What did you do on your layout today?

Purchased some Dept. 56/Lemax type Holiday backdrops during Holiday clearance sales and installed around the Holiday village.   Purchased LED and mini lights and installed one set on a bridge.  May try additional lights in buildings.   Also worked on improving the tunnels with portals and closing up the exposed sides as the track travels about 12" through one wall to the other. 

Our cat decided to play in the tunnels this weekend and jumped into the hollow part of the wall and got stuck.   The track is elevated 32" above the floor.   Made for an exciting rescue and one very frightened cat.

Santa Fe VA posted:

Purchased some Dept. 56/Lemax type Holiday backdrops during Holiday clearance sales and installed around the Holiday village.   Purchased LED and mini lights and installed one set on a bridge.  May try additional lights in buildings.   Also worked on improving the tunnels with portals and closing up the exposed sides as the track travels about 12" through one wall to the other. 

Our cat decided to play in the tunnels this weekend and jumped into the hollow part of the wall and got stuck.   The track is elevated 32" above the floor.   Made for an exciting rescue and one very frightened cat. 

What is it with cats and tunnels?? Do they think there are mice in those arched holes in the walls like on the cartoons?!  LOL

I’ll bet that was a rescue mission you may like to forget!!

Santa Fe VA posted:

Our cat decided to play in the tunnels this weekend and jumped into the hollow part of the wall and got stuck.   The track is elevated 32" above the floor.   Made for an exciting rescue and one very frightened cat.

That's when you call in  International Rescue!  

Mitch 

Started refurbishing my layout

Santa Fe VA posted:

Purchased some Dept. 56/Lemax type Holiday backdrops during Holiday clearance sales and installed around the Holiday village.   Purchased LED and mini lights and installed one set on a bridge.  May try additional lights in buildings.   Also worked on improving the tunnels with portals and closing up the exposed sides as the track travels about 12" through one wall to the other. 

Our cat decided to play in the tunnels this weekend and jumped into the hollow part of the wall and got stuck.   The track is elevated 32" above the floor.   Made for an exciting rescue and one very frightened cat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leave it to our furry friends to cause trouble. Bet the cat won't go near the tunnel again.

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

That's when you call in  International Rescue!  

Mitch 

Those bring back memories - Thunderbirds are Go!!! (And I'm talking the 60's puppet version)

This afternoon I colored the remaining plaster and laid down ballast. I still have to glue it down. If I can't get back down to work on it tonight tomorrow morning I'll glue it all down. I checked through my stuff and I have a half bottle and a full bottle of Realistic Water so I should be able to do more then one coat if I want to. Pics..........Paul

Looks like Senior moments are staring early this year. Here are the pics.......I hope...........Paul

Fun to see everyone's layout .... yesterday did a test run on the outside 3rd rail layout ... using track-age from an old layout form the 40's .   Running a 1937 Mini-Scale Hudson and Pullman ... ... I'll keep adding track till a full loop around the 4 basement walls.... last corner the issue of the hot water heater ... ...

Cheers Carey 

Carey Williams posted:

Fun to see everyone's layout .... yesterday did a test run on the outside 3rd rail layout ... using track-age from an old layout form the 40's .   Running a 1937 Mini-Scale Hudson and Pullman ... ... I'll keep adding track till a full loop around the 4 basement walls.... last corner the issue of the hot water heater ... ...

Cheers Carey 

Carey, regarding your hot water heater and layout, I also had that issue on my layout and decided to make a siding where my hot water heater and oil burner are in my basement. I keep oil tanker cars parked on that siding. 

The photos below show the siding with oil tanker cars near my hot water heater, and the oil burner (not shown in the photos) would be to the right of that siding. My tools and construction skills are limited and you may want to do much more than simply have a siding near your hot water heater, but I thought my photos might give you some ideas:

Tom Tee posted:

R.C. posted:

Not sure how to continue from the bridge construction thread , but, it's ready for paint!

And here's the problem; If I wanna spray it rusty red primer, gotta do it in the mower shop; Brush painting would be tedious. suggestions?

Thanks for the posting tips  & encouragement all.

You may wish to add the angle supports at the top and bottom of each vertical and end.  No need to copy all the lattice work just the basic angle outline.  You can go as nuts as you want.  Even add web plates at all junctures.  Maybe hold off on the paint until you have given it some thought.

Possibly check out an Atlas Pratt truss to get some ideas. 

Took your advice & glad I did;

  Added headers at all 4 ends

  added a rough walkway

  bolsters inners & outers

   side guard rails

randr posted:

Started refurbishing my layout

Randr,

I like those casters!!  Please share more of your upgrade.  I plan to build two sections of my new layout on casters to swing away from the wall when I need to get behind them.

Paul 2,

Senior moments!  Yes we all have them.  At work they often put the cart before the horse, but lack of experience is usually the cause.  Those of us who have been around the block quite a few times have the senior moments.

Ive been busy buying buildings and setting them on my layout to see which ones look the best together.   Took a trip to the local hobby shop (uh oh) and dropped a few bills!!!   Now I am the slum lord of a trailer park!   Pretty nice Woodland Scenic models.  And "the old home place".   And a few sheds.  Now I need more room!!! Thanks Eric's Trains for those awesome videos that had great effect on my decision making process!! : )   

Jim 

Off to a bit of a slow start for the year. I only got three hours in on an off day when I like to get 6 or 8, T - Th - Sa. Had to deal with the car. It doesn't like this below zero cold. Throw in new tires, scheduled maintenance, and it costs a nice steam engine.

Anyway, I did get another piece of fascia hung, along with all of the associated supports.

It helps to see the river valley.

The last piece of fascia on the entire layout goes here. Patrick missed last Saturday, but is going to try again this week. Because this is going to take another full sheet, I'll get the supports ready Thursday. I also need to fill and sand the backdrop we did last time he was here,so he can prime and paint.

i have been working on adding a long siding under the upper level but my arms are not long enough. very hard to remove the old screws from the track so i can install the switch. my knees hurt mow. maybe tomorrow i will be able to run some trains.

Had a friend over today to view the layout.  She loves trains!  Her dad worked for the B&O as an accountant for his entire career.  She also worked for the Chessie during summer breaks from college.  She filed way bills.  

She loved the trains today!  Everyone's first reaction upon walking into the train room is to fix their eyes on Mt. Randolph and exclaim WOW!!    I had a couple of B&O freights running along with the ( Lionel )  N&W scale J class pulling Powahattan Arrow passenger cars.   Like most of us ( if not all of us ) here on the Forum, I love to share the layout with folks.  

trumptrain posted:

Had a friend over today to view the layout.  She loves trains!  Her dad worked for the B&O as an accountant for his entire career.  She also worked for the Chessie during summer breaks from college.  She filed way bills.  

She loved the trains today!  Everyone's first reaction upon walking into the train room is to fix their eyes on Mt. Randolph and exclaim WOW!!    I had a couple of B&O freights running along with the ( Lionel )  N&W scale J class pulling Powahattan Arrow passenger cars.   Like most of us ( if not all of us ) here on the Forum, I love to share the layout with folks.  

Very attractive layout, Patrick. I look forward to seeing more pictures of it.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

trumptrain posted:

Had a friend over today to view the layout.  She loves trains!  Her dad worked for the B&O as an accountant for his entire career.  She also worked for the Chessie during summer breaks from college.  She filed way bills.  

She loved the trains today!  Everyone's first reaction upon walking into the train room is to fix their eyes on Mt. Randolph and exclaim WOW!!    I had a couple of B&O freights running along with the ( Lionel )  N&W scale J class pulling Powahattan Arrow passenger cars.   Like most of us ( if not all of us ) here on the Forum, I love to share the layout with folks.  

Very attractive layout, Patrick. I look forward to seeing more pictures of it.

I see quite a few changes since I last visited your layout with Randy. I have to agree with you that sharing your layout with others is the most fun I have with my layout. I invite anyone in my area to come visit my trains any time. 

Nice Brian! That sure looks like fun!

My club had an unfortunate event at this year's Holiday Open House. I was running trains and one of our guests said to me: "Excuse me, I think one of your trains is on fire". I looked over and I saw smoke coming up behind the circus tent. I said "You're right" and shut down power to the whole layout until I discovered the cause. 

We has the polar express running on a small loop around our city scene. This loop is powered by an old ZW transformer. The polar express must have derailed behind the circus tent where I can't see it. The ZW's circuit breaker, as I just discovered, did not work. The car heated up and broke out in flames and the plastic caught fire. We put it out quickly and got everything running again minus one Polar Express Car. We are now in the market for an additional car for our set and a circuit breaker for the ZW. A little excitement but no real damage, except for the car. It could have been worse.

Pat Kn posted:

My club had an unfortunate event at this year's Holiday Open House. I was running trains and one of our guests said to me: "Excuse me, I think one of your trains is on fire". I looked over and I saw smoke coming up behind the circus tent. I said "You're right" and shut down power to the whole layout until I discovered the cause. 

We has the polar express running on a small loop around our city scene. This loop is powered by an old ZW transformer. The polar express must have derailed behind the circus tent where I can't see it. The ZW's circuit breaker, as I just discovered, did not work. The car heated up and broke out in flames and the plastic caught fire. We put it out quickly and got everything running again minus one Polar Express Car. We are now in the market for an additional car for our set and a circuit breaker for the ZW. A little excitement but no real damage, except for the car. It could have been worse.

Luckily someone spotted it before things got out of control. Looks like it was cooking for a while.

Pat, With a new truck, some careful cutting, and a bit of serious modeling that car could be resurrected into an extra large open platform observation populated by a bunch of kids looking skyward for Santa.

Pat, sorry for the mishap! But sure like the idea of an open area on the back of the car!

modeltrainsparts posted:

Pat, With a new truck, some careful cutting, and a bit of serious modeling that car could be resurrected into an extra large open platform observation populated by a bunch of kids looking skyward for Santa.

Better still, replace the truck, leave the rest as is and have the hobo cooking breakfast by the burned part...  

Mitch 

Mitch, or just leave the roof off, and put a giraffe on it

WOW that must have been scary!  

Jim

Not so much what I did, but an article and some video was released this week, taken by another magazine (but not much in O so I don't consider a competitor of OGR):

https://www.tracksidemodelrail...18-archive/jan-2018/

They put a lot of the video they shot on YouTube (one of them might not work for non-subscribers):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHKCwwk9pRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjP_oTcxqTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIP4BYbtQZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61IWV42arGU

                                             some more "red, white & blue"...

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

modeltrainsparts posted:

Pat, With a new truck, some careful cutting, and a bit of serious modeling that car could be resurrected into an extra large open platform observation populated by a bunch of kids looking skyward for Santa.

Better still, replace the truck, leave the rest as is and have the hobo cooking breakfast by the burned part...  

Mitch 

Knowing no one was hurt and no serious damage done, I had thoughts similar to those of Mitch.

I liked the look of the burned up car; could make a very interesting scene with a work train and crane car. Could also have fire engines, firemen figures and figures of other first responders nearby.

On the lighter side, Gomez in the Adams Family would have loved the fire, burned up car and wreck! 

p51 posted:

Not so much what I did, but an article and some video was released this week, taken by another magazine (but not much in O so I don't consider a competitor of OGR):

https://www.tracksidemodelrail...18-archive/jan-2018/

They put a lot of the video they shot on YouTube (one of them might not work for non-subscribers):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHKCwwk9pRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjP_oTcxqTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIP4BYbtQZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61IWV42arGU

 

Great videos Lee....love the layout.  I've always said if I ever gave up my postwar Lionel I would go to On30.

Pat, you were so lucky it was confined to just the one car. May I suggest installing some external circuit breakers. On the other hand, there some electrical incidents that may never trip a breaker. In this case vigilance saved the day.

p51 posted:

Not so much what I did, but an article and some video was released this week, taken by another magazine (but not much in O so I don't consider a competitor of OGR):

https://www.tracksidemodelrail...18-archive/jan-2018/

They put a lot of the video they shot on YouTube (one of them might not work for non-subscribers):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHKCwwk9pRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjP_oTcxqTs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIP4BYbtQZw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61IWV42arGU

 

Great work there Lee! Congrat's for the article and some really great video's! Thanks for sharing with us!

J,

   I am building the Donovan's Reef Bar Top layout right now,  construction is coming along nicely, the front lower level will feature the Bar as a big Train Tunnel when completed.  

PCRR/Dave

Testing of the Bar Top Layout completed yesterday about 2:00 AM in the morning.

Nothing. It's too blasted cold in my train building, and my heat out there is marginal. Not usually a big problem on the Gulf Coast, but this week has been weirdly cold.

All that shade that makes it easy to cool in the summer is not my friend right now.

Looking good Dave! I don't know how you can stay up till 2AM I have a hard time staying up till 8! LOL

mike g. posted: 

Great work there Lee! Congrat's for the article and some really great video's! Thanks for sharing with us!

Great videos Lee....love the layout.  I've always said if I ever gave up my postwar Lionel I would go to On30.

-gandydancer1950 

Thanks a lot, guys! They were at the house for 5 hours and shot stills and video the entire time. I consider myself capable of creating better than average layout shots these days, but these great folks are way above my skill set for fantastic model photography.

Along those lines, I decided to frame the covers or first pages of my layout articles as you enter the layout room. I've left room to the right for another article that should come out early this year in another publication. Yes, I fully intend to pitch some material to OGR very soon (going to submit a couple of photos for the photo section probably this week):

Big Mike G,

   Believe me it's taking toll on the old body, thanks for nice complement!

PCRR/Dave