What did you do on your layout today?

Iron Horse, I like the lift up bridge.  I need to make two lift up bridges for my layout.

Mark,

Thanks.  I 'was looking at your layout under a different post and it looked like you were doing a bridge plan.  Any way I can help, let me know.  Like this new train room, on my old layout I needed a bridge at the entrance and my scratch built wooden one served me well for a number of years.  The keys for me have been to get the pivot point at the exact top of the tracks,  use two heavy duty hinges for strength, and make sure you have an automatic track power kill switch (OGR Backroom has a great column on this) or you will crash your engine(s) when you forget to lower the bridge.  I also put a simple slide lock to lock down the bridge so it never shifted while I ran trains.

Mike

@B&O Fan posted:

Put up another photo backdrop. One more to go for that side of the layout.

Gandy - Great looking layout, where did you find the workers loading the ice?

Stay Safe,

Scott

the man with the crow bar is an Arttista figure

I ran some trains this morning with my daughter, she is 11 days old today. Its her first time running trains with me. I think she liked it 😊.

Morning guys, Last post till I get to North Dakota.

EB, Thank you sir. If I come across some great scenery I will do my best to get some photos and post them.

Mark Sorry about your Dremel, but I am glad you are able to fix it. But I am more happy that you got your second 042 switch working and your able to run trains threw it! When I get back to my wife's folks house from Menards I will post photos of all the nice stuff Menards had waiting for me!

Mike, Wonderful job on the lift bridge! I automated mine so I wouldn't have to lift it do the a bum right shoulder!

Jstewart, How wonderful is that! Congratulation! I became a grandpa for the 5th time this last Sunday! They are so great at that age!

Well I hope you all have a great weekend and find time for your trains and layouts! But most of all I hope you all stay safe and have fun!

Time to hit the Road!

@Jstewart204 posted:

I ran some trains this morning with my daughter, she is 11 days old today. Its her first time running trains with me. I think she liked it 😊.

TOO GREAT!!! She is perfect, and perfectly happy there. For the "starting them young in the hobby" contest?  You win! Congrats on your little one JS!!!

@Jstewart204 posted:

I ran some trains this morning with my daughter, she is 11 days old today. Its her first time running trains with me. I think she liked it 😊.

Adorable!

Enjoy the new addition to your family!

Peter

I added my latest addition to my collection, the 1997 Lionel U.S. Forest Service log dump car.

Been doing much needed, and put off, under-layout wiring clean-up.  Not my favorite part of the hobby.  But in the meantime, I was able to put this together this building using left-over Ameri-Towne parts and scrap materials.  Named after a friend.

I don't create elaborate, themed layouts for Xmas or Halloween. And I've never been big into Halloween decorating of the house, and yard. However, this year I had been talking with hubby Tom and thinking of us setting up a temporary, small Halloween theme O loop on 2 card tables and plywood on the front porch, where we would sit next to it and pass out candy this Halloween night. But due to Covid, etc. our neighborhood assoc is asking all to cancel trick-or-treating directly and have lights out.

So I decided to create the small layout in the foyer for purely mine and Tom's amusement anyway.

Went today to a Dollar Store, a Dollar General, and Walgreeens to look for some small, not expensive items.  Found some cute little things.

Going to use my prewar Lionel 600 series freight cars, my two modern era Lionel Halloween cars, but undecided on what engine yet. Maybe the MTH AT&SF  + 605 tender that smokes real well. Maybe the grey repainted prewar 249e and matching tender. One freight car, the tipple car will have candy corn in it. Maybe I'll look for black licorice pieces for the hopper.

Will create a Fastrack oval loop of O-36 curves and a couple of straights, that I'll pull off the still being built Upstairs O Gauge Layout. Have a white tablecloth to skirt the card tables, and will add a bit of assorted train ground cover materials.

Here's the start:

Did some snow weathering, LC+ DL&W Hudson 1151 with K-line 15" Heavyweights.

Congratulations on your cute daughter. Maybe a future Engineer of Conductor?

I had been considering getting one of those lionel hot air balloon rides for my layout, but i've been reading about all the problems people were having with them, so I came across decorative hot air balloons which i've wired with flickering LEDs 1 for the burner, 2 on the inside of the balloon to show light cast by the burners.  This one is temporarily suspended off a bridge on my layout since the hill over which i want to put it is under-construction.  I did a video at "train sunset" light levels and at full bright....

@Jstewart204 posted:

I ran some trains this morning with my daughter, she is 11 days old today. Its her first time running trains with me. I think she liked it 😊.

WOW! Beautiful early Christmas present.

Scott V great job with the flickering LEDs and the balloon. I may have to try that with the one I have.

After 8 years of being in a box my Shark has seen the light of day again and after a light lube job runs smooth as ever.

Got a little more done on one corner I need more trees

@leapinlarry posted:

Gandydancer, amazing scene with the milk cars, great pictures, Wow, RSJB18 Bob, beautiful Diesel, your layout is so cool.... Thanks for all the beautiful pictures. I visited my friend DR. Jack, the pictures are of his awesome railroad, you can see his Milwaukee train videos on Mr. Muffins web site. Happy Railroading Everyone

Thank you leapinlarry....much appreciated!

Jstewart.204. Thanks for posting you're  new daughter and you're layout. It brings tears to my eyes as my daughter is now 38 and has three small children.  Time goes so fast. Cherish all those memories you can and take a lot of pictures. The ones on you're layout are super.  She is definitely  a blessing from God. Thanks for the post.

Mike g. Please don't  laugh at me but what do you mean by cooking dirt. I have never heard of this saying or term .

"Cooking dirt" -- unless i'm mistaken, Mike means exactly what he said. A number of us have used real dirt (more accurately sand), stone dust, etc. on our model railroads. When so doing it's advisable to heat in a 250+ degree oven for at least a half hour to kill any living matter in it. But then it's your home and what creatures you want to bring into it.

@Jstewart204 posted:

I ran some trains this morning with my daughter, she is 11 days old today. Its her first time running trains with me. I think she liked it 😊.

Get a little pink train hat.  And then take a selfie picture of you and her with that train hat in front of your trains.  My daughter, now 14, has given me crap about the same picture since she was 3 or 4 and I am a proud dad rebuffing her complaints every day. To this date it is my favorite picture.  Enjoy her every day as every dad here can attest!

Having a floor layout makes it hard to hide wiring. I had some really ugly wiring in the front of my switch yard so decided to put up some fencing to see it that would help. Definite improvement.

Did some refurbishment on my ZW R, new cord, repaired the buss bar to the U terminals and a general clean up.  Needs a new roller on the right side throttle pretty badly, so that will be on my next parts order.  Then added a transformer shelf to the layout edge so I could move the ZW back away from the track some.  Next up is to run some wire to a few lights and get them going off one of the inner throttles.  AD

I've been in the mood to do some major work on the layout, but I've been so busy at my job that I haven't had the time (or energy).

I did tune up my MPC era F-units and they're running great. Now if my wife would just give me some more space for the layout...

Cold weather in north Minnesota at 32 degree, grab opportunity worked on ballast at north side of C&NW’s Central Division layout on double main lines. Just applied glue/water on it.

Nothing picture-worthy but I did create some more deep & wide shelves in my workshop to store a few more engine/sets.  Also unpacked the rest of my boxes

of train stuff,  fun to rediscover what you have !  Off work Monday so I will squeeze in some more train time !

Replaced the fisheye portholes windows on my one-off Gulf, Mobile & Ohio PW F-3A unit with P&D Hobby O scale units previously painted by Christine Braden to dolor match the red stripe.  Doing so required the holes to be enlarged 2mm or so--a very risky undertaking for my hands of stone. 

Also replaced the P&D Hobby O scale portholes I'd previously installed with silver edges with red ones painted by Christine on the companion F-3B unit.

Comparison photos to follow.

Shooting more video...

Christmas is coming early this year, my son is graduating from Nuclear Command Power Training School in three weeks. I will only have a few days with him before he ships out to a Aircraft Carrier or Submarine for the next four years. Given my current medical condition, I don't know when I will be able to do this again.

First picture is Pocono 1643 waiting for the signal to go green, going to pass a closed Jim's train shop with a big gone fishing sign.

Second picture is Hudson 1151 taking on water at East Stroudsburg.

Third picture is Hudson 1151 about to climb the Pocono Mountain just after passing Analomink, Pa.

1643 is still waiting for the green.

Pete, all the photographs are looking great!!

Congratulations to your son, and I thank him for committing to serve our country for so long!!!!  I hope you have a great visit with him and he is kept from harms way the next 4 years!

Western Auto trailers.

Great work everyone!

Lee wonderful video and Pete great photos! Please let your son know we thank him for his service and for you bringing him up to respect his country!

Well I made it to Menards today and will post photos in what did you buy lately. Was a good trip and the CEO got some things for the layout also!

I hope everyone is doing well and having fun!

Mike, I thought of you this morning and said a prayer for your safety on your trip!  It sounds like you did well at Menards!  I'll look forward to seeing what you got when you return home.

Thanks Mark, we had a safe but slippery drive here. I sure hope it's a safe drive home! I posted photos of my haul from Menards on another thread, buy anything cool lately!

Shared time with my grandson and our wonderful hobby.....

Added a slow red, LED flasher from Evan Designs to the top of my Lionel Sand Tower. Drilled a hole through the top of the Sand Tower about the diameter of the lens, but less than the lip of the lens. Put a little CA glue around the lip and pushed it up into the hole from the bottom and applied some accelerator to secure it in place.

Ran the wires down the back of the far leg so they don't show and secured them to the leg with CA glue and accelerator. I had pre-drilled a hole in the layout to run the wires through and did that before pushing the 4 legs securely into the foam. (Note: this Lionel Sand Tower comes from the factory with the 4 legs attached to a flat metal base so you can just place it on the layout and run track on top of the metal base and through the tower. Since my whisker tracks were already laid and ballasted, I couldn't do that, so I carefully removed the legs from the metal base and spaced them out evenly from the sides of the track.)

The flasher has a built-in resistor in the wires so it can run off 10-19 AC volts, which is convenient, so I just hooked it up to my 18acv track power distribution board and it starts working as soon as I apply track power.

One other note - the flasher flashes red, but the lens is clear. I wanted the lens to be red so it would show up even while off and painted it prior to installation with Tamiya Clear Red, so the lens appears red when off, but is "translucent" enough so it does not substantially diminish the brightness of the LED light. 

@gandydancer1950 posted:

Shared time with my grandson and our wonderful hobby.....

Aaah yes, the best of times...... enjoy it, they grow awfully quick!

George

Working on a petite Halloween theme layout, just 4ft x 6 ft. Today I found some orange sheer, sparkle fabric for cheap at Walmart  to cover the bare plywood. I love this look! Very uh, Ginger Rogers! Sparkle is my Superpower Bits and bobs seen on the table have been procured from Dollar General, the Dollar Store and Walgreens. The large wooden sign came form Michaels. Going to run this repro Std Gauge small set, and and an O train too. Ordered a loop of Std. Gauge track from USA Track, it already on its way. The O loop will be tubular. A few Lemax and Dept 56 items are on their way to flesh out the layout.

Looking good Carey! Good thing you aren't going overboard 😂😂😂

Resumed sanding the two LIONEL offset 15" aluminum domes for my NP NCL project that I'd previously painted, but decided they needed a "do over."  Will apply another primer coat and hope that's all the surface prep necessary for smooth sides and roofs.

Sent two more domes off to Christine Braden for her to paint to match.