What did you do on your layout today?

Now that I got two more ET&WNC hoppers (3D prints form Western Rails) on the way and will have eight very soon, I’m going to go back and re-structure the concept of operations on the layout.

Before it was a simple “swapping cars” deal, but now what I want to do is to start off with different cars, but a coal train comes in and each car goes somewhere (three of them to the Army area, eventually I’ll have a coaling area for them).

The second train will be mixed, but now I’m going to put a lot of thought into which car goes where.

I really doubt anyone running on another guy’s layout cares where a specific car goes, but for those who do, the new concept will make more sense. This means I’ll run my first-ever solo op session and take notes along the way.

Most of all, I’d always wanted some hopper cars and it’s great now that they’ll be as ubiquitous on the layout as they were on the real railroad.

Well, it works..... Gi-Raffe has to duck through the wood bridge, but it works. Featuring an Autographed Searchlight Car!! Whoop. Best Day Ever

And under the subheading of “Did you buy anything Kewl today and Run it on the layout?”

yes, after getting the long boxcar stuck in Ewe Tunnel on the 4x8, and getting successful run, (yes, more than once around silly) my latest very kewl purchase made the round. Lionel/Postwar/Traditional/Prairie 2025 with whistle tender pulled the Autographed Consist: NYC operating Boxcar, twin 3559 coal cars for my Coal Loader, 6465 Sunoco Twin tank followed by a 🦒 giraffe supervisor for safety.

Was having a pretty crappy day till the ewes lured me in to play with trains (cough, cough, er, Run Trains)

salute to my friends on the forum and The Masked Man.

Looks good Scott!!

Little more done on the river Kevin

I got the yard switches installed and mains wired last night. Tried a couple of engines and most were fine. My Lionel RS-11 stalled in the middle so I will need to investigate further. My LHS didn't have the straight sections of track that their inventory showed, so I had to order them online. I should have them next week. I still have to wire the switch motors and rewire the yard power and uncouplers.

Bob, you are well on your way!  Perseverance pays off.

Thanks Mark- I'm trying to get the layout back together so I can run trains. Between this and the corner tunnel project, I've been just moving stuff out of the way for months.

Bob

That looks great Bob. Congratulations to your track gang.

@RSJB18 posted:

Thanks Mark- I'm trying to get the layout back together so I can run trains. Between this and the corner tunnel project, I've been just moving stuff out of the way for months.

Bob

Glad to see things coming along, Bob. I thought I was the only one that needed to clean up the train room after working on my latest project. I'm still deep into it and I keep telling myself i need to clean things out so I can get back to the joy of operating my trains.  I'm getting close, but I'm not there yet. It's just so easy to accumulate stuff all over the place when working on a layout re-disign or material scenery project.

My wife is so extremely neat an each time I share a train project photo an video  with her I get, why is it such a mess?

My method is, I leave the tools close by because if I put them where they belong, that’s when I need them.

As I viewed Ms. Sarah’s demonstration of her wire tree bark I kept thinking how neat is her kitchen 😊

And what a great demonstration it was...

When I got back into 3-rail, going on 20 years ago, these cars were among the first I picked up,  Like so many prewar cars, they had been converted to postwar trucks sometime after WWII.

I decided that I wanted a full prewar freight train, so I started scrounging for prewar box coupler trucks.

Some cursing and a bit of bodging later, the cars are back to original spec! 

As a side note, the RTC reconstruction should resume sometime this month.  Keep an eye out!  ;-)

Mitch

@Strap Hanger posted:

Glad to see things coming along, Bob. I thought I was the only one that needed to clean up the train room after working on my latest project. I'm still deep into it and I keep telling myself i need to clean things out so I can get back to the joy of operating my trains.  I'm getting close, but I'm not there yet. It's just so easy to accumulate stuff all over the place when working on a layout re-design or material scenery project.

I have the problem that I don't have room for a workshop, so the 11x11 room serves as a workshop area also.  If I put any of the tools back in the garage, then I have to keep traipsing out there to get them.  I do have to be careful, or the tools get sucked into the Mrs. B Vortex of stuff upon stuff.  It can be quite a dilemma. 

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

When I got back into 3-rail, going on 20 years ago, these cars were among the first I picked up,  Like so many prewar cars, they had been converted to postwar trucks sometime after WWII.

I decided that I wanted a full prewar freight train, so I started scrounging for prewar box coupler trucks.

Some cursing and a bit of bodging later, the cars are back to original spec! 

As a side note, the RTC reconstruction should resume sometime this month.  Keep an eye out!  ;-)

Mitch

Mitch, the trains are great, but I see you are sporting the Grand Poobah of the 48 Club hat.  Wear it proudly!!!

Nothing on the layout today, but did some more organizing of the boxes to most of my rolling stock. Good thing a lot of the boxes are smaller and easier to condense.

@Mark Boyce posted:

I have the problem that I don't have room for a workshop, so the 11x11 room serves as a workshop area also.  If I put any of the tools back in the garage, then I have to keep traipsing out there to get them.  I do have to be careful, or the tools get sucked into the Mrs. B Vortex of stuff upon stuff.  It can be quite a dilemma. 

Same here, Mark. My train room isn’t much bigger than yours and it has also served as my workshop. What I wouldn’t give for a large basement! Unfortunately, that’s not an option down here in south Florida.

@Strap Hanger posted:

Same here, Mark. My train room isn’t much bigger than yours and it has also served as my workshop. What I wouldn’t give for a large basement! Unfortunately, that’s not an option down here in south Florida.

I knew someone out there had to have a similar issue.  We live on a hillside in a small split entry.  So in effect, the lower level is a basement.  If our older daughter was able to get all her furniture out of here, it would help.  She and her husband have had rodent and water problems in their basement that is over a crawl space.  Both those problems have been taken care of, but now there is mildew.  So they emptied their finished basement to, you guessed where.  Yes, our previous house was built the same way.  That's what you get when a house is built on a hillside. 

I did a little work this evening making some bases out of scrap hardboard for my scenic forms that will be mostly foam.  Yes indeed, I am starting some scenery...instead of just placing a few buildings on a tabletop. 

After seeing the MTH 2 story station I went ahead and found one on the bay. It arrived the other day and now I an trying to figure out how I am going to fit it in. I have already cut away part of my elevated structure and will fill in the a curved section which matches the lower yard. Good thing I have Kreig pocket drills so this will not be too much of a hassle.

I also added sections of static grass at a couple of points between tracks. I need to let the base glue dry a bit more before adding another layer. The dead grass clumps made from hemp rope is looking OK. And other than a bit of a smell, the used coffee grounds are looking OK as dirt. Still needs to be glued down.   Photos this weekend. 

Mark,  I finished off my basement well before thinking about getting back into trains. I sectioned off the back area into three rooms - a utility room workshop 13x13, the train room 13x13 and a storage area leading into a large crawl space 10x13.

Had I been thinking about a layout I could have made the utility room much smaller and gained another 3 to 5 feet in width.  I have thought about cutting into the walls to make more space, but with the thought of putting the house on the market later this year (hopefully) that just does not make any sense. But I am able to do all my work outside the train room which helps keep everything neat and tidy. Just don't look in the utility room.

@Mark Boyce posted:

I knew someone out there had to have a similar issue.  We live on a hillside in a small split entry.  So in effect, the lower level is a basement.  If our older daughter was able to get all her furniture out of here, it would help.  She and her husband have had rodent and water problems in their basement that is over a crawl space.  Both those problems have been taken care of, but now there is mildew.  So they emptied their finished basement to, you guessed where.  Yes, our previous house was built the same way.  That's what you get when a house is built on a hillside.

I did a little work this evening making some bases out of scrap hardboard for my scenic forms that will be mostly foam.  Yes indeed, I am starting some scenery...instead of just placing a few buildings on a tabletop. 

We definitely have some things in common. My home also serves as storage central for our adult kids that have moved out.  On the bright side, my wife and CEO has authorized the use of our most recently vacated room for a future layout/man cave.  I think I’m going to like this empty nester phase of life, Lol!

Congrats on the start of scenery. I have never thought of myself as a creative or artistic person, but I’m amazed out how much fun I’ve had with scenery on the layout. Now, I enjoy building and detailing as much as running the trains.   I’m sure you’re going to enjoy it as well.  

I took some non train shipping boxes outside for recycling tomorrow.

Morning guys it took me a little time to get up to speed on what everyone was up to! There sure has been a lot going on.

Tcripe, wow those look great! What a great idea and your right about the prices! LOL

Kwisor, Looking outstanding! Next thing you know you will have water running in it!

Bob, the way it should be, Nice and Smooth! Wonderful job!

Mitch, that sure is quite the project to take on! But sure looks good!

Well it was kind of hard with the kids and grandkids visiting but I was able to get my second building flat done. I butchered an MTH service building into a warehouse with a loading dock. I added cargo in the door openings I made and added lighting to both the outside and inside. I then had to add a second power supply as my 12v had reached its limit! LOL Here are a couple photos and a short video to show why I needed the seconds power supply as I know I have more lighting coming on future buildings! LOL

I hope you all have a great weekend and find time to have fun with your layout and trains!

Your layout looks great Mike. The new flat came out great too. Better make sure the nuke plant is running at capacity!

So a co-worker and fellow train enthusiast was telling me yesterday that he finally got his last child out of the house. He and his wife cleaned out their basement (filled a 30 yd dumpster), and he gets half and the CEO gets the other. He's going to get all of his childhood Post war equipment running and build a layout. He's a bit of a tinkerer, so he's building a Lionel Test Station from the ground up. He found a company to do the face plate engraving and will be doing the wiring himself. I will ask him for some pix as things develop.

@ScoutingDad - we can never have enough room. I used the Kreig pocket screws for the first time a couple of years ago on a reno project in the house. They are the best fasteners I've ever used for woodworking.

That looks very nice Mike. You even provided an ad for a reverse mortgage loan.

Mike, The lights look great!  Is that the nuclear plant that looks like Chernobyl near the end of the video?  Tom Sellek does the exact same shtick word for word for AIG in these parts.

That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.

Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.

No layout work but putting up more display shelves. Good news it's done. Bad news no more room. Presently working on my arguments to present to my wife why no more shelf space means no more acquisitions of trains. Logically still haven't come up with a knock out case but I still have time because I haven't really told her that I'm out of space. Not hiding this from her I just haven't seen an opportunity to bring it up.

@ScoutingDad posted:

That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.

Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.

LOL

@ScoutingDad posted:

That's not Tom Sellek, That's Mike just speaking naturally. Tom borrowed Mike's voice for his acting career. Saw it on the internet somewhere.

Mike - l like the lighted oil storage tanks. I'll have to use oat meal containers for mine. But out of room on this layout.

Lol now that's funny! I even watch him on Blue Bloods just to check on him to make sure he is still doing it right.

I am sure you could find some old coffee cans around your neighborhood, just don't let the neighbors see you going threw there cans! Lol

Wow, Mike, that's quite a layout you have'.  You've got a lot of time invested, as well as plenty of equipment'...Exactly what is the building with the colored flashing lights'...

@Quarter Gauger 48 posted:

Wow, Mike, that's quite a layout you have'.  You've got a lot of time invested, as well as plenty of equipment'...Exactly what is the building with the colored flashing lights'...

Thanks Ted, 3-4 years from dirt to where it is now. The building with the colored flashing lights is the Menards Nuclear power plant. LOL

Working on the river

@kwisor posted:

Working on the river

WOW look at you go! I didn't think you would have water so soon! They must have done a release form the dam above early! Looks like the canoe folks are enjoying them self's!

@mike g. posted:

Morning guys it took me a little time to get up to speed on what everyone was up to! There sure has been a lot going on.

Tcripe, wow those look great! What a great idea and your right about the prices! LOL

Kwisor, Looking outstanding! Next thing you know you will have water running in it!

Bob, the way it should be, Nice and Smooth! Wonderful job!

Mitch, that sure is quite the project to take on! But sure looks good!

Well it was kind of hard with the kids and grandkids visiting but I was able to get my second building flat done. I butchered an MTH service building into a warehouse with a loading dock. I added cargo in the door openings I made and added lighting to both the outside and inside. I then had to add a second power supply as my 12v had reached its limit! LOL Here are a couple photos and a short video to show why I needed the seconds power supply as I know I have more lighting coming on future buildings! LOL

I hope you all have a great weekend and find time to have fun with your layout and trains!

Mike, impressive layout...thanks for posting the video...it gives a perfect overview of the overall large dimensions of the layout and confirms the amount of work you've put into it.  Your industrial areas are like the real thing...

@mike g. posted:

Thanks Ted, 3-4 years from dirt to where it is now. The building with the colored flashing lights is the Menards Nuclear power plant. LOL

Mike, you've accomplished much in 3 to 4 years...hope you have a safe place to dispose of those spent "rods" from the nuclear plant!

Good morining everyone! Nice to see everyone is doing fine and keeping busy! Well, my knee has been doing a lot better and because of that, I was finally able to get down to the train room and finish this video. I hope you enjoy it, and happy railroading!

@Capetrainman posted:

Mike, you've accomplished much in 3 to 4 years...hope you have a safe place to dispose of those spent "rods" from the nuclear plant!

Thanks Paul, I have to give a lot of credit to my wife for her support in building the train room! As for the spent rods, you would not believe how well my wife's garden does with them! LOL

Kwisor, the river scene is really looking great!  

Trainmaster04, I’m glad the knee is well enough you got to go down and run a train.

Mike, so now I know what those magic beans were that Jack planted!  Don’t let Mrs G climb the beanstalk!  😉

I spent a little time looking at where my river scene will be, adding some foam base for the scene.  Not much to show in a photograph yet.

@Mark Boyce posted:

Kwisor, the river scene is really looking great!  

Trainmaster04, I’m glad the knee is well enough you got to go down and run a train.

Mike, so now I know what those magic beans were that Jack planted!  Don’t let Mrs G climb the beanstalk!  😉

I spent a little time looking at where my river scene will be, adding some foam base for the scene.  Not much to show in a photograph yet.

You and me both! There was a time where I thought I would go stock bananas from not being able to go downstairs and run trains.

Mike I bet that garden glows in the dark.