What did you do on your layout today?

The guys have been working on this neat harbor scene for awhile. Jerry created the freighter form a discarded child's boat toy and added the superstructure. Ed has run some lighting to it (not visible) and Harold did the trackwork. They have a RR car barge that can park at the edge where the spur ends too.

Sam,

Nice group effort to make a very believable action scene.

I continued to fine tune what is currently running on the layout. Getting close to where we want it.

 

However this is a continuing process as new equipment gets added. 

I haven't done anything on the layout it's all been under the layout and my back is killing me. I've spent the lady couple days pulling 120v through the bench work to get some semblance of organization when it comes to powering up the layout. I also hooked up the LCS Wifi stuff and ran parts of the layout with the iPad. Needs better train control function.

Worked on the ramp up to second level and yard a little added the yard tower and water tower

 

I resuscitated the Razorback Traction Co.'s "Red Rocket One" using parts from a donor Lionel 627...  :-)

Also took delivery of some new signs and figures...

 

 

Mitch

I actually went up this morning, turned everything one,checked it out, and ran the cleaning and vacuum cars, and set up four 12-car trains for visitors this afternoon.  I decided it would be all LC+ today - at only 13 volts though: we will have visitors with kids so they will have remotes to use, and I'm limitng top speed a bit to be on the safe side.

 

This all took two hours, you understand, because I spent so much time playing and running trains.  

After getting tired of dealing with finicky postwar switches,  I took down my postwar layout and started over. I had six reverse loops and when it worked, it was great. However, it was hard to reach trains when the switches went haywire. I am going to simplify the setup with no reverse loops. 

 

Bob

GF might be a keeper.  She spent the past three days helping me clean up the basement.  She cut and hung a black fabric curtain to hide the underside of the table.  It looks nice. We went to 5-below and got some 1/43 cars ($3-$5 each) to add some more flavor to the layout.  Party next weekend.  Gotta get the layout presentable for the kiddos.

I purchased my first FasTrack Friday.  Just enough for an oval of O36.  Today I set it on the floor and ran the Polar Express on it, because it was handy.  While I like the looks of MTH FlexTrack better, I like hoe the FasTrack snaps together easier.  It also was a better fit, I think.  Also, I bent several of the slid fingers that make contact underneath the MTH track.  It is also easier than GarGraves.  I like the look of GarGraves best, but I like how easy FasTrack was, because I have pretty bad arthritis for my age, 58.  I also like the clickety clack of the rail joints which you don't have as much on the longer sections of flex.  Also, bending the GarGraves was a terror with arthritis.  As a last note, it was fun seeing the PE run.

Mark, I found it easier to put the wire connectors on the FasTrack with a pair on needle nose pliers.  So far I have connected over 50 pair of power drops on my layout.  I bent a few the first try.

Well, in addition to remotoring a Bowser Birney, I brought my MTH Electroliner out of mothballs and mounted an M1 Abrams tank to an MPC flat car (drilled holes in the deck and fastened the tank down using the screws that came with it; the orange tiedowns are actually wire salvaged from a barcode scanner cable)... 

 

Mitch

 

 

I now have the Garage pulled. And now to finish the pulling in the breezeway. Yes I know I still have to clean it up to look  nice. That's wear my electrical work as a Fire Alarm Tech comes into play.

For the first time since late June I actually ran trains today!  I wanted to give my MTH Proto 2 engines some battery charge time.  Ran my N & W Y6b, Pennsy Aero Train, B&O SW9.  All three fired right up and got ample track time.   Being with my trains again was fun!!!  

I finally finished my two turntables. One, I left pretty much as-is, and weathered it to represent a relatively new bridge in an older pit.

The other, I didn't like the bridge decking as it looked to toy like to me. So, I added new real wood decking*, then weathered it with various shades of grey inks, then weathered with grime, rust and oil stains all over the deck. I like how it turned out.

* I had bought a huge box of cheap birch coffee stirrers. They work great for O scale lumber!

That's one sweet turntable! 

started working on the retaining wall . and painted a few area's I never finished.

Sounds good.  Practice makes perfect.

Mark

Yes it is running very nicely.  I am glad to hear about the Texas Special, Kenny.

God bless you, too!

Mark glad to hear your getting a small oval together

Thanks, its a Peco On30 one. Here's what it looks like if you just build it out of the box:

They actually make one for OO/HO, but it uses the exact same pit and a slightly different bridge. I was going to plank over that one as well but the hardware was going to be a nightmare so I just painted and weathered that one.

One part of the layout I never knew what to do I finally did it tonight . it's not finished but I like the way it came out so far. it's the area above the portal under the second level tunnel portal. here's the photos of the area

 

Before

 

After

 

 

https://ogrforum.com/t...e-to-see-them?page=1    

 

 

 

 

    I picked up A gallon of paint from LHS to paint (CT) hill reg. $45 I got it for $5 not bad. Now after finishing up tonight I need to go back to LHS to get 2 damaged 2ft. by 4ft. ceiling tiles to finish (CT) hill and start painting it grey as A base color and then start laying track. Choo Choo Kenny

The yard is just 2 pieces of track short of being done. I brought a different ladder downstairs, which made the task much easier.

Some of the track in the foreground is still loose as I try to figure out the engine service area.

You can see the "missing link" next to the backdrop.


Looking the other direction.



Patrick will be over tomorrow.

that layout is impressive. I wish I had the space for something like that. my room is only 16x14 and my layout is 12x10 with a 3ft leg of one side . small compared to this one.

 

Thanks! Conversely I'm slightly envious of the speed with which you work. You actually have some scenery and a more finished look going, in fairly short order. It will take years for me to get that far.

Elliott - I love the looks of this trackwork.  You did a great job with it.  It flows very nicely and realistically.

 

Art

I'm with Elliott on this one.  Your speed of construction makes me even madder at myself for how slowly I am going lately.  Your doing a great job and I love seeing the pictures of your progress.

 

Art

mine's a lot easier than yours Fastrack snaps together and there's no bending of flex track. which goes much faster. and my layout is maybe 1/4 of the size. I do a little every night. weather it be make a few plaster rock castings or plaster retaining walls. I sat one night doing nothing but making castings . mixing up plaster and pour and repeat. I enjoy scenery and making it all look good but the wiring for get it can't get a grasp around it but I do keep trying. no matter what I do it ends up spaghetti under the layout.

thank you guys that makes me feel really good about what I do . this is my first layout of any size. that has gotten this far. I like posting the photos. and seeing everyone else's photos for more ideas. I only post a fraction of my photos I take some every night of what I do that day .

 

 

Thanks Art, track design and installation is one of my favorite parts of the hobby. Fortunately or unfortunately, this aspect will be coming to an end within the next 6 months. Then I'm going to have to find a new "love".

Nice to see that you've been busy. Looking good, Elliot.

 

 

 

that's the way to approach it, a little bit at a time, especially when working by yourself.  You have made tremendous progress since you moved to the upstairs, a little at a time.

today even though can't see the wires and I very much so dislike wiring I decided to wire up a signal light but this time have the censors in the track. here are the results test and they work . will update it with a video when finished uploading 

 

 

Finished building a crossing shanty, re-strung some telephone pole wires and added a little more landscaping. My layout is pretty much complete, so anything I do is mostly putzing around.

Patrick was here today, and we got a few things done.

 

We made a minor adjustment to the upper level benchwork in order to smooth out the future mainline. Then cut and installed the fiberboard.

I set up my makeshift compass, and swung the arcs for the two mains. Inside 072, outside 080. I need to make a minor correction to the fiberboard for part of the outer main. 


Patrick Bondo-ed the backdrop that we hung last week. Sand, prime and paint next time.


After that we cleaned up, as I have company coming over tomorrow.


When we were done cleaning, it was time to run the train. Part for fun, and part to test everything, including a track cleaning run.


The test was not without incident. I turned on the turnout power supply for the first time in a few months. I forgot to visually check the route. A switch on the panel had accidentally been flipped, sending the intermodal crashing head on into a parked Empire Builder. 

 

Then, the track cleaning car lost a screw in its frame, and a wheel set popped out. Good luck finding that screw! I just happened to find one with the right thread on the workbench, but it was too long. Ground that down, fixed the track cleaner, and put a drop of super glue on the head of each screw, so I won't have a repeat of that.

 

In the famous words of the late Robin Williams (T. S. Garp) "It's pre-disastered". Everything should be fine for visitors tomorrow.

You guys make it look so easy that I am motivated to head downstairs and get busy.  But I just came up from there and I was totally frustrated with my bridge project.  I must be making it harder than it should be.  Not that that is a new event.  LOL

 

Art