What did you do on your layout today?

Mark, just put the snow blower to the front of a riding lawnmower!

Paul, you sure are moving right along! Between the building, cork. track. Next thing we know you will be going back to the magic mountain!

Mark is right were all characters and should be in comics!

They play the game because you never know who will win.  I hate to see any team have poor seasons year after year 

mike g. posted:

Mark, just put the snow blower to the front of a riding lawnmower!

Paul, you sure are moving right along! Between the building, cork. track. Next thing we know you will be going back to the magic mountain!

Mark is right were all characters and should be in comics!

Mike, great idea!  Now where do I find a riding mower cheap!  LOL. I do get my exercise.

paul 2 posted:

Done for the night. I was moving along at a pretty good pace when I heard the cellar door open and a soft voice said time to call it a night and come upstairs and watch TV with me. I stopped working and came to post before I watch TV with the wife (CEO of the railroad ). I managed to get most of the cork down for the one freight yard. It may not be prototypical but I wanted to use up switches I had laying around first before ordering anymore. I should be able to finish laying the cork tomorrow. Pics...........Paul

 

Works the other way around at our house. My wife would leave me downstairs all night, because that way she can watch whatever she wants.

Mark I have one I could sell you for Cheap Cheap! But you have to pay shipping from Washington State! 

A beautiful cold, crisp day in the Midwest!  Hoping to get a lot done today.  Did more plastering yesterday and then cleaned the layout up after doing retaining walls all last week.  My son Jim is coming over to work on the electrical to do list and I am painting until he gets here. 

It's my wife's birthday so I need to practice wearing two hats today.

Plan to post a number of pictures celebrating the end of the year soon.  Hope everyone has a great day.

Art

Got the last two sidings in the freight yard. I was going to start to paint the cork that dried from yesterday but then I said I'll wait till everything is dried and I only have to open the paint cans once. So maybe after dinner I can get it all painted. I know I won't be doing anymore track work. Putting in the freight yard used all the cork up I had. I'll have to ordered a couple of boxes this time instead of just one. Pics.............Paul

Pulled out ol’ 4436 and blew the webs out of the stack.  Still runs like new...  

Paul:  Why don't you get a piece of 1/4" inch flat cork and use that for your yard areas.  You'd loose the ballast embankments but notice that yards don't generally have ditches between the tracks.   Much easier to install and, I think it looks more realistic, too.  You can get cork sheeting at some lumber yards or artist supply dealers.   Cheaper, too, and if you want to move some track around, some time, you can do that without much fuss.

Paul F.

Started roughing in my roads, and installed my grade crossings. Also got my backdrop backing in on the lower level.  

Paul the cork is looking good, what are you gluing it down with?

Ted Nice train and nice video, thanks for the ride!

Mo Nice to see things coming along! I see your doing crossings, can you explain what your doing there for the rest of us who don't know!

Mike, I use Elmer's wood glue. I hold the cork in place with one inch nails till dry....Paul

paul 2 posted:

Mike, I use Elmer's wood glue. I hold the cork in place with one inch nails till dry....Paul

Thanks Paul!

Sure Mike,

I've taken some strips of hardboard and plexiglass (on the curved portion) and placed them next to the outer rails. I filled the middle areas with drywall compound. When dry, I'll remove the strips and have my preformed areas for the wheel flanges, and the compound, after coloring, will look like asphalt ( I hope). 

Good day of work today. Still pounding away on the last of the fascia. I got two pieces hung last Thursday, and two more today, including a near full sheet which connects the upper and lower.

These are the ones from Thursday. The one on the right started at the duck under, and the second went under the bridges on the left.

Took a couple tries to get the notches right.

At the end of Thursday, I put in the angle support, and glued on a splice strip.

Today, I started by filling in the last piece on the upper deck, that's the entire layout!!!

Took a few tries to prop up the sheet, but I finally got it into place, and got a few screws in it. Then I marked out the cuts, and made the first one.

All the cuts are done. I've got a nice big blank canvas here, which I never really thought about. It never really existed until today. This plan was always in my mind though.

When complete, the Milwaukee Road Short Line bridge over the Mississippi should be rather dramatic.

Mo985 posted:

Sure Mike,

I've taken some strips of hardboard and plexiglass (on the curved portion) and placed them next to the outer rails. I filled the middle areas with drywall compound. When dry, I'll remove the strips and have my preformed areas for the wheel flanges, and the compound, after coloring, will look like asphalt ( I hope). 

Thanks Mo! That is one cool idea! It so fun when I learn something new here!

J,

   Broke out the Tin Plate and test ran the 263E Work Train Consist, with the 800 and 600 series Crane Cars, and Islay's rolling stock, on the new DCS/Legacy over head FasTrack Layout.  The 263E P2 ran smooth as Glass on the 1st generation FasTrack.  The construction on the Multi Track Bar DCS/Legacy Train layout, is coming along and the traditional floor type layout in front of the  Fire Place, is now in the planning stages.  Had to remove 5" of snow from the Driveway, Back Patio and Front Walk today also, this outside work ate into my layout building time.  Can you imagine my wife actually wanting me to due something else besides work on my Train Room at Christmas time.  I tell ya it's Husband abuse, the next time the Va medical people me ask if I feel I have been threatened.

Merry Christmas everybody!

PCRR/Dave 

Looks good Dave, I have another question for you though. The power drops are the on top of the shelf?

Could not decide to paint or ballast the second level of my staging area so I just poly coated it.

  Ran them for my four year old second cousin! 

Tom Tee posted:

Could not decide to paint or ballast the second level of my staging area so I just poly coated it.

Tom, the wood looks great! But what are the holes for? Also do you have a track plan you can share so I can fallow along?

I'm stuck in a rut, haven't done any work on the layout in a long time, so all I do is operate my little basement empire. Oh well time to get off the computer and get back in the basement

Clem

Clem, Call Brian he will help play with the trains! Tell him to bring his Amtrak stuff!

Elliot, The facia is looking good!  I’m looking forward to seeing the Mississippi River bridge!

Dave, the tin plate looks great up on the high line!!

Mark,

   Thanks buddy, have you started on your 072 curve overhead project yet?  It's Christmas  time!

Clem,

    Just take the computer with ya to the train room!

PCRR/Dave

Dave, I was just looking that over after coming in from shoveling snow today.  I’ve been too busy with family to get started.

You know Dave and Mark, If I lived closer I would let you pay me to come over to take care of your snow! Then I could get more trains!

Thanks Mike, you are all heart!!

Mark Boyce posted:

Thanks Mike, you are all heart!!

Just trying to lighten things up! I really feel for you guys back East getting hammered with cold and snow!

Thank you.  I agree.   We have been blessed with only a little, nothing like our friends in Erie, north of here!  

Mark Boyce posted:

Elliot, The facia is looking good!  I’m looking forward to seeing the Mississippi River bridge!

Dave, the tin plate looks great up on the high line!!

Thanks Mark. It's going to be a while before I get to the actual bridge. I have to figure out how to build a straight bridge on a curve.

Mike, 

The slots.

When I do a bunk bed staging I usually hinge the top deck for access like this:

This permits physical and visual access.  However this time  I am going to use a fixed top deck with observation slots between the supports for visual access only.

Because the lower tracks are so  open  and accessible I do not feel the need to have a hinged deck.  Here is a shot of the lower deck uncovered:

This is an off stage work room with hidden turntables serving three different branch line ends.

As far as a track plan goes, well, er, I have  changed it so much that posting it would only be misleading.   This is a tee shaped  2k sq ft basement with an interchange yard serving five branch lines mounted off the wall.  Lots of of track, 87 turnouts, five turntables, 9 CM-20  powerpacks, three Dallee power packs and ten Z-1000 AC packs with 9 panels. 90% benchwork done, 80% of track down, several panels need built.  A maze of wires run and more to go.  Should have gone R/C battery.

An early shot before changes:

The long arch bridges are now in the far back at top of photo below:

Tom,

I see the difference.  Both methods look great!  It just depends on how much higher the top level is from the lower level!

The tracklaying looks great!

mike g. posted:

Nice video, I like how the coal train goes behind the Menards American power plant!

Thanks Guys!

Tom, thank you for explaining it to me, also WOW what a great looking layout! I am kind of glad I don't have that much room, cause I don't have that much money! LOL

Took care of a little project yesterday. I bought a Plasticville water tower kit a while back. Been looking at the box for months and months so I opened it up and assembled it yesterday. Very simple little kit.

Of course I can't leave things alone so I added a blinking LED to the top of the tower. The more lights on the layout the better

I just need to wire it on the layout today.

Bob

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Elliot, The facia is looking good!  I’m looking forward to seeing the Mississippi River bridge!

Dave, the tin plate looks great up on the high line!!

Thanks Mark. It's going to be a while before I get to the actual bridge. I have to figure out how to build a straight bridge on a curve.

And how many times did we say " I'm never gonna need geometry in real life" in school......

Nice progress this week Eliot. The fascia really gives the layout a finished look. I need to put a couple of pieces on the front edge of my table too..a whole 4'

Nice job on the water tower Bob, where do you get your flashing LED's?

clem k posted:

I'm stuck in a rut, haven't done any work on the layout in a long time, so all I do is operate my little basement empire. Oh well time to get off the computer and get back in the basement

Clem

I know a layout is never done but your's is about as close to done as any I've seen Clem. Enjoy your model railroad empire!

Bob

mike g. posted:

Nice job on the water tower Bob, where do you get your flashing LED's?

I took them out of a set of Model Power crossing signals. I bought a flasher relay board to control the signals not realizing that they came with flashing LED's. I wanted a realistic sequence to the signals so I took out the random flashing LED's and put regular ones in their place. Real PIA to work on this little stuff. 

I fried two of them and cooked one yesterday with the soldering iron so this was the last one. I'm sure they are available on line.

Mark,

   Big Mike G is my kind of guy always thinking about putting the other guy to work so he can play with his Trains!  A thinking man no doubt about it.

Big Mike G,

   The power drops run in a gap between the shelf and the wall on top of the shelf where you can hardly see them.  The wires run along the slot and come down at the power station, that is under construction in one of the corners of the Train room.  Works out real well due to the type of Brackets I used for the shelving and the 14 Gauge wire stiffness.  

PCRR/Dave

You can see the yellow wires in this picture that still need to be placed properly, they come out from under the shelving and are held on the wall, by a plastic electrical ties as they go into the Terminal Block.   It's working out pretty much like I planned, in fact the Bar Top Train layout will have its wiring routed in the same manner.  The bigger layout on the other side of the 29' room, will have its wiring drops connected to the over head layout also.  Placing the TIU up in the air on the wall between the layouts is working out well also, no signal loss at all so far, on any of the layouts under construction.

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

I spent most of Christmas day inside the big helix, and finally finished all of the wiring. That means all of the feeders, ground and power, are connected to their buses. Also, all fourteen detection blocks are wired back to a terminal strip, and are ready to be extended over to the detection panel.

Yesterday, I stopped by the surplus store to get a few specific goodies for a couple of projects.

I found this really neat 24V motor with built in gear reduction box. Tried it on 12V, and it is almost slow enough for running the turntable. I'll keep dropping the voltage until I get it slow enough. I also picked up some belt gears to fit on both shafts. Just gotta figure out how to mount it.

I might need a longer belt.

I grabbed these large ring lugs for the uncoupler project, which I plan to get back on, after it stalled out due to technical difficulties. These are the last piece to the puzzle.

I spackled most of the new backdrop. I need to get that sanded for Patrick, who should be coming over on Saturday.

Finally, I want to get the last bit of fascia done this year. In prep for that, I added shims to the small helix. There is a lot more of this kind of stuff to do before Saturday.

You, SIR, are Living The Dream!

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

Mark,

   Big Mike G is my kind of guy always thinking about putting the other guy to work so he can play with his Trains!  A thinking man no doubt about it.

Big Mike G,

   The power drops run in a gap between the shelf and the wall on top of the shelf where you can hardly see them.  The wires run along the slot and come down at the power station, that is under construction in one of the corners of the Train room.  Works out real well due to the type of Brackets I used for the shelving and the 14 Gauge wire stiffness.  

PCRR/Dave

You can see the yellow wires in this picture that still need to be placed properly, they come out from under the shelving and are held on the wall, by a plastic electrical ties as they go into the Terminal Block.   It's working out pretty much like I planned, in fact the Bar Top Train layout will have its wiring routed in the same manner.  The bigger layout on the other side of the 29' room, will have its wiring drops connected to the over head layout also.  Placing the TIU up in the air on the wall between the layouts is working out well also, no signal loss at all so far, on any of the layouts under construction.

 

 

Thanks Dave, I hope you don't mind all the questions, but the yellow wire. I assume it has both red and black wires inside for your drops. If so where do you get the yellow wire, it looks so much cleaner then just a bunch of wires running everywhere! One more question that just came to mind is how do you attach the drops?

I'm still learning how to navigate this forum, so forgive me if I post or reply incorrectly. Anyway, an area of my shelf layout that has had some temporary bench work (been there since last year) & needed blended together, is in my cross hairs. The first pic is the eyesore & 2nd pic is the fix under construction; A dbl track trestle bridge with dbl support spans. 

R.C. Nice scratch build! Make sure you post as you go along so the rest of us can watch!

Will Do. Gotta pickup some more wood pieces today when I take wife out for our anniversary (26th) dinner. Ahem! My woodworking tools are limited (jig saw-cutoff tool, handsaw, etc), but I'm not gonna let that hold me back. Not lookin to get graded on it (precision), but I am having fun! I have a jig drawn on bench so I get the angles of 2nd support to match.

Big Mike G,

   Unfortunately I purchased that particular high quality wire form a electrical Supply company years ago, that is no longer in electrical supply business.  You can purchase something similar on the Net from one of the Electrical Suppliers I am sure.  It's 14 Gauge Stranded has both Red & Black Stranded Wires inside the yellow otter shell. Neat and clean no doubt about it.

Wire identification nomenclature below.

Beckwith Electronic ENG  - P/N 25226 R-B  E57497  CL3P/FPLP  14AWG (UL)  Made in the USA.

PCRR/Dave

Thanks Dave I will do a search! I am sure I can find something just like it!

Mike, Anderson sells black and red zip cord in a variety of gauges.  Del City and Waytech sells 500' rolls at  good price points in 12 colors.  Makes for great trouble shooting.

Thanks Tom, I will check them out! You guys on here ROCK!

Mike G, I agree with TOM TEE. A few years back when I decided to redo my wiring on the attic layout I emailed Steve at Ross Switches to ask where he got his wire for his switches. He said Way Tek. I found their web site where there is a lot of stuff and I was able to get 14 gauge in four colors for my mainlines and 20 or 22 gauge for the switches in the exact same colors on the switch machines and a color for the accessory power. Plus terminal strips and jumpers to make the strips all one. Now it is easier to trace any wiring problems. Paul F, that is a good idea about cork. I never used it because I don't ballast my whole track, just the sides and in freight yards where it gives me a little bit of ballast between the tracks. But this morning I pulled the nails out of the cork that dried from last night and painted them. Now I am waiting for the paint to dry so I can start applying some track. ballast, plaster in the area. Pics.............Paul

Thanks Paul, when the time comes I will be asking a lot of questions about wiring, as that is my down fall!

I've been working on my recent layout with the grand kids. We call it "The Mystery Mountain", because an 8' train completely disappears in 2.5' long mountain before it comes out the other side. I thought it would be cool to add some features with the grand kids names on it.

The junkyard is named after my grandson Mason (Mason's Junkyard). The produce stand is a play of words for my granddaughter Mackenzie, (Mack "N" Zee's produce) and the town was renamed Mackenzieville after my grand daughter.

They haven't seen the changes, it'll be a surprise for when they come over tomorrow.

RSJB18 posted:

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Elliot, The facia is looking good!  I’m looking forward to seeing the Mississippi River bridge!

Dave, the tin plate looks great up on the high line!!

Thanks Mark. It's going to be a while before I get to the actual bridge. I have to figure out how to build a straight bridge on a curve.

And how many times did we say " I'm never gonna need geometry in real life" in school......

Nice progress this week Eliot. The fascia really gives the layout a finished look. I need to put a couple of pieces on the front edge of my table too..a whole 4'

Thanks Bob. Totally agree about geometry. I use it all the time down here. I also agree the fascia does give the layout a finished look, even though there is no scenery. Starting tomorrow I'll be working on that, one scene at a time.

HAPPY NEW YEAR:

Click and open file.

Turn volume up, full.

R.C. posted:

You, SIR, are Living The Dream!

Thanks R.C., I do believe I am, however sometimes it can be a nightmare. That's why I named my construction topic "My dream/nightmare layout". I'll be doing my year end review over there tonight just before midnight central time. It's going to be a big one, over 100 photos, and with luck a major new video.

Posting tip: when inserting photos have your cursor on a new line, that way they don't get bumped over from the text. Looks nicer.

Elliot, Have you given any consideration to having a Backdrop Warehouse wall paper installed on your above track fascia?  You can get a 18" tall by 6' sample from them for a small fee.  It really makes a plain area come alive.

Mike, when you order wire from them also get several bags of wire clamps.  I wouild suggest a bag of each size of their 6 smallest sizes.  They all take a #10 screw and a 100 count box is available at L & HD.

Plus, number tape.  There will be times when you will be using the same color wire for certain purposes.  It is available 0 to 49 and 50 to 99 plus an alpha series.

This job has 8 control panels with about 70 blocks so I ran out of colors early.

samparfitt posted:

HAPPY NEW YEAR:

Click and open file.

Turn volume up, full.

 

Very nice!  Thank you!  Happy New Year 

This afternoon I decided to plaster first. I mixed up a batch and went as far as I could. I used a plastic spoon this time to lay down the plaster near the back of the layout. I am going to make something like a drainage ditch between the tracks ending up in a small little pond at the other end. So for tonight that is it till tomorrow ater the plaster has dried... Pics.................Paul

Wired the water tower. Ran trains for a while. Had fun!

Started creating an inventory in Excel. Got all of the motive power listed. Freight cars and passenger coaches next.

Tom Tee posted:

Mike, when you order wire from them also get several bags of wire clamps.  I wouild suggest a bag of each size of their 6 smallest sizes.  They all take a #10 screw and a 100 count box is available at L & HD.

Plus, number tape.  There will be times when you will be using the same color wire for certain purposes.  It is available 0 to 49 and 50 to 99 plus an alpha series.

This job has 8 control panels with about 70 blocks so I ran out of colors early.

Very nice job Tom. I use the numbers too. A real savior sometimes when tracing wires. I had a label maker too but it died. Need to get another one.

Tom Tee posted:

Mike, 

The slots.

When I do a bunk bed staging I usually hinge the top deck for access like this:

This permits physical and visual access.  However this time  I am going to use a fixed top deck with observation slots between the supports for visual access only.

Because the lower tracks are so  open  and accessible I do not feel the need to have a hinged deck.  Here is a shot of the lower deck uncovered:

This is an off stage work room with hidden turntables serving three different branch line ends.

As far as a track plan goes, well, er, I have  changed it so much that posting it would only be misleading.   This is a tee shaped  2k sq ft basement with an interchange yard serving five branch lines mounted off the wall.  Lots of of track, 87 turnouts, five turntables, 9 CM-20  powerpacks, three Dallee power packs and ten Z-1000 AC packs with 9 panels. 90% benchwork done, 80% of track down, several panels need built.  A maze of wires run and more to go.  Should have gone R/C battery.

 

An early shot before changes:

The long arch bridges are now in the far back at top of photo below:

Beautiful bench work and track work.

mike g. posted:

Tom, thank you for explaining it to me, also WOW what a great looking layout! I am kind of glad I don't have that much room, cause I don't have that much money! LOL

You nailed it! I feel exactly the same way!

And I might add I don't have the enormous energy to build such a layout. But it's still nice to see it and dream. And when you dream, you never know.

RSJB18 posted:

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Elliot, The facia is looking good!  I’m looking forward to seeing the Mississippi River bridge!

Dave, the tin plate looks great up on the high line!!

Thanks Mark. It's going to be a while before I get to the actual bridge. I have to figure out how to build a straight bridge on a curve.

And how many times did we say " I'm never gonna need geometry in real life" in school......

Nice progress this week Eliot. The fascia really gives the layout a finished look. I need to put a couple of pieces on the front edge of my table too..a whole 4'

I got a 100 on my geometry regents for what it's worth! LOL

Tom Tee posted:

Elliot, Have you given any consideration to having a Backdrop Warehouse wall paper installed on your above track fascia?  You can get a 18" tall by 6' sample from them for a small fee.  It really makes a plain area come alive.

 

Actually Tom I have looked at Backdrop Warehouse, and saw a couple things that might work for the scenes I'm doing. Most however are more specific, and I'm going to have to go out and take pictures and have them blown up. One of the four aisles will be a winter scenes. Fortunately I model the local area, so it's easy to get what I need.

Elliott, you may wish to check out Larc Products.  Some of the guys are using this company.  EXCEPTIONAL product.  Priced along with BW.  However they will make any scene in any size, plus loooonnnng lengths.  Can be  made to fit any situation.

Elliot    Its sure lookin good eh   Came a long way from when I visited almost a year ago eh

Tom Tee posted:

Mike, when you order wire from them also get several bags of wire clamps.  I wouild suggest a bag of each size of their 6 smallest sizes.  They all take a #10 screw and a 100 count box is available at L & HD.

Plus, number tape.  There will be times when you will be using the same color wire for certain purposes.  It is available 0 to 49 and 50 to 99 plus an alpha series.

This job has 8 control panels with about 70 blocks so I ran out of colors early.

Tom, I want to thank you for all the information. I am saving it in my Track planning file. I have a track plan just not sure about wiring it. when I get to that point I hope you wont mind more questions! all your wiring looks just great! I hope to make mine look like that this time around. Last layout it was just red and black wire for everything and man was that a PIA when trying to trace wires for problems. Also this time around I will do the test as I go along, cause last time I just wired everything and then started to pull my hair out trying to find problems! Thanks again.

I would have responded earlier but Momma had me putting in a yard drain which ment digging down 2 feet to run a pipe to the drainage ditch in the front of our house! NOT FUN!

The Arkansas and Missouri's 2018 calendar is out!  And gi-raffes are involved!   

Mitch 

Nice Brian! I love all the BNSF Stuff!

Not sure how to continue from the bridge construction thread , but, it's ready for paint!

And here's the problem; If I wanna spray it rusty red primer, gotta do it in the mower shop; Brush painting would be tedious. suggestions?

Thanks for the posting tips  & encouragement all.

As far as painting it! Just wait it out till its a little warmer! for your bridge build you can start your own thread if you want to. Just got to post and start there! Its looking good!

"HAPPY NEW YEAR" everyone. We're at the post and we're off. 2018 here we come. This morning was a plus and a little minus. As an after thought I decided to take a a bit of ballast from the track to add some culvert pipes which I made out of straws. Well as my luck goes I was too energetic in prying up the ballast. I wiped out a bit of the plaster I put down last night. So water over the dam. I applied earth color to all the rest of the plaster. I'll go back later and try to make a batch of plaster up small enough for that one section and maybe paint where the water will go. I glued the straws in place and as soon as it dries I have some aged concrete paint to paint the straws. Pics................Paul

Looking good Paul, plaster mishap and all. Are you going to use acrylic water in the drainage ditch or just paint it?

Happy New Year Everyone!

Bob

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Tom Tee posted:

Elliot, Have you given any consideration to having a Backdrop Warehouse wall paper installed on your above track fascia?  You can get a 18" tall by 6' sample from them for a small fee.  It really makes a plain area come alive.

 

Actually Tom I have looked at Backdrop Warehouse, and saw a couple things that might work for the scenes I'm doing. Most however are more specific, and I'm going to have to go out and take pictures and have them blown up. One of the four aisles will be a winter scenes. Fortunately I model the local area, so it's easy to get what I need.

Hey Elliot- I was watching the Arial America series the other day and they did an episode featuring Minnesota. Around the Twin Cities they actually showed many of the areas you are modeling. I was kinda half listening until I heard them mention Pigs Eye and Red Wing. Was neat to put the real places together with your adventure.

Bob

Bob, I am going to paint the bottom of the ditch and then apply some Woodland Scenics Realistic water I have left, just enough to give the illusion of water, probably just one coat..................Paul

R.C. posted:

Not sure how to continue from the bridge construction thread , but, it's ready for paint!

And here's the problem; If I wanna spray it rusty red primer, gotta do it in the mower shop; Brush painting would be tedious. suggestions?

Thanks for the posting tips  & encouragement all.

You may wish to add the angle supports at the top and bottom of each vertical and end.  No need to copy all the lattice work just the basic angle outline.  You can go as nuts as you want.  Even add web plates at all junctures.  Maybe hold off on the paint until you have given it some thought.

Possibly check out an Atlas Pratt truss to get some ideas. 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The Arkansas and Missouri's 2018 calendar is out!  And gi-raffes are involved!   

Mitch 

Giraffes? Magnificent exotic looking animals, but I don't get it. 

Is this a train related inside joke?

paul 2 posted:

"HAPPY NEW YEAR" everyone. We're at the post and we're off. 2018 here we come. This morning was a plus and a little minus. As an after thought I decided to take a a bit of ballast from the track to add some culvert pipes which I made out of straws. Well as my luck goes I was too energetic in prying up the ballast. I wiped out a bit of the plaster I put down last night. So water over the dam. I applied earth color to all the rest of the plaster. I'll go back later and try to make a batch of plaster up small enough for that one section and maybe paint where the water will go. I glued the straws in place and as soon as it dries I have some aged concrete paint to paint the straws. Pics................Paul

Looks good Paul, if we didn't screw up along the way then the layouts would get done, then all you would have to do is run trains! The Build is most of the fun!

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

mike g. posted:

Tom, thank you for explaining it to me, also WOW what a great looking layout! I am kind of glad I don't have that much room, cause I don't have that much money! LOL

You nailed it! I feel exactly the same way!

Nice words thank you but please do not feel envious.  

I started this one because of a new basement coupled with a love of wood working and a ton of leftover module materials.   Even after considerable downsizing this is still too big considering my work schedule, family responsibilities and age.  If I had to do it over it would be at least half this size.  Too much is too much.  It's all wood, hay and stubble on the last day anyway, just fodder for the dumpster.   Symmetry in life has become more important for me these days.

Tom Tee posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

mike g. posted:

Tom, thank you for explaining it to me, also WOW what a great looking layout! I am kind of glad I don't have that much room, cause I don't have that much money! LOL

You nailed it! I feel exactly the same way!

Nice words thank you but please do not feel envious.  

I started this one because of a new basement coupled with a love of wood working and a ton of leftover module materials.   Even after considerable downsizing this is still too big considering my work schedule, family responsibilities and age.  If I had to do it over it would be at least half this size.  Too much is too much.  It's all wood, hay and stubble on the last day anyway, just fodder for the dumpster.   Symmetry in life has become more important for me these days.

Tom, your thoughts are very interesting and there is much truth in what you say.

But, I have a train friend, Peter Fluchere, who is heavily involved in the Catskill tourist train in upstate NY that has the opposite view that many of us can relate to. He told me that trains are all about excess, meaning that our layout is never big enough, our collection is never big enough, and there is a never ending desire to make things bigger and bigger when it comes to trains. 

It's interesting to meditate on your thoughts and those of my friend Peter.

Tom,  I need to find that bumper sticker.  Sometimes layouts need to grow up as children do.  When we start with big plans, we feel an obligation to complete the project.  "All must be earned", in this life anyway.

It's -2f (brrrrrr COLD) in Southeast New Hampshire today.  Enough customers showed up this morning to take PAR1 (PanAm Railways F-7) on its maiden excursion.  I'm not a car body fan but when I saw the real thing up in Maine, I picked one up at my LHS, Brentwood Antiques, to go with my MTH PanAm passenger cars.  PanAm Railways run a single A unit on their excursions.

Nice Buy Matt! I to an not the body fan, but it sure looks nice on your layout!

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The Arkansas and Missouri's 2018 calendar is out!  And gi-raffes are involved!   

Mitch 

Giraffes? Magnificent exotic looking animals, but I don't get it. 

Is this a train related inside joke?

Mitch has a bit of an obsession with Gi-raffe's. A bit of a running joke that we all have fun with. Search his screen name and it will all make sense.

Bob

decoynh posted:

It's -2f (brrrrrr COLD) in Southeast New Hampshire today.  Enough customers showed up this morning to take PAR1 (PanAm Railways F-7) on its maiden excursion.  I'm not a car body fan but when I saw the real thing up in Maine, I picked one up at my LHS, Brentwood Antiques, to go with my MTH PanAm passenger cars.  PanAm Railways run a single A unit on their excursions.

 

Matt, those are beautiful trains and you have a very nice, clean looking layout with traditional O Gauge tubular track and O22 switches. 

Tom and I use the same kind of track and switches, though he has wider radius switches than mine which are almost all 031 curves.

It's interesting to compare Tom's clean approach, and my intentional filthy approach, which includes a lot of real dirt, dust, ballast consisting of dirty asphalt fragments from a local road, and insects and spiders along the right of way that died because they couldn't take all the dirt and dust. 

Tom's trains will require a lot less maintenance and have higher resale value than mine because  of the layouts they run on.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Tom and I use the same kind of track and switches, though he has wider radius switches than mine which are almost all 031 curves.

It's interesting to compare Tom's clean approach, and my intentional filthy approach, which includes a lot of real dirt, dust, ballast consisting of dirty asphalt fragments from a local road, and insects and spiders along the right of way that died because they couldn't take all the dirt and dust. 

Tom's trains will require a lot less maintenance and have higher resale value than mine because  of the layouts they run on.

My switches are 072 except for the mini yard behind the Holy Grail Brewery & Pub.  In the main yard I cut down 3 manual 042 prewar switches. to accommodate modern locomotives.  I wanted to use Atlas track 3 years ago when we moved  & I started a new layout.  In a way, I'm glad that I stayed with tubular,  the bad side is that there are so many more options with modern Ross, Gargraves, switches.  I'm 74 and I still think that my next layout will use modern hi rail trackage. My wife told me that I can use the finished 14X24 half of the basement for the next layout.  If I do that, it will be a modular system.  No more crawl under layouts for me.  I still have a few more dreams for this one , though.

decoynh posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Tom and I use the same kind of track and switches, though he has wider radius switches than mine which are almost all 031 curves.

It's interesting to compare Tom's clean approach, and my intentional filthy approach, which includes a lot of real dirt, dust, ballast consisting of dirty asphalt fragments from a local road, and insects and spiders along the right of way that died because they couldn't take all the dirt and dust. 

Tom's trains will require a lot less maintenance and have higher resale value than mine because  of the layouts they run on.

My switches are 072 except for the mini yard behind the Holy Grail Brewery & Pub.  In the main yard I cut down 3 manual 042 prewar switches. to accommodate modern locomotives.  I wanted to use Atlas track 3 years ago when we moved  & I started a new layout.  In a way, I'm glad that I stayed with tubular,  the bad side is that there are so many more options with modern Ross, Gargraves, switches.  I'm 74 and I still think that my next layout will use modern hi rail trackage. My wife told me that I can use the finished 14X24 half of the basement for the next layout.  If I do that, it will be a modular system.  No more crawl under layouts for me.  I still have a few more dreams for this one , though.

Matt:

You put me to shame! I'm only 66 and at the moment cannot imagine tearing down my layout and starting over with new modern track.

I love your ambition, energy and passion!

Engine shop was open today. Put a new motor in my post-war ATSF Alco. Also fixed a cranky smoke fan in a NYC Plymouth.
Oh- ran trains for a while too

Nice Bob, sure looks like fun!

Thanks Mike. The Alco is 60 years old. Should have a few more years in her.

RSJB18 posted:

Engine shop was open today. Put a new motor in my post-war ATSF Alco. Also fixed a cranky smoke fan in a NYC Plymouth.
Oh- ran trains for a while too

I also love the NY Central switcher. It looks like a modern engine that probably has some very nice modern features. Is the style the same as the Lionel US Army #41, which was a gas turbine diesel?

On my new Atlas Gunderson cars, I put the pins in the containers.  When I first put them in they weren't very snug so I ended up glueing them to the bottoms of the various containers.  The pins were tiny to begin with so this was trying to say the least.  I am not entirely sure Atlas didn't have them there to begin with.  Oh well, all good of 24, I only lost 1.

John

R.C. posted:

And here's the problem; If I wanna spray it rusty red primer, gotta do it in the mower shop; Brush painting would be tedious. suggestions?

 

Does the mower shop have electricity?  If so. warm it up with a couple of oil-filled radiator heaters!  Also, heat up the can of primer in a bowl of hot water (I use one quart plastic soup containers).  

Keep us posted!  

Mitch 

No more crawling under for me, getting too old.  The hinged lift up is finally operational.  Had to wait until all the track was down, wired and tested.

mike g. posted:

Tom Tee posted:

Mike, when you order wire from them also get several bags of wire clamps.  I wouild suggest a bag of each size of their 6 smallest sizes.  They all take a #10 screw and a 100 count box is available at L & HD.

Plus, number tape.  There will be times when you will be using the same color wire for certain purposes.  It is available 0 to 49 and 50 to 99 plus an alpha series.

This job has 8 control panels with about 70 blocks so I ran out of colors early.

Tom, I want to thank you for all the information. I am saving it in my Track planning file. I have a track plan just not sure about wiring it. when I get to that point I hope you wont mind more questions! all your wiring looks just great! I hope to make mine look like that this time around. Last layout it was just red and black wire for everything and man was that a PIA when trying to trace wires for problems. Also this time around I will do the test as I go along, cause last time I just wired everything and then started to pull my hair out trying to find problems! Thanks again.

I would have responded earlier but Momma had me putting in a yard drain which ment digging down 2 feet to run a pipe to the drainage ditch in the front of our house! NOT FUN!

Just think Mike, if you lived here the ground is so frozen you wouldn't have had to dig that ditch!  It's been below zero at night for several nights, and predicted all week until Saturday.   I'm way behind also.   That is a picture of me in a top hat! 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The Arkansas and Missouri's 2018 calendar is out!  And gi-raffes are involved!   

Mitch 

Congratulations, Mitch!!!