What did you do on your layout today?

TedW posted:

Mike, yeah, right you are about the cars. The convertibles will come off I suppose, but they are new so I wanna show em' off for a bit.  Menards had a sale, $2.99 for the Shelbys. My last real convertible was a Z4 BMW.  I did run around in that with the top down in winter some times "just because I could"! Sigh...  Those days are gone so now I can only do it in models.

I figured as much! Its always nice to show off new stuff and at $2.99 you sure cant beat it! Please don't get me wrong about my comment I think  your layout is looking great!

Today I got the excess trimmed off three of the buildings and ready for the Background. I leaned them against the Masonite to get a bit of perspective. Between the track where the one boxcar is sitting and the wall I have enough room to add a few sidings to some of the buildings. So to complete this are I will need more buildings and a few switches. So this is on hold till next month when I can order these things I'll need. Couple of pics.................Paul

 

Looks great, Paul!!

Decided to spray the grain elevator with the best color I could find out of a can.  Its a little bit lighter in the photos, but the coloring isn't high on my priority list right now.  Also I soldered the leads to the last two switches, uncouplers, and track power for this section.  Even reconfigured the elevation in this area and made it a smoother section for the trains to go through. 

played Bridge last night.....

not the card game though.....

Played bridge!  LOL

I do not know what it is about these Miller Engineering signs it seems I can not get enough of them just ordered three more tonight. i still have several to finish wiring up. been a little under the weather the past couple of days. just reading books and watching dvd's. will try to go down under tomorrow an work all day.

I was able to get the track screwed back down today and only have one section to adjust.  Just had to get a couple cars at the elevator.  The revised elevations have made operations much smoother. 

Running Standard gauge on the carpet is a pain because of the weight but no choice-if I want a place to sleep. So I replaced to short pieces of straight with one long one that needed trimmed to 30". Put off doing it  for awhile but it made the track stiffer.  Finally ran my GG1 on the O gauge line wit two passenger cars and it sure is smooth. I figured if I put my layout about 5 ft or so in the air I could put my bed underneath but dropped that idea,.  Could sleep on the floor like I did last summer for 5 weeks except the pets take the bed over

THADDEUS, the silos came out great. I know you said they were 4" PVC pipe. Did you happen to mention the height. Also how were you able to cut the pipe in half for the back row. Thanks Paul

Started to work on the signal system more work to do

paul 2 posted:

THADDEUS, the silos came out great. I know you said they were 4" PVC pipe. Did you happen to mention the height. Also how were you able to cut the pipe in half for the back row. Thanks Paul

Thaddeus, I agree with Paul.  Look great as is!  I'm from Appalachia, do they get ladders, conveyors, and some kind of walk way also?

Today I found some X Acto blades I didn't know I had. So I started cutting off some of the sky that came with the backdrop. Too much of a contrast to my blue. I worked on it and then placed it against the Masonite. Still had to shave more sky off. I think I'm going to work with the way I have them lined up. Threw some track down just to get an idea. Now to the internet to look for a possible kit for unloading the tank cars to sit in front of the siding.......Paul

Started working on plans to repro a Lionel Standard gauge  140L right angle tunnel. Started developing a pattern last night, some more today then made a small model using thick aluminum foil from a pan.  Maybe tomorrow I will look for the material to make it-preferably thin tin like the original. Should be fun.

Added a new train...  bluetooth LC Polar Express.  Works pretty good

 

jim pastorius posted:

Started working on plans to repro a Lionel Standard gauge  140L right angle tunnel. Started developing a pattern last night, some more today then made a small model using thick aluminum foil from a pan.  Maybe tomorrow I will look for the material to make it-preferably thin tin like the original. Should be fun.

Sounds interesting and a fun project.  Please post some photos as you go. 

Worked on my representation of the movie October Sky for my mining town of Coalwood on the layout.  An inspirational story and movie and I hope I due it justice.......

gandydancer1950 posted:

Worked on my representation of the movie October Sky for my mining town of Coalwood on the layout.  An inspirational story and movie and I hope I due it justice.......

That's a clever idea.  Will be great to see it progress.  Never thought of doing something like that.

Paul,

The silos are 24" tall and I cut them most of the way with my sliding miter saw and finished it with a hand saw.   Its quite a hack job, but I tried to hide it well. 

Mark,

My next step is to add on to the top, most grain silos I have looked at have a short building on the top of them.  I'm guessing that it hides the conveyors.  From there I don't know, but eventually I want to add stuff like ladders, and the like plus some lighting.  Its going to be quite a leaning experience, since I have almost no experience when it comes to building/modeling. 

   building more train shelves........they will go around the entire room, 3 trains wide on    

   the bottom, 2 trains wide on the top shelf........

they will eventually be part of me upper loop that is in the other rooms.......

 

trains run through the cupboards......

 

 the upper level.....

Ran trains and had BIG FUN!!!  

Took some of my Williams engines to be repaired by Frank Vacek ... who worked for Williams back in the day when Jerry Williams owned the company. Frank designed the Williams scale hudson.   It was very good to see Frank who is recovering from an illness. 

A nagging issue with electrical continuity pretty much forced me into re-laying some sectional curved track with 3' lengths of GarGraves flex.  It was the only section of the layout that used 072 curves in a grade and I suspect the combination of those 2 facts eventually led to open circuits over a period of time.  My initial concern was bending GG flex in such a tight curve without some sort of deformation, which all amounted to worrying over nothing.  Problem solved!  I'm back to running like Patrick...Big Fun!

Bruce

This afternoon I changed gears. I had an old, old IHC two stall engine shed, that Atlas does now, which I tried to take apart and save it all but failed. I managed to save the two sides. Also it is hard to believe that I bought this for 19.95 way back when. I had a piece of Masonite I had cut a long time ago for the attic layout so I decided to glue the two walls to it for a section I was going to use under the upper level. Glued them back to back and I'll let them dry overnight and install it tomorrow. Pic...........Paul

Fyi, I think we bent GG down to the mid 30" range in the late 70s; you had a long way to go.

briansilvermustang posted:

   building more train shelves........they will go around the entire room, 3 trains wide on    

   the bottom, 2 trains wide on the top shelf........

they will eventually be part of me upper loop that is in the other rooms.......

 

trains run through the cupboards......

 

 the upper level.....

Love the concept of having a "train house" when most of us are lucky to secure a "train room."   You're either single or have a very very understanding wife - Wow - trains running through the kitchen cabinets.  I need to show this to the CEO of my home!  Well done Brian.

Dave

girl friend  who happens to like trains too.......   maybe not as much as I do though.....

trains were throughout the house when I met her, maybe that's why she likes trains now.

her winter," all year" layout.....

 

 her on30 area....

a narrow gauge logging layout is in her near future......geared locomotives

Talking of girls who like trains . . .

We all make wry comments about SWMABO (she who must always be obeyed), and begging for real estate, etc . . .

but when Wendy's friends turn up, they always get the guided tour of The Train Room.  

Thaddeus posted:

Paul,

The silos are 24" tall and I cut them most of the way with my sliding miter saw and finished it with a hand saw.   Its quite a hack job, but I tried to hide it well. 

Mark,

My next step is to add on to the top, most grain silos I have looked at have a short building on the top of them.  I'm guessing that it hides the conveyors.  From there I don't know, but eventually I want to add stuff like ladders, and the like plus some lighting.  Its going to be quite a leaning experience, since I have almost no experience when it comes to building/modeling. 

Thank you.  It looks to me like you are a fast learner!!

Adriatic posted:

Fyi, I think we bent GG down to the mid 30" range in the late 70s; you had a long way to go.

This layout is my first experience with GG, which wasn't exactly my first choice in track.  Product shortages, high prices and the local unavailability of other offerings gave me little else to consider.  So far, the compromise has been a very happy one, but at the time I wasn't sure how far I could push my luck.

The replaced sectional curves were from another company...something I had on hand from a previous build.  The flat topped rail contour of that track caused major adhesion loss on the grade.  The slight crown of the GG rail top allows the traction tires to grip more fully.  Now heavy drags are no problems up that hill.

Bruce

Cleaned track on the mainline and the shortline.  I have 3 different track cleaning cars.  The Maine Central depressed center Transformer car is always on the main consist to minimize monthly cleaning.  It has Scotch Brite installed like the two cars pictured below which are only used once per month to clean track.  The caboose has Scotch Brite held on by Velcro.  The old Santa Fe "B" unit chassis has Velcro holding Scotch Brite with alcohol soaked scrap wash cloth material.  Scotch Brite works well for keeping dust and other debris off the track and the alcohol gets the black off after 5 laps or so.  The "B" Unit has machinist parallels on it for extra weight to hold the rag & velcro against the track.  The caboose also has added weight inside.

 

I have bent GG down to 24" Diameter for trolley curves. How? very very carefully. I make a circle out of either 1/2" or 3/4" ply (whatever i have around), screw it to a larger square piece of ply, and then bend away using the circle as my jig. (having sprayed a lot of WD40 on the ties to help the rails slide.)

Since I like to do everything backwards, and double the work, I pulled all my track up so I could paint the base. I went with a brown, so it would appear as dirt, if perhaps I missed a spot here or there, once the scenery is finished.  Got a great deal! $42 can of paint for $9, it was marked down because after 3 differs color attempts, they just made it brown! And....it spit out a coupon for a $10 rebate (fingers crossed it goes through!). 

After my 5 month hiatus, the ideas are starting to come back to me.  And I've decided to finish balasting all of my track before I put it back into place. I've really drug my feet with this, and last winter told myself "two/three sections a day" and that didn't happen. I am in the process of trying my first switch this evening also, so we'll see how that goes.  

Glad to be back among friends!!

briansilvermustang posted:

girl friend  who happens to like trains too.......   maybe not as much as I do though.....

trains were throughout the house when I met her, maybe that's why she likes trains now.

her winter," all year" layout.....

 

 her on30 area....

a narrow gauge logging layout is in her near future......geared locomotives

Better hang on to her!   She sounds like a keeper!!!

Dave

modeltrainsparts posted:

I have bent GG down to 24" Diameter for trolley curves. How? very very carefully. I make a circle out of either 1/2" or 3/4" ply (whatever i have around), screw it to a larger square piece of ply, and then bend away using the circle as my jig. (having sprayed a lot of WD40 on the ties to help the rails slide.)

Makes perfect sense.  Even if their track is economical, I'd bet more than a few 3 foot lengths would be wasted making pretzels without that jig.

Bruce

Mo985 posted:

Since I like to do everything backwards, and double the work, I pulled all my track up so I could paint the base. I went with a brown, so it would appear as dirt, if perhaps I missed a spot here or there, once the scenery is finished.  Got a great deal! $42 can of paint for $9, it was marked down because after 3 differs color attempts, they just made it brown! And....it spit out a coupon for a $10 rebate (fingers crossed it goes through!). 

After my 5 month hiatus, the ideas are starting to come back to me.  And I've decided to finish balasting all of my track before I put it back into place. I've really drug my feet with this, and last winter told myself "two/three sections a day" and that didn't happen. I am in the process of trying my first switch this evening also, so we'll see how that goes.  

Glad to be back among friends!!

WOW MO! I truly think you have lost your mind! LOL B I know how it goes, one day you like how everything is going and a week later its time to redo this or that! I will be fun to watch your rebuild post as you go along!

brwebster posted:

A nagging issue with electrical continuity pretty much forced me into re-laying some sectional curved track with 3' lengths of GarGraves flex.  It was the only section of the layout that used 072 curves in a grade and I suspect the combination of those 2 facts eventually led to open circuits over a period of time.  My initial concern was bending GG flex in such a tight curve without some sort of deformation, which all amounted to worrying over nothing.  Problem solved!  I'm back to running like Patrick...Big Fun!

Bruce

Bruce- Just catching up and glad to see that you solved your problem. There was a member who was posting a layout build a while back (can't remember who), but he made a simple jig out of a scrap of 2X4 to bend GG flex. He ran the block over the rails to mark the locations and then cut the 3 grooves into the block. He sat the block on the rails and worked it till he got the curve he wanted. Simple but effective. In my HO days I used a lot of flex and often wrecked it trying to bend the radius I wanted. Wish  I had thought of this back then.

Bob

 

 

         did some cleaning and re-arranging in the engine room...

Brian, quite an impressive collection of engines. How often do you change out your engines.........Paul

Thanks Paul.....a lot of them are ps1, so i try to run different ones daily to keep them charged....if I see a neat consist on you tube or in real life that day, that is usually what I will run that night.....

Brian, I have numerous PS-1's myself. When I get an urge to change out an engine I drop a BCR into one before I fire it up. Learned the hard way the cost of three clanks of death............Paul