Weekend Update 12/25/16

[up1950s]

[Joetrain59]

Very, very nice Richie. Thank you, and right back at you!
 Joe D

[mu26aeh]

I gave myself a present to myself.  As of Dec 27th, I will college loan debt FREE !!!!

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Not been posting much this year--transitioning from freelance writer at home (2010-15) to cubicle warrior (2016-) in San Francisco made modeling railroad time disappear.
But constantly lurking & watching all your wonderful a$$hat work!

But did find time to destroy the 30-year-old train table my dad & I build in late '80's & start a new one in November.
Wanted to finish before xmas but didn't.
Thus, no scenery:



Video:

More at Layout Engineering Reports here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=40741.msg505206#msg505206

Keep up all the fab model railroading work, & Happy Holidays all!

[Dave V]

I'm still on my post-brain surgery convalescent leave but was feeling well enough this week to tackle a few more projects on the Colorado Midland.

I finished the three miner's cabins for Aspen.  I haven't yet decided how I want them to sit.  I'd like some elevation variation though.







Started installing some line side details such as this switch stand so had to check side clearances:





And yes, I bought another locomotive for the Colorado Midland! In 1905 many of the railroad's locomotives still had Russia iron boiler jackets. I remember trying to do Russia iron boiler on an HO locomotive once and it didn't come out well, so when I saw this Baltimore & Ohio engine on eBay for a relative steal I couldn't resist. At some point I will re-letter it for the Colorado Midland and assign it a new road number. That air pump should also be painted black:



Some days I'm very disappointed with the progress I'm making on this layout...it's very slow.  But now and then I get a sense of some progress and what it will look like when done:



And a quick video of the back side of the layout you don't see much:

[Santa Fe Guy]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone.
Rod, down under and a day ahead LOL.

[rickb773]

Now that I am no longer constrained to wait for picture sign-offs, I got to start some long overdue improvements to the Camden Pavonia yards:
1) Lengthened the arrival lead (now holds 9 cars instead of 4).
2) Added an engine escape turnout between the yard leads (also effectively lengthens the yard leads).
3) Added a pair of turnouts to enable a 4th staging track to be located behind the viaduct (holds 24 tankers and enables us to add another turn (2 trains) to the operating schedule).



Anyone want to come over and paint ties and re-ballast? 

Next up I need to replace a Peco Electrofrog turnout that thinks it’s an Insulfrog in the other 3 track staging area (getting tired of dispatching 2 trains concurrently instead of 1 at a time).

[mandealco]

Hi and Merry Christmas to all on the Forum. 
To all my Northern hemispere friends, (not)dreaming of a white Christmas, seldom even snows here in the winter.

Having completed 3 of my Alco projects recently, I can justify starting another long thought about Alco.  The photo below isn't the new preject, though part of it is.  The photo shows what an Alco wide nose cab may have looked like.  We know what the MLW version looks like, but this is based on the proposed Alco C-636F cowl unit.  Not saying what the new project is, but not hard to guess.  The nose will fit better on it's new cab.

Cheers
Steve
NZ

[Angus Shops]

We sold our house. Which means a new railroad in the new house. Going from Vancouver to New Westminster. One of the deals made between myself and the Board of Director on the move is that I can claim as much of the basement as I want for the new layout (although there seems to be some push back on this already). The new house has 2 bedrooms in the basement that are not going to used as such; the wall between them can be removed to give me a space 11.5 X 32.5 feet. Headroom is a little low at 6.5 feet or maybe a little more. I'll probably end up with 11.5 X 26 feet, which is a little less than the existing layout room at 26 X 16 feet. However I'll be able to use all of the interior space in the new room, where I was only able to use the perimeter of the old room, although I'm not inclined to set out to fill the room with peninsulas and such.

I'll stick with the same general layout concept: 1958 Canadian Pacific in the Rockies, Golden to Field, in a 'nolix' 2 level arrangement. I'm going to move on to DCC for the new layout. I'm also going to make the new layout a bit more presentable and pay more attention to lighting, particularly the lower level, and photographic opportunities.

I'm intending to salvage what I can. The trackwork at Golden, Moberly, Field, and the staging yard includes 90% of all the (hand laid) turnouts. The layout wasn't built to be disassembled easily but I'm fairly confident that get these slabs of plywood out intact, although Field is too long to come out and move in one piece.

On the other hand... We're not intending to spend the rest of our lives in this house; I can retire in 8 years and we'll probably move again when this happens so I need to consider how much I can accomplish in 'only' 8 years.

Geoff

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've been making some progress on my layout, but the most photogenic stuff has been some railfanning. In the spirit of the season, here's the Middletown & Hummelstown's Santa Train from last Saturday, appropriately snowy.





\

Ironically, the snowy weather that made these photos so seasonally appropriate also torpedoed my plan to go shoot backdrop photos for my layout that day.

[sirenwerks]

Finally signing on our house on Tuesday.  Possessions arrive Friday and unpacking commences over the three day weekend.  While there are plenty of house projects to contend with in the next few months, I am hoping to unpack the trains and start a module in the very, very near future.  Thinking about a 24" version of the Modutrack standard for a bit more scenery depth and room for more industry.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Finally signing on our house on Tuesday.  Possessions arrive Friday and unpacking commences over the three day weekend.  While there are plenty of house projects to contend with in the next few months, I am hoping to unpack the trains and start a module in the very, very near future.  Thinking about a 24" version of the Modutrack standard for a bit more scenery depth and room for more industry.

Woo hoo! Congrats! I'm glad that's finally wrapping up for you.

Personally, if it's been a while, I'd recommend a door before tackling anything more ambitious. Baby steps hombre.

[pdx1955]

it's been on my list for a few years now , but I finally decided to order the 100' Diamond Scale turntable that I need to work toward completing the last major area of trackwork in the engine facility. I've been noticing that their ordering times have gotten more restrictive over the years. Its a good thing too, because that they told me that the person who makes them passed away in the last month, so it will be a bit longer to get it , but I'll get it. Nothing else will work that is commercially made (too short or long) and not too excited about scratching one of these.

Also been procuring detection items and signal equipment for the first interlocking installation along with assorted building parts (brick sheet, windows, etc) for a couple significant structures. I'll be well armed for a whole number of projects (course adding to the pile that I have already but these are the ones that I want to push ahead in the queue.)

[eja]

No pix at the moment, but very best wishes everyone on the 'Wire.

Ed Anderson (aka eja)

[Chris333]

Just the other side of my door layout


I was able to add 48x20" rolling stock drawers to each side of the layout.