@Scott R posted:All these roads ran south of Lake Ontario, hence my fictitious name.
Now I understand. Thought maybe you had connections to Ontario, Canada where the Ontario Southland Railway still exists.
Bob
I made some layout progress over the last week starting with sorting through all the Ross sectional track and switches I have from an old 2006-2019 6 x 15 foot layout and the extras I purchased for this new 7 X 21 foot layout.
I gave the older track a good cleaning over a couple of afternoons using a Lionel track eraser and a couple of plastic Scotch-brite pads. Here and there I had to straighten or replace a track pin like I did here on a 3 1/2" fitter track section. The track pliers is getting a work out between inserting or straightening track pins or restoring the shape of any rail ends. I had to use a pliers with a wider flat section to straighten out some of the power clips attached to some of the track sections. (Those few got a bent a little when the track section was removed during the last layout's disassembly from the roadbed and glued ballast.)
I started the "dry fitting exercise" yesterday to make sure the track plan built in RR-Track matches the reality of the on-hand track sections and switches. In the foreground of this photo is one end of the O-64 outer loop and O-546 inner loop. The other ends of those loops appear at the far part of the photo. There's also a point-to-point straight track behind them which will eventually host a trolley car ride of some sort. For those who are wondering what those looped wires are on the curves in the foreground, those are where power clips are attached to the track. Once everything fits, I'll drill the holes to run the wires to the terminal block connected to the Z-4000 transformer.
The rest of this week will involve continuing work on the "dry fitting exercise".
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Today, I installed some traffic lights. The inky dinky wires on that Plug-n-Play stuff are, for me, a pure nightmare! I finally got them to work.
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@RIRocket posted:Today, I installed some traffic lights. The inky dinky wires on that Plug-n-Play stuff are, for me, a pure nightmare! I finally got them to work.
That looks fantastic.
@Dave Ripp. posted:That looks fantastic.
Thanks! They do look great, don’t they! A good end to some crazy frustration under the layout!
@RIRocket nice work on the traffic lights. Yes tiny wires are difficult to work with. I found the thin wires on LED building lighting to require patience.
Well, today I vacuumed dead spiders and other junk from the back of these shelves, and arranged the cars by category like they used to be. I’ll do the other closet tomorrow.
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@RIRocket posted:
Today, I installed some traffic lights. The inky dinky wires on that Plug-n-Play stuff are, for me, a pure nightmare! I finally got them to work.
The lights looks good.
Pro tip- I solder a larger set of wires to the tiny ones before placing on the layout. 22/4 telephone wire is one of my favorites.
Bob
@RSJB18 posted:The lights looks good.
Pro tip- I solder a larger set of wires to the tiny ones before placing on the layout. 22/4 telephone wire is one of my favorites.
Bob
My friend and I were wondering about doing something like that. If I use more of these, I’ll give it a try. Thanks.
Some great winter work being done everyone !! Day to day is sometimes the only way to progress.
Thanks again for the comments Mark, glad you like the scenes and stories.
Scott, your diner looks fabulous. Love the outdoor tables and the quality figures really bring the scene to life !
Mike, great to hear your bench work will soon be underway. Theirs some great construction ideas all over the networks with helpful tips . Howard Zane has some great ideas on roadbed construction covered in the Great Model Railroad series by Allen Keller , as well as Lorell Joiner’s basic “ stud wall” construction method. All allow for open grid or table top scenery ideas.
@RIRocket. Those crossing lights are a definite attraction to visitors. They draw the eyes right in. Any lighting features seem to bring out realism in the model world.
This morning I started to scenic around the “Louise “ 
station area. Nothing real deep yet, but I was able to do the plaster poured platforms, ballast the parking area around the depot and grass the field area where the water tank sits. Then I can move onto the roadway and its embankments. Lots of trees will finish things up. I like to draw out what an area could look like. Here’s a few pictures…..
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@myles posted:Some great winter work being done everyone !! Day to day is sometimes the only way to progress.
Thanks again for the comments Mark, glad you like the scenes and stories.
Scott, your diner looks fabulous. Love the outdoor tables and the quality figures really bring the scene to life !Mike, great to hear your bench work will soon be underway. Theirs some great construction ideas all over the networks with helpful tips . Howard Zane has some great ideas on roadbed construction covered in the Great Model Railroad series by Allen Keller , as well as Lorell Joiner’s basic “ stud wall” construction method. All allow for open grid or table top scenery ideas.
@RIRocket. Those crossing lights are a definite attraction to visitors. They draw the eyes right in. Any lighting features seem to bring out realism in the model world.
This morning I started to scenic around the “Louise “station area. Nothing real deep yet, but I was able to do the plaster poured platforms, ballast the parking area around the depot and grass the field area where the water tank sits. Then I can move onto the roadway and its embankments. Lots of trees will finish things up. I like to draw out what an area could look like. Here’s a few pictures…..
Miles it sure looks like you have a great start! I really like the idea of drawing it out first! My problem is I never think that far ahead! lol
Myles, the sketch for the Louise looks great! The platform compliments the station. Is that foamcore that you are using for the road base? I need to do something similar for the road leaving my town, but the road will have to curve downward.
NOT today, but 12 years ago: A family lived down the street years ago, and used to come by to view trains when I put them up at Christmas. They moved to Texas about 10 years ago. The dad just sent me this picture from a visit back then...his son is now driving and graduating!!
Greg
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Thanks Mike. That seems to be a habit of mine drawing things out. Really gives me a starting point for what I’d like to end up with. I then combine prototype. photos I’ve taken to help model additional detailing.
Thanks Mark, you’re absolutely correct that is foam core I used as my road base. I use the material a lot even for base walls on scratch built structures. The road surface will have styrene plastic glued to it. Which brings up a source topic. I get my large sheets of styrene from the city bus terminal. The large advertising posters on the exterior sides are interchangeable and the printed “picture skin” peels off The only request is that the advertising side doesn’t show outward to any public once it is “passed on. “ to us. Worth checking out in your area. Our location says they just toss them out .
Myles, thank you. That is an excellent tip on a source for styrene.
It doesn’t look like much but it was a big deal to me - I replaced a 34” diameter tubular Marx track turn with my custom bent Gargraves track. One Benefit is that the outer rails are isolated, enabling train detection. Another is that Gargraves looks better to me. I was hesitant to replace it because 34” is hard to achieve smoothly - it takes about 1-1/2 pieces of Gargraves and I break ties and it’s never perfect. But it does run smoothly now and I have train detection through the curve. (Part of the difficulty with bending my Gargraves track is some is new to me but over 13 years old and the ties stick more than on new track.)
Gotta get the track how I want before moving forward with scenery!
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Dan, that’s really smooth bent Gar-Graves track! It really looks great!
Spent some time at the "drawing board" as well as Myles... Not really a scenic sketch, but more of a template which will repeat over and over again as I build up some large factories/warehouses for the urban district. Then I copied the 2 floor by 2 window wide templates, and taped some together to get a rough idea of what a 5 story factory would look like. It's pretty much dead center in the photo below, the shallow relief building on the right won't go there just wanted to get an idea of what a really large 5 story building would look like in the neighborhood.
Finally got motivated today to start mocking up what I sketched out to see if the window to wall to concrete beams proportions looked right.... Then started cutting some poplar stock for the concrete beams. The brick is the Plastruct O scale brick sheets, and I purchased the factory/warehouse windows on eBay. Turned out they are actually from Todd Architectural Models, each 3 window set has a 36 x 3 = 108 window panes..... They are laser cut, and I am glad I bought 90 x (3 window) sets.
Now I wish it would warm up enough for me to get the rattle cans out paint the windows, and the concrete beams.
All these materials will be glued to some large sheets of scratch resistant Clear Polycarbonate. I think Norm C called it the "Lexan" Factory Build in his video....
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@chris a posted:Spent some time at the "drawing board" as well as Myles...
Chris, it looks like you're having fun! I'm very impressed with your vision and I enjoying following the process. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers, Dave
@darlander posted:Chris, it looks like you're having fun! I'm very impressed with your vision and I enjoying following the process. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers, Dave
Dave, Thanks. The windows were really the "key" to the whole project. I had looked what was available, then 2 weeks ago figured I'd take one more look on "The Bay" and found these. Without really good quality true scale windows, I wasn't too motivated to do all the other work.
Each window pane scales out to about 8" x 12", the muntin bars are incredibly thin and they come with a 2nd frame piece as well with double sided tape on the back. Once they are installed the total thickness is only .050 to .060". A 3 window set is roughly 6 feet tall by 15 feet wide.
Going to make a machine shop to go next to the roundhouse so I can install some really nice 3D printed machine tools that I purchased. These windows stacked 2 high should make it possible to see the machine shop interior...
I’ve watched this forum for years and rarely posted anything. I’ve been adding inhabitants to my town of Olive Hill this evening. It’s been an empty town for too long to say. Living here in this little city now are Artista, Woodland’s, BeePeople and a boat load of others picked up over several years from many places.
I truly love everyone’s displays today.
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@Seth Thomas posted:I’ve watched this forum for years and rarely posted anything. I’ve been adding inhabitants to my town of Olive Hill this evening. It’s been an empty town for too long to say. Living here in this little city now are Artista, Woodland’s, BeePeople and a boat load of others picked up over several years from many places.
I truly love everyone’s displays today.
You know Seth now that you have shared it with the rest of us we all know you have chose to travel down the dark path! 😆 Next thing your going to need more people for your passenger cars! 😀
Looks great! Keep up the wonderful work.
@Seth Thomas posted:I’ve watched this forum for years and rarely posted anything. I’ve been adding inhabitants to my town of Olive Hill this evening. It’s been an empty town for too long to say. Living here in this little city now are Artista, Woodland’s, BeePeople and a boat load of others picked up over several years from many places.
I truly love everyone’s displays today.
Seth, You Did a Great Job on weathering the MTH station.... Nice variety of town's people.
Mike, I thought I had plenty of pedestrian and seated ones. My mistake 😂
And Chris A, you may recognize my MTH Passenger depot. As a compliment to you, I mirrored your wonderful work with your permission a few years back. 😄
It’s been a fun evening…
@chris a- another mega project in the works Chris. I'm sure that it will look great when it's done.
@Seth Thomas- Amazing how some plastic in the shape of people brings a layout to life. Nice work John. I used a mix of WS, BEEP, and some Bachman people on my passenger station to add variety. The BEEP's are smaller than the rest so I put them facing to the back. As you can see their feet don't touch the ground.....
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