Chris A, Your Modeling skills are so good, I like the weathered effect, the Signaling effect, the trackwork, the scenery effect, I just love the way your model railroad is developing. Keep the pictures flowing.
Paul 2, I like this giant Silos, and your newly done trackwork, you’ve come a long way, thanks for your pictures.
IT'S ON THE LAYOUT! WHOO-HOO!
The B&O railroad had the honor of making the first delivery to the new business in town.
The crew stopped for a moment to congratulate the new business owner.
Still have lots of details to do but the building is finally off my work bench....which I cleaned off today too!
RSJB18, Bob, you have a beautiful corner of the world, fantastic B&O operation and it’s very creative. Your siding is so realistic, thanks for posting.
leapinlarry posted:
Q: Why do mermaids wear seashells?
A: B shells are too small, and D shells are too big! 
In actual layout news, I got a box of great Junk off of @Dave Ripp. today, and I'm already inspired! More on this later...
Mitch
Lee, Nice job on the grass patch job! Sounds like you have a good plan to stay out of the city for a week, Plus it give you more time for trains! LOL
Bob, Thanks for the nice words about the store. You have done such an outstanding job on the new building, loading dock and siding. Everything looks great, I really think you outdid yourself this time! Its going to be hard to top that!
Paul 2, Thank you for your answers to my 2 questions. I will cut some of the 4" and see how it looks on the layout. Your track and ballast is really looking sharp, but I did notice that you don't ballast between the ties, and special reason?
Larry, you have such an AMAZING layout that it is always a pleasure to just sit back and take in all the photos you post. I can sit here looking at your photos and dream for hours if the wife would let me! LOL
Chris A. WOW the new signals look perfect! Your skills at building and modeling are superb and I know many of us would love to have the skills you have attained building your layout! If I knew more about wiring I would try more stuff, who knows maybe down the road! P.S. Nice back Yard!
Well guys nothing from yesterday, but I sure am happy being able to get on here and see all the wonderful work you are all doing! In reality it give me hope for myself and my layout! Plus it fun to read!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend and enjoying time with there family, trains and layout!
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter!
Bob. That looks fantastic and there’s nothing like a clean work bench
Mike. Thanks I think I did a smart move and I need a vacation
Larry. I like that F unit nice pic of it
Mike, great scene! I have 2 questions for you.
1) Where did you get the fire trucks?
2) Is that real water coming from the hose and what kind of mess does it make as you turn it on and off?
I cant wait to see as your scene grows!
Happy Easter
Last night I ran some trains and took a video. https://youtu.be/Vf9YcZrNYFw This video features MTH premier NYC action and my Easter present from me to me. The military cars are a favorite of mine and my son. They arrived Friday from @MrMuffin'sTrains The ones in the front are the newest, the trucks and the dukw cars are awesome. Thanks Steve.
John
@mike g. I have a "house on fire" that I picked up from York years ago. MTH subsequently made one. Mine came with the fire trucks, people and, yes you can run water with it. Fully operational water pump and two smoke units. I typically just run the smoke and the sound. It's very cool. You can see it in my YouTube videos from last week.
John
MIKEG
I googled 1/50 fire engines and they popped up on Ebay from different sellers. 1 was more expensive, one was 25 bucks? and the ladder was make an offer so 20 bucks+shipping. They are Corgi side mount something something...diecast. The engines are about 7" long. The water comes from the house and pump and for this set up not a problem at all. The house actually comes with 2 firefighters with nozzles. The stream goes in a certain window and back into the tray. None really drips out when I turn it off or on although I can add a clip of that so you can see. It does take a little time to get the FF right and so they won't tip over. maybe some dripping then but nothing big. The house smokes too using smoke fluid
Mike g, I started doing the balllast that way on the attic layout. Although I agree totally ballasted track looks better I decided to get a can of paint close to the color of the ballast and paint the roadbed and just ballast the edges of the cork. I think my reasoning behind it was that if I ever decided to rip up the layout the track would be easier to use unballasted.
Chris a, thank you for the compliment. I wish I was the energizer rabbit I would of been done with the layout a long time ago. I am always totally impressed with the level of your work you have done on your layout.
Bob, kudos on the building. It came out real nice and added to the corner.
HAPPY EASTER to all. All of you have made for good reading on this topic.............Paul 2
Finally able to run some trains
YEA!
East meets West.
Thanks for all the information guys!
Mike I will have to check it out! See what they have there.
John, I looked for your video and couldn't find it.
Paul, that makes total sense!
Mitch, Thank You for zeroing in on The Mermaid, she’s from Hawaii, a find from my wife, for amusement on my layout. In 2018, our church group took a 10 day tour of the islands of Hawaii, and we found a very well stocked Toy Train Store, and she allowed me to play. This was a dream come true vacation. 
Been busy on developing a transition area between the hotel, elevated track and upper deck. 3D printing the walls which will have foam core inserts.
Ran my postwar Lionel 1430WS set, circa 1948, around the layout ....
So far I got a second coat on the plaster around the silos. Then I started putting down ballast and took a break after getting more then half down. Maybe later finish off the remainder and then start gluing it all down. Pics.........Paul 2
Gandydancer1950, love the post war items running in a beautiful scenic setting. Well done.
Gandydancer, Wow, Great Video of a great post war set. Your attention to detail on your fifties type layout is fantastic. Please post a few more pictures when you have a little time. Happy Railroading
chris a posted:Well, I ended up working till 1:00 AM last night, but I got the signal bridge weathered, installed on the layout and working !!!
That looks great Chris
In addition to a couple of passenger car paint projects, I decided to redo my home-grown NP North Coast Limited PW F-3 B unit. Specifically, the project is to remove the decal "NORTHERN PACIFIC" script and replace it with a more prototypical letter board spelling the same words but using individual letters per the prototype.
Christine Braden is doing the letter boards and supplied the dark green paint to cover the reworked areas and roof--the cab ends were left alone. Her paint match was perfect to my eye. Forum sponsor Todd Architectural supplied the laser cut letters in the correct NP font.
To remove the decals, I used a generic "eraser" pad recommended by Clark Howard as a substitute for Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser. It took a great deal of effort to remove the clear coat and decal material, especially since none of the decal material was on a flat surface per se--lots of crevices and channels. Also, I wanted to be sure there was zero decal material left before painting. T. Albers recently posted on the use of the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser's ease in removing numbers from a MTH UP passenger car and his results were superb--pity my project wasn't so easy--perhaps had I used the correct eraser. <sigh>
Tomorrow USPS will pick up the B unit along with several vista domes which Christine will paint for use on the passenger train projects.
I'm currently in the process of building a new layout. I've been gleaning all sorts of ideas from everyone here and am incorporating some as I progress. My build is sectional, as I foresee a move when I retire, and I DO plan to take it with me! (Or at least as much as I can.) So here are a few items I've been working on.
This is a short section on a curve. The blocks need to be glued and nailed to the plywood. They are for the fascia. Preliminary wiring will also be done before I take this inside for installation.
I've decided to try my hand at backdrop painting. This is a test cardboard panel. It's easier to make mistakes here than on the wall! Not too bad for a first effort, but it does not pass the three foot test. Comments are welcome.
Lastly, I've had this double faced railroad style clock for about 8 years. One of the clock movements failed. So I bought a replacement movement with hands and installed it over the weekend. I also moved the pole about a foot to make track planning easier.
Chris
LVHR
Worked on my camping area some more added some people and gravel road. Decided to remove first mountain I built to make room for a new bridge and to open up view .
John, nice work on the trailer park scene...I just add the green and the yellow trailers to the layout. Where did you obtain the beautiful trees in the scene....Lodge-pole pines maybe?
I got these trees from scenic express. Grand central gems I think they are. They are a bit pricey so I only use them in areas people will view up close.
A minor thing by comparison, but I ordered some fastrack O48 curves for the carpet loop in my study...
Ray, You really make it where folks are going to want to run out and buy a 3D printer! You do such great work with it, but I know it takes a lot of time and cad knowledge!
Gandydancer, thanks for sharing the wonderful video!
Paul2, WOW things are really coming together! Its going to look wonderful when your done!
Chris A. Outstanding work! I bet it feels good to start putting them on the layout and getting them off the work bench!
Carl, The work on the NP car looks Great! I cant wait to see them all done and on the tracks!
Chris, great idea with the modular build looks good! I thing the backdrop also looks good for your first try. The clock is a nice addition and would look great in any train room!
John, Nice john on the camp site! Makes one want to go camping!
Well I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday and finds time for there layout and trains!
A good morning. I got the rest of the ballast down and applied ground turf to the base of the silos. After lunch I'll make up some glue and start gluing everything down. I'm hoping I have enough plaster in the jar to finish that one small section. Pics..............Paul 2
Worked on a product review.
farmerjohn posted:Worked on my camping area some more added some people and gravel road. Decided to remove first mountain I built to make room for a new bridge and to open up view .
John:
Your layout looks to be GREAT! I particularly like your arch bridge. Is that scratch-built? If so, would you mind sharing the plans, materials and process with us?
Thank you.
This afternoon I got all the ballast glued down along with the ground foam around the silos. Going to let the glue dry awhile then I am going to add a second coat of earth color to the plaster. Pics...........Paul 2
Painted asphalt using Woodland Scenics black top paint, so easy to use.
Randy.
The arch bridge is custom built by a great friend who loves to build models. The bridge is made out of wood. Scratch built to fit in my layout. He also srathbuilt another bridge which is 14 ft long and has a 1 percent grade and a curve on it. He built it from a picture he found. Its built so it doesn't block view of my roundhouse
I had a chance to run the last eight Lionel 21" passenger cars I detailed behind my Canadian Pacific FA engine set. It was nice to do nothing for a day.
Sincerely, John Rowlen
Rebuilding my layout after moving into my house 3 years ago.
Went back down after dinner and added the second color of earth. The little bit of plaster I had left I mixed it up and to stretch it a bit further to last I kind of watered it down. It was a bit on the soupy side but it gave me enough to finish. This afternoon I placed an order for another jug of it plus some more trees from Scenic Express. Definately done for the evening. The ballast was still wet so tomorrow I'll see how it turned out. Pics............Paul 2
Sorry, the images we're in the wrong format.
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