Mark, the back drops really change the total appearance of your layout. It really looks great!
Steve
Jesse,
I have been following your progress and I must say you are putting a lot of detail into your switching layout. Everything from the ground work to the fencing looks really nice. Though it looks great how it is maybe consider a couple of "rips" in the fence and some rusting. Keep the progress coming.
Dave
Mark,
Great use of the backdrops. Backdrops are one of those "immediate" gratification factors in the hobby. It doesn't matter if it's painted or printed you can see results instantly. It also somehow pulls all of the work we have done on the layout together.
Dave
Scott, Bill, Mike, Steve, Dave, thank you!
Bill, ha ha! Yes you had an earthquake earlier that did damage a structure.
Mike, they won’t get damaged unless I sling some paint on them! LOL
Jesse, the trackside scenery looks great!
Jesse, Great looking work I really like the loading dock along with the fence. But what really brings it to life is the ground cover you are using IMOP! Keep up the wonderful work!
@Jesse ferguson posted:
I worked on some trackside scenery and detail. Happy Easter!
Less is always more'.. Perfect job Jesse'.. And what a lucky guy having your layout in the living room'.. Extra kudos to the Mrs... 😁 And a Happy Easter to you too'..🐰
Well, I was trying to make a video tour of my layout and show off my ICG engines. I ended up with blooper footage. Fortunately we did not need to call Fortescue or the EWES for assistance.
@ScoutingDad posted:Well, I was trying to make a video tour of my layout and show off my ICG engines. I ended up with blooper footage. Fortunately we did not need to call Fortescue or the EWES for assistance.
FUN!! Fun, well done. Thank you. Great layout as well. Wow, do those cars roll well!! Can't be post war I guess. well done
B and O fan . The vines on retaining wall look fantastic. The stem effect is so real . I'm gonna youse you're idea on some of my walls . Again thanks for posting this. I really like it thanks.
Miggy - I had to go back before page 1000 to find your Fortescue reference.
The cars are all modern and mostly MTH Premier with a couple of Atlas tossed in. I realized I do not have a single ICG freight car, thought I had a couple box cars. The MTH cars are pretty good rollers, but it is down hill at that point so gravity helps. I had an MTH Premier Husky Stack, that car would go downhill on most any slope, no incentive needed. Nothing I have rolls as good as that one did.
My post war are in a box. I pull them out for my Christmas round the tree layout along with my RailKing stuff.
@ScoutingDad posted:Miggy - I had to go back before page 1000 to find your Fortescue reference.
The cars are all modern and mostly MTH Premier with a couple of Atlas tossed in. I realized I do not have a single ICG freight car, thought I had a couple box cars. The MTH cars are pretty good rollers, but it is down hill at that point so gravity helps. I had an MTH Premier Husky Stack, that car would go downhill on most any slope, no incentive needed. Nothing I have rolls as good as that one did.
My post war are in a box. I pull them out for my Christmas round the tree layout along with my RailKing stuff.
Jeff, thanks for the little video. It's really nice to see some of your layout and also to see that all of what happened on your layout means I am not the only one that has these problems! 
Jeff, I agree with Mike, I am not the only one with miscues. I like Premier and Atlas cars as well. I also noticed you brought the uncoupled train around the curve to the straight track. I see the same thing that these couplers are usually not in proper alignment to couple on a curve.
Mark and Mike, I think we all have operational challenges from time to time. In this case I just happened to capture the problems during filming. First time I've had a coupler let loose, and that was after several loops around with no issues.
My biggest ongoing issue is with a couple of switches that decide to throw partway causing derailments. Switch lights show good, but not really. 80% of the time they work fine. One in particular is in a difficult location to get to being about 12 inches out of reach. I have a pop up there but that is only for major layout surgery, takes a while to get lighting wires out of the way and buildings off the deck.
I got some footage of the layout, but the lighting is not good enough so the video is grainy. I have to reshoot. A couple of the views are from angles I cannot possibly see which makes the shot more special.
Here is a short clip - I think the motion correction is causing the frame to creep up, the camera is not moving.
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Hope everyone had a Happy Easter.
@Jesse ferguson your switching layout is nice. great work on the details.
Mark B- the backdrops finally found a permanent home. They look great.
@ScoutingDad- Happens to the best of us. Usually we are not brave enough to share with the group .
Reminds me of when I was a kid, I would get my HO layout running perfectly for the whole family to see each Christmas. The moment the spot light was on, something would go haywire without fail. 
Didn't do too much this weekend. I soldered some power drops on the new switches and started fitting the three switches on the layout. I came up about a 1/8" shorter than I wanted to but I will fill the gap with some fiber pins in the ends of the tubular track. I called Nassau Hobby looking for straight sections today. Their inventory says they have 100 pcs but they couldn't locate them when I called. waiting for a CB.
PS- my Father-in-law came home from the hospital last Thursday. He's doing OK so far. Thanks to those who sent well wishes.
Bob
@B&O Fan posted:Nice to see all the great projects going on. Been busy outside but made a little progress this past week.
Built the raised platform for the background building I recently completed. Got the retaing walls weathered and installed. Tried Chris A's weathering mix, like it, 👍Thanks Chris!
Tried a new method of making vines on the walls using Jute twine as my base. Pretty pleased with it and will experiment some more. Still waiting on LEDs to complete the lighting and then a little more details and plant it on the layout.
Have a Good Easter,
Scott
Scott:
That is GREAT modeling!!!! The twine is a very convincing vine base. What did you use for the greenery on the vine?
@Jesse ferguson posted:
WOW! This looks great! Is this a switching layout?
@Berkshirelover726 posted:WOW! This looks great! Is this a switching layout?
Thank you and Yes, it is a switching layout. I’ve always liked the HO timesaver type layouts I would see the old timers playing with at the train shows. So I turned a 4x8 into a 2x16 and started putting something similar together. I had to add a foot to accommodate an auto-rack that sometime is in the mix when I play, so it became 2x17.
@Randy Harrison posted:Scott:
That is GREAT modeling!!!! The twine is a very convincing vine base. What did you use for the greenery on the vine?
Hey Randy,
Thanks for the kind words, the greenery is Woodland Scenics blended turf, (Green blend) T-49.
Stay Safe,
Scott
@Jesse ferguson posted:Thank you and Yes, it is a switching layout. I’ve always liked the HO timesaver type layouts I would see the old timers playing with at the train shows. So I turned a 4x8 into a 2x16 and started putting something similar together. I had to add a foot to accommodate an auto-rack that sometime is in the mix when I play, so it became 2x17.
That's fantastic. Those timesaver layouts are really fun. I'd love to build one or incorporate it into a bigger layout. Thanks for sharing.
Since my daughter gave me 2 Menard's stackable containers last Christmas, I decided to build two well cars. They are so expensive to buy! I cut off the truck area bases from two Lionel 9xxx series gondolas and then added the centers and sides and trim from styrene, modeling two different types of cars I found pictures of. I had to enlarge two tunnel portals that are on curves, "replant" a couple of trees, and lower the switchstands on two manual switches so the cars would track without derailing. Boy, these things are long!
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Now that I got two more ET&WNC hoppers (3D prints form Western Rails) on the way and will have eight very soon, I’m going to go back and re-structure the concept of operations on the layout.
Before it was a simple “swapping cars” deal, but now what I want to do is to start off with different cars, but a coal train comes in and each car goes somewhere (three of them to the Army area, eventually I’ll have a coaling area for them).
The second train will be mixed, but now I’m going to put a lot of thought into which car goes where.
I really doubt anyone running on another guy’s layout cares where a specific car goes, but for those who do, the new concept will make more sense. This means I’ll run my first-ever solo op session and take notes along the way.
Most of all, I’d always wanted some hopper cars and it’s great now that they’ll be as ubiquitous on the layout as they were on the real railroad.
And under the subheading of “Did you buy anything Kewl today and Run it on the layout?”
yes, after getting the long boxcar stuck in Ewe Tunnel on the 4x8, and getting successful run, (yes, more than once around silly) my latest very kewl purchase made the round. Lionel/Postwar/Traditional/Prairie 2025 with whistle tender pulled the Autographed Consist: NYC operating Boxcar, twin 3559 coal cars for my Coal Loader, 6465 Sunoco Twin tank followed by a 🦒 giraffe supervisor for safety.
Was having a pretty crappy day till the ewes lured me in to play with trains (cough, cough, er, Run Trains)
salute to my friends on the forum and The Masked Man.
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Looks good Scott!!
Little more done on the river Kevin 
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I got the yard switches installed and mains wired last night. Tried a couple of engines and most were fine. My Lionel RS-11 stalled in the middle so I will need to investigate further. My LHS didn't have the straight sections of track that their inventory showed, so I had to order them online. I should have them next week. I still have to wire the switch motors and rewire the yard power and uncouplers.
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Bob, you are well on your way! Perseverance pays off.
Thanks Mark- I'm trying to get the layout back together so I can run trains. Between this and the corner tunnel project, I've been just moving stuff out of the way for months.
Bob
That looks great Bob. Congratulations to your track gang.
@RSJB18 posted:Thanks Mark- I'm trying to get the layout back together so I can run trains. Between this and the corner tunnel project, I've been just moving stuff out of the way for months.
Bob
Glad to see things coming along, Bob. I thought I was the only one that needed to clean up the train room after working on my latest project. I'm still deep into it and I keep telling myself i need to clean things out so I can get back to the joy of operating my trains. I'm getting close, but I'm not there yet. It's just so easy to accumulate stuff all over the place when working on a layout re-disign or material scenery project.
My wife is so extremely neat an each time I share a train project photo an video with her I get, why is it such a mess?
My method is, I leave the tools close by because if I put them where they belong, that’s when I need them.
As I viewed Ms. Sarah’s demonstration of her wire tree bark I kept thinking how neat is her kitchen 😊
And what a great demonstration it was...
When I got back into 3-rail, going on 20 years ago, these cars were among the first I picked up, Like so many prewar cars, they had been converted to postwar trucks sometime after WWII.
I decided that I wanted a full prewar freight train, so I started scrounging for prewar box coupler trucks.
Some cursing and a bit of bodging later, the cars are back to original spec!
As a side note, the RTC reconstruction should resume sometime this month. Keep an eye out! ;-)
Mitch
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@Strap Hanger posted:Glad to see things coming along, Bob. I thought I was the only one that needed to clean up the train room after working on my latest project. I'm still deep into it and I keep telling myself i need to clean things out so I can get back to the joy of operating my trains. I'm getting close, but I'm not there yet. It's just so easy to accumulate stuff all over the place when working on a layout re-design or material scenery project.
I have the problem that I don't have room for a workshop, so the 11x11 room serves as a workshop area also. If I put any of the tools back in the garage, then I have to keep traipsing out there to get them. I do have to be careful, or the tools get sucked into the Mrs. B Vortex of stuff upon stuff. It can be quite a dilemma.
@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:When I got back into 3-rail, going on 20 years ago, these cars were among the first I picked up, Like so many prewar cars, they had been converted to postwar trucks sometime after WWII.
I decided that I wanted a full prewar freight train, so I started scrounging for prewar box coupler trucks.
Some cursing and a bit of bodging later, the cars are back to original spec!
As a side note, the RTC reconstruction should resume sometime this month. Keep an eye out! ;-)
Mitch
Mitch, the trains are great, but I see you are sporting the Grand Poobah of the 48 Club hat. Wear it proudly!!!
Nothing on the layout today, but did some more organizing of the boxes to most of my rolling stock. Good thing a lot of the boxes are smaller and easier to condense.
@Mark Boyce posted:I have the problem that I don't have room for a workshop, so the 11x11 room serves as a workshop area also. If I put any of the tools back in the garage, then I have to keep traipsing out there to get them. I do have to be careful, or the tools get sucked into the Mrs. B Vortex of stuff upon stuff. It can be quite a dilemma.
Same here, Mark. My train room isn’t much bigger than yours and it has also served as my workshop. What I wouldn’t give for a large basement! Unfortunately, that’s not an option down here in south Florida.
@Strap Hanger posted:Same here, Mark. My train room isn’t much bigger than yours and it has also served as my workshop. What I wouldn’t give for a large basement! Unfortunately, that’s not an option down here in south Florida.
I knew someone out there had to have a similar issue. We live on a hillside in a small split entry. So in effect, the lower level is a basement. If our older daughter was able to get all her furniture out of here, it would help. She and her husband have had rodent and water problems in their basement that is over a crawl space. Both those problems have been taken care of, but now there is mildew. So they emptied their finished basement to, you guessed where. Yes, our previous house was built the same way. That's what you get when a house is built on a hillside.
I did a little work this evening making some bases out of scrap hardboard for my scenic forms that will be mostly foam. Yes indeed, I am starting some scenery...instead of just placing a few buildings on a tabletop. 
After seeing the MTH 2 story station I went ahead and found one on the bay. It arrived the other day and now I an trying to figure out how I am going to fit it in. I have already cut away part of my elevated structure and will fill in the a curved section which matches the lower yard. Good thing I have Kreig pocket drills so this will not be too much of a hassle.
I also added sections of static grass at a couple of points between tracks. I need to let the base glue dry a bit more before adding another layer. The dead grass clumps made from hemp rope is looking OK. And other than a bit of a smell, the used coffee grounds are looking OK as dirt. Still needs to be glued down. Photos this weekend.
Mark, I finished off my basement well before thinking about getting back into trains. I sectioned off the back area into three rooms - a utility room workshop 13x13, the train room 13x13 and a storage area leading into a large crawl space 10x13.
Had I been thinking about a layout I could have made the utility room much smaller and gained another 3 to 5 feet in width. I have thought about cutting into the walls to make more space, but with the thought of putting the house on the market later this year (hopefully) that just does not make any sense. But I am able to do all my work outside the train room which helps keep everything neat and tidy. Just don't look in the utility room.
@Mark Boyce posted:I knew someone out there had to have a similar issue. We live on a hillside in a small split entry. So in effect, the lower level is a basement. If our older daughter was able to get all her furniture out of here, it would help. She and her husband have had rodent and water problems in their basement that is over a crawl space. Both those problems have been taken care of, but now there is mildew. So they emptied their finished basement to, you guessed where. Yes, our previous house was built the same way. That's what you get when a house is built on a hillside.
I did a little work this evening making some bases out of scrap hardboard for my scenic forms that will be mostly foam. Yes indeed, I am starting some scenery...instead of just placing a few buildings on a tabletop.
We definitely have some things in common. My home also serves as storage central for our adult kids that have moved out. On the bright side, my wife and CEO has authorized the use of our most recently vacated room for a future layout/man cave. I think I’m going to like this empty nester phase of life, Lol!
Congrats on the start of scenery. I have never thought of myself as a creative or artistic person, but I’m amazed out how much fun I’ve had with scenery on the layout. Now, I enjoy building and detailing as much as running the trains. I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it as well.
I took some non train shipping boxes outside for recycling tomorrow.
Morning guys it took me a little time to get up to speed on what everyone was up to! There sure has been a lot going on.
Tcripe, wow those look great! What a great idea and your right about the prices! LOL
Kwisor, Looking outstanding! Next thing you know you will have water running in it!
Bob, the way it should be, Nice and Smooth! Wonderful job!
Mitch, that sure is quite the project to take on! But sure looks good!
Well it was kind of hard with the kids and grandkids visiting but I was able to get my second building flat done. I butchered an MTH service building into a warehouse with a loading dock. I added cargo in the door openings I made and added lighting to both the outside and inside. I then had to add a second power supply as my 12v had reached its limit! LOL Here are a couple photos and a short video to show why I needed the seconds power supply as I know I have more lighting coming on future buildings! LOL
I hope you all have a great weekend and find time to have fun with your layout and trains!
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Your layout looks great Mike. The new flat came out great too. Better make sure the nuke plant is running at capacity! 
So a co-worker and fellow train enthusiast was telling me yesterday that he finally got his last child out of the house. He and his wife cleaned out their basement (filled a 30 yd dumpster), and he gets half and the CEO gets the other. He's going to get all of his childhood Post war equipment running and build a layout. He's a bit of a tinkerer, so he's building a Lionel Test Station from the ground up. He found a company to do the face plate engraving and will be doing the wiring himself. I will ask him for some pix as things develop.
@ScoutingDad - we can never have enough room. I used the Kreig pocket screws for the first time a couple of years ago on a reno project in the house. They are the best fasteners I've ever used for woodworking.
That looks very nice Mike. You even provided an ad for a reverse mortgage loan.
Mike, The lights look great! Is that the nuclear plant that looks like Chernobyl near the end of the video? Tom Sellek does the exact same shtick word for word for AIG in these parts.
That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.
Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.
No layout work but putting up more display shelves. Good news it's done. Bad news no more room. Presently working on my arguments to present to my wife why no more shelf space means no more acquisitions of trains. Logically still haven't come up with a knock out case but I still have time because I haven't really told her that I'm out of space. Not hiding this from her I just haven't seen an opportunity to bring it up.
@ScoutingDad posted:That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.
Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.
LOL
@ScoutingDad posted:That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.
Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.
Lol now that's funny! I even watch him on Blue Bloods just to check on him to make sure he is still doing it right.
I am sure you could find some old coffee cans around your neighborhood, just don't let the neighbors see you going threw there cans! Lol
Wow, Mike, that's quite a layout you have'. You've got a lot of time invested, as well as plenty of equipment'...Exactly what is the building with the colored flashing lights'...
@Quarter Gauger 48 posted:
Thanks Ted, 3-4 years from dirt to where it is now. The building with the colored flashing lights is the Menards Nuclear power plant. LOL
Working on the river 
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@mike g. posted:Morning guys it took me a little time to get up to speed on what everyone was up to! There sure has been a lot going on.
Tcripe, wow those look great! What a great idea and your right about the prices! LOL
Kwisor, Looking outstanding! Next thing you know you will have water running in it!
Bob, the way it should be, Nice and Smooth! Wonderful job!
Mitch, that sure is quite the project to take on! But sure looks good!
Well it was kind of hard with the kids and grandkids visiting but I was able to get my second building flat done. I butchered an MTH service building into a warehouse with a loading dock. I added cargo in the door openings I made and added lighting to both the outside and inside. I then had to add a second power supply as my 12v had reached its limit! LOL Here are a couple photos and a short video to show why I needed the seconds power supply as I know I have more lighting coming on future buildings! LOL
I hope you all have a great weekend and find time to have fun with your layout and trains!
Mike, impressive layout...thanks for posting the video...it gives a perfect overview of the overall large dimensions of the layout and confirms the amount of work you've put into it. Your industrial areas are like the real thing...
@mike g. posted:Thanks Ted, 3-4 years from dirt to where it is now. The building with the colored flashing lights is the Menards Nuclear power plant. LOL
Mike, you've accomplished much in 3 to 4 years...hope you have a safe place to dispose of those spent "rods" from the nuclear plant!
Good morining everyone! Nice to see everyone is doing fine and keeping busy! Well, my knee has been doing a lot better and because of that, I was finally able to get down to the train room and finish this video. I hope you enjoy it, and happy railroading!
@Capetrainman posted:Mike, you've accomplished much in 3 to 4 years...hope you have a safe place to dispose of those spent "rods" from the nuclear plant!
Thanks Paul, I have to give a lot of credit to my wife for her support in building the train room! As for the spent rods, you would not believe how well my wife's garden does with them! LOL
Kwisor, the river scene is really looking great!
Trainmaster04, I’m glad the knee is well enough you got to go down and run a train.
Mike, so now I know what those magic beans were that Jack planted! Don’t let Mrs G climb the beanstalk! 😉
I spent a little time looking at where my river scene will be, adding some foam base for the scene. Not much to show in a photograph yet.
@Mark Boyce posted:Kwisor, the river scene is really looking great!
Trainmaster04, I’m glad the knee is well enough you got to go down and run a train.Mike, so now I know what those magic beans were that Jack planted! Don’t let Mrs G climb the beanstalk! 😉
I spent a little time looking at where my river scene will be, adding some foam base for the scene. Not much to show in a photograph yet.
You and me both! There was a time where I thought I would go stock bananas from not being able to go downstairs and run trains.
Mike I bet that garden glows in the dark.
Finished the engine house platform and added a few working folks.
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WinstonB your Engine an tender, engine house, and the realistic platform is really good altogether.
we appreciate the photos
Brought in the landscaping crew over the weekend to finish off the area behind Morrison Door and the gas station...the presence of the landscapers didn't seem to slow down the rally group that grew since last weekend
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@Trainmaster04 posted:Good morining everyone! Nice to see everyone is doing fine and keeping busy! Well, my knee has been doing a lot better and because of that, I was finally able to get down to the train room and finish this video. I hope you enjoy it, and happy railroading!
This is a great video. Thank you for sharing!
Pulled an old Fruehauf flatbed out of moth balls today...replaced and stained the oak floor boards, joined it up with a '53 Peterbilt (inspired by Lee), and put a full load of 6 x 8 creosote railroad ties on it for delivery to the Charles Street Yard to begin the spring "tie" replacement initiative...!
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@WRW posted:This is a great video. Thank you for sharing!
Your very welcome, and I am glad you enjoyed it!
We enjoyed your descriptive video of your new Southern Pacific engine with the passenger cars Trainmaster04.
Enjoyed the photos and your great work Capetrainman. Lee, he is an inspiration 😊
This evening I ran my C&O E’s ABA and passengers. Began the afternoon measuring an marking for preset drill holes. I intended to drill and screw down the long wide board for the tunnel ceiling but made an error and an soon after smashed a cuticle on my index finger really well. So I decided to quit an let the engine roll while the pain subsided 😌
@Seth Thomas posted:We enjoyed your descriptive video of your new Southern Pacific engine with the passenger cars Trainmaster04.
Enjoyed the photos and your great work Capetrainman. Lee, he is an inspiration 😊
This evening I ran my C&O E’s ABA and passengers. Began the afternoon measuring an marking for preset drill holes. I intended to drill and screw down the long wide board for the tunnel ceiling but made an error and an soon after smashed a cuticle on my index finger really well. So I decided to quit an let the engine roll while the pain subsided 😌
Glad to hear! Something that one of my viewers commented on was that 4449 is not the last Southern Pacific GS locomotive, but another one lives in St. Louis. Any insight as to why not a lot of people know about this?
Looks like another busy weekend. We had rain yesterday so I unfortunately had to postpone my outdoor chores to another day.
I spent a little more time on my new yard. I got the wires run for the motors and put the controllers together. I installed the half curves and cork on the turnouts too. Wiring will continue and I hope to get the straight track by the end of the week. I still have two small dead spots on the main that will need tweaking too.
I will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.
Bob
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WinstonB, Wonderful engine house! Nicely done!
Paul, your landscaping crew is doing an outstanding job! I see someone left the gate open and somehow some of those Ford folks sneaked into the rally. I hope you know once they are in its really hard to get them out! LOL But let me not digress, onto another subject I see you have been working your Charles Street Yard crew really really hard lately. You might want to talk to your yard supervisors about giving the guys a break!
Bob, Things are really looking good! I am sure you will be able to fix all the dead spots. It sure is nice to see things come together!
As for me I cleaned the extra material from the injection process on another building that I am thinking about butchering. But after clean up and looking at it, its to nice to butcher and it wont fit on my layout out so I might sale or trade it for a flat or a building I can turn into a flat!
I hope you all have a great week and find time to have fun on your layout and with your trains!
RSJB18
will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.
Wish when I planned my layout an built six years ago I had experienced OGR. I really like using a control such as yours an possibly Mike’s G!
I implemented what I was comfortable with then an not what is truly usable.
But, my trains move, and my engines do switch ☺️
I’m happy, but a guy can always wish he had a 442 under the hood 😀
Love seeing what everyone is up to and the amazing track work and scenery that many of you folks have on your layouts! I've got more of a temporary setup right now but I hope to someday build a "permanent" layout.
I spent the weekend updating the "infrastructure" of my layout - I upgraded from felt to indoor/outdoor carpet as the covering on my tabletop and cleaned up the wiring, including using more terminal blocks to make things cleaner and soldering/shrink wrapping my connections so they can't pull out (have had issues with this in the past, must not be too good at crimping ).
Not done yet, but pretty happy with the results so far! Below are a few shots of the update:
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@Seth Thomas posted:RSJB18
will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.
Wish when I planned my layout an built six years ago I had experienced OGR. I really like using a control such as yours an possibly Mike’s G!
I implemented what I was comfortable with then an not what is truly usable.
But, my trains move, and my engines do switch ☺️
I’m happy, but a guy can always wish he had a 442 under the hood 😀
That's the most important part Seth
Thanks
Bob, Mike g, Mark and all the rest of you you are doing great stuff. I finally took the Williams 70 tonner out of the box and ran it. Nice little engine. Hope to get back to the layout before summer gets here..................Paul 2
A couple of days ago, I found a photo from someone else’s layout (I forgot which website I found this on and couldn’t find it again when looking just now), and the builder had copied something I did. I did an article for the 2018 On30 Annual on taking an old tender from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 and turning it into a water car. This guy had done everything I did, decking the top of the tender in plastic to look like sheet metal, even copying the same type of reinforcements (which I did from my imagination) and the same type of water hatch (a D&RGW K27 part I found at a hobby shop) I used. He added some pumps and valves, but clearly he used my article as a guide. I thought that was neat as its proof my work has influenced someone!
Mine:
His:
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@p51 posted:A couple of days ago, I found a photo from someone else’s layout (I forgot which website I found this on and couldn’t find it again when looking just now), and the builder had copied something I did. I did an article for the 2018 On30 Annual on taking an old tender from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 and turning it into a water car. This guy had done everything I did, decking the top of the tender in plastic to look like sheet metal, even copying the same type of reinforcements (which I did from my imagination) and the same type of water hatch (a D&RGW K27 part I found at a hobby shop) I used. He added some pumps and valves, but clearly he used my article as a guide. I thought that was neat as its proof my work has influenced someone!
Mine:
His:
Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery Lee!
Mike2089, Looks like you have a wonderful start on your temporary layout! Makes great practice for when your build your permanent layout!
Lee, Outstanding your your water car and that others are learning form your work! But I want you to know that I would think most of us here have learned something for you and your Amazing realistic layout!
As for me nothing today as it was Dr. appt, all day long! FUN!
@paul 2 posted:Bob, Mike g, Mark and all the rest of you you are doing great stuff. I finally took the Williams 70 tonner out of the box and ran it. Nice little engine. Hope to get back to the layout before summer gets here..................Paul 2
Time to turn hope into action sir! 🤪
No photos, but last night I drilled all the holes for grab irons, drilled and tapped the holes for the trucks and couplers on my hopper cars.
Got the switches wired and operating last night. Nothing photo-worthy either.
Bob
23 hours without a new post? That's a first.
That looks good Mike. What did you use?
@mike g. posted:I worked on a scene today for my new fire truck. I had to make some smoke! LOL Enjoy!
looks good Mike. If you want to take it to the next level then get a fan-smoke unit and install it behind the flat! Check out the RC3R videos that Peter @Putnam Division just posted on his thread.
Bob
Thanks guys!
Jay, I just used cotton batting for like doing quilts.
Bob, I will have to check it out but being on a small budget this might be the best it gets! LOL
So today I got my little people skin tone paint. So now I have everything to paint the little people. Paint, new brushes, But no little people! LOL I guess they are still making the trip from China!
It's been a long time in coming but I had my layout builder @Dave Cardiff come to my house for some well needed help. If you are contemplating a layout, talk to Dave. He built my first layout nearly 20 years ago, and we have worked together since. Layout two was built in 2006. Today, was all about curing gremlins that I could never figure out as well as clean up some of my projects.
What I found helpful was to have a list and then to have a video of the problem I was looking to cure. For example why could I run an E8 one way but not another way without it shorting out. If it were just one engine fine but it was all my E8s. Five of them.
Thanks Dave!!!
John
@E-UNIT-79 posted:23 hours without a new post? That's a first.
I know what you mean. My guess is everyone is out cleaning up winter leaves and getting ready to mow grass. I haven't done anything on the layout.
Mike, I like you poor man's smoke unit. That's the one for me!
Lee, the water car is great! It was certainly worth a good article by you in the Gazette!
So I had a great day working on my layout yesterday. I finally got all the track screwed down. I don't know why I hadn't done that sooner. Then I hooked up a 153 signal to a relay for the first time. I actually had everything hooked up above the platform first to make sure I had everything hooked up correctly (I found a wiring diagram here on the forum). Then I drilled my holes and started installing everything. I want to put one more on the other side of the layout but I'm going to try and solder all of my wires on first and then put it under the layout. Solder underneath is never as easy as it seems....
One nice thing about the relays my dad had is that they have 4 contacts so I can put multiple signals on one relay.
Hope everyone has a great Saturday and happy railroading!
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Berkshirelover726: Good deal on getting your 153 hooked up! I was wondering if there an adjustment on your relay? I noticed that the signal is dropping before your locomotive passes it. Your train is running through a red board, I apologize, it's just the railroader in me.
Anyway, I just thought if the relay was adjustable, you could tweak it so it goes red as your lead locomotive gets past the signal. if there isn't an adjustment, that's okay, too, congrats on wiring it up so it works. If it was mine it still wouldn't be working, most likely. I enjoy seeing your layout here on the forum, keep up the great work.
Rusty
@Berkshirelover726 posted:
So I had a great day working on my layout yesterday. I finally got all the track screwed down. I don't know why I hadn't done that sooner. Then I hooked up a 153 signal to a relay for the first time. I actually had everything hooked up above the platform first to make sure I had everything hooked up correctly (I found a wiring diagram here on the forum). Then I drilled my holes and started installing everything. I want to put one more on the other side of the layout but I'm going to try and solder all of my wires on first and then put it under the layout. Solder underneath is never as easy as it seems....
One nice thing about the relays my dad had is that they have 4 contacts so I can put multiple signals on one relay.
Hope everyone has a great Saturday and happy railroading!
Looks great Cody. Those old ice cube relays are so versatile. How are you activating the signal? Insulated rail?
another answer move the signal to the left a little?
redball342
I didn't think about that having the insulted rail start right at the signal. For some reason I always thought that the signal switched as it entered the block but that the signal wasn't right in line with the edge of the block. I could move the signal to the left that would be no problem. I'm going to extend it too so that it doesn't turn red right away too. But I have some other track work to do first before I do that.
And yes, I just used an insulted rail for the activation. Lionel made insulted sections of track for this but I didn't have any except for a few pieces that I noticed were cut underneath to make the rail insulated. Maybe sometime I will post what I did incase someone runs into that problem with Super O.
Well, I finally had some time today to work on the layout and I was able to install my newly built union station. Very pleased with how it came out -
The sad part is that I need to now remove the station. After running trains for about three hours, two of the LED lights under it seem to have gone out. Hopefully it’s just a loose wire. I’m actually not too upset about it. You really are never done working on the layout. Fortunately, I made the station removable with easily detachable wire hookups for just such circumstances.
Next up is a car ramp leading to the Main Street on the left side. On the right, I’m going to place a scale building crane holding the on ramp for that side. I’m going to place lighted barricades and a police car on that end of the street so traffic is stopped while construction proceeds. Fun stuff!
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The Union Station turned out great!! The whole scene is composed very well!!
Not much doing, layoutwise, but my subway whistle is now on display at the Arkansas and Missouri gift shop, with an eye towards possibly installing it on one of the passenger cars... ;-)
Mitch
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Great job Straphanger.
Straphanger the station looks great! I'm sure you will get that loose wire fixed in no time.
Great job! 
@Strap Hanger posted:Well, I finally had some time today to work on the layout and I was able to install my newly built union station. Very pleased with how it came out -
The sad part is that I need to now remove the station. After running trains for about three hours, two of the LED lights under it seem to have gone out. Hopefully it’s just a loose wire. I’m actually not too upset about it. You really are never done working on the layout. Fortunately, I made the station removable with easily detachable wire hookups for just such circumstances.
Next up is a car ramp leading to the Main Street on the left side. On the right, I’m going to place a scale building crane holding the on ramp for that side. I’m going to place lighted barricades and a police car on that end of the street so traffic is stopped while construction proceeds. Fun stuff!
Spectacularly clever design. Bravo!
