What did you do on your layout today?

Finished the engine house platform and added a few working folks.

WinstonB your Engine an tender, engine house, and the realistic platform is really good altogether.

we appreciate the photos

Brought in the landscaping crew over the weekend to finish off the area behind Morrison Door and the gas station...the presence of the landscapers didn't seem to slow down the rally group that grew since last weekend

@Trainmaster04 posted:

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!

This is a great video. Thank you for sharing!

Pulled an old Fruehauf flatbed out of moth balls today...replaced and stained the oak floor boards, joined it up with a '53 Peterbilt (inspired by Lee), and put a full load of 6 x 8 creosote railroad ties on it for delivery to the Charles Street Yard to begin the spring "tie" replacement initiative...!

@WRW posted:

This is a great video. Thank you for sharing!

Your very welcome, and I am glad you enjoyed it!

We enjoyed your descriptive video of your new Southern Pacific engine with the passenger cars Trainmaster04.

Enjoyed the photos and your great work  Capetrainman. Lee, he is an inspiration 😊

This evening I ran my C&O E’s ABA and passengers. Began the afternoon measuring an marking for preset drill holes.  I intended to drill and screw down the long wide board for the tunnel ceiling but made an error and an soon after smashed a cuticle on my index finger really well.  So I decided to quit an let the engine roll while the pain subsided 😌

@Seth Thomas posted:

We enjoyed your descriptive video of your new Southern Pacific engine with the passenger cars Trainmaster04.

Enjoyed the photos and your great work  Capetrainman. Lee, he is an inspiration 😊

This evening I ran my C&O E’s ABA and passengers. Began the afternoon measuring an marking for preset drill holes.  I intended to drill and screw down the long wide board for the tunnel ceiling but made an error and an soon after smashed a cuticle on my index finger really well.  So I decided to quit an let the engine roll while the pain subsided 😌

Glad to hear! Something that one of my viewers commented on was that 4449 is not the last Southern Pacific GS locomotive, but another one lives in St. Louis. Any insight as to why not a lot of people know about this?

Looks like another busy weekend. We had rain yesterday so I unfortunately had to postpone my outdoor chores to another day.

I spent a little more time on my new yard. I got the wires run for the motors and put the controllers together. I installed the half curves and cork on the turnouts too. Wiring will continue and I hope to get the straight track by the end of the week. I still have two small dead spots on the main that will need tweaking too.

I will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.

Bob

WinstonB, Wonderful engine house! Nicely done!

Paul, your landscaping crew is doing an outstanding job! I see someone left the gate open and somehow some of those Ford folks sneaked into the rally. I hope you know once they are in its really hard to get them out! LOL But let me not digress, onto another subject I see you have been working your Charles Street Yard crew really really hard lately. You might want to talk to your yard supervisors about giving the guys a break!

Bob, Things are really looking good! I am sure you will be able to fix all the dead spots. It sure is nice to see things come together!

As for me I cleaned the extra material from the injection process on another building that I am thinking about butchering. But after clean up and looking at it, its to nice to butcher and it wont fit on my layout out so I might sale or trade it for a flat or a building I can turn into a flat!

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

RSJB18

will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.

Wish  when I planned my layout an built six years ago I had experienced OGR.  I really like using a control such as yours an possibly Mike’s G!

I implemented what I was comfortable with then an not what is truly usable.

But, my trains move, and my engines do switch ☺️

I’m happy, but a guy can always wish he had a 442 under the hood 😀

Love seeing what everyone is up to and the amazing track work and scenery that many of you folks have on your layouts! I've got more of a temporary setup right now but I hope to someday build a "permanent" layout.

I spent the weekend updating the "infrastructure" of my layout - I upgraded from felt to indoor/outdoor carpet as the covering on my tabletop and cleaned up the wiring, including using more terminal blocks to make things cleaner and soldering/shrink wrapping my connections so they can't pull out (have had issues with this in the past, must not be too good at crimping ).

Not done yet, but pretty happy with the results so far! Below are a few shots of the update:

@Seth Thomas posted:

RSJB18

will need to add the third spur to the control panel track plan along with power and uncoupler switches. Fortunately the MTH controls stack together and fit where the two 5122 controllers were.

Wish  when I planned my layout an built six years ago I had experienced OGR.  I really like using a control such as yours an possibly Mike’s G!

I implemented what I was comfortable with then an not what is truly usable.

But, my trains move, and my engines do switch ☺️

I’m happy, but a guy can always wish he had a 442 under the hood 😀

That's the most important part Seth

Thanks

Bob, Mike g, Mark and all the rest of you you are doing great stuff. I finally took the Williams 70 tonner out of the box and ran it. Nice little engine. Hope to get back to the layout before summer gets here..................Paul 2

A couple of days ago, I found a photo from someone else’s layout (I forgot which website I found this on and couldn’t find it again when looking just now), and the builder had copied something I did. I did an article for the 2018 On30 Annual on taking an old tender from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 and turning it into a water car. This guy had done everything I did, decking the top of the tender in plastic to look like sheet metal, even copying the same type of reinforcements (which I did from my imagination) and the same type of water hatch (a D&RGW K27 part I found at a hobby shop) I used. He added some pumps and valves, but clearly he used my article as a guide. I thought that was neat as its proof my work has influenced someone!

Mine:

His:

@p51 posted:

A couple of days ago, I found a photo from someone else’s layout (I forgot which website I found this on and couldn’t find it again when looking just now), and the builder had copied something I did. I did an article for the 2018 On30 Annual on taking an old tender from a Bachmann On30 2-6-0 and turning it into a water car. This guy had done everything I did, decking the top of the tender in plastic to look like sheet metal, even copying the same type of reinforcements (which I did from my imagination) and the same type of water hatch (a D&RGW K27 part I found at a hobby shop) I used. He added some pumps and valves, but clearly he used my article as a guide. I thought that was neat as its proof my work has influenced someone!

Mine:

His:

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery Lee!

@RSJB18 posted:

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery Lee!

Indeed. I was quite pleasantly surprised to see that.

Mike2089, Looks like you have a wonderful start on your temporary layout! Makes great practice for when your build your permanent layout!

Lee, Outstanding your your water car and that others are learning form your work! But I want you to know that I would think most of us here have learned something for you and your Amazing realistic layout!

As for me nothing today as it was Dr. appt, all day long! FUN!

@paul 2 posted:

Bob, Mike g, Mark and all the rest of you you are doing great stuff. I finally took the Williams 70 tonner out of the box and ran it. Nice little engine. Hope to get back to the layout before summer gets here..................Paul 2

Time to turn hope into action sir! 🤪

No photos, but last night I drilled all the holes for grab irons, drilled and tapped the holes for the trucks and couplers on my hopper cars.

Got the switches wired and operating last night. Nothing photo-worthy either.

Bob

23 hours without a new post? That's a first.

I worked on a scene today for my new fire truck. I had to make some smoke! LOL Enjoy!

That looks good Mike. What did you use?

@mike g. posted:

I worked on a scene today for my new fire truck. I had to make some smoke! LOL Enjoy!

looks good Mike. If you want to take it to the next level then get a fan-smoke unit and install it behind the flat! Check out the RC3R videos that Peter @Putnam Division just posted on his thread.

Bob

Thanks guys!

Jay, I just used cotton batting for like doing quilts.

Bob, I will have to check it out but being on a small budget this might be the best it gets! LOL

So today I got my little people skin tone paint. So now I have everything to paint the little people. Paint, new brushes, But no little people! LOL I guess they are still making the trip from China!

It's been a long time in coming but I had my layout builder @Dave Cardiff come to my house for some well needed help.  If you are contemplating a layout, talk to Dave.    He built my first layout nearly 20 years ago, and we have worked together since.  Layout two was built in 2006.  Today, was all about curing gremlins that I could never figure out as well as clean up some of my projects.  

What I found helpful was to have a list and then to have a video of the problem I was looking to cure.  For example why could I run an E8 one way but not another way without it shorting out.  If it were just one engine fine but it was all my E8s.  Five of them.

Thanks Dave!!!

John

@E-UNIT-79 posted:

23 hours without a new post? That's a first.

I know what you mean.  My guess is everyone is out cleaning up winter leaves and getting ready to mow grass.  I haven't done anything on the layout.

Mike, I like you poor man's smoke unit.  That's the one for me!

Lee, the water car is great!  It was certainly worth a good article by you in the Gazette!

Working on a catenary concept...

https://ogrforum.com/...5#154730474243368995

Mitch

So I had a great day working on my layout yesterday. I finally got all the track screwed down. I don't know why I hadn't done that sooner. Then I hooked up a 153 signal to a relay for the first time. I actually had everything hooked up above the platform first to make sure I had everything hooked up correctly (I found a wiring diagram here on the forum). Then I drilled my holes and started installing everything. I want to put one more on the other side of the layout but I'm going to try and solder all of my wires on first and then put it under the layout. Solder underneath is never as easy as it seems....

One nice thing about the relays my dad had is that they have 4 contacts so I can put multiple signals on one relay.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday and happy railroading!

Berkshirelover726: Good deal on getting your 153 hooked up! I was wondering if there an adjustment on your relay? I noticed that the signal is dropping before your locomotive passes it. Your train is running through a red board, I apologize, it's just the railroader in me.

Anyway, I just thought if the relay was adjustable, you could tweak it so it goes red as your lead locomotive gets past the signal. if there isn't an adjustment, that's okay, too, congrats on wiring it up so it works. If it was mine it still wouldn't be working, most likely. I enjoy seeing your layout here on the forum, keep up the great work.

Rusty

@Berkshirelover726 posted:

So I had a great day working on my layout yesterday. I finally got all the track screwed down. I don't know why I hadn't done that sooner. Then I hooked up a 153 signal to a relay for the first time. I actually had everything hooked up above the platform first to make sure I had everything hooked up correctly (I found a wiring diagram here on the forum). Then I drilled my holes and started installing everything. I want to put one more on the other side of the layout but I'm going to try and solder all of my wires on first and then put it under the layout. Solder underneath is never as easy as it seems....

One nice thing about the relays my dad had is that they have 4 contacts so I can put multiple signals on one relay.

Hope everyone has a great Saturday and happy railroading!

Looks great Cody. Those old ice cube relays are so versatile. How are you activating the signal? Insulated rail?

another answer move the signal to the left a little?

redball342

I didn't think about that having the insulted rail start right at the signal. For some reason I always thought that the signal switched as it entered the block but that the signal wasn't right in line with the edge of the block. I could move the signal to the left that would be no problem. I'm going to extend it too so that it doesn't turn red right away too. But I have some other track work to do first before I do that.

And yes, I just used an insulted rail for the activation. Lionel made insulted sections of track for this but I didn't have any except for a few pieces that I noticed were cut underneath to make the rail insulated. Maybe sometime I will post what I did incase someone runs into that problem with Super O.

Well, I finally had some time today to work on the layout and I was able to install my newly built union station. Very pleased with how it came out -

The sad part is that I need to now remove the station. After running trains for about three hours, two of the LED lights under it seem to have gone out. Hopefully it’s just a loose wire.  I’m actually not too upset about it. You really are never done working on the layout.  Fortunately, I made the station removable with easily detachable wire hookups for just such circumstances.  

Next up is a car ramp leading to the Main Street on the left side. On the right, I’m going to place a scale building crane holding the on ramp for that side. I’m going to place lighted barricades and a police car on that end of the street so traffic is stopped while construction proceeds.  Fun stuff!

The Union Station turned out great!!  The whole scene is composed very well!!

Not much doing, layoutwise, but my subway whistle is now on display at the Arkansas and Missouri gift shop, with an eye towards possibly installing it on one of the passenger cars... ;-)

Mitch

Great job Straphanger.

Straphanger the station looks great! I'm sure you will get that loose wire fixed in no time.

Great job!

@Strap Hanger posted:

Well, I finally had some time today to work on the layout and I was able to install my newly built union station. Very pleased with how it came out -

The sad part is that I need to now remove the station. After running trains for about three hours, two of the LED lights under it seem to have gone out. Hopefully it’s just a loose wire.  I’m actually not too upset about it. You really are never done working on the layout.  Fortunately, I made the station removable with easily detachable wire hookups for just such circumstances.  

Next up is a car ramp leading to the Main Street on the left side. On the right, I’m going to place a scale building crane holding the on ramp for that side. I’m going to place lighted barricades and a police car on that end of the street so traffic is stopped while construction proceeds.  Fun stuff!

Spectacularly clever design. Bravo!