What did you do on your layout today?

THADDEUS, that corner is going to look a lot better when you get done.............Paul

Yes Thaddeus, that will look good 

Mark, sometimes notes are the only way to go!

Jim, I am glad things are getting cleaned up. That will give you more room for something else down the road! I think Mark is right if you need hoppers Menards price is hard to beat right now!

Thaddeus, just from the pictures it looks like it will be a great fit! Cant wait to see how you dress it up with carving or whatever manner your going to use!

Thaddeus

One thing about foam is that it is very forgiving. I needed that big time.

Just keep beating and cutting and pretty soon ya like it.

It's fun stuff to play with . It's looking good.

Larry

Just playing with trains, that all.

Larry, Your foam scenery looks great!!

Justhavnfun, Nothing better than running trains!!

Jushavnfun posted:

Just playing with trains, that all.

Wow, so much going on. And the scenery you have done looks great. 

Had a load of laundry to do LOL so I thought I would apply some decals to my Cooter's building. Didn't have much luck they did not adhere. I followed the directions. Rather them mess up any more I went and added a LED light to an area in the back of the basement. I did send off an email to Randy at Downtown Deco for help. Forgot today was a holiday so no mail until tomorrow. Maybe later I'll just run some trains to relax after all this housework today LOL...........Paul

Decided to try the "plaster of Paris and blue shop towel" method for some hillside.   Small batches is the key, and instead of a 2:1 ratio, I went 1:1, and found the towels did better with that mixture. Then as it firmed up, I used the paste to smooth out some of the wrinkles in the towels.  Cardboard weave underneath.

Time to play catch up, since my last post was Wednesday. Let's start with last Thursday.

I added the 6" ledge to the front of the near track.

Then ballasted and glued about 7' from the slight curve at the bottom of the picture.

I added more foam to fill in between the track and the backdrop.

I glued a bunch of ballast that I had previously spread on the mains.

I added more around the curve and glued that too.

You can't see it anymore, but there was a small gap under the track where the ballast and glue would have fallen through. I had to slide the ties out of the way, then I jammed some small pieces of the matching stone that I had sifted out, to fill the gap. Extra hassle.

I got the ballast spread over a good chunk of the bowl tracks. Only the mains are glued here.

I got all the switches ballasted. Tedious!

That brings us to Saturday. Patrick came over, and we kept working on filling the holes in the lower deck. Here, we finished the riverbed below the ledge I put in Thursday.

We put in this nifty curved piece too.

Filled in the back corner with OSB.

Then moved back up to Chemolite for the final pieces there. I'm just about ready to ballast the upper track here. Still have to caulk the seams.

With the wood work done, I started adding cardboard to the riverbank.

From there we moved over to aisle two, and filled in the corner at the west end of Newport. Note all the sawdust. Cutting all these odd shapes requires lots of trimming, resulting in extra mess!

We moved on to aisle three to fill the huge holes between Hoffman and Chestnut.

Moving on to Sunday, I cleaned up the sawdust from Saturday. I didn't finish taking pics from Saturday, so I took a bunch Sunday showing what Patrick and completed. We left an access hole. Just to the right of the access is where the Lionel hobo camp will go. This area is just about ready for rail paint and ballast.

That chunk of OSB sitting up there will be cut to fill the next hole.

There's not much left to fill in at Western Ave. I have to move all those cars before Patrick's next visit.

More of Saturday's efforts. I was late taking the pics.

On to something we haven't seen in a long time, switch throws. About a year ago I added four more switches, but I put off doing the throws because they weren't important. Now I just want them done. One was a simple Caboose Industries ground throw. The other three are my push rod type. Time to make the linkages. This first one will be easy, but wait til you see the other two.

If I remember correctly, this switch came from forum member Patrick H when he tore his layout down a few years ago.

Here's the tricky part. I got lucky and just missed the conduit. This will need some special treatment when I do the push rod. At least I can access it.

This one is far worse. It happens to be one of mine, a Right of Way, salvaged from enterTRAINment. I'll have to stick a tie in that gap. It's located just above Red Wing on a one foot wide shelf, in the are known as Frogtown. The rod is going to be rather long on this one, in order to get to a spot where it can be reached easily.

Here's the problem, the angle iron and the 1x4 cross member make access nasty. The rod needs to pass through the 1x4, because it has to run off to the right. Fingers crossed!

I spent hours cleaning up the sawdust. It was worse in aisle two because it got into the ballast. Fortunately it was glued down pretty well.

I filled in some of the remaining holes along the fascia over at Hastings.

It's amazing what a difference it makes.

I'm going to try very hard tonight, not to crash after dinner.

Mo985 posted:

Decided to try the "plaster of Paris and blue shop towel" method for some hillside.   Small batches is the key, and instead of a 2:1 ratio, I went 1:1, and found the towels did better with that mixture. Then as it firmed up, I used the paste to smooth out some of the wrinkles in the towels.  Cardboard weave underneath.

 

I used the same method but with thinned down joint compound. 

Larry Sr. Great looking cliff Range! Love it!

Brian, just love all the engines!

Paul. I use Elmer's clear glue!

Mo, I think it turned out looking just Great!

Elliot, after everything you have gotten done, crash after dinner! You earned it!

Great work everyone!!!!

carsntrains posted:

paul 2 posted:

Jim, do you have empty hopper cars. If you do you could buy coal loads for them. Of course Menards has their 11% off sale on right now. Even at their regular price you could get a few hopper cars...........Paul

Paul I will have to look into my "stash" of cars I put in totes when I bought 100 or so brand new ones from my neighbor. 

After going through all those cars.    Not a single coal loaded or empty hopper.   Just a few modern covered hoppers.  Did find out that Lionel makes some Southern hoppers that fit the era I'm going for.  I can only find them in a six pack and they are very PROUD of them!!!!   None of the Menards hoppers would look right to me. 

Jim 

Got the inner loop wired up.  The suitcase connectors worked well.  And the whole thing worked!

Now to wire the accessories and the outer FT loop. I figure I'll do about seven or eight drops on the outer loop. Did four on the inner.

Nice to hear! Keep up the good work! Things are really looking nice!

Ran trains, fixed a track wiring issue, tweaked some scenic areas, and had YUGE FUN!!!!!!!!

Thaddeus posted:

Started to work on our mountain/cliff/wall.  Waiting the glue to dry and then will do a test fit back in the corner.  

 

Been there, done that Thaddeus.  Keep carving till your happy.

Bob

I'm with you Mark. Been out all day furniture shopping (big fun). Just got caught up with everyone's work.

Throw in an Elliot update and my head hurts just reading all of it.

Running trains as I type so good end to a busy day.

Bob

Had a great time meeting a fellow local Forum Member, Malcolm Reid, and saw his terrific trans and accessories. This included an animated baseball field where the left hand pitcher went into his windup, turned his head to check the runner at third, the runners at third and first bases moved while taking their leads, and the batter waggled his bat. Awesome.

Saturday I got my legacy wired through my TIUs and got the NIB TMCC C&O 2-6-6-2 that I bought on the forum up and running.  I was running, at the same time, DCS, TMCC, LC+ and conventional, very happy.

After figuring out I had no coal hoppers.  I figured out that I have some strange road names in that big batch of cars.  Two coyote chasing the roadrunner cars, and a bug bunny Yosemite Sam chase car.  And some cars had stickers from Charles Ro!!!  Strange I just ordered stuff from them lol   OK back to cleaning..  BLAHHHHHHHHHHHH 

Jim 

Back to trains, I think Jim was talking about his Marx 666 earlier. I pulled one of mine off

the shelf, put a tender, 10 marx postwar boxcars and a caboose behind it and turned on

the power. Lots of wheel spin, but no forward progress. Lubed all the axles but that didn't help

much. It would move a bit with a little push, but not much. Tried 9 cars, no improvement.

At 7 cars it would move on its own, but the marx couplers would not stay together. Perhaps on

a layout with wider turns and longer straights it could do better. 

Add weights and you might giggle. The power is there, just not the traction

Hey, thanks guys for the likes and the extra inspiration with the rock wall.  I'm definitely treating it as an adventure.  I have even sparked my son's interest (8yrs old) and have received some help from him.  Its been fun so far!

Trying to get back to my operating sessions.  Restarted session #1 a few weeks ago. Tonight, switched 10 cars at city industries and businesses with Legacy PRR B6s #5244 and made uptrain to move the pickups to the yard.  Tomorrow I'll fire up a consolidation to make the transfer. And then continue with the session as time permits.

Elliot, your progress report wore me out. Remarkable.

Nice Brian! I am glad you got time to run trains! Thanks for the pictures and video!

still cleaning track on the ceiling loop...

Thaddeus posted:

Hey, thanks guys for the likes and the extra inspiration with the rock wall.  I'm definitely treating it as an adventure.  I have even sparked my son's interest (8yrs old) and have received some help from him.  Its been fun so far!

That's the best part of all.

what are you using to carve the foam? Hot wire cutter, saw?

Bob

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Time to play catch up, since my last post was Wednesday. Let's start with last Thursday.

I added the 6" ledge to the front of the near track.

WOW! WOW! WOW!

Looks great Elliot. You are a man on a mission. Tell your buddy he better not stand still for too long- he might get wrapped in plaster cloth . Shout out to Patrick too. He's a good friend.

Bob

beardog posted:

Back to trains, I think Jim was talking about his Marx 666 earlier. I pulled one of mine off

the shelf, put a tender, 10 marx postwar boxcars and a caboose behind it and turned on

the power. Lots of wheel spin, but no forward progress. Lubed all the axles but that didn't help

much. It would move a bit with a little push, but not much. Tried 9 cars, no improvement.

At 7 cars it would move on its own, but the marx couplers would not stay together. Perhaps on

a layout with wider turns and longer straights it could do better. 

I didnt try to pull any cars with mine.   But it will find it a home on my layout and be ran after a good cleaning!  Wonder why they numbered it 666.   Kind of freaky. 

Jim

carsntrains posted:

beardog posted:

Back to trains, I think Jim was talking about his Marx 666 earlier. I pulled one of mine off

the shelf, put a tender, 10 marx postwar boxcars and a caboose behind it and turned on

the power. Lots of wheel spin, but no forward progress. Lubed all the axles but that didn't help

much. It would move a bit with a little push, but not much. Tried 9 cars, no improvement.

At 7 cars it would move on its own, but the marx couplers would not stay together. Perhaps on

a layout with wider turns and longer straights it could do better. 

I didnt try to pull any cars with mine.   But it will find it a home on my layout and be ran after a good cleaning!  Wonder why they numbered it 666.   Kind of freaky. 

Jim

LOL Jim, just take it and put in the China Cabinet and see what the wife says! Make sure the 666 is visible !

carsntrains posted:

beardog posted:

Back to trains, I think Jim was talking about his Marx 666 earlier. I pulled one of mine off

the shelf, put a tender, 10 marx postwar boxcars and a caboose behind it and turned on

the power. Lots of wheel spin, but no forward progress. Lubed all the axles but that didn't help

much. It would move a bit with a little push, but not much. Tried 9 cars, no improvement.

At 7 cars it would move on its own, but the marx couplers would not stay together. Perhaps on

a layout with wider turns and longer straights it could do better. 

I didnt try to pull any cars with mine.   But it will find it a home on my layout and be ran after a good cleaning!  Wonder why they numbered it 666.   Kind of freaky. 

Jim

Yes that is a strange number to pick for sure.

                               IZZY helped run some trains at lunch today...

Izzy is faster than a speeding locomotive!!!

Great looking trains Brian! But I think Izzy was more interested in what's for lunch! Lol

   yep, food and sleep are her priorities, think she is even learning how to combine them...

              wonder if she thinks these are portable dog houses going down the track...

Got my MDF pieces cut for the raised curbed sections of my street running scene I’m working on. This is on a peninsula where trains cross the bridge in the distance, come through town to service an industrial area at the end. A work in progress!

Jim, The sidewalk, street, and town in general is starting to look really good!