What did you do on your layout today?

Thank you for the reply. You, sir, have steady hands! Also, the station that you posted looks great. Do you have a complete set of working drawings of it that you would be willing to share?

sent you an e-mail I did try to build it awhile back but none of the edges looked right and I was new at the whole building thing so I threw it away then when it's done I will do this station

"Model Railroading is fun!"  The old motto written and read many times over!  I sarcastically said that to myself over and over and over today as I began "tracing" wires to figure out all of a sudden why my "B" transformer for my main line would no longer make the train power on.

I operate conventionally, even though I have a large layout.  I did this subscribing to the KISS (Keep it simple stupid) knowing that others will operate this layout in the future.

My power both positive and negative lead from the "B" transformer to a plug in which leads to a power strip which leads to an Atlas Selector.

The "A" transformer powered the train in the block; there fore I knew the wire to the block was correct.  I started with my "meter" testing at the transformer, then at the plug in, then at the power strip and finally to the Selector.  Yet it still wouldn't work.  

All of a sudden I simply take my screwdriver and touch the wire that is connected to the "B" transformer input of the selector.  Wham!  The engine started rolling down the track.  I then continued and tightened the screw.

Some times the problem is the most simple thing.     

"Model Railroading is fun!"   Ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I need to tighten my screws!  

John (and everyone else), there has always been an open invitation to visit. The hard part for most people is getting to the Twin Cities. If planning a visit, just email me, so we can set up a time.

I believe the two train attractions you mentioned are open year round, as is the Twin Cities Model Railroad Museum which has a very nice 2 rail O display, and a growing collection of 3 rail layouts.

The Twin Cities are also home to Milwaukee Road 261. At this time there is only one trip planned using the cars, and not the steam engine. The Cedar Rapids (Skytop observation car) and some of the other cars are undergoing restoration.

Just a guess, but look for summer and fall trips to be announced in the not too far off future.

Recently picked up a prewar American Flyer 580 diecast green double street lamp, and a matching 579 single, so I spent some pleasant time getting them working, and then installed them on the layout, one on each side of a little Bing freight shed.  They're pretty nice, with a different shape than any of the Lionel lamps.

Continuing to work on my industrial park area that I'm building inside one of my reversing loops.  I just finished painting the plywood with earth colored paint.  I hope to get the uncoupling tracks I need this weekend at DuPage and will then lay the track.  I left a 24" by 48" access hatch in order to be able to reach inside.  I will build buildings and detail it at the workbench. 

Today I ended my job of 17 years and will start a new one on Monday.  Not a career change but a new beginning.  In the meantime I haven't done much to the layout but plan to work on the locomotive yard this weekend.  I will add in a 3rd siding to the yard and move the engine house.

Today I FINALLY laid down some track.

I followed my SCARM Printout and it was about 85% correct.

Two things I noticed today.

1) I am sooooo happy I have the outer loop running a train or two

2) I NEED A BIGGER HOUSE.

The train gets from point A to point B anb back way to fast. So I suggested to my wife that she call the real estate and list this house.

Boy!! that would be great. But I will survive with what I made and enjoy it to the fullest.

Tomorrow I need to go to local Hobby shop and buy some more 5 inch straights and a few more 48 curves and a few more switch tracks.

Keep you guys posted.

Brian

You don't need a bigger house.  You just need a bigger basement!  I know a guy who had a small cape cod house.  He expanded the basement 4 times. 

Looking good so far!  Post a track plan!

Good luck on your new job. Today I added a couple of switches.

Art

THE GLACIER LINE UPDATE:

03-06-2014    I repaired the support bracket near the Glacier Gravel Company.  I placed the main line transformer into its semi-permanent position.  Connie painted the backdrop and “earth” in several places.  Connie re-painted the Camp Disappointment Marker.  Connie placed multiple trees in the area of the Goat Lick Bridge.  I installed a ton of ground cover, pathways and bushes mostly in the area of Garry and Walton.  

My new Lionel Virginian arrived yesterday and today it was running in my layout pulling 20 scale cars, the sound of this locomotive is awesome and it pull the cars like nothing, plus a lot of details, very nice job Lionel.

Best wishes on your new employment endeavor! Enjoy the time working on your layout.

Warmest day so far this year. It was a good time to the the trains stretch their legs.

It was also a good time to make a want list for York. I sure need more of these:

1. figures

2. vehicles

3. shrubs/foliage

4. Shell tanker if I can find one

That is a good start.

Went to Train Express in Indianapolis gave my wife the old "Don't buy any more rolling stock" speech because we need more turnouts/track to complete or to at least start a hidden staging area...and of course this store just had to have a fantastic bargain on two cars that they purchased from an estate sale.  Each car was marked $25.00 and both are MTH premier line cats that retail for $69.99 to 89.00 dollars and the suggested retail price by MTH was $99.00.  Yes I bought them!  I gave the wrong person the speech.

Spent most of the day following the Stout train auction on line.  Sheesh!

Also, built an insert to modify my Wolverine Coal Loader to hold more capacity; based on the information posted by forum member "David from Dearborn" some time ago, on the Tinplate forum.  Looks like it's going to work.  Paint it tomorrow after the glue dries.  Thanks David!

This week I purchased a MTH PS2 N&W Y6B from a fellow forum member.  It looks, runs, and sounds great.  I ran it on the carpet first to see how it does.  Since my only layout is the Ceiling Central, I want to check it out before hoisting it up there.  I also want to make some improvements since this is the most expensive and heaviest engine I have.  It will be great when the daughter moves out and I can have her room.  I apologize for the picture quality.  The only digital camera is on my phone.  The video took a while before it would run on my computer.  It's the first time I tried that.

 Good point.  My wife says our daughter is trying to push us out.  What is it with kids these days.  ;-)

My daughter is 34.  We get along great.  Her bedroom is on one side of the house and I'm on the other.   

Had an embarrassing day.  Could not find my powermaster.  Looked around.  Went through 25 boxes.  Found it in box 23.  But it gets worse....

During the search I found a set of Metra passenger cars I had been searching for on Ebay.  Yikes i already have them.  Why is this worse?  Because if the wife ever found out about this....

Putting the stuff back I drove the top of my head into the closet door frame.  Your skin is real thin up there.

Then I relaxed by cleaning my newly built benchwork with the shop vac.  I had to put on some Brit Floyd to calm me down. 

I am impressed with the Home Depot soundboard.  Cuts way cleaner than Homasote and cleans up easier.

She loves you dad!  

 

Originally Posted by Mark Boyce:

Originally Posted by jmiller320:

Originally Posted by Mark Boyce:

  It will be great when the daughter moves out and I can have her room.  Good luck with that.  My daughter is waiting for me to move out.

 

 

 Good point.  My wife says our daughter is trying to push us out.  What is it with kids these days.  ;-)

 

Yes, John.  That must be so.

I installed 2 of the Caboose Industries ground throws on my Scaletrax switches.  Thanks to Dave Hikel and Matt Jackson for their thoughts on previous threads from 2012 and 2013.

Jim, and pics of your new layout?  Or are you saving them for the grand opening?

Don

Today I Installed the following:

Drop down control shelf in front of the layout.
Installed 2 Volt Meters through a project lid and then installed that onto a piece
of 1/4" plywood and mounted all of it on an angle in front of the 2 controllers. It is actually drying overnight. I had to glue and angles piece of wood to make it angle on the shelf. Sought of..

I installed the electric feed to a power switch and then to the power bar.

I installed 1/2 of the Rope Lites under the layout. MUCH BETTER...

I made the backboard for all the power and power strips.

Here are some pictures of today.

I put my new Lionel 2-8-0 though its paces.  It is a nice scale size locomotive but it needs some work.  

1) It is only 1 chuff per rev!   Made in 2008 with 1 chuff!  Alex Malliae will be changing it to 4 chuffs with other modifications.

2) Needs to be converted to kadees.  

3) Needs a total repaint and reletter.  It has a beautiful Western Maryland fireball on it but sorry it is not a road I run.   I haven't decided if it should be Pere Marquette, GTW, or my Michigan and Great Lakes.   I am leaning towards Pere Marquette but I just got some GTW decals and are really calling for a locomotive to be placed on.

4) The rear headlight is red!  Needs to be changed out to a white led along with a normal headlight.   The rear marker lights need to be disconnected since I do not want them on 100% of the time.

5) Needs to be weathered.  Alex Malliae will take care of that for me also.  

Should be a fun project locomotive.  

Cleaned the outer loop and ran trains on both loops.

More wiring switches.

Visited Gilly@N&W and caught up with his layout progress. I told him that everyone will want pics of his super elevated 130" diameter curves!

He helped me rebuild an Atlas switch motor.

Peter

I've been quite busy working on the Mountain Division of the Free State Junction Railway since my last post.  

I build the country road that partially runs along the base of Mt. Randolph.  I did this buy cutting a roofing shingle into strips of roadway ( cost was $2.00 and I still have half the shingle left ).  I laid the roadway in place and sealed any exposed joints using fine black or fine brown ballast.  Works great and looks great.  See pics.

I planted a garden alongside the Mtn Div. mainline.  I used Woodland scenics garden veggies and some sunflowers that I bought at Niagra Hobbies in Buffalo.  Also have a bird house as well.  I don't have a specific pic of the garden but you can see it alongside a freight train in one the accompanying photos included in this post.

I made a dirt road leading into a farm where Henry has parked his truck.  See photo.

I used Bachman gravel, some Woodland Scenics brown turf and the road was complete.

Of course I put down some Elmers glue first and sprinkled the above mentioned stuff on top.

I used a Plasticville cabin for a corner.  Place some lumber jacks near the cabin.  See photos.  

I put up a photo backdrop behind the cabin.

Sceniced along the shingle country roadway using lichen and trees.  

Created various scenes at the end of the spur coming off the MTN DIV mainline.

Fixed an electrical connection to the spur.  Now I have an operating remote control track section and the lights in the caboose operate  

Here are some ( actually alot of photos ) of the Mountain Division.  Hope you like them.

Forum members:  I apologize for the redundancy of some photos in my most recent post.  For some reason the OGR site would not allow me to choose a photo size for each entry.  Somehow the post came out with all the photos I wanted to include, however, there are many examples of the same photo.  I've not encountered this problem in the past.

There are captioned photos at the bottom of my previous post ( with no redundancies ).  If you wish to check them out just scroll down to the bottom of my previous post.  Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Finally wired in my timer relay for the dispatch button.  Push the button for 1/2 second, and the track by the station gets power for 4 seconds.

The new girlfriend helped.  She's an OB-GYN/Surgeon. She actually asked if she could strip some wires and button them down to the terminal blocks.  She enjoyed helping and asked if she could run some trains, too!  She might be a keeper...or an enabler.

Pat,

Excellent scenery work! That B&O SF-43 combination Boxcar/Caboose is awesome; I snagged one of them at York back when the Yellow Hall was still active.

On THE GLACIER LINE THIS MORNING BY NOON:

03-11-2014    I changed two more of the basement light fixtures to the three adjusting spot lights and replaced the Coca Cola light diffusers with the original white diffusers. 

The lighting looks great.  That is one thing as my eyes get older, I say you almost can't have too much light on a layout.

I formed this handrail to add to these steps leading up to the shed.  It's getting very hard to come up with new ideas, but I may work on improving the landscape as soon as I find out how much member GGG needs to repair my engines.