What did you do on your layout today?

Terrific job. Looks great.

@TedW posted:

@RSJB18, I checked my other M.O.W. crew in the tunnel.  These guys are “working” just as hard.  They’re from the LI DOT.  Recognize anybody?

Ted, your crew looks great!  One of those Longisland guys looks like a now deceased PennDOT 'employee' I once knew.  I couldn't call him a 'worker'.  His name was Harvey.  He always smelled of way too much Iron City Beer, and I don't think he was ever completely sober.  Dad said he always looked like he was walking on eggs.  My brother referred to him as Harvey Wallbanger. 

Farmer John, it looks absolutely great!

Scott, you are making some great looking company houses.

Just did a quick test fit of the reflective sheeting. Think I’m going to go a little bit skinnier, but I’m happy with the look. I’m going to do the math and figure out the right size for 4x16 piece. Plan on then cutting them out with our cricut.

Getting these new BS hoppers ready for service. They were a birthday gift from my sons.

Never liked the way an area on the layout looked, the area just in front of the plateau and behind an elevated cross track known as T-bone crossing. Why? It is a dangerous place if you are not careful - the mainline crosses the upper level here.

Over 20 years, part of the plateau under the rails sunk about 1/4 inch resulting in me having to shim about 10 inches of track. This also needed a more permanent fix.

I expanded the plateau and tunnel underneath it about a square foot - the crossing is no longer "floating" now and the tracks are a lot more stable (stabler?).

Before and after pics:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Oh yeah, the dip! I repaired that by pouring a loose plaster mix in it., it was in the area under the track and between the light green, brownish/orange and red bushes to the right of the cross track in the above pic, level and strong now.

Congratulations to the MOW crew, give them the weekend off.

@darlander posted:

Scott, the MTH hopper with new coal load:

Have fun with your redo!

Cheers, Dave

Dave, that looks great, inspiring me to get moving on redoing my hoppers. Thanks for posting.

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since I last posted anything about the layout besides product reviews. Things have been in a bit of limbo state as I was either in a busy state of work or in poor health. Thankfully, for the past few nights I have been able to get down to the train room and make some progress!

I am currently working on the mountain section of the layout. In the first photo I had originally planned to turn this area into a valley with a river but instead it is going to be a forested area with a shack in front of the unfinished white rock face. Next, I proceeded to work on the mountain it self by creating a new tunnel portal and start the massive cardboard truss work. I plan on making the mountain be false in the back, hidden from view, so that I do not have to deal with the pain of trying to produce unseen scenery. Work will probably not continue until after Sunday as I will be busy with family celebrating my birthday tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and happy railroading!

With all the new methods and materials, it is good to see old methods and materials still can give great results.  I remember reading about the cardboard mesh back in the late 1960s and using it myself.  I'm glad you could get back at it!

@Mark Boyce posted:

With all the new methods and materials, it is good to see old methods and materials still can give great results.  I remember reading about the cardboard mesh back in the late 1960s and using it myself.  I'm glad you could get back at it!

Thanks Mark! I cannot remember how I found out about it but I am glad I did! It has been a very easy process of building it up.

@Trainmaster04 posted:

Hello everyone! It has been awhile since I last posted anything about the layout besides product reviews. Things have been in a bit of limbo state as I was either in a busy state of work or in poor health. Thankfully, for the past few nights I have been able to get down to the train room and make some progress!

Work will probably not continue until after Sunday as I will be busy with family celebrating my birthday tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and happy railroading!

Happy Birthday sir!

The tunnel is going to be nice.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Happy Birthday sir!

The tunnel is going to be nice.

Bob

Thank you sir!

Some nice projects shown above. I finished installing a concrete retaining wall.

Hello all,

Absolutely beautiful work everyone, I finally had a few minutes to set up and add a Legacy base and remote to my basement layout . It originally only had TMCC.

Thanks, Alex

Thanks for all the comments on the oil refinery everyone. It is more fun to me when others enjoy it also.

Jeff the gooseneck  lights in the refinery  I make myself. I use a 12 volt white diffused led. I stamp out a shade of thin metal heatsrink metal tubing and a wooden thimble to stand it in. These are cheap to make and at a little distance they look ok to me. Thanks Farmerjohn.

The cars are on their way to the coke oven.

@Lionelski posted:

After:

Looks great! I also think the old Seaboard switcher looks great! That was my dad’s second engine he ever had.

GHD, that looks very impressive. What do you have under your ballast?

My ballast is ground cork that I bought at York years ago. I think the cork came out of a library somewhere. The lighter stuff is cat litter. Under all my track is the rubber matting made to be put under loose rugs. I’m happy with the results, especially with noise.

Thank you GHD

My photoessay on the 2022 Sugar Creek show is up!

https://ogrforum.com/...-ar-february-26-2022

Mitch

@farmerjohn posted:

Thanks for all the comments on the oil refinery everyone. It is more fun to me when others enjoy it also.

Jeff the gooseneck  lights in the refinery  I make myself. I use a 12 volt white diffused led. I stamp out a shade of thin metal heatsrink metal tubing and a wooden thimble to stand it in. These are cheap to make and at a little distance they look ok to me. Thanks Farmerjohn.

I love these! Making things your self is the fun part for me

Made a command decision about my already knew the answer but was in denial question of disappearing the “bare leads” on my welders. Anyhow while I’m waiting on PVA to dry I was playing with some of my other toys.

Don’t Start None, there won’t be none😜

@farmerjohn posted:

Jeff the gooseneck  lights in the refinery  I make myself. I use a 12 volt white diffused led. I stamp out a shade of thin metal heatsrink metal tubing and a wooden thimble to stand it in. These are cheap to make and at a little distance they look ok to me. Thanks Farmerjohn.

Really nice John.

That little light shade is a great touch for these light posts.

Thanks for sharing the construct .

Hello everyone! I was able to have a fun and family filled day yesterday. As I predicted, I was not able to get any more work done yesterday, but the night I made my original post I had made some progress. I continued the truss work, added more “rock” formations, and dry fitted my shack in front of the unfinished wall.

Farmerjohn those lights look awesome. I like how you filled the refinery area.

I worked on my trestle bridge over the weekend. The bass wood frame work held its curve and I was able to start gluing boards down on the platform. If that's what ya call it? lol

Still need to figure out posting pictures and get some on this thread. I've just been to busy with grandkids and such.

Happy belated Birthday to those mentioned above.

I bought this K-line PRR E-8 AA set almost twenty years ago. Well done, handsome models they were however, troublesome. They were equipped with TMCC (but no speed control), smoke, directional lighting - all the usual stuff. Nothing ever seemed to work 100% all the time and the sounds they were equipped with were really lame. On a good day they were "finicky", on a bad day they were a real pain in the caboose and sometimes inoperable. I finally had enough. I had to decide whether or not to spend more money on them for repairs or upgrades or not. I opted to "de-tune" them and revert them back to conventional operation. I have a fairly good sized junk yard of locomotives and scrounging around, I came up with what I needed.

I used Williams E-Units in each and Williams Tru Blast Plus digital sounds. While I was in there I also wired the motors in series to tame them down - something I always do to all my conventional locos. I added my own LED headlight and marker lights. I was pleasantly surprised at just how well they run. They'll even crawl at low track voltage even while pulling their consist. They are smooth and reliable with decent sounds. Only thing I'm lacking are smoke units. I really don't care much about smoke on a diesel anyway (I have the smoke units if I change my mind). I'm really happy with how they turned out and best of all, at zero expense to me.

Low speed run by:

That was quite the undertaking Ralph and it turned out great. They are pulling a handsome consist; must be the Broadway Limited.

@Ralph M posted:

I bought this K-line PRR E-8 AA set almost twenty years ago. Well done, handsome models they were however, troublesome. They were equipped with TMCC (but no speed control), smoke, directional lighting - all the usual stuff. Nothing ever seemed to work 100% all the time and the sounds they were equipped with were really lame. On a good day they were "finicky", on a bad day they were a real pain in the caboose and sometimes inoperable. I finally had enough. I had to decide whether or not to spend more money on them for repairs or upgrades or not. I opted to "de-tune" them and revert them back to conventional operation. I have a fairly good sized junk yard of locomotives and scrounging around, I came up with what I needed.

I used Williams E-Units in each and Williams Tru Blast Plus digital sounds. While I was in there I also wired the motors in series to tame them down - something I always do to all my conventional locos. I added my own LED headlight and marker lights. I was pleasantly surprised at just how well they run. They'll even crawl at low track voltage even while pulling their consist. They are smooth and reliable with decent sounds. Only thing I'm lacking are smoke units. I really don't care much about smoke on a diesel anyway (I have the smoke units if I change my mind). I'm really happy with how they turned out and best of all, at zero expense to me.

Low speed run by:

Those look and sound great. Excellent scrounging !

@Jim Van Every posted:

I love these! Making things your self is the fun part for me

@farmerjohn

@Dallas Joseph

Anyone looking for a cheap and easy lamp shade, I came up with these several years ago and have used them many times.

I used a #6 drywall screw washer. Place it upside down on a piece of soft wood (2x4 works well) and run a screw through it. The screw head inverts the washer. Presto- instant lamp shade.

Hi guys, I hope your all doing well! Sorry I haven't been around for a while as life has thrown a wrench in my life and has taken me away from anything to do with trains for a week or so.

First off, I had to go back 3 and a half pages to get up to speed on what everyone is doing and have to say nothing has changed. You all are still doing outstanding work and sharing some wonderful ideas! I would list you all, but it took me a while just to read everything! LOL

@chris a your road work and tunnel look outstanding! I still have to get some cork to give it a try!

@idea-thinker your trussells are just amazing!

@farmerjohn the oil field and barge are out of this world and thank you for sharing how you do your lights!

@darlander thanks for the how to on making coal loads, something I will have to give a try down the road!

@Ralph M, wonderful job on the engines! They look and sound wonderful!

Well guys I was able to pick up some masonite the other day when I had to go to Lowes to get some other stuff for my non train project. I was able it get it cut to size, P.S. it's a PIA to cut a 4 x 8 sheet by yourself on the table saw but was able to get it done.

I mounted my sides to the upper loop and let that dry over night with liquid nail, then when out the next morning and painted everything black. I am not sure if I will just leave it black or try something to spiff it up. Either way I think it's for another day's project. I still have to fix the retaining wall where I cut out for the original switch location.

Here are a couple photos as you all know if there is no photos it really never happened! LOL

Whie I was out there I found this truck and trailer under the layout and knew I had to get it back up on the layout before it got broke! LOL

I think tomorrow I will relocate the switched for the construction crane, so you don't have to be inside the loops to run it. You can see it in the background of the second photo.

I hope you all have a great day and find time for your layout, but most of all I hope you all find to have fun with your trains!

@RSJB18 posted:

Anyone looking for a cheap and easy lamp shade, I came up with these several years ago and have used them many times.

I used a #6 drywall screw washer. Place it upside down on a piece of soft wood (2x4 works well) and run a screw through it. The screw head inverts the washer. Presto- instant lamp shade.

Nice  Bob.      What are the round black pieces that hold the lamp shades ?

@mike g. posted:

Here are a couple photos as you all know if there is no photos it really never happened! LOL

I don't know Mike.    This looks like it could have been some kind of  ' photoshopping '  going on here .

@RSJB18 posted:

Anyone looking for a cheap and easy lamp shade, I came up with these several years ago and have used them many times.

I used a #6 drywall screw washer. Place it upside down on a piece of soft wood (2x4 works well) and run a screw through it. The screw head inverts the washer. Presto- instant lamp shade.

Looks great Bob, I’m using that for sure.

Andy

I haven't looked at this section in few months as it is blocked by Yahoo mail or perhaps the powers that be. Have mostly been converting as many incandescent lamps to LEDs that i can access. It's not worth taking pictures of and a sound recording would certainly get deleted. However I did assemble two service platform kits from TW TrainWorx. Nice, easy to build, well engineered kits from a company that offers first class products with great service as well.

@Dallas Joseph posted:

I don't know Mike.    This looks like it could have been some kind of  ' photoshopping '  going on here .

LOL Dallas, no photoshopping here! For one reason, I don't know how! LOL

@modeltrainsparts posted:

I haven't looked at this section in few months as it is blocked by Yahoo mail or perhaps the powers that be. Have mostly been converting as many incandescent lamps to LEDs that i can access. It's not worth taking pictures of and a sound recording would certainly get deleted. However I did assemble two service platform kits from TW TrainWorx. Nice, easy to build, well engineered kits from a company that offers first class products with great service as well.

The service platforms look outstanding! They certainly fit right in! Great job!

Bob, that is a great idea for the lampshades.  They look great!

Mike, I'm glad you got back to the layout.  The Masonite looks great!

Ralph, really nice engines!

@Ralph M posted:

I bought this K-line PRR E-8 AA set almost twenty years ago. Well done, handsome models they were however, troublesome. They were equipped with TMCC (but no speed control), smoke, directional lighting - all the usual stuff. Nothing ever seemed to work 100% all the time and the sounds they were equipped with were really lame. On a good day they were "finicky", on a bad day they were a real pain in the caboose and sometimes inoperable. I finally had enough. I had to decide whether or not to spend more money on them for repairs or upgrades or not. I opted to "de-tune" them and revert them back to conventional operation. I have a fairly good sized junk yard of locomotives and scrounging around, I came up with what I needed.

I used Williams E-Units in each and Williams Tru Blast Plus digital sounds. While I was in there I also wired the motors in series to tame them down - something I always do to all my conventional locos. I added my own LED headlight and marker lights. I was pleasantly surprised at just how well they run. They'll even crawl at low track voltage even while pulling their consist. They are smooth and reliable with decent sounds. Only thing I'm lacking are smoke units. I really don't care much about smoke on a diesel anyway (I have the smoke units if I change my mind). I'm really happy with how they turned out and best of all, at zero expense to me.

Low speed run by:

Thak you for video. I'm lucky you posted this as I have an AA F7 pair that are conventional. I would like to upgrade the lighting and horn. Mars light would be neat. My Green set has 4 traction tires and will pull as many cars as space allows

Great work everyone.   Had a challenging "character building" week.  Two catalytic converters were cut out of my mobile woodshop by a chop crew, then the water heater went out.  Fortunately caught before it emptied 40 gallons of water in the train room.  Anyway, in the grand scheme of things, minor problems.   Got the concrete joints laid out and cut, and then weathered and set the man hole covers and finally took the airbrush out for the first time in a long time and started weathering the concrete roads.   Now that the emergencies are "put to bed",  I'd like to finish wiring the LED lights I installed, the strips are all made up and mounts done, just have to do the feed wires from the variable DC buck converter.