We're back from a weekend of trains! How did your weekend go? As promised, I was able to finish all the legs and get all six modules standing on their own by Friday afternoon. Now all that is left for me to do is to wait for two pieces of track to come in and I can start laying the items that make up the mainline run on my three modules. My bud from MI comes down this coming weekend to get his modules ready, so once my track gets in, I'll be busy getting the next step done before Friday. Saturday was cold and overcast but my N scale club had a great time at the Monticello RR Museum. It was the last weekend of the 2014 year for steam and for only $14.00, you could ride the newly restored Southern Railroad 2-8-0 locomotive. While any chance to ride on a steam train is a great one, truly the highlight of my weekend was getting to operate the museum's restored Milwaukee Road NW2 switcher! One club member had the opportunity to run her out of the shop and I got the opportunity to park her back inside. I was all smiles after that knowing now I can say I have truly operated in all scales from Z to 1:1! Sunday I worked on getting the office cleaned up and ready for my modules and took it easy. All around, a productive and great weekend! So how about you? What items got marked off your to-do list? Track? Scenery? Structures? Whatever your list had you do, let us know! We'll come back here again on Friday the 24th and do it all over again. Until then, have a great week and... ​High Greens!
I guess this was our "Transition" weekend. It started out as summer, with a high near 80 on Saturday, but Sunday was in the 50s and it was very close to a frost last night. But, good modeling weather, as we say. I got started Friday evening with the first pour of Envirotex. By Saturday afternoon it was hard to the touch, so I added some field grass and "logs" to the scene. Sunday was the second pour. I was planning on 3 pours, but it looks like 2 will be enough. I'll still have to add some static grass before I'm ready to glue the track down and ballast it. Somewhere along the way, I decided to name this body of water "Squirrel Creek" because it's a little rocky. Supply and demand isn't working for me. I had hoped to pick up Atlas rail joiners and some bi-color LEDs, but neither was in stock at my LHS. I got some Peco joiners, but they are really too small and must be individually opened up with a screwdriver. I did get the flex track, but I'll hold off on any more installation until I can get some Atlas joiners. Trying to force those Peco joiners over Atlas track involves too many sharp edges, and I'm fortunate I didn't turn my fingers into a bloody mess getting them on. But, of course, there is plenty of other work. I soldered all the connections to my Tortoises, so I've now got the frogs powered in the yard throat. Later, I restored the landscaping to the old corner of the layout that leads to the bridge, where I had to reconfigure the track to get the elevation right. I ballasted the lead track as well, so it looks almost good.
MisterBeasley, Your bridge scene is starting to look good. I don't supose there might be a scale "Bullwinkle" wandering the creek bed in your modeling future?
That's not a bad idea! This fellow is currently homeless, as I removed this section of scenery when I added another section to my layout. Hope he likes static grass.
I went to the OVAR flea market on Sunday, in Ottawa, and I didn't walk away disappointed. Among a gaggle of freight cars, I think my prize catch is this one: From my searches, it's a 1950's era Laconia kit. It's surprisingly well detailed in the print on the sides. It just seemed beautiful to me, lying on the vendor's table. There's something about stuff from that era that's attractive to me.
