I hope you had a good HOllOweeN last night. See what I did there, HO, O and N scale in the word Halloween. Yeah? Okay moving on.... I am still in celebration mood as my Red Sox won the World Series at Fenway Thursday night. Since moving to the midwest, I have enjoyed watching the Cardinals but I have been a tried and true Red Sox fan through thick and thin, good and bad ever since I was a kid. So it goes without saying, nothing got done when the World Series was on. No trains this weekend as I work my last model airplane show of 2013. Starting today I'll be in a golf dome working for the magazine and maybe getting a flight or two in. Next weekend I will still be working for the company but for RMC and Railfan. I hope to get more done on my modules before they go up there. So how about you? What plans do you have on the work bench or layout for this weekend? It's November already, how many club open houses or shows are happening this weekend? Let us know, we'll be back on Monday the 4th to see how we all did. Until then, have a happy and safe weekend and... ​High Greens!
Likewise, I'm smiling at the Sox victory. I haven't done much trainwise during the week, just a few window installations in the tannery. I want to get a few more selective windows in, and then I will Dull-Coat the buildings. Mostly, I want to do that before the windows go in, but there are a few spots where I want to Dull-Coat the windows, too. The structures won't have full interiors, so having transluscent windows that will show interior lighting without revealing the emptiness inside is a trick I'm going to use. But, November is upon us, and with that the beginning of Train Show Season in New England. There's a Greenberg show in a couple of weeks, and the NMRA Hub Division show in early December. In between, we've got the Tour de Chooch on Thanksgiving weekend. "Le Tour" is a free, self-guided expedition to a lot of home layouts whose owners have graciously agreed to show to visitors. In the meantime, I'll be plugging away on the tannery, and perhaps getting back to a couple of Tichy boxcar kits which have languished for months. Those have complex brake gear assemblies which require wire-cutting and bending, and likely tweezers to put the parts together.
I'm rebuilding a part of the main freight yard on my layout with help from my friend Barstow Rick, creating an arrival/departure track, caboose tracks, run-around, and yard lead, so during Operations Nights one can switch the yard and not interfere with mainline operations (except when crossing over to the engine facilities on the other side of the main, where the cabooses are now spotted). I'm on cab-control DC; here is a snapshot with track roughly laid in place temporarily; the C-70 track and switches are on its way. Another issue I have with this plan is trains arriving from the West into the A/D track, will find its engine trapped unless either the engine goes out onto the mainline and backs down to the engine facilities, or waits in place until the yard switcher pulls the rest of the train off it. Constructive criticism is always welcome! John
Having a party this weekend, so had to move 'the train stuff' off the kitchen table last night (the table's huge and the layout is tiny - there was still room to eat) back down into the basement where I hope it's not forgotten. But trains are on hold for at least a day. Hoping on Sunday to finish wiring up the little control panel I made and perhaps try the lunatic decoder install I've mentioned in another thread. Also need to fix a section of track on my little roundy-round 'chainsaw layout.' One of my curves got too aggressive coming off a turnout . . .
This week I actually got a lot done and have plans for next week already in action. This week I had an extra day off from work so I installed the DCC panels on my fascia. Ordered the crimper to make loconet cables, preparing to run electricity to the panels. I also started to transfer the track plan. I pulled a switch and some track out and starting to get an idea on how it all fits together. Need to get a 4% grade (prefer 3) kit. The 2 won't work. Time to hit the LHS next week. Also need to buy some more electronics so as to break the layout into power subdistrticts. Still need to finish a structure kit I started over a week ago. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Well, i'm working this week-end ... But I'll do a small project load several John Deere like this: On some flat cars like this : I'll use some extra thin copper wire to simulate the chains that hold the tractors to the deck of the cars. Have a nice week-end.
Continuation of last weekend. Packed more freight cars and supplies. I also constructed some experimental benchwork. Going to price 1x4's and shelf brackets today, get an idea of what to do if I go this direction. So tired of my stuff sitting and sitting, I'm thinking about building a 4" shelf layout around the walls of my 24'x 24' garage. It is an uninsulated garage with a gravel floor, so this is a relatively primitive running-only layout with no scenery. Obviously I'll only be able to run in spring and fall with my less valuable equipment (athearn nb, bachmann, etc) while the good stuff (Atlas, branchline, etc) stays in boxes.
Pat, certainly look into the shelf layout method. Fellow TB member W.Neal and I are working on 4 foot X 18 inch modules that will connect at shows (Mainly Galesburg) and will show the Galesburg Division in the late 1960's. At shows they will stand on there own legs, at home I can have them in my office on a rack system usually designed for book shelves. I have abandoned the 4X6 table as I can't get away from the toy like roundy round, so both my CB&Q switching module and my B&M Potter Place module will be 4'X18", leaving a lot more room in my office. Also, pick up a book by Ian Rice, the master of modeling in small spaces, Shelf Layouts for Model Railroads. Great book with many project layouts and ideas.
