Always pound over or remove nails from boards. ALWAYS!!!!! Stepping in a nail can put you down for days to weeks. I’ve stepped on a few and on the job, if you left a board with nails sticking out if it you were fired. No ifs ands or buts about it. Hope your foot gets better. Layouts looking nice
Elliot, Lots of progress as usual even with the nail injury! I can certainly tell the difference between the before and after photographs of the track painting and ballasting and the shiny rail tops after the cleaning. Yes, that is a big job indeed! My arms and hands ache just looking at the photographs. 
I hope you toe heals up completely and doesn't hinder you in the future!
Elliot, you do so much I get tired just reading it! What wonderful work you do even with a bad toe. Things are looking great, but I do have a question and you might have stated it way back, but what are you using to ballast your track? Are you just pouring it out and using a brush? People like me would like to know!
Looking good again this month even with the nail. Thanks for the update.
Excellent work as always!
Great progress this month, Elliot. Nice job.
This man is a trooper if ever there was one. Keep it coming. Incredible Elliot with your breathtaking railroading empire (and the forum goes wild)!
Dave
As always, thanks guys!
Matt - On general principles, that is good advice about bending over nails. However, that may not have saved me on this one. I was burning sheets of shingles that had come off the front of the house a couple years ago. What I think happened was, a flaming piece fell out of the fire pit, and I stepped on it to put it out. That's my best guess as to why the nail alone stayed in my shoe for two days. Had it simply been a matter of stepping on a piece of wood with a nail, there would have been a straight puncture, but the nail would have stayed in the wood. Anyway, I looked at it this morning when Tammy changed the bandage, and it looked pretty good. I think the doctor will be pleased with the way it's healing when I see him again on Tuesday.
Mark - It's amazing what a difference ballast makes. My guy wanted to see scenery, so I did a chunk. But most of the scenes, especially the upper deck, have little room for it. Once these two yards in aisle two are done, I can add more cars to the layout. In a way, that will be my scenery. There will be a few other elements, like those building flats and the occasional tree, some grass and weeds, but that's about it. Oh yeah, my arms and hands get tired from all this. The upper deck really gets me. Tylenol is my friend.
Mike - For ballasting, I just use a cheap China bristle brush to push the ballast around. I want to say it's a 3". I found a giant assortment pack with two dozen, at Menards for like $12. My other tool is a kiddy sandbox shovel. I can do huge scoops, or some finer spreading around switches with that thing.
Roman - Nice GIF
Thanks. The show must go on (even if the shoe doesn't).
Bill, NYC, Pat and Dave - Thanks for helping push this topic along. Your support and long time following is much appreciated. It looks like we have hit the slow summer season, and forum traffic is down. Of course, I will be here throughout the summer as I push toward the convention in September. After that, I'll be on vacation for a while, but will continue to share trains from the road.
Big_Boy_4005 posted:As always, thanks guys!
Mark - It's amazing what a difference ballast makes. My guy wanted to see scenery, so I did a chunk. But most of the scenes, especially the upper deck, have little room for it. Once these two yards in aisle two are done, I can add more cars to the layout. In a way, that will be my scenery. There will be a few other elements, like those building flats and the occasional tree, some grass and weeds, but that's about it. Oh yeah, my arms and hands get tired from all this. The upper deck really gets me. Tylenol is my friend.
Yes, I can see that makes up most of the scenery in those areas!! I'm sure it does bother your arms and hands. I need my arthritis formula Tylenol on top of my twice a day arthritis pain medication when I just look at what you have been doing!!
Thanks Mark, I'm off to do battle once more. I have rails to clean from Thursday's effort, then I need to mix a few more gallons of glue. After that, spread more and glue more. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
Elliot, outstanding as usual! It’s Always interesting to watch your progress. I also have watched you YouTube channel ! Great looking ballast. I also like the pegboard! Brings me back to the 1970’s. Good stuff!
Good to hear your healing up nicely and hope it continues in that direction so you can move about freely again.
the bluff area looks really nice and space being limited to bad your not able to have included the switch tower that was above the switching lead for the cbq yard next to the bluffs. but in all it still looks nice you did a nice job on it.
now maybe seeing all the silos in person on layout makes a difference but in photos you included this update it seems cluttered and blocking the view of tracks? hard to really tell from a photo sometimes at the angle taken plus standing on platform viewing it am sure is a totally different view as well.
when the convention folks come to visit your layout is it a visual only or will train/s be running as well?
Elliott:
I feel your pain! LOL. I would suggest to you to NOT glue your ballast. I discovered that when I changed my mind and moved some tracks. It was a MAJOR MAJOR MAJOR hassle to try and pry up glue and track. NEVER again. I'm glad that I learned that lesson early on the Glacier Line. When I need to change I get the trusty vac out and turn out and undo my track screws--EASY.
John, Now you suggest this to Elliot after he has ballasted 5000 scale miles of track!
Elliot, good to see you are showing restraint and letting your foot heal but at the same time you have figured out things to do to keep moving forward. Layout is looking good. Adding to what John said I myself stopped doing ballast through the tracks long time ago but that was my choice but if I ever had to change track around it was not as hard to reuse the track. On to what I was going to say or add was that when I lived in western New York I met a person who at the time worked for one of the Canadian railroads. He had a layout which he ballasted but he did not glue any of it down. Every so often he would take a brush and brush the ballast back up to the tracks. He said that it was like the real railroads in that the ballast would work its way away from the ties over time. You have the track work looking good. ...........Paul
I've been following this thread from the beginning and I am just in awe of the project. IMHO, this thread has become a publishable book on building a layout. Just cut out our commentaries, and print the pics with the captions. Wow! Keep up the great work and I look forward to all the progress!
Elliot,
That silo complex appears to be huge, but in reality it is commensurate with your monumental layout and your immense ambition - and all goes together well!
Thank you for sharing.
Alex
Elliot- I don't even know what to say, I'm in awe!! And it's great to see you take on such a monumental project without losing interest.I think that's the biggest item. By now I'd just be wanting to run my trains and imagine the scenery in my head as they went around! LOL You are doing a great job!
Once again, mind totally blown. Eye candy for the arm chair railroader...and even for those of us with layouts.
The dream definitely is coming to fruition. Best of luck with the upcoming open house, Elliot,and hope the foot heals soon.
Bruce
Elliott - sorry about the foot, amazing work as always. Since you source your ballast locally, what are your requirements? I.e. what type of stone do you use, and what size do you screen it too?
Thanks guys!
George - I know that pegboard feeling. Mine is more from the 80's, but really pegboard is timeless. Now slat wall is a more modern vibe. I have some of that too.
Ray - It's really not that bad. There are only two elevators in the front, close to the aisle. The other five are against the backdrop. The two are at the far end. You can poke your head in at the cross streets to see where you're spotting the cars. Also, most of the switches have Caboose ground throws, but not the few down at that end. Those have my RC push rod throws because you can't reach them. I've got this.
John - In my world, glued ballast is a sign of confidence. I have no reason to change track, it is all placed exactly where I want it. Clearances have been checked, the design is well thought out, and there is no room for any more track anyway. I designed it for operation from day one. The lower deck is almost exactly the way I drew it 20 years ago. A few additions were done on the fly. Examples are the three track yard under the bluff, the power plant spurs, and the entire small hidden yard. The upper deck was done "backwards" from the lower deck design. First the benchwork was built, then the track was designed to fit. Again, there's no room for changes. Finally, I had a friend who is a very experienced operator, and has quite the HO layout, come over to check mine out. He really liked the layout, especially my industrial switching areas. He found them challenging, but not too difficult. BTW, I learned a trick to loosen glued ballast today. Spray it down with water and cover it with plastic wrap for a day. Another trick is to place wax paper under the track as you lay it. That should allow it to come right up.
Paul - I just can't see leaving more than half a ton of ballast to its own devices. It just won't stay on the sloped surfaces of my roadbed. It will just slump and fill the ditches. It's a lot of work to glue it, but its a lot more work to keep grooming it. You'll see when you come over.
Jim - It would be cool to turn the contents of this topic into a book. The picture quality is a little rough for publication. Might be able to fix them with Photoshop. A few years ago my lens got dirty on the inside and I can't clean it. Beyond that it would take a lot of editing. Unfortunately, the early year's construction pics are very sparse, but there are some. I want to say I have a bunch more on an old computer, which I still have. To tell you how old it is, it was running Windows ME.
Alex - If you want to see exactly what I'm modeling click HERE. That link will take you to the Hiawatha Milling District in South Minneapolis, and allow you to move around and inspect things the way I do. I need to take a field trip over there to capture the details a bit better and get good colors. On a more personal note, I was very saddened to hear that you've decided to take down your beautiful layout.
I haven't had a chance to read your entire topic yet. I hope the guys have convinced you to reconsider. My wife has been bugging me to visit St Louis again. I'd really like to visit.
Conrail fan - I'll be honest, there are days when I don't feel like working on it, but I push myself to get something done. I just keep reminding myself of the commitments I've made, and wanting to put on the best possible show for people. Now I have my open house for forum members to compliment the Menards train show on July 7th, followed two months later by the Narrow Gauge Convention. All forum members are invited to the July open, it's free, all you have to do is get here. The convention, you have to register, it's a little spendy, but it's a four day event, and there are over 40 layouts to see, plus lots of dealers and clinics.
Bruce - Eye candy may be a bit premature but I do appreciate that sentiment. As for the toe, I think it's doing really well. I don't want to be too gross here, but when we changed the bandage tonight, there was a lot of dead shin that we peeled off. It was almost like a blister, but I'm guessing that new skin is forming on the inside and the outer layer just sloughs off. I'll know more on Tuesday when I see the doctor.
JHZ - The stuff I get comes from the quarry that produces ballast for the railroads, among other things. The material I get is called headlap, but it's more commonly known as roofing granules. Normally, they don't make this finest crushing available to the public. It is a shingle manufacturer exclusive product. I explained my project to the sales manager, which he thought was cool. He sets me up with 50 pound sample bags, and I give him coffee money for the office. When I get it home, I have to dry it, then I run it through a #8 sieve. The UP uses a pink granite ballast from St Cloud, MN. A local farm supply store sells #2 chicken grit, which comes from that quarry. I bought a few bags, because I have some UP (ex C&NW) yards on the layout. Same #8 sieve. It's OK, but it is very sharp and angular, and looks rather different in texture, compared to the roofing granules.
Elliot- Another great update. Imagine how much you could have gotten done without the foot slowing you down. Glad to hear the toe is healing up. The milling district looks great- I think you have more PVC there than an average house's plumbing system 
Bob
Great answers to all the questions! I have one for you Elliot and I have no friggin idea. The wife asked me does Chicken Grit attract rodents?
Bob - Thanks. I figure I lost about 15 - 25% productivity this month, due to the toe. I'm already getting anxious for the day I can put that shoe back on. Given the way it's going, I'm shooting for a couple weeks. There will still be a lot of healing left to do, I expect no less than six months, maybe up to a year. I see the doctor tomorrow. If he gets the OK from the insurance company, he wants to use a different treatment. It's kind of expensive, but it may help speed the healing.
Mike - I wasn't exactly sure what chicken grit was until my buddy Gary showed me. He's in HO, and puts it on his sidewalk in the winter, not on his layout at all. Apparently, poultry need some stone to help with food digestion. In a game of 20 questions, when you ask animal, vegetable or mineral, the answer is 100% mineral, nothing organic about it. Don't feel bad, my wife originally thought it had something to do with corn, until I had her sift a bag of it. I'm not aware of any rodent that is attracted to rock. Just don't leave a peanut butter sandwich laying around, unless you're baiting trap with it.
And if you have a cat, don't use kitty litter. Trust me on that.
(But I know you guys already knew that. Just had to play a little by adding my unsolicited 2cents worth.) FrankM
Elliot, thanks for the information, my wife will feel a lot better! As far as the peanut butter sandwich, no problem if its made its going in me! LOL
Frank, LOL I never thought of the cat going out to the garage to use the little, but good point!
Well Frank, at least chicken grit doesn't attract chickens.
Mike you can tell your wife that one too.
Having beat the system with not one but two very unpleasant medical expriences, (w/o diabetes), l have bouncd back. Maybe you might try my plan: l have designed a line with three branches: a logging branch, a mining branch, and a farming and ranching branch...(stock pens, elevators,etc.) . I figure l will finish one and have those trains running, and that will give me the incentive to tackle the next phase. With a layout that large, maybe you might choose an operable portion and finish that and see then where you want to go
That's a great plan, divide and conquer, but you are a little late for this layout. My track and switches are all functional now, and that's actually what I did. Five years ago, I only had a good chunk of the lower deck done, and was able to run a loop.
From there I worked outward, finished the lower deck and built a second hidden yard. At that point, I was able to run loop to loop between the two hidden yards. The upper deck went much quicker, and about three years ago, the mainline was completed.
When it comes to ballasting and scenery, I've been doing that too. I use a punch list, where I have the layout divided up into 22 sections. The sections are listed across the top of a spreadsheet, and the projects are listed down the side. The data fields are just a percentage completion of each project in each section.
I also have a cumulative percentage for each project, which is just an average of the completion of the project. It gives me a good idea of where I'm at. For example, ballast is at 42% and scenery is at 21% today. I'm pretty honest when I type the percentages into the data fields. It's only for my benefit, so why exaggerate (cheat). If I want to see the numbers get better, do the work, and they will move. It really helps me to direct attention to the areas that need it, and with a layout as large as this, it is critical to stay organized.
BIG_BOY_4005 yo elliot in case phone no longer good the #1 camera at spud is up and running again.wahoooooo
ok am impressed at all you have accomplished lately it must also give you a sense of gaining on it as well hope you can make all your goals for the year and that health stays perfect for you also.
Thanks Ray, Tammy gave me the message yesterday, so yes the phone still works.
June was a bit slower than I would have liked, not physically because of the toe, but because of all the doctor visits, for a wide variety of things. The toe is a lost cause, the bone is infected, and it can't be saved. I guess we can say the nail won. This will put even more of a damper on my July activities.
Maybe I did get more done than I originally thought. After reviewing the photos, I ballasted almost two whole sections of the upper deck, Shoreham and 35th Avenue.
The month started with the ballasting of the curve between 44th Ave and 35th Ave. The goal here is to connect up to the ballasted curve on the next peninsula, past Shoreham.
That means going all the way down this aisle and back up the other side.
Here it is at the Shoreham end, working both ways to the middle.
35th.
Moving right along.
From the other end.
This is a handy way of dispensing the ballast glue, but there's something even better.
Working down the yard tracks at Shoreham, saving the mains for later.
The yard tracks go quickly.
Switches are a pain to ballast, and worse to clean.
I moved a lot of cars out of Pig's Eye so I could paint rails on the mains.
A couple of old Korber buildings help to mask the holes in the backdrop.
The ballast is around the end of the aisle at University Junction.
Almost done with the Shoreham Yard, just the west ladder left.
This is Freddy. My son, who was 10 at the time named and painted the jug.
The nearly empty Pig's Eye Yard.
Gluing continues at University Junction.
Ballast is spread over the west ladder.
Rail is painted on the mains behind Pig's Eye.
Gluing the west ladder.
I popped up through that hole at Chemolite, and finished painting the rails.
Time to ballast the mains at Shoreham.
The last of the ballast is spread at Shoreham.
Time to finish gluing.
I repainted the seams in the backdrop.
Ballast done!
I went around the entire layout and cleaned the track, so I could do a test run. Everything was going fine, out of the hidden yard, up the helix, around the whole lower level, up the hidden hill in the back, around the upper section of the helix, through Frogtown, Midway, and East Minneapolis, things were going just fine. I'm following along at the back of the train as it rounds the curve into Shoreham, then THUD. I rush around the corner to find that I had hit some things I had forgotten to move off the mains. The engine is smoking profusely, and not in a good way.
I had had this happen once before. Without opening it up, I'm 99% sure what's wrong. I fried the insulation off the wires inside the engine. When one truck is on the track, and the other is touching the center rail, the wires can get very hot before the breaker trips. This was a good Atlas engine. I set it on the concrete, until I was sure it was cool.
So I grabbed another Atlas to continue the trip. Right out of the gate, I found a switch with ballast in it, that was causing every car to derail as they went over it. Fixed that, got around the rest of the upper deck, and back to the helix. About half way down, the engine started to have signal issues. I tried two other engines, same crap. I finally got the train through the hidden yard and back up the helix. I yanked the engine, and ran the cars into the siding at Hastings.
I had an Empire Builder on the upper deck on main 2, crossed it over to main 1, and ran it down through the hidden yard, and started back up the helix. About a third of the way up, it started slipping, then a coupler opened and dropped the last three cars. At that point I had run out of time and gave up in disgust.
I put up some of the building flats that I got on the bay from Angie's. I use 2 mil Hi-tac transfer tape.
Just peel away the wax paper, and the adhesive is exposed and ready to place.
They look pretty sharp.
I took two flats, and trimmed them a little to fit the space. It really hides the hole in the backdrop.
Get a little greenery, and some intermodal cars, and this scene is done.
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Very impressive work! Thanks for sharing.
Great work, Elliot.
Peter
Another great update Elliot , bad foot and all.
Don't know if you would need this but a small painters scaffold may help you on the upper deck. Beats up and down a ladder all the time.
Bob
That's a lot of ballast! I think you should go for the motorized painter's stand.
Elliot, by now I am calling you the Ballast King!!! Way to go! Yes, the nail won the battle, but I have confidence that Elliot will win the war!! With such a helpful and supportive wife as yours, how could you possibly fail? I'm praying the toe operation and recovery goes well, and you are back on two feet before you know it!!!
Boy Elliot, you really got a lot accomplished. Dispite all the distractions, you did a lot of work. Best of luck with the toe surgery. It will be behind you before you know it.
WOW Elliot, looks like you had a great June! Once again sorry about the Toe! I sure hope you heal fast!
