What did you do on your layout today?

Made a clone of my master DCS remote the hard way. But it's done

At last I started the final phase of my renovation project, the new train station complex. Over the weekend I did the prep work for the main roadway to the station and applied the grass material. Today I installed the train station (over 76" long) and started the work on the two large parking lots (one for cars and the other for the taxi operators).

Today, Monday, I finally got parts ordered to continue work on my creosote plant....

nothing else accomplished...

Finally completed the wiring up of the panel relocation.  Even the Gargraves couplers are working!

Now a little playtime is in order prior to starting the track work and wiring in the new engine servicing facility.

Today was one of those rare days when I actually RAN trains. Dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 to prepare for forum member $oo Line's visit. Had to shuffle some trains around in the hidden yard. Dirty track and dirty wheels caused some problems, but that wasn't the worst of it.

 

The railroad is 100% TMCC, so track power is either on or off, no other control. I had just moved a train headed by an Atlas GP, and went to turn the sound off, but for some reason it didn't want to respond. Didn't think much of it, and turned the railroad off to deal with an SD-60 with dirty wheels. Got that one back on the track, and turned on the power. The Atlas GP took off like a rocket, rear ending the train in front of it. That wreckage spilled over onto the adjacent track. At least it all happened before $oo showed up.

 

I always thought that it was a rule of model railroading that things go wrong when visitors are present. By going downstairs early, the layout was pre-disastered, and behaved very nicely for $oo and his wife.

My new train station complex project is well under way.Today I cut in two 40" parking lots on either side of the train station. One is for taxi cars and the other for general parking. Just about finished both of them.

 

Next part of the project is tree installation and working on two parks. I also have to stripe the parking lots and the roadway that runs some 22 feet.

Finished with the new Ross Standard Gauge Switches in the freight yard.  Nothing like a whole row of new switches snapping over nicely.

 

 

Today I took 2 reproduction boats from Lionel's boat loader cars apart.  I will cut the hulls so they are water line hulls, repaint them and add some details and figures so I can have a few speed boats on my lake.  

Trees, trees, and more trees. Installed 25 of them in the new train station complex.

 

Now it is just a waiting game for the street lights to arrive and more trees. What a transformation of this area.

Ran the trains

Ran the trains

I finished painting the table so that if there is a bare spot in the ground cover you won't see exposed plywood and laid out of my track (except on the hinged bridge).

Much needed cleaning and vacuuming.

Cleaned and vacuumed all the tracks and lubed all the engines after a FULL weekend of my grandson running the trains.  I wish I had a bigger back porch, but my 26' x 5 1/2' table is gonna have to do for the foreseeable future!

 

I spent most of the time today cleaning up the train room from the construction mess. It sure did need a good cleaning. I can now see the floor.

 

I did get to place a few stripes in one of the parking lots. Looking good.

Put a metal roof on a mill structure.

Got stones in hydrocal walls and castings individually painted, and then walls put together,  did other painting on the assembly, built the eaves front and back, and installed Grandtline windows in those, all as a start on a truly final roofless stone building for my ghost town. 

I sent a wonderful evening with my friends crew working on his layout...I am in the process of building  a diorama for his service hatch...today, I matched the surrounding edges to the removable hatch section....very enjoyable...

well,  took mine all down and my living room is back,  happy wife  sad husband

Laid down some more Flexxbed.

May not sound like a big deal but installed about 26 ft. of road striping and did two 11 stall parking lots. More trees arrived today and now am waiting for street lights, park benches, and fountains.

 

Have yet to install a light for the newsstand, install a floodlight, and wire four of Jack Pearce's lighted vehicles. But the end of this project is in sight.

Wired the lighting for all four platforms in the Dallas Penn Station.

 

 

Installed a light tower in the refinery section of the layout and installed a light in a 50's American Flyer newsstand that I like very much.

Having foolishly decided to add another building (and floored foundation of a neighboring ruin) to my ghost town, I have the stone portion finished and am assembling the front and rear board facades which will be connected by exposed rafters, as building will be roofless.  Dunno how much will (can!) actually go on layout as this town has more (ruined) buildings than others with just a station and a country store.

Destroyed a curved bridge I made that I finally had to admit did not fit and re-started a new one.

Body mounted Kadees to a couple of psgr cars and converted from incandescent to LED lighting.  Getting ready to clean the layout area in anticipation of the final Mianne benchwork arriving this week.

Finished my new workbench

Yesterday, I finished disassembling an Operating MTH Water Tower (a lot of small screws) and today am starting the process of repainting it in hopes of giving it a little more of a realistic appearance.  Bo   

Still nothing.

Not a thing, but I did build a magnificent stone fire pit in my back yard.

NEWS FROM PATSBURG.... Home of The Freestate Junction Railroad. 

Today I weathered 6 freight cars using pastel chalks, charcoal, and graphite, then hit each one with Testors Clear Coat.  They seem to habe come put pretty well  ( Ill pit ip photos later this week ) Went to the hobby shop to get the Testors and of course browse around.  Ran a 24 car mixed freight pulled by a Williams scale GG1 and a scale non powered GG1

Wednesday I received a custom built church from The Railroad Crossing which I ordered at York last Month. Richard Krieg does fabulous work!!!!!! And at very reasonable prices.  Check out The Railroad Crossing on Facebook. I highly recommend it

Since my last entry I began  putting the framework in place for the HUGE mountain which will occupy the east end of the layout. After all the framework is intact, I will attach the wire mesh then it will be time for fun with Fusion Fiber !  :-)

Keep driving those spikes and having fun!

Cheers
Patrick W

Ran trains.  Wired my WbB motors in series with a thermistor.   Posted with pics on the forum.  A fun time!

Yesterday I put the damaged floor (looks like the floor in a corner collapsed under the

weight of a stove, and foot traffic was high at the entrance)  into the kitbashed stone store, and finished installing the rafters. Floor is highly visible in a roofless building.  Have begun laying boards across the rafters, the few that remain, and will then install store on base, build a damaged porch, and then the stone foundation and damaged floor of the attached building's remains on the next lot.  Maybe with the Depression

over here in 1940, somebody will bring in a dredge to work the diggings and some

of these buildings will be repaired and put back into use. (or maybe looming Pearl

Harbor will leave it all in obscurity)

I cut the side's, front and rear of my new 3 bay fire house from cut stone plastic sheets. the size of the firehouse is 8 1/2" wide, 12 3/4" long, 5 1/2" high to the second floor, will have pitched slate roof. the walls and roof are from N scale architect, the garage doors and windows are from rusty stumps.   

ah  spring summer fires, some beer, hotdogs, marshmallows, mountain Pies.  Cant wait!  time to get my pool ready.  my little one is egging me on!

 

 

I haven't been downstairs in a week, not since $oo Line visited. Tuesday I had a minor cancer surgery on my back, second one this year. The stitches are still a little tender if I move wrong, but it wasn't as bad as the last one.

 

Thursday thru Sunday was spent doing layout tours around town, as a part of the NMRA regional convention. I saw 23 different home layouts, and 2 clubs, mostly HO, a couple of N , a couple of S and even a pair of F scale. That was fun, as I got the chance to re-connect with people from my past, and meet some new people too. It is possible that there will be more construction help that could come out of this, as well as a good chance of building an operating group.

 

Today, I moved some engines around and cleaned a little in preparation for Patrick tomorrow. We missed last week, and it seems like forever, so we'll try to get in two days this week. I'm anxious to see how his hand is doing.

Continued work on my expansion...slow but steady. The goal is to have it "finished" by the weekend...not sure if that is going to happen....!

Clear coated 17 hoppers I had painted a couple of weeks ago. Not real happy with the job they did.

 

 

Joe B.

I finished the last ghost town store, a stone store with neighboring foundation and cellar full of junk...I hope I won't have figures in bedsheets screaming "Infidel" and swinging scimitars pursuing me, as this was a Thomas Yorke "Bildin's" kit, and I, shhhhh, dared to not only build it (is that sacriligeous?), but kitbash it, replacing the California Gold Rush iron doors and making a highly deteriorated structure whose owner has left for the next strike.  Dunno if I will start something else or wait for my material to float in for the creosote plant.