What did you do on your layout today?

John, looks good...!

Yesterday I made plans to instal a new Atlas O oil pumping well. Also, began taking a good look at my trackwork for leveling, cleaning, and making more blocks. I need to wire in the Atlas O uncouplers, and connect them through either lionel ASC’s or SC2’s.  This stay at home ruling by our government has really given me time to enjoy the hobby. This forum is a Connection to lots of ideas, and seeing what others do on their model railroads. It seems that everyone is doing the same. Stay healthy, keep the pictures coming, have a great Hump Day. Happy Railroading.

A couple months back I purchased a new bed at IKEA.  It's a queen sized "storage bed" which allows the mattress to hinge up from one end and leaves a large open storage space underneath for linens and such.  I of course had a different use in mind.  Due to living in an apartment, space is rather limited for O gauge stuff.  In the past I've just set up a temporary loop of track in the living room when I want to tinker with things, but it's always a lot of work to dig everything out just to have to put it away again shortly after.  Now I have a couple of small loops that can stay up all the time and will give me a nice place to rotate through my collection of Pre and Postwar Lionel stuff.

The quarantine period finally gave me the boredom I needed to finish it up.  I purchased a 5x7 area rug to cover the masonite panels that the bed comes with which is just a touch too big for the space, but it works OK.  Not all of the accessories are fully hooked up, but I may go back and work on that at some point.  

I'm sure it's frowned upon by the manufacturer to use the bed in this manner, so I may try to come up with a safety prop at some point to keep the bed frame and mattress from slamming down should something go wrong.  The gas struts that it utilizes have a lot of force behind them, but you never know.  If kids were involved I'd definitely recommend rigging something up as a safety catch from the start, but for my own purposes it's OK for the moment.

 In the mean time it's just nice being able to turn on the power and watch the trains go whenever I want.

SantaFe158 posted:

A couple months back I purchased a new bed at IKEA.  It's a queen sized "storage bed" which allows the mattress to hinge up from one end and leaves a large open storage space underneath for linens and such.  I of course had a different use in mind.  Due to living in an apartment, space is rather limited for O gauge stuff.  In the past I've just set up a temporary loop of track in the living room when I want to tinker with things, but it's always a lot of work to dig everything out just to have to put it away again shortly after.  Now I have a couple of small loops that can stay up all the time and will give me a nice place to rotate through my collection of Pre and Postwar Lionel stuff.

The quarantine period finally gave me the boredom I needed to finish it up.  I purchased a 5x7 area rug to cover the masonite panels that the bed comes with which is just a touch too big for the space, but it works OK.  Not all of the accessories are fully hooked up, but I may go back and work on that at some point.  It's also probably frowned upon by the manufacturer to use it in this manner, so I may try to come up with a safety prop at some point to keep the bed frame and mattress from slamming down should something go wrong.  The gas struts that it utilizes have a lot of force behind them, but you never know.  In the mean time it's just nice being able to turn on the power and watch the trains go whenever I want.

That is great Jake. I would have loved that as a kid, how can we share your idea outside of this forum?

When I first got married (46 years ago) we had a small apartment, 3 rooms. For the first time in my life no basement, workshop or place to play. I wanted trains at least, but no room. At that time Aurora "Postage Stamp" N gauge trains were gaining popularity. I bought 2 sets from Train Land in Lynbrook, NY (to whom my father sold my Lionel's to when I went to upstate NY to work when I was 16!!). I made a pretty detailed N gauge layout on casters that I could roll under our bed.

A side note; I sorta still have this layout. If you look underneath the O gauge loop on the lower level of The Alcove you would see part of it, I salvaged the plywood.

Lionelski posted:

That is great Jake. I would have loved that as a kid, how can we share your idea outside of this forum?

When I first got married (46 years ago) we had a small apartment, 3 rooms. For the first time in my life no basement, workshop or place to play. I wanted trains at least, but no room. At that time Aurora "Postage Stamp" N gauge trains were gaining popularity. I bought 2 sets from Train Land in Lynbrook, NY (to whom my father sold my Lionel's to when I went to upstate NY to work when I was 16!!). I made a pretty detailed N gauge layout on casters that I could roll under our bed.

A side note; I sorta still have this layout. If you look underneath the O gauge loop on the lower level of The Alcove you would see part of it, I salvaged the plywood.

Thank you!  I'm not sure if this forum lets you share posts easily, but I suppose you could copy and paste it wherever you wanted to put it.  I do have smaller scales myself, HO, N and Z that I occasionally run on the dining room table.  I've pondered building a small layout with one of those but I don't really have anywhere out of the way to keep it when not in use.  My cats would likely inadvertently cause damage to it if left out as well.  This definitely helps with all of those problems.

Renewed my magazine  and digital account for 2 more years.

Here's the video of the gantry crane I finished repairing the other day.  Thank you Mike G for custom parts and everyone else who gave suggestions.  I just noticed that it didn't drop the second screw until I stopped recording.   

I collected these Lionel plug ends from replacing transformer cords over the years. They were laying in the draw taking space so I got a piece of foam and made a display. 
Also working on restriping a 2332 with a decal sheet. Not repainting but refreshing.

Mark Boyce posted:

Here's the video of the gantry crane I finished repairing the other day.  Thank you Mike G for custom parts and everyone else who gave suggestions.  I just noticed that it didn't drop the second screw until I stopped recording.   

 

Eggcellent, Mark!   I've noticed the crane magnet seems to work best with a certain size objects. I finally bought a piece of 1" square tubing and cut it into [about] 1" long pieces and the magnet only rarely drops one accidentally. Plus they are heavy enough they overcome magnetic hysteresis and always drop instantly.

I made a parking lot with roofing tar paper, rubber cement and white 1/8" pinstriping. I think it came out okay for what it is.

Hi Everyone,

More rock work, this time in the cut. 

Dave

Dave, so realistic, nice job 

geysergazer posted:

Mark Boyce posted:

Here's the video of the gantry crane I finished repairing the other day.  Thank you Mike G for custom parts and everyone else who gave suggestions.  I just noticed that it didn't drop the second screw until I stopped recording.   

Eggcellent, Mark!   I've noticed the crane magnet seems to work best with a certain size objects. I finally bought a piece of 1" square tubing and cut it into [about] 1" long pieces and the magnet only rarely drops one accidentally. Plus they are heavy enough they overcome magnetic hysteresis and always drop instantly.

Thank you, Lew!!  I just grabbed the closest small metal items to try it out.  I'll have to experiment as well, but I am going to work on the layout build for a while!  

Dave, I agree with Ray.  Your rocks look great!!

Mark B., neat crane, cool video. Also, I like your Ceiling Central RR. Stay healthy, keep posting more pictures of your layouts. Happy Railroading 

sidehack posted:

Dave, so realistic, nice job 

Thanks Ray!

I added brass railings to the inside of my Union Station. For details, see my post in the OGR Scenery Forum at https://ogrforum.com/...2#140511888730928442

I framed out my background today. I learned the valuable lesson that if you have a train room with an around the walls plan just paint the walls

 Found time to hang the curtains I had bought months ago to hide all the boxes stored underneath the layout. I used regular, thin black curtain fabric for the right side where there is no baseboard heat. On the left side, where there is baseboard, I used a black, plastic mesh netting (commonly called "pet netting") so it would allow some of the heat to escape and not trap it entirely. On the playroom side, I don't store anything underneath, so no curtain needed. 

My wife Isabel likes horses and we both enjoy the Canadian TV Series Heartland.  The set is a horse ranch in Alberta. 
So I created this scene for her.  A Lionel horse car and corral with a horse trailer and ramp plus the Belle’s Heartland billboard. 

Today, I did a preliminary test assembly of my Union Station. Some photos are below.

For more photos and details, see my post in the OGR Scenery Forum at https://ogrforum.com/...7#140652637282320857

Sooooo, after a very long time not posting here, hello everyone. I've been lucky to able to work on my super-O layout and my Flyer layout. I've gotten my 97 coal loader working and the shoe activation tracks hooked up to dump the side dump cars. I was soldering some wires for those pieces of track and I don't have a work bench here yet so I improvised. I'm enjoying this extra time to get some things done around the house and on the layouts! Hope everyone is doing well.

I gave my little battery op bash a 4.7v volt rechargeable battery from an old cordless phone (landline).  A 1.5v increase really gave it a boost in speed over 3v from 2-AA . Sounds and motor didn't object a bit.  I think I might try to "gum up" the friction clutch (anti gear strip if rolled hard) as it slips some at high rpms.   It is very much louder at the higher rpm too, so I might add a diode to eat .75v and slow it slightly... but  use wifornow thatll depend on how much run time changes 

Recharging already on my nerves; lasts an hour and stops dead instantly. Takes about 20 to recharge and cool some..... too long; 100% dead rail will NEVER be the "wave o the future" because of this imo..... you need to feed SOME power track to recharge while running, then I could accept it full time, but flicker and other powered rail issues, just not that big a deal and easy enough to battle with simple solutions.   (outdoors is another story )

Track power and tender roller set is next once I land a 7805 5v regulator and two diodes (or a variable regulator, but I like the 7805s)

(The coach light is on track power)

I gloss clear coated the foil gilded front third of the boiler too. Despite some foil wrinkles, I really like the shine it gives; not chrome but "good enough" imo and much more "real" looking as polished metal than paint for me. I'll finish it all now.

Due to image loading issues watch for post #2  in a minute

Ran trains yesterday, all day.   I then realized it had been since August 2019 that I had actually run any trains to any extent.  The first engine (battery powered Williams/Samhongsa 2-8-2) I tried to use couldn't make it out of the yard so I had to back it up and hook up the charger.  I have another battery powered 2-8-2 and that one ran fine.  Later that evening I ran the freshly charged engine and it ran fine too.  Had 1 derail because I forgot to throw a switch, my fault.

I need to get to work on detailing the layout, right now my scenes are like ghost towns.

Progress on the building kit has been slowed but outside forces. This working from home stuff stinks. Now everybody thinks they can call you anytime. I used to like conference calls to......... .

I digress....the building floor elevation is too low to meet up with box car doors so I made a base out of some scrap pine that is 3/8" thick. Just enough to make the sills the right height. I'm waiting on some exterior lights to arrive before I can finish assembling the building, but I can set the base in place on the layout and start plaster cloth and base scenery. I need to build a loading dock too but wanted to get the building in place to determine the size.

I mounted the interior lights to the floor and roof piece and tacked the wires in place with hot glue. As usual I goofed and ran the wires on the first floor ceiling in the wrong direction so I had to redo them. The wires will all run down the front inside corner where they will be out of sight.

I don't want to fasten the building in place so I'm going to glue some scrap pieces to the base of the inside of the walls to act as a key to hold it in the right spot on the base.

Bob

But then you would have to re-paint the walls if you ever move to another place, whereas you can re-use the backdrops.   Looks nice!

Trying to get moving on a couple of bridges on our layout.  We have the Plasticville truss bridge but that doesn't have a base...so been researching options and decided to try using 3/16" thick pvc sheet for the base.  Found this site:

https://freckleface.com/shopsi...tore/html/index.html

Really good prices including custom size cutting...comes in grey...can't wait for it to arrive.  I'll let you guys know how it comes out.

Related to that...any thoughts on adhesives to glue the bridge to the pvc base?  I was thinking E6000 I've been reading up on...any thoughts on that product in relation to the plastic of the bridge adhering to the pvc?

Started positioning the track, lionel double pretzel, and checked ACCESSORIES for spacing.

Here's what I have been working on, Still need to apply the Gulf Decals.

third rail posted:

third rail posted:

third rail posted:

It's been a while since I last posted any work. 

Started construction on the warf and ore boat slip.

In the background you can see the start of the electric arc furnace and annex building. To the right is the framework for the ore pile.

Maybe with these imposed stay-at-home orders I might be able to get some of the projects done.

I still need to paint the seawall which was made from corrugated cardboard.  First will be a coat of gloss black for about the lowest inch to represent water then a layer of rust colored paint then the upper part will be probably a red oxide color to represent sheet pilings. 

Painted the sheet pilings with red oxide primer from a rattle can but it looks too bright.  I  will have to darken it with a little black weathering powder. 

Also had to widen the approach to the float bridge I am building. 

Bad case of measure once then cuss twice.

 Started construction on the float bridge. I didn't have room for one with a lifting mechanism so I am building a  pontoon float similar to the ones that were around New York city. 

I will post a new thread about its construction when it is complete. 

Today I installed some Atlas O Cal Zephyr window shades in the kitchen area of my detailed Lionel Canadian Pacific 21" Dining Car.  The shades help hide the previously visible sound system.

Here are a few pictures of the finished car.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

I ran trains.  After a long few days at work, I thought I would have some fun on Facebook, and asked for input for what to run tonight.  I had a few responses, but more so than anything just had a lot of fun running trains tonight.

I will do that again likely tomorrow since it's supposed to be crappy out AND we are supposed to stay inside.  Bad weather is a blessing here right now.

John

Hoping I completed my last cycle of putty/sand/prime on my third, and last, LIONEL 15" aluminum offset vista dome car to remove the grooves on each side at the roof line.  Tomorrow morning's inspection after this evening's primer coat will tell the tale.

Also, completed removing the "Norther Pacific" script decal on my PW F-3 B unit that I painted a couple of decades ago.  I will then repaint the dark green and ship it to Christine Braden for application of "Northern Pacific" letter boards (if that's the correct term).  

Morning guys, its been awhile since I have posted anything as I have been working a lot. There sure has been a lot of great work going on! I would like to comment on everyone but it would take forever! LOL But I do want to say that I am glad Mark was able to get his crane running and that Randy's union station is looking outstanding! Bob, good work on the lights, I cant wait to see it on the layout!

 I have been able to sneak out to the garage and train room to get a little work done. I have been working on a concrete retaining wall inspired by Chris A. My first attempt failed as I tried using some Plexi glass I had laying around. when I tried to attach it to the curve of the layout it cracked and broke.

My second attempt is with some old house paneling that was taken off during my home repair. I cut it to size and took it into the train room and was able to bend it to match the curve without breaking so I spent a little while cutting the upright supports and got my first coat of paint on it. I hope to get it all painted this morning and installed later today. Here are a couple of photos!

The last picture above it the tight curve I am trying to install the retaining wall on. I will let you all know how it turns out!

P.S. Lew I am still working on installing the drive system for my crane!

I hope you are all doing well and please be safe! Better yet just stay home and run some trains and enjoy your layout!

Mike g, you always get a good feeling when you get time to do something on the layout. The wall looks great.

Mark, looks like you are getting alittle time to work on your layout.

Thirdrail, wharf and floating bridge are coming out nice.

Well one more thanks to my buddy Bryan for doing the floor for me. And after days of saying I was going to work on the layout I finally made the move to practice what I said LOL.  I cleaned up that area and started laying down cork roadbed. Started in the front instead of the back. Wanted to get that done first. Also decided to remove the uncoupling tracks on the center track and put them in the front track next to it. Pics............Paul 2

Made some fencing and installed. Also put in some curbs. Will work in striping another day.

I'm waiting for the glue to dry on the sub-assemblies on the 5th hopper. All I have to do now is to figure out the height of the couplers, and then do paint after a few days of the glue drying....

mike g. 

Hey Mike- good to see a post from you. Did you try bending that piece with the top rail installed?

ENichter posted:

Made some fencing and installed. Also put in some curbs. Will work in striping another day.

what do you use for your roadbed? looks great!

Well afternoon all, I hope everyone has had a great day with there trains and layouts!

Paul, The floor looks great~! Bryan did a wonderful job~! Your track work is coming along nicely! But then again when doesn't it!

Eric, Nice job on the fence. Just wondering what your using for the curbing?

Lee, those look great1 They will be perfect on your layout!

Bob, I did do a test fit and bend test with the top rail installed before moving on.

So I did get a chance to get back out to the garage and train room today. I was able to finish the concrete wall, granted its no where near as nice as Chris A. But with what I had to work with I am happy. Here are a couple photos.

Oh and for Lew, I was able to get the crane travel system mounted along with a couple roller bearings to reduce the drag on the fishing line and the motor it self! Here are a couple photos of that.

and video for you Lew, I hope it works here, it plays on my phone but not my computer.