What did you do on your layout today?

For me today is the last day of layout work for a week. Our granddaughter from NC is coming in for the week so I doubt if I will have much time to do anything on the layout. The little young ones can keep one busy. Everyone has been posting such good stuff on here. Keep it coming...........Paul

Mark Boyce posted:

RSJB18 posted:

Now that the CEO's project is mostly done got to spend a day working on the trains yesterday. It was a rainy day here in NY anyway. I started building what's going to be a small engine yard. I had a short siding that I was able to split into two tracks. Its wired into 3 blocks, each spur and the turnout, so that I can keep 3 short switchers on it. I finished the wiring and installed the lights. Started ballast last night.

Here's a before and after of the CEO's project and of course the trains.

Great post everyone- lots of "likes" to go around.

Bob

 

Bob,

Very nice job on the painting.  That room looks great, but I can believe trains in that room would be shot down!  The layout work looks good as well.  I like your bumper walls on the short switcher spurs!  They lend themselves to your space constraints very well.

Thanks Mark. I bought the FT earth bumper but it took up too much track space. I made these out of some scrap balsa wood and painted them. I gave them a bump test with a gondola and they held up. 

If you guys want to start a petition to put trains around the room please do. I could use all the support I can get. 

Bob

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

I agree. For me ballasting is like electrical work. I don't enjoy it but in the end it makes all the difference in the world.

What kind of track is that?  Something special?

TedW posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

I agree. For me ballasting is like electrical work. I don't enjoy it but in the end it makes all the difference in the world.

What kind of track is that?  Something special?

 

I use Gargraves flexible track with Ross switches.

TedW posted:

Finished ballast on the tracks today.  I tell ya, you guys with hundreds of feet of track musta spent weeks doing it.   Takes awhile. 

Ted,

It looks great!  You blended the tubular and Fastrack very well!

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

I agree. For me ballasting is like electrical work. I don't enjoy it but in the end it makes all the difference in the world.

What kind of track is that?  Something special?

 

I use Gargraves flexible track with Ross switches.

Another great looking photo, Howard!

paul 2 posted:

For me today is the last day of layout work for a week. Our granddaughter from NC is coming in for the week so I doubt if I will have much time to do anything on the layout. The little young ones can keep one busy. Everyone has been posting such good stuff on here. Keep it coming...........Paul

Have a great week with your granddaughter, Paul! 

Yes, the photos are great!

TedW posted:

Finished ballast on the tracks today.  I tell ya, you guys with hundreds of feet of track musta spent weeks doing it.   Takes awhile. 

Your ballast looks great.   Is it Brennan's ballast?   I used his ballast on my layout and the time and expense is well worth it.   Ballasting really makes the track work "pop".   The trick to doing 100's of feet of track is, work on only three feet at a time and take it slow.    

Dave

darlander posted:

TedW posted:

Finished ballast on the tracks today.  I tell ya, you guys with hundreds of feet of track musta spent weeks doing it.   Takes awhile. 

 

Your ballast looks great.   Is it Brennan's ballast?   I used his ballast on my layout and the time and expense is well worth it.   Ballasting really makes the track work "pop".   The trick to doing 100's of feet of track is, work on only three feet at a time and take it slow.    

Dave

Thx. Yeah, Brennans. I didn't think the expense was too bad.  Don't know any better.    I screwed up n bought a shaker of WS medium(not knowing the right size).  That was my Big mistake.  Now what to do with that.  Roads maybe-parking lot. Dunno

Added an Artista inebriated gentleman to the tavern on the AGHR

Mark Boyce posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

I agree. For me ballasting is like electrical work. I don't enjoy it but in the end it makes all the difference in the world.

What kind of track is that?  Something special?

 

I use Gargraves flexible track with Ross switches.

Another great looking photo, Howard!

Thanks again Mark!

darlander posted:

TedW posted:

Finished ballast on the tracks today.  I tell ya, you guys with hundreds of feet of track musta spent weeks doing it.   Takes awhile. 

Your ballast looks great.   Is it Brennan's ballast?   I used his ballast on my layout and the time and expense is well worth it.   Ballasting really makes the track work "pop".   The trick to doing 100's of feet of track is, work on only three feet at a time and take it slow.    

Dave

I totally agree with that piece of advice!

rex desilets posted:

Added an Artista inebriated gentleman to the tavern on the AGHR

The ol' town drunk

It's not Otis' fault if the town's turned sideways! 

As chief CEO of EA&J Railroad I thought about doing a major change. I had a MTH transfer dock that did not work right with out making a lot of noise and a bran new operating fuel tank with all the trimmings. I decided to remove the transfer dock and all ground cover. With me using fusion fiber for my ground cover making changes was very simple.Got out my spray bottle of water and wet down all the fusion fiber and using a putty knife it all came up very nicely. Started locating all the fuel farm pieces and wiring them up temperrally to make sure that is the final location for every thing. I can show pictures today maybe tomorrow when I get my camera fixed. IO do not like to rush into things at first. Want to run trains and drop off and pick up cars to see how it all works out. Maybe I will get my 7 year old grand daughter over so she can do all the Fusion Fiber work to finish it all off. 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

It's not Otis' fault if the town's turned sideways! 

I sure as heck wish there were a way to orient photos properly. I oriented the photo properly on my computer and it still came out sideways

Had the ground breaking ceremony (can of root beer and a bag of pretzels) to celebrate the laying of the first bit of track for the second level  of the layout. Now the fun really begins.

rex desilets posted:

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

It's not Otis' fault if the town's turned sideways! 

I sure as heck wish there were a way to orient photos properly. I oriented the photo properly on my computer and it still came out sideways

Done and done!   

Mitch

Just installed my fourth TT.  Those Millhouse TTs are sweet!  One more to go.

TedW posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

TedW posted:

Finished ballast on the tracks today.  I tell ya, you guys with hundreds of feet of track musta spent weeks doing it.   Takes awhile. 

Total pain in the you know what. Looks great though!

Yeah, thx. Now I start covering it up with weeds...  WTH!  Doesn't really make sense does it?  

I guess we all know why it takes 10 different machines to ballast track in the real world.

gandydancer1950 posted:

rex desilets posted:

Added an Artista inebriated gentleman to the tavern on the AGHR

The ol' town drunk

I've had a few sideways moments in my day....

Did not do to much this weekend, I have been waiting on the 1st one of the brand new updated signal control system from NJ International. With a lower cost and more features I have ordered 30 of them I am receiving one of the 1st production ones the rest will come after I test it and put it through its paces, They will be debut it at the NMRA convention in Florida    

After getting my elevated line placed where it is going I quickly realized that not all of my amusement park rides are going to fit in the area where they were so I had to bite the bullet and I'm relocating all those rides and swapping it with my red light districts.  lucky i had not really wired everything in yet.  one step back temporary in order to go forward.

I originally intended to run all my accessories using LCS ASC2s.  I have 4 accessories wired that way.  However, I wired my Hobby Shop with a switch as an interim fix.  When I saw how much my  grandson enjoyed pushing that switch to watch the layouts run around in the Hobby Shop I changed my mind and decided to wire most of the remainder of my accessories with traditional switches.  Now my sawmill, barrel loader, gantry sound building and ice depot aren't embarrassed by the messy make-do switches.

This is what it looked like when I began:

Now it looks like this:

I used those Wago connectors. I love them.

I next tackled my #38 Water Tower.  After I had installed it I realized it's sized for traditional Lionel trains.  The spout would hit scale tenders. I decided to raise the Tower 1"  using foam board. I didn't  smooth the sides, just coated them with "smooth it" and painted it grey...rustic concrete I guess.  Now I can  use it on any of my tenders. This short video shows it in action with the BigBoy tender.

I generally make it a point not to have more than one of a given streetcar model.  However, I do happen to have two MTH Muni PCCs; the second one, an eBay buy, was intended for use as a chassis for a Brilliner but turned out to be a ProtoSound 2 model rather than a plain electric reverse, which is what I wanted.

Oh, well, here they are having some exercise.

Mitch

Played some golf!  

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

I generally make it a point not to have more than one of a given streetcar model.  However, I do happen to have two MTH Muni PCCs; the second one, an eBay buy, was intended for use as a chassis for a Brilliner but turned out to be a ProtoSound 2 model rather than a plain electric reverse, which is what I wanted.

Oh, well, here they are having some exercise.

Mitch

Usually not a problem Mitch, but I'm having trouble getting your video to play on an iPad. TW

Bryan, the last piece to put in sometimes causes you to have to alter other things. Like you said good thing they were not wired up. It may even be a better spot because the rides will be higher and make for a better focal point. .....Paul

Just installed the brand new NJ International simple control system it's a awesome system I will add video shortly 

TedW posted:

Played some golf!  

LMAO!   

Usually not a problem Mitch, but I'm having trouble getting your video to play on an iPad.

I think it has something to do with Flash.  Try playing it through Chrome...  ^.^

In the meantime, I fitted a postwar whistle motor and relay to an MPC whistle box:

Needless to say, a bit of bodging was required.  The bracket is courtesy of A.G. Gilbert (an Erector U  bracket straightened and bent into an L), attached with scraps of 3M mounting squares...  

Mitch

That looks great on your layout, FL9!!!

Mark Boyce posted:

That looks great on your layout, FL9!!!

thanks, that was the first production sample I was asked to try it so I ordered 30 of them for all my signals,  They have a lot of features also I can hook up my switches to them so I can use them on my crossovers and yard and siding tracks.  I will connect them together so the signals will work like the real ones.  I have been waiting for 6 months for them and  they did not disappoint

Well this is the fuel farm installed and wired getting late will add fusion fiber tomorrow and try to finish everything up. still have some things going through my head about detailing this area. any sugestions? please excuse me as i,m still learning this computer thing. how to install pictures was a real challenge for me. 

fl9turbo2 posted:

Just installed the brand new NJ International simple control system it's a awesome system I will add video shortly 

Looks good. I see you have a high power transmission line tower. I've been looking for them. No luck. Where did you find it?  Thanks. 

worked on the layout finishing up the fuel farm. I hope these pictures look good

TedW posted:

Played some golf!  

HOLE IN ONE!!!!!

TedW posted:

Played some golf!  

How he do that?!

ToledoEd posted:

fl9turbo2 posted:

Just installed the brand new NJ International simple control system it's a awesome system I will add video shortly 

Looks good. I see you have a high power transmission line tower. I've been looking for them. No luck. Where did you find it?  Thanks. 

I found them on ebay everyone I tried was sold out of them, I was lucky to find them

I added a sixth industrial siding to the layout. It's the one on the lower left. This is the trackplan as it is right now and I think I'm satisfied with it. When I'm in the mood to switch I have enough variety to keep it interesting.

tried to get some cleaning done in the train room and work rooms.....then got a little side tracked....

thanks to Mark & Mark....

and a little day dreaming....

then back to some more cleaning......in the tool room...

need to cut the 4' doorway to the train room next....right hand corner after cabinet....

and in the work room, you can see the desk tops now.....

my little helper....