What did you do on your layout today?

I agree with rockstars1989.  I doubt I will ever totally finish my layout. I am sure after I complete everything I am now planning to do, I will start remodeling, revising and adding to.  I guess to me a layout is a continuously evolving process.

Also, yesterday I said I was shutting down for a day for a major clean up of my layout which is work in process.  I quickly discovered it is going to take more than a day.  Did you ever lay on your belly under a 36" high deck of about 200 square feet and try to vacuum up sawdust and other debris.  Takes longer than I thought!!!

Jim

Re-painted, re-figured track, added some lights to buildings had lots of fun.

Brent

Just like Rome, this bridge wasn't built in a day, but I finally finished it and placed it on the layout to see how it will look.

My new layout design needed a curved bridge to span the 2 mainlines and some sidings into the diesel maintenance area.  I used 3 MTH bridges for most of it, since it was a straight run, but had trouble finding curved bridges.  I'm sure someone makes at least the side walls that could be bent to conform to an 054 curve, but I needed to go cheap after paying for the other 3 bridges.  Since I had an assortment of Evergreen Plastics styrene sheet and a variety of square and rectangular pieces, I decided to build one myself.

It would have been fairly easy to just do a flat deck bridge, with the big steel I beam structures underneath to support the bridge, but I had clearance issues on the tracks below.  The grade is already fairly steep to be able to pull off this design in such a small space.  Besides, a portion of the bridge extends out beyond the edge of the layout, so to protect the trains in case there's a derail on the curve, I decided to build what's called a pony plate bridge, which has walls to prevent falls.  I placed the curve sections of the track on a piece of heavy cardboard and traced around the tie footprint, then figured out the angles and dimensions.  I knew I had to add extra width for the swing and the overhang of the equipment as it goes around the curve.  I flunked trig and calculus in school (wait - I don't think I even took them), so I had to rely on common sense and a lot of eyeballing.  I'm sure it wouldn't pass railroad standards, but since I'm in charge on this section, I'll do the q.a.  Passed.

All of the pieces were cut with either a hobby table saw or utility knife.  Styrene is easy to work with, as it requires only scoring the surface and then snapping it off.  I used "Micro-Mark Same Stuff Professional Plastic Welder", and it lives up to its name, because there's no separating pieces once this stuff dries after about 30 minutes.  It will set in less than 5 seconds, which I like.

The stone bridge abutments are not where they will finally end up.  I just stuck them under there to support the bridge temporarily.  However, I did need a permanent support, seen in the last photo to span the inside main and support the bridge ends.  Both have different levels on the ends, so I used two I beams offset from one another to match up the level plane on top.

I just read about the rivet decals on here a little while ago, and heard pros and cons about using them.  How difficult are they to apply?  That would certainly dress up this bridge.

Mike

well this is my one weekend off a month, and since it rained all day, I had no choice but to go downstairs and run some trains!

I went to legacy station and went shopping. then came home worked on the layout for a few. here is the results of that. 6 new switches a coaling tower (Used) my wife liked a scratch built water tower.

Picked up a couple of things.

Wow. something accomplished two days in a row, after a long drought.  Installed the

glazing in the windows of the Stone Mill Models stone mill.  Did some more dappling

of acrylics on the individual stones to set them off, and then sprayed "flour dust"

(white paint) inside some of the windows.  Decided to do a tall, rusty iron wheel

after an internet search of water mills, and noted one with an awning over the wheel,

so will add that.  Would like to do a log flume, but dunno what I will use for logs. 

Wheel is started with styrene tubing, drying as I type.

Ran trains today.  I've been way to busy working,  over the last couple month, to do any work on the layout.  It is fun though to just sit and watch them run.   

On the main line was my new WbB Western Maryland 44 toner pulling 10 freight cars, all Western Maryland.  Nice looking train.  This loco runs and pulls great!

Looking forward to getting some time to work on the layout. 

Spent a couple of hours today replacing about 5' of track on front line of the new trestle eliminating some rough spots. Still have a few kinks to straighten out but I made some progress. A good day in preparation for our monthly Open House tomorrow. Anyone near by, please stop in!

These 4 unit diesels certainly take up some trackage!

...and they smoke well too.

Unpacked some hogs I bought at York and placed them on the farm.... which sits on the Mountain Division.  Henry's Hog Farm now has lots of bacon, sausage, and pork rolls 

Also repacked the new malfunctioning WbB Baldwin Shark's ( Demonstrators ) for return to retailer for exchange.  

Also ran some trains ( Ma & Pa ) on the Mountain Division and Western Maryland on the mainline.

Finalized the layout in Scarm.  I have most of it already built. here's snapshots from scarm.

Nothing on the layout for awhile but today we took the kids to a Day out with Thomas.  Pulling the train was the oil fired Thomas, not the dummy unit that is usually pushed along.  We had a great time and the looks on the kids faces were priceless!  

Updated my PS1 K4 to PS2 from upgrade kits I bought at York.  I also found out when updating Williams diesels to PS2 that putting the speaker in the plastic cone that was used for the True Blast speaker greatly improved the PS2 sound quality.  They sound great.  Who would think that it would make such a big difference.  3 more to do.

Sheet rocking

Had my neighbors kids over this evening to watch trains run.  I let them work the transformer and TMCC remote a bit.  They really liked it! 

I didn't do this today but last night I needed to span the gap from the tunnel to the b-54 bridge. so after trying to find a bridge to buy to span the gap (17 inch's) and reading posts on here about homemade bridges. I decided to make one the bottom is 1/2 MDF with Masonite sides and some bass wood glued on for the ribs.  tonight I have to make another one for the other side of the bridge.

The bridge looks great. I also like the viaduct leading to the bridge.

that's the t w trainworx  b-54 bridge I had them make changes to it to allow a train to run length wise under it. here's another shot of it

Ran TRAINS, what else! My Layout is finished, now I can enjoy it!!!  LOL

FREDSTRAINS

Well Fred that's great someone is done! SOME DAY I will. Enjoy your trains and have some fun.

Larry

I've quietly been plugging along on the East Minneapolis yard for the last few days.


The strip of wood is just a spacer, and will be removed once the track on the left is screwed down. Then the process begins again on the next track.


The two mains need to be extended around the curve before I can place the west ladder.


I started to extend the fiberboard around the curve. The curve will have 3 tracks, two mains on the outside and the yard lead on the inside. There will also be a branch line going up grade between the yard tracks and the backdrop.

There will be an industrial area on a raised deck above the mains and lead. Those tracks won't exactly be in a tunnel, because the side around the curve will be open.

started the connection between the middle and lower levels. still need to finish the little leg of bench work to take it any further. need to buy a few remote switches so that I can finish this connection .dropps from 9 inch's to 6 overall grade of 2.4

Man Elliot, heck with going to the club to run long trains, I'm going to your house! Although, I think it might be more than an hour and a half drive for me.

I wish you lived closer too Doug. So far, I've only managed to find 3 other forum members of the 86 listed here in the great white north.

As for running long trains, I wasn't really planning on doing that. I tend to keep them in the 10 - 15 car range with a single loco for simplicity. Electrically, there is a 6A limit per power block, and then there are the grades.

The upper deck will have about a 250' loop that is almost perfectly flat. Minimum curve 072 out to a maximum of 0120 with some 092 thrown for good measure.

A little more was accomplished on the wheel for this stone water mill.  This is about the fifth one I have kitbashed (building) and all the wheels are scratchbuilt, and all are different.  I considered turbine wheels and horizontal wheels, and the backflow type, but went with a verical one.  I hope I don't have to run through the woods to

accumulate "logs" for the flume.  I have considered and discarded using "logs" from

Marx or Plasticville log fences.  Lincoln and Americn logs won't do it, either.  Any

ideas for a commercial source for "logs"?

Regarding logs. Why not use real wood? Go into your yard (or a local park if you don't have a yard) and gather up some twigs and fallen branches. Look them over carefully for size (1/2" diam. would probably be about right), color, straightness, etc. Cut the ends with a hobby (Zona) saw and then seal the entire "log" with Dullcote or something similar.

If your really determined they come from a commercial source, tell me how many you need, size required, etc., and i'll gather some branches up and sell them to you through my business.

jackson

Your work looks good. I am undergoing the same process on my layout. It is a tedious, laborious process but will be worth the effort in the end.

Finished the water wheel, drilled the wall, test fit the wheel, and then assembled the

four walls.  Need to apply filler in the joints and then do an acrylic touch-up. Started

stippling individual (brown/gray) roof shingles after a one color (green) overspray of

the kit's two roof panels.  Awning over wheel and flume remain to do after roof is fitted.

Can you post photos of your work painting the roof shingles? I am in the process of building a log cabin for a client and need some ideas of how to color the wooden roof shingles that I made. Thank you.

worked on a retaining wall and finished the second Bridge.

I need idea's for a cheap cap for the wall tho. to make it look more finished off.

You guys are working right along. I have so many honey dew's now that summer is here. 

I did order the new DCS system from Charlie today. I still have the Legacy in the box. Now I'll be going brain dead trying to read Barry's book.

Keep going guys I enjoy seeing and hearing all the progress.

Larry

worked some more tonight after I cleaned the pool and when the weather went south. storming right now outside. worked some more on the retaining wall. cut out a lot of archways for more clearance under the upper level. once that was done I could pull out my sd90 and center flow hoppers since they would fit now well after I got them out I was playing switching then around in the yard getting a train together well lost control off it went into the lower level tunnel where wires were still hanging and had a derailment nothing broke but kinda cool .

Made some decent progress yesterday...

Got the fiberboard extended around the curve.


Added more track to the outer main.


Finished securing the second yard track.



Today's projects include placing the last switch on the east ladder, finishing yard tracks 3 and 4, and working on extending the mains around the curve.

Elliot - You're probably getting tired of the atta boys, but it keeps looking better all the time.

Art

Absolutely nothing!

had to take a break and run some trains.

Thanks Art. Actually, I still really appreciate them. I use them as "fuel for my fire". They help to keep me motivated. By the way, no help this week, it has been all me by myself.

Tonight I finally got back to the layout. I spent the evening painting the plaster with the leopard spotting technique. Hoping to finish off the last of the pink board and plaster this weekend..................Paul

Nothing much after a day of mundane chores such as mowing the lawn..again! Must be

on steroids.  Only got one roof panel of the Stone Mill epoxied in place to set over night.