Weekend Update 673 8/11/24

[up1950s]

https://spectralcodex.com/changhua-fan-shaped-roundhouse/

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/salvaged-mine-train-cars-no-2-phyllis-taylor.html

https://www.foxrailroad.com/railroad-removal

https://www.courierpostonline.com/picture-gallery/news/local/south-jersey/2024/04/06/what-we-saw-wade-salvage-atco-waterford-sonic-mod-pizza-ikea/73198460007/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=GljDW8qR2vs

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g37085-d1771444-Reviews-National_New_York_Central_Railroad_Museum-Elkhart_Indiana.html#/media-atf/1771444/85131914:p/?albumid=-160&type=0&category=-160

https://akrailroad.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=507zK2_cJnQ

https://visitleandertx.com/trains/

http://www.ohiometaldetecting.com/railroad-marbles.html

[altohorn25]

I love Lowell Smith's "Railsmith" cars.  That being said, his recent Southern Pacific/Rock Island "Golden State" releases are missing the owning railroad names in the upper letterboard. 

Easy fix.  Cut a thin piece of styrene, paint it silver, and add K4 decals......issue fixed.

I'm including the prototype photos of the cars he's modeled as well as my altered versions of his cars.

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[Tad_T]

Very nice job on the Golden State cars.

I really like the RailSmith cars, as well.

That is not one of the passenger trains that I am working on but I have several of his cars for other trains.

[mu26aeh]

Continuing to work on Glyndon Station.  Hoping my roofing material shows up in the mail.  Used some styrene over the large window in the center, putty to blend everything together, and found some donor windows to steal the muntins from to get a "close enough" look.  Small windows on the ends I just used putty to fill in behind them and will shape accordingly.

[BCR 570]

More work on the M-420s this week - front plows and hoses installed:




All four carbodies now ready for paint:




Also worked on my two cabooses, getting the parts cleaned up and fitting together:




Tim

[arbomambo]

All aboard the Chattanooga Choo Choo!
It’s happening! Our sights are set to break the current T-TRAK layout record at the 2026 NMRA convention in Chattanooga,Tennessee – July 30-August 2, 2026
In conjunction with the NMRA’s National Convention in Chattanooga, the NMRA’s National Train Show has given us 10,000 square feet of space in their 100,000 square feet exhibit hall at the Chattanooga Convention Center to break the T-TRAK layout world record that we set previously at the NMRA’s National Train Show in Kansas City, 2018. (You don’t have to be an NMRA member to participate, nor do you have to register for the convention)
YES, it is 2 years out and by planning standards that is not as long as it may seem. We need time to plan, coordinate, and execute with each of you. We‘re calling for participants, modules, boosters, and bus, among other things. Fill out, and complete, online form, located at www.nationalt-traklayout.com so you can be included and take part in this record breaking event!"
  In addition to participating, with your module(s), and running trains, in this record breaking event, there will be raffles, contests, prizes, giveaways from various manufacturers, and a special breakfast and awards banquet exclusively for the participants, their significant others and our sponsors! I’m thrilled to announce that ScaleTrains has partnered with us to not only sponsor the “Best in Show” T-TRAK module contest at this event, which includes a beautiful trophy and a $250 gift certificate, but is providing the first 150 participants that sign up and pay for the National T-TRAK Layout breakfast and awards banquet, a certificate to be redeemed for a special run n scale car!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

One of my IM units was originally going to be heading to a new home today, so I took some time for a family portrait shoot last night.

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[chessie system fan]

A local modeler is modeling a steel mill and requested I design a shotgun house for him based upon plans he had for a kind used at a steel mill in Birmingham, AL., the area he is modeling. I spent way, way too much time on this, but it's finally done.  This was the first time I've designed a building.  The next building I do will have a much more streamlined design.



(The chimney is a separate piece.)

[spr1955]

Blair Line has a great laser shotgun house, wonder how close it is to this.  Going to take a look. What did you base this on? Did he provide photos, I am asumming so. Neat little project.  Does it have porch supports as well as separate items?

[milw12]

Progress on the layout has been slow lately for various reasons, but this week I finished the liftouts, which were the final pieces of benchwork. My brother was over today, we slapped down a loop of unitrak and

JFRTM



Lucas

[chessie system fan]

He gave me a book that had this drawing.  I did the house in the middle.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.al0912.sheet/?sp=2

And here is the house, though I just found these and see I missed a window or two around the kitchen.  Oh well.

https://loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20al0940&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true

The porch roof is a separate piece for printing and painting. We'll use wire for the porch posts.

[u18b]

He gave me a book that had this drawing.  I did the house in the middle.

https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.al0912.sheet/?sp=2

And here is the house, though I just found these and see I missed a window or two around the kitchen.  Oh well.

https://loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20al0940&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co%20=hh&st=gallery&sg%20=%20true

The porch roof is a separate piece for printing and painting. We'll use wire for the porch posts.

I like the roofing tin around the bottom to keep critters out.

[shark_jj]

After weeks of working on scenery, I cleaned up the layout room up and invited the guys over for a Saturday operating session and barbecue lunch.  We ran trains for 2 hours on Saturday morning, took a break for sausages on buns with potato salad, and then it was back to operating for another two hours.  Overall, things ran fairly smoothly and every enjoyed the day.  The usual odd glitches, a couple of pieces of dirty track I missed, and a few sluggish switches (glue from scenery work, easily fixed), but overall a pretty good day.  Here's a few pics of the guys running trains.  The first one is Fredrick, or as he is known here, CNR5529.  This is the afternoon session and he has taken over as the Yardmaster in Clarion Yard.



This shows Colin and John, two of my regular operators and my grandson Ethan is hidden behind Colin.



Another regular operation, Ken can be seen operating an upbound train on the grade above Nathansville.

[CNR5529]

And I can confirm that a good time was had by all. The Clarion yardmaster job is probably the one job that really gets us sweating... but it's still a whole bunch of fun.

Some highlights:
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First job of the day for me was a through freight. Gotta love some of these long sweeping sight lines that have been built into the layout.

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Next up was the Gavinsport AM turn, seen here running down grade north of Clarion yard.

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And the local returning southbound back up the grade.

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Some of the in-progress scenery work includes the Nathansville Mainstreet scene. Really gives the feel of a vibrant small town.

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The other end of town has the local passenger station. The grout roadways with PanPastel markings look great.

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And major progress has been made recently replacing the paper mill mockups.

Thanks again for having us over John, and great progress with all the scenery!

[bnsfdash8]

I spent some time and got all the decals applied for NS 2725.

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