A new build-The Illinois & Western (weathered 2 water columns) pic's added

The area between the Wye switch and the boxcar... Is that going to be a duckunder? That leg frame might make it a tight squeeze and lead to a lot of unintentional layout bumping. Just a thought.

Chris,

It looks like you are well on your way.  It is certainly not messy for a layout under construction, but I do like to keep things fairly tidy when building so I can find things and so I don't hurt myself. 

Looks good Chris, good luck with the build.

Andy

Greg Nagy posted:

The area between the Wye switch and the boxcar... Is that going to be a duckunder? That leg frame might make it a tight squeeze and lead to a lot of unintentional layout bumping. Just a thought.

I believe you can see the hinges around to the right for what I assume is a lift-up entry point.

I wish my permanent Christmas layout was that messy, but building doesn't start until September.

Greg Nagy posted:

The area between the Wye switch and the boxcar... Is that going to be a duckunder? That leg frame might make it a tight squeeze and lead to a lot of unintentional layout bumping. Just a thought.

The section in front of (or above) the yellow boxcar in the second photo is a lift up section, there are hinges there as doubledaz said...they are just hard to see.  There is also another hinged section right by where I was standing for the overall shots that allows access in to the big opening at the bottom of the photos.

Mark it is cleaner then it had been...I have to keep it clean or I just get lost....

Thanks for the kind words guys, they are appreciated.

I just completed the initial spraying of the base color on my track, the color is a mixture of roof brown,dark earth and rust with some grimy black.  Overall the color is pretty good for what I'm modeling, a nice brownish color.  I am going to go and spray another color I made up which is rust with some railroad tie brown which made a nice grimy rusty color.  I will spray that hear and there for variation and add some brown/rust colored chalk in places for a little accent.  Once ballasting begins I will over spray the track center with a blackish mixture to simulate oil/grease drippings and along the outer edges of the track as well.  Here are a couple of photos of the base color.

Here is a video I made on my track weathering, there are so many ways to do this.....this is just how I went about it. Happy modeling.....

Chris,

I did not know you had switched back to 3R. I like it, looks great. I am actually considering 3R too.

That is a nice big layout you will have there.

Malcolm

Oh I am still working on a 2 rail layout, just a smaller one. This one is a bigger tho....gonna take me a while.  Thanks for the kind words Malcolm.

I decided to weather my MTH N&W unshrouded J today.  I've never weathered an engine before so it was an experience to say the least.    All in all I think for my 1st try I did.....well OK I guess.  I went over most of the engine with grimy black and laid down some staining/streaking with some earth with a drop of rust mixed in.  Here's some pic's, not the best but here it is.  Before....

And after......

Chris - very nice layout!

I'm planning a new layout and I'd like to incorporate some of these elements - can you post a track plan?

Frank

Thanks,  I sure can...just let me find it and I'll post it asap.

Nice Work Chris!

 Your layout is much neater than mine for being under construction...lol.

   I sure glad you have the opportunity to build a layout that size.

 Nice to see your videos and updates

Al

Thanks AL....I'm having fun.

 That's what it's all about! I'm havin a blast now that I'm out of work and able to have some time for my layout and trains.

   I'm enjoyin it while it lasts....lol

Al

That is great to hear!  Just soak it all in and enjoy.....

I weathered a couple MTH Water columns the other day.  These will be placed somewhere on my layout as the scenery work begins.....soon.  Once in place I will go over them with some chalks (black,grays ect..) to blend things a bit more.  I also made a video of the process for those interested.