Yes, 3% grade. I actually tested my engines and a short train of heavy cars at 6% straight, so I should be good at half that on curves. The 3% actually mimic the prototype Western Maryland Blackwater River grade, si it’s handy in a small space.
another good thing, no salt on the roads here, God I do not miss the midwest at all.
Mike, yes I have been hashing this out since last January. At first that was something similar to what you suggested. I finally decided I really don’t want to get involved in all that. Thank you for mentioning it
Mark that's great! The "up" grade I am running right now rises 2.5 inches over 100 inches. So take it that is 2.5% grade? That's about half of what a standard Lionel trestle set is at 5%... If my figures on mine is correct..
Jim
beardog posted:another good thing, no salt on the roads here, God I do not miss the midwest at all.
LOL. Excellent point! I would only need one car for my entire retirement!!
Mike, yes you have a point. If I am proposing making these roll out sections to get behind so I don’t need pop ups in the middle, but I don’t want to make a roll out to enter the center of a larger loop!! Very good point!!! LOL. I will give it some more thought!! :-)
I have 3, a Cadillac Allante, a Chrysler TC Maserati, and a Ford minivan.
Oh and the insurance rates are good, I pay about $600 a year for all
carsntrains posted:Mark that's great! The "up" grade I am running right now rises 2.5 inches over 100 inches. So take it that is 2.5% grade? That's about half of what a standard Lionel trestle set is at 5%... If my figures on mine is correct..
Jim
Yes I would say that is the 2.5%
I finished painting my mountains on my backdrop for P&MV:
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jroc747 posted:I finished painting my mountains on my backdrop for P&MV:
Niiicccceeee
Great perspective as it fades into the distance
J. R., The mountains look great!
beardog posted:jroc747 posted:I finished painting my mountains on my backdrop for P&MV:
Niiicccceeee
Mountains look great! Just like looking out my back door! I live in the Smoky Mountains! Those look like some monster long straights! Are you going to use that as a yard or 4 loops? How big is that layout?
Jim
Got a bunch of things done on Tuesday and Thursday, then Patrick came over today, and we really kicked butt.
Tuesday, I finished the earth paint on Dayton's Bluff, and cut the Masonite for Warner Rd.
I carved the roadbed over at the Division St wye. Still a little left to do there.
Got going with the asphalt paint over at 32nd St, in Hiawatha. Next comes the masking and concrete for sidewalks, curbs and gutters, and the grade crossings.
I cut Masonite for the paved area of BNSF Midway Intermodal.
I also got the west bank of the Mississippi almost finished in the Milwaukee Road Short Line Bridge scene.
I cut more Masonite for the pavement at the BNSF auto terminal, and cut the triangular plywood section that goes around the post.
Today Patrick installed that piece, and the piece on the other side of the two tracks, next to the backdrop...
as well as this little piece, and all the holes are filled in, ready for the last of the rail paint, scenery and ballast.
Then it was on to the other side of the backdrop at Pig's Eye for more of the same.
We had to clear the yard of cars in order to do this.
We caulked all the seams to make sure that the ballast glue doesn't rain down into the hidden yard below.
We are good to go here.
Next up, the back curve coming out of Hastings. We removed a couple of the track supports and clipped some wires to get the plywood into place. There will be a girder viaduct in this location, just like in the real world.
Patrick will be back in a couple weeks, and we'll finish this scene up. In the meantime, I have plenty of things that will keep me busy.
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Nothing much. Just ran trains for about 20 minutes and enjoyed very much!!
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JR, nice art work the Mountains turned out looking great!
Deuce, sure looks like fun! I hope you didn't spend all day running trains! LOL
Elliot, what can one say. You are always turning out a mass amount of work in a short time with great results! It must be nice to have Patrick help out when he can along with all the other help you have had over the build! Question, does Patrick also have a layout that he works on also?
Eliot - Great update. Time lapse photography would be cool to see the entire layout unfold. I for one, look forward to your updates.
I got my MTH 30-11014 crossing signals wired finally. This week was fully of family and work stuff so I didn’t get to the layout until yesterday.
The package doesn’t say anything about power (min/max), just which wires connect to where. So I was going to use track power, until the sound board didn’t like it. It worked normally for a few seconds, then would only make half the bell sound. I power my switches separately, so I tapped into that and got normal operation. The bell is really loud, and could use some sort of volume adjustment.
Once I got that worked out, I started on the drainage ditch.
Not expecting much today, out to lunch and the movies with the wife and kids!
-Mo
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Boy everyone has been busy. I last checked this thread at 11 AM yesterday and it took me 10 minutes to catch up 
Mark- Keep the plywood on the rolling bench. Once its repainted it will look fine. Nice to see you moving along.
Deuce- great to see trains running. Those Beep's look great.
Elliot- what can I say that hasn't been said before- great progress photos. Keep on truckin'.
Carsntrains- the bridge looks great. I would go with your son on the paint color.
Not much locally- had to take care of some stuff on my in-law's house (sound familiar Mark?). Took apart a PRR RPO coach to replace the trucks but realized that I bought the wrong ones. Back to ebay 
Nice looking work there Mo! I am glad you got your crossings up and working! The ditch is looking great, water turned out wonderful! Keep up the great work!
The crossing looks great Mo!
Mark, good to see you finally making headway on the build. Great track plan for the area you have to work with. Looks like you will be getting more done before Spring cleaning outside starts.
Elliot, posts from you are amazing at the rate of work you get done in a given amount of time. Really looking good with the scenery being added.
Today I finally got to work a bit on my layout. After two three days of not doing anything it feels good to get back to it. Still working on some small things. First section is done and I placed it in the general area where it will be. Once I finish this oil storage facility. I can do some track work in the area where I am building it. I took a piece of black foam and mounted the city scenes to them. Waiting for the adhesive to dry then I'll cut them out. I figured I better do that because my luck I would trip against the black foam and break it. A couple of pics and back to work.....................Paul
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Paul the oil tanks look great. I'm in search for some industry for my layout also. At this point pre-made would be best for me. Looks like you are good at putting kits together. I'm not blessed with that skill!!
Jim
Looks good Paul! Question, when you cut them out do you just cut out the buildings or do you cut so the clouds stay with the buildings?
Jim, the kit I am doing is a Walther's kit which is now done by Atlas. Directions are fairly easy. Slow and easy does it everytime. And it is does not use a big footprint.
Mike G, the two scenes are from Scenic Express. I cut off the sky because it does not match my blue. I did that with the oil refinery which took a bit of time to do because of all the different details.....................Paul
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mike g. posted:I had a 71 Cougar. I loved that car, Mom thought it would be a good idea when I was in Marine Corps boot camp to sell it!
My Grandfather (a WW1 vet who passed before I was born) did the same to my Dad when he went into the USAF in '57 (had the draft hanging over him, so he did his 2 years). Granddad sold Dad's 1942 Ford GPW military Jeep. I think Dad still is ticked by that.
I have the GI ignition switch from it, the only part Dad had left. He gave it to me when I got my 1944 Willys...
There is no existing paperwork showing the serial # of Dad's GPW. I'd give almost anything to know if its still around somewhere. We'd both like to think its in the hands of a collector out there, today.
Thanks for the information Paul!
Lee, I feel for your dad! It really does suck when you get home and its gone! I even took the time to put it on blocks and a nice cover for it so it would be ready when I got back. The worse part is she sold it to the kid down the street for $500. Then his grandpa paid to have it repainted and new tires! Silver spoon kind of thing!
Lee I agree with you the sign looks a lot better weathered!
Was able to squeeze in an hour earlier.
It’s hard to see in the pictures, but from the signal next to the black edging to the small bush is contoured. I took some scrap foam, glued it down, then used an old soldering iron to shape it before putting the grass down.
On a side note- anyone else have an issue with a sprayer being “forceful”? So I have a small pump sprayer for my glue/water mix. When I pump it, it’s forceful enough that it blows around the scenery I just put down.
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Back in my HO days, I never sprayed my glue/water mix for ballast. I'd do a 50/50 mix of water/glue, add a couple drops of dishwasher detergent to lower the surface tension and soak the ballast using a squeeze bottle. As for ground foam, I'd paint the ground with a latex paint in an earth-tone, sprinkle ground foam on the paint and press it down with rubber-gloved hands... 
Mitch
Looks good Mo, you might try a 50/50 mix in a small squeeze bottle like Mitch said. You just put it at the top of the ground cover and let it flow down. Dries clear!
A little more progress this afternoon but slow going. All the piping I decided to paint black. The pipes to the tanks I painted them once I glued them but for the rest I painted them while they are still attached to the sprues. I got the pump house put together minus the hoses till they dry. I put a second coat of black on the base of the office and then sprinkled some ground turf around the outside of the base. Later I'll add some glue to that and the base will be ready for the building. Sometimes little things take so darn long. Pics.
MO985, I used a spray bottle long time ago for ballast and ground cover. I felt the spray could not be focused without too much over spraying and sometimes the pressure of the spray would move the ground cover around. So now I use an older top to the Elmer's glue. It tapers to a point which makes it nice because you can either dribble the glue out by drops or you can have a small steady stream coming out when you squeeze the bottle. I was looking for a good picture of it but couldn't find one but what I am talking about is in the picture of the base with the grass on it. I also use a 50/50 mix ( glue to water ) or sometimes a 40/60 mix with dawn added to the water......Paul
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Paul, you will be pumping oil in no time! Looking good!
Mo985 posted:Was able to squeeze in an hour earlier.
It’s hard to see in the pictures, but from the signal next to the black edging to the small bush is contoured. I took some scrap foam, glued it down, then used an old soldering iron to shape it before putting the grass down.
On a side note- anyone else have an issue with a sprayer being “forceful”? So I have a small pump sprayer for my glue/water mix. When I pump it, it’s forceful enough that it blows around the scenery I just put down.
For light weight ground cover I use a medicine syringe. The sprayer does blow the stuff around.
We have a bunch of them from when the kids were little.
I got one side of the bridge detailed and ready to paint! I put a slightly wider upright every fifth one, similar to a bridge over the French Broad river near Knoxville TN. And took another shot from a bit higher so yall can see the S curve in the bridge! Very satisfied so far with my first real building project for a train layout! Think we have decided on green for color if I can figure out what color green they paint bridges!!!
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Been working on a Lionel PRR RPO car that I bought on ebay last year. Not one of my better buys. Made a couple of the classic mistakes, only one photo of the car- in the box- on the listing, brief description and alleged good condition.
Well the body is in great shape but the under carriage is a mess. Both trucks are missing the power pickups and the couplers are missing. Not as if I bought a $1500.00 Hudson that doesn't run but annoying just the same.
Progress pix of the repairs. I might replace the lights with LED's
One of the new trucks installed....
Notice the # 6 screw and hex nut holding the bottom truck? This replaced the # 10 sheetmetal screw top right in the picture. Whoever had this car was a butcher at best. At least they colored the screw head black with a sharpie! 
Good thing I like working on this stuff.
Bob
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