Monday, August 12, 2013

Catching Up On Progress

It’s been a few months of short spurts of progress, with the exception of track laying:


 The locomotive terminal, most of the track laid


 And finished.

I spent some time over the past weekend attaching feeder wires. Since I plan to make the layout DC friendly, I needed a few of them! And not to mention that a layout this size will still need more feeders even on DCC!


Next time I HAVE to do something about the control panel. And hopefully get thirteen more toggle switches wired before then. Not quite sure how I’ll do it, but I’d really like to the DCC bus in, and have the two power options available…

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Fighting the funk of not working on the layout

We were talking on line about the malaise that sometimes sets in; you can go weeks without working on the layout, until something moves you to make progress.

I decided to do something about it!

All finished:


Except for the details, and the wiring. And the scenery. Oh well, at LEAST I can use it as a yard


The coach yard tracks in place; what color WOULD you expect me to use?


The caboose track (of course):


The locomotive servicing area; I need to make a few small adjustments in track centers to fit the refueling and sanding equipment in place, and give my little 1:160 service crew room to work, but for the most part all that remains is to lay the track:


Next time: the last of the track laying. For now.


Monday, March 18, 2013

Yard Work, Model Railroad Style...




It seems like it has been a long time, between having to find a new job, being sick with the flu, and the weather making it a bit too cold to do anything productive. But in my efforts to make good from bad, I put the gift I as given by my colleagues when laid off from my job to good use and purchased most of the track I would need to finish the yard area.

Three boxes of Peco flex may have been overkill. But it DOES mean I can look to do something “with it”…

Progress:



The caboose and auxiliary tracks have been put in, except for the #2 drill track, as I was short a turnout.


The pinned tracks are in place to plot the location of the cork. This way I can visualize where the tracks will be and decide if I like the location and placement.


The through tracks are all in place, and the pins are are holding the track in place while the glue dries.

And to make more progress on the next visit: It looks like the happy birthday fairy blessed me with all the turnouts I need to finish the loco servicing area real soon.

Time to look at details: since I can't go to a hobby shop and see them, what are your thoughts on the fuel and water products offers? I've got a Stewart Product double track sanding tower, so looking at Stewart Products, American Limited, Walther's, and JV Models. Any other manufacturers?

Edit: Well, so much for on-line ordering lol; in place of seven N turnouts I got seven HO/OO. The packing slip has the N product numbers, so worst case I have hostages lol...


Sunday, February 17, 2013

Illness delays progress

In a cruel twist of fate, I was in the position to do some work, and got the track in, but suffering from flu! So no progress, but three boxes of flex track and half a dozen turnouts await my next visit!