What did you do on your layout today?

Adriatic posted:

  I originally had copper included in the stores waiting stockpile, then metal availability and rationing came to mind.

The sounds and speed on those On30 are pretty nice. Standard Bachmann fare right?

 

I've had a culvert loader hooked up for over a year with no pipes to load. A bit pricey for new tubes, considering what they are.

My one nearby train pal called and said when he finds the time, he's coming by with an operating culvert car and six extra pipes for me....and trucks for the reefer kit Mike G sent.  He's always landing great deals and has less than five bucks into the car and pipes together. Glad I waited I guess.

Just after finishing the main portion of the reefer build (I'm waiting for trucks before adding on the fine detail) I came across a list of a few train-contacts of my Grandfather's. Mr Koontz of the Ye Old Huff N Puff was on it! So  I'm going to stash the note paper in the reefer, a Huff N Puff kit itself. I think I'll roll it up into a tube, along with the cars story, and insert it into a spent bullet casing. I'll drill a hole in the underside to press the shell into it. A screw on the rim edge to hold it if too loose.  Any better ideas for the time capsule?

Sounds like a great idea to me!

suzukovich posted:

Wow some more great work.  Lee I don't know what to say.  This just gets better every time you post. The level of detail , historical accuracy and also a great way to show a snapshot of family history. Defiantly something to be proud about.

C.sam  Seeing the layout dismantled, Well its just sad.  As for the modules that are being sold, That was a lot of nice work. If they haven't been sold this weekend I may buy them and pay to have them shipped to Florida.  

Mitch: I just cant believe you have been neglecting the Giraffes.   

Now for me. This back to school thing has killed me and my wallet. Haven't had time to do much of anything the last couple of weeks, Just been to tired.  I did mange to complete the weathering of my sons track on the layout.  Since I didn't like how it turned out the first time so I went ahead and redid it.

This is how it looked before I started,

The first attempt.

The redo.

Painted the slot in the track white and to get ride of the black line and applied a thicker coat of snow.

This is the final result. The ruts are bigger and track looks more snow packed.

 

Added benefit of running the slot cars to create ruts and blend everything in was natural weathering 

 

 

suzukovich , Now that is some attention to detail! Looks as good as its going to get. Now all you need a your snowplow driver with the window down and a cup of coffee! Been there done that! Again GREAT work!

Randy Harrison posted:

Tiffany posted:

Randy Harrison posted:

Tiffany posted:

Randy Harrison posted:

George Harritos posted:

Surely may not seem like a lot to some of you, but my 11 year old PS-2 F3 battery is getting weak, so put on the wall charger from MTH and hopefully that will take care of it in a few hours.  If not, will have to check out the BCR.

We have BCR's in all of our MTH Proto Sound II engines. They are GREAT!

Hello Randy

My very first J&W BCR-1 was defective so waiting for a replacement sometime next week.  Its for a railking PS-1 NW-2 switcher. 

Tiffany

Do you get your BCR's from Wayne Renga of J & W Electronics in Red Lion, Pennsylvania? Wayne is the inventor of the BCR and is a really good guy. Of there is a defective BCR, I am sure he will replace it for you.

Hello RANDY..........

I bought it from modeltrainstuff.com and waiting for replacement one.  I just shipped it (returned) back to them yesterday by UPS.  I didn't know Wayne Renga as I would have ordered one from him.  This whole thing cost me 35.28 ( for 1 BCR-1 and shipping cost) and been going on for almost 2 weeks now.

Tiffany

Wayne Rengais an OGR Magazine Adevertiser. The link to his web site is http://www.jandwelectronics.com/. Give him a call. He is a great guy! Tell him Randy Harrison of Harrison Trains and Scenes in White Marsh, Maryland referred you.

Hello Randy...........

Thank you so much, for letting me use your name with your permission in contacting Wayne Renga of J&W.  I will just wait until I get the replacement BCR-1 from modeltrainstuff.com and if the replacement one is defective again (hope not) and I will most surely contact Wayne.  Did I hear that Wayne has some health problems that I don't know about ? Or shall I contact him soon as possible  ? Did any of you guys paid that much for the J&W BCR-1 as what I paid for mine ?

Tiffany

Busy day workin' on the railroad today, Joe came over, but I got a head start in an effort to prepare for Matt's visit tomorrow.

I started by cleaning a section of the big hidden yard so I could move some of the trains out of the way for Matt to work on more of the manual switch throws. Some ran well, others did not. Much of the trouble was due to dirty wheels and dirty track. I tried to clean a couple engines.

Then I put a different engine on a cut of cars that had been sitting around, and dragged them down to the small hidden yard. That's when I learned the hard way that I have a bad switch down there. The derailment was so severe, and the subsequent short so complete, that it blew the fuse on the primary side of the power supply. There's a first time for everything. Actually, I thought I had fried the engine.

That's when Joe showed up. I had already been down there a couple times cleaning up the mess, so I had Joe finish the job and replace the fuse. I'll have to go down there with a mirror and a light and some other stuff. The switch may be out of gauge because almost everything is picking the points. I'll figure it out and fix it in place.

After that we worked on closing the Roseville reverse loop. Track has a slight wiggle, but it'll be fine. Now all that's left is the six industry tracks. I'm so close to being done with track. I have a short connection to an Atlas turntable over at Northtown, and finally the connection to the Bowser turntable on top of the big helix.

I turned Joe lose on wiring after that. We now have power all the way up the hill.

Because there is no head space to spare, the feeders have to be run to the inside of the upper level tracks. Once the wiring is completed, Masonite will be wrapped around the circle of supports to close in the structure and wiring.

In order to get where they need to go, the feeders travel over the surface in a small trench. I'll secure the wires in the trench with a little hot glue.

While Joe was doing that, I worked on the fascia above the workbench. I knocked the corner off the cleat so the Masonite could make the corner easier.

I got it wrapped around, but there are stress tears. They don't seem to have gone all the way through. This has happened before, I just sand and fill it, and it turns out fine.

As a part of the process, I was forced to remount the temporary control panel.

BTW, I completed the transaction to purchase a 16 car set of Atlas coalveyor hoppers that I found at Sommerfeld's last Saturday. All in all a very good day.

Big Boy,  any way to push that turnout further back into the curve to eliminate the wiggle?  

Maybe go to a larger number turnout to lessen the frog angle?

 How about coming out of the curve with a curved turnout?

You have a masterpiece there!!

Looking good Elliot, Sorry to hear about the bad switch, but we all know you will get in there and fix it. With everything you have done sofar with your magic you could probably just wave your wand and it's done, but I know things are not that easy. Good luck with the switch and please keep posting all the great work you are doing!

Hope to finish my basic bridges today.  Been mounting modules around the basement walls  with various gaps due to walkways and deep valleys.  Throwing up some "temporary" hinged, lift out and fixed arch  bridges just to get the ROW connected.   At this station in life that word "temporary" scares me, however,  I'll take stations, it's that terminal that gets ya.

Moonson posted:

Not today, but over several months, with a bit of final tweaking this past week, I have been working on this area, making large and minuscule changes and refinements...

Essentially, the neighborhood, located at the final dead-end corner of the layout, has been changed from a place featuring several small businesses, including the horse-trader in the foreground, to what in my mind is a more rural neighborhood of homesteads:

Here is how it was....

Here is how it is now, in its final interpretation. I think. Sort of. Maybe.

..

FrankM, Moon Township, USA.

Frank, finally getting to this. As usual remodeling looks fantastic and as always another a new chapter in the story.  What I found ironic was wither intended or not from the photos post last week https://ogrforum.com/t...08#63654680867145208 and above was how they seem to know the rebuild was coming. If you notice all are either in the process of moving out or fencing has gone up and demolition is about to begin. It seems no matter what, you always manage to tell a story. 

Thanks Tom. I think the cause of the wiggle is twofold. First is the placement of the fiberboard roadbed. That limited the shape a lot. Second, when Joe drilled the holes for the feeders it locked that part in place, so I was unable to reshape it. I suppose I could have had him re-drill it, but it is difficult working up there. Moving or changing the switch isn't really an option, so I'm sort of stuck with it. In truth, very few people will ever notice it, and the trains with their large flanges will perform just fine. At least it isn't a wicked S curve.

Thanks Mike. I wish I had a magic wand so I could "Harry Potter" it. Switcho repairo!  Sadly, I am but a lowly muggle and I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way.

suzukovich posted:

Moonson posted:

Not today, but over several months, with a bit of final tweaking this past week, I have been working on this area, making large and minuscule changes and refinements...

...Here is how it is now, in its final interpretation. I think. Sort of. Maybe.

..

FrankM, Moon Township, USA.

Frank, finally getting to this. As usual remodeling looks fantastic and as always another a new chapter in the story.  What I found ironic was wither intended or not from the photos post last week https://ogrforum.com/t...08#63654680867145208 and above was how they seem to know the rebuild was coming. If you notice all are either in the process of moving out or fencing has gone up and demolition is about to begin. It seems no matter what, you always manage to tell a story. 

Absolutely delightful hearing from you about this change, Suzukovich. I appreciate your perspective, along with the others, because I feel my creative effort is improved when I listen to other perspectives, and not just keep my own counsel. I think we are creative to make ourselves happy as well as to appeal to others who can hear our song.

Thanks again.          FrankM.

MOONSON, if that is by chance the final tweaking it sure looks good. If you think to change sometime it can only get better. Great job. If you live close you are welcome anytime to come over and tweak my scenery to make it look as good as yours..................Paul

Well, not today but last night, I got myself invited over to Brian in Ohio's get together.  Rode over there with Paul 2 (wonder if I'm Paul 1?) and had a great time.  Brian:  thanx for the food, drink,  fellowship. and that chance to see lots of trains run.  Again, great time.

You're new layout is really impressive but , perhaps, most impressive is how much of the layout you've built and have running in such a short time.  For sure, you won the contest between you and Paul 2, and as to my own layout, haven't even run a train in months due to a derailment in a rather inaccessible place.  The last time I visited your home was last Fall and you still had the old layout in the other room  Wow!  You sure have accomplished a lot in just a few short months.  Maybe you ought to think about quitting teaching school ( the kids don't appreciate it much anyway) and go into layout building as a profession!  You could give some of these builders like Dunham or Smartt trains a real run for their money.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Dennis' shindig in Sept. then starting with the regular Tues Nite Crew for the season.

Paul Fischer (got to get that GD derailment out of there;  train time is here)

Paul Fischer

You must of had WAY TOO MUCH TO DRINK last night to even compare my skills to those companies.  I appreciate the sentiment and I will admit I did get a lot done this summer but I am cutting you off after 1 beer next time.  See you at Dennis' in a couple of weeks and then the Tuesday night crew will be back in session.  I am planning on hosting in October before I start coaching basketball.

paul 2 posted:

MOONSON, if that is by chance the final tweaking it sure looks good. If you think to change sometime it can only get better. Great job. If you live close you are welcome anytime to come over and tweak my scenery to make it look as good as yours..................Paul

That's is an exceptionally gracious and kind thing to say, sir. Thank you very much. If I ever decide to make another nostalgic trio to Springfield, Ohio, again, I may surprise you. (If that's close.)

FrankM.

Started working on wiring up the Ford Showroom.....

Peter

Finished the second corner maybe

Putnam Division posted:

Started working on wiring up the Ford Showroom.....

Peter

Nice work Peter!

dobermann posted:

Finished the second corner maybe

Doberman, Love the look and really dig the Model A with the tree in the roof area!

Chased off some hoodlum's, but not before they left their mark!

Getting there w/the glue removal.  Not as rough on my knees as I'd thought, however, for some reason I can't seem to get the scraper gripped comfortably & it kills my hand & elbow after awhile.  Even with gloves I gave myself a blister. 

I put these hooks into the fascia so I could hang the rerailers onto them for ease of access. Then, I added these cups onto the sides as well, bought at a local office supply place, and put in place for the bamboo skewers I use for uncouplers. I'll probably cut the skewers down a little bit, as they really don't need to be that long. But anyway, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while now.

Moonson, It took awhile to decide, but my favorite is the stone building.

Since my last post didn't take on Friday.....

My pal stopped by and dropped off a gift!  I operated my culvert loader for about an hour Friday after a year or two with no pipes. Just loading my new ATSF culvert car over and over again right up till the 10pm sound curfew seeing how that buzz motor is about 15ft from my neighbors bedroom window, I gave up "early" to focus on the two trucks he also brought for the log beer reefer kit from Mike G. also. By Saturday at noon it was rolling behind my dockside cab forward and an older scratch boxcar followed by a scale Woodside caboose. The bolster blocks made it sit higher than an Evans autoloader, so I had to leave them off and remove some of floor support to drop the car lower without that framework interfering with the truck, and then rework the lower bracket for the brake wheels long shaft so it cleared the coupler.

  This morning I glued in the K brake , the queensposts, and threaded the turnbuckles. I wanted to do this after the sides were on so I tied the thread to wood splinters, and glued it to the wood too. Then inserted the wood into tiny holes I drilled and pressed them down till each thread was taunt, then once the glue set, I snapped of the excess wood, & cut the excess thread.

. The four bottom steps (staples) are set, and half the glue dot rivets for the corner brackets are done. Still to do, Those corner brackets, the rest of the ladder steps,(very delicate) and maybe some linkage to the K brake, maybe chain for the brake wheel too, and then touch up and light weathering.

p51 posted:

I put these hooks into the fascia so I could hang the rerailers onto them for ease of access. Then, I added these cups onto the sides as well, bought at a local office supply place, and put in place for the bamboo skewers I use for uncouplers. I'll probably cut the skewers down a little bit, as they really don't need to be that long. But anyway, this is something I've been wanting to do for a while now.

Lee, love the idea of the skewers as uncouplers. Out of curiosity, is the purpose of the cups to provide for easier retrieval and replacement of the skewers?

Len B posted:

Lee, love the idea of the skewers as uncouplers. Out of curiosity, is the purpose of the cups to provide for easier retrieval and replacement of the skewers?

I wanted a long, shallow holder for these so people can get to them easy when needing to uncouple stuff, but I couldn't find anything that matched that description.

These will be okay, as the track cleaners and other stuff can go in there, too.

Frisco Festival time in Rogers, AR on Saturday!

I made the papers again...

http://nwamedia.photoshelter.c...B7g/C0000wRXB6fr6izw

More pics below!

Mitch

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Frisco Festival time in Rogers, AR on Saturday!

I made the papers again...

http://nwamedia.photoshelter.c...B7g/C0000wRXB6fr6izw

More pics below!

Mitch

Mitch that's great.. I think it was the Giraffes that made the news again and you were just along for the ride!!!!   Even though his eyes are glowing red, this pic says it all!!!    

Mitch, Looks like a great time was had by all! Way to promote the hobby!

Lee, Great idea for storing all the needed stuff for operations, Your wife must of gave you that idea! You know great minds think alike!

Fridge56Vet, I feel for you, I know how hard that is had to do the entire kitchen.

Chris, I think the mountain is looking great and love the cars that were tagged!

This

Matt was over on Saturday, and did a few more of the manual switch throws, including another crossover. This is the second and final one, and is part of the Pigs Eye yard. They are rather tricky to do, and get them both to throw in unison. Should be smooth sailing from here.

While he was working on that, I installed those Masonite spacer strips along the south wall incline. In order to have the outer edge of the track line up with the 2x4's above, I needed an extra 1/4". It also gave me a good gluing surface for the Velcro.

The backdrop was cut into three pieces, all held in place with Velcro. Of course, it's the middle one that provides access to the track.

This is the first of three such backdrop segments.

I had to cut a small notch for a Tortoise that was in the way. The seams are still visible, but they should be a lot better once they are painted and some scenery is applied.

Elliot another great idea. I would have never thought of something like that. I cant wait to see it painted!

Thanks Mike, unique situations call for creative solutions. I've been thinking about this one for a long time. Nice to finally see it happening. BTW, this is the last major section of backdrop. The only thing really left is to wrap the big helix over by Red Wing. Unfortunately, there are still a couple things in the way that need to be moved before that can happen.

Yesterday I took a break from trains to spend 8 hours watching  a crew from NETFLIX  film a  5 minute segment for a new film "Mindhunter" It was done at our local DQ. Quite an operation.  Too bad there were no trains in it. I will say that the people involved were very nice. Supposed to be out in Nov. so if you see it look for the DQ scene.

dobermann posted:

This

Sense of humor and good craftsmanship! Nice combination!

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Matt was over on Saturday, and did a few more of the manual switch throws, including another crossover. This is the second and final one, and is part of the Pigs Eye yard. They are rather tricky to do, and get them both to throw in unison. Should be smooth sailing from here.

While he was working on that, I installed those Masonite spacer strips along the south wall incline. In order to have the outer edge of the track line up with the 2x4's above, I needed an extra 1/4". It also gave me a good gluing surface for the Velcro.

The backdrop was cut into three pieces, all held in place with Velcro. Of course, it's the middle one that provides access to the track.

This is the first of three such backdrop segments.

I had to cut a small notch for a Tortoise that was in the way. The seams are still visible, but they should be a lot better once they are painted and some scenery is applied.

Elliot,  Your posts are great and so inspirational.   Such fun to follow your progress.  I know these post take valuable time away from layout building, but please keep them coming!   We so greatly appreciate the education we receive from viewing them.   

I have three other avid 3-rail fans in town (Rochester, MN) and we would like to schedule a visit for sometime this fall.   Hope we can make it work.  More on that later.  

Thanks again for sharing!

Dave 

mike g. posted:

Elliot another great idea. I would have never thought of something like that. I cant wait to see it painted!

Mike,

You beat me to it to compliment Elliot on the great idea for the removable backdrop.  Well that's okay; Elliot deserves many compliments on that one among so many great ideas he is implementing into his layout! 

Great job Elliot! 

Also, I'm glad to know you whipped Matt into shape and coerced him to assist you again! 

Sense of humor and good craftsmanship! Nice combination!

Thanks.   I'm 69 raising a 9 year old so a sense of humor is required in this house if I expect to survive to see 70.

dobermann posted:

Sense of humor and good craftsmanship! Nice combination!

Thanks.   I'm 69 raising a 9 year old so a sense of humor is required in this house if I expect to survive to see 70.

Good point!

This certificate came in todays mail. Now I have a new job on my what to do today. Going to build a frame and hang this in the train room.

This certificate goes with the video below. If you missed it, take a look.  Like for you to meet Michigan's Mr. Lionel, Bob Brasseur in this video.  A long time sponsor on the OGR Forum and in the OGR Magazine. You can find his ad in the OGR Forum Banner and on page 27 of Run, 287 • Oct. / Nov. 2016. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2ENwMvHNI0

Gary

Thanks Dave and Mark. My layout has become something of a train "soap opera" with more than three and a half years of regular documentation, both here and on my own topic.

Every problem has multiple solutions, I just try to be creative with mine, and use some outside the box thinking. Now that I'm doing the Velcro idea, I hope to never have to go back in there again. There's not really all that much to go wrong back in there, it's just a long straight track on a 2% grade. I'll run the track cleaning car through there frequently and keep the rails polished, but I'm prepared to get in there if I need to.

Velcro and I are actually old buddies. We go way back to when I used it to hold track in place on my old portable layout. Great stuff!

Dave, my schedule is pretty wide open, just email me and we can find a time that works. That's an open invitation to everyone as well.

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Thanks Dave and Mark. My layout has become something of a train "soap opera" with more than three and a half years of regular documentation, both here and on my own topic.

Every problem has multiple solutions, I just try to be creative with mine, and use some outside the box thinking. Now that I'm doing the Velcro idea, I hope to never have to go back in there again. There's not really all that much to go wrong back in there, it's just a long straight track on a 2% grade. I'll run the track cleaning car through there frequently and keep the rails polished, but I'm prepared to get in there if I need to.

Velcro and I are actually old buddies. We go way back to when I used it to hold track in place on my old portable layout. Great stuff!

Dave, my schedule is pretty wide open, just email me and we can find a time that works. That's an open invitation to everyone as well.

Thanks Elliot,  I will contact you through email sometime after the middle of September.  Dave