What did you do on your layout today?

I bought a box of green batteries a while back, using them up, then eventually will switch them over to BCR's......yes, I got to experience the 3 clanks of death also,  couple times...

I've been working on adding the reverse loop inside my 2 main lines. 

A while back, I installed TMCC in this set of MTH F7's.  At that time I also permanently tied them together with drawbars in order to shorten the gap between units.  It's doubtful that I'll ever want to separate the set anyways.  The leftovers were 4 short shank dummy couplers.....

Spares rarely go to waste around here, and those couplers became one of the slickest solutions to another nagging problem.  Anyone familiar with Lionel's beautiful scale F3's from the early 2000's knows the enormous gap between units spoils the overall flowing design of a MU lashup.  MTH couplers to the rescue!  Now the diaphrams touch lightly, with the only engine mods being the removal of the B unit buffers at each end.  Otherwise, it's a straight bolt in fix.   Be advised, this works fine on my minimum 072 curves...tighter curves might set up problems.

Bruce

Finished the Rocky Flats Station today

a ballast train getting ready to spread some ballast to fill in the roadbed in this area.....

briansilvermustang posted:

a ballast train getting ready to spread some ballast to fill in the roadbed in this area.....

Very nicely weathered hopper!

thank you GEOPEG

Added the 990 and MTH WiFi to my friends layout. Began to weather a building.

Started pulling switch wires under the cramped layout and pulled a leg muscle.  That's the end of that for a while.

Was all set to glue the backdrop I made up for the attic layout  but found out the adhesive dots I bought were not the right ones. So seeing tomorrow is Labor Day I'll have to wait till Monday to get the right glue dots. I located them at Michael's but will call first to make sure they have them. So till then with the rest of my time I am going to run trains......Paul

Just sat back and moved  some scenery  around and Ran Trains

Lots going on there, Bob. 

Finished this .....for now anyway

model trains part as 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.)

The square is to form a raised lip for the ties to slide under, right?

There is one issue with that in every once in a while, some batches of ties split more easily than others when just one rail hits the form while the ties alone supply the bracing on the other two rails. In the end we had a few ties split and wood glued back into place or slipped under and tacked or glued.

   GG wasn't first choice back then either; height. Availabilty decided it; and there was still a short wait for the Phantom rail vs plain. Nobody had a full track system on hand. Ross and (I think) Atlas, had switches, no track, GG had track, no switches.  GarGraves service was great, and the track was always most regularly availible there, so I likely WOULD make it a first choice today on a large layout. They haven't survived this long on luck alone.

I'd give links, but my copy/paste is acting up.....In genral, I'm waiting for inspiration lately, I'm close to jumping on a few ideas.

  FOR my convertible micro layouts pit mine today, I baulked and walked on a $20 Discovery Kids toy tower crane at Wally world. It lacks motorized trolley movement along the boom. Just spins L&R, raises & lowers. But looking at the tiny layout now, Im not too sure it needs to move fore and aft if I use eccentric center point placement within the 1x2' oval i.d. clearence area. Might be able to add the movement easily too. It does slide fwd/away, just not by wire. The cab size ? Not O, I'd say 1:38. Fine for this, using it elsewhere would take a new cab.

  Also came across a few $15-20 kits that form a SELF REVERSING! aerial ropeway's gondola's onboard drive. Tamiya 70120 aerial ropeway car and 4m tin can ropeway kit. Batteries from the A series (AA, AAA?) There was even a solar powerd version. Travel track is twine. I think that running from the mines loading level to dissapearing behind a layer of mountain backdrop might insipre me to go further with that backdrop again. It"s that or the flagman will host the riders with a landing added to his shacks toolbox.

  4" long Cardstock cab, or with a longer drop arm & extra exposed pully (to vary design? Or better gearing? Both?) you can have a tin can cab with a cabin windows & door, graphics wrap, for covering the old soda can.  

 Toyish quality sure; but after seeing it climb heavy grades, Im pretty sure it could handle at least a 6" tin plate shell, or even plastic shell of some kind. And on a 10% ish grade, and lasting for quite a while. Press together, Just needs glue (or tape) if you use the cardstock cabin. Dc so a decoder could be added . Or a cheap rc or ir remote

There is a Craigstan tinplate version about marx train sized, but seems noisey, and somewhat elusive. 

 

 

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

 

 

Ok Brian, here is the big question, with that great engine fleet, where do you fine room for rolling stock?

cabinet Bob posted:

Just sat back and moved  some scenery  around and Ran Trains

Bob, I hope to be like you one day! Just running trains!

paul 2 posted:

Was all set to glue the backdrop I made up for the attic layout  but found out the adhesive dots I bought were not the right ones. So seeing tomorrow is Labor Day I'll have to wait till Monday to get the right glue dots. I located them at Michael's but will call first to make sure they have them. So till then with the rest of my time I am going to run trains......Paul

Hey Paul,

Do you have some pics you can share? I too, have been trying to install some backdrops. My layout is not in an attic but is in the spare room which is over my garage. I just want to see your approach to this not so ideal situation.

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!!

Hey there, please share mountain building technique.

luvindemtrains posted:

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!!

Hey there, please share mountain building technique.

Luvin, you can check out my tutorial: https://ogrforum.com/...y-foam-for-mountains

Have fun, take before and after pics, and share them!

paul 2 posted:

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

For those of us poor folk who run conventional....Are the three clanks of death similar to the Blue Screen of Death in Windows?

dobermann posted:

Finished this .....for now anyway

Looks like a VERY interesting establishment

mike g. posted:

 

 

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

 

 

Ok Brian, here is the big question, with that great engine fleet, where do you fine room for rolling stock?

pretty much everywhere i can till i can get the new layout going......

work shop, storage room.....

new train room....24'x40',  with a 10'x30' going up out back this spring......

layout room in progress......

that will be a yard area above the storage "staging shelves"......

there is also more storage up stairs in the house........

which will eventually be an Alaska themed layout......    see video.....

 i am putting train shelves around each room in the house.......

new level....."winter project"....

Very impressive Brian! I can see you have it all under control! If I had that many shelves I probably wouldn't have a wife! I think yours looks great and your lucky to have a woman that loves trains as much as you do!

Worked on physically layout the control panel for my lower yard.  Waiting for on-off-on momentary toggle switches to operate the track switched.  Do not like to Lionel and MTH switch controls.

Wow Brian, no wonder I didn't have a firm grasp on what you had going; it is literally all over the place and creeping into a second building.

The smoke licked doorway portal is awesome. I'd be tempted to add a door with a locomotives face painted on one side, maybe caboose on the other side, if a second portal faces to other room.

  Today I'm running steel from DT&I to the Erie while thinking about Gramps pre war travels around the country just for the privilage of getting his ribs broken, time and time again, joining strikes for better work conditions among many different labor forces. 

RSJB18 posted:

dobermann posted:

Finished this .....for now anyway

Looks like a VERY interesting establishment

I would have stood Sum Yung Hoe in the doorway but I don't know the forum policy on 1-1/2" tall naked people. Do you? I would like to post my Downtown Deco Boobie Hatch but it has pimps and ho's and johns on it so it may not be acceptable here

Doberman posted " I would like to post my Downtown Deco Boobie Hatch but it has pimps and ho's and johns on it so it may not be acceptable here"

Doberman - I'd love to see it so shoot me an email with photos if its not too big of a hassle .  My e mail is in my profile.

some train watching at lunchtime.......       Have a happy Labor Day everyone !!!!!

I ran trains for about an hour this morning while sipping strong coffee.  I put together a 20 boxcar train with a D&H PA 1 ABA locomotive consist.  Very nice colorful looking train IMHO.   I plan to shoot some videos of it later.  I'll be sure to post here once completed.  

Also - Took inventory of locos needing repair ... 2 MTH ... 2 modern Lionel.  I'll call my repair guy later today.  

Have a great Labor Day everyone!!  

trumptrain posted:

Doberman posted " I would like to post my Downtown Deco Boobie Hatch but it has pimps and ho's and johns on it so it may not be acceptable here"

Doberman - I'd love to see it so shoot me an email with photos if its not too big of a hassle .  My e mail is in my profile.

I will by end of day

joe

LUVINDEMTRAINS, my attic layout does not have much in the way of backdrops on the upper level except at each end I placed a 2' X 8' piece of Masonite over the top half of the windows at each end and painted a mural. The rest of the upper level was right at the point where the roof slopes up in the attic. Between the upper and lower level I had begun adding some type of scenery to hide the walls and studs. The section I am doing now is the sides of an engine shed glued end to end to make a long building. The layout I started in the basement has  2' high Masonite on the wall around the layout. Here I am adding building flats in O and HO. Couple of pics................Paul

Got a restart on the mountain n tunnels. Am thinking a waterfall too.  Haven't tried that yet.

that waterfall is a great idea !!    it's going to look good Ted.....

Ted I agree with Brian waterfall is a great idea! Also I think your mountain is looking great!

briansilvermustang posted:

that waterfall is a great idea !!    it's going to look good Ted.....

 

Here ya go. Wish it was this easy.

mike g. posted:

Ted I agree with Brian waterfall is a great idea! Also I think your mountain is looking great!

Thx Mike. Appreciate the encouragement.

Ballast &turf application day.

I added oil cans to the tender decks of each locomotive.

I also made several switch stands. They'll sit on small masonite bases, and will be numbered for the nearest turnout so anyone in an op session can tell which turnout pull, by number, will operate which turnout.

They're Details West, in HO scale. They're pretty tall for that scale and are about eye level in O scale, which is fine for narrow gauge. Found the kits on eBay for about a buck and a half each.

p51 posted:

I added oil cans to the tender decks of each locomotive.

I also made several switch stands. They'll sit on small masonite bases, and will be numbered for the nearest turnout so anyone in an op session can tell which turnout pull, by number, will operate which turnout.

They're Details West, in HO scale. They're pretty tall for that scale and are about eye level in O scale, which is fine for narrow gauge. Found the kits on eBay for about a buck and a half each.

Oil can is a nice touch along with the shovel. 

suzukovich posted:

p51 posted:

I added oil cans to the tender decks of each locomotive.

Oil can is a nice touch along with the shovel. 

Thanks. This is the part of the layout process I was looking forward to; all the details like this.