Yes, it is hard to figure out why one engine has trouble with a particular spot and all others don’t. It happens to a lot of us.
That sounds like a nice size for a city. Good ideas for access. I forgot the layout isn’t right up against the wall.
If its just a small bump, I'll take it. It's wild how different very similar engines act over the same piece of track. 
I will say, I'm super happy that I built it off that wall. It's been a god send to be able to get to the back of the layout and work on scenery. Not to mention checking on the sump pumps.
I'm hoping to get the tunnel lined and covered this weekend, so I'll post some pics of what it looks like with a top, and walls. I've been playing around with tunnel portal alignment and I want to make it dynamic. I've been playing around with some ideas on how to do that, and make the tunnel and city area not look like its just a box plopped on some plywood. I think I have some ideas that are, again, inspired by some areas in the Mon Valley.
Yes, as long as the engines run over the bump well it is good. I can picture places in the Allegheny valley that would provide inspiration, so know the Monongahela valley is not much different. I’ll be glad to see your progress
I just realized I haven't updated this post since prior to York! There has been a lot going on on the layout, plus some new motive power, rolling stock, and, FINALLY, DCS!
On the layout, I have the upper level fully mocked in. I have a door built on the back that I can open to get to any derailed / stalled trains. Here's a progression of how its come along.
I also picked up some more MTH houses for the suburban scene and am planning a fun scene with that trailer.
I've also done some more mountain making. I broke out the plaster sheets and started covering foam mountain into the white mountains! haha. I need to make some rock molds, and once that gets done, painting and groundcover will commence!
Now, the layout currently looks like this! Its come a long way in under a year from moving into the train room. I'm already plotting a few things, including a possible new spur track in the front, backdrops, Phillips Hue lighting, and room decor.
Now on to York! This was my first York and I had an absolute blast. I met up with some friends, connected with folks I've chatted with on Instagram, and met a lot of the awesome Youtubers. This is such a great hobby, with so many amazing folks. Its always the people that make these events and the hobby so great. One of the highlights of the weekend was going to the Lower Susquehanna Valley Modular Railroaders "Run what you brung" night. They have such an awesome layout and are currently in the planning stages for building a permanent layout.
Now, for my York haul, I got a little over excited. haha. I was able to pick up some really great rolling stock, scenery items, and an engine I had my eye on for a while now from Vince's Trains, and another not so planned one from Mr. Muffins. The big purchase was picking up a DCS system for an absolute amazing price too. Command Control has really changed my layout and made it much more fun, especially around building consists, switching engines, etc. Now I do have an issue thats been going on thats isolated to one loop, but more on that later. Here are some pics of what I picked up.
Now, on my DCS issue. After a few missteps in hooking it up, mainly me trying to power it through the variable channels, I was able to get it to run flawlessly! Then, my issues started. Long story short, I think I need to check the wiring on my inner loop. Every time I shut everything down for a time and turn it back on, the engines on my inner loop miss the watchdog signal and turn on. Without fail, they fire up. My outer loop, everything is golden and I've never had an issue. Oddly enough, if I swap the wires come from the TIU to my Z4000 and restart the remote, everything works fine. But then, it comes back after I turn anything off. 
Any thoughts on what could be causing this?
Thanks!
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The layout is looking great, Justin!
Yes, command control is great! I really like the DCS system once I got the hang of it. Your problem sounds like what I had, missing the watchdog. I am going to tag @gunrunnerjohn who has a little add on watchdog generator circuit that should help you. He sells them through Henning’s Trains in Lansdale, Pa. Maybe John can give you a quick link to a concise description.
On to your York trip. Nice haul. I have made the trip twice and think the best part is meeting up with friends from the OGR forum.
Those are nice modules the Lower Susquehanna group has.
What happens if you switch wires from the TIU to the two loops?
As Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young once sang, "Its been a long time comin'." I can't believe its been 4 months since my last update. After a little burn out on it, a busy summer, and focusing on my always broken Jeep, I've carved out some time to work on the layout throughout the summer. Here is the most recent set of updates!
First up, I figured out my DCS issue. If I power both loops up at the same time, the watchdog is triggered and I don't have any issues. Its weird, but it works and I'll take it.
Next up is the layout. I have 5 sections of my layout that needs scenery; the rural area, river, lower town, upper city, and yard / industrial area. I've focused a lot of time working on the upper city (building the structure for it) and around the yard. I wanted to focus in on one area and try to get a majority of the scenery done. The best area to focus on, learn and grow on is the rural area.
Since I'm modeling Western PA, I wanted to make sure the scenery reflected that. Nothing there is flat. Even the cows have a set of legs that is longer than the other. The last thing I wanted to do was have a flat plywood central. With that in mind, I built up where I wanted all of the houses to go with some 1/4in pink foam. I used some scraps to elevate some houses and build in some random little hills and what not. This caused a flat area to have some interest. I also want to activate the corners, so I built up a little area to put an MTH trailer in.
The next thing I worked on was a large mountain to go behind the town. I wanted it to be something reminiscent to what I grew up with and see when I take the Capitol Limited home. I followed a process that I learned from Chris's Trains and Things videos. I built out the platform from foam, then built FOAMHENGE (you have to scream that right?), which were some pieces of foam I shaped and stood up. Then I added cardboard lattice work, covered it up in plaster, and slapped on a quick coating of sculptamold. 
A quick coat of camo brown spray paint, some rock molds, and ground foam...and voila! The first piece of scenery, I've ever built to full completion!
Today, I started on the little hillside between the tracks. Since its a tight area, I opted to use Woodland Scenics Shaper Sheets. for me, the jury is still out on it. I'm not totally in love with how it works, but it, plus some more sculptamold, and I think it came out ok. I'll be interested to see it covered in paint and grown foam. I do think I can cover up imperfections and whatnot pretty easily too.
I'm hoping I can get everything painted tonight or tomorrow.
Last up, I wanted to show some cool railroad related items my mom found while cleaning out some things in the house. The first book was written by an Engineer in Dickerson Run, PA about his stories when he was working on the railroad. The cool thing is he put a note in it for my great grandfather (a conductor on the P&LE). The second is a book of postcards of P&LE Howard Fogg prints. A few cool shots I added are of the Dickerson Run yards where the P&LE interchanged with the Western Maryland and of Holy Grail engine (that one day I will get!): the A2 Berkshire.
Hope to see some of yinz in York!
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I have wondered a couple of times where you have been. 
I'm glad you have been working on the railroad. It was almost a shame to cover up Foamhenge, but the mountainside does look great! Those are some nice books your mum found, and an excellent one to keep with the note to your great-grandfather.
I certainly wish I was going to York, but alas, I am not. Have a great time there!!! 
The progress cartainly does look good. I like the mountain! I've been thinking more and more about my own URR build and struggling with wanting to put in so much as I remember into a small place.. I like how you have handled it.
I'd say "hi" at York, but a new job has me busy. Have a lot of fun and watch out for Brady's. LOL.
@Greg Nagy posted:The progress cartainly does look good. I like the mountain! I've been thinking more and more about my own URR build and struggling with wanting to put in so much as I remember into a small place.. I like how you have handled it.
I'd say "hi" at York, but a new job has me busy. Have a lot of fun and watch out for Brady's. LOL.
Greg, it certainly is tough picking what to put on a small layout. Justin is doing a great job.
Is URR the Union RR just east of Pittsburgh?
@Mark Boyce posted:Greg, it certainly is tough picking what to put on a small layout. Justin is doing a great job.
Is URR the Union RR just east of Pittsburgh?
Yes, that is what I am referring to.
@Greg Nagy posted:Yes, that is what I am referring to.
Thank you!
@Mark Boyce, I'm still here! Its been wild that I feel like I worked on the layout more during the warmer months than I did in the colder months. My wife said the same thing. haha She was really impressed with Foamhenge. I told I guess I'll need another layout to have an area thats just structural. lol Thanks, always, for the kind words on my progress
@Greg Nagy Oh you don't know how I was tempted with something he had but I held out! Will power prevailed, for once. Thanks! I honestly still struggle with putting to much in it. I've actually cut back a lot of things and ideas and have been focusing on the concept of less is more. The industrial area is whats going to be hard though because I'd love to cram more in.
Now for a quick post-York update. My goal for York was to get 2 Pennsy style Z Stuff Signals and pick up some more scenery items. I got that and a few great deals on some P&LE rolling stock. I didn't see any of my grail items so the bank account is still safe 
. But with a full weekend after going up on Friday, I was able to get some more scenery work done so here it is! I worked on the area where the small trailer is go to be, added some more ground cover, and put in gravel driveways
I need to ballast some areas and add in bushes / course cover, but I like the way its shaping up.
And for some of my York purchases, I picked up this great little loading dock for my small yard and, like I said, 3 P&LE cars.
And, in the theme of less is more, I'm still debating on putting in an offroad scene. Let em know your thoughts.
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The layout looks great! Yes an off road scene is a good idea for the jeep
Not a big update since I've been doing a lot of work travel recently, but I wanted to share the first glimpse at some of my scenery work.
Welcome to Western Pennsylvania.
Also, I just scored something off of my Holy Grail list. So in a few weeks, I should have some pictures of it! Now back to the basement for some more work.
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Justin, not only do the P&LE and URR say Western Pennsylvania, but the terrain tells us that too!!
I love layouts depicting western PA because I always recognize the terrain!
About the only thing missing is the coke gas pipes on the hillside.
The church picture reminds me a lot of my home parish, just before my time.
The original St Agnes in West Mifflin (which burned down in 67-68 timeframe) overlooked the Bull Run/Grant St extention.
Thanks everyone! I feel like there is so much cool terrain to model through that area. Last week when I was driving through to put our classic car in storage in Cabot, PA, I kept taking mental notes on the colors of the rocks, how the ground swells around rocks, undergrowth, all of it. I think you'll be seeing some changes on that hillside in the next few weeks too!
@Greg Nagy, that coke gas pipeline is actually in the works for the other side of the layout. haha. Stay tuned for that.
Cabot! You were just down the road from me in Butler.
Looking really good! What's not to like about Western PA? Beautiful scenery, great people, and RR's galore.
Art
Woooof! I'm sorry its been so long since my last update! Layout progress has been somewhat slow since November. We've head a difficult winter and work has been pretty crazy. Couple that with deciding to build a shed and pretty much all of my free time has been taken.
Tonight was the first night I made a great deal of progress in a few months. It definitely felt good to be back in the train room.
I'll take the updates month by month
November 2023
One of my main goals for the month was to finish my tunnel project and wrap up some of the more annoying sections of scenery around the edges. Here are some pictures that show the scenery build around the edges.
The next big change was updating building out the road tunnel. A little bit of finesse, an HO tunnel portal, and voila! My goal was to look like the tunnel over the Youghiogheny River in Layton, PA.
December 2023
Remember how I mentioned I found one of my holy grails?! Well, I finally got it! Introducing the crown jewel of my fleet, the MTH Premier H9 P&LE Consolidation. I picked it up from Brady's in Greensburg and I got a matching period correct caboose from Trainz. It looks right at home carrying the coal hoppers
February 2024
The year started off fast, so there was pretty much 0 work on the layout until the end of February. I was able to lay down some roads using Eric from Eric's Trains method of cinders with Elmers Glue! It worked like a charm! Where the houses are, I put in, what in my mind, looks like a tar and chipped country road.
May 2024
And that gets us to May! With building the shed, I've honed my carpentry skills a little bit. One thing my train room has been lacking is display shelves. So I built the first of probably two, storage shelves last week. Its not fully done and still needs stain and some leveling feet, but I love how its turned out so far! It was also a super easy and cathartic project. (don't mind my insanely messy garage)
For my last update, I finally had a free night to myself and decided to do some landscaping. First I planted a garden, then put in the trees I had laying around and made.
I took this picture before I walked out of the train room tonight. I can't believe how far things have come in just a few years. Just this time last year it wasn't much more than benchwork with some buildings plopped around. I finally have conquered my doubts about scenery and have really started to transform the room into an actual train room.
The last thing I'll show is a video I put together of my Consolidation running around the layout. I hope you all enjoy!
Until next time!
-Justin
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Justin, very nice progress. The Consolation from Brady’s and caboose look great! Your shelves are working out well too!
Looks great, please continue to update us.
Thanks @Mark Boyce and @SusieQ! I've been pretty bad on updates over the last few months, and want to make sure its changed moving forward.
I went on a tree making bonanza the other day and figured I should get them on the mountain. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about putting them on. What if I messed them up? What if they don't look right? What if....
Then I remembered a phrase: "Nature isn't perfect" and went for it! I really love how it turned out. I'm going to make a few more and place them around the trailer scene (and add some undergrowth, shrubs, deadfall, etc) and put a few more smaller ones on the mountain.
Next up, the TVA showed up and starting stringing power into the town! First up, the signals. The railroad rules the area and needs power first! (or I ran out of steam and only had time to get them wired up haha). I have to say, I LOVE these Z stuff signals! They are awesome and take a lot of the guess work out of wiring isolated tracks and what not.
And last but not least.....Another holy grail has been checked off my list! A few weeks ago, I was scrolling instagram and I was shocked at what popped up. Something I have never seen in person and only knew about it from seeing it in one of the last MTH catalogs. For its intro: "Now arriving from Pittsburgh on Track 2, Train number 275..." The Steel King! The P&LE is very subtle on it, just painted above the number on the side and the numbers for these are correct to what was on the Steel King 4204 and 4207. My plan from this is to build a pretty realistic consist of B&O, Erie, and NYCS cars. I'm officially down to only 1 Holy Grail left on my top list: the rare MTH A2 Berk, but for now, the bank account needs to recover. haha
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Excellent progress!! The Steel King looks great!
I like what I am seeing!! The shelf arrangements and the layout complement each other. Nice start on the trees. Stay with it.
Always nice to see another Union Railroad modeler! I’m from the area and had a family friend who worked as an engineman for the URR ‘till around the 2000s. Loving the work as well and if you need any info on stuff from around here I can lend a hand!
@Pennsy6755 Justin knows I’m from the area too, but not a resource on the URR. 😃 It’s always nice to see folks here on the Forum willing to share information, help, and moral support.
Thanks @Mark Boyce and @SusieQ! The Steel King has been an awesome runner. I need to start searching for some of the accurate passenger cars for it, but it looks good hauling the good old P&LE commuter cars.
@Pennsy6755 Thats awesome! Its great to find another Western Pennsylvanian on here. My grandfather retired from the URR in 1978. And thank you, I really appreciate it. If you or Mark ever run across some of those URR MP15s that were custom runs for CT McCormick and Mercer Junction, let me know!
I also have another quick update. I had some free time this week and was able to get the lights for the houses wired up! I decided to run a single bus line into the area and ran power drops off each of the houses and the trailer. I may run another bus for the church, campfire lights, and the station lights. But thats a future project.
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Great looking lighting, Justin! I’ve seen the Custom MP15s. They are nicely done. I don’t know where any are now.
Night scenes look great. Get line side signals in place to add even more ambiance.Stay with it...........
I know where there is one of the "Spirit of 76" engines... but no I am not parting with it. 
Its going to be paired with URR #21 once I have something to run it on.
The green and yellow paint schemes were after my memories of the URR growing up, so I did not order them.
@Tall J posted:Thanks @Mark Boyce and @SusieQ! The Steel King has been an awesome runner. I need to start searching for some of the accurate passenger cars for it, but it looks good hauling the good old P&LE commuter cars.
@Pennsy6755 Thats awesome! Its great to find another Western Pennsylvanian on here. My grandfather retired from the URR in 1978. And thank you, I really appreciate it. If you or Mark ever run across some of those URR MP15s that were custom runs for CT McCormick and Mercer Junction, let me know!
I also have another quick update. I had some free time this week and was able to get the lights for the houses wired up! I decided to run a single bus line into the area and ran power drops off each of the houses and the trailer. I may run another bus for the church, campfire lights, and the station lights. But thats a future project.
I can certainly try finding a few or so URR MP15s! Pal of mine from the Fort-Pitt Hi-Rail Modular club I’m in owns a few he custom weathered for a work train he runs from time to time. Really eye popping models in my opinion but as for intact ones that haven't been run, that I’ll have to check!
I need to stop saying life is slowing down and I can work on the layout. Life has not, its been crazy, and I write this and its already mid July 
As I mentioned, layout progress has stalled, but I do have a few fun updates.
I've been on a quest to add some fun lighting to the room overall. Years ago, I invested in Phillips Hue lights around our, then condo. I picked up a color changing Hue Light strip. We didn't really have a place for it in our new house, so its been in storage since we moved. I finally dug it out and put it behind the layout. I really love how its changed the entire vibe. It creates a great ambiance for night scenes. Below are a few shots of what it looks like with blue and purple hues.
We also had my nephews in town last week. One is 8 and one is 4. They loved the layout and every day the 4 year old kept asking me to go to the basement. lol After a few mishaps (including trying to stop a train by telling it to stop and putting his hand in front of it), he quickly mastered using my DCS remote to blow the horn and ring the bell. I snagged a picture of him running two trains and only being allowed to push the white and yellow buttons. haha
I'll leave with a video I put together for my Instagram page. Just a quick night run of the Steel King running through the hills, rivers, and towns of Western, PA.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C9e-SrOR7I4/
Have a great rest of the week!
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Very nice lighting effects, Justin! I’m glad your nephews liked running trains!
