My Hi-Rail Erie-Lackawanna Themed Layout (Update Video added 9/28/18)

bbsfdl60,

   Simply fantstic, I waited to post because I wanted to see more pictures of your layout,

Congrats on a great job well done, have fun with your trains!

PCRR/Dave

Thanks Dave,

 

I will post pictures and videos as long as no one objects.  I need to make a track plan and come up with a name of the railroad. 

 Did a little work on the layout over the last few weeks, made a few videos to share, the descriptions are on the youtube pages.  Hope you all enjoy.  I am still drawing out a track plan....hopefully soon I will have it.

 

I have nearly completed the city scene, I bought a MTH operating gas station.  I laid out the section and am detailing it.  I have some ballast work to do, landscaping and trees.  Lastly populate the area with people.  I'm close......

 

 

 

 

 

Apologies , I forgot one...hope everyone enjoys. 

 

 

Great videos!  The second one, I kept hearing a noise and thought "it sounds like he has a high speed camera going"..... and then the man came down the stairs.  Oops.  I really enjoyed the third video, that was a perfect angle to record from.  Thanks for sharing!

Enjoyed the videos. I don't know what you used for wires between your poles but they look fantastic.

That is the lionel burning switch tower, it has always sounded like that.  I modified it with a MTH PS1 smoke unit because the original unit created such little smoke

I used black thread, I went to a local fabric store and found the right thickness.  I strung them and dabbed superglue on it

Excellent!

 

Who is the manufacturer of the RS3's?

 

Thanks.

They are both MTH Railking... I custom painted the Lackawanna, the other is factory

Nice layout and nice videos. I'd like to see it close up some day, I'm from Ashley. I like the K Line Blue Coal hoppers, I have the three car set on my shelves. 

Added a new engine to the roster, a MTH 0-8-0 steam switcher.  The talented crew in the engine shops restored this old workhorse.  (actually it was a blown 5v board that I replaced and repaired)  The engine needed to get some time on the rails so it was lashed up with the vintage DL&W camelback.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just incredible......I just re-read the whole thread......I'm literally speechless!

 

Peter

Thanks Peter...

Engine looks & sounds great.

Like many of us I have not been in the basement working on the layout during the summer, but there were a few times I did get somethings done.    First is a nice Erie Lackawanna lashup of a MTH Railking RS3 and a newly acquired MTH Premier Erie GP7 dummy (From a fellow forum member), and the powered sister in the rear.  The powered Erie GP7 is a special engine to me, it was the last Xmas present my Dad bought me before he died. So to add its twin is a nice bonus.  

 

The next three show what I did to detail some railking engines.  A very simple and inexpensive item that goes a LONG way since they come in 50lb bags.  Black Beauty.  I used it for my railyard ballast but have found it covers the molded coal in MTH hoppers very well.  So I tried it with the coal tenders of my Railking steam.  I was very pleased with the way it looks. 

I started customizing buildings around the layout.  This is my MTH firehouse, which is a very nice accessory, but in terms of realism in operation, not so much. My solution was to make it a fire museum, that way the slow operation of the fire truck and the fireman on the pole can be rationalized, to me.  My father was not a fireman, but our departments historian, so it is only fitting to make the Mark Boock Fire Museum.  I changed the Mack B firetruck that came with it to a model of a 1927 American LaFrance( which our the FD had three years ago) Add a few models of various pieces and walla a antique fire show.

 

 

My final additions are some flame kits from Evans Designs.  I added it to the MTH burning home and a Lionel switch tower.  It adds a little more realistic touch, if there are any other firefighters on the forum I think you can agree it looks convincing. 

Very nice. I have a Lackawanna SW9 that I really like. Your scenery is nice, and I like the concrete retaining wall for the upper line.
I use Black Beauty for my coal loads. I also used it for my display yard, sprinkled on top of the ballast to represent spills. It comes in different grits too. The only thing I've found about the more recent bags I've bought, is that there are different colored materials mixed in, which I pick out with tweezers. There are also fine tube shaped particles mixed in. I also pick out the larger more noticeable pieces. They are at least black.
Don

Great looking layout bbsfd160!

 

Thanks for sharing all your hard work.

I just reread this whole post. Just an amazing layout. Great photos & videos. Any word on an OGR Magazine article?

Spence,

 

 

thank you for your reply, I have contacted Mr Miller about contributing.  I am writing the text for it now, and I have a few things to do on the layout before I am ready.  I need to get some IR detectors for my crossing signals, scenery on a section by the fire museum and cabinet factory.  I also need to finish the section of bank wall with backs of buildings, creating them on a program and printing them out. 10 feet worth!

So soon I hope. I am humbled that Mr. Miller would consider my layout, and can't wait to see it in print.  That saidI want to do it right

Love the EL and ERIE.

Now if MTH could supply us with these...

 

 

Fantastic. I look forward to seeing this article in a future issue.

I know... I have emailed MTH suggesting it.  I have nothing in the transition era scheme.  The hobby shop I am associated with has a special DL&W engine in the works with MTH.  It is either going to a a switcher of some sort or as I am suggesting, the GP-7 959 that was recently saved and is being rebuilt by the talented crew at the Delaware Lackawanna shops in Scranton. 

Pardon me, I'm from out of town, what is this Black Beauty and where can you get it?

 

Wonderful layout and scenery you have there!

Brian,

Black Beauty is a black slag product which is used for sand blasting, and as an anti skid material for concrete. It can also be applied in painted walking surfaces for the same anti skid use. It comes in 100 pound bags, and in several different granule sizes. The finest size is what I use for coal loads, as it is comparable to chestnut coal, which is the most common size. I get mine at a local building supply center. 

Don

Thank you Don!

Brian,
If you can't find it in your area, let me know and I can send you some to experiment with. My e mail is listed.
Don

love the big fire scene.  how difficult is it to refill the smoke unit on that house?

Not hard at all. It is an MTH piece, you lift up the roof and the smoke unit is right there.  I just need to stand on a step stool to reach from the back.  The bigger issue is the unit itself with regards to the water.  Recently the pump stopped working, I tore it apart and found that the shaft was rusted.  I cleaned the motor, reassembled and it worked, But the nozzle had developed a build up also.  I had to really clean it out. But once everything is working it is a great looking piece. I made some modifications to the building to increase believability.  

I was playing around with the layout this weekend, here are some videos I made enjoy.....

 

I could go for GP7 #959 in 2 rail...

Pete, call me jack Tylenda, Archbald pa. 570-521-4170, retired state trooper, train collector. Putting together round the basement 3'track set up. Nothing fancy but entertainment.  Interested in local,roads and looking for decals.  Jack Tylenda

 

 

 

Just added a MTH Premier Erie Lackawanna U25b to the fleet.  I have been looking for this since it was released years ago.  O I also completed a conversion of a MTH USRA 2-8-8-2 to make it a D&H #1612.  It was found in pieces and I rebuilt it.  So with the kids off of school on a snow day and my repairs all caught up.  I thought I would play with trains, not a bad way to spend a morning.

 

Awesome Job, great work!

Spectacular.....captures the feel of the EL!

Peter

WHOA!!!!

 

 

I wanted to show some progress I have made on my layout.  have this section across from the train station that I have envisioned the backs of buildings much like the view from the Scranton City Yard looking at the city and seeing the backs of the buildings of Lackawanna Ave.  The buildings came from a fellow forum member who was selling them I just needed to modify the depth.  I will add lights once I am satisfied with the placement.  There are two other buildings a friend gave me that fit nicely.  Originally I tried printed buildings on foam core.  But that did not look right I think this is the direction I wanted to go. 

Very nice! Great videos.

I am guessing that you are modeling the old yard off of Mill St, I think the roundhouse burned in the early 50s or so.  Given the age of the turn table, it was most likely a stone lined pit, and is probably still there under the dirt.