Jim, good luck with your new venture,
keep thinking about your new layout, and happy railroading !!
Went into NYC yesterday for a meeting. Took the LIRR. Waiting at Mineola a pair of NYAR GP-38-2's passed westbound pulling a couple of empty center beam lumber cars. On the way home we stopped in Jamaica and as we did a pair of MP-15's hit the bell and horn and pulled away from the platform heading west. It was dark so I didn't notice them until they hit the bell.
For a guy from the suburbs riding a commuter railroad that's a big day. 
Bob
Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
Night running....oooh .ahhhh. pretty.
Time to bring to box home
Maybe filled with something not for you?
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type. 
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
RSJB18 posted:Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type.
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
Come on now... has ANYONE ever reached "critical mass"??? 
Morning guys, sorry I am a little late posting, but the dog let me sleep in till 6 this morning!
Paul, things are really looking nice! I know it sucks to have to wait on things, but you can only do want you can with what you have!
Deuce, you sure have a nice looking layout table and I really like the night picture! Don't worry the wife will look up how much you have spent and let you know! could be nice or could be bad, just be ready! LOL
Jim, good luck on the clean up and I hope you can get started sometime soon!
Bob, I don't know what its like to ride a commuter train as I have never rode one. Well I take that back I road and old one in Sofia Bulgria back and forth from the Marine house to the Embassy!
I love this page cause there is always great work being done by everyone!
Apples55 posted:RSJB18 posted:Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type.
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
Come on now... has ANYONE ever reached "critical mass"???
Not sure if it should be considered a goal or a challenge 
Just a little progress report. My son Jim was over and he finished the 6 switches to turn the power to the layout on and off. Now I can finish my fascia and get things trimmed out.
I completed my river valley and replaced my bridges. Finished my Great River Road by adding highway signs for Iowa Highway 52. I repainted a white wood billboard I got at DuPage in the traditional green color and replaced the Studebaker billboard with a Hamm's Beer one instead. Decided on my guardrails and completed them along the river road.
Started adding trees behind my curved stone arch bridge and like the way it is looking so far. I'm making a tree canopy using black poly fiber and gluing flocking on it. A very messy and time consuming project and I'm half done. Hope to finish that today.
No pictures, but will post some soon.
Art
Apples55 posted:RSJB18 posted:Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type.
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
Come on now... has ANYONE ever reached "critical mass"???
For a model railroader, probably not. For someone on the outside of the hobby, looking in? I bet there is. If my wife tunes me out ten seconds after I start talking technical specifics about my job, I have to assume there will come a point where she won't know which items are old, which have been stored and just recently brought out, and which ones have been recently smuggled home. At least, I'm going to bet my life on it. 
Still working on the little things today. My two sets of Weaver die cast trucks came in the mail today. On the layout I got the last coat of earth color on. I started to glue the pawn shop together. This one should prove interesting. Somehow over the years since I bought the kit I have lost the directions that came with it. Will see how this goes. I placed Cooter's in its spot to see how it will look. I still have to finish decaling it. That's been it for the day so far. Pics.........Paul
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Deuce posted:Apples55 posted:RSJB18 posted:Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type.
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
Come on now... has ANYONE ever reached "critical mass"???
For a model railroader, probably not. For someone on the outside of the hobby, looking in? I bet there is. If my wife tunes me out ten seconds after I start talking technical specifics about my job, I have to assume there will come a point where she won't know which items are old, which have been stored and just recently brought out, and which ones have been recently smuggled home. At least, I'm going to bet my life on it.
I've heard others say the same thing. I guess my wife wouldn't know either, but she has never complained about too many trains, or how much that cost.
paul 2 posted:Still working on the little things today. My two sets of Weaver die cast trucks came in the mail today. On the layout I got the last coat of earth color on. I started to glue the pawn shop together. This one should prove interesting. Somehow over the years since I bought the kit I have lost the directions that came with it. Will see how this goes. I placed Cooter's in its spot to see how it will look. I still have to finish decaling it. That's been it for the day so far. Pics.........Paul
That area is looking mighty good, Paul!!!
Mark Boyce posted:Deuce posted:Apples55 posted:RSJB18 posted:Adriatic posted:Deuce posted:Wired the table for accessories. The last thing I need to do is drop the feeders for the FT. The coaling tower wasn't hooked up properly (short wires) so I'll need to reconnect it to my accessory lines, but for now it's connected to my O27 track by a lockon.
Now to clean things up and set up the remotes for the switches. Here is the layout "at night".
The wife is on to me. She came in tonight and her first words were "Where did all this come from?" followed immediately by "And how much did you spend?"
I replied "Honestly, I'm not keeping track ." And that my friends , is the God's honest truth.
The important thing to note here guys is that Deuce was still able to write this post. So he's not dead and still has use of his arms to type.
Like I said- once you hit critical mass the new stuff will blend in better.
Come on now... has ANYONE ever reached "critical mass"???
For a model railroader, probably not. For someone on the outside of the hobby, looking in? I bet there is. If my wife tunes me out ten seconds after I start talking technical specifics about my job, I have to assume there will come a point where she won't know which items are old, which have been stored and just recently brought out, and which ones have been recently smuggled home. At least, I'm going to bet my life on it.
I've heard others say the same thing. I guess my wife wouldn't know either, but she has never complained about too many trains, or how much that cost.
I'm going to assume that since she didn't fuss about my lack of a dollar figure, or how the layout - in the span of a couple months - went from a single Lionel Pennsy Flyer to what it is today, she doesn't really care. As long as I properly time manage (IOW, do my part taking care of the kids and getting home reno's completed), it should all be copacetic.
Always keep the CEO happy.
When you reach critical mass, your house explodes.
I'm getting very close, and the trains just keep coming. I'm not worried about what the wife thinks of this, since she has egged me on numerous times. Of course, then she feels entitled to spend freely on her things. Lighted crochet hooks, and enough yarn to circle the earth. It's not supposed to be a contest!
But fair's fair, I guess. When I stop, I can claim the moral high ground. Til then, I'll just have to bite my tongue.
---------------------------------------------------
Back to business, I did manage to stay awake on Wednesday evening, and got a few hours in. The following three pics are of the girder viaduct project. I disassembled a silver trestle bridge from enterTRAINment, so I could reuse the material.
I'm going to have to get creative, because I'm short one section. Actually, I have one of the four beams, but I may have to cobble together the scraps for the other three. I'd buy more, but I don't think the company is in business anymore.
Of course, the bridge is longer than the two girder pieces that I have, by just a couple inches, so I'll have to order three more, and piece them together.
I started screwing down the plywood between the tracks over at Midway intermodal.
I'm anxious to get the holes filled so I can paint, and get all my Atlas sets out.
But before that can happen, the roadbed needs to be carved, and the rail painted. Patrick suggested using a carpet knife. It works much better.
I caulked in the sliver over by Hoffman. Now I can finish ballasting here.
Speaking of ballasting, I started on the upper track at Chemolite. I get some glue on that this weekend.
Just above Chemolite, at Northtown, I started gluing what I had previously spread. The switches are done.
The top center needs a little more, then I can glue half the yard. It'll be nice having this done, a place to move cars to while I paint rail over at Western Avenue.
Let's see what the weekend brings.
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Looking great, Elliot! Bummer about being just short on the bridge! You will come up with an excellent solution! Your wife sounds like our older daughter with crochet hooks and yarn. Does she clean, dye, and spin her own yarn? One summer between college and marriage, daughter spent many afternoons cooking raw wool in a big pot on our outdoor grill to get all the lanolin out. Then she dyed it. She also has a very old spinning wheel she carved a couple missing parts. It is tough to Lee the tension when spinning, so she bought a modern spinning wheel for Christmas. Her husband takes it all in stride. LOL
Big_Boy_4005 posted:
Let's see what the weekend brings.
I need to come up and lend a hand before all the work gets done. What would be a good day to help in early March? Wednesdays are not good for me. Dave
Big_Boy_4005 posted:When you reach critical mass, your house explodes.
---------------------------------------------------
Back to business, I did manage to stay awake on Wednesday evening, and got a few hours in. The following three pics are of the girder viaduct project. I disassembled a silver trestle bridge from enterTRAINment, so I could reuse the material.
I'm going to have to get creative, because I'm short one section. Actually, I have one of the four beams, but I may have to cobble together the scraps for the other three. I'd buy more, but I don't think the company is in business anymore.
Of course, the bridge is longer than the two girder pieces that I have, by just a couple inches, so I'll have to order three more, and piece them together.
I started screwing down the plywood between the tracks over at Midway intermodal.
I'm anxious to get the holes filled so I can paint, and get all my Atlas sets out.
But before that can happen, the roadbed needs to be carved, and the rail painted. Patrick suggested using a carpet knife. It works much better.
I caulked in the sliver over by Hoffman. Now I can finish ballasting here.
Speaking of ballasting, I started on the upper track at Chemolite. I get some glue on that this weekend.
Just above Chemolite, at Northtown, I started gluing what I had previously spread. The switches are done.
The top center needs a little more, then I can glue half the yard. It'll be nice having this done, a place to move cars to while I paint rail over at Western Avenue.
Let's see what the weekend brings.
You know Elliot if I were in your shoes with all the work you have been getting done. I think I might take the weekend off. But I know you have a lot of work to get done before the tour shoot. Either way every update you post is very impressive! Thanks for the update!
Mark Boyce posted:Looking great, Elliot! Bummer about being just short on the bridge! You will come up with an excellent solution! Your wife sounds like our older daughter with crochet hooks and yarn. Does she clean, dye, and spin her own yarn? One summer between college and marriage, daughter spent many afternoons cooking raw wool in a big pot on our outdoor grill to get all the lanolin out. Then she dyed it. She also has a very old spinning wheel she carved a couple missing parts. It is tough to Lee the tension when spinning, so she bought a modern spinning wheel for Christmas. Her husband takes it all in stride. LOL
Mark Boyce posted:Looking great, Elliot! Bummer about being just short on the bridge! You will come up with an excellent solution! Your wife sounds like our older daughter with crochet hooks and yarn. Does she clean, dye, and spin her own yarn? One summer between college and marriage, daughter spent many afternoons cooking raw wool in a big pot on our outdoor grill to get all the lanolin out. Then she dyed it. She also has a very old spinning wheel she carved a couple missing parts. It is tough to Lee the tension when spinning, so she bought a modern spinning wheel for Christmas. Her husband takes it all in stride. LOL
It sounds like you guys are lucky you are not building a "loom room" 
At least the loom is in her house now not mine!!! :-)
Yesterday and today I reworked three wiring issues that had developed from sloppy block wiring left over from my redo project. Nothing major but it took a while to identify why my block switches did not isolate 4 blocks. The fix was simple after that.
After I had completed operating session #1, I found some switching movements for a business that hindered operations on the main and involved too much time so I canceled that switching order. Because I had moved a few trains tofixmy wiring problems, I decided to restart session #1. So I restaged the starting position of the freight cars at various businesses; the through daily road trains for oil tankers, mixed freight and local passenger/mail trains. Then I completed the yard order for a consist for switch movements in the city and concluded operations until tomorrow. Still tweaking things but enjoying the challenges of operations.
Adriatic posted:I'm sorry, that is the cantilevered pole?
The 3424-77 telltale pole and 3424-78 telltales are plastic; the 3424-79 telltale rod is steel.
I supposed the tale tails might be plastic, but the pole & rod (?) was my query, sure.
I did look but found others; they were very interesting but not the same. Look for the 2 threads of tell tales (real trains & T.T.s "modded") (tell tails ?) because I planned on showing them for a laugh later.
Got links handy?
Mitch
Mark Boyce posted:At least the loom is in her house now not mine!!! :-)
My aunt lost a great garage/den to a big weaving loom, two spinning wheels and shelves. Neither cousin lived there
I haven't posted them yet but grabbed them off a Maerklin site. I fell so behind reading last week I'm still spread all over. But a spoiler/clue, how would like to be hit by a mace from behind while walking the boards?
This evening after dinner I got the chance to head to the basement. I had glued to wall together on the pawn shop before dinner and I got the first color on. I did add a second coat but the pics are of the first. I had an extra wall from the Cooter's kit. I added the color to that and I used the paint I made up for the brick walls in the city. I sort of like the look. Not sure what I could get to do something more to sandstone or granite. Plus I am not really sure if I can finish the Pawn Shop with the directions. Especially because it may show how to build the frame for the sign on the roof. Pics...............Paul
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Adriatic posted:I haven't posted them yet but grabbed them off a Maerklin site. I fell so behind reading last week I'm still spread all over. But a spoiler/clue, how would like to be hit by a mace from behind while walking the boards?
That good, eh? ;-)
Had to do some running around this morning so all I did so far was take the building and place it on the street corner. With the sidewalk I will be using I am going to have to make a small foundation out of Balsa wood to bring it to sidewalk level so I don't have to cut off the door stoops. They can then rest on the sidewalk. Maybe this afternoon I can work some more on the building but it sure is harder when you don't have a direction sheet. I saw my card was charged at Ross so I am hoping that in the first part of the week my switches will get here and I can go back to laying track again. Pics...................Paul
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paul 2 posted:
Paul;
Is that sidewalk from Scale City, and if so, could you tell me how you cut the straight piece??? I have a bunch of them, but I need to trim some to fit around my buildings.
Thanks
paul 2 posted:Mark, that was funny. I was down working on the layout and I finished what I could do for the time being. And as I walked through the living room the wife asked if I would like to watch the game to which I politely said no LOL. So I picked out my next Downtown Deco building, The Pawn Shop. I got the first coat of color on the plaster. I had a corner section of sidewalk left so I laid it down and found out I had to piece in some road at the corner or I would of had to narrow the road to make the sidewalk work. I placed an order for electrical stuff and hopefully that will come this week. Calling it quits for the night but I'll stay on the computer till the game is over then I can go watch TV LOL. Pics..............Paul
Man you are getting it done! Kudos to you for making steady progress. Give me some of what you have or can I just go to the store and purchase, lol.
Let me go look in the train room now, maybe I will be motivated to do something.
Elliot; I like the balasting in that last photo. Nice scenic element. Can't wait to see more. BTW, do you have a schedule for cleaning track and loco wheels and rollers planned? What do you plan touse to clean your track? Cheers.
paul 2 posted:Had to do some running around this morning so all I did so far was take the building and place it on the street corner. With the sidewalk I will be using I am going to have to make a small foundation out of Balsa wood to bring it to sidewalk level so I don't have to cut off the door stoops. They can then rest on the sidewalk. Maybe this afternoon I can work some more on the building but it sure is harder when you don't have a direction sheet. I saw my card was charged at Ross so I am hoping that in the first part of the week my switches will get here and I can go back to laying track again. Pics...................Paul
going to look great!
APPLES55, sorry I did not see your question till now. The sidewalks are from scale city. Any cutting I had to do was with a hacksaw. Placed the walk on a block of wood and slowly took my time to make the cut.........Paul
Mark - No sign of a loom yet, but nothing would surprise me anymore. The dining room has already been over run.
Dave - Drop me an email. Saturdays are almost always good. Tuesdays and Thursdays mostly work. I'd love to have your help, get some scenes ready for pics.
Mike - Deserve it or not, no days off for now. Haven't missed a day since October 9th. It's crunch time. When the convention is over, I'll be taking a month long trip. There's a wedding in New Jersey we're going to, and we are going to take our time getting there and cross some states off our bucket list. Back to work!
Big_Boy_4005 posted:I'll be taking a month long trip. There's a wedding in New Jersey we're going to, and we are going to take our time getting there and cross some states off our bucket list. Back to work!
If you stop in the Lehigh Valley or Philly area, let us know! You gotta come see Hennings Trains and the Club Layout!
Elliot, will miss the daily and monthly report for a month. Have a safe trip and enjoy. Might give some of us slower guys a chance to catch up to you LOL...............Paul
John - We'll probably be in the Philly area for the better part of a week. At least part of two of those days will be with family and the wedding. I will make a note of it, lots of things to do and people to see all along the way.
Paul - Don't worry, this trip isn't til mid September. Plenty of updates prior to that.
Big_Boy_4005 posted:The dining room has already been over run.
Hahaha...true, with this stuff...
Love you, dearly...
paul 2 posted:APPLES55, sorry I did not see your question till now. The sidewalks are from scale city. Any cutting I had to do was with a hacksaw. Placed the walk on a block of wood and slowly took my time to make the cut.........Paul
Thanks Paul. I'll have to find my razor saw and give it a try.
Mill City posted:Big_Boy_4005 posted:The dining room has already been over run.
Hahaha...true, with this stuff...
Love you, dearly...
Nah, we have a special room for ghost poop storage. The dining room is for yarn and boxes now.
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paul 2 posted:Had to do some running around this morning so all I did so far was take the building and place it on the street corner. With the sidewalk I will be using I am going to have to make a small foundation out of Balsa wood to bring it to sidewalk level so I don't have to cut off the door stoops. They can then rest on the sidewalk. Maybe this afternoon I can work some more on the building but it sure is harder when you don't have a direction sheet. I saw my card was charged at Ross so I am hoping that in the first part of the week my switches will get here and I can go back to laying track again. Pics...................Paul
It's looking great, Paul!!
