What did you do on your layout today?

@mike g. posted:

Stole the idea from Ray! LOL 

   

Mike,   copying is a form of flattery 

@NYC KID posted:

Completed my one of my buildings for my layout. 

Fantastic build!

@modeltrainsparts posted:

Not one bit ashamed of mine; go waste your time and/or money on something fancy. I'd rather spend it on trains!

Jackson, nice idea for the remotes and from what I can see see of your layout looks very nice, would like to see more. I look at spending my time an money to increase my knowledge of what is possible using the latest tech to enhance all my experience including but not only trains.

@RJT posted:

Not much compared to some I have seen on this forum but I finally have trains running. A couple of Post War beautys!

 

Great layout underway, Rick, and it's always a boost to watch trains running. I almost did a double-take when I saw your profile. I grew up in State College and graduated from Penn State in 1980.

Fair response, Ray. No offense was meant. Here are a few pics of the Not So Great Eastern which i began in `88 or `89. Still adding trees and details. My photography skills are lacking.

Progress on my accessible layout continues. All the track has been test-fitted, and now I'm in the process of putting down a layer of commercial grade 1/8-inch neoprene, ordered direct from a manufacturer in a 50-sq-ft roll. My goal is to give trains the smoothest possible ride while dampening the noise from the plastic Fastrack roadbed. 

Jackson, thanks for the pictures, that is my kind of layout, very nice.

BruceG Thank you for the complaiment.  So why did you leave Happy Valley? We moved here because our youngest daughter graduated from PSU and then got a job working for them and then got married to a PSU sports junkie and had a beautiful little girl that we wanted to be closer to.

NYC KID, the building is terrific. Such an accomplishment rather than out of the box drop in place. 

The Razorback Traction Company used Federal stimulus funds to expand their fleet:  

Sylvia Siamese, Norma Bates Kitteh and two friends admire the new acquisitions:

A size comparo between Lionel and Bowser Birneys:  

Interestingly enow, this is my first stock postwar 60!  I have several modified versions, and modern Lionel Birneys, but this is the first 60 in the fleet!  

For now, the plans are to keep all these stock.  

For now.  😈

Mitch

@RJT posted:

BruceG Thank you for the complaiment.  So why did you leave Happy Valley? We moved here because our youngest daughter graduated from PSU and then got a job working for them and then got married to a PSU sports junkie and had a beautiful little girl that we wanted to be closer to.

What could be bad about living in a place called Happy Valley! And great football to boot

@NYC KID posted:

Completed my one of my buildings for my layout. 

Hot d@mn, that’s good stuff, Kid. Wow. 

- The Other Guy 

Pulling wires………

Today was an all day, “Rainy Day”. So I spent the day pulling wires for next years model train season.

Stop the work. It’s time for lunch. 🌭 Hold the mustard.

Made a wire-puller for pulling these 20 AWG wires for 4.5 volt DC lines for model structures & vehicles.

Running the wires up to the elevated lines

The wires are all pulled to the elevated lines and labeled for upcoming projects for October, 2020.

To hide the cables, I painted them a sky-blue.

Done - “Gone Fishing”. 🐠

Gary 🚂

Started working on mountain small 42 x 52. Put tunnel portals and cardboard for plaster cloth support.

@trainroomgary posted:

Pulling wires………

Today was an all day, “Rainy Day”. So I spent the day pulling wires for next years model train season.

Stop the work. It’s time for lunch. 🌭 Hold the mustard.

Made a wire-puller for pulling these 20 AWG wires for 4.5 volt DC lines for model structures & vehicles.

Running the wires up to the elevated lines

The wires are all pulled to the elevated lines and labeled for upcoming projects for October, 2020.

To hide the cables, I painted them a sky-blue.

Done - “Gone Fishing”. 🐠

Gary 🚂

I can't begin to say how much I love this post. Great story. Thanks for sharing

Haven't done much on the basement layout. Had to catchup on outdoor work. But today I enjoyed running trains in the attic. Everyone is doing really good stuff on here. Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during these tough times. Decided to do another video for fun. Had my Lionel Legacy Canadian Pacific FA's pulling my scale auto racks. Paul 2

https://youtu.be/KXM7TVCwu-0

@RJT posted:

BruceG Thank you for the complaiment.  So why did you leave Happy Valley? We moved here because our youngest daughter graduated from PSU and then got a job working for them and then got married to a PSU sports junkie and had a beautiful little girl that we wanted to be closer to.

Happy Valley was indeed an idyllic place to grow up. My childhood home was in the village of Boalsburg, three miles east of State College. I left after college to attend Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola, and except for a 3-year overseas tour in the mid-1980s I have lived in the South ever since. I still love Central Pennsylvania, but I don't miss the long, gloomy winters. 

installed an ERR CCM in my TMCC Lionel scale SP Consolidation. Runs about 100% better. It'll get a 4 chuff/revolution upgrade and fan smoke as well at some point. 

@trainroomgary posted:

Pulling wires………

Done - “Gone Fishing”. 🐠

Gary 🚂

Looking good Gary!   Before you go fishing, what about adding a nice fiber/cotton plume of smoke above what appears to be a smoke stack to further disguise the wires?   Just a thought!

Wash your hands, Wash you hands, WASH YOU HANDS!

Cheers, Dave

@darlander posted:

Looking good Gary!   Before you go fishing, what about adding a nice fiber/cotton plume of smoke above what appears to be a smoke stack to further disguise the wires?   Just a thought!

Wash your hands, Wash you hands, WASH YOU HANDS!

Cheers, Dave

Hi Dave: Yes: Rock - N - Roll • • • Great Tip......

    I will do that, I think I have some cotton around somewhere in the shop or next time at the dollar store, I will pick some up.  I may even built a brick chimney over that gray downspout. It is still raining here in Michigan, but the night crawlers are out..... for the picking.  Great for fishing.  The Walleyes are in, and our governor has changed the lockdown rules.  We can now go fishing in power boats.  

Gary 🚂

@trainroomgary posted:

Hi Dave: Yes: Rock - N - Roll • • • Great Tip......

    I will do that, I think I have some cotton around somewhere in the shop or next time at the dollar store, I will pick some up.  I may even built a brick chimney over that gray downspout. It is still raining here in Michigan, but the night crawlers are out..... for the picking.  Great for fishing.  The Walleyes are in, and our governor has changed the lockdown rules.  We can now go fishing in power boats.  

Gary 🚂

 

Cotton batting also works well for smoke.   I received a great tip on this site a while back regarding my yard fire.   Cotton batting was recommended.

Cheers, Dave

Added some figures around my World's Fair ashtray in my Circus /Fair toy fantasy layout.

My parents took me to that Worlds fair when I was 8 years old.  Long drive from NE Ohio, but great memories.

The Lionel 611 Steam Excursion Florida East Coast Coach "St. Augustine" is now finished and ready to close back up. The Preiser 65602 Unpainted people are getting difficult to purchase because shipping from Germany to the United States has been interrupted for over three weeks. This was verified by Ebay when three of my orders were cancelled and refunds given by three German sellers.

The Baltimore and Ohio Vista Dome is the next car to be detailed. It comes in a two pack with a Norfolk and Western Pohattan Arrow Coach.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

made some more yard lights on 3D printer, used Evan's Mega LEDs

Here's my latest video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

I thought I would do something different by making a video on Menards' Wally's Service Station building.

I have been putting together San Juan Car Co Andrews Trucks (On30 ) to replace the Bachmann archbar trucks on my tank cars. The railroad can save money because it can use the journal boxes from the archbars in the Andrews truck frame

Work is beginning on the 611 Steam Excursion Baltimore and Ohio "Moonlight Dome" Vista Dome.

I will need to lower the Dome Seats in order to put Preiser 65602 Seated People in the Dome.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Trainmaster04, That is a really nicely done review of the Menards Wally's Service Station.  I agree a great price for what they give you!!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Trainmaster04, That is a really nicely done review of the Menards Wally's Service Station.  I agree a great price for what they give you!!

Thanks! I will probably purchase and review some of the new buildings that have come out recently. Also, some more Lionel Legacy locomotives.

Yesterday  I got bored and transfered  some pent up creativity into a crummy toy.

It wasthe victim of a derail;a short; an axle melt down, that took out the bobber springs and bearings

. It always needed windows on the doors too, and with them, looks better defined. I'll add window frames/glass and touch up paints later.  The wire is .30" stainless for packaging.

  It looked way to tall on these trucks and while the top was off for consideration of other things, I thought just maybe it would look better as a Transfer Caboose..

(the paint jobs this has carried the last few years are numerous too)

I don't think I like the half loop

Today I started a Woodside body close to this size. I'm not sure, but this roof may go on the new woodside body...or it might get the coopla????

Added plaster cloth to mountain 

Contrary to government guidelines, I have been populating my layout and disregarding social distancing as I place them.  All shops are open and my trains and trolley are on schedule and in full operation!  Nice to be able to sneak into the train room from time to time and escape our current reality!

I have been using sets from Bachmann Trains and Scenic Express.  I am tempted to order some of the cheaper 1:43 or 1:50 sets I see on eBay.  Any suggestions or recommendations?  I assume the 1:50 scale sets will fit better with the ones I already have.  I welcome any suggestions or advice.

Another nice distraction:  I invite you to visit the Lake Superior Railroad Museum via the video tours on youtube.com that they have been producing to help us get through this unusual time.  They are 5-8 minutes in length, well done and highlight the museum's collection and history.          This museum is one of my happy places.

Follow this link to enjoy: duluthtrains.com/videotours 

Wash your hands, wash your hands and stay safe!
Cheers, Dave

Made a bit of progress on the park area downtown, placing flowers, people, and wiring up the street lamps:

Also played with some long exposure of some of the current motive power on the layout:

today is being spent cleaning the train room and now just running some trains

Well Fellows, I make no claim at being near as good at realistic modeling as many of the layouts visited in this thread.  However, I did have some fun yesterday (yes i know its supposed to be "today" but Max and I quit late and I went to bed !). I had obtained some "Photo type" background building flats to make the scene against the back wall of my "Port" more interesting than just a blank wall.  My RR is called the Leonardtown and Savannah, runs theoretically from Leonardtown, Md to Sanvannah Ga which is highly unlikely but its two places we lived!  Anyway, I have established a remote yard area that I am trying to scenic as if it were the port of Savannah (Late 40's , still war on) and that much is realistic as Savannah has been a key port of entry for the US since the days of the Civil war.  Truth be told my "Port" is really to store cars / engines between runs on the operating part of the layout.  The space available does not permit an actual track connection, so transit to/from the port takes the "Big Hook" (my hand).  Anyway here are our results so far.

Here is the "before picture".  You can see that the bright wall distracts from the scene, so I am experimenting with ways to alter that.  I really wanted a poster back drop of a harbor scene but couldn't find one but am still looking.

Here is my initial installation of 2 "photo flats" that I got from a vendor on e-bay.  They are excellent photographs of (what I assume is) real buildings mounted on 1/8" stiff fiberboard.  They are excellently done and prepared and only cost about $12 each and were offered with free shipping.  I think this is moving the scene in the right direction although I still have a bit of white showing.  By the way, "Dave's Garage" is a Menards building that is also designed to mount against a wall.  It is illuminated and came with a lit auto (although the one it came with was too new a vintage for my layout so I had to remove it).  Crane in foreground is Marx but seems to fit well with scene.

In close up mode, I think it really looks much better.  Here you can see the excellent high definition of the photo fronts.  The detail is really amazing.  Here on the L&S you an see the end of the work day as the rapid transit approaches the Menards "suburban station" and the street railway begins to move the workers home. 

Oh yea...I mentioned Max, my  HQ works foreman.  Here he supervises from his private rail car !.

Have a nice weekend everyone.  Best Wishes and keep healthy.

Don McErlean

Ray,

Sometimes we get so caught up with different projects on the layout we forget to just sit back and admire our work and RUN TRAINS! You have done a lot great work recently and owe it to yourself to sit back and admire the fruits of your labor. I have made it a point to do that in the last few months. Especially since most of my engines and rolling stock are in the boxes. Gotta get electric through them and this couldn't be a better time to do it. Enjoy!

Dave

Today I actually had enough time to think it out and get my train detectors and control board wired up to my signal bridge. Very pleased with the results, works well. 

Stay safe, 

Scott

A few pictures of the 611 Steam Excursion Florida East Coast "St. Augustine" Coach.

Finished lowering Dome seats and placing Preiser 65602 Seated People in the seats. I will cover shiny glue marks with Dulcoat and replace the Dome Seat Floor in the car.  The lower level seats need three coats of tan and people.

Update:  The B&O "Moonlight Dome" Vista Dome is finished after I touch up shiny glue with Dulcote, reconnect the light cable and fasten the shell to the chassis.  The next car is the Pohattan Arrow N&W Coach from the two-pack A.  All the other four private cars are completed.

Have a good week.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I loaded some inexpensive passengers into my World's Fair subway Flushing #7 cars today. I have a way of doing it that's not permanent and does no alteration to the car.

I first glue down a bunch of figures on some scrap packaging plastic, and then I cut out groupings and tape them to the floor of the train with packing tape. If I ever want to rearrange or sell the car I just peel up the tape, and everything is factory reset!

EDIT TO ADD: Trainroom Gary's video on adding figures to MTH Railking cars gave me the courage to do this. Thanks, Gary!