Weekend Update 9/23/2012

[kelticsylk]

My weekend ran a little long. Thought I'd share this "Thomas" train my grandson got for his third birthday...

 

The Trackmaster version of the Pennsy K4s named "Hank"

[sirenwerks]

Spent an entertaining afternoon at Ed's, each of us taking turns running loops on the floating foam layout.  Here Laurel Valley 1801 moves some new stone hoppers along the main line...



Lee

The Laurel Valley - now with daily service to New Mexico!

[nkalanaga]

"The Laurel Valley - now with daily service to New Mexico!"  Why not?  They bought a shortline out there and are operating it as a detached division.  It worked for Genesee and Wyoming...

[sirenwerks]

"The Laurel Valley - now with daily service to New Mexico!"  Why not?  They bought a shortline out there and are operating it as a detached division.  It worked for Genesee and Wyoming...

Another in-joke derailed. I'm batting 0 these days.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Another in-joke derailed. I'm batting 0 these days.

Lol... some people don't read the layout updates section.

[PGE-N°2]

Any extra hobby time this week was spent testing and trying to learn various weathering techniques.  I have never weathered rolling stock before so this was both a challenge and also a very pleasant surprise.  I know I shouldn’t be surprised but I was astonished at the difference very simple weathering made to the appearance of not only the equipment but also the layout.  I weathered 20 box cars in total trying to replicate the look from prototype photos of those same cars I found on the web. As you can see it was easy for me to overdo it but by the end I got back to something a bit more subtle.  Only 350 cars and 30 locos to go!

Mark, the weathering looks great, but let me get this straight... You have ONLY 350 cars and 30 locos?

I'm amazed at such self restraint.

[John]

Mark, the weathering looks great, but let me get this straight... You have ONLY 350 cars and 30 locos?

I'm amazed at such self restraint.

thats not so odd .. I have 40 locos, and 450 cars

[Kisatchie]

thats not so odd .. I have 40 locos, and 450 cars

I have 0 locos and 1970 cars. I have a BIG layout planned for some day.


Hmm... not today...

[mark dance]

Mark, the weathering looks great, but let me get this straight... You have ONLY 350 cars and 30 locos?

I'm amazed at such self restraint.

No such thing unfortunately. 

I have 430 cars on the layout with 60 of those in the on-layout stroage yard plus another 70 or so in off-layout storage.  I also have 70 locos of which 12 are already weathered.  But I only use ~350 cars and 40+ locos during an ops session.  I have a big invitational ops session coming up in Sept 2013 (Vanrail 2013) and weathering the rolling stock needed for a session is one of 3 big deliverables I would like to achieve by then.

And then of course there is my HOn30 stuff...

md

[nkalanaga]

Ed:  No, I don't, but I seem to remember him posting some scenery pictures in the weekend update a while back that were compared to Mars.  If so, I commented on that one as well, since the scenery also resembled southeast Washington, where I grew up.  I did get the joke, but also have a habit of trying to find logical explanations for unusual models or practices.  That looks so much like some parts of the West that, with a little more work, mostly ballasting, it could be a finished scene.

[PGE-N°2]

Oh good, that's reassuring. I was worried you might be something slightly more sophisticated than the typical totally obsessed model railroader with far too many locomotives and rolling stock than he can ever use.

At least the good thing with the weathering, is it will add individuality to all the same number boxcars in N scale.

No such thing unfortunately. 

I have 430 cars on the layout with 60 of those in the on-layout stroage yard plus another 70 or so in off-layout storage.  I also have 70 locos of which 12 are already weathered.  But I only use ~350 cars and 40+ locos during an ops session.  I have a big invitational ops session coming up in Sept 2013 (Vanrail 2013) and weathering the rolling stock needed for a session is one of 3 big deliverables I would like to achieve by then.

And then of course there is my HOn30 stuff...

md

[cv_acr]

Mark, the weathering looks great, but let me get this straight... You have ONLY 350 cars and 30 locos?

I'm amazed at such self restraint.

I've got almost 250 cars and I don't have a layout yet.

Of course someday I will, and I'll need those cars, plus another dozen different car types that will require a fair bit of kitbashing and scratchbuilding, so until I have the opportunity to build the dream layout, I'll just have to work on equipment modelling so I have something to run when I build the layout.

Oh, and I'm doing a bunch of custom bashes that will be in service on my club layout.

[up1950s]

I've got almost 250 cars and I don't have a layout yet.

Of course someday I will, and I'll need those cars, plus another dozen different car types that will require a fair bit of kitbashing and scratchbuilding, so until I have the opportunity to build the dream layout, I'll just have to work on equipment modelling so I have something to run when I build the layout.

Oh, and I'm doing a bunch of custom bashes that will be in service on my club layout.

You guys are pikers . They have to invent more numbers so I can count how big of an I am .