What did you do on your layout today?

@mike g. posted:

Morning guys, first off, I want to thank you all for your thoughts about me. I am doing fine just whooped working with all this snow we have got and trying to help people why can't help themselves! It really sucks as there are people running around charging an arm and leg to help folks on fixed income. I do it for free as that is what my dad instilled in me! Here is what we have been dealing with and then on to some train stuff! LOL Mind you my deck railing is 6' tall and the snow pile is what was on the ground and the snow I had to take off the roof.

Good to heard form you Mike. The bus and ground cover look good.

That is a lot of snow. I've been watching it pile up on the Skykomish Wa. camera on Virtual railfan.

Bob

@Dallas Joseph posted:

You do nice work Ralph.   The red and white logo looks good.

That Railking GP9 must be the  " Scale "  model.  It looks good with the Premier GP7.

Yes. Many RailKing items are scale sized.

Worked on about 30 feet of telephone lines. Tedious but worth it.

A few updates from the past few weeks. Saturday we ran trains. This is my 4 year old who loves trains right now more than anything. Trying to feed this as much as possible.

Over Christmas, we built a couple of flats and now need to install them. One has lights (video) the other still needs (pic). They also need some weathering. 

Lots of good projects, folks!  Yes winter is train time in the north, unless it snows a lot.  🤨

Besides taking inventory and organizing the train room to be better set up for scenery building, I started an Altoona Model Works Branchline Station kit.  The instruction sheets are very well done.  I'm following it exactly as directed.  So far it is a simple box of Masonite sheathed with thin clapboard siding sections.  It has gone together well with Ailene's glue as suggested in the instructions.  The next step is to paint the shell, the roof sections, and the doors, windows, and trim.  I'll use Western Maryland gray with red trim.

I posted the last of my Christmas 2020 videos on YouTube.

I hope you enjoyed watching these.  There were actually 28 videos that ended up showcasing about half my fleet of engines.  More to come.

John

Hi guys I hope you all had a great day!

Bob, thank you and just so you know the snow is sucking right now! LOL You wouldnt happen to have the link to the Skykomish camera would you?

Terry, 30' is a lot of wire to pull in one day! Looks outstanding!

SuperChief, Great looking work on the flats! Take all the time with your son in as much as you can, it really builds great memories!

Mark, Looking good! I am looking forward to seeing the painted product!

Nothing new from me today as there was more driveways to clear! I hope you all have been able to find time to have fun with your layouts and trains!

I did some planning and some measuring.  I'm going to make some track changes that will remove two short stub track sections, and replace them with a lengthy, elevated trolley line that will span virtually the length of the layout.

@Terry Luft posted:

Worked on about 30 feet of telephone lines. Tedious but worth it.

Terry,

This is great timing as I am going to begin the same process. I can't tell from the photos, but did you just attach the "wire" to the insulators with glue or did you loop it around them?

Dave

Hi Everyone,

Did my best to make these plastic fences look well... not plastic,lol. After painting, I used some chalks and have began applying decals. Not sure if the Good Year will remain. I will "sit on it" until tomorrow.

Dave

They look authentic Dave; nice job.

Dennis, nice idea with the elevated trolley. I’m sketching out the same idea. I’m going to have a loop on each end. I don’t like the bump and go action. Plus I have a PCC.

Dave,  I like the weathering on the fences.   you might try roughing up the edges of the boards where the large holes are.  Maybe use a razor saw, or fine tooth saber saw blade.  They should have roughed up the mold where the boards are "broken"...    Great job with the decals.   Personally I like the GoodYear sign

Nice job on the telephone poles, Terry.   

Mark,  the Branchline Station Kit is moving along well.

Mike G:   Glad to see "you come up for air",  that relentless snow can be physically and mentally exhausting.  Reminded me of the 2014/2015 winter we had in Boston with 118 inches of snow in about 8 weeks.   Just never stopped. 

I went back scrubbed down the Pennsy Block Walls with some alcohol and water, (just wasn't happy the color mismatch).   Mixed up a new batch of final wash, added more Raw Sienna to the Burnt Sienna.  Glad I did, the color match now is very close.

Got my Union Station LED's over the front doors and windows hooked up today.  I have two chandeliers 2" high x 1.25 inches diameter to install tomorrow.   I like the viaducts I weathered so much, I tore out the hand carved rocks I had at the other end of the layout, and started "cutting" in the viaducts between the upper and lower level at that end.     

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

They look authentic Dave; nice job.

Thanks Jay!

Dave

Chris,

Everything looks great! I like how the viaducts came out. That's a really nice scene you're composing. I will try and rough those openings up a bit. I actually "destroyed' the fence. It was a nice neat fence before I started cutting holes in it. Thanks for the suggestion.

Dave

Glad to hear from you Mike.
Terry, the lines between the poles are a nice detail.

SuperChief, great times with a future modeler!

Mark, looks good, looking forward to the paint scheme.

Dave, the fence looks great. Maybe a picket or two that are at an angle? A fence with that many gaps is bound to have a few cockeyed boards. I like the signs on the fence,  nice touch.

Chris, the color is almost a dead match, well done. Station lighting looks great.

Andy

I changed my muddy Chinese crane into and American brand. I didn't think a Chinese model fit into my layout timeline (mid 40's - 60)

Thank you, Chris and Andy!

Chris, the arches and wall look great!  So do the lights on the station! 

Scott, yes Cat is much better on the crane for a mid-century layout.

30 feet is a lot. That’s 30 feet times 8 lines. I use #10 crochet thread. I drape it from pole to pole one at a time to get the sag uniform and super glue it. Even with 3 or 4 lines working at once at different stages to allow for the glue to set it is slow work

@mike g. posted:

Hi guys I hope you all had a great day!

Bob, thank you and just so you know the snow is sucking right now! LOL You wouldnt happen to have the link to the Skykomish camera would you?

Here's the link to the channel on Youtube. They have cameras all over the country. I can spend hours watching the action.

https://www.youtube.com/channe...kT9bq-1N2BvrsBjhNlag

The Frankenswitcher is now resplendent in new/old end railings from Trainz! 

Mitch

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

The Frankenswitcher is now resplendent in new/old end railings from Trainz!

Mitch

Very nice Mitch

A little more done.

@RSJB18 posted:

Here's the link to the channel on Youtube. They have cameras all over the country. I can spend hours watching the action.

https://www.youtube.com/channe...kT9bq-1N2BvrsBjhNlag

Wow, that's a lot more than at Horseshoe Curve, Altoona, the closest one to me.

Mitch, is the Frankenswitcher going to get a new paint job?  Razerback?  Something else?

Terry Luft, I like the sag on the wires.  Having worked for the power and telephone company most of my 43 years working, I always wonder what is the best way to get a good looking sag in line wires.

Mark,

That’s why I use crochet thread. It is not elastic and it’s just heavy enough to sag a little.

I couldn’t find a prototype for this but it seems like a reasonable way to get the phone lines across the canyon. In any case it’s the Central Valley in California, Frank Norris “Octopus”, country so the SP can do whatever it wants.

Terry, your reference to Frank Norris and his book(s) is the 1st time I have heard his name or any of his books mentioned since I read him in HS. Thanks for sharing.

@Terry Luft posted:

Mark,

That’s why I use crochet thread. It is not elastic and it’s just heavy enough to sag a little.

Crochet thread!  Well I'm plenty familiar with that.  Thank you very much!!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Mitch, is the Frankenswitcher going to get a new paint job?  Razerback?  Something else?

For now, I plan to leave it as-is.  Has a certain je nai se quoi.   

Mitch

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

For now, I plan to leave it as-is.  Has a certain je nai se quoi.   

Mitch

Yes, it does!! 

I had to go to the English to French translator for that.  I took French in high school, but that was over 50 years ago!  I got one word right. 

@Terry Luft posted:

I couldn’t find a prototype for this but it seems like a reasonable way to get the phone lines across the canyon. In any case it’s the Central Valley in California, Frank Norris “Octopus”, country so the SP can do whatever it wants.

Terry,

I'm with you on this. I know I have seen this done on stone arch bridges but I'm sure there is a prototype somewhere for what you have done. Either way, it looks good and it's your railroad.

Dave

Hi Everyone,

Can you guess what these will be used for...

Dave

Third world flossing.

@mike g. posted:

Morning guys, first off, I want to thank you all for your thoughts about me. I am doing fine just whooped working with all this snow we have got and trying to help people why can't help themselves! It really sucks as there are people running around charging an arm and leg to help folks on fixed income. I do it for free as that is what my dad instilled in me! Here is what we have been dealing with and then on to some train stuff! LOL Mind you my deck railing is 6' tall and the snow pile is what was on the ground and the snow I had to take off the roof.

Mike,  please be careful with all that gratis snow shoveling.  At our average ages our bodies are not prepped for that kid of strenuous work.   "A man has got to know their limitations".

I just replaced a 28 YO Ahrens 24" snow blower for  new Ahrens 24" with better features at half the 1994 price from HD.

After several  volunteer years, we stopped gratis  clearing of out neighbor's drives.  Didn't even get a wave or a thank you.

@mike g. posted:

Morning guys, first off, I want to thank you all for your thoughts about me. I am doing fine just whooped working with all this snow we have got and trying to help people why can't help themselves! It really sucks as there are people running around charging an arm and leg to help folks on fixed income. I do it for free as that is what my dad instilled in me! Here is what we have been dealing with and then on to some train stuff! LOL Mind you my deck railing is 6' tall and the snow pile is what was on the ground and the snow I had to take off the roof.

Now on to some train stuff, last time my grandkids were here I was informed there were no people of color on my layout. My grandkids are part Hispanic, so I spent a few nights right before bed painting some new people of color so they would fit in. My bad!

I also had an hour or so to add ground cover to the area I had to widen out for the overhang of my new steam engine. Here is what I have so far!

The Kids and grandkids came for Christmas after the new year, and we had a great time. They gave me one of the best out of the blue gift for my train layout! I have been looking for a Greyhound bus but everyone I found was way out of my price range and low and behold that's what I got from the grandkids!

I hope you are all well and having fun with your trains and layouts! Please be safe and it might be a couple days before I get back as I have a few more people to take care of. Now all we have to worry about for us is landslides as we live on top of a hill and if it slides it blocks the road!

Mike, great pics of the snow storm...wow!  The new ground cover looks great!

It's good to see the addition of the "Greyhound" bus to your layout.  I know you've been looking for one for a while...

Tore up my railroad yard and half of back outer track to move everything so my Menards Cripple Creek Engine House I got last week will fit. Work in progress, will post pictures when I get it all done.

@luvindemtrains posted:

Hi Everyone,

Can you guess what these will be used for...

Dave

Stems for vines?

@Terry Luft posted:

I couldn’t find a prototype for this but it seems like a reasonable way to get the phone lines across the canyon. In any case it’s the Central Valley in California, Frank Norris “Octopus”, country so the SP can do whatever it wants.

Terry, I believe this is a realistic representation.  It reminds me of an incident that my dad encountered when he was a young cable splicer for the telephone company he worked at for 38 years.  I ended up at the same company at age 40 until retirement.  At that time the company had telephone cable on the PRR bridge that crosses the Allegheny River at Freeport, Pennsylvania.  Dad was called out to cable trouble after dark.  He was out on the bridge splicing cable and there was a wind whipping down the river.  That was okay, but he said it was really unnerving when a PRR freight came across the bridge.  Now there is fiver optics in conduit.

Well after reading the discussion about having an inventory, I decided I should probably figure out what I have. Not done yet, but I think I bought way too much stuff for my grandkids.   I have a pretty good handle on the engines but rolling stock is another matter. Still have a couple of more shelves to do but in 3 years I think I will have accumulated 30 engines and 140 cars.  When I did my count, if I had a 6 car coal hopper set, I counted that as one. Same with passenger car sets, that is a one. Diesel ABA is also one. Funny I started out buying steamers and now have only 3. I still have a couple more diesels on order (BN) and one of the Big Boys. I am not going to count my post war or 027 cars and engines. Those are for "under the tree".

I guess my question is when do you know you have enough stuff?  OK my absolute limit would be needing to rent a storage unit to keep trains - for me that IS TOO MUCH. So far I have been good at selling off items that did not fit what I wanted to do. Two I am stuck on - A Pennsy GG1 and passenger set and a Norfolk and Western Passenger set waiting for a scale J class 611.  As much as I love the history of the Eastern railroads, I am finding myself building roads Chicago and west, so the Eastern roads do not seem to fit. Nevertheless, I am likely to hold on to the Pennsy and N&W roads as an homage to the GG1 and "J". 

And on another note, the CEO asked me if I could turn one of my buildings into a US Marine Corp recruiting office. My oldest spent 9 years in (enlisted and out as a Staff Sgt) and I agree it would be a nice touch.  Anyone done that?  I know we have several Marines on the forum.   

Jeff

Jeff,

Too much is different for each of us. As for me, I’ll know it when I see it. I’m pretty well set with my motive power and rolling stock. It would need to be really special for me to buy at this point.

Recruting office would be a nice touch.

Andy