What did you do on your layout today?

Morning guys, I hope everyone is going to have a wonderful Hump day!

@chris a, The flats look great, something I am going to have to check out down the road!

@Pingman, looks like a nice little project, I hope the rest go as easy!

@M. Mitchell Marmel, wow you sure take on some wild projects! I hope everything works out the way you plan!

@WesternPacific2217,nice job on the lighting! I guess I am more like Bob as I try to scratch build all my lighting. In my case it is because I am too cheap to buy the premade product. I just use old cell phone chargers and buck convertors to get the right voltage.

I hope everyone has a great day!

@RSJB18 posted:

Looks familiar. I did something similar with this shack. I scratch built my lights though. Nice work on yours.

Now I may need to go back and add an interior light.

Bob, nice scratch job on the shack lighting! I'm lazy plus I bought a bunch of WS Just Plug stuff before I retired. I'll probably have to start scratch building my lighting as well now that I'm on a budget and running out of Just Plug. :-)  Thanks for posting this, your shack looks great, and those figures look familiar. LoL Does your African American figure with the wrench have a strangely shaped leg/angle? Mine does and its difficult to attach him to the layout with one short leg! He's always leaning to one side!

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Bob, nice scratch job on the shack lighting! I'm lazy plus I bought a bunch of WS Just Plug stuff before I retired. I'll probably have to start scratch building my lighting as well now that I'm on a budget and running out of Just Plug. :-)  Thanks for posting this, your shack looks great, and those figures look familiar. LoL Does your African American figure with the wrench have a strangely shaped leg/angle? Mine does and its difficult to attach him to the layout with one short leg! He's always leaning to one side!

These are made from a scrap of 1/4" square balsa. I use a small router bit in my dremel to make space for the LED. I set it in place with hot glue. If I want to get fancy, I make a hood from a #6 drywall washer. I flip the washer upside down and run a drywall screw through it to bend it into a hood shape. Use a soft piece of pine and you will be amazed.

I haven't noticed any issues with my WS figure but I will take a look later.

@RSJB18 posted:

Mark- You order the sound board that you want from ERR. You can check them all out here . I have the F3 set for my diesels and the gas doodlebug for my boxcab upgrade.

@Dallas Joseph- They are victims of the mad scientist.

Although, I believe that title belongs to a certain Grand Poobah

@M. Mitchell Marmel

Bob, Thank you very much!!!  I checked the link and see the different selections!

Bob and Scott, both very nice jobs on the lit sheds.

Carl, Nice job on the LEDs to light the car.  I have a roll of LEDs and circuit boards from Gunrunner John that I bought from him at York 3 years ago.  I still haven't done anything with them since I have been building the layout.

I haven't done anything on the layout between Christmas decorating, helping with an O gauge layout for a Christmas event in a nearby town last week, and putting together and checking out my new snow blower today.  Keep a watch for the thread on New Modular Club in Western Pennsylvania.  I got the photographs from the other guy taking them last evening, and I am going to be posting how our initial rush job event went.

Fixed my Lionel 2035 2-6-4 steam engine.

https://ogrforum.com/...9#157970176172798209

@Bob "O" posted:

First post to this thread. A brass band for my little town.

Bob

As a musician I'm so happy to see this! Where did you get the musicians from?

@Berkshirelover726 posted:

Cody,

I purchased the "Brass Band Figure" pack from Modelu in the UK. Their item #1629. They are 3D scanned body images and are very detailed and realistic. They come unpainted. I used Testors flat enamels to paint. I found that the figures are accurately scaled to 1:48.

https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/

Your forum name prompts me to tell you that my first locomotive was a Lionel 726RR which I got for Christmas in 1955. It still runs well and is displayed on my layout.

Bob

@WesternPacific2217 posted:r. LoL Does your African American figure with the wrench have a strangely shaped leg/angle? Mine does and its difficult to attach him to the layout with one short leg! He's always leaning to one side!

Here's some pix. My guy looks to be OK.

@RSJB18 posted:

Here's some pix. My guy looks to be OK.

Bob, thanks for posting that, now I know my guy is defective! As you can see his right ankle is bent, more noticeable from the side.

I'm going to have to come up with a story for him. I'll say he was working on a removing a box car truck and the wheels were not chocked properly and the truck began to roll. As it rolled it knocked him over and one of the wheels rolled into his ankle breaking it severely. It didn't heal properly and now his ankle is malformed, but he's been able to overcome it and has resumed work as a locomotive mechanic. Lesson learned!

I'll have to get this story approved by the expert story teller, Patrick (trumptrain). He makes a scene come to life!

I'm still doing Christmas decorations, so I strung some Christmas lights on my house. Not my real house, my model house! About ten years ago I found a Lemax house that had my name all over it, at least next to the front steps. The model house is the same color and shape of my real house, and the model house came with a sign with my last name on it, "Clark Residence". I had to have it! Here's some photos. The blue LEDs give it a nice cool Christmas winter look.

This is the way the Lemax house came from the factory, I did not change the name. The Clark Residence is part of the Caddington Village Collection

Happy Holidays!

I put my BEEP back together last night. I fixed the bad solder joint on the lights and they all work now. I also did more testing to determine where the rollers are shorting on my 027 turnouts. I think I found the problem. The roller is dropping down off of the center rail just where it would cross the straight track path and touching the turnout plate. I did a temp test with electrical tape and it seemed to solve the problem. Now I need to come up with a permanent treatment for the switches and hope it doesn't affect other locos.

The red area is where the short occurs and the blue is what I plan to insulate. Probably not the entire length but I will see what works. Since a train will have most of the weight on the outer rail of the turnout, I'm hoping that continuity of the common is still solid.

@RSJB18 posted:

I put my BEEP back together last night. I fixed the bad solder joint on the lights and they all work now. I also did more testing to determine where the rollers are shorting on my 027 turnouts. I think I found the problem. The roller is dropping down off of the center rail just where it would cross the straight track path and touching the turnout plate. I did a temp test with electrical tape and it seemed to solve the problem. Now I need to come up with a permanent treatment for the switches and hope it doesn't affect other locos.

The red area is where the short occurs and the blue is what I plan to insulate. Probably not the entire length but I will see what works. Since a train will have most of the weight on the outer rail of the turnout, I'm hoping that continuity of the common is still solid.

Bob, congrats on getting the BEEP illuminated again, hopefully now it will have many years of running and looking good now! Too bad about the switch issue, those are a pain in the rear and I feel your pain. My LionChief PE Berkshire refuses to go through two of my O72 Fastrack switches without completely derailing in one direction! And of course one of the switches is on the backside of the layout hardest to get to. None of my other locomotives have a problem with that switch, so something is not quite right with my PE Berkshire. The investigation begins. At least I can run it in one direction without a problem.

Good luck with that switch and let us know if your solution works.

I had some Lionel O27 - 42" path turnouts where the rollers would short.  I solved it by using nail polish (any color you would like) on a very small part of the rail or frog where the short kept occurring.   Worked great!

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Bob, congrats on getting the BEEP illuminated again, hopefully now it will have many years of running and looking good now! Too bad about the switch issue, those are a pain in the rear and I feel your pain. My LionChief PE Berkshire refuses to go through two of my O72 Fastrack switches without completely derailing in one direction! And of course one of the switches is on the backside of the layout hardest to get to. None of my other locomotives have a problem with that switch, so something is not quite right with my PE Berkshire. The investigation begins. At least I can run it in one direction without a problem.

Good luck with that switch and let us know if your solution works.

Does the pilot derail or the drivers? Steamer pilots can be finicky on switches. I'm assuming it derails heading toward the points not away? If it's the pilot, add some weight or stretch the spring for more downward force on the rails.

@Drummer3 posted:

I had some Lionel O27 - 42" path turnouts where the rollers would short.  I solved it by using nail polish (any color you would like) on a very small part of the rail or frog where the short kept occurring.   Worked great!

I've had successful results with clear polyurethane. Same result with a different product.

I already used it to shorten the length of the rails that activate the anti-derail. Lessens the solenoid buzzzzzzzz........

I removed the MTH Boxwell Funeral Home. I never posted a picture after installation as I really didn't like it. I had it cut in because the MTH buildings have high sidewalks. Any how on to todays work. I cut in sidewalks and patched the hole where it was. After all that dries I can fill in the edges and paint then put in 4 more buildings. The odd pattern will make sense when the buildings are in place.

Hi Everyone,

I've been doing a few projects including a bit of scenery. Here I have created a concrete pad and a gravel access road for a water tower. So far so good. Now I need to add more grass, other vegetation, maybe a small tree, and of course the water tower itself.

Dave

Dave and Dave, nice construction sites.

Click Here to see what I and several other modelers were doing on layouts the last couple weeks.  Now it is time to get back to my own layout.

@RSJB18 posted:

Does the pilot derail or the drivers? Steamer pilots can be finicky on switches. I'm assuming it derails heading toward the points not away? If it's the pilot, add some weight or stretch the spring for more downward force on the rails.

Hi Bob, thanks for the suggestions, I'm working on it now and I'll let ya know if I can get Mr. Fussy PE Berkshire working through those switches.

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hi Everyone,

I've been doing a few projects including a bit of scenery. Here I have created a concrete pad and gravel access road for a water tower. So far so good. Now I need to add more grass and, other vegetation, maybe a small tree, and of course the water tower itself.

Dave

It looks like it'll fit right in with the rest of your scenery. Very nice work I'm looking forward to the finished site.

Mark-Thank you!

Dave-Thank you as well. I certainly hope so. I kept dropping the tower in after ever step. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Dave

Looks nice Dave, can’t wait to see more.
Dave Ripp, interested in seeing what goes back up.

Andy

Dave Ripp, Looks like you have a mirror mounted at the back of that scene ?  I have been wanting to find a place to create depth using a mirror.   Is your mirror only mounted behind the roadway crossing the track ?  Looks like it might extend beyond that and above some of the backdrop buildings.  Curious if you have any other photos.

Luvindemtrains, Nice progress, can't wait to see this scene with the tower and additional scenery in place.

For me, the arches on the foundation below the station have been bothering me.  Picked up a great hard cover book at the train show last weekend for $2.00 !!, that had a photo of Chicago Union Station on the river.  After looking at that photo I decided to cut the arches I had made.   It took a while, but I managed to re-use everything and just use a jig saw to remove more material and change the geometry of the arches.    First photo is the round arches that just looked too South West Pueblo to me.   Did make one discovery, it was challenging to start the new cuts and have a smooth transition to the original, so I took out some 80 grit sand paper wrapped it around some foam pipe insulation and smoothed the inside curve of the arches.  Worked surprisingly well and only took a few minutes.   For the straight leg cuts, I just wrapped the same 80 grit paper around a flat wooden block to straighten the vertical surfaces.

Now that I have all the 2" x 4" deck plating primed, I am going to start assembling them to mount on the span over the passenger tracks.  Hope to get them mounted glues and fastened to a backing plate tonight, then I can choose a final color and light weathering for them.

Not a lot of progress lately. I ordered a book on railroad bridges to get some more ideas for the railing on the trestle. In the meantime, I decided to add a second set of turnout controls at the coal yard so I could operate the yard turnouts at the remote transformer throttle location. I had received a lot of postwar stuff from a good friend and there were four 022 controllers that just needed rewiring. That is an easy job and I had a supply of flat three conductor cable left over from the other rewired controllers. I finished mounting the controllers after labeling them and making a small layout extension support bracket. They work well just as one would expect.

Chris,

Exciting stuff! The arches look wonderful. The station is turning out "Grande", pun intended. I plan to make some modifications on my bank as well. However, it will not be near this magnitude. Was it difficult to take out the windows?

Dave

@chris a posted:

Dave Ripp, Looks like you have a mirror mounted at the back of that scene ?  I have been wanting to find a place to create depth using a mirror.   Is your mirror only mounted behind the roadway crossing the track ?  Looks like it might extend beyond that and above some of the backdrop buildings.  Curious if you have any other photos.

Luvindemtrains, Nice progress, can't wait to see this scene with the tower and additional scenery in place.

For me, the arches on the foundation below the station have been bothering me.  Picked up a great hard cover book at the train show last weekend for $2.00 !!, that had a photo of Chicago Union Station on the river.  After looking at that photo I decided to cut the arches I had made.   It took a while, but I managed to re-use everything and just use a jig saw to remove more material and change the geometry of the arches.    First photo is the round arches that just looked too South West Pueblo to me.   Did make one discovery, it was challenging to start the new cuts and have a smooth transition to the original, so I took out some 80 grit sand paper wrapped it around some foam pipe insulation and smoothed the inside curve of the arches.  Worked surprisingly well and only took a few minutes.   For the straight leg cuts, I just wrapped the same 80 grit paper around a flat wooden block to straighten the vertical surfaces.

Now that I have all the 2" x 4" deck plating primed, I am going to start assembling them to mount on the span over the passenger tracks.  Hope to get them mounted glues and fastened to a backing plate tonight, then I can choose a final color and light weathering for them.

Chris, That station is really looking good. Are the rails started on the end a kit? I had a simalar set up on my last layout but your station will be better. My train room was a weight room at one time so it has mirrors. I've always hid them in past layouts with trees, hills. walls ect. This layout is smaller - 6 x 20 ish and on wheels so I can pull it away to reach the back 1/2. I made my fascia on the long side with 1 x 12 and mounted the background building photos on both sides. On the short end I have Ellfin Model fronts about 3.5 inches thick with backgrond building pictures glued to the backs. I pulled it out and put a couple pictures from the back. The layout is far from done I just post as I go. Once I get all the main things figured out I'll add fine details that are lacking. Also the mirrors show all of my mess LOL.

Chris, your station has provided inspiration. I’m still in the development stage; bench work but no track. As a result of your efforts, I will attempt a lower level with columns. My model will be the PRR 30th Street station with a photo backdrop of the nearby Suburban station; which is under ground. Thank you!

A small project restoring this poor guy:

to this:

Brushed some diluted white glue into the separated corners and edges of the fiber board and clamped them tight until dry.  Cleaned it all with a wet paper towel, mixed up some matching green and yellow for touch-ups, printed a new sign and stuck a citizen inside.

Just gotta find a spot on Warrenville now.

@Lionelski posted:

A small project restoring this poor guy:

to this:

Brushed some diluted white glue into the separated corners and edges of the fiber board and clamped them tight until dry.  Cleaned it all with a wet paper towel, mixed up some matching green and yellow for touch-ups, printed a new sign and stuck a citizen inside.

Just gotta find a spot on Warrenville now.

Perfect! I always like those. Were they made by American Flyer?

@Dave Ripp. posted:

Perfect! I always like those. Were they made by American Flyer?

Thanks Dave - I believe they were.

Dave,   thanks for the photos and explanation on the mirrors.   Regarding the cement railings on the deck, my son printed them for me on his 3D printer.   I played around designing them then he cleaned up the 3 D drawings.   I have them on the other end of my layout also.    Photo below.   

Jay,  I am glad to hear the Passenger Station project is providing some ideas for you.   Once I decided to expand the layout all the way to the end of my basement, then I decided I really wanted to be able to store 4 passenger trains on long stub tracks.  Once I laid out the sidings, it became pretty clear I'd be mounting the station above the tracks.

After the tracks pass under the station (level) they start going down a 2% grade so they can fit under the main line.  I wanted the longest sidings I could have here.

Chris,

Exciting stuff! The arches look wonderful. The station is turning out "Grande", pun intended. I plan to make some modifications on my bank as well. However, it will not be near this magnitude. Was it difficult to take out the windows?

Dave, window removal wasn't too bad, a few of the doors took some patience.  I think I ended up trimming off a small scrap of pine, like the "ice cream" sticks when the finger nails and finger tips got tired pushing on the "release tabs" to pop out the windows/doors.  Like most MTH structures, the windows/doors have 4 tabs which when compressed allow the window door to come out to the outside.  As with all "plastic" models it's necessary to wash the parts thoroughly with soap and water to remove any mold release residue before painting.  Also, on the large entry doorways, I had to remove the inner door, first, then go after the larger tabs for larger decorative door jamb molding.  I used an empty envelope to put all the glass inserts in, so I wouldn't lose any.

@Lionelski posted:

A small project restoring this poor guy……This was the easy part

Just gotta find a spot on Warrenville now…….This is now the harder part of the project!

Looks great John and another vintage save.

@chris a posted:

Chris,

Exciting stuff! The arches look wonderful. The station is turning out "Grande", pun intended. I plan to make some modifications on my bank as well. However, it will not be near this magnitude. Was it difficult to take out the windows?

Dave, window removal wasn't too bad, a few of the doors took some patience.  I think I ended up trimming off a small scrap of pine, like the "ice cream" sticks when the finger nails and finger tips got tired pushing on the "release tabs" to pop out the windows/doors.  Like most MTH structures, the windows/doors have 4 tabs which when compressed allow the window door to come out to the outside.  As with all "plastic" models it's necessary to wash the parts thoroughly with soap and water to remove any mold release residue before painting.  Also, on the large entry doorways, I had to remove the inner door, first, then go after the larger tabs for larger decorative door jamb molding.  I used an empty envelope to put all the glass inserts in, so I wouldn't lose any.

Chris,

Thanks for the detailed information. I think when I first decided I was going to make a few changes I quickly tried to take one out and realized it wasn't going to be as simple as I thought. That was about 3 years ago. I'm sure, at that time, there were more priorities on the layout. Now I'm at the point where I am detailing the town so I need to jump on this.

Dave

I went to paint my road this morning and realised I had made it all level with the sidewalk. When I took the other building out I should have cut in the road in order to have curbs at the sidewalks.  I cut it out today and plastered in a road. Once again it will need sanding and paint when dry. I also found another spot on the layout where I did this. Ugg future work.

Good Morning,

Just posted a build video, on YouTube, for this kit by Blair Line so please go check it out. It's only 10 minutes long. I'm sure some of you have this on your layout and know that it's a relatively simple and fun kit to build. I have not yet placed it on the layout but that fun is forthcoming.

Thanks,

Dave

@luvindemtrains posted:

Good Morning,

Just posted a build video, on YouTube, for this kit by Blair Line so please go check it out. It's only 10 minutes long. I'm sure some of you have this on your layout and know that it's a relatively simple and fun kit to build. I have not yet placed it on the layout but that fun is forthcoming.

Thanks,

Dave

Very nice! I only have a few buildings with interior details. The last kit I tried to build I botched.

Thanks Dave! It's addictive to me now. I feel guilty when I don't put in some type of interior. The only time I feel ok about not doing it is if I know no one will ever see it. At that point I try to include some more detail on the outside. You can blame my feelings about it on the HO and N scalers. When I see them doing this really detailed work I think to myself, I have no excuse.

Dave

No pictures but wiring up some accessories. Today the #445 switch tower. Also the #45 Gateman. Trying to put together a layout of all postwar pieces with exception of some Dept.56 buildings.

@RSJB18 posted:

Does the pilot derail or the drivers? Steamer pilots can be finicky on switches. I'm assuming it derails heading toward the points not away? If it's the pilot, add some weight or stretch the spring for more downward force on the rails.

Hi Bob, I worked on the PE LionChief Berkshire last night with no success. The front pilot truck axle is so sloppy (1/4" side to side) in the truck it just slips over to one side of any switch and climbs over the top of the rails. Here's the temporary solution below for now. In the meantime I will continue to fiddle with the very loose drive train on the Berkshire.

I've upgraded the Berkshire for my LionMaster Big Boy #4006! This is one of my best running steam engines, and frankly, it looks awesome pulling the PE train. Plus, little kids and adults immediately notice the Big Boy and comment about it. The Berkshire, not so much!

That's what I did on my layout today! :-)