I juggled together another halloween car. Not hard, it wasnt Jack.
....O' Lantern 
I also put the finishing touches on my tombstone 
(not too often folks get to say that 
As to not be too totally depressing, .I added some white/yellow/red dots for floral colors too 
Lee, sounds like you have been busy! I sure hope you have a fun ops night. I love the photo you posted, great job with the Yellow dress it really stands out!
John, its sure is nice that your putting u a Halloween layout up. I bet the kids in your area just love it! If it was me the only people seeing it would be the wife and I! LOL
Adriatic, you sure get into the sprit of the seasons! I love it as holidays come and go. It will be interesting to see what you come up with for Thanksgiving and Christmas!
a quick lunchtime run
Nice Brian!
thanks Mike !
Kerrigan posted:In the process of installing relays and non-derailing on the three turnouts on the new upper level. Gad, what a lot of wires to hook up to accomplish powering the off-hand rails so the lights don't blink!! 14+ wires ... power drops for track and turnout, etc ... taking both of us 3-4 hours per turnout with wire labels, etc.
And of course in testing we discovered the non-derailing isolated track sections are a couple of inches too short if the train is moving at a good clip. Time to "tune" with a cutting wheel and solder plug.
Did the difficult one yesterday. Tight space. Took us 7 hours from start to operating. Two more to go!
briansilvermustang posted:
a quick lunchtime run
Nice!
thank you Gandydancer !
Today after winding down from York I got back to work working on the walls. Cleaned off the table so I could work. Everything is glued in place. And I notched out the walls for the girder which I still have to measure and cut. But seeing I didn't do it yet because I am thinking about ordering another girder and glue them back to back because the backside of the girder is flat with no detail. So that's where I stand today. Tonight is Tuesday night train group......Pics..........Paul
Looking GREAT Paul
Thanks Brian. A work in progress............Paul
time to get some track cleaned.....
much better now......
Looking fantastic Paul !!
Paul,
Looking good!! Glad the road crew got back to work after the York Extravaganza! I was glad to meet you there!!
I vote for the additional girder to cover up the flat back!
After a year of collecting dust I finally got motivated to work on my door layout again. (York will do that to you). I had this great idea of using that spray paint that supposed to look like stone when it dries for my fake ballast. Nope, didn't work out so great. The can clogged halfway through and the grit that's in the paint didn't adhere properly so I quick grabbed some automotive prime and sealed it in. Not the original look I was going for but I'm pleased with the end result just the same. Lighter in color but still a little texture to it and it stands out nicely. (I'm going for the toy train look) The track is screwed down, however some will be coming back up since I didn't check the action of my switches after a year of sitting. Two of them are not throwing the way they should. That's okay, I continue to "fail forward."
I chopped up a new handkerchief to filter the light inside of the #1 Skull loco (clear gumball bubble).
I then used fabric sizing and a hairdrier to keep some shape for this.
(no giraffe's were harmed Mitch )
Then I made a tiki idol for the "Greg Brady Cult".
It need a name though....Govaf? Might be? (Mighty Favog ; the SNL muppet ..."Bring me some chicken" )
Oh great....now I want some KFC too 
Greg Brady Cult!! LOL
Before and after shots of the same truck. This is a very rare European made model of a GMC 2 1/2 ton truck. I was very lucky to find one at any price. But, it came in a foreign military paint job. That had to go.
Just finished and put it in the motor pool.
Lee, nice find and real nice job on the re painting..........Paul
Did a lot of RL rail riding the weekend of the 13th, as I was back East briefly for my brother's wedding. Lines traveled include the Northeast Corridor between NYC and Philly (NJT/SEPTA), SEPTA Regional Rail, Norristown High Speed Line, various NYC subway lines (alas, the Transit Museum was closed on Mondays, so I didn't get a chance to see the Brooklyn operation, though the mini museum at Grand Central was nice) and even the Staten Island Ferry!
While in the Philly area, I hooked up with forum member John D and we visited Henning's Trains in Lansdale!
Had to do some emergency repairs on a gi-raffe car and caboose yesterday, as they had gotten crunched somehow. Note the plate from an old E-unit contact holding the body in place.
A bit of brass angle reinforces the car shell, and a yellow dressmaker's pin replaces the missing ossicone.
This is a preliminary version of an adapter car for John's dad, Joe, allowing him to pull his DeWitt Clinton cars using a postwar Navy Vulcan switcher...
Mitch
Paul, things are looking Great!
Adriatic, great work on not harming the giraffe were not hurt! LOL
Lee, the truck turned out looking just as it should! Great Job!
Steve Love the sign! Where did you get it?
Way to save the day with your make shift repairs Mitch!
just ran some trains for awhile, my knees are pretty sore from crawling around on the new layout....hopefully will be able to get some more work done tonight....
p51 posted:
Before and after shots of the same truck. This is a very rare European made model of a GMC 2 1/2 ton truck. I was very lucky to find one at any price. But, it came in a foreign military paint job. That had to go.
Just finished and put it in the motor pool.
Great work, love the scene!
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Did a lot of RL rail riding the weekend of the 13th, as I was back East briefly for my brother's wedding. Lines traveled include the Northeast Corridor between NYC and Philly (NJT/SEPTA), SEPTA Regional Rail, Norristown High Speed Line, various NYC subway lines (alas, the Transit Museum was closed on Mondays, so I didn't get a chance to see the Brooklyn operation, though the mini museum at Grand Central was nice) and even the Staten Island Ferry!
While in the Philly area, I hooked up with forum member John D and we visited Henning's Trains in Lansdale!
Had to do some emergency repairs on a gi-raffe car and caboose yesterday, as they had gotten crunched somehow. Note the plate from an old E-unit contact holding the body in place.
A bit of brass angle reinforces the car shell, and a yellow dressmaker's pin replaces the missing ossicone.
This is a preliminary version of an adapter car for John's dad, Joe, allowing him to pull his DeWitt Clinton cars using a postwar Navy Vulcan switcher...
Mitch
Mitch,
I recognized you with John D at Henning's right away!! Sounds like a great trip, even though not everything was open! I knew you would solve the problem for John's dad.
Question: What is an ossicone?
Thank you!!
your engine maintenance facility's pit really looks good John !! nice !
Looking good, John! Now your mechanics can get in and out of the pit safely!
jgtrh62 posted:I finished installing steps and lighting in my engine maintenance facility's pit. I have begun installing the shop lighting and details, still have a ways to go on that phase but it is starting to come together.
Thank you,
John
John, That looks just GREAT! What kind of LED's did you use? I am sure a lot of people would like to know!
Mark Boyce posted:I recognized you with John D at Henning's right away!! Sounds like a great trip, even though not everything was open!
Nice meeting you, too! And it was a good trip, even if it was, of necessity, brief.
I knew you would solve the problem for John's dad.
Aw, shucks.
Question: What is an ossicone?
Well, a giraffe doesn't have horns, per se. Those "horns" on its head aren't made of keratin (what horns, claws, fingernails et cetera are made of); rather, they're ossified cartilage extensions from the skull called "ossicones".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ossicone
Mitch
Mitch,
Wow, I obviously never knew, but I had observed they were different from any other animal I knew of. Thank you for the link.
Lee, nice find and real nice job on the re painting..........Paul
Lee, the truck turned out looking just as it should! Great Job!
Great work, love the scene!
Thanks, much, gents! I started work on that as soon as I got home (I wanted it on the layout for the op session day on Saturday), stripped the Spanish Army markings right away, got the decals on soon afterward. It was as you now see it before I went to bed around 11PM.
Funny thing, I didn't sleep very well at first as I kept thinking about it and the layout in general, had no time to 'decompress' after the work before I tried to go to sleep.
Clever and cool, John/JGTRH62 !
Today I installed a DZ2001a Data Line Driver and was able to program two switches as a trial. That was a success. Also installed a Gargraves uncoupler track piece in my yard. So far I have used a mixture of Atlas and Gargraves uncouplers and have been happy with how they work. I prefer the Gargraves, but it is hard to find a good deal on them. Time to save for a few more. Placing an order today with Del City for some wire and a few other supplies to help get more uncouplers and switches installed. Trying to color code as much as possible.
Today is a slow day. I got the brick cut to the width I want and put what I had down to see. I ordered another girder to glue to the one I have so I have detail on both sides and also ordered some paint to paint the brick walls and tunnel portals. I think I want to lighten the walls up. So for the time the area is on hold till the stuff gets here. At the same time with the brick laid out I have scrap lumber laying around so I am going to extend the table out. 3" by the dryer and 4" in front of the dryer. That will give me a bit more room so the road is not along the edge. The lower road is basically going to be a one way road........Pics.................Paul
Looks great, Paul!
from late Monday. My BIG DOG.
Jostled a couple of items to make room for the newest addition that arrived Monday evening:
Carey, is that motorized? Hand cranked? Ive never seen one outside of photos.
Looks good Paul!
Thanks Mark and MIKE G. I just got this today so I can work some more on the upper road. The other girder to add detail to the back of the other one and some colors to experiment with to lighten up the brick walls and blend in the tunnel portals. Also got some more prairie grass......Pic............Paul
Because I am forever leaving the lights on overnight in the train room I am now installing motion detection light switches for each of the four light circuits.
Only thing is the switches need to be repositioned so that body movement instead of a hand reaching around the corner, turns the light on.
These things are neat, gives one a cheap sense of significance to have lights pop on upon arrival!
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