What did you do on your layout today?

John,

I applaud you for caring for your Mum.  Today is a beautiful day here in Butler, so I am sure it is also in the Cleveland area!!  I am taking a break from paper and computer work for my 94-year old aunt, who is now in a nursing home.  My Mum and Dad are both 89, and confined in a personal care home, but contented.  Mum can no longer get in and out of my car, so I only go visit but can't take her on outings!  Dad could get out, but refuses to leave her alone.  It is the least we can do for those who did so much for us!!

Mark Boyce posted:

geysergazer posted:

Guitarmike posted:

geysergazer posted:

Today the Postman dropped off a box and I unpacked it. This beauty was inside:

        

After changing out the couplers to the hidden-tab type (I have standardized on them because the remote-uncouplers&car-stoppers are spaced accordingly) the new car went into the interchange yard (fiddle yard).

This pic is for Mark:

      

"built by Pullman Standard Butler, Pa" 

I like the level of detailing on these MTH PS-2CD cars, nice paintwork&lettering but not too delicate for old arthritic hands to handle without [too much] damage. 

This car fits into my developing scheme of having a car on the PER for each road I have ridden. Still need Reading, Western Pacific, Mopac and Amtrak. Some small lines like the Apache railroad (White Mountains of Aridzona), the East Broad Top, the Penn View Mountain Railroad (Blairsville, Pa) and the Oil Creek & Titusville prolly not gonna' happen.

That looks like it says “Putler” not Butler.....😜

Ha! You are so right:

        

It's a typogorical.  Oooooes! I wonder if that makes this car a rare collectible like those PW Lionel "production mistakes"?  Mebbe worth $$....A VL BB in my future?? 

 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$whe$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

When you sell it for a million, zillion, don’t forget my finders fee!

Today the Postal person dropped of my LOTS Convention car from last year. I like the color and graphics. I managed to take a small wall down in the back of the basement. That made it easier to walk through the back. I am still working on cleaning off the table. Guess I have to push a bit harder to get it done since I am having a few guys over on Sturday from the NE group. I am sort of surprised Bryan has not been woprking on me like I worked on him. Anyways here is a pic of the car.................Paul 2

LeapinLarry : thanks for the invitation to TN, wife and I travel from Tx to Ga 2x per year so might just make a side trip to Tn would love to see that great layout in real life!  My layout work today was again related to train room.  I thought I had all the periodicals and catalogs under control but this morning the COO reminded me that I had a few stacks in places other than the train room !   So I finally did finish up that work today...

As an aside, early this cold morning, my commuters and the traveling salesmen were braving the weather to head to the platform to catch the "small town" to "big city" local.  Yup - just another Monday!

Don MCERLEAN, You are always welcome to visit us here in Clarksville, Tennessee, 3 miles from Ft. Campbell, 101st Airborne, on the Kentucky/Tennessee border. I apologize for not getting my pictures ready of my book/catalog inventory, my wife had other chores for me to do, and of course, the NFL Football playoffs. Hopefully I can do that tomorrow, today being doctor visit day. Your train room is very nice, and your layout is really interesting.  If you do come visit, bring an engine of your choice, and you can run a train on my layout, I have 4 complete circuits that will allow us to intermingle trains via 2 different helixes going to all 4 levels of my layout. Last Friday, Owen Fox came over from Nashville and we ran his new NC&ST St.L Legacy Mountain Steamer. Lionel put a super smoke unit in this engine. Happy Railroading 

Spent some time fitting ,cutting and glueing some Styrofoam support sections for the coming scenery. Will apply the plaster cloth  over the styrofoamto create the terraion base later this week as wirk with the support structures progresses. Also my Mrs may be interested in doing some backdrop painting so could ne even some more progress with a artner in crime here. 

RSJB18 posted:

Before putting my Polar Express set away for another year I had to fix two issues with the observation car.

1- the lights kept flickering so I had two options, buy GRJ's passenger car cap kits, or go low tech and clean and tighten the wipers on the axles. Went with option 2 for now.
2- glue the &%$### observation deck on the back of the car so it doesn't keep falling off

Then I removed a trespasser from the layout

Happy Monday

I can relate.

That's good Randy. She usually never goes up on my layout but my son had the window open on the other end of the layout and she thought that there was a shortcut through the rail yard to get there.

Bob, Can't blame a cat for trying!!  

Looks good, Brian!!

The Monster That Ate The Great Northeastern Railway

Don MCERLEAN, this evening I will show you a few pictures of my back room. Where I have stored many of the original boxes, cartons, that go to my trains on the layout or are on display. Also, these boxes of the brochures and magazines of yesteryear, which needs to go to a new home some day. It is organized and labeled and I’m sure some of the newcomers to our Hobby might enjoy. This all began in 1994, and I also have a Lionel, MTH, K-Line, Atlas O, Catalog collection, it’s an Addiction. I hope everyone’s having a good week thus far. Happy Railroading.

What’d I do on the layout other than pack the books, I looked for all of  the Controls and directions to the MTH Passenger stations, and Baggage station. I’ve had them for many years, and all the necessary parts/directions have been found. Also, I took a few pictures showing my 60 amp electrical box that is designated to the layout. Also, some of the pictures and pins used on my girder looking bridgework for the passenger area. It’s all part of the Leapin Larry’s Looney Lines fun. It’s a 3 rail ball of enjoyment. Happy Railroading. Also, RJ Corman sent me a new 2020 Calendar, it’s pictured going through Nashville, Tennessee, 60 miles from my home. Unbelievable.

Slow Motion - Am I moving?

Tuesday I started the Lionel 21" Santa Fe Coach #3139 from the 1927020 2-pack, the 5th car on which I have worked.  With great enthusiasm I started painting only to discover that this car was going to take an extra coat of paint on the seats.  The mold releasing oil made the first coat on the seats look thin and transparent.  The second coat was still allowing too much bleed through.  By the third coat, I had what I would normally get in two.  After the fourth coat of tan, the seats looked much better, but still need some touch up for light spots.

The bathroom fixtures which were not part of the floor mold acted normally, requiring three coats of Testor's Flat Acryl White.

It's now 9:00 P.M. and this is all I have to show for a days work.  It is a nicely done car, but it took forever.  There is another coach in the 1927010 4-pack so I will start painting it tonight.  I want to place the people while viewing both cars to make sure I don't put the figures in the same spot, and that I have switched them to the opposite side of the car if possible.

Note: I started the coach from the 1927010 4-pack.  The left two seats in the last photo show the bleed through with one coat of tan paint. The other seats on the right have two coats. It will take three plus touch up on this coach car #3136.

Have a good night.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

LEAPINLARRY : Great job on organizing the boxes etc...that is next for me after I play with the trains awhile!  Right now they are mostly under the layout - yes this makes it hard to troubleshoot, maintain, and fix wiring.   Your place looks great, just don't spend too much time looking at that "Playboy" mag however, yet at only 1$ a copy it must be an old one

My day turned out  to be disappointing.  I just got my first "Lion Chief" engine, a Jersey Central diesel.  I unpacked it from "Train World" and put it on the tracks.  Sound, lights all good but it made 3/4 of a loop around the layout and stopped, never to move again.  The entire gear drive on the motor truck stripped (with a load of only 4 of the "little" streamlined passenger cars on it).  The main gear from the motor no  longer meshes with the center gear that drives both of the truck wheels.  It appears that the entire gear set has just come off the drive,   Wow , what a disappointment.  I have engines nearly 100 years old that are still giving good service and this thing dies after 3 minutes and about 15 ft.  I  admit I was looking forward to trying some "command" control - now I am not sure its a good idea. Well we will see if that "warranty" means anything.

Don

Got 2 more wall sections done today, 5 hours each on the printer but came out good, only a dozen more to go.

shhhh.    Don't say it out load and jinx me.  All twelve #O22 switches are working correctly.  I finally replaced all '50s rubber coated wire on the controllers.   It's amazing when the electrons go only where you want them.   The second level is in place again.  My Lionel radio station is wired.  I hope to install a 9VDC @ 2.5 AMP wall wart to run all LEDs tomorrow.  More attractive uprights also made the "to do" list. 

Once again, so few words, so much work.

Bill, I’m glad you got all the switch’s working!  So all the ‘50s insulation was worn out!  Hmm... similar to the ‘50s parts in me that the orthopedic surgeon replaced that were worn out!!!  LOL

I did find another Western Railcraft Colorado Midland gondola kit, and have started it...with four CM cars, l really need to scratchbuild one of the CM side door cabooses...and then, one of the brass builders once offered a large (G scale?) CM loco, l think a 10 wheeler,...l need an O three rail one of those...that will be a challenge.

          happy Humpday everyone !!

"WHY?" you may ask, "did I spend a pleasant hour and a half assembling this bizarre-looking submarine from a Lego knock-off company?"

The same company puts out a $15 aircraft carrier, so I bought the $5 sub to see what kind of quality they have. Besides, I wanted the sub for my "Knights of Atlantis" lay-out.

Like most Lego knock-offs, there were problems with pieces not snapping together, even when properly aligned. (NEVER mix Legos with off-brands). There was one major mistake in the directions. But it turned out well, so I'll get the aircraft carrier.

My wife wanted to know if it would settle underwater. So I put it in the sink, where it fell on its side and stayed afloat.

          It looks pretty weird from a distance, but when you get close up----it still looks pretty weird.

This talk of Legos on this forum is interesting to me...my son (9 years old) has two big hobbies...O gauge model trains with me and an extensive Lego collection (including the trains) with his mom...I'll have to show him some of these posts...don't think he's considered melding the two.

Double Vision - Two Santa Fe Coaches painted and ready for Preiser 65602 Seated People.

I finished painting the interior seats and restrooms on my 5th and 6th Lionel 21" Santa Fe Coaches #3139 an #3136.  I will start adding seated people to the cars in an attempt to keep the arrangement different from each other.  (I have two similar cars in Broadway Limited with the same figure in the same seat position that drives me nuts. That correction is on my to-do list.)

Here are a few pictures of the last two days painting with four coats of paint on the seats.  Note: It is the people that make the pictures interesting.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I replaced a modern era Lionel 5132 O gauge switch on my layout this morning with a more robust 022 post-war Lionel switch. I know a lot of people complained about the later era 5132 switches but I got 26 years service out of the one I just replaced so I can’t complain.  However, it never fails but when one of these goes they are always situated in the most difficult places to get to.  In my case, smack dab in the middle of my 8x20 layout’s rail yard and flanked by two other switches on either side.  I had one other go about five years ago in the same area.  Oh my aching back.

OKHiker, that is one very realistic-looking lay-out.

Vincent Massi posted:

OKHiker, that is one very realistic-looking lay-out.

 

Vincent,  thanks for the compliment.  I had a great time constructing it over the years and I guess it doesn't look too bad but when I compare it to some of the modeling wonders some of the absolute geniuses on this forum have put together it pales in comparison. 

Finished, at least for now, with Starkweather Ave......

OKHIKER, cool layout, really interesting way you have mixed standard guage accessories, plasticville buildings, ceramic houses, and many other nice additions creating a fun train world. And yes, changing out the turnout would be a little bit difficult, thanks for posting. Please post more views. GANDYDANCER , Starkweather avenue looks like a busy street, fun to walk along, possibly just standing on the corners would be great entertainment, especially looking at the vintage automobiles. Wow. Great weathered scenes, looks awesome. SIDEHACK, I like your building project and the pictures of your really nice layout. Keep the pictures coming, their very interesting. BRIANSILVERMUSTANG, Wow, I like your engines, post some pictures of your layout. Mike G., I’m working on wiring accessories and it doesn’t show much layout progress, but, it’s working on the railroad. Hopefully your finding a little railroad time these days. It’s hump day, everyone have a great rest of the week. Happy Railroading 

Tell me if you've heard this one.

   I took down my second level!   Third time in two weeks.  The original was cut to fit O27 track.  It did not fit when I switched to O gauge.  Too many band-aids.  I removed the old level for the last time today.  I found a nice piece of paneling buried in my garage, 36 x 54.   It is stiffer, bigger, and a positive evolution.   The wood is down.  Track is down but not fastened.  Thunderstorms are close now.  Just right for a metal roof and a waterbed.

Bill

The 5th car, Lionel 21" Santa Fe Coach #3136 is completed.  I have the 6th car, Coach #3139 ready to add figures.  I will attempt to change the appearance of passenger groups and switch figures to the opposite side of the second coach when possible.  Creating a new look is always a challenge with a limited number of posed figures.

After working on so many 21" passenger cars, the interiors begin to look the same.  They are not the same, but it creates a challenge to avoid repeated patterns of passenger placement.

Have a good evening.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

Bill, I’ve been caught patching stuff together until it doesn’t work anymore.  Looks like you have a good base to work on now

John you are right, the nice painted seats sue look better with passengers 

leapinlarry posted:

OKHIKER, cool layout, really interesting way you have mixed standard guage accessories, plasticville buildings, ceramic houses, and many other nice additions creating a fun train world. And yes, changing out the turnout would be a little bit difficult, thanks for posting. Please post more views. GANDYDANCER , Starkweather avenue looks like a busy street, fun to walk along, possibly just standing on the corners would be great entertainment, especially looking at the vintage automobiles. Wow. Great weathered scenes, looks awesome. SIDEHACK, I like your building project and the pictures of your really nice layout. Keep the pictures coming, their very interesting. BRIANSILVERMUSTANG, Wow, I like your engines, post some pictures of your layout. Mike G., I’m working on wiring accessories and it doesn’t show much layout progress, but, it’s working on the railroad. Hopefully your finding a little railroad time these days. It’s hump day, everyone have a great rest of the week. Happy Railroading 

Thank you LeapinLarry!

gandydancer1950 posted:

Finished, at least for now, with Starkweather Ave......

Always enjoy the Starkweather Avenue street scene. 

Please share with me the process you used for your roadway and streets.  Are they the Woodland Scenic road materials and road colors by chance.

Thanks

Seth Thomas posted:

gandydancer1950 posted:

Finished, at least for now, with Starkweather Ave......

Always enjoy the Starkweather Avenue street scene. 

Please share with me the process you used for your roadway and streets.  Are they the Woodland Scenic road materials and road colors by chance.

Thanks

The road was made with joint compound and colored with Woodland Scenics Stone grey which was then lightened with chalks till I thought it looked correct ......then added black chalk for tire and oil spills

I posted some pictures of my work in process layout, the C 2C layout, inthe  track plans and layout design forum..

John Rowlen, the seated passengers look great, as usual.

Question: do you put little people in the bathrooms?  I don't recall seeing any posed there.

Howard, the street scene looks great!

Carl,  I have put little people in the bathrooms, but mostly in the 180 Walthers HO passenger cars I detailed until my vision led me back to O-gauge.  There may be a few in my early Atlas O California Zephyr Rio Grande and Western Pacific 10-car sets.  The bathrooms in the Lionel 21" passenger cars don't have doors, so I just stopped placing figures on the toilet.  My Mom asked the same  question about people on the toilets.  She must be recalling seeing me place them on the Cal Zephyr sleepers with the stateroom bathrooms attached.

Gandy Dancer1950 and Leapinlarry,   I enjoy seeing the excellent details on your layouts.  Thank you for the pictures.

I am placing figures in the second Santa Fe coach #3139 today.  Hopefully there will pictures later tonight.

Sincerely, John Rowlen