Layout review & update 02-09-13 w/Pictures

Gene eMail will be fine. Glad you are all set up. He does GREAT WORK.

my wife tells me all the time about that!  my daughter too!  hey dad, when can I play with them???  lol 

A little more work on our village and the Commuter passenger terminal.

 For some reason....I'm cravin' burgers & fries???

Joe that Mc"D"'s does a great job on both

The layout is  missing this

And compared to some people here,I'm not Mr detail

Pops try this

Go to the hobby shop and pick up some  people,some of that scenic express ground cover,flock and turf,etc

I bought that stuff year's ago ,and must have stared at it for a year,then finally went Oh what the ****,it's not rocket science.

And went from this

To eventually this

Pop's, look at the brown building on the left below ,that's  ground foam in orange and red

I have it in cool whip container's,and you lay it next to a bare building,and presto.

In the hobby shop's they got pack's of mail boxes,telephone booth's,fire hydrants,etc

I'm not really Mr detail compared to some of the people on here but I Hope this help's,it would add life to the layout,and accent all those beautiful building's.

Joe thanks for your helpful comments. Our layout is not at the point of adding the details. We still have bench wirk to put up and much track to lay. The village shown in my pictures was omly placed on the layout about a week ago. You are right people and grass and trees and more will be a plus to our layout. Thanks again for your comments..

You're quite welcome

Alan Graziano has made progress onour CN "ABBA" SHOP.

The Madness!!    Wow Pops.    To much to take in.  Great job!

Thanks Patrick. Some how I got a double posting of pictures. I was trying to add captions to the pictures. I will have to try it again when its not so late. Thanks AGAIN!

Bill,

  Congrats on a Great job, its doing a lot more than just starting to shape up, as Patrick says a lot to take in!

PCRR/Dave

Hi Pops ,

Wow looking great, thanks for sharing.

Alex

Well done!

Peter

Dave, Alex & Peter Thanks for the nice words. We still have a long ways to go but are getting there. Thanks again.

A few more pictures of the 6 track CN ABBA SHOP under construction.

The high bay section of the CN 6 TRACK ABBA SHOP area is under construction. After the high bay is complete a Yard Tower will be constructed on the corner of a part of the High Bay.

Looking great Bill!!!  Hey....do you have a money printing press in that basement too??

Thanks for the updates...

Alan

Great work, Bill.  Would love to see Lionel's auto racks zipping around that wonderful layout.  And, maybe some ore cars passing by too! 

Alan, No printing press but you know I have an Oil Refinery

Paul I will have to get some new pictures with the rolling stock. We are still working on this puppyand have a LONNNNNNNNNGGGGG ways to go. Thanks Paul

Hi Pops, wow that shop is looking awesome.

Alex

Alex thank you very much. It is coming along.

Alan Graziano has made more progress on our CN ABBA SHOP. Very nice work Alan!!

Bill....that is one big shop!!  Very nice!!

Alan...you are an artist!!!!

Alan

Ridiculous!!! Can't wait to see it on the layout with all of those tracks running in there.

Alan thank you. Yes Alan Graz is! I enjoy seeing his work start as just a few sticks of plastic and turn out in the beauty of a structure.

Pete two main tracks lead to a 4 way and a 2 way switch right at the shop door opening. The track start fanning out just as they enter the shop door. Thanks for your comments

 Yeap, there's layouts like these that are epic! We can all watch it come together thanks to these pics. Great job. Very inspirational. I'm hoping that someday soon I could add buildings like these and move towards scenery that compliments the trains. It almost tells a story. That's why I like seeing all these layouts no matter what people's preferences are.

 This site is like a living, growing, interactive train magazine. Very cool of you to share Bill!

 & Nice job Alan G!

 ( Now maybe I could start a scaled down refinery? and a car shop, and some industry, and ...)

Hi Pops,

Looking awesome, but looking even better when I saw it in person.

Alan has hands of gold.

Thanks, Alex

Joe thanks for your comments. You know your CSX Diesel Shop was my inspration for this building. I have always thought your shop looked sooo cool and I needed something for the ABBA Units.

Joe you are so right about this OGR SITE....I think of it as a version of Face Book and call it TRAIN BOOK for my wife's benfit since she is always on Face Book on her iphone.

Joe thanks for sharing your diesel shop pictures in the past.

Alex thanks for your comments, and yes he does have hands of gold AND ALSO A HART OF GOLD which you now know after visiting with Alen. He is a Wonderful REP for our hobby. Thanks for laying your eyes upon the shop before I counld

Wow Bill, that is one massive shop!  That thing needs a room in the house all to itself.  Very nice craftmanship by Alan. 

Paul thanks.

We had a good game today with the Oilers.

Tommorrow the L A Kings here.

Bill,

You guys are playing pretty well despite having some new faces here and there.  You still have some great firepower in the lineup.  However, everyone is chasing my beloved Blackhawks.  Hoping the chase for the Cup is as exciting for us as it was 3 years ago when they won it all.

Paul have you been working on your layout?

I think this year injuries will play a key role in the outcome. Still very early.

Bill,

No, I haven't been building anything much to my dismay.  Even though my wife and I have a good-sized house, I just can't figure out where and how to build a layout.  We've been talking about possibly moving to Chicago in the future since my job has me traveling up to the Midwest a ton anyway.  She really wants to be back in a big city and not in any suburb.  I grew up there, so it would be like going back to my roots for me.  But, she lived in big cities in Europe.  First thing I'll look for is a huge basement.  If we wind up staying here in Texas, I'll have to figure something out in our next home.  When we go looking at new homes, the first thing I do is look for is a room huge enough to build a train empire in.  Anyway, I've been mainly collecting and running trains on some Fastrack in an extra bedroom for now.  Boring !!

The season is early, but short in comparison to a full, normal 82 game slate.  Every game and every point matters at this point.

BTW, are you going to York in April?  I'm trying to map out my plans. 

Paul if you have not made a cut at your empire  maybe it would be helpful to know approx how much space you neeed to get it going . I understand wanting to get back to roots.

I have a daughter living about 40 miles west of Chicago off the Northwest toll way. Hre hub is in IT and used to ride the metra to downtown every day but that got old for him and he has found something closer to cut down on the commute.

I think the basement approach for a layout is 1st choice because of the size usually would allow for more flexability.

I don't think I can make York this year but maybe one of these years.

Bill,

The bedroom I have my trains in now is 15 x 10.  Nothing big by any stretch of the imagination.  Good for an extra bedroom, but small for a layout.  I really don't want to run a curcular loop around the room.  I'm really envious of basement layouts.  Eventually, it will get built somewhere using Atlas track.  The minimum curves I want to use will be O-72  so I can run some of the bigger locos.  I was recently telling my wife that a big basement is a must when and if we move to Chicago or a huge enclosed game room if we stay here.

I think a lot of people in warm country seem to use the garage also. Could be a little warm in there in TX . The basement does allow you to paint walls and put up a lot of stuff. Sounds like she supports your thoughts for a future layout. I did an around the ceiling layout until we got more ideas together and then we did an" L" THAT WAS ABOUT 6'X20'X10' AND NOW WE ARE GOING FOR A BIT MORE SPACE.