My Layout

Thank you for posting this.  I really enjoyed seeing the progression of the scenery. It’s a great looking layout.

This whole thread from the beginning history to this point  is really nice Chris .

Amazing speed and material adaptation and the enthusiasm you show for your vision in  this hobby is inspiring .       What a lot of fun I have had seeing this.

THANK YOU

Well thanks for the kind words Joe, we are having fun with it for sure! glad others are enjoying following along!

Chris

Chris this was fun to watch. Thanks for including us.

Nice progress Chris. Being a miner, I assume you're using real coal in the hoppers?

Looks great, Chris!

Wow this went from bare wood to a really nice looking layout really quickly!

I've been sharing some of your photos with my dad to convince him to allow me to build a few more scenic elements. He's pretty set on Plasticville stuff without much tolerance for "scale model" scenery. Your layout proves that things don't need to be over the top crazy detailed to really add a lot of character and personality to the tracks!

Great job!

@rail posted:

Nice progress Chris. Being a miner, I assume you're using real coal in the hoppers?

Hey Don!!  for some reason I never replied to this one. sorry, yep all the coal is from "somewhere" in the northern anthracite field. from the clark vein. smashed it and screened it for the cars. they were full, but have since added false bottoms and just topped them after i started acquiring more hoppers.  i know these williams locos can pull alot but i dont want to beat on them that bad haha!  hmm, i see its also time for some update pics. got a bit more to do this weekend then ill get some up. thanks everyone else for the kind words and enjoying the layout!

Chris

Chris, I  use the coal dregs from my coal bucket for my fireplace coal insert.  I liked the effect also after noticing the sparkle when I went into the coal ' room '.  Just that little bit of fine sparkly dust really works out well.  All I did was apply some craft glue and sprinkled the fine coal overtop of the plastic coal load.

Right now I am able to run my modified Railking Triplex through about a dozen O31s in my over and under 16 × 5' double rail main layout  with the caboose and 23 coal cars .

Have a ball Chris.

Chris, I just reviewed this topic for the first time, and very much enjoyed your videos, photos and comments about the development of your fine layout.

Could you tell me about your ballast? What is it? Where did you get it? Did you buy it, find it, or make it yourself?

I think your ballast looks very good with your hi-rail tubular O Gauge track. My layout has the same track and 022 switches, which I have always preferred to the modern track and switches.

Arnold

Thanks guys! Arnold, I was wondering what to use for ballast then I read on here that people have used kitty litter...... then a few days later one of our guys was cleaning up a mess in our hangar with some oil dry and I said.... that’s it!!  So yea, here ya go.......

also Arnold I agree on the track! The modern stuff is really nice, but, running Hirail tubular takes me back to being a kid at my grandparents house. The nostalgia of it ya know! This is a practice layout. We are gonna be moving in about 2 years to the forever home and plan a much larger layout in the basement we of the house we are going to build! But, I will still build it with tubular rail, probably buy it from Menards. Have some of their rail now and it works just fine.

I’m  pretty sure kitty litter is designed the attract and hold moisture.  That may not be a good thing on a train layout.

I go to School parking lots, they have along the sides full of debris that I shovel or scoop levers of dirt into either a Depot or Lowe's Bucket, when home I shift the dirt into a screen then I pour into bottles (juice bottle 32 oz.) two bottle usually I enough to use on layout adhesive white glue and tiny bit of soap. It sticks onto table giving a realistic scenic look....

@Terry Luft posted:

I’m  pretty sure kitty litter is designed the attract and hold moisture.  That may not be a good thing on a train layout.

I think this is a problem more in theory than practicality......

Kitty Litter, and Oil Dry are a clay product. I've never notice it to swell. Diamatex is also a clay product that is used for infields, and is a suitable material if screened, but it is a yellowish tan, so it would need to be colored. I use fine crushed gray stone from a building supply house. It's known by different names: Moon Dust, Screenings and concrete sand. I sift it through a window screen. I don't remove the fines like some do.

Chris and Chuck, I am also a 100% tubular track guy, 1st with 027 track and switches (now in boxes possibly for grandchildren down the road), and currently O Gauge track and 022 switches.

My love for O Gauge track and switches stems from the trains I admired that an older cousin and an uncle of mine had in the 1950s and early 1960s, similar to the trains Chris admired that his grandparents had.

I gathered my ballast in a similar way that Chuck did. On other threads I previously shared the photos below:

Those little pebbles are mainly ground up asphalt I found along local roads during long athletic walks, and filled my pockets with. There is also some kitty litter sprinkled in. I was told that kitty litter absorbs liquid, so I only put it outside of, not in between, the rails.

My ballast didn't cost me anything. It was fun finding and getting in.

The pebbles are way too large, but so are the high rails of the O Gauge track, so I think it works. Arnold

Running some trains

Here are some pics of my Tubular track ballasted with Brennan’s Ballast using 096 curves on 3 main lines with Ross Switches.

Chris, I very much enjoyed watching the videos of your layout, and I especially like those Williams Pennsy engines.Thanks for posting.

Hey Chris , I'm going to continue watching your progress on this great looking layout.

I want to see where Grandfather's amazing brick fence is going to go.  What a beautiful piece of art it is. 😉

Hey Joe! The fence will be around the front soon. A prize item so it goes up last! Got the trolley up and running today! This one is about 20 years and pretty worn out but was good for testing, picking up my Scranton Transit trolly soon!

Really good to hear about THE  FENCE going to be included.

You have been making great progress on this layout and it looks like you are doing a great job in getting a solid base  construction .    A lot of different action going on there. 🤓

Great progress Chris. I'd love to see it some time.

any time!  gimme a call! you may like the museum better than the layout!

Hi Chris, welcome to the forum, you've come to the right place.  Great video and your new layout looks to be really awesome.  I've been into trains for as long as I can remember and it started when I was a baby.  I also happen to love airplanes too, had my private pilots license but stopped flying when the gas went nuts  and I couldn't afford to fly but every once in a while.  I love your little bi-plane, I'll bet its a blast to fly.  Thanks for sharing your great video and all of your progress on your new layout.

The loop to point operation of that trolley, combined with going through the tunnel is a really nice setup - I may have to remember that for my own once one day!

thanks guys, for some reason i just noticed these responses. J.Motts, glad to hear you are enjoying my layout and nice to hear from a fellow Pilot. here ya go, ill take you for a little ride...... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...amp;feature=youtu.be

JHZ, yea the trolly operation is fun.  we always had one when i was little, this is our old one. my mom gave it to me for testing. it has the slide plate on the bottom instead of rollers and cries a little going over the switch if its going too slow. its also missing the traction tire so it bobbles around a bit. I also noticed the bumper wasnt fastened down yet in the video and it was making the trolley bounce up in the air hahaha. it doesnt do that any more. when i get a chance to pick up the scranton transit trolley from the gift shop at the electric city trolley museum that one should run better as it has 2 pick up rollers. 

Great layout and videos. I really enjoyed it all. Thanks for sharing it.  The youtube video from the cockpit is AWESOME!

Great progress.  Nice space you have, and you've put it to good use.

Including your dogs in the video reminded me of this:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGeKSiCQkPw

Plugging along on scenery. Here’s some progress from the weekend. Should have the middle almost wrapped up this week. Then on to the big mountain and figure out what I want to do to the coal breaker and yard area there, as well as that mountain. Also, scooped up another Conrail nw2 for the coal train. They look great mu-ed together like they did here in anthracite country! They used multiple switcher units cause the track was so poor, or so I’ve been told. Anyways here’s some pics......

chris

That was a great story and a great video. Love the family history.

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!!

Chris,

Loved the video.  I flew with a friend in his Piper Cherokee quite a few times out of Forty Fort and once visited Sky Haven (touch and go). We flew  over the length of Susquehanna a number of times. My favorite route was heading west near Berwick and flying along the mountain ranges toward State College. The Finger Lakes are cool too. I'm not licensed but took the yoke many times once in the air and clear of approaches of any air strips.  He has since retired, sold the plane and moved out west. Most of the time we left right after church so I was still in my collar. My friend got a lot of ribbing from other pilots about bringing his priest along when we stopped somewhere for a Hundred Dollar Hamburger. I sure miss those Sunday afternoons.   

I posted my 4x8 home layout here under the 48Club.  Its small, but does the job until our club can  open up again.

Earl   

Plugging along on scenery. Cows are out......

Plugging along. Got the roads in and the center all cleaned up. Just gotta get some trees and then the cover is ready to go down for the hole in the middle. As mentioned in the “buy anything cool lately” thread, I got my Scranton Transit trolley and a MTH SW1 that I’m going to have repainted into PNER 601. Now it’s running on the inner loop for a bit. Anyways, enjoy......

Looking good Chris.

@C_Murley posted:

Plugging along on scenery. Here’s some progress from the weekend. Should have the middle almost wrapped up this week. Then on to the big mountain and figure out what I want to do to the coal breaker and yard area there, as well as that mountain. Also, scooped up another Conrail nw2 for the coal train. They look great mu-ed together like they did here in anthracite country! They used multiple switcher units cause the track was so poor, or so I’ve been told. Anyways here’s some pics......

chris

Magic! I want a tunnel and a side grade like this when I build my permanent layout. I want a crane setting something near the topside of the tunnel too. I’ll post a real life photo in May to better explain this last comment. Thank you for sharing all of this fun!

Looks better everytime Chris.

Really nice size to get all this action going on and still have a great amount of room for open space scenery. 

The kind of stuff my dreams are made of.

PS.  can't wait to see that GREAT BRICK WALL on that layout. 😉

Made some progress on the big mountain. Once this locks up, trees..... The lady wanted a cabin on a snow capped mountain. She gets what she wants......