I like quirky, what do have that's quirky

I've got a few trains with Lionel-sized (non-Kadee) couplers 

Just making sure

Thanks, I enjoy running the porter.  It's way too big to be scale, but it's fun to run.

Customized Scout loco. The smoke unit works good.

My layout could be considered quirky by most which has a certain mix and match charm for me that keeps boredom from invading my imagination. Right now I am running a Marx Pacific outfitted with a MPC long RI tender which suits it better than the usually undersized originals. It looks as if it came that way. Since the rear of the tender has knuckles, I pull a consist of MPC era freight cars with a RMT RI caboose. Lionel prewar box cars are outfitted with American Flyer prewar couplers that allow them to be pulled by prewar AF or Marx..Marx F series diesels pull K-Line streamlined passenger cars at times. I have spent three four months toying with, rewiring \ rebuilding the layout to reflect this eclectic approach. Example, a Erector set shed sits along the mainline, protected by 2 or 3 color Marx control signals that has a MTH animated freight house in the background. All of this emphasizes the variety and history of toy trains, emphasis on toy.  A 1927 engine might wait for a M1000 to pass...the theme of all this I suppose ifs quirky...not regimented by what the majority prefer..in terms of regionalism or realism or a specific road..

I suppose all this runs counter to the norm..maybe. The layout was designed to be flexible, to be impermanent..to be rearranged at will without unnecessary destruction.  Its built on plastic folding tables with a dyed foam carpet matt that hides the holes if something is moved..it can be easily transported should we move. All this from having to destroy my creations over and over again. I suppose it's either quirky, or from my point of view, practical.

Great example of quirky, Ace.

Rick

Ace,

Your locomotive resembles my first car. 

Bruce

ACE.. My wife's first car.

Larry

electro...,

I think I might start to feel trapped, if I though of my layout as permanent. 

Sounds like you've got a nice, setup.

Rick

I've also added some GeoTrax as a cheap action accessory to my Lionel floor layout.

I can't claim to be a "serious modeller".

This station is named "Albuquirky".

Ace

Those Geotrax remind me of the miniature wind up Marx channel train set up. I saw two small diesel engines for it up on Ebay and used whatever will I have left to resist. What is that gray car in the foreground? It almost looks like an Erie Stillwell car..off the NYW&B..all it needs are tiny pantographs.

Bruce

How about Moodolph the red-nosed bovine?

Some might think this is quirky...as an excuse to run a Southern Pacific Cab-Forward on my layout, I re-lettered one for Lionel Lines.  Now it fits my theme.

Quirky and odd, but somehow I see the sense to it (my wife asserts I am alone in that regard)..

At one point, I realized I had purchased some unnecessary items that had no business on my train layout, no matter how self-indulgent I had fancied myself (having any circa cars, for example, in traffic/parked at curbs, for example.) Then, it hit me. Have a parade! Everything odd and quirky fits into a parade and seems to have reason for being present due to its entertainment value, as part of the celebration.

So, take a look, folks, if you please. You don't need me to point out the quirky details to you. Here, the parade celebrates the Christmas Season, in a village area already decorated for the season, much like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade celebrates the beginning of the Holiday merchandising season, in NYC...

(Yes, I must admit,having a barefoot boy leading his pet mule and an older gent carrying his favorite pig is a bit much...)

Moonson, nice job. I had a cousin that carried around a baby pig all the time. Now he was strange. Don

Glad for the approval, Don. Thank you.
Frank

Murph,

It's a beautiful fall day here on the south west coast of Canada; I just finished running some trains; a special Thanksgiving feast is being prepared with baroque music playing in the background and I thought I would check in on this forum.

Your parade with the ambiance, here... goes very nicely, together. Well done!

Rick

Thanks very much, Rick B. I much appreciate your approval and your taking the time to say so. For me, playing w/ trains is always more fun when friends in the neighborhood like to enjoy them w/ me.

Frank M.

I love quirky, and have lots of it: dangling aeroplanes and airships, small vignettes, a homemade rail zepp.

Rick, you would love some of the steam threshing bees and meets out here - full of huge steam farm tractors that look like a locomotive.

Doug,

I'm sure I would. Wouldn't mind seeing a gathering of old steam buckets(shovels) belching away, too.

Rick

Murph,

You've got a lot to be proud of... and I'm sure your guests enjoy visiting your layout.

Rick

Canada???...I thought you lived in Washington....?  Wait a minute....Rick...uhmmm.....Vox?, OMAX?,....those names sound familiar....

It's a prewar Lionel 1690 passenger car (Ives heritage) which I adapted into a transit car with onboard battery power. When I acquired the car it was a mess needing wheels, bodywork and paint. 

First I made it into a 4-wheel car because that makes it a lot easier to motorize, plus I could lower the profile by using smaller S-gauge American Flyer wheels, regauged for O. The old wheelsets look very oversize relative to the body of the car, that typical toy-like early prewar look. I soon substituted a four-wheel truck up front for better performance through curves, creating an oddball six-wheel trolley.

I used a small motor with worm gear and axle gear and switch from a plastic floor toy. It runs on a single 1.5 volt battery. The motor is small enough to fit under the floor and drives one axle directly, providing a desirably slow fixed speed of about 20 mph. It currently runs on my Albuquirky trolley loop.

...tracks,

There's something familiar about those names; but, from what I recall, it was VOX and omax. I heard that the name omax was so powerful, itself, that using a capital O would have been overkill; and, VOX(latin for the voice) capitalized, commanded ones attention...

They sound like true champions of mankind! Noblemen!

Rick

I found a vintage QSI glass breaking sound board and installed it in a Williams Santa Fe "Shock Control" boxcar tonight........I love the humor in this and now to run it an annoy!

Hehehehehehe!!!!

Here's a picture to go with my reply earlier in this post. Snoopy, Woodstock and their pals are toasting marshmallows by the tracks.

Excellent, Paul.

I'm a fan of Mr. Brown. I've got a couple of likenesses of him... a platform with him, his directors chair and supporting gear; and, last year... around Christmas time, I got a talking Charlie figure.

Rick

I acquired this prewar Lionel #629 as an orphaned shell without underframe and wheels. I discovered the shell was a perfect fit on a common postwar Lionel caboose frame. The caboose handrails on the end make the car suitable for mixed train service. I want to repaint this well-worn car someday.

Looks good; painting it... might lose some of it's charm.

Rick

You're right, it has a lot of charm as is! 

You might even find the bottom half one day looking aged, as well.

Rick

 I acquired this item recently with a decrepit assortment of grungy old train stuff ...

A home-made three-rail switch on a plywood base, made with ordinary Marx O27 track pieces. It's quirky!

Probably the oddest thing (partially because I never really completed it) is this kit-bash of a Radar Tower and a Control Tower.

I did this because Lionel seems to have some reason they are dead set against applying the neat DC motor improvement they incorporated into the Control Tower quite a few years back to the Radar Tower (which has an essentially identical superstructure).

Basically built the styrene box and made it so the stock Radar Tower support could mount on top.  The styrene box is removable, so if I ever wanted to, I could re-assemble the parts to have 2 standard units again.

I should paint the white box someday and maybe add a door or something to make it look more like it has a purpose.

-Dave

Ace,

That antique(switch) would good with the right frame and matting, hung on the wall.

Rick

I really like Ace's switch.  Lots of character!  I may make one kind of like it so I can have a Marx compatible O42 switch.

Sylvia created a "bark park" on an odd-shaped piece of real estate on our layout. 

For you Marx fanatics, that's a bunch of Marx fencing with a custom sign made in PowerPoint.

Pat,

I've had critters for years, and this is the first time I heard the term "bark park".

BTW, what does the rest of the sign that starts with "Bark" say?

Thanks,

Rick

Rick,

A "bark park" is a fenced area where you can let your dog run off its leash.  Here's a photo of Mick, our Dalmatian, at one of our local "bark parks".  Usually by the time he gets back from an hour or so here, he's exhausted from all the barking and running around. 

The sign on the building is "Bark and Meow".  It's a custom-decorated Lionel building I purchased from Gryzboski's train store two or three years ago (just before Lionel came out with their "pet store").

Across the road is something that might look quirky to anyone spent more than two weeks in the Air Force -- a security policeman with a Dalmatian at the gate to my missile railcar base, Liberty AFB.  (Yes, I mixed my past and present lives in this scene -- 20 years in the AF; 6 years with Mick.)  (Note the anti-terrorism vehicle spikes on the right hand side.  They're patterned after the ones used at many AF bases.)

Here's another quirky scene that's a work in progress -- a railfan photo safari campsite -- right next to the tracks.  I need to do a bit more scenery work here, but it looks okay for now.

Does anyone know which manufacturer sells a figure of a person with a camera or with a camera and tripod?  I need a couple for this scene.

Yes, I do know of a very good guy who sells them both. He imports them from England and Australia; then, hand-paints them with great articulation:

Roy Baker

BakersRailroadShop

1-845-887-4596

Tell him Frank of Layout Refinements sent you.

The figure in the middle of this street scene, with the white sneakers on and blue clothes, is holdng a camera up to his face.

...and here's the guy w/ the tripod....

Frank

Pat,

In the camp scene you posted, I'm thinking an over-eager crack squad of anti terrorist officers, moving in for a bust; complete, with visible snipers foaming for a kill... would make the all-star "Quirky" list.

Murph,

Those are the best, most detailed, figures I have seen, yet. Very nice!

Rick

Oh yeah, you like those, do ya' . well, then, Mr. Rick B, check these out by Roy Baker, too. I love his work and am glad you like it too. He's a very nice guy.

(With respect, I don't want to intrude on this thread, so I'll stop w/ the photos, but I could show you a whole lot more of such figures by Roy.)

Frank