What did you do on your layout today?

Doug

I can certainly relate to the burn issue.

Larry

Working on my wild river of rapids.  A couple of more layers of Mod Podge and the river itself will be done.  Next it will be working on the banks and then back to the main part of the layout which is very much work in progress.  Now with good weather. lawn work and golf, for the next few months the layout will pretty much become a rainy day effort.

Will also be looking for some 1/48 or 1/43 kayakers to brave the rapids.

Jim

Planted some scenic trees this week and put a second coat of envirotex on my little pond.

Started trying to make some trees out of the cheap ones I got at Michael s after Christmas sale. Actually the trees look pretty good after I painted them green and added a couple coats of flock and turf on them

this weekend I didn't spend a lot of time on the layout too much around the house to get done. but tonight I did get about an hr to go up there and tinker. I added pit walls to my turntable and added logo's to two fuel tower i'm working on . what I di dthis weekend was I worked on my pool deck getting it stained. and my son came over to start getting the hotrod ready for the season. it needed the heads swapped out for a set of open chamber heads and a dual plane intake to give me more bottom end torque. so we pulled the heads and intake off to swap them.  my daughter did come to me and wanted to run her hogwartz train on my layout not her's so we had a playing trains session with her hogwartz train. I learned I have to make clearance for trains with more hang over her's would hit my tunnel portals where as all of mine don't.

I forgot one other thing I did this weekend. a friend of mine in Michigan her son has a son that has autism I have read where model trains help kids with autism so I ordered and sent a Thomas train to him. I hope it helps Him express himself since he is non vocal. this hobby is a little funny I have been in many hobbies cars , R/c Boats, R/c cars, Trains various scales, but this time I have noticed that I enjoy the hobby more and seem to try to promote it and help people more with it so this hobby has done many things for me. it has given me a place to relax but also has made me enjoy giving trains to others. that has been the second set I have sent out to someone I really enjoy this hobby.

my granddaughter with her Thomas

yea she only gets to play with it with papa

You've really made some good progress lately Larry.  Nice and colorful too!

Jhainer,

I agree with you on the enjoyment of sharing the hobby, especially with the young, and the value it has in teaching them.  Our girls, who are both in their early 20s now, loved watching Thomas on TV.  They weren't that interested in my N scale layout at the time, but each girl helped me with building her own 1:12 or so dollhouse.  We have both dollhouses int he garage, and they both want to do more with them once they get past the college, early career transition time in their lives.  I gave some N and Ho equipment to friends' sons, and they were very appreciative.

Looks like you have your grand daughter is on the right track!  Pun intended.

So your daughter is interested in trains too!  That's great!

This thread is great and Love seeing what people are doing.  So I guess I will add my 2 cents. Spent the weekend rebuilding two engines. Turned a non powered unit into a powered with fixed pilots. by swapping in the powered Trucks and PS2 from an engine that had arrived with broken parts. Repaired the broken engine which is now nonpowered by converting it to fixed pilots ( both engines had arrived with broken pilots.) 

I have a total of 5 kids ranging from 26-13 plus a granddaughter at 2 1/2 out of all of them my 18 year old daughter has her own layout in her room two loops 2 transformers  with bridges and tunnels. I'll attach a photo. then my granddaughter has her Thomas and loves coming up and running mine too can't help build yet then my 13 year old daughter comes up and want's to help but she is limited on what she can do but her train is on my layout it's the JC Penny 4-4-2 PRR. so each of them have have there own train.   

Originally posted by Larry:

Planted some scenic trees this week and put a second coat of envirotex on my little pond.

Started trying to make some trees out of the cheap ones I got at Michael s after Christmas sale. Actually the trees look pretty good after I painted them green and added a couple coats of flock and turf on them.

Hi Larry,

I too bought a bunch of trees on sale at Midhael's after Christmas that are white.  I want to convert them to realistic green trees.  Yours look great! Could you tell me how you did it?  Also, I am new at making scenery and I don't know what flock is.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.  My email is in my profile.

Thanks so very much,

Jim Lawson

Work continues on the upper deck. I installed 3 more switches as a part of Park Junction.


The track plan is rather complicated, with 6 tracks in on one side and 6 more on the other.


I hope to have the junction completed by the end of the week.

Sure Jim

I just sprayed then with a couple of different greens. Then sprayed them with scenic cement and sprinkled this scenic product on them. After it dried I repeated the process with the scenic products to make them thicker. IMO it was very cost effective because I'm going to need a LOT of trees. This was a way to slip in a few less expensive ones.

Larry

This photo says it all!

I have been wondering how you get so much done on your layout with so many kids.  Some of yours have an active interest, so it becomes a family endeavor.  Mine are supportive, but not interested.  All my family time is spent on activities other than trains, so they take a back seat.

I was way behind on the video update so..... 1080p HD so go big

I like the Masonite concrete wall the rock work is great too

Worked on incorporating my new Ross 11 degree wye into the layout.

Peter

Patrick was here today. He spent the entire day wiring the hidden yard. I'll take some pictures of it when he's done. In the meantime, I spent the day continuing to work on Park Junction.

The switches on the left were done a few days ago, and were part of my previous post. Today I got the tracks extended around the curve, and tied in the track that goes through the backdrop which will eventually connect to the Amtrak depot above the bookshelves.


The junction wasn't originally this complicated, but I spontaneously decided to add the extra crossover using the diamond.


On the left side of the picture the mainlines are the front and back tracks. On the right side, the mains are the two front tracks. The line in the back that goes through the backdrop forms a reverse loop. However, when it's all done you won't be able to tell it's reverse loop.


The curved turnout (left center) inside leg is the main and goes right into a right crossover. The outside goes to a 4 track yard. The lead will be at the other end.


Here you can see the ladder taking shape. The mains are in the foreground, with a left crossover just next to the right crossover. The bare plywood in the back will be a branch line going up to a few industries.


Once we get this peninsula done, we can open up half of the upper deck. It's really coming together.

Really looking good, Elliott.

Art

Thanks Art. I was thinking of you and Peter when I made that post. You guys are some of my biggest fans.

I love "busy track", and that last minute addition of that crossover really kicks it up a notch. The great part is it all serves a purpose. I put in 8 hours on that today. I figure another 8, and I can get to the straight track of the mains and yard. It goes so much faster when you don't have to bend and cut.

I know what you mean about "busy track" and I share that.  I love the track at the entrance to Chicago's Union Station with all the double slips and crossings. 

Art

No pictures right now, But I too have been entertaining a grandchild with my carpet central on green felt.

She will sit or lie and watch the train for quite some time considering she is only 4 months old.

There is also a 8 month old in the house (great niece) that loves the train, but is starting to grab the train as it passes. We have to watch her reach.

Finally laid a pair of independent Fastrack lines on the upper level and ran two trains conventionally and another train with DCS on the bottom level.  The lower level is already wired for DCS & Legacy, but now we'll do the same for the upper one.  Once that's done we can continue scenery and construct a building or two.  Eventually, there will be a rail line that connects the two levels.  Our layout is 30'x9' and is coming along nicely.  As long as we can run trains while building, we're happy!

Put my newest acquisition into service: MTH National Capital Trackers box car. Was fortunate to be able to get one from another member who had an extra for sale. It looks great just ahead of the LCCA NS Support Our Troops Commemorative Box Car.

Good Buy Bob!

Wish I had gotten one of the LCCA NS Support Our Troops Commemorative Box Cars!

I spent another 5 hours working on Park Junction today, at least 2 of which were spent cleaning old ballast off a pair of Curtis #8's. I finally bit the bullet and just ran them under hot water for a minute, which softened the glue. Then I scraped, and scraped, and scraped with a crappy screwdriver, poking the ballast from every little crevice. I repeated the wetting process a few times. In the end, they looked almost like new. It's amazing what a little patience and persistence will do.

Those newly cleaned turnouts are bottom center in this pic.


I see a slight kink between the diamond and the curved turnout. I don't think it will cause any trouble, it just isn't pretty. I didn't have much choice when I crammed in the diamond.


The whole junction is now screwed down except the switch in the upper right. I'm going to leave that loose until I'm ready to connect up from the other side. It also looks like the hole in the backdrop is just a little off.  Easy enough to move.

I tried running some cars through the diamond. A couple of Weaver PS-2 hoppers were hitting on something and nearly derailed. A couple of other cars went through just fine. Those Weavers have caused trouble on other parts of the layout. I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have some bad wheel sets.

We've almost completed the installation of a nice two track trestle built by club member Jon. He really did a great job on this one. We are going to change out some of the track leading into it and add some landscaping to finish it off.

Yesterday member Mike Dougherty brought his brother Martin who is a member  of the Capitol City Trackers and visiting over to see the layout. Martin brought his two MTH passenger sets - the City of New Orleans and the Panama Limited headed up by the Nickel Plate Road Berkshire. It was great seeing these two magnificent Illinois Central passenger sets together!

The new trestle looks great and so do your pictures. 

Art

Actually managed to get a little done today on the stone mill I searched long for,

cut and moved a wall with a door, and installed all doors and window frames, with

glazing to follow.  No wheel was provided in this kit, so I will have to scratchbuilt

another.  I've done a tall wheel and a double wheel on other mill models....will have to do some research to come up with something different for this one...turbine mills don't

interest me.

"Those Weavers have caused trouble on other parts of the layout. I'm beginning to wonder if I don't have some bad wheel sets."

Elliot,

You may be on to something there. Weaver did have a period  a number of years ago where the wheel sets were gauged incorrectly. They were made aware, and have fixed the problem. Unfortunately, some old bad sets are still out there.

Use a calipers on the back (flat) side of the wheel sets. Compare some good running Weaver cars to your problem children. If you find an issue, call Weaver, ask for Gary, and discuss it with him. He should be able to fix you up pretty quickly.

Chris

LVHR

Not a Hover Dam thing and I gotta get off my lazy butt and get something done!

Larry

Lots of great work here. Now working feverishly to complete the forth and final loop on my layout. The last two loops took the most time as they run under and over the table tops. Loads of carpentry required.

Thanks Chris, and I just bought a digital caliper too. I have about 75 Weavers scattered all over the layout, and probably another 25 still in boxes. I know a lot of them are good. The trick will be to find the bad ones. It will take some running and testing to find them. I wonder if I can just steal some from some old MPC cars.

No photos, ordered the last of the turnouts I'll need. My track plan really best calls for some curved turnouts, which I didn't want to do at first (I model in On30 and nobody makes curved turnouts, I didn't want to use HO ones but don't have much choice).

There's a model train show/sale south of me tomorrow, will hit that on my way to take photos at National Train day at Portland's Union Station, then probably going down the Columbia River shooting UP trains...

The plan is to start building my last piece of uncompleted rolling stock on Sunday, a laser kit for a caboose. The layout doesn't exist but on paper, but I've spent the last couple of years building up the rolling stock, doing modifications, paint, details, decals and weathering.

Currently working on getting some Z-Stuff products (DZ1000, DZ1002, DZ1008, & DZ1011's) hooked up and functional.  Also ordered a gantry crane section of track from Ross and am anxious to get it setup as well.  

I suddenly realized I was working in an unorganized, cluttered mess.  Took the day to clean everything up, organized the tools, temporarily put the tools away I won't need in the next few days, moved all the scraps of wood to the wood scrap pile and vacuumed the floor.

Looking forward to being more "layout productive" tomorrow, working in a much more organized environment. 

Jim

I need to take a week to do that! It's always nice to have a clean and organized space.

I need to take a week to do that!  

Just a week? Dreamer! 

I've been waiting all winter to have a fire. We'll have hot dogs and smores for dinner, just like summer camp. All fueled with layout leftovers.

Never replied here before.I am not working on my layout to finish it.I am working on it to just be working on my layout. Nick