What did you do on your layout today?

Hay Scot

Good luck with that nasty quietbrace. I been fooling with 10 pieces of that stuff for a couple weeks. Starting to paint it....much better.

Started my tunnel area and the next day was clean up and organize.  Probably run trains today every time I run the trains I see a better way to do the scenery.

have been replacing the incandescent bulbs in my 148 dwarf signals with LED's.  some of the old fixtures were so badly fused that i had to replace the entire signal.  have four more to do.

yesterday, however, my granddaughter and i were highballing passenger trains...with much whistle blowing.

added a WBB set of F7 AA in B&O, got advice on here to wire the motors in series and it's run even better.

I have been working on a upper loop for my 3 truck shay and lumber area I have the wood all in place and braced now need the homasote and wire in another power drop and the one switch machine and another area ready to scenic.

$oo

Repaired a broken Williams pilot, did more scenery, more ballast and even ran some trains!! Life is good.

Finsihed installing and wiring the voltage/amp meter panel for the 4 180 wwatt bricks.

Started work on the front left corner for the canyon scenery which will incorporate the installation of a 50" Stainless Unlimited underarch bridge for the lower track.

did you build that meter panel?

Yes I did build it.
 

Fixed a couple of errant grade crossings on the club layout yesterday. Spent a few hours under the layout, but the result was worth it. Also gained some insight into how to set up a signal system for a hidden block of track.

I laid some more plaster cloth.  This time it is under the track on my woodland scenics inclines.  I hope to get a bit more done this afternoon so I can replace the track tomorrow since the layout is temporally out of commission until the plaster drys.  

Larry Sr.  My son will be back in a couple of hours after he changes the oil on his car,then we wiil unload all the plywood.Then Ill get to have fun cuting this stuff.Fun fun fun  I cant wait.   

More roadbed cutting and fiddling on the Engine Servicing Terminal.  Just goes on forever it seems ... trying to get the turntable finished, etc.

Cleaned the rollers on the K-Line B6 

Now it doesn't stall.

Actually it was yesterday at this point: I extended the foundation for my "country road" ('Streets) by 12 feet, fitting it onto the layout with a 2 to 2.5 % slope as it comes down from the "mountains" into my valley area.

Replaced 2 batts in a ps1 & ps2 engine, found a short in the front truck of an F3, fixed a brush problem on my 1947 GG1 and ran it (see related post, Does It Get Any Better....) and MU'd two F3 C & O engines: 1 a PS1 and the other a PS2.

Still, I know that in a week or so, I will have to take the boards down, and the fun will be basically over for another year. Dennis hit the nail on the head.

Greg

Alas . . . .sigh . . . . I am stuck here in Florida with temps in the 40s and 50s and near gale force winds the last couple of days.  I could be enjoying this weather back in Michigan in a nice warm basement working on my layout.  I haven't been able to golf for a week due to rain, then cold.  Wahhhhhhhh!

.....

Dennis

It looks like today I will drive the GOLDEN SPIKE on first loop of my new layout.  I got to within 5 ft of closing the first loop yesteday, the last 5 ft should be very simple to do.  Then without fanfare I will be starting loop 2!

Rained all night last night and will turn to snow this afternoon.  Are you sure you want to be back in Michigan?

Last night I hooked up a TPC 300 so I can run my post war / MPC trains.  Tonight after work I plan to permanently  mount my grist mill onto the access hatch and add a final layer of plaster cloth on it.  I also hope to hook up the wires so the wheel will spin.  

Yeaterday I painted a sheet of plywood and added it to the top of layout.Then I painted 2 sheets of the quietbrace and added them to the top of the layout.I also had to run to walmart and pick up 2 cans of miss match paint.And it was onlt $4.00 a gallon

Spent the day with a friend screwing risers into the subroadbed for the Engine Servicing Terminal.  Working on the turntable surrounding benchwork; what a pain to get everything right!

Tore part of the layout down this week.  I'm going from this:

To this:

I had a small downtown left of the old 054 Wye, I'm moving it down to the bottom of the room.  I'm replacing the liftout bridge with an 072 Wye to give me 2-way traffic onto the layout and hopefully more yard.

I've cut down from 8 sidings to 4, but this will give me more room for larger industries.  I only hope the Greenberg show this weekend will have some buildings I need.

Did my latest cycle of removing the postwar stuff from the tracks and replaced them with six inch and 3/16 Marx tinplate. It keeps me from a general boredom from running the same thing again and again in circles. Windups take a turn as well. Prewar sometimes makes an appearance. Getting ready for Spring. Bought some of those PVC molded trestle bents for the G. Look forward to planting them.

I've been building this town up and rearranging things in it. 

Starting to detail mine a bit, figuring the lower section tunnel portals to make and designing a passenger platform for the train station. I removed part of a lionel Rico station, the storage end, and Im going to install a passenger waiting platform.

Got the brass delievered for the light pole creations tube and flat brass sheet.  should be fun.  need some tubing benders

Chris

Very busy day on the railroad today, a bunch of benchwork.

Here are the pics I forgot to post from last week.

CGWforever assembles the helix foundation.



Foundation complete!



On to today...

The first section of the new hidden yard takes shape.



Frame installed, time to connect the pieces with a short bridge.



Heading up the helix! Instead of using 3/4" plywood, I use 2 layers of 3/8" plywood glued together to form a single  continuous roadbed.



Half way around the first turn.



Let's see what I can get done before he comes over next week.

Finally got the swing up section of the layout which has been holding me back for awhile now. I still have to fine tune it a bit. If all goes well tomorrow i will have it wired up.

I added the Polar Express 2-car set to my rolling stock roster.  OK, OK...  so this wasn't strictly work on the layout but this was really huge for me because I have been looking for them so long. 

I didn't get any work done on the layout today but was able to go downstairs with the kids and enjoy running some trains this morning before I went to work.  

I laid down another 12 feet of Atlas track for my 'Streets country road (2 lanes x 6 feet of highway), straightened out a few places where clearance was minimal to have enough, cut a tunnel through a wall 1 wider and higher, and began wiring the 60 feet of track I have installed so far (34 more to go).

Went to the hardware store after the Rotary Club noon meeting to pick up additional wiring supplies. Later, placed terminal blocks under the layout near three of my switches. I have been living under there for the last three weeks, but am getting in the home stretch. Getting better, but getting slower.

EL Bob

Working on the fascia boards still. One more piece to put in. Spackle, sand paint...repeat!

We broke 3 of these pieces before we finally got one in there w/o breaking it. Just trying to make the radius too tight and they snapped. Had to loosen up the curve a little but this one should stay.... we HOPE!

Worked on a repaint of 2 locomotives that I am doing for a friend this morning, and they are way over due.  I hope to get them all assembled tomorrow and back to him ASAP.

I also did more plaster work on the layout.   Almost have the plaster cloth all done, then on to the actual scenery.   I will be heading to Menards tonight to get some yard sticks to make into sidewalks for my city.  

Right now taking a breakfast/lunch brake. It's 11:30am here. I've been painting the back walls to my new layout. I have about half the framing done. It's going to be awhile tell I can get the hot water (no relation to the Hot Water on the Forum) heater changed to a tankless and moved. I can't finish framing tell that's done. The tankless will save lots of space and hang on a wall away from the layout. Don

I got a couple of things done:

1. Worked with a sound system vendor to get steel making sound module created and order the module.
2. Sorted through, organized, and cataloged some electrical components in a storage box.
3. Started researching a smoke unit for a new animation.
4. Later tonight I'm headed over to help a friend work on his layout and get rid of some adult beverages.

George

I worked on my tunnel some more. I am putting up the walls first, using 1x4's for supports. I then glued and stapled black foamboard to that. Once all of the glue set I put adhesive sheets from Micro Mark on the foamboard and then put down ballast with adhesive. When I feel that I am done with the walls I plan on putting a roof over the tunnel. I don't like to be able to see into a hollow mountain. Not very realistic in my opinion. Next I will bulid the mountain over the completed tunnel.

Cobrabob.

I will attatch some photos, but I am sorry about the picture quality. Atleast you will be able to see what I am doing.  

Very much needed train room cleaning was on the agenda this afternoon. If I have time tomorrow, I'd like to run a train or two. 

In the one photo you can see where I had to widen the "Extra Wide Tunnel Portal". I used some small pieces from an extra wall I purchased. The stones appear white above the opening.

Cobrabob.

Hey Jeff....thanks for the kind words. Video isn't quite my thing but if I do run some trains or something, I'll try to take a few photos. Purchased a new camera last night and want to tool around with it a bit. 

Welcome SJC!!! I know how you feel i'm not very good either with pic's and video's either but i try my best. LOL 

Today we finally spent a few minutes to get the outer loop of track operational.

Moved the boards and foam so that the track would be level and then we ran some trains!!  Now we are back to running two trains again.

We put down some additional plaster cloth then cleaned the track before we opened for visitors at 1... They started arriving by 12:30. The Mrs had double chocolate chip muffins and blueberry muffins as today's selection. We had a bunch of little people watching and munching muffins while a few 10-12 yer olds were running trains. Wonderful afternoon. 

I started deconstruction and moved my about 75% of my rolling stock to storage today.  More fun tomorrow.

Hopefully in your new place you can set up a much larger layout!

Working on an extension chute to drop barrels from my Lionel barrel loader into a K-line wireless dump car. Placed staples into end of barrels so electro magnet on crane can lift dumped barrels back onto the barrel loader and repeat cycle. 

Almost complete. Really adds some totally hands off play value in a tight area. 

Would like to see pic of extension on barrel loader when you complete.

Balto, I took a small video before explaining what I needed to do and will make one when done and painted. I plan on posting both on a new thread. As always hit a few glitches so will take a bit longer than I hoped. Should be done in a day or too. 

Thank You

The mess continues....with no end in sight yet.....But it's still fun.

While the wife watched the Grammys or Oscars or whatever dumb award show I have no interest in I went down stairs to work on the layout.  I removed my access hatch and permanently attached my grist mill to it.  I ran some 3 inch bolts though some holes in the MTH building down though the wood on the hatch.  It holds really well now and I am able to open and close the hatch without removing any buildings from it.  

Pictures to be posted tomorrow. 

Going in circles.

I hung up my 1969 Union Pacific Howard Fogg calendar.

I figured out how to get my baby steamers to go through the Atlas #7.5 switches at super slow speed. Now to wait for the relays.

Ron

I think I've decided on the next track plan for my seasonal temporary layout. Two independent circuits and fewer switches than my current plan.

Another four feet (by two lanes) of that Atlas track filled in with "pavement" for my 'Streets country road.  This thing is a pain - having used flextrack (the road does fit the landscape well) the road doesn't have a dependable radius I can count on so I have to custom measure,  cut, trim and install each section.  Takes forever to make it look good.

Relocated some power fuses, added a block section and two remote uncoupler sections acquired from a fellow member of this forum.  Added another section of brick wall to the elevated track running through town and started on a lumber yard.

What I did can be seen here, in the last post! Greg

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/d...nt/13537903718721172

I just drove that golden spike on my first 170ft loop of super o track and started running trains! 

I have not had a layout in 2 years and it about killed me!  So now I have one loop done and am starting the second loop now. 

Come on Bob where are the photos!

I took it down, packed everything up and put it two 4x8 platforms in the shed. and boxed up all freight cars, buildings, scenery and engines and put them in the storage closet.

Finally got around to painting and weathering my tunnel portals. I'm a novice at best when it comes to scenery but a little floquil weathered concrete paint and some chalk made a huge difference over the grey plastic. Floquil paint goes on so nice I'm contemplating hand painting my fastrack rails.

Before.....

After....

Looks nice Rick!

Thanks for the compliments Charlie and Rick. The snow is just the Woodland Scenics snow.

Son, Grandson and I finished the laying of the second loop.  Now need to wire it so we can run trains on inside.  Ran four engines on my 136' loop for the first time. AWESOME!!

2 GE 800 series (Little Joes), GP38 and my Wife's Mohawk.....Need an extra hand or too when you do that..........

did some adding into the bridge side with foam.  need to paint it.  got the road in the tunnel painted this is the 1/4" foam board.  trying a shot at the waterfall in the last photo. this white caulk turns clear, I did strips on plastic wrap we'll see! 

Drove screws for 6 hours finishing the risers on the new engine terminal facility area.

AT LAST!!!

Now on to the Homaboard!

This is what I did on the layout today.

Rick

I ran my Lionel Vision Line UP CHALLENGER!  MAN, what an Engine. The sounds coming out of those THREE Speakers is GREAT!!!

FREDSTRAINS

Still working in a mess, but did get some painting and more home runs wired in. Still having fun.

I rewired an 027 automatic switch from track to ACC power using Walt Rapp's instruction. It went without a problem. Not having an electric saw device, I used a hacksaw blade and a carpet knife. Hands were a bit sore after- that's all.

best i could do.  it crushes the picture.  see it in the photo album, it works there

Bob the layout it looking really good!!

Dare I ask why?

Chris D

You are right but every time I do a field day clean up I can't find anything so the heck with it. I have just about got used to it.

Larry Sr.

Lots of progress today. Almost a full turn of decking completed. This is where it gets interesting with two switches that will form a wye allowing trains to go up or down.



First floor, Union Pacific to Omaha, Des Moines and Milwaukee.



I'm going to have to cut away part of the joist to get the track through.

Thanks for the inspiration guys! Today, I finally got to a couple of projects on my winter list. First, I disassembled, cleaned & returned a broken 151 semaphore to operational status. I managed to find the missing lamp housing in a lot of junk parts on the 'Bay & now she's ready to go on the old TA & TL Lines. 

I work at a music venue & due to the shows we've booked, I've worked 13 out of the last 14 days. Taking advantage of my 1st day off in a long while, I felt inspired to keep the momentum going. I'm pretty passionate about Postwar Lionel Aluminum Passenger Cars, & I dug out a solid 2561 body I snagged a couple of weeks back. Pulling from the parts drawer (or in my case the parts tupperware under our bed,) I went from clean shell to fully assembled circa '59 "Super Chief" beauty in about an hour. I have the '52 Super Speedliner & '57 CP set complete & on display & I'm pretty close to completing the '62 - '66 Presidential series. Tonight, I'm one step closer to a complete Santa Fe red striped set. 

Its back to work tomorrow, but we'll see what the weekend holds - and by weekend, I mean Sunday & Tuesday.

I made some Triple Crown sample decals with my sign making software & cutter to test fit for 10 trailers I need to paint white and decal. The crowns will be red on proto trailers eh

Hello everyone.Well Yesterday I ran to wallmart to pick up some vasoline,mineral spirits,1" paint brushes,wax paper,disposable cups,rubber gloves,fiberglass window screening,masking tape, a new glue gun,glue sticks,some X-acto knifes,acrylic paints,And miss crafting items.

 Then I orderd some Items from   www.bragonet.com  some latex rock molds. Black shadow.  powdered black tempera paint,acrylic gesso.  And it was shiped the same day. So I'd say I'll have it by saturday.

Crawled around under the layout all day putting in the "third screw" in the risers so the roadbed won't sink when we crawl on it to paint and lay the track in the engine terminal.  My back arms and shoulders are reminding me a day of drilling and screwing isn't for the oldsters!  Where is that grandkid when you need one!

Finished wiring three of twelve switches to complete the electrical portion of my layout. Only nine more to go. After almost a month of crawling around under the layout, I should be done in a couple of days. But, I may have to order some more wire to finish the wiring. I have been running some of my locomotives around the outer loop in the meantime to give me a break.

I moved some trains around in preparation for picking up my new MTH Imperial PS3 B&O 0-6-0 switcher tomorrow. I also tested my MTH Railking Imperial K4, back from repair. 

mixed up paints and started painting my Pond and picked up mod podge to do it all up

. . . alas . . . sigh . . . I am still in Florida and am yearning for my layout now.  Would that I could just have Scotty beam me up, back and forth.

.....

Dennis

mixng paint is crazy, a dark green with white then some yellow and tan.  then hit some grey in there.

Back around September, I started working on a smoke fluid storage and tank car loading facility...

Well I've finally been painting it all.  Here are the two upper level tanks after paint and decals were applied...

I have been out of town the last few days so nothing done on the layout.  Got home last night and ran trains for the kids for a few minutes before bed.

This morning I got up early and hooked up my legacy system that got back from Lionel's Warranty Repair last week.  They replaced my CAB 2 and fixed the charging system on my legacy base.  

I also ran my new Atlas O 0-6-0 that I purchased off the forum last week.  It was the 2st time out of the box and it is a very nice and detailed locomotive.  It needs a bit of weight in the tender as it is very light weight, but otherwise it ran well and smoked well.  Sounds aren't up to par as my legacy locomotives but it is the perfect size for my running.  It will be repainted to represent my Michigan and Great  Lakes RR soon.  

This weekend I will have 2 project locomotives finished repainted for a friend and hope to ge them back to him on Monday.

Built the shelf (rack) holding the (4) ZW's with built in resetable circuit breakers and TVS (transient voltage suppressors) as recommended here on the forum...  

Also wired the 5 taps I am going to use with 12 Gauge Stranded wire got everything in phase....  

Was working on the helix last night, and managed to get a nasty scrape on my leg when I climbed out. Took a while to get the bleeding to stop. New rule: crawl under from now on. As much as I hate it, it's safer. I've now given blood and broken bones to this layout. Never give up never surrender!

Heading back down in a little while. Lots to do before Tuesday when Patrick comes over. 

I put a huge slice into the top of a knuckle on my index finger a few weeks ago with a big razor knife while cutting some foam.  I should have gone for stitches but didn't.  I will have a nasty scar there to show that I gave blood while working on the railroad.  I agree though never Surrender!

Ordered a bunch of new track. Now to figure out the best (quietest) roadbed material to put underneath it.

I have cork under mine, however, I have Lionel 027 tube track. It works really well. I'm not sure of the best way to quiet Lionel FasTrack if that is what you bought.

Making rock molds. Boy do they dry fast here. Don

 After My nine day train ride seeing a lot of wooden trestles I started on mine again.I hope to have all the uprights in today. the cross members tomorrow.

Ran trains, ordered diodes and thermistors for new Williams locos.  Also pre-ordered the CN FT set.  And a little wiring under the layout.

I just got done replacing a Legacy RS board in my ten wheeler that Lionel had shipped to me last week.  Sounds great now! I do wish I would have though ahead and ordered the NYC sound version instead since I like the whistle in that one much better.  

I put ground cover on my tunnel ,going for the mid fall look .

Sorting throught the accumulated mess, threw some old shipping boxes away, found a few stashed items and oiled & ran my new Lionel UP FEF-3 that I bought through the forum this week. What a great looking engine, had the Grey version a few years back, but much prefer this black one.

Dusted it .I worked on it 3 days this week. Looks real nice now. The wife helped also.

Spent five and a half hours plugging away on the helix this afternoon. I'm just not as fast as I used to be.

Here's what I did yesterday...









Today I added 6 more sections to the helix. It takes 16 sections to make a full circle.

Cut and fitted some plywood for my elevated loop, sanding and paint tomorrow

Building Two 40' harriman RPO's from Southern Car and Foundary

I might start putting down some of the 200 lb of ballest.

...keep the rails polished...

SJC

That looks like a lot more fun than WORK!

Larry, some fun involved, but mostly work (on the 2 foot gauge train in the last picture). 

I finally finished my plaster Roundhouse.

I installed the facade around my control shelf.

Next comes the first coat of paint on it, and then second coat on whole facade. Will finish it with a coat of clear varnish or something like that.

Added some trees , want to add a lot more but this is a good start .

I am building a control stand that rolls under my layout, so today I worked on a tether that runs power between the layout and control stand.

Inventoried current track with thoughts towards new layout...  just need a few odd and pieces and some switches.

Then start the benchwork...

Had a little brat grab the throttle, go to full and watched my daughter's pink GG1 so sailing to the concrete floor!

Oh, and the MRC Throttlepack AC is shot, too!  Plug it in and its already at half power!

- Mario

Finished painting and cleaning up the mess. Started to put down track (temporary) to see how it's all going to line up. Feels good to see some movement!Terry

I of course ran the trains for the kids.  I also re-located my station so it is no longer on an incline   This will allow me to use the spot where the station was to install a switch for the off layout staging yard.  

I ran some trains of corse. I also printed off a 3-page spreadsheet of my wiring panel and updated it with what is unerneath the layout. A few differences and tweaks to make things clearer. The main thing is all is consistent and it works. Then applied the updates and printed a fresh one with a new empty block for my next wiring task. I am adding capacitord to eliminate buzzing on 027 switches running from fixed voltage ACC power.

Cheers.

I've been busy the past couple of days. I built another 4' x 6.5' table and painted it today.I also aplied the quiet brace and painted it also.So tomorrow I'll lay some more track and see what else needs to be done with the bench work.I am getting closer to being done with most of the bench work.Lets just pray that my leg keeps up with me.

Set up dual Superstreet loops and secured some dept 56 streetlamps.

Laid two sidings and put in two gargraves uncoupling tracks.

Finished insulating the knee walls in the train room. The track will run on a "step" on the top of the knee wall. FWIW, it's very comfortable in the attic and I'm not even running my little oil filled electric heater.

Next step will be a second coat of flat black on the inside of the base sections You can see a glimpse of the inside in the lower left corner of this picture. I'm still on the fence about going over the bench work with a coat of one-step polyurethane/stain. I'm itching to get the tops on, but have been holding off until I'm absolutely ready.

Gilly

This thread has prompted me to get off of my duff and actually get some work done.

I installed 5 caboose industries 208S manual throws on a switching area close to the tables edge. I also wired all but 3 of the switching area tracks as want to build the 2 industries first so can see by the footprint exactly where the track should be.

I installed an upper loop of track that originally was a branch line off of the mainline until I rerouted the passenger spur track so this works better as the shay can just crawl along as it pleases seeing only engine on that loop of track to watch over.

since being retired have found once I get the must do's out of the way can merrily work as long as I care to or my feet or back gives out ha ha.

 will try to post photos of the areas later on.

$oo

Did more work on my plug-able tethers between my rolling control stand and the layout.

I finished Zona sawing "stone" foam retaining wall material in half down the middle, to

reduce its width from 3/8" to half that or less, to make the veneer to cover all windows and doors on two walls of the MTH "grainery".  (only nicked my thumb once in this tedious job)  Then Liquid Nail'd the veneer panels  to the building and filled edges and cracks with Squadron putty.   That was today..... Next is to over spray all with a darker gray than the light gray primer the "stone" material comes in, before using acrylics to color each stone (this usually goes faster than it sounds).

Also need to plan and add a leanto room, to change the appearance of this building,

before designing and building a flume and water wheel to attach to one..which? of the veneered walls.  High wheel, low wheel, undershot, overshot, maybe even a turbine mill?....as yet undetermined.

Reading the new posts on this discussion has become a mandatory thing for me to do every day. Very interesting posts. I look forward to all of them.

I stopped into P&D and bought some kadees to convert some cars. I plan to do 3 cars total.   1, with kadees on both ends, and to cars with normal couplers on one and kadees on the other.  This will be a test car to see how it works on the entire layout before I commit to converting everything.  

Once again the track is as far as it can go. Next step is to install the switch linkages, then extend the deck. Once it gets above the the switch on the right side, double track will begin, and continue to the top.

Guess I bought the wrong screws.  I will have to head back tomorrow and get something different.  

Crawled around under the benchwork for 3 hours making templates for the final piece of foundation for the engine terminal.

And man am I dealing with sore muscles and joints from that exercise!!!

Getting older is a bit_ch!

Installed the screen door closures to hold up my lift bridge.

Finished wooden trestle yesterday, now making mountains. 

Put kadees on 2 more cars.  I have decided to go all Kadees.   I will start converting my locomotives this weekend.  I will keep my passenger trains and my Legacy Ten Wheeler stock right now.  

I will be heading back to P&D tomorrow to buy some more couplers. I will aslo have to find the best way to uncouple them as I do switching.

Finished installing TMCC (have had DCS for several years) so that I can run the TMCC crane/boom car.  These worked fine with the Cab 1 so I decided to delve a little deeper into the world of TMCC. I hooked up my TAS Studios Smoke Fluid Loader which has been sitting NIB for way too long!  I cringed when I saw the invoice date -- 2007!  Fortunately, the loader works great and my locomotive service area now boasts smoke fluid loading capabilities. (not prototypical, but it sure is cool!)  

Broke one of the hinges that are use on my lift bridge. I guess two heavy duty screen door closures were too much for it. I replaced the broken hinge and also replace the other one just in case it was getting weak. I also removed the two door closures and will only use one to keep the lift bridge up.

Added a Bump & Go Trolley to help Santa make it across the valley from his house to his Toy Shop.

Then in the evening I went to my local Train Shop’s Rail Club; Roundhouse South (75 miles up the road). Picked up a Miller Engineering AC Converter so I can hook up signs to a transformer, also bought an Atlas O54 loop.

Probably should have gotten the track when I started building my display back in January. Now in order to incorporate it into the rail system I have to scrap everything and start over from scratch. The plan is to upgrade from a 4’ X 7’ display with five loops to 5’ X 8’ with 7 loops, a Trolley line and two water fountains atop twinMountainPeaks.

I looked at my results to date and closed the door behind me, making a note to myself  to see the bright side of experimentation. I must be bipolar. Some days it looks terrific and other days it seems so crude as to defy its previous appearance as a shining example of my skill, which today looks developmentally challenged. Neolithic art?   Hmmm.  Oh well...there's always tomorrow.. BTW...How do you remove crazy glue from the fingers? 

Finished installing the "ramp" which leads to the engine terminal.  Friday we're scheduled to fit all the Homaboard pieces in preperation for the glue-down party.

Then it's on to painting (what color for "dirt"?) and then (GASP!) laying the track and turnouts.

I didn't do much over the last few days except converted a few more cars to kadees.  I am also looking at how I plan to do all my locomotives.

This weekend I plan to wire up the last 2 switches, and re-do my siding that I have my grain elevator on.  Right now it sits at the end of the siding, and it would be pretty hard to load up all 3 cars that fit on the siding with it at the end.  I have to remove the base to be able to move it forward a bit.  

Installed a screen door closure centered underneath my lift bridge. Hopefully this will not put so much strain on the hinges of the lift bridge.

would like to see a thread on what work you done on your train today

Still modifying an MTH "grainery".  After getting the "stone" veneer on two sides, to

blank out those door and windows, I oversprayed with dark gray, to get a different

stone color, and then went over that with an acrylic white wash, expecting it to pool

between the stones as mortar...instead it pooled on the stones, creating an unusual

speckled stone effect which I like. And so I promptly oversprayed all with flat clear

to seal.  Next to put in the windows and doors after deciding on their color.  Then to

design and built a leanto or other connected annex, and last, still to decide, whether

to make it a wheel or turbine mill.  (a turbine mill with a covered stone race running

under the building would be much easier although my fabricated mill wheels have

gotten better with practice)

Last night I got the rope lights under the perimeter installed. One of the last items to take care of before putting the tops on.

I actually took an entire day off from going downstairs yesterday, but spent a lot of time thinking and planning. Laidoffsick's video has caused me to rethink how I want to power my turnouts. I may abandon my old screw drive machines and just go with Tortoises.

Patrick will be here in a few minutes, and sawdust will be flying. The plan is to build another third of a turn or more on the helix, and throw down 40' of roadbed. That will connect the existing part of the layout to the new helix.

Nuthin' on the layout today.  My wife has confined the layout to a part of the basement with no heat.  But, I did think about it.

I am, however, getting ready to convert an AB set of Weaver FA-2's from 3 rail to 2 rail.  I got the new scale wheels w/gears in a few days ago from P&D Hobbies.  All I have to get now is some lube in to lube the gears when I get them in place.  I will take some pics and probably start a new thread for this in case anyone wants to see how it's done.  Maybe do some kadee couplers on these engines too.

Rick

Ran trains.  Opened my box from Mike Spanier containing an oval of Super-O track.  (Thanks Mike!)  As has been noted by others, this is really nicely designed track.  Its a shame that Lionel shut it down due to sales and profit pressure.  IMO they should have done a run of track every 5 years or so to support the early adopters and keep the product alive.

So I setup up some track on the kitchen table, I still haven't run an engine on it. It compares well to MTH Scaletrax (which I also have).  Both have lower profile rails, flat top, with thin center ribbon.  Scaletrax has the too wide tie spacing, while Super-O has the hump on the ties to support the center rail.  Super-O has the inconvenient "bus-bar" topper connector for the center ribbons to join sections.  Of course Scaletrax is available in a wide selection of diameters, is new and supported and etc..  Just noting the similarities and differences, not saying one is better than the other.   -Ken

I made stairs for a yard building I recently installed by cutting wooden GarGraves ties in half.  That, and a little touchup painting, is about it.  It's getting tougher and tougher to find improvements to make on a mature layout.

Today, I completed my second loop of Super O Track on the Dexter Pacific RR!

All wide radius Super O Track.

Min Radius is O-83" in the tight areas, and generally O-92", O-101", and O-135" and O-144" on the main line.

The one thing that no one realizes, unless you build a very large layout with Super O, is that it is very very efficient.  The center rail and the power blades are very low resistance, solid copper~!  No track can match it in power delivery.

Bob, is anyone fabricating wider Super-O turnouts?  O-72 and wider?  That would help me use Super-O on my next layout.    -Ken

Ken-

Be sure to use ORIGINAL power blades.  The repro ones dont fit right and are too thick.

Original ones are very thin and have a radius bend at the rail head (not squared off like the repro ones).

Original ones are very costly though.

ONE MORE THING- The original power blade clips are designed as a spring and have tension that hugs the center rail.  The Repro ones do not.  The repro ones may not stay in place like the original ones.

I have fabricated custom wide rad super O switches.  I am still using them in areas, but for my new Big Yard, probably will just model up tie humps and paint some Ross ones in this next layout to look like super O.

Well, my "layout" consists of an oval of FasTrack that came with the PE set I bought last Christmas... today I set up a PlasticVille station and test ran 3 locomotives I've received in the last couple days - a WBB 4-6-0, WBB GP-30, and a Lionel 4-4-2.

Cheers,

Ken

Thursday went very well. The helix did get its third of a turn, but we fell about 15' short on the roadbed project. No problem, Patrick is coming over twice next week.







Friday, while less exciting, also saw some good progress. I secured a couple sections of track on the new part of the helix. Then I finally finished the missing link between the small yard and the main. The yard was done six weeks ago, but for whatever reason I kept avoiding the connection.

Finally, I managed to repair the broken throwbars on 3 switches. These were just the tip of the iceberg, I've got another 15 or 20 to fix. Now I have the technique down.

Yesterday we completed the third solid day this week working on finalizing the "roadbed" for the engine servicing facility.

It's going to add a lot of real estate to the layout when completed.

Hopefully next week we'll have a couple of gluing parties to get it locked down.

Then it's on to painting and track laying and finishing the control panel relocation.

Ken, which Williams GP-30 did you get? Could you please post a couple of photos too?

Cobrabob

Yee Haa...  I just finished wiring my second loop and I'm going to run some trains!!!  Hope to post some pics...

Got 4 more of those throwbars replaced, laid out the switches for for the new yard, and got another half turn on the helix. I can't believe how fast the 1-5/8" drywall screws get used up. Bought 5 pounds a couple weeks ago and they're almost gone.