mike g. posted:Doug, I am glad you have your baby back, sorry you have to put $400 more into it. I always like the multi color camo, but that's just me.
I cant wait to see your kadee conversions on your new rolling stock! Im sure a new video with some great tunes is coming shortly!
I glad too. I just figure at this point since almost everything is new, replacing the alternators and avoiding a break down. and it will be like having a new truck. Kids go back to school next week. Thank God.
suzukovich posted:Mark Boyce posted:!I worked this afternoon on taking down the shelves my daughter left, and spackling all the holes. Next will be to paint over that awful pink with a nice light blue! I am going to keep that one shelf on the bulkhead where the furnace vents go to exit the house.
How did the light blue come out. Personally It would take guts to leave it and draw an out line of a Caddy. Then again Mary Kay pink doesn't weather to well.
No pink Cadillac here! LOL The light blue is still sitting in the can In the corner!
I have been trading and selling some items in the roster that just won't get run. I have a trade to take care of tomorrow with a local forum member that will enhance roster versatility on the new layout!
Please stay tuned.
My son and I worked on the layout on Thursday. We redid the bench work to mount the control panel for my Proviso Yard. Then we connected the wiring to 15 of the 19 switches. The remaining switches have to have wires run from the switches to the panel. The track power switches and power supply status switches also are left to connect and run wires to. We hope to get back at it tomorrow after attending the O Scale Show in Lombard in the morning.
Today we participated in a fabulous operating session at Fox Valley Model Railroad Club in Elgin, IL that was open for the O Scale Show. It's hard to have more fun on a model railroad layout than this.
I will post new pictures after our work session tomorrow on my layout progress thread.
Art
Ran trains early Friday morning 1:30 - 3:17 a.m. I just could not resist the urge before going to bed .... thinking I'd only run them 10 minutes. Somehow I got into the Zone and next thing I knew it was 3:17 in the morning. I LOVE running trains!!!
While doing so I planned a new siding off my outer main line. This will require me to purchase an 054 Gargraves or Ross switch and will require some urban renewal. This will be a fun project!
At the request of another formite, I took some photos of my overall layout. Due to room constraints I could not get the entire layout into one photo so I took several from different angles. Click on photos at bottom for captions/view info.
Jdevleerjr posted:Just installed and painted this thing! Can you guess what it is? Stay tuned to find out after the paint drys.
For some reason, I have no doubt that it is a covered-bridge (think: "Bridges of Madison County," movie.)
FrankM
Ironbound posted:Of course a classic New England covered bridge... among my hundreds of railroad paintings, I did this one showing one such bridge used by the B&M to cross a river on a branch line servicing – as I recall – a saw mill:
~Andy R
Wow!! Very nice, Andy!!
BlueComet400 posted:Moonson posted:BlueComet400 posted:Mycustom-made drawbridge arrived...Even without tracks going through it, it really changes the look of our layout.
The builder is Jim Ballmann, owner of Stainless unlimited; great guy to work with and a very sturdy bridge.
Hi BlueComet400, I join you in your enthusiasm forJim Ballmann's Stainless Unlimited bridges. I have several from him....
... regarding the spans being sturdy, the one shown here bearing the Blue Comet traveling it, I tripped, on one occasion, when I was dismounting the layout, and began to fall. I reached out, instinctively, for the nearest support, which was this bridge (also, second photo, bridge on the right; fourth & fifth photos). It took my weight without any damage to either of us!
(And I'm no light-weight.) Now, that's sturdy!
F
FrankM, Moon Township, USA
Frank, those are gorgeous bridges. Yours look much more "to scale" than mine, but I needed something that would carry both Standard Gauge and O-Gauge. When you run mostly tinplate, the idea of scale pretty much goes right out the window. Jim has been a real pleasure to work with and making sure his customers are satisfied is clearly his #1 priority.
John
BlueComet400/John, I have a strong feeling you are going to make splendid use of your beautiful span and eagerly await seeing the results, or perhaps, even, your progress, as you go along, using your hands and imagination. Thanks for the reply and approval.
FrankM.
P.S. And besides, with Arthur helping out as Supervising Kitty, you'll have good company to keep you inspired. huh.
Last night I finished wiring my control panel. Turns out I only made 2 mistakes, something I don't feel is too bad with all those wires. Today, I turned on the power. Swing Door coming up next.
I have an area of about 11x30 ft here. Lower level is a folded dog bone with a bypass route and two yards planned. The upper level is a large loop with a branch line planned. on the lower level, track is installed and operational for the main and bypass route Using Gargraves track and Ross 100 degree Turnouts. Curves formed to fit. . Permanent wiring is in place. . Yards will be done after the upper level is built since will need to get on the table in spots for the upper level.
Now its time to start laying out the upper level. Using 089 gargraves curves and the Ross 100degree turnouts here. . The two lines are not interconnected and interchange will be handled by the 0-5-0 . Here are some photos.
This is an overall view of the upper level. Bridges in the back by the window don't show all that well. You can see the Grace of the 089 curves . The Passenger cars in the foreground are 18inch cars.
Planning a water feature by the window. . Atlas Cal Zephyr is on the upper level . The Bridges are the Lionel standard truss bridges. Nicely detailed and look very nice. Have three of these on the layout. The double track line in the foreground may be a deck Girder , not sure yet.
This bridge spans the entry into the operating area. Not fond of duckunders but this one is at 50 inches. I have a secretary chair that I bought at Target and you can sit in it and ride under the duck under.
Looking back towards the near end of the layout. You can see the gracefulness of the 089 curves looking at the passenger cars. The building in the foreground is the Menards Feed and Grain . It is nicely done and good value in my opinion.
I'll post photos of more progress as we go.
mjrodg3n88 posted:Last night I finished wiring my control panel. Turns out I only made 2 mistakes, something I don't feel is too bad with all those wires. Today, I turned on the power. Swing Door coming up next.
Mike I am impressed with your skills and how everything is turning out! The panel looks wonderful and its great with only 2 mistakes. I hope to be so lucky someday!
Played around with the Command Control Crane today. I need to see if I can find a Steam tender. I plan to repaint the crane for my own M&GL Railroad and no Diesels allowed!
LIRR Steamer , wonderful looking layout, you are right about those big curves really make the layout standout. It looks like everything runs smoothly with no effort needed. Its nice to have a layout that is so well organized.
Today I read the 4 sale ads..making some offers...
looked at my layout and decided the Hobo Village is ready for the next step.. Adding some Hobo's..
Keep ya posted.
Brian
Continued with train room prep; mounted flat black ceiling spotlights, some blue bulbs for "moonlight" and one yellow bulb in a corner for a sunrise/sunset effect. Primered old 80's wallpaper. Found my nice backdrop - that I bought in 2002 ! - it should work nicely in this room. Looked in guest bedroom a/k/a the temporary train storage room, and realized I have rolling stock & buildings for a layout twice this size. Railroad management may have to sell off some surplus equipment......
mjrodg3n88 posted:Last night I finished wiring my control panel. Turns out I only made 2 mistakes, something I don't feel is too bad with all those wires. Today, I turned on the power. Swing Door coming up next.
Mike- Very nice work. Only two backwards wires is a major victory! The panel looks great.
Saturday, March 18: another fun day of populating passenger cars. I did a B&O Dome and coach today. For the dome, I put a LED strip in the roof. With the seating area floor solid, light did not get into the dome otherwise. That's great for the O-gauge folks looking out at night but I wanted those seeing the layout to be able to see the people in the dome. I'm using the Lionel scale passengers currently cataloged.
What did you do on your layout today? 
Nothing, it's been done for years now. 
I placed switch machines on my freshly soldered switches, drilling holes to drop the wires through the surface. I have several more to place and then I'll wire everything to power and my control board.
mike g thanks for the nice words. My experience has been that most things work fairly well with the Gargraves track. The Joining of the handbent curves following 072 diameter was a bit tricky in order to avoid kinks in the joint. Having Macular degeneration to contend with , it was an interesting challenge . Also the levelness of the track in the turns is something to watch. Large locos like a 4-8-4 identify these improvement areas quickly . Also , the Atlas Cal Zephyr cars will find these areas as well. Shims are a handy thing when leveling out the track in a curve. A little patience and you get it right.
The Ross turnoughts are smooth and really work nice. I am thinking that the 089 curves on the upper level will minimize tracking issues for the layout. Its amazing how fast one can assemble a long run of track used the pre bent curves So Far so Good.
I want to trya nd place buildings and structures around the layout and to pencil in terrain features and some details that I want to incorporate. This York, I will spend time at the scenic express stand to pick up needed tunnel portals and wall treatments.
mjrodg3n88 posted:Last night I finished wiring my control panel. Turns out I only made 2 mistakes, something I don't feel is too bad with all those wires. Today, I turned on the power. Swing Door coming up next.
Green lights; looks good!
mike g. posted:LIRR Steamer , wonderful looking layout, you are right about those big curves really make the layout standout. It looks like everything runs smoothly with no effort needed. Its nice to have a layout that is so well organized.
I agree! Your layout is really shaping up nicely!
BandOBob, the peopled cars look great!! I will have to do the same someday!
Hello folks, I've been away from the forum for many years, not the least reason for which is that I haven't had a layout since my wife and I put our house in MD on the market in March 2014. Now I have a brand-new 20'x20' layout underway in a dedicated train room in our house in PA. I took delivery of my plywood a little over 3 weeks ago, and had trains running withing a week. Today I worked on wiring the Atlas O PRR-type block signals I brought with me from my MD layout. I want to get as much as possible done underneath before I turn my attention to scenery, which has never been my strong suit. I hope to follow up with some in-progress images in the next day or so.
Retina,
Welcome back! I'm glad you are building a new layout! Please keep us up to date!
RETINPA posted:Hello folks, I've been away from the forum for many years, not the least reason for which is that I haven't had a layout since my wife and I put our house in MD on the market in March 2014. Now I have a brand-new 20'x20' layout underway in a dedicated train room in our house in PA. I took delivery of my plywood a little over 3 weeks ago, and had trains running withing a week. Today I worked on wiring the Atlas O PRR-type block signals I brought with me from my MD layout. I want to get as much as possible done underneath before I turn my attention to scenery, which has never been my strong suit. I hope to follow up with some in-progress images in the next day or so.
This sounds like it's going to be fun.
FrankM
I finished the Studebaker US6 2.5 ton truck today. This is a very hard to find 1/43 scale diecast by Atlas (its the only one I've ever found for sale by a US vendor) and came out of the box as a British one. I had to disassemble it, repaint and put new decals to make it look like a mid-war stateside truck.
Maybe someday, the same company will make the more common GMC one in 1/43.
Well, I had been working on a pair of SP signals; got slowed down by some medical issues, but this week spent a few hours finishing the wiring and today finally got to test the first of the pair with a short train. Next is to fine tune and tweak it, and then go through the whole process with the second one which will be on the opposite side of the track facing the other direction. Then I'll do some scenic work to hide the sensors.
Nothing really to show. I pulled another 400+ of power feeders. These are the last. Once they're done, I have 23 Ross switches to connect to my thee AIUs.
I'll get it done. It is the best I could do with the available space. But the 32" layout height is a real pain to work under.
The WW II trucks were so cool !! Real work horses.
Kids are gone but we finished up the platform for the north end reverse loop with a little help from my friend and helper Jordan, but not much. Jordan loves tools. At 3 years old who don't?
The tracking device I made worked well but for the south loop I am going tie the track to the wood and connect the sections with track clips, first before I trace the lines. It is good enough and will work fine. Just a train layout, not a space ship.
About it for today.
#fantastic work gents! I feel funny adding my updates to the Helix and beginning the mountain structure. Giraffe had to duck, and the grandson thinks the headelight and caboose lights look cool coming out of the tunnel. I am not sure if the endfacing Enter/Exit will be lumber or rock or concrete. Grandson and I were out in the snow looking for birch twigs for trees on the side of the mountain. Must be Northern Minnesota Ore area.....
AMAZZZZZZZING!! "I want a small one, just - like - that!!" Very nice work. Someday I may have modeller skills, today is a tiny step called "interest".. still, a step. Love Love Love tressels....and lincoln logs and JENGA and trains and switches and grandkids and -----> looking at amazing modellers work!
Yesterday I started working on my swing door. Got it pretty much setup, but still have to figure out a latching system. I ordered a few things from McMaster Carr, so we will see how they work. Also, I have a 1x4 along the top, but that is temporary, I bought a 1x10 today to cut down and support the turnout on the left side and the motor for it. I cut the track on the right side at a 45 degree angle and ran a car over it a few times to make sure there were not any issues, there weren't.
Now for a problem that surfaced Saturday night. My KW started smoking pretty good. I read another thread here about how to fix it, but since it was free, I"m wondering if it is just best to replace it. (It smoked without anything attached too.)
Mike,
Looks like you have the swing door well in hand!!!
As to the KW, did you open it up yet to see what burnt?
Mike- the swing gate looks great. I hope you are going to add more cross bracing to it. With the controller behind it I can see it being leaned on a lot.
Given the planning that went into your control panel, I'm sure you have this all figured out already. 
Finally was able to make some Dremel cuts to five pieces of tubular track while grandson was out visiting. I changed my mind on having an x-crossing in the middle of the layout, and instead went with an outer loop and inner yard with several sidings. There will be block wiring so that a train can run on the loop while another engine can do some switching and run accessories like the milk car, barrel loader, etc. Part of my reasoning for changing to a loop is that he can put together and push around long trains. We tried getting the 2055 to run last night, but for some reason the transformer which had been working just fine a couple months ago now is putting out wildly inconsistent voltage and seems to pop an internal protection. 
mjrodg3n88 posted:Yesterday I started working on my swing door. Got it pretty much setup, but still have to figure out a latching system. I ordered a few things from McMaster Carr, so we will see how they work. Also, I have a 1x4 along the top, but that is temporary, I bought a 1x10 today to cut down and support the turnout on the left side and the motor for it. I cut the track on the right side at a 45 degree angle and ran a car over it a few times to make sure there were not any issues, there weren't.
Now for a problem that surfaced Saturday night. My KW started smoking pretty good. I read another thread here about how to fix it, but since it was free, I"m wondering if it is just best to replace it. (It smoked without anything attached too.)
Really looking good. As far as the KW goes, let go R.I.P. Today you should be using the newer Transformers with quick trigger circuit breakers. I have a KW that I use as my bench transformer with an inline 10amp fast blow fuse. If you are in love with your KW, contact a friend (EE) of mine - Jim Lawson, jimjerrielaw@tds.net. He is an OGR member and rebuilds these things.
Say hi to the good looking blonde for me.
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