What did you do on your layout today?

Mark Boyce posted:

Adriatic posted:

 Mark Boyce, my "like" button wasn't working each time you posted your diorama a while back  

Did I miss the grand finale? Maybe an ongoing thread? 

..or do you need a nudge to get back to work? 

Applause maybe?...   

 

 

Actually, I got all the plaster cloth on, and then I came up with two days where I was able to devote more than a half hour or hour to trains in I don’t know how long...many years I know.

Last week I got about 4 hours, and just today actually worked for about 6 hours!!  I actually felt guilty.

Here is the results.  The top particle board salvaged from an old book case are just setting there, uncut, to give an idea of what this part of the layout will look like.  This part will be 5 feet deep, but I will be able to detach it to roll it away from the wall when access is needed.  Crawling in just to put screws in from the bottom probed to me my decision to not put in pop up hatches was wise.  It was misery!

The diorama is to the right.

Looks good Mark!!!   A bookcase??   That shiny wood looks mighty fancy!!!  Sent you a message on Facebook. 

I didnt even go into the train room last night. Probably won't tonight either.  

Jim

Mark Boyce posted:

Adriatic posted:

 Mark Boyce, my "like" button wasn't working each time you posted your diorama a while back  

Did I miss the grand finale? Maybe an ongoing thread? 

..or do you need a nudge to get back to work? 

Applause maybe?...   

 

 

Actually, I got all the plaster cloth on, and then I came up with two days where I was able to devote more than a half hour or hour to trains in I don’t know how long...many years I know.

Last week I got about 4 hours, and just today actually worked for about 6 hours!!  I actually felt guilty.

Here is the results.  The top particle board salvaged from an old book case are just setting there, uncut, to give an idea of what this part of the layout will look like.  This part will be 5 feet deep, but I will be able to detach it to roll it away from the wall when access is needed.  Crawling in just to put screws in from the bottom probed to me my decision to not put in pop up hatches was wise.  It was misery!

The diorama is to the right.

Looking good Mark! Way to reuse free stuff! FREE is always good! 

Still not in to my side of the house to clean up and start a layout. Lawyers !! AAAAAAARRRRGH !!

I tore my layout down in August of 2017 due to a move. we sold our house after having it on the market for a while and didn't find a new home  In time.  We thought our move to an apartment was going to be short, but here it is Feb 2018 and we're still here. Actively searching for a new home so I can start my layout all over again! In the meantime it's killing me having all my stuff in storage. And what's worse is I find myself buying a lot to make up for my not having a layout / anything to work on!  Not having a layout or a home to put it in is getting very costly to me! ☹☹☹

RSJB18 posted:

ChessieMD posted:

Planted Yucca plants around the layout. Made by JTT, plants make a nice addition to the desert landscape.  

MMMMMMM Fried Yucca!

Very nice work Chessie!

Bob

👍

ChessieMD posted:

RSJB18 posted:

ChessieMD posted:

Planted Yucca plants around the layout. Made by JTT, plants make a nice addition to the desert landscape.  

MMMMMMM Fried Yucca!

Very nice work Chessie!

Bob

👍

People eat yucca Bob???    I thought all that plant was good for is drawing wasps and bees lol

Jim

carsntrains posted:

ChessieMD posted:

RSJB18 posted:

ChessieMD posted:

Planted Yucca plants around the layout. Made by JTT, plants make a nice addition to the desert landscape.  

MMMMMMM Fried Yucca!

Very nice work Chessie!

Bob

👍

People eat yucca Bob???    I thought all that plant was good for is drawing wasps and bees lol

Jim

yep- its good eating

http://www.seriouseats.com/201...make-fried-yuca.html

My staff is about 50% Hispanic and they make it all the time.

briansilvermustang posted:

"Fortescue?  That you?"    

Mitch 

RSJB18 posted:

carsntrains posted:

ChessieMD posted:

RSJB18 posted:

ChessieMD posted:

Planted Yucca plants around the layout. Made by JTT, plants make a nice addition to the desert landscape.  

MMMMMMM Fried Yucca!

Very nice work Chessie!

Bob

👍

People eat yucca Bob???    I thought all that plant was good for is drawing wasps and bees lol

Jim

yep- its good eating

http://www.seriouseats.com/201...make-fried-yuca.html

My staff is about 50% Hispanic and they make it all the time.

WOW..  I will show that to my wife!!!  

Jim

briansilvermustang posted:

A young Mitch M. is startled early one morning by a wayward gi-raff inquiring if he knew the way to San Jose, resulting in Mitch being scarred for life. This picture explains a lot   

                 I think I just spotted "Fortescue" looking for Mitch in the Random Trolley Cars...

carsntrains posted:

RSJB18 posted:

carsntrains posted:

ChessieMD posted:

RSJB18 posted:

ChessieMD posted:

Planted Yucca plants around the layout. Made by JTT, plants make a nice addition to the desert landscape.  

MMMMMMM Fried Yucca!

Very nice work Chessie!

Bob

👍

People eat yucca Bob???    I thought all that plant was good for is drawing wasps and bees lol

Jim

yep- its good eating

http://www.seriouseats.com/201...make-fried-yuca.html

My staff is about 50% Hispanic and they make it all the time.

WOW..  I will show that to my wife!!!  

Jim

Great looking Yucca.   This must be a super Yucca.    Son and daughter-in-law, Grand Canyon several years ago.

                     Mike, how is the cement pour,

                                                                                 for the new train room going...

briansilvermustang posted:

                     Mike, how is the cement pour,

                                                                                 for the new train room going...

 

 

 

 

         

YES Mike G..  We are eager to know!!!    WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

JIm

As for the Yucca, that is excellent modeling ChessieMD!!  My grandmother had some yucca when we were growing up.  My mother had me transplant 3 to our house.  They are still there; I mowed around them last year once my dad had to hang up the mower at age 86.  I always thought they were an odd plant for Western Pennsylvania, but I see other folks have them around here too.  

Mike, Giant Yucca!!  Wow!!  That is worth a photograph! 

Now on to Mitch and Fortesque.  That would be a shock to see one of them pop his head in the upstairs window!!  

Finally, the free lumber.  Yes Jim, That was a 6 plus foot high book case my mother-in-law left here when she sold us the house in 2011.  It was huge, but only had four shelves.  Fine for big reference books or atlases (who has any of them), but kind of a waste of space.  So it had set in the little family room under the Ceiling Central RR with copy paper boxes full of my wife's sewing material, crafts, patterns, and books since we moved in until last summer when she finally found a place for all that stuff after our last daughter married and moved most for her stuff out.  We decided to get rid of it, and since it was too big to haul to the thrift store, I took it apart for a contribution to my layout.  My dad has a bunch of various odds and ends in his shop next to the empty house that he has dipped into over the years for repair projects.  I am going to haul that up here too for the layout.

As an explanation on the use of free, old wood; Guess what I found in Dad's shop!  A section of 1/2-inch plywood with gray painted roads, green sawdust mostly fallen off, and some ballast from my old layout I built after I bought my first train set when I was about 12 (1968 or '69).  I bought the plywood too, and for my table support I used floor boards from the old living room floor that dated back to 1888 that Dad had ripped out to put in stronger joists in the mid '60s.  

carsntrains posted:

briansilvermustang posted:

                     Mike, how is the cement pour,

                                                                                 for the new train room going...

 

 

 

 

         

YES Mike G..  We are eager to know!!!    WOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

JIm

Oh no!!!  Is that Mike G. in that soup!!!  I hope he doesn't end up like Jimmy Hoffa!!  

paul 2 posted:

Mark, starting to come together for you. It is a plus when you can reuse materials from something else and find more and more time to work on the layout. I like the idea of the roll out table. This is starting to turn into the chariot race from Ben Hur. Only thing different is instead of horses and chariots it is everyone now building layouts. But this is a plus for all of us to see different ideas that may work on our layouts...............Paul

Paul, you have good points here!  I think the reason I want to share what I am doing is to give back since I have seen so many neat things others are doing.  Second, I am looking for ideas others can suggest for what I am doing.

This brings up something I have been thinking on.  When the design phase sort of wound down in my topic New O Gauge Railroad in 130 Square Feet - The Blackwater Canyon Line in my signature line, I said I would continue the construction phase there.  I want to keep continuity on my build, not only for others, but also so I can reference back easier when someone asks me a question, or I have a question for myself.  However, I see the value of putting construction here where we are all comparing also.  I once tried putting a post in this topic and my own topic.  It caused confusion when someone saw it in both, and we ended up having the conversation split between the two.  I have thought of putting the main posts with description and photographs in my own topic, and then just citing my link in this topic every time I post something new.  A person will click on the link, which will take them to that topic for viewing and reply.  The only problem is if someone doesn't click on my link, they won't see the other folks responses.

Does anyone have any feedback on how I should approach this?

Mark- Take Elliot's approach. Post progress to your thread and then copy the updates to this one once a month. If its all in your thread it will not get lost among all the Gi-raffe and flamingo chatter

Pretty cool finding a piece of your old train table. We all have one of those lumber piles in our houses. never know when you need a piece of wood.

Bob

Mike, good seeing the pouring of the concrete. Your layout officially started with the first concrete coming down the chute. Mark, this topic has got to be the longest running with so many posting everyday. That is a good thing in my opinion. As to your question about where to post progress I would say both places. One, it is a topic you started and quite possibly it is a layout, size wise, that others in the same situation  will keep an eye on. On the what did you do on your layout today there are others who have posted twice like you. Nothing wrong with that. This topic seems to have the most people following it and posting themselves here too. So I  think exposure is more on here. Reusing lumber sure does say money for other layout things. For the first time I was able to use old lumber. A friend of mine was helping his son take out a bathroom in the basement and he called me to say they had a pile of 2X4's and wondered if I would like them. I said how much and he said nothing. He even brought them to the house. I spent the next day cutting them to the size I wanted for table legs. Yesterday and today that is what I have been using on the latest table. I got the cross braces cut and screwed in place and while I was at it where I have the lift out bridge I replaced the temporary legs with permanent ones. Now I have to start dinner but while that is cooking I'll go down and paint the sides of the table and braces and legs and that will be done. Pics...............Paul

I haven't been downstairs yet today. I'd like to get some more ballasting done. Patrick is coming over tomorrow.

Yesterday, I finished gluing the last bits in this section. I still need to climb in there and paint a short section of rail, on the mains, at the far end, behind the fan. Then, in order to ballast, I need to get some foam or something to prevent the ballast from falling off the back edge, into the hidden yard below.

I spread and glued both mains around this curve between Newport and Cottage Grove.

Made a quick Menards run and bought another sheet of plywood. Should be the very last one! Also got a few 2x4's. Those should also be the last. Spray paint, literally in rainbow colors. Some caulk, and three gallons of white glue. The ones in the photo aren't them. Those are the previous jugs, that I now fill with ballasting mix. I cut it 3 to 1 with water.

I ballasted about 15' of mains going past the Northtown bowl tracks, and then got on the ladder and started in the yard. It'll be fun connecting the dots, as it were, because the other side of the aisle, the upper deck is mostly done.

Over at Hiawatha, the glue was dry in the yard,so I did a final cleaning on the rails.

After I finished cleaning, I moved the cars back,so I could start the next section. I also started working on the next street.

I spent a little while studying this spot on Google Earth. There are four different grain facilities in this three block section. Three are still active. My brother-in-law just got a new drone. We've been talking about flying along the corridor above the tracks, among other train related places. The temperature has to be above 14F, so it might be a while before we can get out.

Gotta keep pounding away at this thing. They want to take photos at the end of the month for the National Narrow Gauge Convention in September.

paul 2 posted:

Frankly, I'm digging the vintage linoleum squares here.   

Mitch 

Mark great story as always!!  Talk about repurposing!!!!  Good job!

Paul you are reminding me of what I need to be doing!!  Painting bench work!  

Elliot reminds us all.   KEEP CHUGGING!!  Thank you!

Jim  

Still aint heard from MikeG??  

Mitch, vintage is the right word to use. It is an old house. Built in 1912. The basement was originally dirt. Sometime in the past they added a cement floor. In fact the walls were first there and the floor poured around them. Tiles we're there when we bought the house. 50's deco for sure.....Paul

I turned on the lights, walked in and managed not to fall over any of the stuff on the floor, and located the 3 passenger cars that I was looking for today! 

I'm going to chalk that up as a successful venture.

With dinner in the oven I went down and put a coat of black on the table edge, legs and braces. I don't paint the entire brace because they will be under the tongue and groove shelves. I only paint the outside of the braces that can be seen. So I'll let this coat dry and then apply a second coat. Pics................Paul

Not to much, but I can tell you its to much for this old guy! check it out!No all I need to do is start putting up some walls when it dries!

Mike, looking good.   How long before you can start to put walls up........Paul

Unfortunately, the vintage tile squares are most likely asbestos, most of them were.

paul 2 posted:

Mike, looking good.   How long before you can start to put walls up........Paul

I don't know, I have never poured concrete before. This is a first for me, I was thinking a week. Maybe someone here knows! LOL

From my experience as a general contractor, the concrete should cure in 

a day or so

beardog posted:

From my experience as a general contractor, the concrete should cure in 

a day or so

I had a builder here tell me that some crews started framing on fresh pours the next day!! ( I wouldn't) Then he started talking about pre-tensioned cable instead of rebar.   

Jim 

mike g. posted:

paul 2 posted:

Mike, looking good.   How long before you can start to put walls up........Paul

I don't know, I have never poured concrete before. This is a first for me, I was thinking a week. Maybe someone here knows! LOL

Well, the timing is good as it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow and only a little rainy off and on through next week. Sure is better than the previous uber-wet weather we had bene having.

carsntrains posted:

beardog posted:

From my experience as a general contractor, the concrete should cure in 

a day or so

I had a builder here tell me that some crews started framing on fresh pours the next day!! ( I wouldn't) Then he started talking about pre-tensioned cable instead of rebar.   

Jim 

To be honest I think I will wait a week before I start framing!

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

beardog posted:

From my experience as a general contractor, the concrete should cure in 

a day or so

I had a builder here tell me that some crews started framing on fresh pours the next day!! ( I wouldn't) Then he started talking about pre-tensioned cable instead of rebar.   

Jim 

To be honest I think I will wait a week before I start framing!

It looks great Mike!!!   I would start laying things out tomorrow.  Knowing how I am I might would even go ahead and build the walls and set them aside until I was satisfied that the concrete was ready to build on lol   I wish you were nearby.  I have a framing nailer (round head) and enjoy building stuff!!!    

carsntrains posted:

mike g. posted:

carsntrains posted:

beardog posted:

From my experience as a general contractor, the concrete should cure in 

a day or so

I had a builder here tell me that some crews started framing on fresh pours the next day!! ( I wouldn't) Then he started talking about pre-tensioned cable instead of rebar.   

Jim 

To be honest I think I will wait a week before I start framing!

It looks great Mike!!!   I would start laying things out tomorrow.  Knowing how I am I might would even go ahead and build the walls and set them aside until I was satisfied that the concrete was ready to build on lol   I wish you were nearby.  I have a framing nailer (round head) and enjoy building stuff!!!    

To be honest, I think I am going to take tomorrow off! This was enough for this guy for the weekend! But I might have a beer or 2! That's about as much lifting I want to do!

Mike the project pictured.  I went and got the supplies on a Thursday, built the walls on Friday, put the floor joists up on Saturday.   Took Sunday off other than picking up the 4x8 floor panels.   Then Monday put the floor down.  : )    I think I'm a bit younger than you though.   52.   

Jim 

That loft is 20x25!  That's in our shop.   It would make a GREAT train room lol   

carsntrains posted:

Mike the project pictured.  I went and got the supplies on a Thursday, built the walls on Friday, put the floor joists up on Saturday.   Took Sunday off other than picking up the 4x8 floor panels.   Then Monday put the floor down.  : )    I think I'm a bit younger than you though.   52.   

Jim 

That loft is 20x25!  That's in our shop.   It would make a GREAT train room lol   

LOL Thanks for the input Jim, you are 2 years younger then me, But the big "C" took a lot out of me! I still do what I did before, just takes me longer. But I am still here!