What did you do on your layout today?

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

There’s your incentive ScoutingDad. Get the bathroom done by the beginning of August and then go to the train show for inspiration.

Jay, good idea - but bathroom done or not I am heading up to ChiTown for the show in August. I am thinking about getting my MTH Rail King 611 out of its box for a spin around the layout. I'll also have to pull out the N&W passenger cars so it won't be lonesome.

As I was busting out floor tile this afternoon, the old tub trap fell off the plumbing stack. No glue - never was properly attached to the plumbing.  Good thing we could never fill the tub and use it. 80 gallons of water in family room would not have been a fun experience. 40 gallon water heater - 80 gallon tub - I don't think that will work unless you want to take 70 degree baths. What were they thinking ?  - oops - obviously the brain was not engaged on this one. No cure for stupid.

Trainmaster04 - I've used Eric's method to make asphalt - I like the way it turns out.

Doing a lot of major house cleaning on my layout yesterday and today. This 4th of July weekend, I’m laying down a grass mat onto the layout for perfect scenery.

Not to mention I’m using the hobby horses as shelves for my trains, too.

More yard work! The fun kind this time.

I added some tall grass and weeds to the berm and set it on the layout. I also added some WS fine mixed turf to the yard. Some paint touch-ups and final clean up and I can get started on the front track installing my Lionel Control Tower and station, along with the water tower.

glue is still wet....

All dry this morning.

Bob

That turned out really nice Bob. That is a lot of painstaking work. Nice contrast and detail in the area; Very impressive!

I ended up with a nice 1/43 Franklin Mint 1959 Cadillac convertible.   A 1/43 Cadillac really LOOKS HUGE on a 1/48th layout.  The real problem is- I have a 1950-themed layout.

SO I added a rotating "car of the future" 1959 Cadillac next to my Lionel Grand Central Terminal with added -on, kit bashed Plasticville Union Terminal public transit terminal.

Mike

@RSJB18 posted:

More yard work! The fun kind this time.

I added some tall grass and weeds to the berm and set it on the layout. I also added some WS fine mixed turf to the yard. Some paint touch-ups and final clean up and I can get started on the front track installing my Lionel Control Tower and station, along with the water tower.

glue is still wet....

All dry this morning.

Bob

Looks great Bob. The uncoupling units came out really nice!

@Berkshirelover726 posted:

Looks great Bob. The uncoupling units came out really nice!

Thanks. I got the idea to bash them here on the Forum. I believe Elliot BigBoy4014 and @darlander Dave had discussed it on Elliot's old topic a couple of years ago.

@Tranquil Hollow RR- thanks. I like to get the creative juices flowing.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Thanks. I got the idea to bash them here on the Forum. I believe Elliot BigBoy4014 and @darlander Dave had discussed it on Elliot's old topic a couple of years ago.

@Tranquil Hollow RR- thanks. I like to get the creative juices flowing.

Bob

Elliot is a great guy to learn from for sure!

@RSJB18 posted:

More yard work! The fun kind this time.

I added some tall grass and weeds to the berm and set it on the layout. I also added some WS fine mixed turf to the yard. Some paint touch-ups and final clean up and I can get started on the front track installing my Lionel Control Tower and station, along with the water tower.

glue is still wet....

All dry this morning.

Bob

That yard area looks great. Dark, and oily just like the real thing.
The uncouplers came out great as well.

That does look realistic. I am far from that stage however I did finish prime painting the framework today.

@Victor Bertolina posted:

That does look realistic. I am far from that stage however I did finish prime painting the framework today.

Looks very nice Victor.

The tops will be covered up before you know it.

Bob

Bob, you can drop some sand at the front of the track where the engine could have been.

I am beginning to bring closure to my three car Duluth Missabe and Iron Range Railroad project that I started November of 2020.   I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!    Much of my time was spent waiting for the Lake Superior RR Museum to reopen after Covid.   I needed to visit these cars first hand to take pictures of color and detail.    I know that we operate on 3-rails, but even though, it is nice to model something that’s real.

Received a long awaited order of K&S brass rod last Saturday that allowed me to complete some roof detail and the safety gates for the W24.   Passenger service was secondary with the DM&IRR.   They operated over only 490 total rout miles of track so passenger service was mainly to and from Mining localities in northern Minnesota and occasionally, a business train to make inspections and entertain clients.    With the expansion of the Greyhound Bus Company, which was founded in Hibbing, MN in 1913, rail passenger service began declining and was totally discontinued in 1951.   

Today, the Lake Superior Museum and Scenic RR maintains, displays and operate some of the vintage fleet.    The “Northland” business car, the W24 combined and coach 33 are still in use for occasional runs along the scenic shores of Lake Superior.    My three cars are also being loaded with tourists so there was a need to instal gates to the freight doors of the W24.  

Need to finish coat all three car roofs but the car side are finish coated, glossed and ready for decals.    My goal is to get these cars back on track before the close of the tourist season.

Cheers to all, Dave

PS:  Have a safe and happy 4th of July!

A few progress pics:

Note the white interior cross beam used for hanging deer!

↑

The cars are looking good Dave. Nice to have the prototype nearby for reference.

Bob

While I don’t have an O scale layout at the moment, I’ve finally gotten around to working on my Lionel Reading GP30. This is a model from the 2002 run with TMCC. Awhile back, I started a 3RS (3 rail scale) conversion on the loco, only for it to sit on the bench for awhile. Today, I managed to finish the hardest part of any 3RS build: fixing the pilots. I 3D printed new shims for it, assembled the pilots, and installed the kadees. The locomotive is officially ready to have touch up painting done, Conrail patching applied, and weathering to begin. This will become Conrail 2181, which is (in real life) back as Reading 5513 and is being restored by the Hamburg, PA folk.

Dave

Those car interiors are amazing. Very nice!

Dave, the cars are looking great!

Bob, your yard is looking good.  It is almost ready for use.

NS6760Fan, those engines look good.  I hope you can get a layout soon!

I have done a little more painting on the unassembled parts for the Atlas O signal tower.  I can't sit for long, but I can stand and paint if I can hold the parts in the air.

I did a little run of the Niagara Century Club

@Mark Boyce. Time to borrow an air brush Mark😆 or borrow a tall stool that fits your you know what ☺️

@Genoz I enjoyed the Niagara exiting your tunnel.  I love to watch my engines an cars emitting the small amounts of light on the walls an track an producing  the shadows along the walls an ground as they exit the tunnel

your Niagara engine and cars were doing the same

glad you took the time to share with us!

Seth, both excellent ideas.  However, the stool is out.  It doesn’t matter what I sit on, in a short time the damaged sciatic nerve starts screaming, OUCH!  😄

The air brush would work as would spray cans.  I don’t have a place to vent my painting booth in the basement of this house, so it has resided in the shed.  I have some leftover spray cans of a couple colors I could have used, but this has been the windiest month of June I can remember.  I would think it was March if not for the temperatures.  😄

I know, a person can find an excuse for everything!  😆  I only have some small detail parts left to paint, so I am planning on starting assembly and I’ll take some photographs.

Helpful household hint:  If you're replacing the window supports in a 2000 Ford Taurus wagon and you lose the E-clip, a trip to the Lionel parts box can come in handy...

Mitch

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Helpful household hint:  If you're replacing the window supports in a 2000 Ford Taurus wagon and you lose the E-clip, a trip to the Lionel parts box can come in handy...

Mitch

So then it follows, if I need an E-clip for a Lionel train, I should check out your Taurus wagon, right???

@Apples55 posted:

So then it follows, if I need an E-clip for a Lionel train, I should check out your Taurus wagon, right???

LOL!  I suppose so... 

Mitch

Added lights to the yard yesterday and started working on putting the station and towers back. I'm going to extend the station platform to meet up with track 1 in the yard. I'm figuring I'll keep a passenger car or two there from time to time.

I also had an idea to add a yard office where the glue bottles are. I have a scout caboose that might fit the bill. We will see how this goes.

I decided to try adding a couple of LED strips to the background mountains, one in front at the base of the mountains and another behind them at the top for a slight crest glow.   Below is a view of the start of the background (2 sheets of styrofoam) and as they are today.  The LED strips can change color that can change the mood. The only down side is that I have to set the color each time they're activated since the default is a flashing cycling color mode (psychedelic skies!), but setting is no more than a one button press for each on the IR remote.

Before:

After: draped with plaster cloth, weather washed, added different scaled trees for forced perspective.

Hello everyone, and happy Fourth of July! Well, after some trial and error, I was able to get some good progress done in the town area of the layout. As you can see, I continued to play "road worker" and I laid down some more "asphalt". So far, I have started the two main streets, the main street in front of the station, and resurfaced the station's parking lot. I tried to use the "smooth it" plaster, but it resulted in an ugly mess. As a result, I took it out and filled it in with more asphalt. While this section of the layout is drying, I plan to work on my videos and work on the mountain for a while. Thanks, and happy railroading!

Hi trainmaster

I understand the "smooth it" but what is the "assault"? is a different product?

I continued my trackwork by insulating 25 sections of track. These will be used for semaphore and other accessories. I think there will be a few more once I finalize the road crossing locations.

Assault - Asphalt????

Speaking of roads. Model Railroad Academy has a free download on how to make gravel and asphalt roads. Gravel and Asphalt Roads MRRA  Of course they will ask you to join. Runs 10 minutes decent tips on making and weathering.  I do have a subscription and have found several useful.

Not a "layout" project exactly, but ...

I recently bought a MTH Aerotrain Rock Island train set --  the loco with six passenger coaches with figures installed by the former owner. I bought four more RI coaches thru eBay and a few dealers to make a full consist of 10 coaches as per the prototype, and then purchased and installed O-scale seated passenger figures by RMT in them -- as shown in the photo.

When placed on my L-shaped layout, this train will be a "memory refresher" of my trip as a teenager in the mid-1950s aboard one of the GM EMD Aerotrains running the RI PEORIA ROCKET route from Peoria, Ill. to Chicago. Passengers complained of its rough ride at cruising speed, and the three Aerotrains were subsequently re-assigned to relatively low speed RI commuter service from Joliet to/from Chicago.

Nevertheless, still thankful for The Train of Tomorrow ...

Mike Mottler   LCCA 12394

Darn, that auto-correct!! Yes, I meant asphalt. Sorry for the confusion.

Well instead of running the 611, I decided to remodel the left side of my layout. Pulled up all the background and am now piecing together a higher mountain background. Most of it will be 2 or 3 layers of 1/2 foam painted and landscaped. Ever since I started building out the town of Twin Pines - the background mountain just looked too puny and became an annoyance to me.

Shower base and tub faucet arrived today. Plumber comes out Tuesday for a quote. Tub arrives mid July.  Still have to pick tile. But things are moving along.

UPDATE - Before image of the layout. The mountain is hidden by the white building in the background.

Amazing what a little foam and hot melt will do. The "distant" mountain is now raised up 10 inches (more looked odd) and added about 8 feet of extra hills.

Now the mountain is at least visible behind the town.  Next step is to glue thin felt furniture padding to the lower section. I have a grove of trees that fits in the curve in from of the "v" notch, otherwise I would adjust it's size. Then paint the felt dirt brown and sprinkle texture on the felt while wet so it sticks when dry. May add puff ball trees in places to give more texture, but hard to develop perspective in only a couple of inches. Of course painters do it all the time on a flat canvass.

If I can remodel a bathroom - I can certainly move a little ol' mountain. 

Hi there guys, Everyone has been so hard at it and I haven't been checking in daily like I should so I wouldn't get sofar behind! LOL

Bob, you have been  doing a wonderful job on your yard! It looks like the real thing in a perfect spot on your layout!

Dave, the detail you have been giving those cars is just amazing and really shows your love of model railroading! I hope I get some of your skills when I grow up!

Trainmaster04, your layout is coming right along, your doing a wonderful job with the asphalt roads, makes me want to go back and watch Eric's how to all over again!

Mike Wyatt, great idea of the rotating car!

ScottV, the mountains and back ground lighting really makes a statement!

Jeff, Sorry to hear about the Bathroom Remodel! Been there done that! LOL I hope things go smooth and your able to save some extra $$$ for the August train show! I think even when and if they have the train show here this year I probably wont go as I have to much going on here!

Well folks here is a short and simple update before I go on vacation for 2 maybe 3 weeks. Just keep in mind that this will all be waiting for me for when I get home! Here are a couple photos as I was able to do some rough in of one of my lower loops. When I get back I will have to figure out how many more switches and 072 curves I will need to finish the lower level and upper level!

I got such a mess going on here! but I still need to nail down the construction of both lower loops, solder power feeds and run them threw the table then the fun really starts. Everything on the floor goes on top so I can do the new under the layout wiring! LOL

I sure hope you all have a great 4th of July and please be safe! Remember to try and have fun with your layout and trains!

Jeff,

That seems like quite a contrast; run 611 or tear up the mountain. Since you’re demolishing the bathroom might as well move mountains. Nonetheless, that’s an interesting undertaking with using the foam elevations. That’s something I would like to do but I’m not sure how to bring it about. I’m looking forward to learning from your efforts. Good luck.

Mike - the layout looks like it is coming out well and to plan. I look at the open space and it is screaming peninsula yard to me. As I recall, you don't have the room. Ah well. Keep going.

I think I have decided on a peninsula yard for my next layout with at least 12 feet of straight track, 6 or more track to hold my passenger cars and then to kit bash the 3 MTH Banks for a station above - like so many on this forum have done.

ScottV - the lighting looks interesting. Kind of like the last bit of sunlight before night takes over.  As I recall you also layered foam to develop depth for the mountains.

Jay - I added photos of the mountain construction to my earlier post.  ScottV also has photos on how he did his background mountains.  I suppose mine are more properly hills and not really mountains. Coming from the Midwest (ie: Flatland), any mound of dirt that obstructs your view of the horizon is classified as a mountain.

Choo Choo and Toot Toot everyone  !!!

How wide will your peninsula be Jeff?

Today off an on I Weathered the bank an post office for the downtown Olive Hill tonight. These two repurposed buildings I purchased from my train source friend should represent the last two openings I have available for the downtown on Railroad Street.

I will assemble an glue the two buildings an begin designing the lighting of the downtown with Just Plug (Woodlands Scenic LED lights system).

The buildings for the town are setting in their allotted space an patiently waiting on a 4x8 sheet in my shop. I have measured out the exact space on the 4x8 where town will be on the layout.

Hopefully I will soon have added all the business name signs  and street lights and traffic signals.  When the lights are finished and streets are done I will move each street and structure one by one upstairs to the saved space for town.

My last engines I ran were dad’s two engines on Father’s Day.  I drove my grandson back home Tuesday evening after a great five day visit. So since it’s been raining all day an  I was it the shop painting an adding pastels.

Have a safe trip to the wife’s parents @mike g.

@ScoutingDad & @MikeG. Thanks for the comments!  Actually I had to turn up the intensity of the lights to get it to show on the photo. I normally keep the leds dimmed so it's a very subtle effect under normal operating conditions. It really adds to the depth.  Changing it to white or blue makes for a very wintry feel too.

@MikeG. I really like that lift bridge mechanism I spy on the left.. I have a couple of bridges on my layout, but mine are nothing more than bridges that lift out completely.  They get power from copper contacts. One also has contacts for bridge lights.

@ScoutingDad  the background mountains are looking good!  

Jay - I keep thinking I do not want or need a huge layout, but when I start planning - 072s and larger take up an awful lot of real estate.  I'll have to lay it out on scarm, but passenger platforms should be at least 8 feet wide (~2 inches scale) . So each track platform combination should need 6 or 7 inches. 8 tracks would be about 4 feet wide. Then for the crazy stuff. That would give me an area 4 x 10 to layout a town/city. An elevated track (common in Chicago) for my Subway set could then run around the city. At street level it might be fun to install a 2 Rail street car line.  Now I have to put on Supertramp's "Dreamer" song.

Seth - the buildings are looking good. I assume you will tone down the mortar lines around the windows?  I've posted this photo before - I tried adding several brick colors to this building and am reasonably happy with how it turned out. Noticed some of that on one of your buildings.

Mike, have a safe trip and a fun visit!