What did you do on your layout today?

WOW that was too close Paul, if Bryan got to your thumb he was only inches away from breaking your arm! If I were you I might have a little talk to your Highly trained swat team.

I guess the pain medication hasn't worn off because you didn't notice the green cast on your arm under your sweatshirt.  As for your swat team, just start a train rolling and they get distracted.  

Oh you guys are killing me with all these great scenes and details!!!   I aint even got any grass yet lol    But here is a picture of the yard "ladder" that I will be adding one more siding to soon. Sorry for the crappy picture.  Took it with my tablet.

Jim

carsntrains posted:

Oh you guys are killing me with all these great scenes and details!!!   I aint even got any grass yet lol    But here is a picture of the yard "ladder" that I will be adding one more siding to soon. Sorry for the crappy picture.  Took it with my tablet.

Jim

What are you talking about Jim! You have that scene of the pickup truck crashing threw the cow fence!

LOL Mike yeah that stuff I had to move to make the changes to the track.    I really like the "yard"!  Its worked out better than expected!  Will be even better with one more siding!  As I had said I went from nowhere to park the Wabash  to now having room to add 2 more cars to its consist!  YAY!!!!!!    Would like to find two or three boxcars painted in the Wabash passenger scheme.

Jim

That is a rough crowd you hang out with Paul!!    I think I may be glad I live a little ways across the state line in Pennsylvania.  

Losing interest in the cliff for now, need to get some trees and decide on a building to place on top of it. So far I'm pretty happy with it, but its going to need some more paint.  I also started to paint the background blue.  This is going to be a serious pain in the butt.  Oh, well I'm learning to plan better for next time!  Some lights above the layout are in my near future.  

I also ran some trains for the first time in a while, and didn't check all the switches and had an accident.  I noticed a sound that did not seem right and found the coal train barreling towards the yard.  Hit the stop button just before the collision!  The passenger train is pretty long now that we added the RPO car and the box car.  I think the set is not complete.  Can't wait for get my Legacy 765 Berk to pull it (pre-ordered).  That would be a great birthday present (July 4th).

modeltrainsparts posted:

Coach Joe, et.al., Here's a couple more of the diner, named after my friend and avid modeler, the late Andy Fusco. Also a pic on the other side of the parking area of a Pentecostal Church that was scratch built by myself and another fellow modeler. It was inspired by a similar building that was near the Susquehanna RR yard in Binghamton, NY. (a former welding shop that had been converted into a church). Other inspiration came from the flashing lighted crosses i had seen on many of the churches when i lived in the south, as well as information from my daughter who earned her MTS at Harvard Divinity School.

Great detail work!

I spent all day yesterday just painting rail. The main part of the railroad is nearly done. Missing small spots at Red Wing, Chemolite, Pig's Eye and Dayton's Bluff on the lower deck, and Frogtown, Northtown, the Ford Plant, the Amtrak depot and the Minnesota Commercial yard on the upper deck. It sounds like a lot, but most of these spots just take extra effort to reach, which is why they are incomplete.

Welcome to my dark brown world. I got all of Western Ave done, even the Short Line Hill in the back.

The yard was full of cars...

so I moved them up to Midway, which I also finished.

East Minneapolis is done.

University Junction is done.

Gotta go to Menards for another gallon of paint.

CARSNTRAINS, nice job so far. THADDEUS, looking good. Elliot, painting rail is like wiring, monotonous but pretty soon it will be done and behind. By the way when are the dates in September. Maybe I can make a trip but also have a train show in September.  Mark, don't worry I sent my Swat Team for refresher courses. They'll come back better then ever. Today was spent so far on the pit for the grain elevator and cutting the sidewalks to fit along the road. So right now paint is drying on the discharge pit and the sidewalks. In a little bit if they are dry I can keep going. Pics......Paul

Thanks Paul. The convention dates are Sept 5-8. After that, My wife and I will be traveling to the east coast. Road trip, and a big one too.

BTW, now that all of this is painted, it needs ballast. I'm worried that I don't have enough of my good stuff, because I found two bags of the wrong color, and suspect there may be four more that I haven't opened yet, potentially leaving me short of my estimate of eighteen by a third. Not sure if I can go back to my source, so my plan is to supplement with some chicken grit from the local farm supply store. It's a different color, but I can use that to my advantage, since my layout features multiple railroads, which get their ballast from different sources.

Paul, how do you plan to get an engine past the pit, or is it just cars only? A piece of piano wire would do the job, holding the rollers up.

Elliot, that's a bummer on the ballast. I have tried to stay with the same. I was blending a light grey and a darker grey together but now my supplier says he won't be able to get the darker anymore. I am hoping I have bought enough to do the rest of the track down the road. You suggestion got me to thinking. I was going to use this siding only as pushing the cars over the dump. Where the opening is I am going to cover it with window screening to make it look like a grate. I do have wire that I used on building signs which would work if I decide to run an engine through the elevator. You gave me something to thinks about. Thanks...................Paul

I think the window screen worked. I have it glued in place. When that dries I can put the track back in place. I glued down the last of the sidewalks and have weight on them to hold them in place. That's it till after dinner. Maybe I'll dig out some more telephone poles and get them ready to go. Pics..... Paul

Paul, is that screen metal? If it is, you have an electrical short when it touches the side rails and a roller goes over it.

Elliot, it is brown plastic or Nylon.........Paul

That works then. Sometimes it's easy to overlook such details.

Thaddeus, things are looking very nice! Love the passenger train very nice!

Elliot, your tracks are looking wonderful! I was thinking you might need another 5 gallons of paint! LOL

Paul, you are amazing getting the work do you have with a broken thumb! LOL Looks great!

Broken thumb, Mike?  I thought Bryan pointed out the green cast?  Paul, I am glad the SWAT team is getting more training!  

But on the other hand, Mike is right, Paul can keep pounding out the good work with one arm behind his back!!  :-)

All Kidding aside, Paul that is great work.  Bryan, I know you have been quite busy coaching that exceptional team!  SWAT team, you are all great having a good time getting together!!  Who is going to Kirtland on Saint Patrick’s Day?  I am hoping to make the trip up....as long as some extended family obligations don’t trip me up!

Elliot, It all looks great!  I think I recall you mentioning a good while ago you may not have enough ballast as we looked at many buckets of the stuff!  

Just a few minor things tonight. The track is screwed down in place. I think the discharge area came out better then I thought it would. Still have not decided to run a wire to power the back part of the track. Went and took the weights off the sidewalk. Glued down nice except where I had to cut a corner piece. It was a little lower then the sidewalks so I took some spackling and filled it in. Tomorrow morning I'll sand it down and touch everything up with concrete paint. Pics................Paul

Mark. I am going to the Kirkland Show. Not quite sure which day yet. I usually go on Sunday but may change to Saturday. I find it to be a great show. I always manage to find something there...........................Paul

Paul, I have been told it is worth the trip.  I'm not in the market for anything in particular and earnings have been a bit slight this winter.  I missed the Worlds Greatest Hobby show at Monroeville Pennsylvania due to the weather, and they aren't having a Greenberg show there this winter, so I am ready for a show.  Actually it looks like Kirkland is just a smidgen more than twice as far for me than Monroeville.  That's not bad.

paul 2 posted:

Just a few minor things tonight. The track is screwed down in place. I think the discharge area came out better then I thought it would. Still have not decided to run a wire to power the back part of the track. Went and took the weights off the sidewalk. Glued down nice except where I had to cut a corner piece. It was a little lower then the sidewalks so I took some spackling and filled it in. Tomorrow morning I'll sand it down and touch everything up with concrete paint. Pics................Paul

Looks good Paul! You sure have a great wife to let you get all this work done!

Keep up the great work! You never know when Bryan is going to strike again between now and next Tuesday! Lol

Thanks Mike, but one gallon will more than cover the rest. Remember, I'm still working on the first gallon, and I'm about 80% of the way done.

Thanks Mark, seems like just a couple weeks ago that I said that. In reality, it was 5 weeks ago. I believe I said that as part of a caption with this picture, and of course pictures have dates. This one is from January 31st.

Didn't get as much done as I planned- snow day and all. Didn't have to shovel but the CEO had other plans for me yesterday. Did manage to get the high line painted and added more panels to another small section. Started a minor re-wiring project. The ground level section that I use as a passing line for my main loop is powered from the other side of my KW. I can usually make it work if I am running two trains but I decided to add a DPDT switch so that I can power the section from either side of the KW. When I'm done I will be able to run a train on the high line and use the lower section for switching and runarounds or run the train from the high line down the hill and back up the other side. 

I ordered some dwarf signals that I am going to start adding where appropriate. They have to travel from a land far far away so I probably won't see them for a few weeks.

RSJB18 posted:

Didn't get as much done as I planned- snow day and all. Didn't have to shovel but the CEO had other plans for me yesterday. Did manage to get the high line painted and added more panels to another small section. Started a minor re-wiring project. The ground level section that I use as a passing line for my main loop is powered from the other side of my KW. I can usually make it work if I am running two trains. I decided to add a DPDT switch so that I can power the section from either side of the KW. When I'm done I will be able to run a train on the high line and use the lower section for switching and runarounds or run the train from the high line down the hill and back up the other side. 

I ordered some dwarf signals that I am going to start adding where appropriate. They have to travel from a land far far away so I probably won't see them for a few weeks.

I need to wire my fiddle yard soon.   Looking forward to it.    Im not familiar with a KW.   Is it like a ZW?  

Jim

carsntrains posted:

RSJB18 posted:

Didn't get as much done as I planned- snow day and all. Didn't have to shovel but the CEO had other plans for me yesterday. Did manage to get the high line painted and added more panels to another small section. Started a minor re-wiring project. The ground level section that I use as a passing line for my main loop is powered from the other side of my KW. I can usually make it work if I am running two trains. I decided to add a DPDT switch so that I can power the section from either side of the KW. When I'm done I will be able to run a train on the high line and use the lower section for switching and runarounds or run the train from the high line down the hill and back up the other side. 

I ordered some dwarf signals that I am going to start adding where appropriate. They have to travel from a land far far away so I probably won't see them for a few weeks.

I need to wire my fiddle yard soon.   Looking forward to it.    Im not familiar with a KW.   Is it like a ZW?  

Jim

Yea- it's the ZW's little brother.

Big_Boy_4005 posted:

Thanks Mike, but one gallon will more than cover the rest. Remember, I'm still working on the first gallon, and I'm about 80% of the way done.

Thanks Mark, seems like just a couple weeks ago that I said that. In reality, it was 5 weeks ago. I believe I said that as part of a caption with this picture, and of course pictures have dates. This one is from January 31st.

Ah ha, that's it!!  Thanks for looking that up!  I wasn't crazy then!  

This morning after I painted the sidewalk I plastered last night I decided to go back to a project I put on hold while building all the rest of tables. I had made a table for a large Scrap Iron Yard with the Lionel Gantry Crane, the latest version that moves up and down the track.  So I took all the stuff that was sitting on the table and stuffed it somewhere else. I'll be working on the fence to go around the yard. Decided on a Galvanized metal fence with a couple of swing gates. One for the track and a smaller one for truck traffic. Pics...................Paul

Paul- just when it looks like you are getting close to the end of the build- you pop up with another area that you are getting back too. Can't wait to see what you do. I have been wanting to add a crane to one of my sidings. Just waiting for a good one at a reasonable price to come up on ebay.

Paul, the sidewalk is looking quite good!  The crane looks great there!!  That scene will look really good when done!!

While you were working on that, I was putting in the 6 remaining brackets on the wall that will hold the stationary shelf part of my layout.

I decided to break down and buy two 1x4s to cut up for the stringers.  That is the first would I have purchased for this project.  It is cold outside, so I decided for these few small cuts to do them inside instead of putting the horses on the patio.  Here is my poor man's table saw.  Worked quite well.  

Here they are attached and waiting for something to be mounted on top.  Lunch time.

Looking good Mark. You are making progress. And sometimes we have to bite the bullet and get lumber.........Paul.

coach joe posted:

Adriatic that seems like a lot of work but the result is fantastic.  All you need is some MOW lettering on the sides.

It was pretty easy; finding a pancake motor in the junk box was hard; it needed the shaft to sit centered over the gearbox well. So was finding an axle pulley that wasn't too big.  Waiting for the JBWeld to set took the most time outside of sanding  off the beach themed graphiçs as the motor frame was slice off the tapeplayer chassis with the motor on it.

Elliot, I am glad to hear one more gallon will do ya!

Bob, good luck on the wiring! Thing are looking really nice there and it will be an improvement to power everything they way you want!

Paul, I am with Mark! Sidewalks look wonderful! The Gantry Crane looks Fantastic! Bob is right, seams like your so close and up pops another table! How many more tables do you have left?

Mark the Brackets look great! Now for the top!

Mark Boyce posted:

While you were working on that, I was putting in the 6 remaining brackets on the wall that will hold the stationary shelf part of my layout

I decided to break down and buy two 1x4s to cut up for the stringers.  That is the first would I have purchased for this project.  It is cold outside, so I decided for these few small cuts to do them inside instead of putting the horses on the patio.  Here is my poor man's table saw.  Worked quite well.   

Here they are attached and waiting for something to be mounted on top.  Lunch time.

Mark;

You bought wood??? Well, that explains the two feet of snow on my deck   

But seriously, looks like you are making some good progress - congrats. Are you planning on having some outbound support for the shelf or are the brackets strong enough to support the weight of the finished layout (not to suggest that ANY layout is ever finished)???

Mark Boyce posted:

Paul, the sidewalk is looking quite good!  The crane looks great there!!  That scene will look really good when done!!

While you were working on that, I was putting in the 6 remaining brackets on the wall that will hold the stationary shelf part of my layout.

 

I decided to break down and buy two 1x4s to cut up for the stringers.  That is the first would I have purchased for this project.  It is cold outside, so I decided for these few small cuts to do them inside instead of putting the horses on the patio.  Here is my poor man's table saw.  Worked quite well.  

 

Here they are attached and waiting for something to be mounted on top.  Lunch time.

thanks Mike- its the little things you find after running a layout for a while. 

guess Paul (Apples55) is right- a layout is never done.

Thank you, Paul 2, Mike, Paul Techno-peasant and Bob!!!

I'm sorry buying wood lead to all that snow!!!  We only got an inch last night and an inch the night before.  The mountains keep the nor'easters away, and we are 80 to 90 miles from Lake Erie, so we don't get much from the Lake.     Yes, I was going to have too much waste ripping the remaining boards from the big workbench, and I haven't taken the time to go through my dad's stash to see what I can bring home.  So I bought two boards at Lowe's when I got the rest of the brackets.  

Apples55 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

While you were working on that, I was putting in the 6 remaining brackets on the wall that will hold the stationary shelf part of my layout

I decided to break down and buy two 1x4s to cut up for the stringers.  That is the first would I have purchased for this project.  It is cold outside, so I decided for these few small cuts to do them inside instead of putting the horses on the patio.  Here is my poor man's table saw.  Worked quite well.   

Here they are attached and waiting for something to be mounted on top.  Lunch time.

Mark;

You bought wood??? Well, that explains the two feet of snow on my deck   

But seriously, looks like you are making some good progress - congrats. Are you planning on having some outbound support for the shelf or are the brackets strong enough to support the weight of the finished layout (not to suggest that ANY layout is ever finished)???

Oh, sorry Paul, I forgot to answer your question.  The online write-up says these brackets will support up to 500 pounds.  In the reviews I see guys who have put them in their garages and loaded all kinds of stuff a lot heavier than I will have with the layout.  While my stringers are 28" long (10" longer than the brackets), I don't think there will be a problem as the front will have the lowest scenery elevations and least weight.  I will only have about 6 1/2 feet of shelf front exposed.  Since the wall is only 11 1/2 feet long, the freestanding portions of the layout on the adjacent walls should give ample support.  No, I'm not an architect or mechanical engineer; I'm a telecom engineer slowly going out to pasture, but I think it will work okay.    If not, I'll put a brace in the middle. 

Those brackets should be fine Mark. The weight will be spread over all of them so you could probably put some 1:1 rail up there and it would hold.

I finally installed my Morton Salt building.