What did you do on your layout today?

The only problem we've had with our Ross turnouts (50 of them I think) has been some adjustment of the points on a few, and failures of the ZStuff switch motors.  They are persnickety and if not operated frequently don't want to function properly.  Also found if they are screwed down too tightly they don't like to work.  They sort of need to float but still be secure.  They like the 14v from the Z4000.

I didn't do this today, I did it Sunday, but didn't get the pictures ready until now.  I just made it getting Phase 1 of my temporary layout running before going to bed for an early morning visit to the hospital to get scar tissue from 20 year old carpal tunnel surgery removed from my left wrist.  He also removed some cartilage, arthritis, and other bad tissue.  Actually it doesn't feel too bad today but I am on pain medication too.  Guess what, in another month or so, I get to go back and have some more fun that time on the right wrist.

 

Anyway, the last of the track arrived just in time Saturday, but the Woodland Scenics grass mat was leaning against the front door when we got home from the hospital.  lol

 

Here are the pictures.

 

 

Used the Dremel to enlarge the portholes on 3 PW F3 A units and a B unit to accept scale portholes.  Then added the third porthole to the B unit using my new, $11, Amazon LED calipers to center the additional porthole.

 

Ordered yet more detail parts from P&D Hobby. 

Hope all that goes well for you Mark. At least you got a good start there to have some fun with

 

Larry

Nothing yet! I haven't returned home from my night at work. I slept over for the "terrible" snow blizzard that was supposed to cover us with 15 inches.The mayor shut the whole city down and the Governor shut down the State Highways.

 

Even so there was a kid who froze to death sledding!

 

I remember in the 60's living in Long Island a three foot snow storm used to happen every year, back then it was called "winter"!

 

Mike Maurice

Today was a SNOW day for me so I went to the local Lumberyard and purchased some 1x4x8 Pine Boards. ALL boards are Glued and screwed from the back.

 

I needed some more room for my trains to be Shelf Queens while I am still working on the Hobo Village and a few more areas. So I  built this today.

Each shelf is 4 1/2 high by 6 feet long.

The bottom shelf is the only one at 5 inches high.

Not sure if I am going to paint it the same color as the walls or stain it the same color as the moldings in the room ?

Here are a few pictures.

 

Thank you Larry!  Yes, it is enough to run a train a bit and not crawl on the floor.

Choo Choo Kenny:  A friend of mine had home care for her mother, and it wasn't what

aids took out, it was what they brought in.....bed bugs! Cost a grand to deinfest.

Further comment on those would be political and involve DDT.

My "enhanced" feedmill now has all walls and most of the roof underlays on there,

so it looks like a building.  Since all else has not failed, my not following the directions

and using big box home store wood as bracing has not yet been a problem.

 

Said "Hi" to my UPS guy, and thanked him for delivering the $200 in tools and supplies to do the $20 repair.  Hobby math, again.

Well I put an MTH engine on the track that had been sitting on the shelf for 3 or 4 months.  I pushed the start button on the DCS remote and up pops "Check Track" "Engine Not On Track."  I try recovering the engine, with a response along the lines of No Engine To Recover.  I tried adding an engine, with the response of No Engine To Add.  I cleaned the wheels and the pickup rollers and put it on a short section of track on my workbench.  I tried to start it again, with the same messages coming up on the remote.  When I would power the track, I wasn't hearing the solenoid click.  I checked continuity between all the wheels and between all the rollers, which checked OK.  I then pulled off the shell and looked for loose wires.  There were none.  The 3RL-2RL and polarity switches were in their correct positions.  I checked for voltage on the boards where all the red wires connect, none registered on the DMM.  I checked the 3RL-2RL switch toggled it back and forth.  Tried to start it again to no avail.  Come to find out the 3RL-2RL switch was defective.  I tried contact cleaner first and then had to remove it from it's mount and shove a stiff wire in from the side and got it to make contact, remounted the switch and she started up just fine. 

 

Larry

I have 5 loops of track on my layout-4 O gauge tubular and one S gauge Gargraves. Have 3  S gauge steamers and a nice GP7 diesel. All run pretty good but the S gauge jut  doesn't have the pizzazz that the O Lionel has. Thinking about taking out the S gauge ad putting in another loop of O.  Would I regret it ??  I know the S gaugers wouldn't like it but I would like to maximize the use of my layout.  Suggestions ??

Larry,

I've had that problem, then it finally works.  I haven't opened it up to look, it started working.  I will keep this in mind.

Brian, Paint the shelving white. It will make the colors of your trains pop out.

 

It's been a while since I last posted here, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the layout.

 

I've laid out the switches for the Ford Plant.

 

 

With that done, the rest is really academic.

 

 

I've also been carving the roadbed profile into the fiberboard.

 

 

The brown stuff cuts easily with a sharp knife, the black, not so much.

 

 

I've started the Roseville branch up the hill.

 

 

This has been rather difficult because of the confined space under the soffit.

 

 

Jon was here today and we worked on wiring the upper deck. Unlike many of you here, I don't thread wires through holes in the benchwork.

 

 

 I hang it from loops along the bottom of the wood.

 

 

12 gauge bus wires are hung for half the upper deck. 

 

 

Now the feeders from the rails just need to be connected to them. Big job!

 

 

Still a few days left this month. So far so good.

 

Elliot,

Looking good!  I too hang wires like you do and don't drill holes through the wood.  Either way is fine.  One of those 'do whatever works for you' items.

Thanks Mark. Actually, I learned that from an electrical engineer, that you don't want to build your wires into the benchwork. It is much easier to make changes this way.

Got most roof underlays on the elevator, so it looks like a building, and the dormer for

the roof of the store portion is ready for its small roof.  A large country store kit floated in, which I thought would be one of the last of two I was looking for in kits, but

another popped up, so I am still looking for two  (unless somebody offers something

else...good thing this is not HO with all those Fine Scale and other elaborate structure

kits available)

Excellent work Elliot

Was wondering where you found the light brown fiberboard? I have only seen the black or asphalt coated fiberboard here at menards. Been looking for light brown cause the black gets all over everything eh

Thanks Chad

If its just loops, Id leave it in, and grin.

What size steam engines? Types of cars? Is a narrow gauge line feasible to you? Or "semi-narrow" like D&H?

 Run it as an El, set back for selective compression. Even raising the O would work.(I assume the S is the outer loop) Or if your going all out, a hidden loop, with the smaller scale only being seen along an elevated horizon line, is a very cool use of the concept to achieve a look of it being off in the distance.

 .     

Thanks Chad. Over the last 12 years or so, I bought all the fiberboard from Menards. They just keep getting different stuff, at least 4 different variations. The brown is some of the oldest. I think it has a black side which I put down. More recently, I got a batch that had the black coating on both sides, and the coating was thick. It really messes up the knife blades.

My 5 loops are just concentric with minimal scenery. Have buildings along the back wall, a "yard" with about 18 Lionel engines lined up-all the way from the big turbines and a Berkshire to an 0-4-0 switcher. The #3 loop is S gauge. My#1 track are my favorite freight cars, #2 track is for anything, including pre-war, #3 S gauge, and #4 are my older Lionel operating cars, and #5  which are my oldest  post war cars mostly 1945-46. I was thinking of taking the S gauge out and using the track to run my pre-war trains. 

To Brian Esso on shelves -  like Jim B said, "white to make the train colors pop" (depending, of course on your RR colors), or, just paint it to blend in with the walls. I've found this to "more tastefully" (?) accents the RR items.

 

Wally

To Jim Pastorius on S gauge:  we, at our club multi-gauge layout, tried to include S-gauge; we purchased American Models track with one crossover on a flat surface. None of our old stuff navigates the 30° X-over successfully; the new stuff is O.K. We even extended the length of the pickups so as to clear the open frog area to no avail. The Am Models track is solid brass and scaled/gauged correctly.

 

Wally

Stripped the paint off the last three LIONEL 15" aluminum passenger shells to be used for a Great Northern Empire Builder paint project; and, then primed them. 

 

The plastic parts have already been primed. 

 

Late night edit:  Found the critical $3.00 part (for a full vista dome car) that was MIA a couple of months ago.

Coming along nicely. Looking for ideas for my new layout. Thanks for sharing the photos.

Sent from my iPad

Finished off a two day project of making a new slightly longer drawbar for the upgraded to Proto2 Cab Forward.  The original one was too short with the new plug and was rubbing it causing it to disconnect when going around curves and through a double crossover.  Had to carve it out of sheet brass.  What a PIA!  But it works fine now.

Found two bags of stuff bought at two shows that were forgotten about:  1/43rd trucks

and structure detail parts.  Glued together intricate awining support frameworks for

this elevator, and the bucket house for top of elevator.

Hi If you intended posting a picture showing this, it didn't show on my screen, for some reason - love to see it.

FrankM

To Pingman and others;  How and what did you use to strip the paint? did you neutralize the stripper? I'm getting ready to refinish some Lionel ribbed streamliners with appropriate plastic-compatible paint, but I want to be sure I've prepared properly.

 

Wally

I did my yearly run of every diesel I own, just to be able to say "I did run them this year".  

Specifically, what passenger cars are you doing; I'm not familiar with "ribbed streamliners."  The cars I stripped are LIONEL 15" aluminum, early '90's vintage.  For PW F3's, Easy Off works well as does trisodium phosphate.

 

After stripping, whatever the item and product used, a good wash with mild dishwasher detergent, thorough rinsing, and disposable gloves when subsequently handling the item works fine for me.  But, there are far more experienced painters on the forum than I whose work is superior to mine.

Installed 22uh chokes in LM2596 AC-DC buck converters preparatory to installing LED lighting in LIONEL 15" aluminum cars.  And ordered some neat male/female mini connectors to deal with wiring the cars w/o compromising the ability to disassemble them in the future if I can figure out how to install interiors in them. 

 

Used Tamiya putty for the first time to fill-in the vents on a LIONEL PW F3 B unit--the prototype never had them; the Tamiya product was surprisingly viscous.  Will use it later, probably tonight, to fill in gaps around the brass, scale number boards being installed in 3 PW LIONEL F3 A units.

 

Also, sanded the roofs of two F3 A cabs where the LIONEL horns were located preparatory to installing brass horns.

Here is what I have been up to one handed so to speak after surgery Monday to remove cartilage and scar tissue from 20 year old carpal tunnel surgery.  I thought this little project could be done this winter while facing 2 surgeries.

 

It is my Phase 1 of the layout described in OGR Run 275 by Ken Hoganson.  I will cut in two more turnouts for the inside loop and then a couple of sidings later when funds permit buying the extra Fastrack switches.  I have an MTH NYC Hudson upgraded to PS2 on the point of the freight.  And yes, I am getting used to the DCS system, and love it so far.  I show a variety of freight cars by MTH, Lionel, Atlas-O, and Weaver.

 

i had my MTH N&W Y6b on the track, and it makes it around the curves fine.  Then I threw a drive rod, and had to get my daughter to help me switch locomotives.  I recovered the parts, but see I will have to wait for the hand to heal some more before I can put it back together.  I guess while I am at it I should check the thing over before running again.

 

Please note in the last frame the Woodland Scenics Ethyl's Service Station is under new ownership.  It is being renamed Patrick's in honor of Patrick H, because I purchased it from him when he tore down his fabulous layout.  Patrick was sharp enough to notice that I live about an hour from him, and invited me to two open houses where I met the wonderful guys from the Pittsburgh area.  Thanks Patrick!!

 

 

Good job Mark! I struggle with 2 hands. Keep up the good work and enjoy!

Sent from my iPad

Thank you, Donna!

I have been working on a new mountain and homemade cell phone tower. I started painting it this week and hope to finish soon.

Have a great weekend,

David

Started working on a new roof for a Lionel silver passenger car in the 2400 series. Bought it as a roofless shell, added a truck and made a roof out of wood. Originally an Observation car so I made the tapered roof. Then I found a nice Observation car, heap, so didn't need the first one. Couldn't throw it away so squared off the back end and the roof  but wasn't happy with it.  So tonight I started making a new roof. Just throwing it away would save me a lot of work but it is a challenge. Three shows coming up this month and I will see a dozen factory roofs.

Doing wiring after work. Still trying to get my new MTH GN 4-8-4  with PS3to not cut out on my Ross switches. Looks like this engine has the pick up rollers way too close together. Otherwise having fun.

 

Congratulations, Jim!  Your post starts page 100!!