yard work

Well done! Nice scene!

Peter

Very nice.

that looks fantastic!

I does look phenomenally good.  It makes me almost hurt because - difficult as it was - I gave up my yard five years ago when I needed more room for downtown.  I do miss the yard and really wish I had room for that.  

Just really spectacular, nostalgic railroad look to it.  

gandydancer,

    Great stuff, I really like the Yard, the Yard Crane in the background is simply fantastic also!

PCRR/Dave

I love yards.And yours is amazing.I think it is more interesting to see yard activity then to see my trains running on my main lines.Thanks for the pics.Nick

You know Gandy, when I first read your title, I thought, I can relate to that.  I'm still cleaning up after winter's ravages, and now, new plants have arrived to replace the old plants that still need to be extricated from the ground.  OOOPS, then I realized I was on the Forum, and your post had a whole different meaning.  And well it did.  Great job and equally great pictures depicting your work.  Bob S. 

Very well done.

Gandydancer,

Here I thought you were going to write that you don't have time for trains because you had too much work do do outdoors in that yard.  What a pleasant surprise!  Looks to me like you get an A+ for your indoor yard work!!  

Great job. Love your track work.

Can you tell me where you got your Texaco sign, been looking for one.

Thank for posting.

JohnJr

the one on top of the building was an HO billboard that I found on e-bay. The tall one I made myself. Thanks for the compliments.

Ingenuity at work! Super yard.

Brent

And here I thought you were mired up in real "yard work"!

Lol! Real yard work too, I'm just not that talented!

TheDandelions are winning in my front & back yards.

Time to cut the grass - short.

Model Trains, have no dandelions.

Gary

That's great looking. Maybe a good topic for a summertime weekly photo post! I too love indoor yard work.

I never could figure out why we fight dandelions.  They aren't really bad looking.  They grow everywhere there is bare ground.  They don't use fertilizer, they don't need to be watered, and they come back every year.  I think they look 100% better than my moss crop in the front yard.  

Here's my indoor yard work.

Heres my outdoor yard work.

You and I both especially since indoor yard work is easier on my allergies!

Looks great! Very nice job! 

Gandy, your layout is such a perfect example of the real, original definition of hi-rail. It's not the scale size of the trains, but the setting that they are placed in. I love how you've taken common, ordinary Lionel accessories that many people have, but have placed them in a realistically modeled setting, with little added touches of detail - it makes all the difference between ordinary and spectacular.

I showed some novices some photos of precision scale sized trains running on a bare board train layout along with some of your photos and asked "which looks more realistic?" The answer was your layout.

And what a great touch that Lionel MPC Erie Lackawanna box car is in the last photo, turned into that storage shed.

I can tell the K-Line S-2 in the second photo is a custom repaint. One touch I do to mine, is to place some self-adhesive weights under the metal steps on each end of the engine and then to place some custom-made end plates (out of plastic) on each end of the loco, to cover the open gap. There was an article in OGR years ago where someone did the same, only using brass. Plastic works just as well and I can also place some safety striping on them for an added touch of detail.

I appreciate your compliments very much! My goal has always been to just try to put ordinary, everyday toy trains into as realistic setting as I could. Thanks!

Brian,

i agree with your comments.  Gandydancer has done a great job as you said!  After being in HO and N scales for over 40 years, I was tired of the rivet counters, etc.  I find the true meaning of hi rail refreshing.

Gandydancer,

I hope to build a layout in the way you have built yours.  Realistic setting is more important to me than exact scale trains.  I want the overall effect as Brian pointed out.  Thanks for posting these and other photos in the past!

Thank you very much. The great thing about this hobby is we all learn from each other.

You are so right, and this is the best place I have seen for learning from each other in over 45 years of trains!

Wow look's great, love the realism!!!!!!!!

Thanks

Alex

Thanks for the compliment!