OCSMR-Ocean County Society of Model Railroaders Club Latest update 11/23/2024

The black paint Bud had me using for the roadway was getting me 'high' from the fumes, hence my weird look on my face.

Did a little work on the retaining wall.

Another loop was added to the helix on the HO layout.

So.... you did some work on the retaining wall. Is the opening for a mouse to crawl out from behind the wall to watch the train go by?

Over the night, we had quite a bit of rain, somewhere over 4 inches resulting in some flooding in the basement.

The hallway was fairly wet.

The rest of the hallway was even more wet and...

…extended to the boiler room.

The chem lab was also flooded.

The O-Gauge room had water lining up with and slightly wider than the door.  Fortunately the water did not extend to the NW corner where we had items stored in cardboard boxes.  Will have to put them on pallets just in case.

The HO-Gauge room did not escape the flood.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of Al, Eric, Frank and Tom, the water was sopped up in under two hours.  Fans and A/C were left on to further dry out the floor.  No real damage except for some of the ends of our wood in the hall getting wet.

We're not sure how the water got in.  Doesn't appear to be poor drainage from the roof downspouts.  Best guess is that the water entered thru the boiler room door and traveled up the hall and flooded the rooms.  This is the first time the chem lab and HO room had water.  Both of them are on the same side of the building.

Had more flooding than usual.  The boiler floor had water from a chronic leak in the chimney area on the other side of the hall.

Oddly, there was no water leakage, just some dampness, in the NE corner of the O-gauge room.  An area prone to leakage.

Guess some leakage is not unusual for a 90 year old just like the rest of us.

The retaining wall is complete as far as fitting.  The masons didn't have much choice in stone color for the final section of the retaining wall.  A change in color is definitely in order

The HO helix continues on.  Not sure when it's going to stop.  Sure looks like it's more than high enough.

The retaining wall is complete as far as fitting.  The masons didn't have much choice in stone color for the final section of the retaining wall.  A change in color is definitely in order.

Guess Bud is going to use his own paint mixture called "conrete" color!   

Concrete stone?  LOL

Nope, the "conrete" is the wrong color.  Need a different private mix.  Now if we had used "pavers"...

Pavers!  Good idea!  But how will you convince the others to rip it out and start over?  Oh, the right combination of paints will do the job?!  Excellent idea!! 

Final color of the retaining wall.  Used a spray can "primer"ly color.  Had a can of black thinking to add some hi-lites to the stone but that paint started to dissolve the surface on a test piece a bit, so went with just one color.

Another segment added to the HO helix awaiting track installation.  Looks like its just about ready to connect to the upper level.  Will be interesting to see how the helix to the lower level will be built.

The club water tower painted on the mural is completed.  This structure marks the beginning of a new element to the painting: a New Jersey-styled city! 

Work will begin when everything is in place.

John T. aka JohnBrandt

"Horse Shoe" curve was a bit too close to the edge of the layout.  Added some real estate to give more distance from the edge.

I agree, Bud!  Good choice!

On Saturday, OCSMR was at Railroaders Weekend at the Pine Creek Railroad in Allaire State Park.  Sunday's operations were cancelled due to rain.

Nothing was done on the layout last weekend due to the annual Renaissance Faire held in the park.  Would have been there but didn't have any medieval trains to run (steam punk doesn't count - too recent).  

Ted sorted thru a lot of our archival junque (both O and HO) that has accumulated over the years.  Kept a few things like switches and power supplies.  Everything else was either tossed or boxed to be sold next weekend at the local train show in Toms River.

Filled in the "extension" with acoustic tile and started to frame out the extension of the upper level in the northeast corner.  Ran out of 1x4 stock and stopped.  Need more wood (we're OK with screws tho).

The HO helix finally reached the summit.  Tom, Mark and Chris in the back contemplating.

Has a runaround to allow continuous running on the upper loop.

Both layouts look good!  

Or is Ted going to sell that stuff at York?

Mark,

Nothing worthwhile to buy! A lot of HO buildings, pieces of buildings, HO-sized cars, pieces and whole pieces of rolling stock.

All boxed up as "buy the whole box" sale.

And yes, Bud will never run out of screws!

Fitting of plywood for the upper level extension in the northeast corner.  The area extending to the right of the vertical support will be cut off and the area will be extended a little past the side joint on the right.  This will let us use some of the operating accessories we have.

The HO helix has reached the summit.  The connecting trackwork is almost complete.

Come to our Halloween Train Show on Saturday, October 27th from 1 to 4 pm.  Artwork by the renowned Johnbrandt was displayed on our table at the Toms River Train Show this Sunday.

BTW, Mark, the junque Ted brought from the club gave us a tidy little sum.

I’m glad junque became treasure to others and the club!!!

So... been a few weeks since work has commenced and the worker bees been busy cutting masonite panels to wrap around the elevated trestles with rock paper being glued onto it. 

Given the instructions from Bud the layout master builder, he requested the panels be cut 1/4" above the ceiling tiles which was done. Came out real nice with one part of the layout completed today except for the excess trimming of the rock paper. Will do that once the glue dries. Much easier to do the trimming then.

Work to continue next Saturday (without me) since I will be traveling back from York and the following Saturday on tne 27th is our Halloween open house.

You can see where it has been trimmed with the rest to be done.

Ted, the rock wall looks great!  What grade did Bud give on the project!

Have a great time at York and a great open house!

Been trying to shake an upper respiratory for the last week or so.  Won't be able to give a grade or critique until I see the results first hand.  However, they may be moot since all the stone work will probably be complete and the mortar set.  Other than that,  it ain't too bad.

Let the critics arrive from the ones who don't participate in working on tne layout with Bud being that exception. He's done way more than his share with an extra screw or a 1,000!

Bud, it came out real nice, 1/4" above the layout with a rising or lowering cut on the grade. Next up will be behind the roundhouse.

Mark,

Did not make York this time(1st time in 26 years) with having shingles. Coming around the 072 curves in how I feel finally!

Bud likes what he sees by my photos and did what he asked for. Work will start up soon again with us doing the rock wall on the other side of the elevated lines.

The club is having an OPEN HOUSE this Saturday, October 27th from 1pm to 4pm.

Ted, I'm sorry you got shingles.  I hope you can get relief soon.  I got my flu shot last week, and asked about the shingles shots.  I was told they would put my name on a list, but the list has about 100 people on it, and they only get a couple shots delivered at a time.

I'm glad you got the Bud approval!!!  I would certainly come to the open house if I lived in New Jersey.  I hope you get a nice crowd!

Here're a few pix from our Halloween Open House this past Saturday.  Attendance was moderate due to the rainy weather.  Fortunately, the full blown noreaster didn't materialize.

Bud, Looks like there was plenty for kids of all ages!

Where did you obtain the rock paper?  It's just what I need.

I believe the rock wall paper comes in 30" x 10" sheets from Scenic Express. We bought all they had at the last York.

That end of the elevated lines is completed and we are starting on Thursday cutting the masonite board to go up the other side of the elevated lines. Then, we cut the paper to size and glue it on. Once the paper is dried, I trim it with a razor and touch it up with paint that matches the ceiling tile there.

Mark, Bud did grade me on the first side and gave me an A plus! Lol! And gave me a D Minus for not listening to his directions. Jim and I did it "our" way!

Ted, so you took Frank Sinatra’s advice and did it your way!  Well an A+ and D- average out to a B-/C+. Sounds pretty good to me considering how tough Bud is!  LOL

Jim and Ted did a great job on the ramp's wall.  The pictures don't do the rock paper justice.  It looks better in person.  Looks best with trains next to it.  The other ramp gets a little trickier with the underpass.

Work was done this past Saturday with the completion of installing masonite board strips with rock wall paper glued to it on the sides of the elevated run on the north side of the layout. 

Also, Bud finished cutting the extension of the elevated platform on the north side of the layout so we can put the MTH gas station and firehouse there for up close operation.

Pictures to follow when he posts them here.

As Ted mentioned, rocking of the north side ramp's wall continued.  Jim "mortared" the rocks and Ted applied the rock facing.  Added a couple of supports for the elevated section in the northwest corner and cut off the angled piece.

Looks good gents!

The rock wall was trimmed to meet the masonite board that had to be 1/4" higher than the layout surface as per Bud's instruction. That is all completed with the exception of the masonite being applied to where Bud is adding to the elevation so we can put some of the larger operating accessories in close range.

Work at the club is going to slow down somewhat with the holidays, the 2 day Greenberg Edison show and the Dec. 1-2 event we are doing for the Ocean County Historical Society by setting up our modular layouts and operating trains for the public there.

Next up is we are going to start track ballasting on the elevated runs.

OCSMR was at the Ocean County Historical Society's Open House this past Saturday and Sunday.  Last time we were there was in 2014.

The O-Gauge layout.

The HO layout.

And, of course, Thomas.

Nice layouts!!  How was the turnout?

Mark - Couldn't make it on Saturday but understand turnout was about 40 - 50 guests.  Not as high as past years.  But, then again, they haven't had us there for a while.  Sunday was a bit of a washout.  Dozen or so guests.  Don't know if Toms River barricading streets for, I believe, a Christmas Parade hurt their Sunday attendance.

Yes I can see those are both reasons for lighter turnout.

The MTH big boy beast was running on the outer 084 loop and wowed the folks there. It is a 20 year old proto 1 engine that still runs like clockwork. Does not have that fancy junk that breaks down and the engine costs in excess of $1500 plus. Great engine.

We made new backdrops today re-painted them with a slightly darker blue. The other backdrops have seen their days and new ones were needed.