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Lionelski posted:
tcochran posted:

Over the past couple of days I have completely torn down my table for my Train Layout. Since our basement is being waterproofed so that will be good in the long term. It is essentially phase one of basement work. I am going to look at getting more modular bench work this time around, that way when I am able to finally finish my basement it will be a heck of a lot easier to break it down and and store it. That way I don't need to spend a long time completely breaking everything down to have any work done.

Good idea Tcochran

Tcochran, in your situation I'd be tempted to build the new layout 100% modular. No need to follow rigid modular standards but rather your own mate-up standard so you can [relatively] quickly disassemble the Pike into it's component pieces and later re-assemble it. Build pieces of deck/framing in manageable sizes, bolt together, lay track, cut track at every deck-joint and you have it. Maybe even attach ready-made folding steel leg-sets to each section of decking. Wiring would need to be separable with strategically placed Molex plugs (or similar).

Deck-sections could be sized/shaped to fit strategic scenery modules which would then be undisturbed during a disassembly.

It would take planning and knowing beforehand exactly what you want the Pike to look like and be but the rewards could be delightful if/when the need arose.

Last edited by geysergazer

My Father and I enjoyed our train day.  Both automatic milk cars worked well.  All cans landed on the platform.  Most, right side up.  He ran five engines, each with a different consist.  He enjoyed using a 1950 model #736 Berkshire to pull a tender, Baby Ruth boxcars, and caboose from 1938.  The only derailment was when the Berkshire was pulling out of the yards.  It did a slow roll over at switch #7 like it needed a belly rub.  He was able to run trains for 2 1/2 hours this time.  I am grateful we can get together for fun.  I noted the operating problems and added them to my to-do list. 

Wishing you all were here,

Bill

Odenville Bill posted:

My Father and I enjoyed our train day.  Both automatic milk cars worked well.  All cans landed on the platform.  Most, right side up.  He ran five engines, each with a different consist.  He enjoyed using a 1950 model #736 Berkshire to pull a tender, Baby Ruth boxcars, and caboose from 1938.  The only derailment was when the Berkshire was pulling out of the yards.  It did a slow roll over at switch #7 like it needed a belly rub.  He was able to run trains for 2 1/2 hours this time.  I am grateful we can get together for fun.  I noted the operating problems and added them to my to-do list. 

Wishing you all were here,

Bill

Bill, please cherish it, your times together.

I miss them all.

The Lionel Union Pacific "Challenger" 21" Dome Lounge #7014 from the 1927060 second Add-on 2-pack is finally finished. Two and a half days later, the car now has Preiser 65602 Seated People that I painted glued in their seats.

Here are some pictures of the car.  The last pictures is a little blurry, like my vision late at night.

The next car will be the Union Pacific "Challenger" Coach from the 2-pack.

Have a good evening.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Ok guys, first off there is a lot of work being done here! I guess I should check in more then everyother day!

Lew, Thank you, that is my plan for the cranes and my scrap yard. Did you get my message about the #182 crane? I like how you hid the winch, but was thinking you could always install an outhouse over the winch for the carne operator to have a place to go! The new sewing string sure looks great!

Paul, thank you, You sure know how to find more room for buildings and switching operations! Looking good!

Dave, wow you really went to town! I cant wait to fallow your new build!

Mark, thank you sir!

Bill, sure sounds like all the hard work paid off! Take the time and take in all the time you get to spend with your Dad! You will want the memories later in life!

John, Your attention to detail is just amazing! When your done you will have a one of a kind of train! Nice work!

Brian, you have more engines then anyone I know! Looks great!

CGEFOREVER, What about mounting the base inside the cab with just the strobe sticking out? Just seen your install, looks great!

LIRR Steamer, looks like you have a great start on your scenery! You sure are right about the white foam and the mess it makes! LOL

Lou1985, Nice job on the wall and the retaining wall! 

TCOCHRAN, Sounds like you have a good plan. We finished our basement in our old house the first summer we bought it and come winter we had 2" of water on the floor. Had to replace all the hardwood floor and 2' of sheetrock up from the floor! Got expensive !

Kevin, glad you got your tank car fixed and thank you for the nice little video!

Well I haven't done anything the last couple of days, but did get up this morning and ordered BNSF color paint so I can finish my fixed pilot project. Then I can try out my new airbrush system I got from my mom!

I hope you all have a great day and find time for your trains and layouts!

Lots of great projects everyone!

Brian, Nice looking Milwaukee Road!!

 

TCochran, Finishing the layout space is of great importance to building a nice layout.  I recall the 4x8 layout I built in my parents' basement in the 1888 house.  Hard concrete floor, dusty!!!!  I had to get a big sheet of plastic to put over the layout after every use.

I spent time yesterday preparing a room in a different way.  I got through all the mementos I brought back from the 1888 house we sold right before Christmas.  I have like items in several cardboard boxes and separated some to give to my brother and sister.  I can see the floor again!!    I also cleared off some bench space and put a few items I won't use for a while in the garage where they belong! 

 

COASTSIDEKEVIN: Wow it's nice to know that the 2355 can pull that number of freight cars...of course on my layout if I tried to run a train that long the lead engine would end up just behind the caboose !  I like Menards cars, especially the tanks.  I have one of their AF tanks ( I am an AF retiree) that I run with my "AF train" pulled by an AF decorated BEEP!

Don

mike g. posted:

Ok guys, first off there is a lot of work being done here! I guess I should check in more then everyother day!

Lew, Thank you, that is my plan for the cranes and my scrap yard. Did you get my message about the #182 crane? I like how you hid the winch, but was thinking you could always install an outhouse over the winch for the carne operator to have a place to go! The new sewing string sure looks great!

 

 

Mike, I just PM-ed you. From your pics it look to me as if one motor field coil wires is missing. Also looks like the wire to ground one motor brush is dis-attached. I wonder if anyone here has experience with the 182? Maybe take some more pics and start a thread to see if someone responds?

Don McErlean posted:

COASTSIDEKEVIN: Wow it's nice to know that the 2355 can pull that number of freight cars...of course on my layout if I tried to run a train that long the lead engine would end up just behind the caboose !  I like Menards cars, especially the tanks.  I have one of their AF tanks ( I am an AF retiree) that I run with my "AF train" pulled by an AF decorated BEEP!

Don

Don - 30 cars is about the limit on the flat, but it wouldn't be able to muscle that load up the 4% grades of my outer loop. The modern gear is really superior in that regard. My little LionChief+ GP38 can get 40+ cars up that hill without breaking a sweat - remarkable. 

Kevin

decoynh posted:
Lou1985 posted:

I built a hill over the last few days out of pink foam to separate the mains from the yard. Also added a retaining wall made with some scrap wood.

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I like the way you placed your turntable & engine house.  Good way to use available real estate. 

Thanks. I made both the turntable and engine house from scratch. It was cheaper and I could make them fit in the space provided that way. 

geysergazer posted:
Tcochran, in your situation I'd be tempted to build the new layout 100% modular. No need to follow rigid modular standards but rather your own mate-up standard so you can [relatively] quickly disassemble the Pike into it's component pieces and later re-assemble it. Build pieces of deck/framing in manageable sizes, bolt together, lay track, cut track at every deck-joint and you have it. Maybe even attach ready-made folding steel leg-sets to each section of decking. Wiring would need to be separable with strategically placed Molex plugs (or similar).

Deck-sections could be sized/shaped to fit strategic scenery modules which would then be undisturbed during a disassembly.

It would take planning and knowing beforehand exactly what you want the Pike to look like and be but the rewards could be delightful if/when the need arose.

That is the plan to do a Modular type layout. That way in a few years when I am actually able to finish my basement I can have that done easily.

Took the day to do household maintenance projects and after dinner I started painting the interior of the "Challenger" 2nd Add-on 2-pack Coach.  In the quiet of the evening my painting picks up pace, and time passes quickly.  I am listening to the soft rhythm of the dishwasher cleaning dinner dishes.  Life is good.

UPDATE: It is later tonight and half of the car interior has received four coats of paint and a 5th touch-up if necessary.  The painted seats add to the depth-of-view and contrast in the interior to set the stage for the actors: the Preiser 65602 Seated People I previously painted.  This car will take three days to finish.

Day 2:  I finished the "Challenger" "Pacific Harbor" Coach interior painting around 1:00 P.M.  I will let it stand for an hour before I begin placing people in the car.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Last edited by John Rowlen

Morning guys, you all sure have been busy lately! Makes me feel like a bum, but the house comes first when the CEO is around LOL!

Mark, sounds like you have been busy getting the new train room ready for the next step. I am glad your getting around a little more. But remember as Lew states, no pictures it didn't really happen! LOL 

Lew, Thank you for helping me out! I think I might do as you suggest and start a new thread.

Ray, WOW I cant wait to see it all together! Its going to look wonderful!

Lee D, Great looking tractors, but they are a little to clean for farm work! LOL

David98, Nice looking Galloping Goose! I also enjoy your fair scene!

Larry ,FarmerJohn sure has a  wonderful looking layout, but in my eyes I still think your is number 1 to me! I am glad you had a good time, as that's what its all about!

John, wow here I am thinking your almost done and out comes another car! You must love the torture of painting small things! LOL

Well I don't think I will get any train stuff done today, but you never know, I might get 10 minutes here and there to sneak out! LOL

I hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend! Also have a good time on your layouts with your trains!

lee drennen posted:
mike g. posted:

Mark, looks a lot better!

Lee, I know what you mean! Its not everyday you get a new tractor or truck and want to keep them clean and looking new!

Mike it’s joust these are hard to find without cashing in your child’s college savings 

That is why I just can't bring myself to weather any of my engines or rolling stock.  They just look too good and don't come cheaply.

Ray, the prototypes look superb!

Mike, thank you for the word of confidence on the cleanup!!  I still have to figure out where to put the lumber pile.   Actually the stuff on the floor can stay.  It's the sheet of plywood, Homasote, and Masonite that needs to move.  I'll have to wait on that a while as I wouldn't even try in the condition I am in now. 

leapinlarry posted:

We had a train day Tuesday and went to Kentucky to see Farmerjohn. While there, I picked up the new Lionel catalog and my StationSounds full length brown and orange  VistaDome  21 inch passenger car. We had a fun time, these are pictures of Farmerjohns beautiful layout, 50 by 70.... Happy Railroading 8808B54F-0898-4882-8A99-8A5781CE6B6CB4D63E9D-17DC-4A60-8C1D-176CFEC12C83339E31B8-4CCC-4086-9E17-3A6C2467BB6B43875691-4637-41B8-94B1-6647746E66A7F6171B86-3D4B-4AD4-8D05-48C88503B8B3449907BC-6B08-408C-9AF1-A4A4758CBF23

Thanks for sharing these pics Larry.

FarmerJohn is a lucky man to have such a layout to enjoy. I hope that he can post periodic update pics

Work continued on the north end of the layout today. I raised up the rest of the grade and leveled it out. Ran power to both sidings and added toggle switches to my control panel. Added a lit bumper to the upper siding. I retrofit the original incandescent bulb with an LED. Once the track work was done I did some ballasting and added ground cover. I also swapped out the snow covered trees for a couple deciduous one's instead. Can't have two trees with snow on them and the rest without. 

I ordered the Ameri-towne Acme Machine Shop from the OGR store. Shipped today so I should have it early next week. Once the building is together I can figure out the rest of the scenery around it.

Bob

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I broke a wire to the signal so I had to fix that too.

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I'm considering doing full pavement over the rest of this siding so I only ballasted the first section of track.

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Last edited by RSJB18

That is a very productive day Bob.

Today I worked on:

LC+  4501 Mikado.  New spring on front truck.

Texas Special 1055 (#3) got a new bulb.  See my post this morning in "WHAT TRAINS DID YOU RUN TODAY?"

Docksider #194.  Unknown missing part.

And custom caboose X14 is now getting a resister, capacitor, full wave rectifier, one LED located over the conductor's desk and two red LED's on the rear.

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Using salvaged spare ham radio parts.  Yes it is overkill.

Bill

 

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WOW everyone has been busy today! I wish I could be one to tell you what I did, but nada! Worked on replacing the floor in the master bath! LOL

But I do have to say you all are doing great things!

Randy, its nice to hear your getting things done! I know what its like not to get to it very often.

Mark, Your new space is coming right along! If I lived closer I would come over and help you out!

Lee, My kids decided not to go to collage so I spent there money on the wife and I ! LOL

Ray, looking good! How long is your raised section going to be and how many do you have to print out?

Johan, wonderful shot! Looks perfect to me!

Bob, you sure did alot today! But the big question is did you run your trains and what are you going to do with the 2 x 4 blocks! LOL Just kidding! Things are really looking good!

Bill, your just like Bob, lots of work getting done! Free parts from a ham radio are better the having t o buy them all over again!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 

Bob, You are making nice progress.  I'll be glad to see how it progresses.

Bill, that is a sharp caboose!

Johan, that is another great view of the wonderful car!

Mike, Thank you!  

I might as well give a heads up on the farther reaching purpose of the cleanup.  The cleanup is in the small room I started a layout in two years ago.  Then my wife suggested I build in the family room since the girls were married and the furniture was junk.  So many of you contributed to a layout design for that room too.  However, as time passed the need for access made the room 'shrink' to some extent.  So last year I started building on the end of the room that was emptied.  I built the two loopback turns one on top of the other with no connection between the two.  The next part of the layout that is to be built will climb up the canyon where a massive wooden shelving unit is.  The shelving unit is to move across the room to where our older daughter's upright piano is.  Well we hit a snag getting the piano moved.  Daughter and son-in-law had moisture problems in the lower level of their house and had to throw out some stuff.  Other stuff was moved upstairs.  So it is dried out, but none of us has the money to put into correcting the problem where the moisture is getting in.  We don't have the manpower either because my son-in-law's dad, newly retired like me, and like me he had his knee replaced 4 days before mine.  So, the home repair at our daughter's is on hold, moving the piano is on hold, so freeing up the rest of the layout space is on hold.  

So, I mentioned it to a few Forum members, Mike, Chris A, DoubleDAZ Dave.  Dave helped me with a simplified layout plan for the old small room, just so I can get some trains running until I can do the bigger project.  Besides, I'm getting tired craning my neck to see trains run on the Ceiling Central RR and blinded looking into the lights in all the passenger cars.    I still can't climb the two step ladder to replace them with freight cars.    Also, I am finding like Jim, I am a Looper.  Switching back and forth on the existing track on the new layout isn't what I want to do for the foreseeable future.

I need to go now.  I will post the proposed plan and a couple more photographs this weekend.  You will have to wait, Lew!  

Lionelski posted:
sidehack posted:

Finished first prototypes of elevated system parts

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Looks great Ray. Are the girders going to be flexible for curves?

Thanks John, I was planning on just doing straight 8" or 12" sections for this area but you might have given me an idea for when I get to the curves, they do make a flexible filament but don't know enough about it.

The Lionel 1927060 "Challenger" 2-pack is completed with the placement of people in the "Pacific Harbor" Coach.  I finished the coach in two days and many hours. 

My next projects include the Santa Fe Dining Car Kitchen Scratch-Build, the Baggage car floor paint and baggage placement, and possibly adding people to my second Pennsylvania Full Dining Car that has been interior painted, but left empty of passengers.  The first PRR Dining Car has been finished with Preiser 65602 People for a while.

Here are some pictures of the Pacific Harbor Coach.

Have a good weekend.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Today, I went by an art supply place and bought a blueprint pencil in white. I figured in real life, the trench engine would have markings on it for routine maintenance. I noticed the drain at the rear of each tank, and I thought, Sarge would certainly make the engineer mark the last time the tanks have been drained...

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mike g. posted:

WOW everyone has been busy today! I wish I could be one to tell you what I did, but nada! Worked on replacing the floor in the master bath! LOL

But I do have to say you all are doing great things!

Randy, its nice to hear your getting things done! I know what its like not to get to it very often.

Mark, Your new space is coming right along! If I lived closer I would come over and help you out!

Lee, My kids decided not to go to collage so I spent there money on the wife and I ! LOL

Ray, looking good! How long is your raised section going to be and how many do you have to print out?

Johan, wonderful shot! Looks perfect to me!

Bob, you sure did alot today! But the big question is did you run your trains and what are you going to do with the 2 x 4 blocks! LOL Just kidding! Things are really looking good!

Bill, your just like Bob, lots of work getting done! Free parts from a ham radio are better the having t o buy them all over again!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

 

Mike. Thank you. 

Johan

Mark Boyce posted:

Bob, You are making nice progress.  I'll be glad to see how it progresses.

Bill, that is a sharp caboose!

Johan, that is another great view of the wonderful car!

Mike, Thank you!  

I might as well give a heads up on the farther reaching purpose of the cleanup.  The cleanup is in the small room I started a layout in two years ago.  Then my wife suggested I build in the family room since the girls were married and the furniture was junk.  So many of you contributed to a layout design for that room too.  However, as time passed the need for access made the room 'shrink' to some extent.  So last year I started building on the end of the room that was emptied.  I built the two loopback turns one on top of the other with no connection between the two.  The next part of the layout that is to be built will climb up the canyon where a massive wooden shelving unit is.  The shelving unit is to move across the room to where our older daughter's upright piano is.  Well we hit a snag getting the piano moved.  Daughter and son-in-law had moisture problems in the lower level of their house and had to throw out some stuff.  Other stuff was moved upstairs.  So it is dried out, but none of us has the money to put into correcting the problem where the moisture is getting in.  We don't have the manpower either because my son-in-law's dad, newly retired like me, and like me he had his knee replaced 4 days before mine.  So, the home repair at our daughter's is on hold, moving the piano is on hold, so freeing up the rest of the layout space is on hold.  

So, I mentioned it to a few Forum members, Mike, Chris A, DoubleDAZ Dave.  Dave helped me with a simplified layout plan for the old small room, just so I can get some trains running until I can do the bigger project.  Besides, I'm getting tired craning my neck to see trains run on the Ceiling Central RR and blinded looking into the lights in all the passenger cars.    I still can't climb the two step ladder to replace them with freight cars.    Also, I am finding like Jim, I am a Looper.  Switching back and forth on the existing track on the new layout isn't what I want to do for the foreseeable future.

I need to go now.  I will post the proposed plan and a couple more photographs this weekend.  You will have to wait, Lew!  

Mark. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

Mark Boyce posted:

Bob, You are making nice progress.  I'll be glad to see how it progresses.


So, I mentioned it to a few Forum members, Mike, Chris A, DoubleDAZ Dave.  Dave helped me with a simplified layout plan for the old small room, just so I can get some trains running until I can do the bigger project.  Besides, I'm getting tired craning my neck to see trains run on the Ceiling Central RR and blinded looking into the lights in all the passenger cars.    I still can't climb the two step ladder to replace them with freight cars.    Also, I am finding like Jim, I am a Looper.  Switching back and forth on the existing track on the new layout isn't what I want to do for the foreseeable future.

I need to go now.  I will post the proposed plan and a couple more photographs this weekend.  You will have to wait, Lew!  

Thanks Mark. Didn't know about the change in plans for Blackwater Canyon. Looking forward to seeing the plans for the back room.

Bob

mike g. posted:

Bob, you sure did alot today! But the big question is did you run your trains and what are you going to do with the 2 x 4 blocks! LOL Just kidding! Things are really looking good!

 

Mike- I am printing more of the block walls to mount in front of the 2X3's. Very low tech on paper, not like Ray's 3D printing.

I did run a couple of trains to check the track work.

Tom, I'm with Lew, that sounds like a nasty method.  We will be glad to see your masterful results!

Lee, You have a good point.  Very nice detail!

Patrick, the strobe looks great!

Bob, Yes, I ran it by I guess three folks to see what they thought of the idea.  As Mike alludes, it all made sense.  Chris A suggested building part of it in modules that I could move onto the bigger layout when the time comes.  That is a great idea I have to do some thinking about.  Here is the plan that DoubleDAZ Dave spruced up for me.  I'll post some more photographs of the room later.

Back to the drawingboard 2020-01-19daz

The SCARM file is in the attachment box.

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Lew, The stern nature of it is why I chose it.

Still installing the lath, kinda nasty, like sheet metal with a fringe of fish hooks.  The nice thing about it is that you can pre-cut it full then lay it on thick foam upside down and beat it with a hammer to yield an irregular landscape surface.

The reason I am using it is that I need a series of 4' long removable scenery lids which covers  long recessed  two rail tracks in a 10" deep trench.   The lids are an embankment with a 4" rise from the top level of 2 rail to the three rail perimeter line.

I bent a flange on each edge and the lids sit on dual strips of "J" molding.  The plan is plaster gauze or spray foam when I get back down to it.  Work slowed due to another foot problem.   Bunch of old people at the podiatrist, most younger then me.

Bob, sounds like  a good plan! If you get a chance can you send me a link to the block wall? I have a lot to do! LOL

Patrick, looks much better!

Mark, I like your new plan from Dave! I am sure you will figure out something so you can move it into the bigger room when the time comes!

Tom, If your like me you keep a lot of band-Aids on hand! LOL I cant wait to see your progress!

So I went out to the train room this morning did a little checking on my crane still not working, but I am not giving up! LOL Here are 2 videos of my 2 cranes. Maybe someone can tell me why the first crane is so loud! The second one is just for your enjoyment of what I am working on!

Have a great weekend everyone!

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Mike, Thank you!  I'll keep everyone posted.

I have one of those cranes that has one movement that doesn't work.  I fiddled with it a little then put it back in the box and in a plastic tote bin in the garage with a bunch of other models, kits, materials, that will await another day.  Now I can't even remember which operation of the crane doesn't work right.   

mike g. posted:

Bob, sounds like  a good plan! If you get a chance can you send me a link to the block wall? I have a lot to do! LOL

So I went out to the train room this morning did a little checking on my crane still not working, but I am not giving up! LOL Here are 2 videos of my 2 cranes. Maybe someone can tell me why the first crane is so loud! The second one is just for your enjoyment of what I am working on!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Email sent Mike.

From what I know (very little), these old cranes are noisy. Classic post-war accessory for sure.

Bob

P51/ Lee :  I am sure you may already know, but if not for your information the "Classic Trains" special publication in 2019, available from Kalmbach Media, called "Trains Go to War" has a super article by R. S. Twogood titled, "Railroads at the Front" which describes and pictures the narrow gauge steam and gasoline powered locos operating on track that was erected (temporarily) parallel to the front lines in WW 1 .  There are some good pictures, depicting engines like yours at work and the fact that the track was laid down in panels (like sectional toy train track), by hand, directly on the ground, with little or no grading or preparation.  Often destroyed by enemy action during the day and repaired at night. 

Pictures clearly show what a great model you have built.  Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Don

mike g. posted:

Bob, sounds like  a good plan! If you get a chance can you send me a link to the block wall? I have a lot to do! LOL

Patrick, looks much better!

Mark, I like your new plan from Dave! I am sure you will figure out something so you can move it into the bigger room when the time comes!

Tom, If your like me you keep a lot of band-Aids on hand! LOL I cant wait to see your progress!

So I went out to the train room this morning did a little checking on my crane still not working, but I am not giving up! LOL Here are 2 videos of my 2 cranes. Maybe someone can tell me why the first crane is so loud! The second one is just for your enjoyment of what I am working on!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mike, your 282 does sound odd. They are loud but yours has a sort of gear-grinding noise as well that mine doesn't have. Ima' go take a video of mine for comparison. 

ON EDIT: I think I see the top buttons (the 182) cause the motor to run while the bottom don't? The cab rotates one way and the winch operates one way? If so, yes, one of the two motor field wires is disconnected.

Last edited by geysergazer

Mike g, I like the automated Lionel Cranes, and at one time had the newer portal gantry crane, however since I didn’t have room on my layout for it to fit in, I sold it. Your videos are really  cool. I do have the CSX Lionel Remote controllable crane and boom sounds cars. Also the Pennsylvania and Santa Fe Sets. We put them on a siding and operate them. I just completed the wiring to the MTH Passenger Stations with disappearing people and packages. Wow, what realism. 26CFD1DE-07CC-479A-88E0-1A0460C4458212731170-44BE-4F11-B198-FE078B7AECF794361798-577D-4E5F-A85B-6F18258C5F7C3CC6D46C-13C5-44B6-8D03-61C36322F929A7D0C687-E768-4E01-A1F1-F2C55D9164F32F1F5B31-AF9C-424F-A431-B5E3772076BB3EBC2C52-7E6E-46B8-9C7C-542555EBF4679CC4560F-A777-484B-B67E-B694153F65C4E170328F-4358-4E18-9EF8-9B1E8BA8CE0E

RSJB18 Bob, nice layout work, it’s looking good, LIONELSKI, I like those Lionel display pieces you’ve made, very colorful. Briansilvermustang, Cool Rock Island pieces, Chris A, It’s time for another update on your Signaling adventures. CGWFOREVER, Nice way to add realism to your beautiful diesels, C&NW, I like those strobe effects, SIDEHACK, I like your layout work, neat bridges, wow. JOHAN, I love your pictures of weathered trackwork  realism and your Locomotives and rolling stock. Amazing. Everyone have a great weekend and hopefully enjoy some train fun time. Today, I’m in the train room, watching OGR Model Railroad Videos. Happy Railroading 

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leapinlarry posted:

Mike g, I like the automated Lionel Cranes, and at one time had the newer portal gantry crane, however since I didn’t have room on my layout for it to fit in, I sold it. Your videos are really  cool. I do have the CSX Lionel Remote controllable crane and boom sounds cars. Also the Pennsylvania and Santa Fe Sets. We put them on a siding and operate them. I just completed the wiring to the MTH Passenger Stations with disappearing people and packages. Wow, what realism. 26CFD1DE-07CC-479A-88E0-1A0460C4458212731170-44BE-4F11-B198-FE078B7AECF794361798-577D-4E5F-A85B-6F18258C5F7C3CC6D46C-13C5-44B6-8D03-61C36322F929A7D0C687-E768-4E01-A1F1-F2C55D9164F32F1F5B31-AF9C-424F-A431-B5E3772076BB3EBC2C52-7E6E-46B8-9C7C-542555EBF4679CC4560F-A777-484B-B67E-B694153F65C4E170328F-4358-4E18-9EF8-9B1E8BA8CE0E

RSJB18 Bob, nice layout work, it’s looking good, LIONELSKI, I like those Lionel display pieces you’ve made, very colorful. Briansilvermustang, Cool Rock Island pieces, Chris A, It’s time for another update on your Signaling adventures. CGWFOREVER, Nice way to add realism to your beautiful diesels, C&NW, I like those strobe effects, SIDEHACK, I like your layout work, neat bridges, wow. JOHAN, I love your pictures of weathered trackwork  realism and your Locomotives and rolling stock. Amazing. Everyone have a great weekend and hopefully enjoy some train fun time. Today, I’m in the train room, watching OGR Model Railroad Videos. Happy Railroading 

Larry. Thank you. Have a great weekend too.

Johan

I finished a second gondola kit for a Colorado Midland car, after just doing a box car.  This gives me a five car Colorado Midland train of one of the Indian logo reefers, a box car,  a hopper, and two gons.  I need a caboose and engine.  I have plans for two different CM side door cabooses, as well as the FEC side doors with two sold to the Great Western, so l need to quit stalling and build four cabeese.  The engine?  Well, one was done in brass in a large (G?) scale, but I'll have to bash that, too. Cringe.

leapinlarry posted:

Geysergazer Lew, that’s a cool video of the Gantry Crane, it’s fun to watch. Being that I like the modern sounds, boom car sounds, Lionel made a Crane Sounds Box, To couple with the Gantry Crane, Volume 1 2019 Catalog, Page 176. Just giving you an eggcellent idea. Happy Railroading i954BAFDE-F4BA-4C6C-ABF0-4CD4573E4396

Hah. These PW Cranes are pretty loud what with thew old three pole universal motor and the solenoid-coil gear-shift. It would probably drown out around box. 

 

Cool layout, Larry. I second that emotion. 

Well after procrastinating for the last few weeks (we rescued a new dog and that has been our focus) I really had to work on the module since we had a show today.  So last night worked until about 2am adding telephone poles, sidewalks, billboard, custom insert for billboard for distracted driving. Window treatment, designed and created flat front building, and painted backdrop.  All in all great show and once again Paul 2 comes away disappointed because one of the vendors loved my dont Text and drive crash scene that he donated a flashing light emergency vehicle for my module. 

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Bryan, So now we know!  It is chain gangs who paint all that artistic graffiti!    Very realistic looking modeling.  I'll wait for Paul's input before I pass judgement on the incident!    Funny, I read the billboard, "Text and Drive" period.  It took a few seconds for it to sinkin that it was saying "Dummies Text and Drive"  LOL  Must be those mid-60s year old brain cells not firing once again!  

Larry, the lit station platforms look great!!

Johan, another great looking car!!

Me?  I just did a bit more redding up, that's all.

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65 notifications today!  We are an active bunch. 

I spent the bulk of today changing my favorite caboose to LEDs.  The junk box from the transmitter building gave up good stuff.  I fired the transformer and the caboose looks good.  I put a 5MM led where the conductor's desk lamp would hang.  What do y'all think.  I will run some mixed freight and watch the caboose light not blink.

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Bill

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Saturday was spent starting to add Preiser 65602 Seated People to my painted Pennsylavania Broadway Limited Dining Car.  I spent over eight hours grinding and touching up paint on the 35 figures I added to the Full Dining Car that has twice the capacity of the normal Lionel Dining Car.

Here are the beginning pictures taken early in the day.  It is late now, so completed pictures will be taken in better light tomorrow.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Last edited by John Rowlen

Lew, Yes on the 182, it only goes in one direction and the winch only works in one direction. My thought is to just rewire the whole thing with the wire diagram I got from Rob on the forum. Thanks for the video, it proves mine is a lot louder. I will have to check into it after I get done with the 182!

Johan, wonderful job on the Linde Natural Gas car!

Larry I really like your Crane  & Boom sound car sets! I have one from MTH Railking , but its not remote controllable. Your passenger stations look great! If you get a chance can you take a little video of them in action?

Bryan, Great job on your module! The crash scene with the cops on location, the lighted billboard for dummies, and of course the chain gain picking litter! Its a good lesson for the young kid playing basketball! LOL

Bill, your old caboose with the new LED's  look great! Nice job!

John, you do such wonderful work that you cant even tell that you grind your folks in half! 

Well the CEO has given me the day off from working on the house. That means train room time today. I will spend my time working on my Lionel 182 crane. I plan to rewire it, clean it up and maybe even repaint some of it. Does anyone know it 24AWG is to small for wiring something like that?

Well I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend! 

I hope you all find time for your trains and layouts!

Last edited by mike g.

Another busy Saturday. I've discovered that I don't have to watch the weather reports anymore.....just look at the volume of work going on here and I know it's raining or snowing......

Bryan- nice work on your module. I do my best work when I'm on a deadline too.

Mike- you can double up the 24 ga. wire if that's what you have. Should work just fine.

Bill- Very nice caboose. Not bad for a buck!

Mark- some cleaning up counts. One step closer to bench work. I'm afraid to google "Pittsburgh Toilet"

John- I don't know how you do it. I'd be blind by now working on those little folks.

So I printed out more block wall images yesterday for the elevated siding. Cut-glue-repeat is the name of the game. One thing I forgot to do was spread the glue on the cardstock (BJ's cereal boxes), with a brush. I just laid it out in a S pattern which caused a little wrinkling. A couple of hours under some weight solved that issue.
I mounted the three flat walls (one inside the tunnel) and put back some of the ground cover. Still more details to do.
Bob
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It's not so much what I did for my layout today, but what I did for someone else's layout. Working on 3 locomotives for a client. The two A units were originally Lionel 2032 Erie Alco's, circa 1952-1954. The B unit is from Lionel's MPF days. The two A units were "artistly" repainted by someone using a brush trying to stay away from the decals. Same with the truck side rails. Guess they wanted to update the color scheme. 

I was able to strip away the brush applied paint job as well as Lionel's original decals, black paint & yellow side strips. These shells have now had time turned back about 67 years and all of lead based paint is gone! 

After stripping a number of older Lionel cars my stripping solutions has enough lead in suspension to probably offer some limited radiation protection. 

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decoynh posted:

Sorry Brian, Izzy is the good looking one in that photo. 

Meet Lucy, she's a 2 yo Boston Terrier, retired mom, who is being trained as a conductor on the SENHRR.  She just came on board on Thursday and learning the ropes quickly.

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I can tell from here Lucy is gonna' be an excellent conductor.

Buffy has similar duties on the PER:

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I gotta' hand it to you: I second that emotion, that Izzy wins the beauty-contest hands down:

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I "borrowed" this pic of Izzy from one of Brian's posts. 

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So maybe today I can get back to my layout. Yesterday at the Parma TCA show the mod squad had set up their modules and as luck would have it I was again next to Bryan. I think everyone that stopped to look at our setup enjoyed it, especially Bryans. Even though I grit my teeth to say this LOL Bryan has done a great job on his module. A lot of thought went into and it is not even totally done yet. In the video he posted of it I was fortunate to have my tank train running through it at the time. Even though he charged me a fee to cross his module LOL All and all it was a great day of comradery and running trains. ............Paul 2

Bob, LOL on the Pittsburgh Toilet.  Yes it falls under the heading of, "Why would you do such a thing?"  Those printed walls look great!

Glad to see everyone's favorite train dogs!  What would we do without them?

Ericaann, Nice work on refurbishing the finish on those old engines!

Johan, Great paint and decal work!!

Paul, Nice work with the Mod Squad!  The tank train was great!  I already complimented Bryan. 

Last edited by Mark Boyce

Here are some pictures of my second Broadway Limited 21" Dining Car with Preiser 65602 Seated People I painted.  The car was previously painted after modifying the original Lionel interior by cutting off an extra set of tables from one of the Floor molds that Lionel put in the car.

I have been running this car as an empty Dining Car when dinner was not being served.  As I prepare for the inevitable, I decided to add Preiser People so all my passenger cars would have passengers that match the other set cars,

While dinner was being served, seven more people joined the thirty-five already in the Dining Car. There are now forty-two (42) Seated People in the car.

I am checking my paint supplies to see if I work on the Santa Fe Baggage Car wood-grained Floor (a Yellow, Sand, Earth Red and Dark Earth wet blend),  or start fabrication of a scratch-built kitchen in the Santa Fe Dining Car.  I purchased the 1927050 Union Pacific "Excursion" 2nd Add-on 2-car pack to fill out my UP Excursion passenger set that should arrive this week. The two UP "Challenger" 2nd Add-on cars were finished this past week.

I need to re-group/organize my painted/finished Preiser 65602 Seated People, and I may need to start painting some more of the remaining 12 unopened packages of 36 people.  My selection has been depleted by the 9-car Santa Fe, two-pack Challenger and Pennsylvania Dining Car.

Have a very good week.

John Rowlen

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John Rowlen, Fantastic work, Beautiful passengers riding a beautiful train, wow...Briansilvermustang, great pictures, it’s nice to see who is doing all the pictures and others should pls e recent pictures for us to see. It’s a great forum. I had friends over to simply run trains for a few minutes. Mike G., when I learn how to do a video, I’ll put some on the forum. My grandson will help me. Thanks for the compliments. DECOYNH, nice looking room and pet. RSJB18 Bob, great scenic effects, looking good, and the weather here in Middle Tennessee is just cold 47 degrees, but it feels cooler. I know that’s not cold compared to other areas of the country. Lew, great pictures, really neat way to do a layout.  Everyone have a fun Sunday. Happy Railroading 46B03236-8ADA-4779-88D8-7022E0989A8F5E0FBF00-D292-4EB2-B964-6A579F81E989545C3ADE-FC4A-4D6B-A8E2-52B5020A752154225BE1-4D9E-4957-AE76-61E08729738A7C688496-78AA-4845-89CF-73D81D0E75A232D867E0-BC74-4C03-95FE-E4BC31AEBBE7B4FBFC98-5245-4AB2-ACA5-8796A88C97D0

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Hi Guys and gals

 

During the week, I managed to get some Woodland Scenics plaster cloth put down on my Styrofoam structure work on the layout. The end result is a rigid ,lightweight base for scenic paint and details. 

To start off, I managed to find a pair of pplastic bowls with lids to hold the water used to wet the cloth. These were at the Harris Teeter market for about 7 bucks for the pair. Having the lid makes it easier to handle the ised water for dispoasal outdoors without spills on the floor. 

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The paper towels are handy for absorbing excess water which puddles on the table. Heres the cloth and a old pair of scissors used to cut the cloth. When cutting the cloth , choose sizes that you can handle and control easily when the cloth is wet. Too large and the pieces get unwieldy and become a mess.

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Here is some of the work to cover the tunnel portal and some vertical walls I have between levels. The Tunnel Portal

IMG_4960IMG_4961IMG_4974IMG_4976  And here is some work on the vertical walls.

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So that's it for now. Plan to get bck to it and do some more during the week. One last point, its always a good idea to clean up when you finish one of these sessions. It can get kind of messy . and don't forget to cover the tracks. 

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Bob, looks really good! Thanks for sharing on how you do it. It will make my life a lot eaiser!

Ericaann, Great start on the engine rehab! If I may ask what is your stripping solution?

Brian, great photos of you and Izzy! Oh and your engines also! LOL

Johan, wonderful job on the new Refeer! Looks great!

Larry Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos of your amazing layout! I cant wait till your grandson comes over to show you how to do videos!

Sam, What a great story of the Hogger life!

Lirr, your plaster cloth work looks great! Messy is lightly putting it! LOL

So yesterday I went out to work on my @#182 crane that just wasn't working right. So here is what I started with!

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As you can tell everything is coated with years and years of grease from probably the day it was built! I soaked it in Dawn soap and with the help of a small cooper brush and some scrubbing I was able to get it all cleaned up.

I then went on to the cleaning and painting the body parts of the crane, then electrical! I found why it was only going in on direction. The loose wire was broken off of the outter field connection. I was so far in where it broke off I couldn't see it till I got the motor out. I reconnected a new wire and tested and works great! This morning I am going to go out and put as much together before I can start construction noise! LOL

After several hours and many cups of coffee and a couple cold ones as the day went on here is what I have now.

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I hope everyone has a great Monday and finds time for there layout and trains!

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Mark Boyce posted:

Bob, LOL on the Pittsburgh Toilet.  Yes it falls under the heading of, "Why would you do such a thing?"  Those printed walls look great!

Glad to see everyone's favorite train dogs!  What would we do without them?

Ericaann, Nice work on refurbishing the finish on those old engines!

Johan, Great paint and decal work!!

Paul, Nice work with the Mod Squad!  The tank train was great!  I already complimented Bryan. 

Mark. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

mike g. posted:

Bob, looks really good! Thanks for sharing on how you do it. It will make my life a lot eaiser!

Ericaann, Great start on the engine rehab! If I may ask what is your stripping solution?

Brian, great photos of you and Izzy! Oh and your engines also! LOL

Johan, wonderful job on the new Refeer! Looks great!

Larry Thank you for sharing such wonderful photos of your amazing layout! I cant wait till your grandson comes over to show you how to do videos!

Sam, What a great story of the Hogger life!

Lirr, your plaster cloth work looks great! Messy is lightly putting it! LOL

So yesterday I went out to work on my @#182 crane that just wasn't working right. So here is what I started with!

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IMG_20200126_072919669_HDRIMG_20200126_073721956_HDR

As you can tell everything is coated with years and years of grease from probably the day it was built! I soaked it in Dawn soap and with the help of a small cooper brush and some scrubbing I was able to get it all cleaned up.

I then went on to the cleaning and painting the body parts of the crane, then electrical! I found why it was only going in on direction. The loose wire was broken off of the outter field connection. I was so far in where it broke off I couldn't see it till I got the motor out. I reconnected a new wire and tested and works great! This morning I am going to go out and put as much together before I can start construction noise! LOL

After several hours and many cups of coffee and a couple cold ones as the day went on here is what I have now.

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I hope everyone has a great Monday and finds time for there layout and trains!

Mike. Thank you. Next coming weathering. 🤝

Johan

Last edited by BAR GP7 #63

Regarding Pittsburgh toilets (a toilet installed in a basement with no walls around it, just sitting proud) there are theories.  One is that in the original setup there was also a shower-head with the appropriate valve-set to supply it and a floor drain. The idea was the men coming home from the mills filthy from head-to-toe would walk into the basement, potty, strip, and shower without getting the house proper dirty. Another theory is that it was/is the very cheapest way to have a second potty in a house. Right there under the floor was/is the sewer line. BTW, the proximity to the sewer line explains the sometimes odd middle-of-the-floor locations of the comfort station. We owned a home in Meyersdale, Pa that illustrated another explanation. You could tell that until some relatively recent remodeling project the Pittsburgh Toilet was the ONLY facility in the house. The house was built around 1900 when the B&O RR was built so may have started with an outhouse. The Pittsburgh Toilet would have been the cheapest way to put in plumbing in an existing structure. For the [later] upstairs bathroom the sewer pipe was modern PVC pipe passing down through a corner of the living room, then covered with panelling angled across the corner.

 

Mike, as the saying goes: you done good! Very nice. Can't wait for a video.

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What'd I do today? A little thing but pesky and niggling. In order to add traverse-movement to the 282 Gantry Crane I had to fit the winch-guts in between some structural bits under the deck. This required moving the car-spot several inches ahead. This in turn caused the Crane to block my view of the scrap pile in the mirror placed for that purpose. So today I moved the mirror and all is good again.

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Finished up the details on the retaining wall today. Made the corner piece, top, and some wood boards (balsa), to cover the top of the cardstock print. Added some ground cover at the base of the walls. I might make a railing to go around the top at the end of the siding.
I "re-paved" the road that was torn up during construction.
I also painted the base board where the machine shop will go. Makes for a clean pallet to work on when building up new scenery.
I added some plaster cloth along the new siding too.

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My helper pitched in with meows of support.

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Ran some trains for a while too

Bob

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Lew, The house we owned that had the Pittsburgh Toilet was built in 1952, if I remember correctly.  Anyway, we bought the house from the daughters of the couple who had built the house.  The father may have worked at Armco (American Rolling Mills) or Pullman Standard in Butler.  Regardless, that case would have fit the first scenario you mentioned.  Our daughter's home (the one that I previously mentioned had the moisture problem in the basement) was built sometime prior to 1920 and is directly across Connoquenessing Creek and Route 8 from both AK Steel formerly Armco and Pullman.  That house had a basement toilet and shower, that someone later built walls around.  You can tell, because it was a plasterboard and paneling job.  That could have been for  millworker or the first plumbing in the house.  We tore out most of that because it was part of the moisture/varmint access problem.

On to the crane.  Nice job with the mirror.  I didn't realize until now that the scrap pile was on the back side of the track.  

Ray, your skills at 3D printing and building are very impressive!

Mark, thank you sir!

Lew, thank you! I like the mirror's new placement!

Bob, wonderful job on the block wall and how you placed the boards along the top! Your ground cover is doing its job at hiding the bottom also! Nice.

So at lunch time I was able to get the base painted. I spent part of the day yesterday filling the power post holes and mounting screw hole with fiberglass and spot putty. I didn't like the look of them on top and since the power is going to be coming from the bottom, I will mount all the power hook up's there! I hope everyone had a great day!IMG_20200127_152138929

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Got a small shipment of detail parts today from Wiseman, and decided to go ahead and use them now...
I added a Pyle generator to the trench engine, between the stack and the forward sand dome.

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I also added a coal shovel on the fireman side and an oiling can on the engineer side.

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As an afterthought, I decided to build a shop table. Eventually, it will be inside and enclosure that will also include coal and ash bins.

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RSJB18 posted:

Finished up the details on the retaining wall today. Made the corner piece, top, and some wood boards (balsa), to cover the top of the cardstock print. Added some ground cover at the base of the walls. I might make a railing to go around the top at the end of the siding.
I "re-paved" the road that was torn up during construction.
I also painted the base board where the machine shop will go. Makes for a clean pallet to work on when building up new scenery.
I added some plaster cloth along the new siding too.

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My helper pitched in with meows of support.

2020-01-27 13.15.43

Ran some trains for a while too

Bob

That corner has really come out well. Nice detail. Coloring on track really helps to minimize the visual impact of the size of the tubular track. I love the coloring on the stone work. Very realistic. 

Today I started painting the interior of the Santa Fe Baggage Car from the Lionel 1927010 21" 4-pack.  The floor is a wet blend of Yellow, Sand, Dark Tan and Earth Red.

I will be adding Woodland Scenics Baggage, Freight, Bicycle Buddies and Baggage Handlers, as well as Depot Personnel.  I may need to purchase some figures in order to complete this last Santa Fe Car.

Note: I used a flat 1/4" paint brush to blend the paint. 

John Rowlen

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Lee, wonderful detail your putting into your layout! I always look forward to see what you add next!

John, The floor looks great! I know its going to turn out perfect as do all your other cars!

Well I have time to get out to the train room this morning as its 3:30 AM and I am wide awake! Thanks to my buddy Tank who is now back to sleep, but that's ok it gives me time to work on my crane before I have to start working on the house!

Everyone have a great Tuesday and have fun with your layout and trains!

Mike, Annie got me up at 3:00 am EST to let her out, then was back at me at 7:00.  I'm sitting at the computer at the basement door while she is out surveying the perimeter.    I hope you make great progress on that crane.

John, the baggage car already looks great with the floor and furnishings!

Lee, You do outstanding detail work.

No PT for me today, just home exercises.  I'll try to get some time in the train room after some chores.

John Rowlen posted:

Today I started painting the interior of the Santa Fe Baggage Car from the Lionel 1927010 21" 4-pack.  The floor is a wet blend of Yellow, Sand, Dark Tan and Earth Red.

I will be adding Woodland Scenics Baggage, Freight, Bicycle Buddies and Baggage Handlers, as well as Depot Personnel.  I may need to purchase some figures in order to complete this last Santa Fe Car.

John Rowlen

What happened to "Sincerely, John Rowlen"?

Another wonderfully detailed passenger car; looking forward to you detailing it.

Last edited by Pingman

Lee- nice details on the new engine.
Vincent- the tow truck came with a flatbed car from Lionel. It's standard O scale. I like flatbed cars with different loads. Adds some variety to the layout.
LIRR Steamer- Thanks. I had considered adding extra ties to the tubular track but after adding the ballast I decided they weren't necessary. Nice work on your tunnel entrance area too!
Mike and Mark- thanks for the comments. Nice work on the crane Mike.
Ray- the building is coming together. Your making we want a 3D printer now.....
John R- another great car
Johan- beautiful scene

For all- the paper printout scenery is really easy to work with. You can make things as simple or complex as you like by adding 3D pieces like I did on the corner. The best part is that if you make a mistake just throw it out and print another sheet out. Just gotta eat more cereal.....

Bob

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Everyone, great work, RSJB18 Bob, looks like you have things cornered, and talk about Files, you’ve got great cabinets, and yes the Cat, looks so good, John Rowlen, your car floor color is great, your such a patient painter, and the furniture will really set the cars personality, Johan, I love the Sante Fe switcher with weathered effect, cool scene, P51 Lee, your the best, that little steamer, the setting, your artful weathering, simply awesome, Mark Boyce, your upbeat comments are always in tune with what’s happening on lots of threads, great morale builder, Mike G., your hard work on painting the crane and innovation with electronics is fantastic, SIDEHACK, 3D printing parts, Amazing, a way to make what you want, technology keeps us happy.  Geysergazer Lew, your innovative way of pictures, model building and scenic photography, like window shots, so neat... Everyone here has a story to tell, it’s Fun watching your thoughts in action. Happy Railroading 7FA09D80-714A-4B1B-8502-E85CC8B36AB94AA6CCEE-A75D-4F28-883A-E2F8C81FA911C90188B6-2486-4928-9205-250787C5CB14A2713FCA-DAE4-48D8-9368-7F8394C5F173B63C820C-4413-4F4B-9262-B5C298BBB3CD

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RSJB18 posted:

Lee- nice details on the new engine.
Vincent- the tow truck came with a flatbed car from Lionel. It's standard O scale. I like flatbed cars with different loads. Adds some variety to the layout.
LIRR Steamer- Thanks. I had considered adding extra ties to the tubular track but after adding the ballast I decided they weren't necessary. Nice work on your tunnel entrance area too!
Mike and Mark- thanks for the comments. Nice work on the crane Mike.
Ray- the building is coming together. Your making we want a 3D printer now.....
John R- another great car
Johan- beautiful scene

For all- the paper printout scenery is really easy to work with. You can make things as simple or complex as you like by adding 3D pieces like I did on the corner. The best part is that if you make a mistake just throw it out and print another sheet out. Just gotta eat more cereal.....

Bob

Bob, I wish the process would be easier but unless you want to print somebody else's parts that were designed by them (which is often the case) then you will also have to be able to do the design yourself on a CAD system.

There is a lot of inexpensive CAD software out there which may be easy to learn depending on your expertise or how difficult the model is you are trying to design. 

So it is really two separate things, design and then take that designed model to the printer to produce it. There is a learning curve but I believe well worth the effort.

I can get into more complicated models as I have many years experience in CAD designing but just learned to 3D print this past year and it is going pretty well.

If you are interested in it I would recommend a basic CAD software for models not too complicated and you can pick up an inexpensive 3D printer (for under $300) that could get you going.

There is also plenty of help myself included if you need it.

RSJB18 posted:

Finished up the details on the retaining wall today. Made the corner piece, top, and some wood boards (balsa), to cover the top of the cardstock print. Added some ground cover at the base of the walls. I might make a railing to go around the top at the end of the siding.
I "re-paved" the road that was torn up during construction.
I also painted the base board where the machine shop will go. Makes for a clean pallet to work on when building up new scenery.
I added some plaster cloth along the new siding too.

2020-01-27 13.15.522020-01-27 13.16.092020-01-27 13.16.172020-01-27 13.16.292020-01-27 16.37.172020-01-27 16.37.222020-01-27 16.37.37

My helper pitched in with meows of support.

2020-01-27 13.15.43

Ran some trains for a while too

Bob

Good work Bob.

Looks like your layout uses O27 gauge track, O42 curves and switches. Warrenville is all O27 gauge too, with O42, O54 and O72 (very hard to find, only made by K-line and then for only about 5 years) curves. I also added over 2,400 wood ties and ballast.

Have fun!

Guys lots of stuff going on out there!.  P51 that trench engine keeps looking better and better.  Might take that white pen you talked about the other day and make some "bullet holes".  The article I read on these things is that they got shot at all the time.  RSJB18 / Bob you mentioned "printout scenery" - is there a web site or a source of that stuff or do you make it yourself?  LEAPINLARRY - your layout looks awesome!  The GG1 has to be "scale" as the Lionel ones (old Lionel) were not nearly so long.  What kind of radius does that need?  Liked the CSX jacket by the way.

Enclosed below is a picture of the always energetic management of the "Long and Skinny" RR.  Works foreman "Max" is holding important discussions with the chief engineer over needed roadbed improvements

Happy Tuesday everyone

Don

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John- yea, all 027 track and curves except for the two switches linking the inner and outer loops. I had to use 042's to make it work. One day I'll rip this down and do a bigger layout with proper radius curves but this keeps me happy for now.

Ray- I've dabbled in CAD at work but I'm far from an expert. Now with Revit, BIM, and other 3D drafting software's on the market, CAD is almost obsolete.

Larry- I've considered making a logo for my RR based on the NYC Water Level Route, called the File Cabinet Route . At least I found a better use for the tops then piling junk on them.

Bob

Last edited by RSJB18
Don McErlean posted:

  RSJB18 / Bob you mentioned "printout scenery" - is there a web site or a source of that stuff or do you make it yourself? 

 

Don- as long as the moderators don't object. I have two sources for images I've been using.

One is textures.com https://www.textures.com/ . Mostly focused on the graphic design market but this is where I found the block wall printout.

The other is a blog run by a fellow over in the UK https://modelrailwaylayoutsplans.com/ . Go to his scenery tab and he has a bunch of stuff for sale and download.

Great work everyone! Thank you Larry for your nice comment!

Well guys I am going to make this short and sweet. I got out to the train room, got the crane all wired and set up, ran power to it and everything works. The only problem is the gears don't sound like they are meshing very well. So when I get a break later today from working on the house I will see if there is something I can do!

If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them! Here is a shot video of it in action!

Everyone have a great day!

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leapinlarry posted:

Everyone, great work, RSJB18 Bob, looks like you have things cornered, and talk about Files, you’ve got great cabinets, and yes the Cat, looks so good, John Rowlen, your car floor color is great, your such a patient painter, and the furniture will really set the cars personality, Johan, I love the Sante Fe switcher with weathered effect, cool scene, P51 Lee, your the best, that little steamer, the setting, your artful weathering, simply awesome, Mark Boyce, your upbeat comments are always in tune with what’s happening on lots of threads, great morale builder, Mike G., your hard work on painting the crane and innovation with electronics is fantastic, SIDEHACK, 3D printing parts, Amazing, a way to make what you want, technology keeps us happy.  Geysergazer Lew, your innovative way of pictures, model building and scenic photography, like window shots, so neat... Everyone here has a story to tell, it’s Fun watching your thoughts in action. Happy Railroading 7FA09D80-714A-4B1B-8502-E85CC8B36AB94AA6CCEE-A75D-4F28-883A-E2F8C81FA911C90188B6-2486-4928-9205-250787C5CB14A2713FCA-DAE4-48D8-9368-7F8394C5F173B63C820C-4413-4F4B-9262-B5C298BBB3CD

Larry. Thank you. That Santa Fe MP15 is a rebuilt K-Line products with fixed pilots Kadee's, cab interior...... Nice CSX jacket. 🤝

Johan

I haven’t had time to work on the layout except for simply testing things out. Everyone seems to be having a fun day and the results are fantastic. Briansilvermustang, great pictures, wow. Don, the cat is sleeping happily in a cozy room, RSJB18 Bob, yes, I like the file cabinets, it shows organization and good housekeeping. The CSX jacket, pictured earlier,  was given to me by a friend thats an engineer for the CSX Railroad out of the Nashville Radnor Yards. I like visiting that department and watching them turn diesels around. SIDEHACK, how do you like your K-Line MP 15? I just bought one in BNSF livery off the For Sale forum. Conventional. I’m going to use it to pull my track cleaning car.  Happy Railroading 3E099F1B-B2EF-4DE0-BF21-3F63BFE45E32582EF04E-CC2B-4877-80B3-CB09C9C47B1AB4441961-9386-4C92-BC51-834AB07E362CEA105261-B005-4E11-AC62-2A044B36B81502BC5325-2CFA-4899-93EE-5C91377918E9

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mike g. posted:

Great work everyone! Thank you Larry for your nice comment!

Well guys I am going to make this short and sweet. I got out to the train room, got the crane all wired and set up, ran power to it and everything works. The only problem is the gears don't sound like they are meshing very well. So when I get a break later today from working on the house I will see if there is something I can do!

If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them! Here is a shot video of it in action!

Everyone have a great day!

The gears definitely need to be greased, not graphited. But before you do that, put a drop of oil on each end of the motor's armature - betcha that will stop the noise … then you can grease the gears 

darlander posted:
mike g. posted:

Hi Dave , I used graphite, but am going to get some grease and pull the gears grease them up and reset them.

Rick, I agree that something isn't engaging, I just have to figure out what a good setting is for the gears.

Good move!  I would recommend a white lithium grease.  Hope you get it resolved.

Cheers,  Dave

Well Dave, it went from bad to worse! LOL Its not the gears making the sound its the Motor! So now I have to find a double wound motor for a Lionel #182 crane! Also the winding keeps breaking!

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The Santa Fe Baggage Car is completed with Woodland Scenics figures I had in my supplies.  I was lucky to find the key figures I needed, repainting two bicycles red and yellow to make them easier to see inside the car.

The next task is designing a kitchen for the Santa Fe Dining Car that already has a detailed Dining Room with Preiser People I painted.

I was having difficulty posting pictures Tuesday night. Normal quick transfers were over eight minutes, 20 minutes, or not finishing.  The pictures are now posted. Thank you.

Have a good evening. … or good day.

John Rowlen

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more planning than doing....at our Tuesday Night Train Group gathering last night a lot of great ideas and product for my module.  One of my friends who is a electronic sound wiz showed me a sound board with different buttons that I will be able to attach to my module.  Each sound is some form of emergency vehicle so I am going to try and mount this to the outside of my module so guests can press the button and play different sounds for the emergency vehicles on my don't text and drive car crash scene.  Also hope everyone is sitting down but Paul actually thought of me when he was at the store and found an old VW van and gave it to last night.  He said I should park it in the skid row part of the module and try to have some smoke coming out of it.  We talked and I think I could try an get an old smoke unit form a shelf queen and try to run some tubing underneath both the car crash and the VW van to give it the appearance of smoke coming out.  Keep everyone posted of the progress of that.  

 

                          BNSF workers were very busy yesterday...

 

       #3505 is getting a lot of farewells,  as it is being readied for the ride out west.

 

             #4449 will pull the BNSF business train, along with #3505 westward,

 

                    where it will begin new switching duties out in Washington...

 

                      snacks were brought in, and crews said farewell to #3505...

         

                   as they watched it roll off into the darkness behind 4449...

          I'm sure yard superintendent Mike is anxiously awaiting  #3505's arrival...

 

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My Latest effort has been to put trains under glass (Lexan) that you walk on top of. So I will have trains running under your feet. Just roughed in for now.

My other effort has been to cut grooves in the hard wood floor and press fit rails into the grooves so my trains can cross a door way.

See the pictures below.

 

Thanks;

idea-thinker

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idea-thinker posted:

My Latest effort has been to put trains under glass (Lexan) that you walk on top of. So I will have trains running under your feet. Just roughed in for now.

My other effort has been to cut grooves in the hard wood floor and press fit rails into the grooves so my trains can cross a door way.

See the pictures below.

 

Thanks;

idea-thinker

I like this idea too. Very cool. Do you have crossing signals at the door so no one steps on a train going by?

Nice job laying the track in the floor too.

I switched out power and rolling stock last night. Put the LIRR power in the shops for service and will run Pennsy for now. A few steamers- B-6, A-5, and a 0-4-0 tank, and a FM H-10-44 and a couple of Plymouths.

The steam engines uncovered a new clearance issue that I had not run across before. The front steps on both locos hit the roof on my team track platform and then the hill going around the back. Made the necessary adjustments. The team track depot was picked up and shifted slightly north, and the hillside was trimmed back to increase clearances.

2020-01-29 13.11.26

Close clearance from this step was corrected.

2020-01-29 13.12.05

Good as new....

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The offending corner on the roof.

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Current roster

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Idea-thinker, Wow, an amazing idea, nice work, keep the pictures coming as this is a really neat idea. RSJB18 Bob, great work, and clearances can become new challenges, all in the line of duty, very nice work,  I hope everyone is having a fun day. I now have competition going on between McDonalds and The Starlight Diner, it’s fierce, and downright ruthless, both places are cutting prices..... Happy Railroading 0B092A23-782F-48F8-8B21-6A719BA8F9B5FD721504-BD75-4225-893C-9BE0DBF69E71E5B52D97-A4A2-4621-97DC-215FA78DD284B7AD6F14-0026-44A7-B236-34638D307436813469FD-5125-4672-A738-0D64FADFA477

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Through the Windows - In the Doors

I stopped to take a few pictures of the last two cars I detailed.  Here are some pictures.

Broadway Limited Dining Car  -  The car has Preiser 65602 Seated People that I painted.

Santa Fe Baggage Car  -  The car has pieces from five different packs by Woodland Scenics.

Have a good evening.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Carl, I appreciate the kind words.

The excellent work that others on the Forum are doing encourages me to keep moving forward.  

Here are a few pictures of the Santa Fe Dining Car scratch build under construction.  I like my refrigerator with the staple handles.  The Grill Hood took forever for the Krazy Glue to start to dry.  There are no O-gauge cooks made by Preiser, so I have reworked and painted other figures.  I had to grind a quarter inch off the cook.  He is now shorter.  He is a "Short order cook".

The opposite counter under the three kitchen windows will have two sinks in it. I hope to use staples to create facets and handles.

Until tomorrow, John Rowlen

Update:  It's tomorrow.  I finished the opposite counter and a small refrigerator for salads and desserts at the entrance to the kitchen.  I need new paint for the stainless steel counters and sinks . . . so this is where I pause until I can finish the kitchen.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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John R- another shot out of the park
Lee- that engine looks like its as old as the period you're modeling, not a brand new model. Great work!
Lee D- good to see you posting again. Nice collection of new cars from Christmas too.
Kevin- great night scene.
Larry- I'll take a bacon cheeseburger special from a diner any day. Hard to beat McD's fries though. Now I'm hungry.......

I've been home sick all week which explains the recent work on the layout. I'm finally feeling better. I hope to do some more today and run some trains. Need to clean the track too.

Bob

Lee, nice job on the resurection of those cars. They look good.

Lee ( P51 ), great detailing on the engine.

Johangood job on the BAR.....another winner.

Mark, I m in the same boat s you. I haven't done anything on the layout since I cleaned it up.

Bob, corner came out great. Nice work

Brian, all i ca say if amazing. some many engines and no repeats.

Today I ran to Menardsand picked up two four foot pieces of PVC pipe to make more silos. While walking through the store I went through the hobby section and came across these. I thought they could make good chimneys. Also my uncoupling tracks came. Well at least three. One was backordered but I have enough to start layoing out track. Pics.......Paul 2

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Mark Boyce posted:

Larry, are the police at the Starlight because of a ruckus or to eat supper?  Excellent lighting and I really like your logo in the last photograph!

Johan, another excellent BAR car!

John, More great looking interiors!

Kevin, The lights are great!

As for me, "We're so sorry Uncle Albert, but we haven't done a bloody thing all day!"

Mark. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

paul 2 posted:

Lee, nice job on the resurection of those cars. They look good.

Lee ( P51 ), great detailing on the engine.

Johangood job on the BAR.....another winner.

Mark, I m in the same boat s you. I haven't done anything on the layout since I cleaned it up.

Bob, corner came out great. Nice work

Brian, all i ca say if amazing. some many engines and no repeats.

Today I ran to Menardsand picked up two four foot pieces of PVC pipe to make more silos. While walking through the store I went through the hobby section and came across these. I thought they could make good chimneys. Also my uncoupling tracks came. Well at least three. One was backordered but I have enough to start layoing out track. Pics.......Paul 2

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Paul. Thank you. 🤝

Johan

John Rowlen posted:

Carl, I appreciate the kind words.

The excellent work that others on the Forum are doing encourages me to keep moving forward.  

Here are a few pictures of the Santa Fe Dining Car scratch build under construction.  I like my refrigerator with the staple handles.  The Grill Hood took forever for the Krazy Glue to start to dry.  There are no O-gauge cooks made by Preiser, so I have reworked and painted other figures.  I had to grind a quarter inch off the cook.  He is now shorter.  He is a "Short order cook".

The opposite counter under the three kitchen windows will have two sinks in it. I hope to use staples to create facets and handles.

Until tomorrow, John Rowlen

The detail work you are doing on the car interiors is really great. I would love to be able to do that on my cars but eyes no good enough these days. Great job. It really enhances the model.

Went up to the layout room this morning. Light is good as its nice and sunny. So I thought I would try some plaster work in the area of my water feature.  I tried a couple of approaches. 

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This section shows the elevation between the lowest level two track main and the main return at a slightly higher level . rather than use the Styrofoam as a support, I thought I would try stuffing the area with some newspaper . The cloth went on ok and formed a nice terrain effect on the slope caused by the crumpled newspaper . It is setting up quite rigid and I guess if you don't drop a hammer on it should be fine when fully dried.

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I had some Styrofoam here for supports and to simulate an abutment for the two track bridge across the water. Stuffed the end with some newspaper and rather than glue the Styrofoam thought I would use the cloth to hold every thing together . Its drying quite nicely Getting  a nice bed effect where the structure meets the water. Hoping to park a Lionel Tugboat over here .

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The center span support sits on an abutment that is on a man made island foundation in the stream . I will likely cover the abutment mid span with a stone like covering.

 

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Heres the center soan support looking the other way The Styrofoam vertical sections sort of has a rough concrete look. 

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I have a lionel lighthouse from some years back I think it will work nicely into this side of the water feature. 

I have to say this scenerary stuff is really neat and creatuve. Almost as much fun as running a train. 

 

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Ran trains this afternoon for a while, had fun. Cleaned some wheels and pickups along the way. I was running my H10-44 for a while and I think the speaker needs to be replaced. Lot's of static as it goes around. It's a early Railking with Protosound. Really nice engine. Still trying to figure out to get the electro-couplers to fire. The new track configuration has freed up space to actually run without shifting equipment first.

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Last edited by RSJB18

I decal-ed the caboose for our circus train. The photos are below.

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The caboose will be at the back of the Bungling Brothers circus train behind these cars that were completed much earlier.

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Not yet photographed is another flat car carrying more circus wagons. The last cars to be completed are as follows: the show horse transport stock car, a flat car carrying tent poles and a flat car carrying the tent canvas. Stay tuned for updates.

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Randy Harrison posted:

I decal-ed the caboose for our circus train. The photos are below.

01302017430130201743a0130201743b

The caboose will be at the back of the Bungling Brothers circus train behind these cars that were completed much earlier.

2016-03-22 22.48.522016-03-22 22.49.070717191119

0810191521

Not yet photographed is another flat car carrying more circus wagons. The last cars to be completed are as follows: the show horse transport stock car, a flat car carrying tent poles and a flat car carrying the tent canvas. Stay tuned for updates.

Randy

I love circus trains maybe someday I’ll get mine going great work 

Randy Harrison posted:

Lee:

Thanks for the reply and kind words. The project has been fun. I am now looking forward to seeing your circus train when it is finished.

Randy I think I’ve got all my wagons I need I plan on building a couple scratch built one Don Mills help me get some ideas put together he sell lots of circus parts. 

Carl,  The kitchen counter is Plastruct white .040 or .060 styrene that I purchased on Ebay.  The grey Plastruct .020 sheets are used on the doors of the refrigerators. I may leave those unpainted, though I did get a few marks on the grey.  I ordered some flat aluminum and stainless steel paint to see which looks best on the counter tops  The grill area will be darkened and plastic tubing will become pots on the stove side of the grill area. 

I will use tubing to make a few fire extinguishers too. They will hang to the left of the grill.  I had planned to use the grey Plastruct for a dishwasher front, and ovens on the lower back counter.  Lots of ideas, but what will actually be seen may eliminate some of that.

Have a good day.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Last edited by John Rowlen

WOW, here I am gone for a couple days and everyone is doing such great work! I would love to list everyone's work, but that could take a while! LOL But there are a few things that should be pointed out.

Lee D, wonderful to see you back working on the trains!

Larry, Nice idea with McD's and starlight dinner next to eachother!

John, What wonderful job you are doing on your cars! They all look great and will make anyone want to ride your trains!

Bob, Nice fix on your clearance problems!

Randy, Your train will bring out the kid in all of us! Great work!

Jon1443, Congrats! The real fun now begins!

Brian, wonderful phots, and I still don't thing you have enough shelf's!

Well I didn't do anything yesterday and may not do anything today as its beck to working on the house! But might get time on Sunday!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

The Santa Fe Dining Car Kitchen scratch build is waiting for paint to arrive.

Meanwhile, the Lionel 1927050 Union Pacific "Excursion" 2nd Add-on 2-Pack arrived from Charles Ro yesterday.  I started the lower level of the Dome Coach, painting seats and desks.  The lower level takes more time to paint than the Dome Seats. 

I saved the Upper Dome for last because it takes less time to paint, and will be the first part to reassemble after installing Preiser 65602 Seated People.

Not much to show, but I wanted to punch the OGR 'Time Clock" and show that I was working today.  No slacking today.  Maybe tomorrow.  Definitely during the Super Bowl.

Update: Finished painting Dome seats.  Now I start selecting Preiser Seated People for the Dome.  Will need to do a lot of grrr-grinding on their backsides.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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Last edited by John Rowlen

My work this week involved a Lionel 224 from 1946.  I acquired it from another collector who described its appearance as "good" but stated he did not know if it ran as he had only used if for display.  When the box arrived I found that (in my opinion) he had under rated the appearance as I found it to be excellent or better but I did not have any chance to try and operate it.  Now that my layout is up and running, i started to see if I could get it running...turns out that the e-unit might be marginal but after checking wires and making sure all was connected, if I moved the directional switch to forward only...she runs like a top!  I pulled the 1946 train of  2440 green pullmans and a 2441 green observation, Set 2100.  I am enclosing pictures and I have some neat video's but I have not been successful in transferring the video to this site from my smart phone (maybe its not too smart). 

224 and tender224 and train

Best regards guys, Don

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Cleaned the track this afternoon.

Open question: I have 5121, 5122 switches, powered on track power. Obviously that means the solenoids buzz when a car is sitting on the anti-derail rails. I was playing with one of the worst offenders this afternoon and its a simple fix- just stop the plunger from from vibrating when energized. However- the simple fix renders the switch useless. What I'm looking for is a way to briefly cut the power to the solenoid to limit the length of time it can buzz. I know that these can be re-wired from aux power but that doesn't eliminate the buzzing.

Thoughts?

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OGR Publishing, Inc., 1310 Eastside Centre Ct, Suite 6, Mountain Home, AR 72653
800-980-OGRR (6477)
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