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Elliot, my sense is no for additional TMCC addresses.  I'm not sure why they limited it to 99, but I suspect it's embedded in the software more than just the keyboard entry limitations.  For one, the Legacy system uses 99 an an "all engines" code, so you really have one less.  When the system was designed, I suspect anyone having 99 locomotives was judged inconceivable.

Well George, hobbies as we know them really grew out of the post war era, when things were very different. The pace of life was much slower, and people didn't have to work themselves to death to make ends meet. When it comes to this hobby, it takes the right mix of four elements, time, space, money and desire. All we can do to preserve the hobby is try to get people interested in what we do. If each of us just finds one person to replace them, the hobby will survive. When it is viewed in those terms, things don't sound quite so ominous. I've been working most of my life toward that end.

  • I've worked in a hobby store selling trains
  • I've done train shows with my portable layout
  • I've been in train clubs that reach out to the public
  • I had my own business exposing the public to trains
  • I've shared my love of trains with friends and family

 enterTRAINment had over 100,000 paid visits. I'd be willing to bet that with all of that energy spent, I've gotten a few more than my quota, but there's no way of knowing. Of course there's my son, but the jury is still out on that one. Fingers crossed. Now if we would just quit dying, we'd be in business.

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Well George, hobbies as we know them really grew out of the post war era, when things were very different. The pace of life was much slower, and people didn't have to work themselves to death to make ends meet. When it comes to this hobby, it takes the right mix of four elements, time, space, money and desire. All we can do to preserve the hobby is try to get people interested in what we do. If each of us just finds one person to replace them, the hobby will survive. When it is viewed in those terms, things don't sound quite so ominous. I've been working most of my life toward that end.

  • I've worked in a hobby store selling trains
  • I've done train shows with my portable layout
  • I've been in train clubs that reach out to the public
  • I had my own business exposing the public to trains
  • I've shared my love of trains with friends and family

 enterTRAINment had over 100,000 paid visits. I'd be willing to bet that with all of that energy spent, I've gotten a few more than my quota, but there's no way of knowing. Of course there's my son, but the jury is still out on that one. Fingers crossed. Now if we would just quit dying, we'd be in business.

Very well said Elliot! This hobby is going to live way past all of us! All you have to do is look around at the faces on some of the kids, not all but there are a few out there that there eyes really light up at the sight of a real train or a model train! So if you think this hobby is going to die you better sell your stuff now while you still can before the marked drops out! LOL

The Geo cloth looks great.  The large pleats are very important, they will facilitate lifting and crawling under.  I like the way the flat black draws attention to the RR.

However, for me, I'm unsettled with any enclosure.  I do not like spiders and I absolutely hate large basement spiders and camel crickets, so I am reluctant to give them any hiding place.  I spray the wall's base and set out glue boards.  If you want a shocker sometime, place a few glue boards around the floor under the layout and check it out every week or so.  Yikes!!  Maybe it's just me.

Bruce - Thanks, but I can't claim credit for the landscape fabric idea. I don't remember where I saw it, but I liked it right away when I did. It might have even been here on the forum. I will take credit for how we executed it. The rail we installed was my idea. It was the best way I could think of to follow the edge of the layout. Then we just stapled the fabric on. Technically, I'm not really at that stage of completion to have done this. There's still a good deal of messy scenery work to do. I just have to use drop cloths to keep it nice. The very last thing is the carpet. Maybe next year for that.

Mike - Thanks. If anyone is in this hobby for the money, they made the wrong bet. We do this because we love it. I have to really talk to my son about this. What I  don't want is for him doing the trains to please me. I want him to do it because HE wants to and enjoys it.

Tom - I might get the occasional daddy long legs in the train room, but not much else. The exterminator comes out quarterly. For a while I had a mouse problem, and would find those little black grains of rice on different parts of the layout, but after a couple visits, we taught those mousies to keep out, on penalty of death. We have gotten ahead of that problem, and stop them before they get in. We do get box elder bugs in the fall many years, and last night my wife sent me a picture of a raccoon on the front porch.

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Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Bruce - Thanks, but I can't claim credit for the landscape fabric idea. I don't remember where I saw it, but I liked it right away when I did. It might have even been here on the forum. I will take credit for how we executed it. The rail we installed was my idea. It was the best way I could think of to follow the edge of the layout. Then we just stapled the fabric on. Technically, I'm not really at that stage of completion to have done this. There's still a good deal of messy scenery work to do. I just have to use drop cloths to keep it nice. The very last thing is the carpet. Maybe next year for that.

 

Elliot

On a similar note using a similar material, I have been employing house wrap to form a base for scenery on my open grid construction.  Stapled in place, it's impervious to holes or tears unless cut with a knife.     Whether original or not, the idea just suits the purpose, especially when considering how economical it is for larger applications.

Until there is further progress with roughing in electrical, scenery and fascia, skirting will need to wait.  Till then, there's no hiding my hoarding problem.  But at least there now is a feasible, economic solution  permanently filed away in the old grey matter.  Thanks!

Bruce

May 2019 Update

May got off to a great start, when my son came home to visit. We had some real fun preparing for and hosting a layout tour, the first weekend of the month. Rather than recreate the posts from "What did you do on your layout today?" Here are links to a couple key posts from this month.

Baseball and trains

The layout tour

On the 16th, I was just getting ready to go back to work on the layout, after taking a couple weeks off after the tour. I was putting away groceries, and caught the right toe of my shoe on the floor, lost my balance, and fell on my right knee. I've been to the doctor three times with this thing. Nothing is broken, but it hurts, and I haven't been downstairs since I did it. Patrick is coming over in the morning. We'll see how that goes.

May was also the one year anniversary of my stepping on the nail. I am happy to report that it is now fully healed. I said it might take a year for that one, and it did.

 

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

May 2019 Update

May got off to a great start, when my son came home to visit. We had some real fun preparing for and hosting a layout tour, the first weekend of the month. Rather than recreate the posts from "What did you do on your layout today?" Here are links to a couple key posts from this month.

Baseball and trains

The layout tour

On the 16th, I was just getting ready to go back to work on the layout, after taking a couple weeks off after the tour. I was putting away groceries, and caught the right toe of my shoe on the floor, lost my balance, and fell on my right knee. I've been to the doctor three times with this thing. Nothing is broken, but it hurts, and I haven't been downstairs since I did it. Patrick is coming over in the morning. We'll see how that goes.

May was also the one year anniversary of my stepping on the nail. I am happy to report that it is now fully healed. I said it might take a year for that one, and it did.

 

Elliot, Love following your layout. Also can relate to the misfortunes with health. Especially the knees. But I really chuckled this morning reading this as it was posted 8 hours ago which meant just after midnight. Either you are in the future or most of what was in the update was is what happened in April. "May got off to a great start, when my son came home to visit". You and him must be beat doing all that in the last eight hours. Keep moving forward as it is looking great and can't wait to hear and see more. You are close to making me take a trip out to your area as I really would like to see your layout. I also loved the fact you had the ambition and guts to try and make it in a mall. Wow that is impressive. Wish I could have been there to help. You really help me keep my ambition up to work on my own layout. I just can't convince myself to come out due to the COLD WEATHER!  It and I are allergic to each other. LOL.

Curtis

Elliot, I know its been an up and down month for you and I hope your knee heals quickly! But if you look at the positive side of things, you had a great time with your son and your open house was a success! Now all you have to do is take it easy on your knee and Just will be a winner of a month! I hope you and Patrick have a good day today and enjoy your self's!

I am glad your toe is all healed up! I go in soon to get all my teeth pulled and they say that may take a year to heal enough before I can get dentures! We will see, by that time I will be ready for a nice thick steak! LOL

Elliot, Great to hear about the success of your tour. I sensed your passion for sharing the layout during our visit.  It’s awesome that your son is helping you out. Hope your next report brings good news about your knee! It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a year since our visit. Our vacation this year is taking us through Vermont, Maine, and up to Prince Edward Island. There was a great Classic Trains article about the railroad on the island. Hoping that there’s something left to see. Take care!!!

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Thanks guys. Sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. I don't usually let it go like this. I've been slacking a bit.

I went to the doctor again yesterday, more x-rays. They looked good, but later my wife got a call, the radiologist had reviewed them and said there was a small break. Not serious, and it doesn't really need anything special at this point, just go easy and rest it, which is pretty much what I have been doing. It's better to the point where plain Tylenol takes care of the pain. Good thing too, because the heavy stuff with codeine was causing a different problem, typical of narcotics.

My son will be back here in two weeks, for good. We went up to Grand Forks last weekend and brought back some more of his stuff. Paul and his wife should get to meet him at the picnic in July.

Curtis - I don't have a time machine. Those things happened at the beginning of May, and that was the May report, posted just before midnight central time on the 31st. Just email me when you finally get up the gumption to make the trip. I love having visitors. Mallard has been wanting to visit for five years since he first contacted me, and finally made it last week. I wouldn't wait another five years though.

Mike - Thanks. I haven't been on the forum much this month. Patrick is here right now as I type this. This is one of my resting activities while he takes away my old water heater away. He worked on the skirts a little this morning, and finished aisle four. It hurts a little to get around, but I'm getting there. There will be some progress to report at the end of this month. That tooth business sounds awful up front, but in the end, things should be much better. My wife is making sloppy joes for us tonight. It sounds like they would be right up your alley. BTW, I have something for you, when I get around to sending it. It's a surprise. You will both love it and hate it a little, but it's something you and your wife can do together. That's a hint.

Mark - Thanks, as soon as I can get around a little better, we may be able to go to more ball games. The Twins are kicking butt this year, and the fans are starting to fill the park, which just makes going more difficult. What I need is Thursday day games, with smaller crowds and seating in the shade. It was kind of chilly the day we went. This season is beginning to feel like 87 and 91, when they won the World Series. My son was born in 92. I had season tickets starting in 88, for about 20 years, so he got to go to lots of games when he was younger, but he's never seen anything like this. I know that feeling though. If there was one area where the Twins needed improvement this year, it would be the bullpen. They can be a little shaky, and have blown a few.

Jim - My wife and I did that trip a number of years ago. Pay attention to the Bay of Fundy, famous for the World's highest tides. Going over the bridge to PEI is free, but they nail you on the way back to the mainland. It was like $40 Canadian. "You want to get off the island, eh?" I suspect it's higher now. I hope you get to do the Mount Washington cog. Not sure if the first trip of the day is still steam. Bring a coat if you do, the weather can be crazy up there. Have fun!

Len - It was great finally getting to meet you and your wife. Glad you enjoyed your visit, and thank you. Getting the layout to the point where it can be featured in print and video, is one of my goals. No doubt about it. The other goal is to get it fully operational, so I can have operating sessions. Things are slowly falling into place for that as well. I moved a lot more trains around the day you were here than I normally do with visitors. Things worked the way they were supposed to. You must have been good luck.  

Dumbest, most backwards thing I've ever heard Elliot. I've only heard of tolls to get onto islands and return to mainland, free.

  I'd end up in the clink if I wasn't forwarned 😒 

I think a tunnel somewhere on the east coast with a one way toll stranded me once when I was a teen. (the gaurd paid my way or let me slide???  Happened on the Ohio turnpike too waywback ay w they first introduced toll collection machines. I only had a $50 bill and the voice on the speaker said just go ahead)  We have very few tolls in Michigan, usually a faster, privately owned short cut vs a free public alternative; that's what gas taxes are for

More Spellwreck fun. My God google/androidandroi..... This sucks. (different device & browser today too, ain't my fault)

I had a caboose roll off the dishwasher. A plastic frame job I added nice metal trucks to. The fall of 36" fully blew out one end wall, chipped 3/4 of the roof/boards off into another chunk, blew out a dime sized chunk at the other door's screw hole, blew the home spun mag-light lens turned spotlight into pieces, broke orig. end rails and ladder, as well as the solid gaurd/half wall I put on the spotlight end.

  I think just maybe there is enough left for a bobber bash, but I've never seen a Lionel break so badly, even falling from the ceiling. So much for modern plastics being better and stronger than PW plastic

Elliot, just checking in on your progress and health status.  Your health issues appear to be less dramatic that they have been at times, but never seem to go away completely.  It also seems lately that you have settled down a bit and and are progressing more like the rest of us.  I would venture that that is a good thing overall.  

I found your comments about getting your layout documented on video and magazine interesting.  I think we all want that when we start building our "dream layout".  A good friend followed an interesting path in regards to that.  He had worked for 10 years on his scenery before he was able to run any trains.  Then my son helped him get everything running, built custom control panels, a lot of special effects, and etc.  He had one of the best layouts that I have ever seen.  It wasn't too long after getting it done that he had TM Videos document his layout and then he tore it all down and moved to Arizona.  He needed to be in a magazine, but the timing didn't work out unfortunately.

When I was pushing myself to get as much done as possible before my TM Video shoot, I was working on the layout everyday and it was close to not being fun anymore.  As soon as that was over, I starting pushing myself to complete a magazine article.  We are done with the picture taking portion of the project and it should get much easier the rest of the way.  Then my goals are to super detail things and have realistic operating sessions too.

We are going to my wife's class reunion in Northwest Iowa over the Fourth of July weekend.  Haven't decided on when or which way we will return yet, but maybe through Cedar Falls and a stop to his Merlyn at his shop.  Going north through the twin cities is not out of the question, but not likely at this point.  Have also talked about returning through Sioux City/Omaha and a more southern route.  If we decide at the last minute to head your way, I'll give you as much notice as I can.

Things are looking great as usual.  Always appreciate your updates.

Art

 

Elliot, I am glad to hear you are getting around a little better and your down to over the counter pain meds! I agree with you there are to man side effects to the powerful stuff, but man sometimes it sure is needed and helps a great deal!

It's nice to hear your son will be back in 2 weeks! I sure hope you all have a lot of time together, maybe have time to catch up and really enjoy what you both have to offer! I know I really enjoy the time when the son and daughter come to visit which is about every 4 - 6 months!

Thanks for the heads up about the surprise, I think I know what it is and if I am right the wife is really going to love it! I will really love the finished product! LOL

I hope your having a great weekend and a little fun too! Take care of yourself and take it one day at a time!

June 2019 update

Well June went by fairly quickly. My knee is better, but there's still this nagging pain in my lower leg, that doesn't want to go away. Seeing a different doctor on Tuesday, probably get some different images beyond x-rays, so we can finally figure out what's causing it. It sure would be nice to walk without pain for a change.

My son is back in Minnesota tonight. He gets his new apartment in the morning. He got his transfer at Best Buy, so he's set for a while.

I spent quite a bit more time working on the layout this month, and Patrick was over three times. We worked on a couple major projects, and a couple minor ones too.

Here's one of the minor projects. Patrick took sheets of cardboard, and closed up the embankment behind East Minneapolis and the Roseville hill.

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Early in the month when my leg was really hurting, I entered this pile of trains into the computer, so I could have my wife make car cards.

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One of the major projects that is nearing completion is the skirting. This is aisle four, so close, but not quite done.

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Patrick finished this aisle...

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then added these hooks to hod the step benches in the up position.

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Then back to aisle three to deal with this tricky spot.

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Here's another interesting section, which follows the ramping floor at the end of peninsula three.

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Finally, a short skirt to complete peninsula two.

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On to the other major project, getting the uncouplers operational. There are multiple steps in this process. This is an idea that Gunrunnerjohn came up with. It uses a capacitive touch sensor which drives a relay, so when you touch the carriage bolt head on the fascia, you power the uncoupler coil. Here's my first batch. Using 1/4" tape I laid out the track diagram, then drilled for the bolts.

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While I was at it, I marked the switch controls for this area.

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We determined that it was necessary to use a shielded cable to transmit the touch back to the electronic board. The ring end goes to the bolt, the spade end to the terminal block on the board, and the butt splice gets a lead back to ground for the shield. Each uncoupler will need one of these, some short, and a few very long, maybe 7 or 8 feet.

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I'm getting better at making these, but they still take a while.

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This is the panel for Red Wing.

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A close up of how the cable attaches, washer, ring, washer, lock washer, nut.

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I had to enlarge the hole in the benchwork at Red Wing to get the cables through.

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Here it is seated over the hole.

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It's not easy to avoid obstacles behind the fascia. It is more important that the visible part be neat, so I just use bolts of various lengths.

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These are polyfuses with but splices crimped onto their legs. A polyfuse is just a circuit breaker that should prevent the coils from overheating. These will be placed in the wire between the relay and the coil.

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Patrick wires up the Ford Plant panel. 

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It wasn't easy getting eight tracks taped onto the fascia.

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We moved over to Roseville to work on uncouplers. I taped out the track plan and drilled the holes. I didn't notice that there was a mounting block for a Tortoise behind the upper hole.

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Patrick nearly panicked, but I just took the chuck key, and moved the bit out as far as I could, and kept drilling through the block, til the tip of the bit popped out the back. You can just see it on the left side of the block. Then I bought some 5" bolts.

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But there was a bigger problem that I hadn't noticed. I drew the track diagram incorrectly. Without re-drilling the holes, I went back today and fixed that. It's quite different from the picture of the drill sticking out of the layout above.

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This is just a picture of the work zone. we have four of the six Roseville wires in place. Two are connected to the controller block, and two are ready for Patrick to connect.

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There's the controller block. All the polyfused wires are ready to connect to the uncoupler coils.

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We have our work cut out for us in July, as there are about 75 uncouplers on the layout, and we are maybe a third of the way done.

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Elliot, It was a good month for the layout considering you doctor appointments, etc!  I'm glad the knew is doing a lot better and hope the next doctor visit will help the pain in the lower leg.  I like the skirting and how it was done on the peninsula ends to access the lower loop.  I will have to decide how to handle my  turn-back loop under the sceniced loop above.  I'm looking forward to your July!!

Thanks guys. I need to start off by apologizing to Butch, Art and Mike, for not replying to their posts from last month. 

I saw a different doctor on Tuesday, and had new x-rays taken. He showed me where the break was. The new message is: It is still healing and to STAY OFF IT! The fact that I am a diabetic and on dialysis makes the healing process go slower. I have been doing a better of staying off it the last couple days, and it does feel better, but it kind of means staying out of the basement. As a result of staying it off it, I have also been able to cut out all regular Tylenol, and that has lead me to understand where the pain is originating from. Now when I feel pain, I just move the leg to a different position so it doesn't hurt.

My son is in his new apartment. He stopped by last night with a load of laundry. It's good to have him home.

Happy Fourth gang. I'm resting my leg, watching the baseball game, and gonna grill burgers in a little while. 

Butch - I didn't make up those rules, the Canadians did, but it is not that uncommon to have tolls in only one direction. In the bay area of California, a number of the bridges are one way tolling, including the Oakland Bay Bridge. When we were out there we took advantage of that fact and went over the bridge twice in the free direction. We stayed in downtown San Francisco. The first time we took a day trip around the south end of the bay to San Jose. The second was when we left town. BTW, the toll on the Confederation Bridge has gone up to $47.75 to get off PEI.

Art - I have indeed returned to a more normal level of working on the layout. What everyone here witnessed, was a three and a half year push to get ready for the Narrow Gauge Convention, which turned out for me, to be a total flop. On the other hand, the layout made great progress, and has gotten closer to the real goal of operating sessions. Don't worry, once I get it to the point of being documented, I won't tear it down. I'm still scheming on ways to keep it running after I'm gone.

Mike - I haven't forgotten about sending you your surprise. I went through previous emails we exchanged from when you bought those signal heads from me, but didn't see your address. I'll look again, but you might just have to give it to me again. I think you figured out what it is.

No more old business, on to new business.

Pat - Good to have you back, been a while since I've seen you around the forum. Yeah, June was one of the busiest months we've had in a good while. If I can quit hurting myself, we should have more of those.

John - This uncoupler thing is really your project that you gave me. It has been on the back burner for a while now. It goes all the way back to Feb of 2016, and this topic. I do like to plan things out well in advance of actually doing them. I seem to have found my "round tuit". Now I remember why I dropped this ball for so long. The fascia needed to be done first. We only finished that last year.

Bob - Thanks, putting those track diagrams on the fascia is kind of fun, though it's more of a challenge these days with the neuropathy in my hands.

George - Glad you like that scene, but that is just a temporary bridge, standing on a couple 2x4's. That ravine is actually the Mississippi River. The real bridge is still years away from construction. It will look much better, promise!

Wayne - Thanks, I don't usually my better T shirts to work on the layout, but I knew I wasn't doing anything messy or "dangerous" that day. I have a number of Pink Floyd shirts.

Dave - Steal away, I stole it from someone here on the forum. I wish I could remember who, to give them the credit, but for all I know, they got it from someone else. I'll catch you in Duluth, but you'll have a hard time catching that train if you don't know its number. Your dyslexia is showing, not 1404, 4014.

Bill - I agree about it being fun to look back. I do the short version of that every month when I make the update posts, going through all the photos from the month, and putting together a story from them. The year end review is even more fun.

RTR - Thanks, though I think it might be time to start using a different camera. The lens on this one is dirty and I can't seem to get it clean anymore. I've had this one for like seven years, but for the last couple the quality seems to be deteriorating. It might have something to do with the fact that it fell six feet off the layout onto the concrete. My wife got me a new one more than a year ago, but I haven't tried it yet. It might be time.

NYC 428 - Thanks, I like watching it come together too. These things do take time.

Greg - I have one of those electronic picture frames, which I loaded many years ago, and have never updated. So I'm always seeing the old pictures of the layout. My wife has a frame which she does update, so that one has some newer shots, but only if she takes them, which isn't very often. 

Mark - Thanks, it really helped having Patrick over three times last month. Would have been four times, but he had to work last Saturday so his work could get today off. The picnic is going to be a pretty small event. Just Paul and his wife, Patrick and my son. Wish you were going to be here.

 

No Wayne, it's going to be a steel truss bridge. It is known as the Milwaukee Road Short Line Bridge. It goes over the Mississippi River and it looks like this:

best sideBelowbridgelevelfall

But to complicate matters, I have to build it on a curve. I think it will have five straight segments with angled ends. Tricky, but not impossible. There will also be water down there, but that will be the last thing in that scene.

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Elliot, thanks for the June update in review! Sometimes as the month goes along I forget some of the stuff you have done and its nice to get a reminder. There is a lot to learn from your build and how you share it with the rest of us! You are truly a great ambassador to this hobby!

Mike - Thanks, I just love trains, always have, and now it's just who I am. I have a bit of a reputation locally, because of all my public exposure over the years. I sometimes forget too, what happens in a month. I do post about 80% of my work over on "What did you do on your layout today?", but that gets mixed in with everyone's. This is the real place to catch up with my progress. However, I can be a little funnier over there, as well as go into a little more detail. Example: the "short skirt" joke, as a recent one.

Wayne - Thanks. If you want to see a really cool version of that bridge, come to the Twin Cities and visit the Twin City Model Railroad Museum. They feature a huge 2 rail O layout, and right at the front of the layout, is an extremely accurate model hand done in brass. The guy who did it passed away a couple years ago, but his work will live forever. Mine will never stand up to that, I may even use plastic, but the overall impression of the scene should kind of make up for a lower level of detail on the bridge. The brass one is made for rivet counters. This is called "pick your battles". It will fool magazine readers and video watchers, as well as most visitors, and that's good enough for me.  

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