Another weekend is in the books, how did you do? I ran my Northern Line in N, one last time Saturday morning before boxing up the rolling stock and locomotive. A few hours later and the layout was ready for transport. Not much else other than pack a truck and get ready for my return home. How about you? Did you accomplish everything you had planned? Let us know and post pictures of your progress. We'll do it again this Friday, May 4th. ​High Greens!
Glad to see you moving back to be with those you love, Jim, and taking your trains with you. Windows, windows and more windows for me. Painting them (DPM townhouse,) glazing them (Cornerstone background building) and washing them (well, what's a weekend without a honey-do list?) The brickwork was already painted and mortared on Brother Elias's Last Chance Mission, so I sat down with paints and brushes in a brightly-lit spot and did the concrete trim and the window frames. The shutters and doors are still to be done. Next, I used Canopy Cement to glaze the large, multi-paned windows on what will be the Drosophila & Melanogaster Wholesale Fruit Warehouse. I cut off pieces from a coffee stirrer to "board up" a few of the window panes. I like Canopy Cement for this. It results in a nice clear window, but it's not flat so the resulting lens distortion makes it impossible to see through, the perfect thing for a building with lights but no interior detail. I also got to the Shamrock Hotel, so named because that's the name on the animated Miller Engineering sign I picked up. I added interior details and put it on the layout to test the appearance. I need to put some people inside the structure, and I will likely replace the roof. I've found that thin styrene tends to warp and curl when I use my favorite roof paint, Rustoleum black multicolored, textured spray. In contrast, a piece of foamboard holds its shape. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend for getting things done. At the end of the weekend, I even had time to cook up some Italian sausage, peppers and onions, surrounded by a circle of baked pasta shells stuffed with ricotta and mushrooms, garnished with fresh tomato and scallions. And after that, I went up to the train room and just ran some trains, enjoying the dark silhouttes of hopper cars as they ran slowly by in front of the now-complete string of illuminated buildings and streetlamps of Beaver Street.
I was down at my towns museum Saturday to do some more work on the control drawer I installed last thursday on their layout. I also ran the layout for visitors for a couple of hours. I also made and installed a new relay board for the reversing module and switch control relays.
Modeling this wekend consisted of me unpacking the two BLMA N scale F89J's I got in the mail on Friday, setting up the hitches, and looking at them on the layout with trailers sitting on them. Otherwise it was a yardwork bonanza.
Thursday night, I drove two hours to Pittsburgh area and participated in an operating session at a friends house. Attended the NMRA Mid Central Region Convention in Green Tree on Friday and Saturday. Enjoyed the clinics and won two door prizes... an Accurail P&LE 2 bay hopper and a Chooch gondola load. Not much on the modeling front, but big plans for my two rolling mill kits!
