What did you do on your layout today?

mike g. posted:

Morning guys, Im up early as usual do to my buddy Tank! Now he is sleeping again! LOL

Lee D, Nice job on the pigs!

John, wonderful work on the UP Dome car! I am glad your done and can move on to something else relaxing! I hope your sinus problem goes away and your eye sight improves!

Mark I am sure your building is looking wonderful even without photos for Lew!

Well its early so I cant work on the house, but I think I can get out to the train room and paint the track I laid the other day!

I hope everyone has a great Tuesday and have time for there trains and layouts!

Mike, Thank you!!  One thing this building will be put in the middle of a small town block where you will really only see the front anyway.  I have always preferred a kit or scratchbuild where you can paint all the components separately, then assemble it instead of the molded wall with everything on it.  However, it is a good, low cost  building to get used to O gauge.  I even did scratchbuilding in N scale 25+ years ago, but I have to find out what different methods and materials work for me now and in a much larger scale.

I love Lew's comments.  Keep 'em comin' Lew!!

John there’s something about hand painting late at night I’ve done it for years I know what you mean 

Guys everyone looks busy here in mid winter in a couple weeks it will be crunch time  to get our projects done before spring at least it is for me 

Now that the Super Bowl is history, and the holidays are mostly past, Valentines Day is near, we can better concentrate on what’s important, our model railroads.

Mike G., Yes,  your switch replacement and ladder track looks really great and so does your train room, with beautiful airplanes hovering over the layout, now I have a question, near the white mountain is a BNSF, what brand and is it command? It’s a neat engine. The crane track and your buildings really make your layout come alive. Wow.

SANTIAGOP23, Your video of the beautiful Sante Fe is Fantastic. The detailing is meticulous, the colors so strikingly sharp, Congratulations. Keep the pictures coming.

RSJB18, Bob, of course, your cheeseburger and fries are ready, however the police are out in front do to a visit from some country music singers from Nashville. Also, I hope you can quiet down your buzzing issue, however, your layout is responding nice, the man standing on the porch of the shack, the light, Wow, and I love your pennsy switcher. Have fun in the train room. Oh, you can pay for your order with your Lionel Credit Card.   Just kidding....

Randy Harrison, it’s time to bring the Ringling And Barnum and Bailey Circus to town, beautiful work on the Caboose, and a beautiful circus train. Awesome work and I’m sure your having fun. I remember when going to the circus as a young boy was so Exciting. Thank you for bringing back the memories.

Don Mcerlean, oh what a beautiful Steam driven passenger train. There’s just something special about those post war heavy 224 Lionel Steamers, and those shiny greenTinPlate passenger cars. Awesome layout, you might consider a nice dark green curtain to hide your other goodies, that’s a little humor.... I like your pike. 

TRAINMAN1225: I like your new track plan, wondering if your going to use Command Control or Conventional? Keep us posted, updated with pictures. Good luck in your adventure.

Sidehack, Ray, your layout is stunning, I love the Pennsy Switcher, and your abilit to build parts, your under the bridge scenes are so cool, very realistic, fun to view. Keep the pictures coming and I commend you on your engineering skills. Wow.

idea-Thinker, your recent video of the Shay going up the mountain is Amazing, your floor layout with walkways covered with Lexan is so creatively cool. I will post a few other pictures to help members of the forum to see your great ideas. Your D225 recreation of the Lionel Display layout will be so neat, very good, you are one that is an Idea-Thinker. Post more pictures.

Bruce Jscobsen, Wow, what a really great beginning of a fabulous layout. Very nice trackwork, nice table, nice track plan. Question, do you plan to use command control, or go conventional? All in all, it’s going to be fun to watch as you progressively move forward on this great Adventure. Wow.

CBWFOREVER, Patrick, Neat Video on adding realism to the strobe light on your beautiful C&NW diesels, which is a very beautiful paint scheme. Your layouts nice, and I love this colorful trains. 

COASTLINEKEVIN, Oh what a beautiful attic floor layout. The lights, the colorful trains, great plan, looks like lots of fun to run. You’ve built a really nice layout, and I bet your attic man cave is a great place to relax and forget the problems of the day. Thanks fir your fun to see video.

Mark Boyce, Yes, there’s a real police presence outside the Starlight Diner, however, McDonalds is having a sale, 15 cent hamburgers with cokes fir a dime, it’s a real competitive area on my layout. Thanks for the comments, it’s simply a fun day in the Neighborhood....

John Rowlen, with all the meticulous painting of figures, my eyes would be going crazy, but you have persevered and made your people and the passenger cars look fantastic. Thank you for all the work and the pictures, and now, let’s see them running on your layout, Action, your work is awesome.  Thank you for your input to our great hobby. Wow.

LIRR, I love those beautiful Passenger trains, Pennsylvania and the California Zephyr, so nice.  Thank you for the pictures. Keepem coming.

Paul Romano, Wow, your pictures of real trains, real engines, and the ones on the fabulous New Jersey’s Hi Railers layout are beautiful. You are Blessed to have such a great layout to run trains and share fun with so many talented folks that have built the largest layout in the USA, simply amazing. Thanks fir your pictures. I have been there and it’s just Eye Popping Huge. We will return to Patterson in the future.

Briansilvermustang, what can I say, you have the Trains, a beautiful dog, a house full of fun. Keep the pictures coming, your the man. Wow.

Now, I’ve been doing lots of wiring, lighting up buildings, street lights, accessories, and tracks. It’s really time consuming. You’ll see Idea-Thinkers floor layout, and you’ll see mine with the scenery. I wish everyone a Happy Tuesday...

Thanks Larry- Great post !

If I had to pic of going to Disney Land or Brian’s house I would pic Brian’s it looks like a wonderland of trains. 

Great pics Larry guess my favorite is the Switch tower 

BAR #59 after painting, decals, kadees & weathering.

Larry your layout is off the charts, very nice

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

BAR #59 after painting, decals, kadees & weathering.

Very nice Johan love those custom builds 

Larry, the switch tower is a favorite of mine too, though it is hard to pick on such a nice layout.

Johan, that car is terrific!

Did some sceneary work this morning for a couple of hours. Working with the Styrofoam, , set up structural forms for a tunnel entrance on the higher main line track coming of the bridges on the left side of the layout.. These were all fitted and glued in place. Also cut some foam sections for the ground terrain sloping down to the water level on the left side. A little more sahping and they will get glued. and all of todays and tomorrows' structural work will get the Woodland scenic cloth work. Staring to look good. 

Probably helps with a few photos so here we go

John Rowlen, always a treat to see your latest painted passenger car.  I've looked at so many of your fine custom painted Preiser figures over the last couple of months or so that I've begun to recognize the "regulars" on your various domes, diners, and coaches and their wardrobes--they sure like train travel though they aren't much on reading.  

Layout-wise, I've been securing the trestles for my upper level test track loop to the tabletop and making it more symmetrical with the at grade outer loop.  Fortunately, a generous techno-peasant has shipped me additional trestles to adequately support the expanded elevated loop.

Keep 'em coming, fellas.

What'd I do? I use a DCS Remote Commander to control the locomotive on the PER. For me the only disadvantage of this inexpensive DCS "throttle" is that you must more-or-less point the remote at the receiver (because it works on line-of-sight IP, like a TV remote). Today the Postman brought me a little box so I set out to fix the problem. In the box was an IR repeater system. There is a receiver (picks up the signal when you push a button on the remote), an emitter (produces a signal for the DCS Remote Commander receiver to pick up) and little box of electronics to make it all work.

I attached the IR receiver to the Remote with the included 3M double-sided stickum:

That clear bump is the remote's IR emitter. The receiver (now stuck to the bottom of the remote) picks up the signal nicely even though it is actually mounted upside-down. It works because the whole plastic housing is transparent (to IR wavelength). I first removed the stickum from the protruding end so as to not block the IR signal:

Then I attached the IR emitter (actually two because that's what was supplied) to the "window" on the Remote Commander receiver:

Everything is out in the open right now so I can watch the pretty flashing lights until I'm satisfied all is copacetic.

I now have a tethered walk-around throttle that works beautifully! It doesn't matter what position I hold it in and response is 100% (having to aim the original setup meant that sometimes the signal wasn't read by the receiver and I was always unconsciously watching for that).

The tether (that came with the IR extension system) is standard headphone wire with 3.5mm connecting jacks:

lee drennen posted:

BAR GP7 #63 posted:

BAR #59 after painting, decals, kadees & weathering.

Very nice Johan love those custom builds 

Lee. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

Mark Boyce posted:

Larry, the switch tower is a favorite of mine too, though it is hard to pick on such a nice layout.

Johan, that car is terrific!

Mark. Thank you very much. 🤝

Johan

Lew, Nice job!

Mark Boyce posted:

Lew, Nice job!

The best part (and I know you know what I'm talking about, Mark) is that it really helps with the arthritis in the hands. Now I can hold the Remote any-which-way instead of having to aim the thing a certain way and cramping up the hand to do that.

geysergazer posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Lew, Nice job!

The best part (and I know you know what I'm talking about, Mark) is that it really helps with the arthritis in the hands. Now I can hold the Remote any-which-way instead of having to aim the thing a certain way and cramping up the hand to do that.

That IS the best part!

Carl,  I always wanted to travel the Canadian Rockies by train.  I can't imagine traveling by train and reading a book.  For me, the view is out the window and the people I meet. 

I did a new figure combination on this last car that is not used in the 152 21" O-gauge passenger cars I detailed.  There are 41 figures available to me, but some are too large and separated in the bathrooms, away from smaller 1/45 scale figures.

The Texas Eagle Coach from the 1927050 2-pack is finished.  I had to paint four figures to finish the car.  I may paint more figures to fill my late evenings when Mom is sleeping. 

I posted some pictures of the Texas Eagle Coach.  I have the Santa Fe scratch built Kitchen to paint and glue into place.  Pictures will be posted when done.

Update: Four pictures of Santa Fe Dining Car Kitchen and three cooks yet to be placed in the kitchen.

Have a good evening.

John Rowlen

John reminds me of

To everything
There is a season 
And a time to every purpose, under heaven

Those filled cars are so over the top, great work and happy days whatever the future brings.

Built another hill to divide the main from the yard. I'm planning on making some billboards to put on top facing the highway and finishing some other details. Nice thing about foam insulation for scenery is I can build it off the layout then glue it on. Lot less messy than plaster. 

Well,  I am many pages behind, with little time to go back and read/comment on all the great posts here.   In between preparing tax documents for the accountant,  I have been able to make decent progress on the "whole layout" signalling project.   Got the 22 relays all wired and the power supply installed with 3 DC/DC buck converters acting as voltage regulators, re-soldered a bunch of new resistors in line with the LED's, and completed a successful bench test of the entire system.  So far only one "gremlin" which took along time to locate, but turned out to be a intermittently failing wire ???   

Managed to design/layout all my relay board labels,  end of cable junction labels, and wire labels, laid out in Excel and ready to print....   So.... I should have the 1st 30 conductor cable controlling the first 4 signal heads done tonight....  Here are some photos.

Weathering one Gulf tank car more. Now all three are ready to service. More pics later.

Bar GP7 #63,  Another excellent car.

Chris, That's a lot of wires. I recommend some screen covering keeping critters or accidental bumping out of the wiring.  Snagging a wire could be maddening.

The Santa Fe Dining Car is progressing.  I modified three Preiser figures into cooks to go with the waiter.  The scratch-built kitchen is completed, and the empty space is filled.  The cooks need two more coats of white, and then I will place them in the kitchen.

Have a great day.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

John Rowlen posted:

Bar GP7 #63,  Another excellent car.

John Rowlen

John. Thank you very much.🤝

Johan

chris a posted:

Well,  I am many pages behind, with little time to go back and read/comment on all the great posts here.   In between preparing tax documents for the accountant,  I have been able to make decent progress on the "whole layout" signalling project.   Got the 22 relays all wired and the power supply installed with 3 DC/DC buck converters acting as voltage regulators, re-soldered a bunch of new resistors in line with the LED's, and completed a successful bench test of the entire system.  So far only one "gremlin" which took along time to locate, but turned out to be a intermittently failing wire ???   

Managed to design/layout all my relay board labels,  end of cable junction labels, and wire labels, laid out in Excel and ready to print....   So.... I should have the 1st 30 conductor cable controlling the first 4 signal heads done tonight....  Here are some photos.

Chris,

Can you explain the use of the capacitors in more detail. I have a crossing signal controlled with an ice-cube relay that chatters when a light car is on the insulated rail. I want to add a cap to hold the relay in until after the last car clears the block.

Bob

John, Another successful 'Dr. Frankenstein' job!  The populated kitchen will look great!

Chris, I see signals changing with each photograph!  An intermittent wire!  Stranger things have happened.  It looks great!

Johan, The Gulf car looks superb as usual!

Lou, The whole scene is looking great!  The 4-lane highway overpass looks neat.  I don't recall if you mentioned how you built it; and I would never find it in almost 900 pages on this topic!  

Mark Boyce posted:

Lou, The whole scene is looking great!  The 4-lane highway overpass looks neat.  I don't recall if you mentioned how you built it; and I would never find it in almost 900 pages on this topic!  

Thanks. I built that highway/downtown area about 2 years ago. It's all wood. Mostly cut up 1X6 pine with a 1/4" plywood top. Wasn't that hard to make. The hardest part was putting the lines in the street. 

Lou1985 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Lou, The whole scene is looking great!  The 4-lane highway overpass looks neat.  I don't recall if you mentioned how you built it; and I would never find it in almost 900 pages on this topic!  

Thanks. I built that highway/downtown area about 2 years ago. It's all wood. Mostly cut up 1X6 pine with a 1/4" plywood top. Wasn't that hard to make. The hardest part was putting the lines in the street. 

Thank you!  The lines on the street!  Yes, I can see that would be hard for me too!  

Mark Boyce posted:

Lou1985 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Lou, The whole scene is looking great!  The 4-lane highway overpass looks neat.  I don't recall if you mentioned how you built it; and I would never find it in almost 900 pages on this topic!  

Thanks. I built that highway/downtown area about 2 years ago. It's all wood. Mostly cut up 1X6 pine with a 1/4" plywood top. Wasn't that hard to make. The hardest part was putting the lines in the street. 

Thank you!  The lines on the street!  Yes, I can see that would be hard for me too!  

It's not a hard process. All the lines are white 1/8" automotive pinstripe tape. It's just a very tedious process to cut and apply the tape. The road is about 12 feet long. It think it took me about 6 hours or so to apply all the striping. It's the short lines between lanes that eat up time. 

Mark,  the different light aspects were intentional... what you can't see in the photos is me moving the "insulated rail common trigger to different relay coils checking to see if all the different aspect outputs were working....  

Bob,  the capacitor is for "smoothing" the voltage across the relay coil, which should prevent relay chattering.     As wheels and track get's dirty, intermittent contact will cause relay chatter..  The capacitor basically stores the 12 volt charge and applies to the contacts when the signal from the insulated rail, gets weak or disappears intermittently. 

I am using a 470 uF capacitor as that seems to be used regularly in this application (ie: 12 Volt DC relay coil)....  The capacitors are "polarized" there is a "gray/silver" stripe on one side that side connects to the negative DC lead going to the coil.... The positive lead is hooked up directly to the 12 VDC + coil contact. 

Hooking it up backwards, will likely cause it to pop... small explosion.    Also, you need at least twice the coil voltage on the cap rating....  35 VDC and 50VDC are pretty common.   I did a Google search as I hadn't hooked any up in over a year, and needed an installation refresher... 

You have to be using  DC relay coils to use the capacitor... there aren't many AC relays in use at this voltage, but my understanding is the Cap won't work in an alternating current environment which make sense.  

I am not an electronics expert, but I think I read somewhere that much higher value capacitors may be used to create a "delay".... I assume it does it because it is effectively a storage device and has to "discharge" after the circuit opens, so the more watts you store, the longer it takes to discharge and release the coil....  So if you are trying to delay the closing of the gates, my guess is that you will want a capacitor with at least 2000 uF rating, maybe even higher.    

I'd attach the page but I closed it a week ago, and I doubt I'll find it again...  I also hooked up a 22 ohm resistor in the line from the insulated rail the theory is that it slows down current surges...   

Chris, I thought you must have been showing photographs of a test whether with a clip jumper or some other method to simulate.  I'm no electronics expert either.  Though I worked in the field for 43 years, a lot of that theory and engineering education was lost (don't use it, you lose it) after I graduated from college back in '76!!  

Afternoon guys, I don't have a lot of time so I will make it quick!~

Larry, What a great layout you have! The BNSF is from MTH and its a PS2 I run from my DCS system. I really love the engine! Thanks for your kind words!

Johan, great job on #59 and the tank car! They both look wonderful!

Brian, wonderful Santa Fe engines!

Lirr, your going to be a pro by the time you get done!

Lew, Now arnt you the smart one! What a great idea!

John, Your work on your passenger cars ar just amazing!

Lou, Looks great! I really like the Highway!

Chris, Looking good! I am glad things are working well for you! But it still makes my head hurt! LOL

So yesterday I was going to paint my new track for my siding, but then started thinking about what Lew said about extending it for more car parking. Well I didn't do that, but I did extend the other siding and then this morning I went out and painted both tracks! Here are a couple of photos !

Everyone have a great night!

The track looks good, Mike.

 I still have to do the roof and some touch up paint, but here is the AmeriTown kit I have been  working on.

Mark, That's a very nice building.

Mike,  The layout looks very good.  You have passed me by.  I need to get to work.

Chris,  As always, your skills inspire and amaze me.  It is a very nice layout.

Johan, Beautiful cars.

Leapin' Larry,  I am a long ways away from showing off my layout.  Your work is excellent.

I MIGHT BE DONE, probably not.  The Santa Fe Dining Car in the Lionel 1927020 2-pack has no sound system.  It meant that the kitchen interior was totally empty.

Have Space, Will Build.  Since the four windows in the kitchen area are clear, I decided to build a kitchen inside the empty space.  Using Plastruct .040 white sheets and .020 Grey sheets, I fashioned the kitchen shown in these final pictures.  The cooks are modified Preiser 1/48 figures,  Arms were cut off and re-positioned.  The sink faucets are household staples, drilled into position with a hand pin drill.  The paint color is Testor's Acryl Flat Aluminum.

I decided not to add pots, fire extinguishers and dishes because the interior is only seen through four small windows.  Maybe some lonely night, I will pull out the car and add to it.

Have a good evening.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Hi guys. I have been away from home since Monday trying to make a living and realized not near as much fun as working on the layout. Mark great building really good job ! Lou1985. I really liked the highway on the edge of your layout and that it’s the top of a long underpass for the tracks. I have a long ( uninteresting) straight on one side of my layout might try that. JohnRowan your imagination in putting folks in the passenger cars is unmatched. Love it. Leapinlarry Thanks for the compliment on my 224 and tinplate pass cars . I appreciate it I just spent part of last weekend watching them go round

Regards guys. Don McErlean 

Mike. That looks good and I really like that feed mill your really pushing me to get mine started 

Mark. I’m liking that build I’m going have to get me a few 

John. The car is coming along nicely 

Mark,  Great job on the Ameritowne Building, I really like the details/signage in the store front windows as well as the trim color choices....  My only other thought is I'd think about a very diluted black/gray wash for the concrete/stone window sills so they don't look so bright... 

Mike G:  The trackwork and weathering looks good.   Yes I am moving at a "snail's pace" on the signal wiring... Just finished putting down the printed labels on the relay board, as well as the first 4 sets of terminal junctions at the signal location....   I really don't want to start having signal control issues once I install this under the table, so I figure labeling everything really well and double checking it will pay off.   I have a nice home made creeper but I don't want to camp out under the table trying to trouble shoot this after it's mounted...    

John,  love your work on the passenger cars....  I have more than a few that need populating, but not yet.   I saw your comment above about protecting the wiring... I have a bunch of cable clamps multiple sizes that I plan to pin everything down in logical groupings once I get the 7 I/O cables completed. 

Lee,  I am finally finished for a while. Your flat cars look great and  I will always remember your tow truck driver you painted.  The dirty overalls made the figure very realistic.

Lew,  The layout is looking nice with the crane siding.  It has been fun watching the building of the layout.

Lou1985,  I may use your idea of adding to the side of the layout for two Tugboats I need to dock along my river.

Carl,  Look forward to seeing pictures of your upper level layout work.

I often don't comment.  I appreciate all the sharing of ideas on this Forum.  I will be incorporating some ideas in my layout.  Thank you.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Thanks John he now drives for Railway Express Agency part time. It’s guys like you who I’ve watched that helped me teach myself to paint figures but I’m still learning