What did you do on your layout today?

This looks really nice.  Have you posted pictures of your layout somewhere on this forum?  I'd like to see more of it.

Clem

Your way above me. That's some very detailed and nice work.

Pat:

Your layout is really shaping up. The mountain looks great in photos, but, in person, it is breath taking. Your eye for scenery is superb.

Mirrors are a wonderful tool for the model railroader. As you know, I have mirrors meeting at a 90 degree angle on 2 sides of my city scene with streets running into the mirrors. With this effect, I have quadrupled the size of my city from a viewer's perspective. Even a well-placed small mirror can give a sense of continuance to a scene in your layout.

Clem:

You have a beautiful layout. Your command of scenerey is outstanding! I learn so much from the photos that you and other talented forum members post.

Larry and Clem:

What is the brand of the trestle piers that you guys bought, modified and used? Where did you get them?

Thank you.

Randy

I bought mine at a local train shop, however I believe Scenic Express carry's them.

The brand I have is Grand Central Gems.

Clem

Randy

Others have suggested www.grandcentralgems.com. Mine were purchased from a train store in St. Louis while I was visiting a few years ago.

Larry and Clem:

Thank you for the information on the trestle piers.

Working on a tinplate inspired gas station for my layout.

Andy

That is a very cool station.  Nice work

Al

I've been working on rebuilding this DPM modular building I built when I was a kid. I added the foundation, re-did the corners, touched up the paint, and did the weathering. When I originally built it, it was a "racecar factory" and had hot wheels inside.  On my current layout I'm going to mate it with another building which is the reason it has no stairs and the shiny green roof.  Is not going to win any contests but I've had fun practicing some new techniques.  Sorry about the terrible lighting, I have no access to good light in my apartment at night!

Put together this locomotive work platform.  Kinda fun to build.

Well, this week I worked on wiring.  I run conventional control with relays and buttons for automation.  My original layout only worked when there were two trains.  Last week I figured out how to put in a DPDT switch and override my automation so I can run a single train.  I finally got the switches installed last night.  Each time I modify my wiring, I try to clean up my schematic and the actual wiring a bit more.  I've now come up with numbering and color-coding for each of my CW-80s.  It's still a bit of a rat's nest under the table, but It takes me less and less time to figure out which wire is which.

J

Today I approved the proofs for my custom decals for the Great Western Railway, (Colorado sugar beet road) locos, including the #90 Decapod at Strasburg, and for the two sidedoor cabooses acquired from the Florida East Coast.  I will have plenty of these in the unlikely event anybody else needs decals for this road.

Still fooling with guard rails on this 50 inch 060 curve. Winging it as I go.

Took a little break from the job searching and ran my scale PM berk with a 4 passenger car excursion.   

Might do some some real layout work tonight after I send out more resumes.  

I started studding the walls in my new trainroom.  Feels good to be moving along with the project.

Finally finished my F3 B unit.

Moved the sounds from the A unit into the B unit. 
Put the speaker in a baffle I made, you can hear the sounds now.

well my layout would be the NJ Hi-railers, that is the only layout I can actually work on .A home layout is not even on the horizon..

what I did was drive 3 miles and get t-boned by a 22 yr old.. probably texting! so .... nothing! :-(

Looking good Charlie!  You will be running trains before you know it!

After a few months off for the holidays, it's back to work on the roundhouse.

Vacant wall space above the shutters now equals = more display/storage shelves

laidoffsick.....so jealous, BUT that already looks amazing!

as for me..... does brainstorming count?

Installed some chicken wire so Mt. Randolph can be expanded.  Also added some more scenic material to the existing part of Mt. Randolph. Temporarily placed a backdrop behing Mt. Randolph ... looks pretty darn good too!

mjrodg3n88 brainstorming certainly counts!  All great layouts begin with thought.  Keep brainstorming 

With the goal of starting limited operations by April or May, it is high time the layout had a working yard that does more than just store trains.

I spent 8 hours today and got the west ladder done, along with the ground throws for 7 of the 8 switches. I also laid out the track for the yard and tinkered with the design for the east end.


This was originally going to be a hump yard, because that's what it is in the real world, but it just wasn't going to fit and be functional.


Tomorrow I'll work on securing the body tracks.


That open spot in the center of the photo will be the engine service facility.


It should hold 50 to 75 cars easy.

That'll keep an operator busy.

Last 3 days.......wiring........running power line for my switches. Running an additional layout common ground.

Peter

Peter, where is a good place to buy wire?

I added a shelf to hold my transformer.  It has always been under the layout thinking I was going to use my CAB 2 100% of the time to run my trains.   After seeing my three year old son use the transformer to run his polar express around the Christmas tree this year I  decided he needed transformer control to run trains on Dad's layout.   

I also re-did the track going to the car ferry and changed the ramp up into the ferry so the cars do not have to go up such a steep angle.  

I built myself a small work bench to use in our Florida house.  It was built based on a magazine article from several years ago.  Now I can start working on buildings for the 9 x 34 layout I am planning to build in NJ starting this summer.

Added a carpet central for the great-grandson and me...and yes, the dog.

Continued loco repaint, installed holder for command remote, added bulbs to old plasticville signals so they light up in amber at all times layout is powered up and most importantly ran trains.

I called Lionel for a RA on my CAB2.  The boost/brake/fwd/rev button isn't working correctly and it applies boost or brake at random when running trains.

Busy day today.....redid a section of my layout to accommodate a Grand Central Terminal that should arrive sometime next week.  My recently purchased BNSF Dash 9 started to blink 3 times, indicating a problem with the smoke unit.  Happened a few times before but I was always able to reset the smoke unit.....this time no joy.  Lionel, as usual, was very  receptive to my phone call and issued a RA number for repair.

Pete

I ran some trains and mated my old DPM modular with my old American Flyer station.  I'm going to call it "Gilbert Scientific." Sorry for the poor picture quality, I have terrible lighting in my train room and I'm realizing I have a terrible camera!

Jdevleerjr, Did you try loosening corresponding screw on back of Cab 2.  Lionel advised me that sometimes these screws can be overtightened  and cause that button to stick.  

Just a thought.

Pete