What did you do on your layout today?

Mike, will you be able to soften the transition on the board attached to the wall?    Is that a butt joint to the right of the screw head?     If not, you should be able to drop or flex that board a bit to make a smooth transition.   What is the grade of your your slope?    Dave

Hi Jim, Bruce, and Dr. Joe here is a picture of the fixed bump you guys seen also a video of the train room. I had to cut it in half to get it to fit on the forum page. I hope you all enjoy! Feel Free to comment either way!

mike g. posted:

Hi Jim, Bruce, and Dr. Joe here is a picture of the fixed bump you guys seen also a video of the train room. I had to cut it in half to get it to fit on the forum page. I hope you all enjoy! Feel Free to comment either way!

Looks good.  Thanks for the tour of your shop and train room.   Great action with the bridge.  Very nice.  Dave

Mike, The videos are great!  It is a wonderful room and your progress on the layout is excellent.  I too really like the bridge!  Thank you for the videos!

Thanks Guys, I think tomorrow morning I will update my train room thread! You guys have a nice day as I am off to work, but I will be checking in on my smart phone!

Just added an MTH remote commander to carpet central. Now all I need is an MTH engine, which if I get one will be an Es44ac with charging lights.

oldmike

Wow Mike G!  Love that bridge. It’s the real deal. Is it operated by remote or a hard wired switch?  

The workshop in your garage is convenient. The one thing that I wish that I had done was to put an air cleaner in the train area.  It would have cost less than a good engine.  I now have to remove all the small moveable pieces and clean all surfaces next year. 

Best luck going forward!

mike g. posted:

Hi Jim, Bruce, and Dr. Joe here is a picture of the fixed bump you guys seen also a video of the train room. I had to cut it in half to get it to fit on the forum page. I hope you all enjoy! Feel Free to comment either way!

MIKE WOW! That is amazing!   Great work and that bridge is AWESOME~!    I've been working on mine getting ready to weld to top on it.   It doesn't move though!    You did a great job on that building! 

Jim

Great job, Mike!! Would you provide more details of your lift bridge?? Scratch built, kit built, custom ordered built etc... Looks really great!!!! Inquiring minds want to know...

The train room looks great Mike. Love the bridge too.

Bob

Hi everyone thanks again for the nice words!

Matt, the bridge is powered by an old HO transformer and is hard wire to a DPDT switch. 

Woodson, the bridge base is scratch built, it takes a 12v actuator that will lift 125lbs. I built 2 other ones as gifts to 2 forum members, don't know if they have installed them yet. It was just the base lift section.

Update on the SP Daylight!  https://ogrforum.com/...42#81959972784945042

Mitch 

New Under The Hood up! https://ogrforum.com/...ered-observation-car

Mitch

I found an old Sony Walkman sitting in a drawer.  Bought these cheap speakers (- https://www.amazon.com/Compute...words=small+speakers).  Placed Velcro sticky tape on their backs and positioned them under the layout in front of my city area. .  Then I used an online YouTube to mp3 converter and copied these city sounds  -  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbEIxhiJRM

Ran some trains, landscaped and took photos! All was done under the watch of the yard foremen.

Strap Hanger posted:

I found an old Sony Walkman sitting in a drawer.  Bought these cheap speakers (- https://www.amazon.com/Compute...words=small+speakers).  Placed Velcro sticky tape on their backs and positioned them under the layout in front of my city area. .  Then I used an online YouTube to mp3 converter and copied these city sounds  -  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LZbEIxhiJRM

I burned them on to a cd. Now I have excellent city sound effect sounds when running my layout.  Funny how an old useless Walkman CD player can be repurposed for the train cause!  I’ve always wanted to purchase a city sound, sound card for the layout. Now this is so much better, since I can burn cds with multiple city sound tracks.  Fun stuff. Sorry no pictures, but you can get the drift.

Ingenious! Old fashioned know-how strikes again!

mike g. posted:

Hi everyone thanks again for the nice words!

Matt, the bridge is powered by an old HO transformer and is hard wire to a DPDT switch. 

Woodson, the bridge base is scratch built, it takes a 12v actuator that will lift 125lbs. I built 2 other ones as gifts to 2 forum members, don't know if they have installed them yet. It was just the base lift section.

Thanks Mike. I see a cottage industry in bridge lifts - special orders!  

Instead of cleaning my layout, I may tear it out and build a new one in the family room with two lift bridges.  Oh yeah, I’ll put an air cleaner in this time. 

Last night we had friends over for Christmas party/dinner.  Dusty layout was a big hit.  Ran trains using DCS set to “Engines all” on active tracks. Best demo operatng session. No derailments or other issues.   Good times!

I finally got those CW80s removed and installed the new 72 watt DC power sources!  OH what a difference!  Lights and smoke are better.  No more fan noise from the CW80s.   I will keep them close at hand though!   Here is my set Pennsylvania LC and my Southern 4501 LC+ chugging along!

NS6770FAN, Those are some nice photographs of your yard and power!  I'm glad the yard foreman has everything under control!  

Strap Hanger, Excellent reuse of a Walkman CD player!!  It's good you kept it around!

Matt, No derailments or other issues is a great plus when folks are over.  It seems you broke the rule that no matter how well you have things running, something happens when visitors are present.  Murphy must have been taking the night off!  

Carsntrains, I'm glad you got your power issues taken care of!

I know guys, I am a day late, but here I go! LOL

Mitch, That is one wonderful looking SP Daylighter! Nice work!

Strap Hanger, You never know what you are going to find that might just work on making a layout better! I collect all sorts of stuff which can be bad. LOL But as long as your having fun who cares!

NS6770FAN, Things are really looking good on your layout! It just happens to be a bonus if you get to run trains at the same time!

Matt, I would have to think it would be easier to clean then relocate the layout! I am glad  your layout was a big hit at your Christmas Party! And I don't think anyone seen the dust! LOL

Jim, I guess more power is the trick! Your engines look great! On question, how are you going to hide the cutout in the sheet rock for your outer track?

Mike there are two things that may happen there. 

1. I'm going to paint the walls sky blue, then put a rock overhang there.

or

2. Im going to finish taking that wall down : )   Its the back end of a very deep closet!  Before I took the other wall down, the wall with the overhang was the doorway into that rooms closet.  And that bump out is a huge thorn in my side!

Jim

Jim, if it were me I would just finish taking the closet out! LOL Could give you more layout room!

mike g. posted:

Jim, if it were me I would just finish taking the closet out! LOL Could give you more layout room!

Mike I agree! That little bit of room will make a huge difference!  After Christmas its on! 

Jim

I build a my first S.B.R. woodchip car. Some paint work, decals & weathering needed before ready.

Jim, I'm glad you found my thread, i will be trying to post more to it tomorrow!

Now to your room, don't forget to post progress also!

Evil!  Pure and simple!  From beyond the Eighth Dimension!!! 

They SAID I was mad at the University!  NYAH HA HAAAA!  

Mitch 

briansilvermustang posted:

 

There,  I fixed it. 

Mitch 

  thanks Mitch !!   COOL

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Evil!  Pure and simple!  From beyond the Eighth Dimension!!! 

Mitch 

You're a mean one, Mr. Mitch
You really are a heel
You're as cuddly as a cactus
You're as charming as an eel
Mr. Mitch!

briansilvermustang posted:

  thanks Mitch !!   COOL

PLEASE Brian... don’t encourage him  

Paul, That little ditty is great!!!!!!  Mister Mitch!!!

 I don’t think it matters if Brian encourages him.  Mitch is quite capable on his own!!!   LOL

Finished installing my Atlas turntable in the yard area of the layout. Now I need a roundhouse.

I also opened up a new bridge. Here's a short video of the first locomotive crossing:

Looks great, John!  

Mark Boyce posted:

Paul, That little ditty is great!!!!!!  Mister Mitch!!!

 I don’t think it matters if Brian encourages him.  Mitch is quite capable on his own!!!   LOL

Thanks, Mark. Unfortunately, I think you are quite correct about our colleague, Mitch. And, although he admits to being “Evil! Pure and simple!”, I don’t believe he is a candidate for “admitting you have a problem is the first step to a cure”   He is having way too much fun.

Went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx today to see their annual Train Show. This year's theme is historical buildings in NYC. Everything in the layouts, save tracks and wires was organic. The buildings were made of tree bark, leaves, sliced walnuts, acorns, etc. Here are some photos I took this morning. Hope you enjoy:

HCSader73 posted:

Went to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx today to see their annual Train Show. This year's theme is historical buildings in NYC. Everything in the layouts, save tracks and wires was organic. The buildings were made of tree bark, leaves, sliced walnuts, acorns, etc. Here are some photos I took this morning. Hope you enjoy:

I’ve seen a documentary on PBS about this layout, but your closeup pics really bring it to life. I especially like the high bridges. Is the first pic a representation of the original Penn Station???

Apples55 posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Paul, That little ditty is great!!!!!!  Mister Mitch!!!

 I don’t think it matters if Brian encourages him.  Mitch is quite capable on his own!!!   LOL

Thanks, Mark. Unfortunately, I think you are quite correct about our colleague, Mitch. And, although he admits to being “Evil! Pure and simple!”, I don’t believe he is a candidate for “admitting you have a problem is the first step to a cure”   He is having way too much fun.

Mitch is having so much fun!  He is an inspiration to us all!

Apples55 posted:

Thanks, Mark. Unfortunately, I think you are quite correct about our colleague, Mitch. And, although he admits to being “Evil! Pure and simple!”, I don’t believe he is a candidate for “admitting you have a problem is the first step to a cure”   He is having way too much fun.

(happynods) 

Mitch 

M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Apples55 posted:

Thanks, Mark. Unfortunately, I think you are quite correct about our colleague, Mitch. And, although he admits to being “Evil! Pure and simple!”, I don’t believe he is a candidate for “admitting you have a problem is the first step to a cure”   He is having way too much fun.

(happynods) 

Mitch 

Mitch, those UP stripes are going to vanish without a yellow or silver background (or other light color)