Ah..this is my first post, and I did something pretty big this weekend on the railroad...got it running.
So here is a short video of the first train.
I have to admit that I got the music from a YouTube video of a layout that is great, it was posted on the Brian Palm Channel. Hope someone on the Forum knows more about this layout.
I like the PVC 'conduit' with your wires between levels. Looks like the start of a smokestack for some industry!
Mark Boyce posted:I like the PVC 'conduit' with your wires between levels. Looks like the start of a smokestack for some industry!
Yep, there's two levels, but right now the upper level is what's left of the "HO". Over time that level will become Hi-Rail.
Mark
Evening after dinner started out pretty good till I ran out of white glue. I thought I had some more tucked away somewhere but no. So tomorrow morning after breakfast it is a trip to the Depot to get more glue but I managed to have enough glue to do foliage between the next tracks. A couple of pics................Paul
Paul you do really great looking scenary! Its fun to see your progress.
Absolutely NOTHING!
We are in St John, USVI for a week!
Completed 5 track yard and recessed yard lead into base to allow electric panel door to finally open.
Jhainer posted:jim pastorius posted:Last night before I went to bed I cranked up my layout and had 4 trains running at once. Something I usually don't do but everything went OK. I must say that the sound level was very tolerable, you could have had a normal conversation which is pretty good considering my rather basic soundproofing attempts.
did the same thing at about 10:30 last night not 4 trains but 3 all union pacific 2 sd90's and one sd40t-2. the whole time my son and I were having a conversation about school as one of his teachers ( computer science) doesn't like him. I had to tell him to sometimes act stupid because he has been messing with computers since he was 4 years old and now can write programs and makes his own video games in java and html. last week he came to me and he wrote a program for a new browser. I doubt his teacher can do that
she still calls the tower a base unit. if you go in his bedroom it looks like mission control. 3 flat screen TV's for monitors each to it's own computer. now he wants my extra server rack and to move one of my servers to his room the kid has been running his own minecraft server for 3 years now. I guess that's the bonuses of having a dad that's an IT guy and owns his own business. he's been around it for ever. but on a train note in that conversation we designed in our heads a new way to wire up signals and to make it easier for me to wire since I am visually challenged when it comes to small wires . (using Ethernet wire). I might try to make a prototype sometime in the near future.
Jim and Jhainer,
Glad to see I'm not the only one that runs trains before going to bed. Sometimes I run trains before I leave the house so I don't think about running trains while I'm gone. Doesn't always work, when the bug bites, it bites hard. Jhainer, I think it's cool your son can do the computer stuff. Maybe he could design a program to run the Leagcy, TMCC, LionChief and DCC trains and accessories.
paul 2 posted:Evening after dinner started out pretty good till I ran out of white glue. I thought I had some more tucked away somewhere but no. So tomorrow morning after breakfast it is a trip to the Depot to get more glue but I managed to have enough glue to do foliage between the next tracks. A couple of pics................Paul
This really looks good Paul.
DennyM posted:Jhainer posted:jim pastorius posted:Last night before I went to bed I cranked up my layout and had 4 trains running at once. Something I usually don't do but everything went OK. I must say that the sound level was very tolerable, you could have had a normal conversation which is pretty good considering my rather basic soundproofing attempts.
did the same thing at about 10:30 last night not 4 trains but 3 all union pacific 2 sd90's and one sd40t-2. the whole time my son and I were having a conversation about school as one of his teachers ( computer science) doesn't like him. I had to tell him to sometimes act stupid because he has been messing with computers since he was 4 years old and now can write programs and makes his own video games in java and html. last week he came to me and he wrote a program for a new browser. I doubt his teacher can do that
Jim and Jhainer,
Glad to see I'm not the only one that runs trains before going to bed. Sometimes I run trains before I leave the house so I don't think about running trains while I'm gone. Doesn't always work, when the bug bites, it bites hard. Jhainer, I think it's cool your son can do the computer stuff. Maybe he could design a program to run the Leagcy, TMCC, LionChief and DCC trains and accessories.
I don't think the software would be an issue but the hardware would be. some how have a program interface with legacy I think the code is out there for that already, same with tmcc, and dcs. now lion chief is different as I am not sure but it is controlled like an R/c car is with 2.4 ghrz spelled that wrong so the software would have to interface with hardware to control that wirelessly and all the hardware would have to communicate with each other too so it would be a jumbled mess and you would be creating something that each system already does and the price would be up there so I don't think anyone would buy it . now I did see where someone used r/c car/plane servos to switch switches now if you could come up with a way to interface the r/c receiver at 2.4 ghrz why couldn't you do the same with lion chief + but I'm not an electronics guru. by any means heck I had to send stuff out to have it soldered LOL. but yea I'm biased cause he's my son but that kid does stuff that amazes me. like he came in a few days ago dad he says type in an address on his laptop so I did and opened ogr forums in his new browser. now mind you it wasn't complete it was very basic just a address bar across the top but it worked and that was his point at 14 tho he needs to come up with better names for his software sexy browser just doesn't fit it LOL that's him on the right he fits the computer geek profile to a tee.
from left to right in front Annabelle my little helper her job on the layout is to dust buildings with a paint brush and move things at random usually on the track. she also is the inspiration to the Annabelle Falls station on the layout she fell off the stool while dusting and broke the railings then my daughter Khameron she is my painter anything I need painted that takes a few minutes she will do. it has to be a few minutes as she is always on the go. then there's Zhoie she doesn't do to much on my layout as she has one in her bedroom/apt of her own to work on her's is Hogwartz and is conventional it also runs Annabelle's Thomas I gave her a new Lionel F3 the other day it made her all excited She has CP and is slightly autistic so she loves the trains this photo is the day she graduated from High school last summer. funny the dr's said she would never walk and would never be able to go to school mor or less graduate they wanted us to put her in a home as a baby. Then my other daughter LOL no that's my son Khamdon the geek LOL by the way Khamdon and Khameron are twins . Khameron has a PRR j.c. Penny starter set too so they all have trains except Khamdon. I had guardian ship over Annabelle until a few months ago so she has grown up around trains her whole life
With more white glue I got back to adding foliage between the last track and the grade finishing up at the control tower for the freight yard which I may change out for a smaller one I have and I have to make up some more regular trees to go in before the control tower, too much low foliage
. Coffee break then I start tackling the grade and that area around the control panel will be done. Couple of pics..................Paul
Got most of my "new bridge" put in place. I did just have the girder bridges straight across, but looking at it, thought it needed some "zazzing up". I thought that an arch would really add that flare that I was looking for, so I got some PVC and some dowels, a little paint and a new board, and got to work!
I just need to work out the wiring for the flashing becon on the top. I don't want to cut the original or get too carried away, I did however remove the circuit board from the pillar since I'm not using them. If I mounted it on the bottom, it would hang out from under the arch on the bottom and look horrible.
I was able to get 30 minutes on the layout in yesterday. Did some ground cover around the log cabin scene. Ran trains while doing so. If we get that big snow here in the DC area beginning this Friday, I will get lots more done on the layout for sure.
Tonight I completed one of the two cars I was working on for the Menards pickle works, the Von Allmen pickle tub car, bashed from a Lionel tub car. Tubs were covered with wooden strips and then, tediously!, wound with thread for cable. Lettering was a pain, as much of it was with press-on letters, strongly disliked here, but the alternative was to buy one of the HO kits and sent the decals off to be redone in O. An inexpensive kit got away from me on the Bay and others were three times that price. With a blow-up of a photo from one of those Bay auctions, I was able to press letter and to piece together decal sets with the statistical info. I am also well along on a Standard Brands vinegar double tank car, that has 15 cables per tank, so tedious winding of thread has just begun. That is being built on a Menards platform. Luckily, that winding of cable is the last task.
my parts came in from lionel today. so I started off with replacing a fatboy speaker in a lionel sd90 #8048 that was quick and simple. Then I decided to do a smoke unit swap on another sd90 #8049 both union pacific. got it apart funny how different they were build screws in different places weird. but got it apart swapped out the smoke unit it powers up but didnt' turn on no smoke turns out the regulator was fried too. but it also has one ditch light out and the windshield was falling in so wile I had it apart I swapped out both ditch lights to Led lights and popped the windshield back in tightly left the new smoke unit in and put it back together until I get a regulator. another funny thing about it was the 8049 had 2 speakers in the fuel tank both were 16 ohms and not fatboys. the 8048 had a single fatboy. 8048 has better sound wonder if I could remove both and add a single fatboy . then I started working on sd40t-2 #4004 putting the snow plow back on. that was simple took my exacto twisted it in the broken off piece in the hole where the old plow was and out came the old piece and push new piece on and a drop of glue it was finished.
then decided to look at putting the smoke unit in the pa-1 and removed the shell couldn't see a plug to plug it in put shell back on and went to research it . thought about the f3 smoke unit need to figure out how to hook up a smoke unit to a cruise commander do both red wires get tied together to power the smoke unit ?
I've been slowly adding ground cover and ballast to the lower level of the layout. Little by little, I'm filling. Soon, I'll start putting the trees and structures in their more permanent locations. My son was home for a week at Xmas, and we worked together a little during that time. Fun, just like when he was little.
A little progress every day!
Having fun!
John
WP posted:I've been slowly adding ground cover and ballast to the lower level of the layout. Little by little, I'm filling. Soon, I'll start putting the trees and structures in their more permanent locations. My son was home for a week at Xmas, and we worked together a little during that time. Fun, just like when he was little.
A little progress every day!
Having fun!
John
that looks really cool .
that bridge is cool! PVC? I never would have thought to use that. 1/2"? did you put them in a jig and gradually put tension to pre-bend them to keep the shape? supports the middle good? I love this idea!
Chris
Jhainer posted:WP posted:I've been slowly adding ground cover and ballast to the lower level of the layout. Little by little, I'm filling. Soon, I'll start putting the trees and structures in their more permanent locations. My son was home for a week at Xmas, and we worked together a little during that time. Fun, just like when he was little.
A little progress every day!
Having fun!
John
that looks really cool .
Thank you!
Chris D posted:that bridge is cool! PVC? I never would have thought to use that. 1/2"? did you put them in a jig and gradually put tension to pre-bend them to keep the shape? supports the middle good? I love this idea!
Chris
Yes, 1/2" PVC. I didn't pre shape it or anything, I just happened to have a piece in the garage when I had the board running across, and put it up against one side, to see if it would flex enough. It did, and I needed a bit longer to get from one side to the other, so I got more pipe.
I was really leary when drilling the holes in the pipe for the dowel. I used 1/4" so I oversized the hole a 1/16" so the dowel would fit in, but kept thinking the PVC was going to bend or kink at one of the holes.
I had watered a few videos on forming the PVC to the shape, but don't have a heat gun, so I figured that being under pressure, would help support the weight.
I had plans to paint the shelf brackets grey as well, but thought they looked kind of bulky and definitely out of place. Then I was going o swap them out with 4" angle brackets, but once I have everything in place, found that it had no flex at all so I left them off.
At the base, there is a lag screw angled at a 45 that the PVC fits over to hold the bottoms in place. The only other mounting hardware, was a screw in each piece of track on the table ends, that stopped a little bit of side-to-side sway.
I didn't start out with it in mind, it just came to me.
Moving along at a slow pace. I got another little section done. I am working on the sides of the grade now which is the last section in this area to do
. Once I get this done it is done. I had to stop to make up some regular trees so now I have to wait for the glue to dry and after supper I hope to plant them. Pics. And Bryan thank God I am retire or I would only have time to do one tree a day LOL. Good catching up with you last night and hearing about your progress so far.........................Paul
WP posted:I've been slowly adding ground cover and ballast to the lower level of the layout. Little by little, I'm filling. Soon, I'll start putting the trees and structures in their more permanent locations. My son was home for a week at Xmas, and we worked together a little during that time. Fun, just like when he was little.
A little progress every day!
Having fun!
John
It looks great! Good to have your son home helping you!
paul 2 posted:Moving along at a slow pace. I got another little section done. I am working on the sides of the grade now which is the last section in this area to do. Once I get this done it is done. I had to stop to make up some regular trees so now I have to wait for the glue to dry and after supper I hope to plant them. Pics. And Bryan thank God I am retire or I would only have time to do one tree a day LOL. Good catching up with you last night and hearing about your progress so far.........................Paul
Paul,
Once again, it is really looking great!
I swapped locos and put this old CP geep to work.
Because I was up on the layout for the afternoon I felt bad for making the wife a widow for the afternoon. So when I came down from my man cave I asked her if she would like to go to Steak and Shake for dinner. Her eyes lit up. After we got home I headed back to the layout to finish up the last area behind the control panel. I have to go back and glue down the loose foliage but wanted to post pics before I did that. The area in the front is where I put in the regular trees I made this afternoon. On the back side I was able to place all the woodland scenic trees I had and was never sure where I could use or put them. I made a stand of all of them in that area Here are pics of the work today...............Paul
I have been busy. smoke units and parts came in. so I fixed a bunch of engines replaced a few lights with leds. got to the smoke unit in the f3 and farted around with it for about a day and moved on to something else I'll go back to it I see what needs to be done just need to think of how to get it there. smoke unit is real close to the motor and the funnel is about 1/8 inch off so might have to find a different smoke unit . 2 switches came in yesterday so I installed them and ran the remote wires , then decided to upgrade my UP sd40t-2 well it was already upgraded so I added the railsounds to it . so I moved on to a brekshire jr upgrading it instead and that went real good to it took about 10 minutes to install the cruise commander lite in the engine. put it all back together and it worked but not great the antenna needs to be redone everything worked as log as my hand was over the shell 
metal shell and only about an inch of the antenna hanging out in the cab area doesn't work. also have to run a tether out to the tender for the rail sounds. so all in all busy days on the layout. so finally my Union pacific fleet is getting built up 2 sd90's 2 sd40t-2's and a Berkshire jr all command control now I wonder would my rio grande challenger be considered union pacific since rio grande bought southern pacific then union pacific bought them .
Thought I was through with the scenery on the grade but thinking about it I thought I had a bit too much open space under the trees. So I went back up and filled in with foliage under them. Pics of that and a pic of the last upper section to add scenery to...........Paul
paul 2 posted:Thought I was through with the scenery on the grade but thinking about it I thought I had a bit too much open space under the trees. So I went back up and filled in with foliage under them. Pics of that and a pic of the last upper section to add scenery to...........Paul
Paul: The extra foliage is a great finishing touch. Your attention to detail is superb.
This afternoon I got the last section of the upper mainlines done. I would of have this area done this morning but I had to go out and buy a new hot melt gun. So after dinner all I have left is to glue down the loose foliage and then on to the lower level to finish off a few areas there. Pics of the section.......................Paul
Gary - Cheers for The Detroit and Mackinac Railway
Gary,
Beat video yet!!!
Mark; I think you meant best video. By I will admit it will be tough to BEAT.
tstark posted:Mark; I think you meant best video. By I will admit it will be tough to BEAT.
Can't beat that video! LOL. Thanks tstark!!
D'awwwww! 
I finished up the upgrade to the berkshire jr minus coal load to hide antenna, then I ran some new rope lights on the lower level, then shot a few videos and ran some trains here is the videos I don't talk in them I let the engine talk for me . in the sd40t-2 I put in the cruise commander and railsounds the sd diesel in the Berkshire Jr I put a cruise commander lite with the large steam rail sounds. on the SD90 8048 I replaced a bad fat boy speaker then on the 8049 I replaced the smoke unit and put in LED ditch lights since one light was bad. I'm happy with both installs need to do some touch ups per say the antenna needs a coal load over it and the sd40t-2 needs new lights wired up as none seem to work it's smoke unit doesn't seem to work either. not sure why yet. I bought the rope lights to light up the lower level and now I can start to work on it with light instead of in the dark . I also picked up some Ethernet plugs for another project I have in mind. more on that later once I figure out it works or not . hope you enjoy the videos. maybe one day I will talk on them and explain some of the aspects of the layout. a lot of the layout has a reason for being on the layout like the station being Annabelle Falls . the street lights are from my Mothers old Christmas village she setup every year before she passed . in one corner in the back there is some ceramic buildings that are what is left of her village. the steel bridge is for my daughter when we moved from Michigan she crossed the ohio river big steel bridge on I-75 and said what state are we in I told her Kentucky she repeated it conducky she was 4 same age as Annabelle is now. the coppertone sign well as a kid the family traveled back and forth from Michigan and Illinois and how I pasted the time was looking for that sign. the Ameritowne Buildings are for the town I grew up in same style buildings. and of course the Remax building My Mother worked for Remax Advisors Before she passed so I had to put a building on for her. Then Last but not least My wife likes her wine so I had to have a wine distribution building and the barrels are from a collection of corks from her wine One day I might created a video showing all of it and telling the stories behind it . what made me think of it My daughter tonight asked me about all of them so I had to explain it to her.
Today I put the last coat of Dullcote on my dual tank Standard Brands vinegar car kitbashed onto a Menards flatcar platform. That would complete, with the two kitbashed Lionel tub cars, one for Peiffer's Perfect Pickles (fictional) and another for Von Allmen Pickles, my pickle train, except for a posting on here that showed a large pickle on a car. That looksl like something that will go on another Menards flatcar, if I can find a table centerpiece decorative artificial cucumber or pickle. I will add a small dome and manhole, and letter it for Peiffer's vinegar. After I get that done, what can I use for an appropriate caboose of related theme? A large sectioned cucumber with side doors and a cupola? A cab forward 0-4-0 with a cucumber Vanderbilt tender as power, to switch the pickle plant?
Did not do much scenery today so far. I was getting the final two back areas on the lower mainlines cleared so I can start to work. I had a Rail King Alleghany sitting on the track near there so I decided to run it. So after dinner I'll drill all the holes for trees and evergreens. Pics of both corners
where I will be working.......................Paul
Gary - Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway
Ran trains! Fun times!!!
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