  I'm doing this first version in wood so it will be both quicker (to get trains running) and also partly to see how well I can get the visual effect I desire.  Then I would like to take a shot or two at a more proper latticed girder structure.  To me it's all lost with out the lattice affect.  The other thing I am doing so i can get the track work up and running is to support the main section on tapered concrete piers.  Here's a couple of update shots showing a couple of the girder supports where the upper track crosses over the lower.  Even those these are wood, I will eventually add the lattice to the vertical girders and add the ribs to the horizontal one.

Drilled some holes and tested some sensors for the staging yard to prevent derailment when someone sends a train onto the main and forgets to throw the turnout back. Should have the testing done this week and installed next weekend.

Mitch, Here's some photos of the uncoupler operated giraffe mod. Just a tabbed wire lug screwed to the wishbone. Finding this exact lug?...Good luck! But some other cars Gramps made had copper lugs, but always steel adjusting screws. Yep, the big screw can adjusted by being raised, or lowered. The weight/slide bands, and maybe arms must be removed to achieve a balance. Steady, while running/jerking, and always in the down position. But not so much the magnet cant pull the screw to tip the balance.  

 Sid can chill till someone pounds on his favorite #90, then he's gonna stick his head out for a scowl or two, or maybe start head-banging if the music is the bullocks! (Sid would have likely been even later than me with the photos...so...ya know... NEVER MIND...)   

ROFL! Mosh pit zebra, then.  Very clever!  So the head stays down until the button's pushed and then pops out...  This is an interesting concept!  Well worth some mulling over. 

Mitch

Just trying to finish the water tower from Altoona. I think I did pretty good for my first try. Made some minor mistakes but think it cam out pretty well. Few more things to do. 

Dad and I were just discussing a new closet for me in my train room (with shelves for storage), and a work bench in the next room (a storage/circuit breaker room). That's progress, and we are hoping to start them after Christmas!

Finally got a start on the Christmas layout. Buildings and wiring nearly completed. Will have some pics next week.

 Bob

Time to end this