# Let The Transformation Begin



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

New thread here of my layout rebuild, I'll update each day with pictures (the guys over on BenzWorld say "no pics then it didn't happen" LOL). I don't know everything about model railroading so if anyone has suggestions as I go along by all means post them here. After giving the trains one last run on the present configuration, I started yesterday by carefully packing up all vehicles, both rail and road. Today I gutted all the wiring from under the table and removed all the buildings, it looks kinda like a war zone now. After wetting down the track sections I carefully lifted each to disconnect and tossed them in a bucket of water to soak. I'll be scrubbing all the ballast and glue off so the track will be ready for recycle later. I've ordered the Kato V11 double track with concrete ties and it's also super-elevated (trains lean into the curves) and will re-use the present track. It's funny how fast a demolition can take after the construction took so long to do

Here is the neighborhood before









And now


----------



## Old_Hobo

Tear-down always goes faster than set-up, for pretty much anything.....


----------



## QueenoftheGN

This’ll be interesting, I’ll definitely be following this thread closely.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

QueenoftheGN said:


> This’ll be interesting, I’ll definitely be following this thread closely.


By all means yes. The general madness is to have the double track be elevated by higher terrain, it will vary a bit more than what's here now, some being ground level and some in gullies. I'll be getting and using at least 2 sheets of 2 inch pink or blue foam board to make the hills and valleys. Not exactly sure at this moment but in real life the ground isn't flat as a pancake (even Florida has some hills), so a model train shouldn't be all flat ground either


----------



## Magic

Sounds like this will be a good thread to follow, let the fun begin.

Magic


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Site was down yesterday for a bit. I got 90% of the track pulled and have given it a good scrubbing with an old toothbrush in hot water, will need to go over it with a scraper to get the glue off the bottom edge, this is Unitrack btw 😏. I know I'll catch some grief over this (one of those "don't try this at home" deals), after pulling the bottom plate of a turnout for a peek, replaced the cover and in the hot water the turnouts went for a soak ** AGAIN, you do this at your own peril **, I have some experience with electronics and these Kato turnouts are your basic coil and magnet actuated gizmos and as long as power was not applied until completely dry . . . . . Got the turnouts cleaned up AND COMPLETELY DRY INSIDE AND OUT 😎 and gave the mechanisms a test with a 9V battery, one leg of my double crossover wasn't working as it should (been having trouble with it from day one) and loosened the pivot screw 1/2 a turn - perfect operation (WOO HOO, it helps I guess to also be a wrench turner on my own cars including an antique Mercedes Benz). Now to turn my attention on the table and getting the in-tunnel track out

Pre-soaking track








Scrub








Rinse








!/2 of double crossover innards








With this last pic yall can see the inside of the Kato turnouts, the double crossover here is like 4 turnouts in one housing and draws 4 times the power (which still isn't much, a 9V battery operated it). Also seen are the copper frog switch contacts for power routing. The magnets for operation with the coil are in the black slide bar. If you take the cover off of yours be aware that the tiny actuating rods are easy to be dislodged, here they are hidden under the little square cap in the middle, the steel cover holds everything in place


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> New thread here of my layout rebuild, I'll update each day with pictures (the guys over on BenzWorld say "no pics then it didn't happen" LOL). I don't know everything about model railroading so if anyone has suggestions as I go along by all means post them here. After giving the trains one last run on the present configuration, I started yesterday by carefully packing up all vehicles, both rail and road. Today I gutted all the wiring from under the table and removed all the buildings, it looks kinda like a war zone now. After wetting down the track sections I carefully lifted each to disconnect and tossed them in a bucket of water to soak. I'll be scrubbing all the ballast and glue off so the track will be ready for recycle later. I've ordered the Kato V11 double track with concrete ties and it's also super-elevated (trains lean into the curves) and will re-use the present track. It's funny how fast a demolition can take after the construction took so long to do
> 
> Here is the neighborhood before
> View attachment 550415
> 
> 
> And now
> View attachment 550416





Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> By all means yes. The general madness is to have the double track be elevated by higher terrain, it will vary a bit more than what's here now, some being ground level and some in gullies. I'll be getting and using at least 2 sheets of 2 inch pink or blue foam board to make the hills and valleys. Not exactly sure at this moment but in real life the ground isn't flat as a pancake (even Florida has some hills), so a model train shouldn't be all flat ground either


Wooky_Choo_Bacca;

If you think tear down isn't faster than building, make an elaborate house of cards and then open a window on a breezy day! 😄 

Your curves look awfully sharp in the photos. Do you plan to use broader curves on your next attempt? 
You're right, the real ground is seldom as flat as, well, a train table! Even the midwestern prairies have some rolling humps to them, though as they say in Kansas, "It's flat enough to see tomorrow's train coming today!" 
Speaking of train tables, they are inherently limiting, in terms of possible track patterns, and often look unrealistic. Some folks don't care about that, and others do. Have you considered going long, skinny, and more real railroad shaped, with a narrower, but longer, shelf type layout, or a scenic divider down the middle of the table? Either can disguise that "round-and-round the little train goes" look that most table layouts have. All the preceding are suggestions, not commandments. Good Luck & Have Fun with whatever you choose to build.

regards;
Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The curves on the layout I had were 12 1/2 and 13 1/4 45 degree curves. A train shop guy told me that the loco / train set I have should go no smaller than 12 inch curves. The V6 outer loop set I bought has 13 1/4 curves. I can get up to 18 inchers and them not run off the table, I'll look into those. I have a fixed income and is why I designed the next with what I already have plus the super_elevated double that's otw. The double track I've ordered has 15 and 16 1/4 curves. I don't want to have a bunch of track (curves) not being used, would anyone here want to buy used Unitrack with the tighter curves for shorter cars and locos ? that way I could justify ordering the wider. I've had no derails unless it was due to Godzilla's wayward hand (me reaching for something). I mentioned rebuilding the table and narrowing it from 4 to 3 ft wide and got "The Look", This is in a room that we otherwise don't use and I'll be adding 4 ft on one end to make it an "L" table with casters so that if I need to get to the back side I can. I'll still work on the narrowing of the table, (covert, black ops construction). I asked for suggestions so your ideas aren't thought of as being "you GOTTA do it THIS way or you'll be black-listed" LOL. Wondering what / how I could do the split / divider

I've almost got the table back down to a "clean slate", pics to come


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Traction Fan, I just did a look at the planned new layout design, tried fitting it onto a 3 ft wide table and it just does fit, the coming double track that is. No room for the outside single track loop around. Here is the new layout design done with AnyRail










The Town will be divided betwixt the lower loop and next to the Industrial Park. The shown bridges may end up just being a tunnel and may shorten the lower loop a little to make enough room for a lakefront and campground, we'll see


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Traction Fan, I just did a look at the planned new layout design, tried fitting it onto a 3 ft wide table and it just does fit, the coming double track that is. No room for the outside single track loop around. Here is the new layout design done with AnyRail
> 
> View attachment 550535
> 
> 
> The Town will be divided betwixt the lower loop and next to the Industrial Park. The shown bridges may end up just being a tunnel and may shorten the lower loop a little to make enough room for a lakefront and campground, we'll see


Wooky_Choo_Bacca;

The curves on both your old layout, and your new design, have straight track between two ninety degree curves at the end corners of the table. Nothing evil about that, but if you eliminated those short sections of straight track and instead had a continuous one hundred and eighty degree curve, the radius could be larger, and still fit on the table.

I think you may be misunderstanding my suggestion for "going long and skinny." I didn't mean that you should narrow your table down from 4' to 3', (Though that's fine if it's what you want ) My idea was to get away from the "rectangular blob" table altogether, and go to a narrow shelf layout along some walls. The advantages of this, besides being shaped like a real railroad, are easy access to all the track, and not filling any of the center of the room, leaving it free for other activities. Of course I don't know the layout of your house, or anything else about your individual situation, so what works very well for me (a shelf layout) may not work at all for you. You can see my layout's track plan in the "Layout design section", in the thread "Here are the layouts of some forum members." My layout is attached to two of the walls of my garage.

Maybe you, or your local representative from the estrogen supremacy league (aka wife) may not want to stop using a table. If that's the case, dividing the table into two "skinny" scenes is simply a matter of building a view block down the middle of the long dimension of the table. It can also curve, and continue onto the new 'L'-shaped addition.
This view block can be a double-sided backdrop, or a range of hills. Anything that prevents you from seeing both sides of the loop of track at once. Then, instead of going in all-too-obvious circles, a train enters one scene, like a town, and then exits the other end of that scene. This looks much like the real world, where a train enters one end of town, drops off & picks up any cars as needed, and then continues its run to the "next station". (actually the other side of the view block)
The view blocks on my layout are backdrops that hide the return track. The backdrops are removeable to allow access to that rear track when needed. With a shelf layout bolted to a wall, I can't just walk around to the other side of the layout, like you table-based lifeforms can. In the first photo, the backdrop (not painted yet) is the curved white panel at the right side. There is another track concealed behind it, which is "the other side of my track loop." The second photo shows what a fully painted backdrop looks like.

As far as budget, yeah I understand that, and don't we all. I know Unitrack is excellent, just from the dozens of happy members who use it. However, it is also the most expensive type of track on the market. If you were to switch to flex track and cork or foam, roadbed, you might save some money in the long run. Particularly if you could buy the track used on eBay. As for selling your used unitrack, try putting photos of what you want to sell in the "For sale member-to-member section" and/or on eBay. 

Good Luck and Have Fun building your new layout;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

"local representative from the estrogen supremacy league (aka wife)" LMAO, I like that. I tried again today to "splain the idea of rebuilding the table to 3 ft X 8ft. Doing that and with the 4ft X 3ft addition I could reach all of the track from one side and it would be up against 2 walls with the 3rd wall having the windows of the front of the house (I don't know the room measurements LOL) I see what you mean about the square with rounded corners look. Let me hit the design again and see what I can come up with. She mention cutting a notch in the table for the control panel, which wouldn't work

Gonna add some here then it's time to crash for the night. I took the suggestion about wider curves and came up with a backup diagram that I wouldn't have to change the dimensions of the table. Gonna do some checking on a couple things before deciding which way to go, I'm committed on the double track that's coming (committed, no, not an escaped nut case here, never played one on TV either 😜🤪😲🥴 LOL, been accused of it though). On the budget aspect, yeah fixed income here and don't want to be taken as being snobby or whatever but I tend to check out 9 ways to last Monday night before dropping a penny on anything and rather than buy something "iffy" and not be happy with it (or have to fix something a second time) I get what I find as the best. In this case I got what I consider the best track but goofed on the size perhaps BUT it's what came with the starter set and the variation set later. Gonna coin a phrase here LOL, call this the "Benz Syndrome" that I got from owning my hot rod, it came to me as a good car but over time some needed repairs and upgrades plus recommendations of enthusiasts with the same model of car I got the mentality of "the best or nothing". This came into play with my trains too. Anyway, here is a potential track diagram and my "Banker's Hot Rod"









The oil stains are from my truck 😎


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

TF, I took a look at your layout posted here, nice and I see what you mean by "skinny". I don't have that kind of room to play in (if only I had a basement with a concrete floor, the possibilities . . . . . . . ) As it is I have room for the mentioned 8X8X4 L shaped table. I measured the room and if I pushed it I could barely fit a 7X8X10X3 U shaped but not gonna do that extreme

Today's update: Cleaning the glue off the bottom side of the track, won't be using that glue on the next track laying, instead I'll get a tube of clear silicon tub caulk. Still waiting for the ordered double track. Does anyone else hate when ordering something that's "in stock" and then you have to wait, and wait, while it comes in from various warehouses to be packed and shipped ?


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> TF, I took a look at your layout posted here, nice and I see what you mean by "skinny". I don't have that kind of room to play in (if only I had a basement with a concrete floor, the possibilities . . . . . . . ) As it is I have room for the mentioned 8X8X4 L shaped table. I measured the room and if I pushed it I could barely fit a 7X8X10X3 U shaped but not gonna do that extreme
> 
> Today's update: Cleaning the glue off the bottom side of the track, won't be using that glue on the next track laying, instead I'll get a tube of clear silicon tub caulk. Still waiting for the ordered double track. Does anyone else hate when ordering something that's "in stock" and then you have to wait, and wait, while it comes in from various warehouses to be packed and shipped ?


WCB;

The only reason I have "that kind of room" is because my house has an attached "two car" garage. (My garage seldom houses one car, let alone two!)
Basement? What's a basement? I live in California. Houses here don't have basements.
Your room situation is what it is. You can't just have your construction company custom build you an entire new building for your model railroad to live in. (Loral Joiner, a Texas millionaire, did just that. Then he filed it with an O-scale railroad and lots of brass O-scale locomotives. It must be nice to have that kind of hobby budget available!) 

I also have the advantage of working with N-scale, rather than HO. My layout's minimum curve radius is 16" which is a bit tight for all but the shortest HO-scale equipment to run on, but generous for N-scale.

The point I was trying to make about "skinny" has less to do with benchwork depth, than it does with "scene depth".
Because our turnback curves require a lot of depth, we tend to make the entire layout equally deep .This inevitably results in "rectangular blob" type train tables. I had several of those through the years, and decided to get away from them. If you look again at my track plan, you will see that most of my layout is only 16" deep, and even then the visible scene is more like 14" deep, since the backdrop-concealed return track fills the rear 2".
The mainline only runs through any given scene once. The return tracks needed for continuous running are in another scene, or concealed behind backdrops, so you never really see a train loop around an oval, simply because you can't see both sides of the oval at once. I do have deeper sections at the ends to accommodate the deep turnback curves needed for continuous running. However, the loops are also divided into separate scenes. This is more realistic looking than any fully-exposed oval, or figure eight, track plan can ever hope to be.
If you look at your local real railroad track, it's not likely to be an oval, much less a figure eight. It's most likely a straight line, or gentle curve, running from horizon to view block. This is where the "skinny scene" idea comes into play on a model railroad. We need to fool the eye into seeing something like what the real railroad looks like.

Try this experiment. Lay a loop of track on the table. Run a train on it, and watch the train go around a few times. Then put a big flattened cardboard box down the middle of the loop. Now you can't see that the train is running in circles. Instead, you see a train running, in one direction, through a scene of limited depth. Next time you see a real train run by, you should notice that, in terms of it's travel pattern, it behaves much like the way your model train did.
Of course you may want the background of your model scene to look more realistic than a cardboard box! Try it with the box painted sky blue, and a few white clouds dabbed on with a foam paint brush. Looks pretty good doesn't it.

As for getting glue off the bottom of your track, try this. Spray WD-40 on the track and use an old toothbrush to scrub the glue off. When the glue is off, wipe the track with a rag soaked with alcohol, to remove the WD-40. The combination of WD-40, followed by alcohol, will remove just about anything.

Regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah TF, my "no hassle castle" is a two story on a slab and I also have a two car garage but it houses my hot rod when I'm not driving it along with a yard tractor and stuff shelves. If I were a millionaire (or even a thousandaire) I'd have built a dedicated train house out back and fitted it with A/C and heat LOL.

Because of the limited space I have it's the roundy-round I'll have to live with and is the main reason I chose the N Scale vs HO. The splitting scene is something I'll have to look into for sure though I know this might not look completely real but that's ok too, it's something I can work on over time. Thanks for the suggestions, I've got a clean slate to start work with now


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Yeah TF, my "no hassle castle" is a two story on a slab and I also have a two car garage but it houses my hot rod when I'm not driving it along with a yard tractor and stuff shelves. If I were a millionaire (or even a thousandaire) I'd have built a dedicated train house out back and fitted it with A/C and heat LOL.
> 
> Because of the limited space I have it's the roundy-round I'll have to live with and is the main reason I chose the N Scale vs HO. The splitting scene is something I'll have to look into for sure though I know this might not look completely real but that's ok too, it's something I can work on over time. Thanks for the suggestions, I've got a clean slate to start work with now


WCB;

I didn't remember that you were using N-scale. Sorry I falsely accused you of being one of those "grotesquely oversized HO train guys!" 😄 😄 😄

While I said that my garage seldom houses a car, that's mostly because it has a section of my layout, that I'm working on, sitting atop a rolling platform, his & hers workbenches, my "geezer tricycle", her bicycle, his & hers sanders on rolling cabinets, a lathe & a drill press on a rolling cart, a band saw, a table saw, and many other accouterments of suburban life, in it.
Despite all this, it is still possible to park my wife's SUV, or my manly minivan in there, I just have to move things around, hence the rational for putting casters under everything.

The actual layout has a top shelf, and several shelves underneath it to hold the "stuff" that we all acquire as we go through life. Since I absolutely hate searching for things, all my stuff is in alphabetized bin boxes on the shelves under the layout. The table saw, lathe, and drill press, all fit under the wider part of the layout ("Seattle" and "the harbor") at the right side of the diagram. The left side "blob" (aka "Black River", "Cape Ripiculous" , and "Garrison creek trestle") has three rolling carts of trains & scenery materials under it. The available floor space is used for multiple purposes. My collection of train books & magazines, a TV, VCR, DVD player, etc. are on the top shelf, the railroad occupies the next two shelves down, and there are general storage shelves, or roll around carts under the railroad. Lumber is stored in an overhead rack, which is high enough to clear a parked vehicle and frustrate me when I reach for a board.

My reason for this long, & quite boring, description of my garage is to show that it's possible to fit a shelf layout into a garage, and still have room for a workshop, storage, and even actually parking a vehicle, if you really organize things, and make them moveable on casters. I don't know if you would be able to, or even have the slightest interest in, doing the same thing to your garage, and there's no reason you should unless you choose to. I just offer it up as another possibility for you to mull on.
If you stick with a conventionally-shaped train table, and divide it into separate scenes with a backdrop, will you be able to get to the scene on the other side of the table?

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

While I AM an "oversized" guy, (HOPING not grotesquely 😲), mine I consider a counter-weight to keep me from tipping over backwards 😁 PLUS being a dual fuel individual with me shiny solar panel up top with what's left of me long locks and beard (hence the moniker "Wooky"). Yeah, present table (and the addition will) has casters so I'll be able to attack any side by putting it in the middle of the room and back into the corner when everything is OK

Yeah, N Scale (was thinking that was clear, oh well, it tis now 👍) The garage is out as a train room as I installed shelves down both sides and across the back for storage of the stuff we ALL collect over time plus stuff that when the world gets out of the present "crisis" a complete and working Volvo sterndrive to be sold. Also taking up room is a workbench (I turn my own wrenches on everything I own when they need fissin' (repaired) as well as a slew of spare parts for me hot rod, I bought another Coupe' and robbed the glass, body panels (just in case) as well as some rare Euro parts not found on American versions

My Digitrax decoder came back today and STILL (GGGRRRRR) the controller says the program track is empty. It's NOT the loco chassis because swapping out decoders the fault follows the card. Wondering if I'm doing something wrong, maybe tape down the troublesome decoder to the chassis, yes Capton tape is in place where the instructions say to put it


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> While I AM an "oversized" guy, (HOPING not grotesquely 😲), mine I consider a counter-weight to keep me from tipping over backwards 😁 PLUS being a dual fuel individual with me shiny solar panel up top with what's left of me long locks and beard (hence the moniker "Wooky"). Yeah, present table (and the addition will) has casters so I'll be able to attack any side by putting it in the middle of the room and back into the corner when everything is OK
> 
> Yeah, N Scale (was thinking that was clear, oh well, it tis now 👍) The garage is out as a train room as I installed shelves down both sides and across the back for storage of the stuff we ALL collect over time plus stuff that when the world gets out of the present "crisis" a complete and working Volvo sterndrive to be sold. Also taking up room is a workbench (I turn my own wrenches on everything I own when they need fissin' (repaired) as well as a slew of spare parts for me hot rod, I bought another Coupe' and robbed the glass, body panels (just in case) as well as some rare Euro parts not found on American versions
> 
> My Digitrax decoder came back today and STILL (GGGRRRRR) the controller says the program track is empty. It's NOT the loco chassis because swapping out decoders the fault follows the card. Wondering if I'm doing something wrong, maybe tape down the troublesome decoder to the chassis, yes Capton tape is in place where the instructions say to put it



WCB:

As far as my scale confusion, I probably mixed you up with one of the many others I respond to. That, and I get more senile by the day! Yes, I had no sooner typed that "oversized" comment than I realized it could be misinterpreted to refer to the "guys" instead of the "trains". (At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! 😄) Actually I'm quite oversized myself an have a "solar panel" on my head & a beard too.
Understood about the garage. In train terms, that's too bad, but obviously you're having fun with other things out there. Can't knock that. It's good that you can roll your table out into the middle of the room. That frees you up to do the "split it into separate scenes" thing, should you choose to.
On the DCC frustration front, have you measured the resistance of the copper motor contacts to the frame with a multimeter? That would prove, or disprove the "maybe shorting to the frame" theory. I'm not a big fan of those "drop in" decoders with plates that are supposed to line up perfectly with the motor brushes or some points on the circuit board. I prefer solder connections. More work, but more reliable. 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

No worries about the "oversized", I KNOW I have a shelf out front 😎, it runs in the family. Yeah having fun with my "Rail Empire", I got a loop of my new double track set up for the moment. I have a couple of things to get (casters and foam boards) and then start of the table expansion. I was thinking about the visual barrier down the center that you mentioned, a "mountain" and perhaps a cardboard "sky" along the ridge and putting the Town and residentials on the mountain keeping the train(s) at the lower elevations, still will be two different heights for tracks, and for now I'll "run what I brung" track-wise. The long sweeping curves do look good but for now I'll use what's on hand. The larger curves would / will be on the outer edge so I'll leave that open for possibilities later 

On the DDC woes, It's been fingered out, the front of the decoder wasn't making good contact / ground on the frame. I wedged a piece of the dense foam from the loco case up under the front edge and problem solved, it's now programmed and running. I'll foam the other for insurance even though it's been running. The E5A is still running good after soldering the board with wires to the pick-up rails and motor contacts to the board, Thanks Mike Fifer


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> No worries about the "oversized", I KNOW I have a shelf out front 😎, it runs in the family. Yeah having fun with my "Rail Empire", I got a loop of my new double track set up for the moment. I have a couple of things to get (casters and foam boards) and then start of the table expansion. I was thinking about the visual barrier down the center that you mentioned, a "mountain" and perhaps a cardboard "sky" along the ridge and putting the Town and residentials on the mountain keeping the train(s) at the lower elevations, still will be two different heights for tracks, and for now I'll "run what I brung" track-wise. The long sweeping curves do look good but for now I'll use what's on hand. The larger curves would / will be on the outer edge so I'll leave that open for possibilities later
> 
> On the DDC woes, It's been fingered out, the front of the decoder wasn't making good contact / ground on the frame. I wedged a piece of the dense foam from the loco case up under the front edge and problem solved, it's now programmed and running. I'll foam the other for insurance even though it's been running. The E5A is still running good after soldering the board with wires to the pick-up rails and motor contacts to the board, Thanks Mike Fifer


WCB;

Whatever works for you. What I had in mind was two stations, and towns. One on either side of the view block. That way the train can actually travel from one town to another. Variations on the idea are an industry on one side, and a consumer of that industry's product on the other. Coal mine/power plant, logging, sawmill, etc.

If your layout is mounted high enough, then a range of hills down the center will serve as a view block. My old club did that on their layout, and it was very effective. The only requirement is to not be able to see over whatever view block you decide on using. 
If you make a sky backdrop, I'd recommend something more durable that cardboard. The cardboard box idea was only intended as a temporary experiment, to let you see the idea in action. I use a semi-flexible plastic panel material from home depot for my removeable backdrops. Masonite or MDF would work too.

Very glad to hear your DCC problem is fixed. If it were me, I'd solder a wire to the foil on the decoder and screw the other end of the wire to the frame. I believe in "preventive pessimism" on things like that. Especially if they have put me through a troubleshooting nightmare like you've been through. 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah, aggravating as hell when you have brand new and brand new and have problems getting it / them to work like they're 'posed to do. The contact points are thisclose together and about * that big, in the pic it's at the far right of the frame just behind the cab notch where the board fits, a dot of solder if I have any more problems with it

On the (p)layout I was just saying cardboard as an example, would def use something a bit more rugged / durable. The backside of the table (the two 8 ft lengths) could be the "hidden from" without putting a tunnel and make that side rock cliffs or similar, that would eliminate the need for a block panel. I GOTTA have a place for the still LOL. I'm figuring that the double track with concrete ties would be the "new modern express" built higher while the "older" wood tie track line would serve it and run around it (I know real trains would have just upgraded using the same real estate or abandoned and is why we have so many walking / biking trails on old train roadbeds. Right now the main industries will be a petrol tank farm, a rail / trucking warehouse, and loco shop but I'll have room for more once the addition is added


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Yeah, aggravating as hell when you have brand new and brand new and have problems getting it / them to work like they're 'posed to do. The contact points are thisclose together and about * that big, in the pic it's at the far right of the frame just behind the cab notch where the board fits, a dot of solder if I have any more problems with it
> 
> On the (p)layout I was just saying cardboard as an example, would def use something a bit more rugged / durable. The backside of the table (the two 8 ft lengths) could be the "hidden from" without putting a tunnel and make that side rock cliffs or similar, that would eliminate the need for a block panel. I GOTTA have a place for the still LOL. I'm figuring that the double track with concrete ties would be the "new modern express" built higher while the "older" wood tie track line would serve it and run around it (I know real trains would have just upgraded using the same real estate or abandoned and is why we have so many walking / biking trails on old train roadbeds. Right now the main industries will be a petrol tank farm, a rail / trucking warehouse, and loco shop but I'll have room for more once the addition is added
> View attachment 550809
> 
> 
> View attachment 550810


WCB;

I love the still. How did you fabricate an N-scale still? s far as your layout general plan, I'll leave that up to you. While there are many different ways of making rock faces, cast plaster, cast foam, and even real rocks have been used. Since I wanted to keep my layout lightweight, I skipped the plaster castings and real rocks, in favor of tree bark to make the rock cliff in the photos.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Actually the still I bought from a vendor on fleabay LOL Yeah, to help cut down on the roundy-round I will make the backside basically rock cliffs (put some strategically installed mountain goats LOL). Two towns on either end is a good idea, I'll see once I get the layout started (got the needed casters today and wood is already in the garage (full sheet of 3/8 ply being re-purposed from boat parts to train table). I'll need some more houses, maybe a barn (I scratch built one and a log cabin, in the still pic)


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Actually the still I bought from a vendor on fleabay LOL Yeah, to help cut down on the roundy-round I will make the backside basically rock cliffs (put some strategically installed mountain goats LOL). Two towns on either end is a good idea, I'll see once I get the layout started (got the needed casters today and wood is already in the garage (full sheet of 3/8 ply being re-purposed from boat parts to train table). I'll need some more houses, maybe a barn (I scratch built one and a log cabin, in the still pic)


WCB;

I was suggesting a town on either side of the backdrop/cliff divider, along the long 8' side. That way the towns would be out of sight from each other, and long enough to include a few industrial sidings for switching. However, its your railroad, and if you would rather have them on the narrow ends, that's your choice. With a long train you may find the engine arriving in town 'B' while the caboose is still in town 'A'. Of course the same thing can happen when the two towns are on opposite long sides of the table, but the divider screens one town, and end of the train, from the other, so it's not so obvious as when both towns can be seen at once. Except for club sized layouts, this scenario is pretty common on a lot of layouts, including my own.

Good Luck & Have Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here we go folks, the frame work of the 4X4 extension is up, ran out of daylight so decking will come tomorrow. Again it's now an 8X8X4 and will take up a good portion of the front room without blocking the freezer. Running the buss wiring while it's easier to get to

TF, I could put one town on the near left point and the other on the other side of the mountain, have one industry on each with something in the middle perhaps. Thing is that the far side will be difficult to see up against the wall (right now it's about 1 1/2 ft off). We'll see as I go along


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Here we go folks, the frame work of the 4X4 extension is up, ran out of daylight so decking will come tomorrow. Again it's now an 8X8X4 and will take up a good portion of the front room without blocking the freezer. Running the buss wiring while it's easier to get to
> 
> TF, I could put one town on the near left point and the other on the other side of the mountain, have one industry on each with something in the middle perhaps. Thing is that the far side will be difficult to see up against the wall (right now it's about 1 1/2 ft off). We'll see as I go along
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 550908
> 
> View attachment 550909


WCB;

Looking good! Now that I see the shape of your layout I can understand the "towns at the ends" idea better. I guess I was thinking in terms of a single 4 x 8. The casters are a great idea, but in the photo, it looks like the room is small enough that you won't be able to move your layout very far out from the wall, which is another reason to put the towns near the ends, now I get it. 
I personally would have made the layout narrower. three feet wide instead of four. I would also have used smaller framing & legs, 1 x 4s & 2 x 4s are overkill to support a model railroad. Layouts tend to get pretty heavy as we go along, which, even on casters, makes them a bit harder to move than they need to be. However, all the preceding nit picking is just that, and just my opinion, which don't matter spit on your layout. 😄
Congratulations on a fine start! 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Originally I set out to build the table out of plywood BUT the screws and nails weren't holding as shown in that video SO I went with 2X4's, yeah it's stout and heavy. The extension is 1X4s and the legs w/bracing are 2X4s, still will be stout enough. Depending on what area I'll be working on I'll be able to move the table around and have 1 1/2 - 2 ft clear then push it back into the corner to run it (the KEY was to NOT block the freezer, which is seen far right of pic) and have room for spectators


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Originally I set out to build the table out of plywood BUT the screws and nails weren't holding as shown in that video SO I went with 2X4's, yeah it's stout and heavy. The extension is 1X4s and the legs w/bracing are 2X4s, still will be stout enough. Depending on what area I'll be working on I'll be able to move the table around and have 1 1/2 - 2 ft clear then push it back into the corner to run it (the KEY was to NOT block the freezer, which is seen far right of pic) and have room for spectators


WCB;

That's fine. Have fun!

regards;
Traction Fan


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here we go boyz n gurlz, we have track laying on the table again. No, none of it is hooked up, but I do have the buss wired up as I wanted to get the basic madness laid out and maybe tweak it here or there, I have a sh . . . . boatload of track leftover, mostly curves and will need a couple more turnouts at the least for planned sidings. Now to get the inclines figured, gonna try for 2-2 1/2% that way there won't be any issue with hill pulling


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Here we go boyz n gurlz, we have track laying on the table again. No, none of it is hooked up, but I do have the buss wired up as I wanted to get the basic madness laid out and maybe tweak it here or there, I have a sh . . . . boatload of track leftover, mostly curves and will need a couple more turnouts at the least for planned sidings. Now to get the inclines figured, gonna try for 2-2 1/2% that way there won't be any issue with hill pulling
> 
> View attachment 551009
> 
> 
> View attachment 551010
> 
> 
> View attachment 551011


WCB;

Nice progress! It's looking better each time you post. When you get more turnouts, you might put a siding and industry in one, or both of the front corners in your photo.

Keep having fun! 

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah I was looking and thought about a siding where the blue thingys are laying next to the track plus the planned one in the far right corner. Yep, having fun (and staying out of trouble too) for sure. I've set leftover inclines on the back corner that took the track from 3 in up to 3 1/2 (?) and back down to 3, the rest of the loop will be 3 or dropped to 2 1/2 then back to 3. The single track outer loop will drop to "ground level" or 1 inch, depending on the terrain whoop-dee-doos


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Yeah I was looking and thought about a siding where the blue thingys are laying next to the track plus the planned one in the far right corner. Yep, having fun (and staying out of trouble too) for sure. I've set leftover inclines on the back corner that took the track from 3 in up to 3 1/2 (?) and back down to 3, the rest of the loop will be 3 or dropped to 2 1/2 then back to 3. The single track outer loop will drop to "ground level" or 1 inch, depending on the terrain whoop-dee-doos



WCB;

I can't see clearly in your third photo, but it looks like you could have a wye connecting the inner loop in the background to the outer, "ground level" loop. 
Right now it appears that the turnout on the right, just past the "blue things," is the only connection between those two loops. Of course, I can't see behind the inclines in the back, so maybe you have a second connection between loops, back there. If you don't, then once a train heads into the inner loop from the outer one, it can't get back, except in reverse. That turnout near the blue things, it's connecting track, (that curves left under the raised double track) and the hidden turnout that lets that connecting track get into the inner loop, form 2/3rds of a wye. One more right hand turnout set into the inner loop, would let a train run forward out of the inner loop back onto the outer loop.
Wyes are interesting track arrangements. They let a train reverse its direction of travel. The only catch is that you need to put insulated rail joiners, in both rails, on all three of the wye tracks. Otherwise it will create a dead short circuit. This is true with either DC or DCC.

just a thought;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

What's with the "captcha" thing to get on here ??? 😤

No, no wyes on here. Let's take a journey around me Railroad Empire, shall we ? LOL. First we get on the train at the station (that hasn't been set yet) on the left end of the inner loop, one of the highways that goes through comes right past the station. (WOOO WOOOOO 🚅) Start out around the bottom of the loop and through the rail / highway tunnel and onto the outer loop, if the turnout isn't switched for straight through we'll go back around the inner loop (one of the scenic routes through town).We go around a start up the hill (working of the incline now 🚧) and around to the left and right crossovers, depending on how they are set we'll either continue on the scenic loop or cross over to the express double tracks (now we can turn loose the horses). About halfway around we'll come to the double crossover and either stay on the outer track or switch to the inner OR cross over to the other track each time you get there unless there is another train running the express too in the other direction. Take the single crossover back onto the outer loop and at the bottom of the hill is another station near where there is access to the lake, marina, and campground. As we continue on we enter the inner loop and go past the Tank Farm and it's siding. I might put the Farm outside on the far right when I get more turnouts

I did a partial test run today, the double track is performing as it should. I had to pull the single crossovers as one of the turnouts isn't working as it should, flip one and both should switch, hopefully something simple to fix it

Update on the single crossover, if anyone else has ever opened a Kato turnout you'll know . . . . . . . it was the little actuating "rod" / wire that was in the wrong track of the plastic throw. It's fissed with good and proper functions now WOO HOO


----------



## traction fan

Sounds OK. I didn't quite follow your description, but that's OK. I gather you don't care for wyes. Why no wyes? Do you think that's wise? (sorry I couldn't resist! 🙂 ) I have two on my layout, one finished, one not. (see photos) 
So they have a place to live in peace, away from your blatant prejudice and discrimination against wyes. 😊 
It sounds like you're having a great time for yourself running trains. Can't knock that. The "streets of Seattle are being built on my layout. Lots of blue foam, and plenty of "smurf dandruff" from shaping and sanding the stuff. 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

No, I have no issues good or bad with the yyz and I had thought about one or two as sidings, though I could factor one in for a turnaround, but a regular turnout would work also. Smurf dandruff LOL, sounds like I'm not the only one with a warped and sarcastic sense of humor. Been "lazy" today as I haven't snapped any pics, the express track is sitting on it's 3 inch rise and I'm wracking me brain (yeah, that's me ya smell burnin') about the inclines up to and down from the turnouts. I've got a incline pier set but it doesn't reach high enough to do the job. Wondering if 3 inches of height is too much, can drop it to 2 inch to keep it proportional

Here's the pics 😁

Track in the air, oh and pardon the mess, this IS a construction zone LOL


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> No, I have no issues good or bad with the yyz and I had thought about one or two as sidings, though I could factor one in for a turnaround, but a regular turnout would work also. Smurf dandruff LOL, sounds like I'm not the only one with a warped and sarcastic sense of humor. Been "lazy" today as I haven't snapped any pics, the express track is sitting on it's 3 inch rise and I'm wracking me brain (yeah, that's me ya smell burnin') about the inclines up to and down from the turnouts. I've got a incline pier set but it doesn't reach high enough to do the job. Wondering if 3 inches of height is too much, can drop it to 2 inch to keep it proportional
> 
> Here's the pics 😁
> 
> Track in the air, oh and pardon the mess, this IS a construction zone LOL
> View attachment 551157
> 
> 
> View attachment 551158


WCB;

A three inch height translates to forty eight feet high in N-scale. A two inch height would be thirty two feet, so I guess its just a matter of how high you want it to be. As for risers, you can always cut your own, from either foam, or wood. Just be careful to protect your vulnerable lungs from sawdust, and that sinister smurf dandruff! 😄 

Your track plan looks to be more in the realm of fantasy, than realism anyhow, so I don't think it will matter much how high the upper track is. Besides that, there are real grades higher than 48' above the surrounding landscape anyway. In many cases a lot higher, like miles above the level where the grade started.

Please don't be offended by my preceding "fantasy" comment. Most model railroads use track layouts that would not be used on a real railroad, and that's a perfectly legitimate approach.
A real railroad would be unlikely to build three loops of track that all go to the same places, with two elevated above the third. That wouldn't make economic sense.
However, for the purpose of displaying multiple model trains in motion, it's a good arrangement .

There are even prototype examples of more than one track connecting the same points. In fact, it was once quite common. This was one of the reasons behind many mergers, consolidations, and track abandonments in recent years. There were simply a lot of duplicate tracks (built by competing companies) linking the same cites.

My own favorite railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul, & Pacific, is a classic example.
It ran from it's base city, Milwaukee Wisconsin, through the great U.S. railroad hub of Chicago, and on to Seattle & Tacoma, Washington. Unfortunately, there were already three other major railroads between Chicago and Seattle. That's one of the reasons the Milwaukee spent much of it's history going in and out of bankruptcy.

Regards;

Traction Fan


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

It would take a WHOLE lot more than a comment on my fantasy railroad to offend me, I'd probably take a real case of "offence" as a sarcastic and funny (the ha ha kind) way of looking at something, quitcher worryin' 'bout it LOL My "empire" is definitely NOT of the real world (doesn't Thomas go 'roundy 'round on his runs ?) and with the limited room that I (and many more like me) have to "play" with it's kinda up to . . . . . . . me / us on how it ends up. I can remember a LONG time ago as a kid we were in NC I think and rode a train to the top of a mountain and after a scheduled break at the top rode back down, no circle and we got pelted with cinders on the way back down (yeah, a steamer). Nearby here at Stone Mountain Park they've had a train that goes around the base of the mountain, 2 stations and an old town where the Indians used to "attack" the train, then Political Correctness hit and no more ******

I know some / many want their trains to be as much like a real train as they can get it, nice if you have that skill on weathering and such. I'm just doing this to give my retar'd (not workin' any more) butt something to do, my boat project had to be tossed as it was taking so much out of me and I still had so far to go before "splashing" her


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I got a wee bit ahead of meself here 😁 it happens LOL. I pulled all the track up to put the 2nd layer of the foam base so's to have the depth for making the dips in the terrain as well as the creek bed. I also decided to lower the Express Lines to 2 inches instead of 3 to add some realism. I also ordered so wire, can't use black and red for everything, I've got those colors already for the buss but the feeder drops will be blue / white, turnouts black / red, and lighting yellow / green.


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I got a wee bit ahead of meself here 😁 it happens LOL. I pulled all the track up to put the 2nd layer of the foam base so's to have the depth for making the dips in the terrain as well as the creek bed. I also decided to lower the Express Lines to 2 inches instead of 3 to add some realism. I also ordered so wire, can't use black and red for everything, I've got those colors already for the buss but the feeder drops will be blue / white, turnouts black / red, and lighting yellow / green.


WCB;

One thing I've had driven into my brain, by decades of dealing with wiring, is to maintain the same color throughout any given wire run. Not doing that adds plenty of extra, and unnecessary, challenge to tracing a wire run when the red becomes blue and later the blue that was red becomes green. Now that's a more complicated scenario that what you're proposing, but why would the track feeders be a different color than the bus wires?
I would make them red and black, each to match the bus wire it was connected to. Is there some hidden reason behind using blue & white for feeders that connect to red & black bus wires?

It can also be confusing if the same colors are used for two different purposes. "Let's see, Is this red wire the red that goes to a turnout, or is it a red wire that goes to the track?"
Why red & black for turnouts? Why not use the blue & white, or some other colors, for that, and use black & red only for track power?
On your simple layout, this may not be a problem. Where wires go, and what they control, may be fairly obvious now. Still, maintaining a single color throughout a wire run, and dedicating colors to a single purpose, are good practices to learn. They will someday serve you well on a more complex layout.

Another thing I've started doing on my present layout is typing up a "maintenance manual" which lists, and shows in photos, how things are fastened down, wired, etc. Since I'm old, and tend to forget such details. 😕 
If you click twice on the first photo below to enlarge it, you can look at the lower right corner and see how I color code, and mark, my wiring.
The other photos show how things are fastened down, or wired underneath. The garish bright colors on the mounting screws and the rail frogs in the crossing are only there for the photos. They will later be covered up, or removed.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The reason for the blue / white feeders is Kato feeder color, I'll have enough wire coming to redo the buss and leave the red / black for something else. Kato turnouts are red / black and the yellow / green is my doing for the lighting of buildings, street lights, etc. The buss I have in place is just some wire I had left over. Again, I was getting ahead of myself but we got this now, new wire is slated to arrive Thursday (or so they say lol)


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> The reason for the blue / white feeders is Kato feeder color, I'll have enough wire coming to redo the buss and leave the red / black for something else. Kato turnouts are red / black and the yellow / green is my doing for the lighting of buildings, street lights, etc. The buss I have in place is just some wire I had left over. Again, I was getting ahead of myself but we got this now, new wire is slated to arrive Thursday (or so they say lol)


Now I understand. I thought Kato used blue & white wires, but I wasn't sure if they were for track power or turnout control. If you change the bus wires to blue & white (or just paint them those colors) then the bus and feeders will match each other. Using small red and black for the turnouts also makes good sense since that's what Kato uses.
Sounds like you have your wiring planned out quite well.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah, I found some blue and white wire (more leftovers from another project). I have one leg of the buss done and working on gluing (caulk) the risers down and a section of track. Got a white Sharpie (was gonna paint the letters on the tyres on the Mercedes 🚗, just haven't gotten to it yet lol) to mark where the track power drops are and their polarity (like I said I was getting ahead of meself on this). Punching the needed holes to drop the feeders and turnout wiring with a 1 foot drill bit, wiring won't be seen but I'll know where it all is up top

I'm trying to go by the "7 P Method of Doing Anything" a friend of mine said he had it up in every engine room of every ship he served on in the Navy, it is as follows
Prior
Planning and 
Preparation
Prevents
Piss
Poor 
Performance
and that means to plan for any contingency that might arise whilst working on any project 😁 NOW, patiently waiting for the wire spools to arrive


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Risers glued down, 










track glued, not all of it yet,










and the tell tale mark where power drop is connected


----------



## QueenoftheGN

Wait... Kato makes connected double tracks? Huh. Wish I’d figured that one out before now. It’s looking great so far, it should be quite nice to see trains on those risers.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Oh yes and the curves of the double tracks are super elevated too, they lean into the curves. Kato has HO single track that is super elevated but not in N Scale (yet)

This track has concrete ties but they also have concrete slab, no ties

Taking a supper break and got a couple of shots of the double track, might be hard to see but you can see the leaning track left side compared to the flat straight









And a shot overhead of concrete ties, Does anyone know what the hole in the center is for, I drilled the little dimple on this piece of track, just don't know what it's for. Overhead power, catenary poles fit on the outside edges so I know its likely not that.










Kato also have double track with "concrete slab" for inner city routes I'd guess PLUS they have trolley / streetcar track


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Ok, here goes, I just finished a test run on the double track. You'll also see part of the inner loop where I added a turn around loop, I'll have to get some insulated connectors (that part of the track isn't hooked up at the moment). I've got the inclines marked on some thin plywood here, cut those out tomorrow. It's coming right along here WOO HOO

Here is the video, pardon the focus and wandering, MGM I ain't LOL






The fix on the turn out was due to the frog had lifted and was causing a car being used to check overhead clearance to hop when crossing the turnout. I had to re-seat and tighten the center screw seen in the pic


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Ok, here goes, I just finished a test run on the double track. You'll also see part of the inner loop where I added a turn around loop, I'll have to get some insulated connectors (that part of the track isn't hooked up at the moment). I've got the inclines marked on some thin plywood here, cut those out tomorrow. It's coming right along here WOO HOO
> 
> Here is the video, pardon the focus and wandering, MGM I ain't LOL
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The fix on the turn out was due to the frog had lifted and was causing a car being used to check overhead clearance to hop when crossing the turnout. I had to re-seat and tighten the center screw seen in the pic
> View attachment 551624


WCB;

Your layout is lookin better all the time. For that new reverse loop, you'll need insulating rail joiners in both rails, and a frog juicer or some other brand of automatic polarity changing circuit. It looks like you're becoming our resident expert on the insides of Kato turnouts. Keep up the good work.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## MichaelE

I don't see any mast mounts on the slab in your photo. The center hole could be to secure the slab to the sub-roadbed, or it could still be used for a catenary mast with dual registration arms.

There is a noticeable dip in the track over by the far window as the grade starts to descend. That could be a cause of uncoupling down the road. I would fix that before proceeding with scenery.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks TF, yep, insulators were mentioned. What is a "frog juicer" ? This is now Officially a DCC layout. The insides of these Kato turnouts haven't been too complicated (so far) just the throw bar with magnets, the actuating coil, the internal electric switch, and the supply wires. I test these with a 9VDC battery, just takes a touch of contact. The turnouts that surprised me were the single crossovers, both sets of points switch at the same time by throwing either of the external throws


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

MichaelE said:


> There is a noticeable dip in the track over by the far window as the grade starts to descend. That could be a cause of uncoupling down the road. I would fix that before proceeding with scenery.


Yes I saw that last night, I'll slip my putty knife under there and shim it up with a piece or two of thin card board to smooth it out


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks TF, yep, insulators were mentioned. What is a "frog juicer" ? This is now Officially a DCC layout. The insides of these Kato turnouts haven't been too complicated (so far) just the throw bar with magnets, the actuating coil, the internal electric switch, and the supply wires. I test these with a 9VDC battery, just takes a touch of contact. The turnouts that surprised me were the single crossovers, both sets of points switch at the same time by throwing either of the external throws


WCB;

"Frog Juicer" is the trade name of a little commercial circuit board that senses the short circuit caused by a locomotive when it enters, or exits a reversing loop and instantly reverses the polarity of the track the loco is entering, so it can continue on. The name comes from its most common use, changing the polarity of the electric "juice" being fed to a turnout's frog. On your Kato turnouts that job is done by the internal switch contacts. 

Traction Fan;


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> The name comes from its most common use, changing the polarity of the electric "juice" being fed to a turnout's frog. On your Kato turnouts that job is done by the internal switch contacts.
> 
> Traction Fan;


So what you're saying is that by installing the insulators / connectors where the track ends up at the turnout I don't need anything, the turnout takes care of the frog switching

Scratch that, did some looking, Digitrax has what I need 😁 I'm gonna end up with all sorts of gizmos and gadgets LOL

Been working on the inclines today and I fixed the track dip coming down the back side, pics at 11

Oh and the catenary poles that I saw at Kato snap onto the outer edge


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I have another short video with some of today's labors done. I have one incline laid out and powered, you'll see me throw the turnout. At the bottom of the hill I'm not sure why power is lost after the turnout but if I flip the next one to continue on the outer loop there is power. I don't have any power drops on the inner loop yet, tomorrow while I get the other incline made and set up. Enjoy but don't break out the popcorn just yet LOL


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Did yall hear the WOOO HOOO a few minutes ago ?? then the "aww sh . . . . ucks" afterwards ??? The WOO HOO was from the loco running almost all the track, the aww shucks came from one turnout being bad. Flipped one way is good, flipped the other direction it trips the breaker in the controller and shows "track fault". I'll take a look at the innards of the turnout but I have to get a few more turnouts, might have to add one more to the mix THEN start making some hills, valleys and such. Enjoy, because I sure did / am


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

An even BIGGER WOOO HOOOO, got the turnout pulled apart and the only thing I could see "wrong" was the uninsulated copper wires coming off the actuating coil (none of these wires have been insulated on the other turnouts). I cut some strips of Kapton tape and captured the wires apart from each other and along the path they were in inside the housing. Also just in case I put a layer of tape on the inside of the metal cover. Had me fingers crossed when I hooked it back up to the track, no more tripping and here is the result, yet another video LOL gonna pull out some cars and my other train and start playing (remember, the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys LOL) 






My son driving my other toy, other than him, I'm the only one that has driven it


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Well, I've got to pull up all the track  dat's'ok, it will be for an improvement I put off because I didn't have any issues with it before but here is why, and I think everyone has this to some degree or another, at the track joints if you run your fingers across them, some are smooth as a baby's butt while others feel like they could cut you, it's THOSE that have been giving me fits with 3 derailments by both trains in just 15 minutes today. The Silver Streak hit one of those joints just right and the loco came to an instant STOP with the cars derailing (the passengers in the cars weren't too happy about it either 🤨) ANYWAY, I saw a video covering this very issue and the guy took a modelers file and hit the end of every rail end at about a 45 degree

Another issue is with the trip wires on the couplers, some of them snag on the ties and / or ballast causing that truck to derail, gonna pull the trip wires and save them with the rest I have pulled already


----------



## Spruslayer

I'm learning all the unitrack tweaks from reading your thread. Still sitting on my hands wile the post office gives my packages the sceneic tour of the southeast. I'll give what I do have down the finger test to find any sharp joints that need attention. Your layout is looking good Bruce, I'm sure you'll have it smoothed out and running in no time


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah, Unitrack is pretty simple to use and the mentioned tweak probably applies to any track out there. Thanks for the compliment, just came out of me head along with the AnyRail program (though I didn't follow the diagram completely) One thing that I did learn from my first layout was to make sure the track is good to go BEFORE doing any scenery or buildings such as grass, trees, dirt roads, etc


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I wuz a sittin' here a thankin' and come up wit a name fer my layout, the MGH&RN RR an dat translates to MidGeorgia Hippie & Red Neck Rail Road since I live about the middle of (or close to it) the Great State of Georgia, I'm a Hippie in some ways and a Red Neck in others (and if you really needed it I'd give you the shirt off my back and if you left here hungry it would be your own fault, unless you were headed out to eat or go home for supper)

Picking up the jewelers / modelers file set tomorrow along with some liquid nails to reglue the track down. I sure am glad I don't fall under the NTSB or OSHA because of the train wrecks earlier 😉 😏 LOL I've got railcars scattered everywhere


----------



## Spruslayer

Can an old hippy get a ticket to Woodstock? 🚂 ✌👣👴 
Having a RR name is another aspect of the layout theme. Would modeling a outdoor music festival be in the works?
I'm going to give mine a twilight zone / sci fi theme with some ufo's , aliens and a crop circle.


----------



## BigGRacing

Enjoying all the progress Wooky, the track is going to be awesome !


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

LOL, Mike, I suppose since young hippies went to the original Woodstock show. I have a couple of bands modeled, even making the Marshall stacks onstage. Which Band is shown here, now retired ?

Thanks Gary, seems sometimes I step 2 forward and one back, gonna have to set the trains aside for a moment to file the tips of all the rails and re-glue it down. Not a problem in the long run in order to make it right










And a band I'm in, I'm on the sax


----------



## Spruslayer

Hmmmmmmm? Rush ? ZZ Topp ?
In me hey day i fancied myself a being a guitar player and played clubs ,bars roadhouses. Back in those days if you had a band there was what seemed like a a bar/club on every corner that would hire a band. Nowa days i believe if you wanna play in a band its churches that provide the gigs


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

It's RUSH, RIP Neil Peart. I didn't want to chance breaking the keyboard from the guy playing it so it wasn't put "onstage"


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Well, I've got to pull up all the track  dat's'ok, it will be for an improvement I put off because I didn't have any issues with it before but here is why, and I think everyone has this to some degree or another, at the track joints if you run your fingers across them, some are smooth as a baby's butt while others feel like they could cut you, it's THOSE that have been giving me fits with 3 derailments by both trains in just 15 minutes today. The Silver Streak hit one of those joints just right and the loco came to an instant STOP with the cars derailing (the passengers in the cars weren't too happy about it either 🤨) ANYWAY, I saw a video covering this very issue and the guy took a modelers file and hit the end of every rail end at about a 45 degree
> 
> Another issue is with the trip wires on the couplers, some of them snag on the ties and / or ballast causing that truck to derail, gonna pull the trip wires and save them with the rest I have pulled already


WCB;

You may not have to pull any track up. If you use a half round/half flat modeler's file, you can do the job with the track still in place. Just use the round side of the file to take a very little off the rail tops. Do this with the file diagonally across the rail joint, not straight across, parallel to the joint. Do this on one diagonal plane, and then switch to the opposite diagonal. This procedure wil round off the very tops of the rails, making them "wheel friendly" and your derailments will go away.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Too late, all the double track is done, now instead of snags there are slight bumps so should hear some of the R/R clackity-clack as trains roll around the layout

OH and HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Well boys and girls, I've been busy the last couple of days and coming on here as well. Cut out and glued down (with glue) a couple of bridge decks, they are flush with the top of the risers, and just got finished gluing the express track down again (used liquid nails this time). On my way around I had two joiner feeders that came loose so I resoldered them (using flux each time makes for a better solder joint, and faster too)

I also did my part to stimulate the economy, no, not all of it. I'll have 4 turnouts, 4 matching track lengths, a couple of buildings, a water tower, a hotel, and two bridges on the way, . I'm going to read up a bit more before committing to a reverse loop and polarity switcher 

This pic shows one bridge deck, the roadway is for reference only, I'll be using another brand of road








Here is the other


----------



## Spruslayer

Looks great Bruce. Are the foam risers the 4% incline, and how high is the bridge. I was considering doing mine at 2" but I'm thinking that may be too low. When the contractors finish the buildings can you post a review , there's so many choices of buildings from cardstock, 3D printed , plastic kits and prebuilts it's overwhelming. 
🚂🚂✌


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Mike, no the risers are a flat 2inches tall, had initially put 3 but rethought it being too high so . . . . . the far rear corner rises an inch or so and back down to 2 on a 3%. The inclines of thin plywood, 1/8 inch, are on about 2%, dropping 1/4" every 24" with wood supports every 6-8 inches so to cut down on any flexing. So far on buildings I've done self made cardstock, plastic, and laser cut wood. The cardstock was printed here, applied to shoebox cardboard here and was fiddly and was ok but I ended up not using them. The plastics are amazing with fit and finish, just have to weather them. The wood kits you can tell they were laser cut (burnt odor) but are also amazing with fit and you have to finish them. My Red Schoolhouse (barracks building) is wood and I've got a 3 story apartment house that didn't come with porch railings I've got to figure out what to use for that. I have a pre-built water tower coming so we'll see, it's a Walthers so it's likely well built. Looking through all that is available it's almost like a kid in a candy store at what to get now and which to get later LOL


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Mike, no the risers are a flat 2inches tall, had initially put 3 but rethought it being too high so . . . . . the far rear corner rises an inch or so and back down to 2 on a 3%. The inclines of thin plywood, 1/8 inch, are on about 2%, dropping 1/4" every 24" with wood supports every 6-8 inches so to cut down on any flexing. So far on buildings I've done self made cardstock, plastic, and laser cut wood. The cardstock was printed here, applied to shoebox cardboard here and was fiddly and was ok but I ended up not using them. The plastics are amazing with fit and finish, just have to weather them. The wood kits you can tell they were laser cut (burnt odor) but are also amazing with fit and you have to finish them. My Red Schoolhouse (barracks building) is wood and I've got a 3 story apartment house that didn't come with porch railings I've got to figure out what to use for that. I have a pre-built water tower coming so we'll see, it's a Walthers so it's likely well built. Looking through all that is available it's almost like a kid in a candy store at what to get now and which to get later LOL


WCB & Spruslayer;

Those built up structures are nice, but quite expensive. The plastic kits are a little more reasonable, but the real "more bang for your buck" deal is scratchbuilding. Just out of curiosity, how much does a Walthers built up water tower cost? I scratchbuilt the water tower shown below for maybe five bucks, tops, in materials. The Lighthouse and keeper's cottage cost me practically nothing, since they are made from tiny stones from my yard and a bit of plaster I had on hand. The windows are commercial products but quite inexpensive. The lighthouse roof is a child's spinning top "junk prize" from a "Halloween carnival' at my kid's school many years ago. Illustrating the model railroader's credo: "Never throw anything away!"

Spruslayer;
I think I may have figured out your screen name? Do you build a lot of plastic kits, and thus "slay" a lot of "sprues" with an X-acto knife? 😄 Since you're overwhelmed with the number of structures available you should talk to "Gimme 30" here on the forum. He was complaining that he couldn't find hardly any N-scale houses. I sent him the list below.

Regards to you both;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The water tower was a bit more than that but also quite a bit taller. The round ball tower was cheaper by 10 bucks and the older type tower I ordered, the girder(?) type is already assembled though I could have put it together. TF, your lighthouse is outstanding, I lined the tunnel entrances from my earlier layout using a bag of small stones (I still have most of that bag lol). I scratch built a log cabin and a barn but they didn't turn out as good as I wanted, I guess practice makes perfect


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> The water tower was a bit more than that but also quite a bit taller. The round ball tower was cheaper by 10 bucks and the older type tower I ordered, the girder(?) type is already assembled though I could have put it together. TF, your lighthouse is outstanding, I lined the tunnel entrances from my earlier layout using a bag of small stones (I still have most of that bag lol). I scratch built a log cabin and a barn but they didn't turn out as good as I wanted, I guess practice makes perfect


 WCB;

Oh, you mean one of those tall municipal water tanks that are seen throughout the Midwest. Not the lower type used to fill the tenders of steam locomotives. We have a lower one of a completely different style, near here. It's shaped, for all the world, exactly like a giant map pin (the kind with the multi-color, big plastic heads) Makes you think Paul Bunyan may have poked it into the ground.

There was some controversy about painting this thing. Some wanted it camouflaged with sky blue paint, and white clouds painted on it, Then whoever had the brain that week pointed out that it was on top of a hill, near a small airport and flying school. Visions of a fledgling student pilot in his Cessna having a close encounter of the very worst kind, with a giant steel water tank that blended quite well into the surrounding sky, canceled the camouflage scheme.
The extremely high cost of painting, and repainting every few years, this thing killed the idea of painting it at all. Instead it was left to assume a "natural color" (aka rust) and some "decorative" silver metal clouds were bolted on around the top. The whole thing is ugly as sin, and a fitting monument to government ineptitude! 😕

Thanks for the compliment on my lighthouse. 😊 (warm fuzzy)

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Spruslayer

traction fan said:


> WCB & Spruslayer;
> 
> Those built up structures are nice, but quite expensive. The plastic kits are a little more reasonable, but the real "more bang for your buck" deal is scratchbuilding. Just out of curiosity, how much does a Walthers built up water tower cost?  I scratchbuilt the water tower shown below for maybe five bucks, tops, in materials. The Lighthouse and keeper's cottage cost me practically nothing, since they are made from tiny stones from my yard and a bit of plaster I had on hand. The windows are commercial products but quite inexpensive. The lighthouse roof is a child's spinning top "junk prize" from a "Halloween carnival' at my kid's school many years ago. Illustrating the model railroader's credo: "Never throw anything away!"
> 
> Spruslayer;
> I think I may have figured out your screen name? Do you build a lot of plastic kits, and thus "slay" a lot of "sprues" with an X-acto knife? 😄 Since you're overwhelmed with the number of structures available you should talk to "Gimme 30" here on the forum. He was complaining that he couldn't find hardly any N-scale houses. I sent him the list below.
> 
> Regards to you both;
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


 Why yes TF, many a plastic model kit has met its demise under my scalpel and glue. As my luck would have it my place of employment close its doors for good and it was still almost two years before i could draw my SS so i worked from home on my own to make ends meet, and again my good fortune stepped up and brought the pandemic lockdown in just about to the day the SS started. To keep my self busy when there was no work i built models. So late Nov of 19 i got the itch to try model trains. I had an HO layout as a 10 YO and thought what the heck, ill give N scale a try and the rest as they say is history. Probably a little TMI but for a guy who can be entertained by watching grass grow this hobby keeps the brain cells workin overtime. Your right about the cost of some of the kits out their so i have kicked around ideas in my head to scratch out a few. Another thing i have thought about is taking photos and some measurements of the local prototype trains and track but im wondering if some old guy taking pics of trains might attract the wrong kind of attention. 👮‍♂️👮‍♀️ 🚂🚂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

TF, A tower similar to this, though hopefully not as rusty lol. YEARS ago I was working for one of our local small towns that had a similar tower and I had to climb that bad boy to close the lid that had flipped open in a wind storm, I spent a while up there just looking around the countryside

I also have a shed coming, it will be the well / pump house, modeled after that tower


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Spruslayer said:


> but im wondering if some old guy taking pics of trains might attract the wrong kind of attention. 👮‍♂️👮‍♀️ 🚂🚂


Well, that might depend on WHERE you are taking pictures and WHAT the trains are set up to haul. A Military installation might get some attention but a common rail yard, probably not so much and maybe not depending on the Military base. Ft Gillem in South Atlanta has all sorts of old rail lines and warehouses used during WWII pretty much a derelict base now full of empty buildings and yards full of surplus and antiquated equipment (bone yard) still can't get in without an ID or business there, my last trip in was with a load of gravel for a contractor


----------



## Steve Rothstein

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Kato also have double track with "concrete slab" for inner city routes I'd guess PLUS they have trolley / streetcar track


The Kato track (they call it Unitram) for trolleys and streetcars is pretty slick, in my opinion. They include flat plates that interlock so you have full streets with markings and everything. Probably the smartest thing they did was make the two curves when you go around a corner non-parallel. By that I mean that they widen the distance between the tracks and then bring it back down to narrow so the trolley stays in its lane.

I am going to put trolleys in my sons layout. Right now he thinks we will use regular unitrack and he wants to make the streets himself. He is not as lazy as I am and has a lot more artistic talent for that. My only argument for staying with the unitram instead is that they offer a turnout that changes both sets of rails at one time. It isn't much of an argument since he just wants a simple loop around the downtown area of the town he plans on building. Of course, finding N gauge trolleys is hard too. If you don't mind the very old style, Bachmann makes a few. I found a couple closeout of the style I wanted at trainworld.com. Bachmann used to make them with DCC. Of course, the town is now St. Louis unless I convince him to try repainting them.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

My layout won't be that large or "cityfied" Steve. If I had a City with the highscrapers it might be a thought as I remember 40 years ago I was stationed just outside of Frankfurt Germany and they had as their commuting system the "S-Bahn" trains, subways, and streetcars that went hand in hand with their buses. THAT would be an awesome layout to model / prototype


----------



## traction fan

Spruslayer said:


> Why yes TF, many a plastic model kit has met its demise under my scalpel and glue. As my luck would have it my place of employment close its doors for good and it was still almost two years before i could draw my SS so i worked from home on my own to make ends meet, and again my good fortune stepped up and brought the pandemic lockdown in just about to the day the SS started. To keep my self busy when there was no work i built models. So late Nov of 19 i got the itch to try model trains. I had an HO layout as a 10 YO and thought what the heck, ill give N scale a try and the rest as they say is history. Probably a little TMI but for a guy who can be entertained by watching grass grow this hobby keeps the brain cells workin overtime. Your right about the cost of some of the kits out their so i have kicked around ideas in my head to scratch out a few. Another thing i have thought about is taking photos and some measurements of the local prototype trains and track but im wondering if some old guy taking pics of trains might attract the wrong kind of attention. 👮‍♂️👮‍♀️ 🚂🚂


Spruslayer;

In the era of post 911 mania, railfans are being hassled more & more for hanging around looking at trains, and taking photos. In some ways it makes sense, someone who knew enough, and wanted to, could cause a lot of destruction with real trains. If you take photos, or just watch, be careful to stay on public property, & don't hang around all day. The railroad companies, and their employees, including the railroad police, are being very serious about trespassing these days.

Often you can get a lot of information about local buildings, including photos, through your local public library. If they don't have what you want, they can request it for you from other libraries. I live in San Diego, CA. and model a tiny part of Seattle, WA. I was able to get a bunch of historic maps, and photos, of Seattle through the San Diego library. Of course, the internet is another great source for such info.

It's quite possible to "measure" a structure from photos. My scratchbuilt model of the little train order station at Black River, WA. is a classic example. The actual building was torn down many years ago, but with some photos, showing men standing near the station, I could make a pretty good "guesstimate" of it's dimensions. It's a little gem of a structure and unique to that area. There are no kits of it, of course, so I had to scratchbuild everything, right down to the lenses in the working brass semaphore. 

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> It's quite possible to "measure" a structure from photos. . . . I could make a pretty good "guesstimate" of it's dimensions.
> Traction Fan 🙂


aka SWAG. That's a nice lil shanty shack there TF

The biggest train yard I know of is just west of downtown, maybe 7 lines across, never counted but I crossed that bridge enough times in a truck. It's not a part of Atlanta I'd want to be at night or by myself in the daytime (yeah, I'd have my little friend with me for sure)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Just got word that what I ordered is on the way. I took the Zephyr train out for a run, it clickity clacks a bit more then I wanted but it sure beats derails. I also cleaned the track with an alcohol rub, man was it nasty looking (the rag I used anyway)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Been a few days, under the weather a bit (no, don't think it's covid or what-not, juss more tired than usual) and the progress of my recent haul. I got the well / pump house built for the water tower, the name "Ashland" is from my Mom's hometown in Ky, I already have a hospital in memory of my Dad, and working on the Hotel California. The windows and doors are a bit fiddly but look good once in place, peel n stick. I also have the gantry crane for the engine house built. I still have two houses and 2 bridge / overpass kits to do


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Even after a few days of under the weather I kept busy building and modifying, here they are. Well/pump house, the town's hotel, a couple of two story homes, one of the two steel under/overpasses, and the gantry crane with hoist cable and hook in place for the engine house



























I've got to raise the engine house up just a bit so that the track is level with the floor. I'm about to start putting the hillsides in where they need to be and cut in the creek/riverbed


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Even after a few days of under the weather I kept busy building and modifying, here they are. Well/pump house, the town's hotel, a couple of two story homes, one of the two steel under/overpasses, and the gantry crane with hoist cable and hook in place for the engine house
> View attachment 553096
> 
> 
> View attachment 553097
> 
> 
> View attachment 553098
> 
> 
> I've got to raise the engine house up just a bit so that the track is level with the floor. I'm about to start putting the hillsides in where they need to be and cut in the creek/riverbed


WCB;

You could connect a piece of sectional track onto the end of your Kato unitrack and then build this thinner (no roadbed attached) track right into the floor of your raised engine house. You would end up with something like the track in my engine house shown below.

I hope you feel better. I'm dealing with the last dregs of the cold from hell. It was a little christmas present for the grandparents from my baby granddaughter Saorise. (pronounced "sur sha" Gallic for "freedom")

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I'm feeling better, it's partly "Uncle Arthir" when the weather changes to cold and rainy and a slight cold. I like the looks of your floor there TF and you have a pit too (OSHA requires some sort of barrier around open pits not in use 😉 I won't turn you in) I could cut down a piece of track (the ballast part) and ease it into the shop but what I have on hand is a sheet of 3/16 thick project foam board that on the other layout brought the floor almost even with the top of the rail, can be seen in the pic, this time I'll bring the floor right up to the outside edge of the rails and fashion something betwixt them and allow for the flanges


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I'm feeling better, it's partly "Uncle Arthir" when the weather changes to cold and rainy and a slight cold. I like the looks of your floor there TF and you have a pit too (OSHA requires some sort of barrier around open pits not in use 😉 I won't turn you in) I could cut down a piece of track (the ballast part) and ease it into the shop but what I have on hand is a sheet of 3/16 thick project foam board that on the other layout brought the floor almost even with the top of the rail, can be seen in the pic, this time I'll bring the floor right up to the outside edge of the rails and fashion something betwixt them and allow for the flanges
> View attachment 553130


WCB;

My layout is set in the 1920s. No OSHA. If someone walked into a pit it was actually considered their own dumb fault back then.


----------



## Spruslayer

The buildings are looking great WCB. Watching your layout come together is helping this newbee find his way through the dark tunnel of building his first model railroad!
🚂 🚂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks, I think part of my "skill" is from all the model cars, boats, trucks, etc I built as a kid (No, I've not really grown up yet, my latest models before starting with the trains was an aircraft carrier, the Missouri battleship, and the Arizona pre-1941) and a model of my Mercedes (a RARE model of it btw)

I've got some of the terrain cut and glued down now, might end up doing a tunnel after all, we'll see

The real thing








Oh and it has a 4 speed automatic that usually starts out in second gear unless you floor it and on freeway get-on ramps it has gotten up to 95mph without even pushing it hard. I'd love to take it to a road racing track just to run it a bit without having to watch for blue lights 
The model


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Pardon the mess you are about to see, remember this is a construction zone. Steel bridges are in with the roadbed approaches set as well as a rail crossing, painting coming later. I have the basics of the mountain cut and laying in place with scraps pieces all over the place lol, Cleanup tomorrow. Oh, I also got the old glue removed from all of the buildings and they are ready to reset when the time comes


----------



## MichaelE

That's coming along nicely.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I got some more done today (actually the last few days 😎). Engine shop floor is done, painted, and installed though it's just sitting on the track and the foundation in case I need to move it again temporarily. The little gizmo that is hooked to the chimney pipe is a forge I made after looking on the net for what one looked like, can't see it but there is the working firebox on it (or whatever it's called). I have part of the backside slope glued down and weighted til it dries and the near side terrain is almost done, I'll post pics of it then


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The last couple of days I've been working on the hospital that my son bought for me last Christmas a year ago. He's now a Doctor and this is / was his contribution to my latest hobby. I took it apart and knocked 3 floors out of it, rewired, painted the insides so that the walls won't glow as much, and superglued it back together, now to put a coat or two of paint outside. I also piddled a bit with the hillsides, not finished with them yet and still plan of putting a Veterans Memorial Park using a couple of Hummers and a (I think) Bradley Tank

Before, can't see top floor








After with lights on









Rough cut of hillside, will smooth it and shape some more with the foam rasp (the yellow thing)


----------



## MichaelE

Very nice work. The tower looks great.

As former member of SAC, I would highly recommend not taking photos at any missile, bomber, or fighter wing Air Force bases. 

In today's environment I don't think the Air Force would be very receptive to this sort of publicity. Of course there is no law that I know of against it, but I don't think I would do it.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Michael, if you mean the water tower it came already built, though I was prepared to build it. No, in this day and age I think that ANY Military installation especially Air Force and any Commo would have you soon in a dark room asking all sorts of questions. About 12 years ago when I was still working we hauled some gravel over a period of months to the Atlanta Airport, had all sorts of security and safety classes we had to go through. Can't go here or there, no picture taking of anything, hardhats and vest if you got out of the truck, yadda yadda. One company got their contract pulled because one of their not so bright drivers found himself ON a hot runway. I missed that but the gate guard told me that the truck was surrounded by all sorts of blue lights, FBI, Airport Cops just because he made a "wrong turn"


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Got some more done, almost finished with the hillsides, got two roads cut in though I'll be using a different roadbed, what's there is just for reference. There are at least two more I've got to cut in. I set some of the buildings out to give an idea of my madness method here, probably will change them around some as I go. The two backsides that make a V will have a picture backdrop, haven't got them yet. Oh and again the food cans are weights to hold the foam down 😉


----------



## Spruslayer

Look in really good WCB! Nice collection of buildings. I recently completed the Walthers water tower and those cross wires have me fits but I finally got it together. Enjoying watching this come together 👍✌


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

That's not all of them, I have a rail / truck warehouse, oil / petrol tanks and related filling / dispensing racks, even have an Alpine cottage. My water tower came already built


----------



## Magic

Wooky starting to look like a real RR now.   

Looks like your layout is a vegetarian, might try some steaks for weight.
Won't work any better but will taste better. 

Magic


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

LOL, thanks Magic, it would have to be a ribeye with plenty of marbling . I'm at a crossroad of sorts, up in the far corner I've considered one more layer for a park and the Veteran Memorial and that would make those tracks in a tunnel with a "natural" opening instead of a manmade, are there any such critters out in the train world ? I've seen pictures and movies where the tunnels were simply blasted out but what I would end up with would be more like the cliff dwellers homes, a large opening


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Got some more done, almost finished with the hillsides, got two roads cut in though I'll be using a different roadbed, what's there is just for reference. There are at least two more I've got to cut in. I set some of the buildings out to give an idea of my madness method here, probably will change them around some as I go. The two backsides that make a V will have a picture backdrop, haven't got them yet. Oh and again the food cans are weights to hold the foam down 😉
> 
> View attachment 553968


WCB;

Looking good so far! 
I have one suggestion regarding your backdrop(s) Using warped MDF board, or plastic, Make a curved sky to conceal the corner. That "giant vertical crease in the sky" doesn't look much like the real sky. 
As an oddball exception, I could actually make a corner work on my little layout, since my skies aren't very high (16") There is a tall, square, tower building in Seattle, called the Smith tower. It would be within "modeler's license location" of my layout's sky corner. If I build the tower right in the corner, and blocking the view of my own "great vertical crease in the sky," the illusion that the sky is continuous, and far behind the tower, might work.
I haven't decided on that yet. I'd have to mock it up, and look carefully at it, before committing myself to scratchbuilding an N-scale model of Smith tower. The prototype has about a jillion windows!

Keep up your good work!

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The corner isn't set in stone that curvy thing sounds good but it will keep the table away from the wall / corner just a bit. We'll see when I get to that point, still a LONG way from finished (if they ever are actually "finished" lol)


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> The corner isn't set in stone that curvy thing sounds good but it will keep the table away from the wall / corner just a bit. We'll see when I get to that point, still a LONG way from finished (if they ever are actually "finished" lol)


WCB;

If "the curvy thing" is attached tot he room walls, and set just above the table top, it won't keep your table away from the corner at all. It doesn't need to extend from floor to ceiling. Any part below table level would be out of sight anyway. If you really want to "come over to the dark side" by making your table something less than a perfect rectangle, you could even (gasp, horror) round off that corner of your table!  
It could also be something attached to the table, that moves out with it. For your traditional table, I don't see any advantage in doing it that way, but on my sectional layout with each section having a top, and needing to be portable, it makes perfect sense. 

regards;

Traction Fan 😊


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Frankenwiring here LOL. Took all the switches and wiring out for a re-do and refresh. Turnout wiring will be red+ and black-, lighting yellow+ and green-, with the feed to the Digitrax as a 2nd throttle blue+ and white-. I'll also have enough wire so that if I have to open this up there won't be any strain on the wiring


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Frankenwiring here LOL. Took all the switches and wiring out for a re-do and refresh. Turnout wiring will be red+ and black-, lighting yellow+ and green-, with the feed to the Digitrax as a 2nd throttle blue+ and white-. I'll also have enough wire so that if I have to open this up there won't be any strain on the wiring
> View attachment 554339


WCB;

Ahh! A man after my own heart! Build something, then take it apart. Build it, take it apart. Build something else and then take that apart. I've been doing that for years.

Traction Fan 😄


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> 
> Ahh! A man after my own heart! Build something, then take it apart. Build it, take it apart. Build something else and then take that apart. I've been doing that for years.
> 
> Traction Fan 😄


LMAO  Juss glad I could make yer day. I did kinda slap that version together and didn't allow enough slack in the wiring to open the case, working on that plus having to add / rearrange / combine the switches due to added turnouts. I may even get another metal plate and mount the switches on a diagram of the track and turnout locations with a smaller box for the Kato controller still as a second throttle


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> LMAO  Juss glad I could make yer day. I did kinda slap that version together and didn't allow enough slack in the wiring to open the case, working on that plus having to add / rearrange / combine the switches due to added turnouts. I may even get another metal plate and mount the switches on a diagram of the track and turnout locations with a smaller box for the Kato controller still as a second throttle


WCB;

I think the track diagram on the control panel is a good way to go, maybe with smaller toggle switches that will fit the narrow lines of the diagram better. I never liked the Atlas controls or others that were set in a line, and you had to guess which control operated which turnout. Even with labels, I always found it easier to comprehend when the toggle switch or button was on the line and in the right spot on a diagram.

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here is the latest running of the trains, short but sweet. The DCC is the main controller with the Kato DC being the second throttle piggy-backed off the Digitrax on "Jump 1". there is an additional "Jump 2" for a third throttle


----------



## Steve Rothstein

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Here is the latest running of the trains, short but sweet. The DCC is the main controller with the Kato DC being the second throttle piggy-backed off the Digitrax on "Jump 1". there is an additional "Jump 2" for a third throttle


I like that layout shape. You definitely are making progress, I like the way you are keeping the trains running while building the layout. That is something I am also trying for.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Pardon the mess lol construction zone

Thanks Steve, last night I was like "I'm GONNA run SOME train in one form or another, and I did (should have had one running the other way though) I had to R&R the decoder on the E5A loco last night. It was real herky jerky for whatever reason, it would go a few inches then die, give it a nudge and maybe a foot and die. I also gave it's wheels a good cleaning and OFF she took


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Am I a genius or what ? LOL I was staring off into space a while ago (some call it spacing out, some call it taking a nap LOL) and realized I was staring at a sheet of styrene plastic that will be the new turnout control panel. I'll have to get a smaller box to mount the Kato throttle, no problem


----------



## Steve Rothstein

A new control panel is on my list of future projects too. Right now I am still using the bank of Kato switches but I have two odd ones that won't use Kato on the trolley track. I was going to leave the two on my trolley track manual, but my son decided to electrify them as well. 

I think we will use the Stapleton switches for the control panel. I like the idea of the diagram on the panel with the LEDs indicating which track is the live one for each turnout. But $125 or so for the switches is a little much for me to bite off and justify over the Kato switches right now. And the cost of buildings seems low when you look at them, but it adds up fast when you start trying to build enough to represent a city. Now I know why it seems so many layouts are set in what I consider rural areas. My trolley area was going to be a loop around the outside of four city blocks (an oval with two cross streets inside it). I think my "blocks" may be lucky to get two or three buildings each now. I have a friend who just retired as a city planner up in Pennsylvania. I wonder what he would say to that plan.


----------



## traction fan

Steve Rothstein said:


> A new control panel is on my list of future projects too. Right now I am still using the bank of Kato switches but I have two odd ones that won't use Kato on the trolley track. I was going to leave the two on my trolley track manual, but my son decided to electrify them as well.
> 
> I think we will use the Stapleton switches for the control panel. I like the idea of the diagram on the panel with the LEDs indicating which track is the live one for each turnout. But $125 or so for the switches is a little much for me to bite off and justify over the Kato switches right now. And the cost of buildings seems low when you look at them, but it adds up fast when you start trying to build enough to represent a city. Now I know why it seems so many layouts are set in what I consider rural areas. My trolley area was going to be a loop around the outside of four city blocks (an oval with two cross streets inside it). I think my "blocks" may be lucky to get two or three buildings each now. I have a friend who just retired as a city planner up in Pennsylvania. I wonder what he would say to that plan.


Steve;

You can make a control panel with ordinary pushbuttons, or momentary toggle switches, for a lot les than $125. Just out of curiosity, how many Stapleton controls was that $125 for?
All you need, electrically, is a momentary shot of positive DC for your Kato turnouts to throw one way, and a momentary shot of negative DC for them to throw the other way. Whatever power supply you're using now (probably the Kato power pack) is already producing positive DC and negative DC. You just need an alternative to the bulky Kato turnout controls to apply these voltages, as needed, to operate your Kato turnouts.
A pair of common doorbell buttons will operate one turnout. (NOTE: I would avoid the miniature red buttons of the type that were once sold by Radio Shack. They tend to short circuit internally, or burn out. They don't have much of a current rating, and a CDU, or simple repeated use, can damage them easily. Or, you could use the DPDT momentary toggle switches like those Wooky Choo Bacca uses. There are also smaller mini toggle switches which may fit on a small control panel better. The important thing about choosing toggle switches for this job is that they have to be the spring-loaded center-off kind. 
A conventional toggle switch works just like a light switch in your home. When thrown to the "On" position, the power to the light goes on, and then, stays on. This is fine for a ceiling light, but disastrous for a coil-driven turnout like Kato, Peco, or Atlas. Staying on more than a second can burn out the coil. That brings us back to using a CDU (Capacitive Discharge Unit) to protect your turnouts. The reason I suggested the Stapleton controls was that they have a CDU built-in. But, that's not the only way to get a CDU. You can buy one separate from any turnout controller. "Snapper" is one trade name. Check www.walthers.com or google "capacitive discharge units." 
If you were using all Peco, or Atlas, turnouts, with their twin-coil switch machines, You would only need one CDU to operate all the turnouts on your layout. However Kato turnouts are different, in that they use only one coil, and it needs to be alternately given positive, or negative DC. For that, you will likely need two CDUs, one producing a positive charge, and the other producing a negative charge. It is also easy to make your own CDUs for very little cost. You might end up needing three CDUs one +DC & one -DC for all your Kato turnouts, and a third one for the Peco turnouts on your trolley line. There is probably some way of combining and/or simplifying the electronics for this CDU business. We have some electrical engineers on the forum, who may be able to help with that. Or you could simply skip the CDU thing and be careful not to hold any buttons or toggles in the "ON" position for more than a second. 

You say your city blocks may be lucky to get two or three buildings each. Is that due to cost, space limitations, or both? You can have one large building filling a city block. My N-scale model of Seattle Union Station does. Or you can use several smaller buildings. Scratchbuilding structures is way way cheaper than buying commercial kits or worse, built-up finished structures. In terms of representing a city, there are only a few multi-story city structures commercially available. Modern skyscraper high rise buildings are especially limited, and very expensive. So, you may have to scratchbuild, or kitbash a lot of your city. Design Preservation Models (now part of Woodland Scenics Co.) makes lots of two & three story stores. 

Good Luck & Have Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Speaking of . . . . . . been working on repurposing the control box, don't ask me the cost, CRS but it was about 12 bucks. I've ordered another box to mount the Kato controller in. Here is a partially completed turnout control with the switches laid out where the turnouts are. I'm orienting the switches so that when thrown the points flip to the direction that the switch is operated. I'll add the lines denoting the track layout soon as I am short by two DPDT momentary on switches and I'll pick up another box of red terminal lugs. There is enough room to add a couple of off/on switches for lighting, or may just get another box, we'll see









The second siding pictured at the bottom right is not there and the shop siding does not curve up the side


----------



## Steve Rothstein

traction fan said:


> You can make a control panel with ordinary pushbuttons, or momentary toggle switches, for a lot les than $125. Just out of curiosity, how many Stapleton controls was that $125 for?


That was for ten of the Stapleton switches, preassembled. I could cut that down in price if I wanted to do some soldering by buying them from them as kits. That would probably reduce it by half. But I haven't done soldering on circuit boards since maybe high school. I would have to buy a new soldering gun of a much lower wattage than I normally use and with a point, like the pencil style soldering guns. I am sure I would recover that money quickly in other projects and this one might even cover the cost of the whole setup.

I knew I could work it other ways. I had looked for DPDT switches but could not find any that were spring centered. I know they are out there, but the closest I found were rocker switches designed for door windows in cars and I decided they were two big. The part I really liked about the Stapleton switch was that it included two LEDs to put in the panel to show which way it was set. Making a disagram of the layout on the panel and putting the switches near where the turnouts appears and the LEDs to actually light the track appealed to me. For now, I am continuing with the Kato switched in a specially build wood bank that holds tham where I can get to them. 




> You say your city blocks may be lucky to get two or three buildings each. Is that due to cost, space limitations, or both? You can have one large building filling a city block. My N-scale model of Seattle Union Station does. Or you can use several smaller buildings. Scratchbuilding structures is way way cheaper than buying commercial kits or worse, built-up finished structures. In terms of representing a city, there are only a few multi-story city structures commercially available. Modern skyscraper high rise buildings are especially limited, and very expensive. So, you may have to scratchbuild, or kitbash a lot of your city. Design Preservation Models (now part of Woodland Scenics Co.) makes lots of two & three story stores.


This limitation is a mixture of cost, space, and interest. I bought a couple of the commercial house kits and scenery and it is more expensive than I imagined. I know we can do it a little cheaper by being careful what kits we buy or by scratch building. My original idea was that one side of the oval was for a residential district and the other side was for a commercial district. The oval is about 18 x 30 inches, which when scaled out is a pretty good size, so we added a the cross streets. Subtract the street widths and you end up with four city blocks that are each about the equivalent of 90 x 180 feet which strikes me as a little small for a small town but close to a downtown in an older big city. 

Chris had mentioned that he had seen a couple kits that did a whole block of store fronts and that it would be easy to modify those into what we wanted. The houses would seem to be in the three to a block range for that but for each side of the block. It just gives small back yards. I may try to talk him into building a block of row homes like in Philly. Each home is 12 feet wide and all connected into one building. That would give me six or seven homes in one block.

But the more I think about it, I keep thinking that I only need enough houses to give the impression of a residential area. That lowers the count of houses a lot. I can take advantage of the selective compression we talked about to make it representative where everyone can get the impression, instead of trying to make it more lifelike or anything. That is what we are doing with the trolleys anyway, because there is no city in the world where there is a single trolley line going around four city blocks, especially with it in just one direction (we could not make it work very well with two directions for the trolleys - just not enough room for the loops).

Steve


----------



## traction fan

Steve Rothstein said:


> That was for ten of the Stapleton switches, preassembled. I could cut that down in price if I wanted to do some soldering by buying them from them as kits. That would probably reduce it by half. But I haven't done soldering on circuit boards since maybe high school. I would have to buy a new soldering gun of a much lower wattage than I normally use and with a point, like the pencil style soldering guns. I am sure I would recover that money quickly in other projects and this one might even cover the cost of the whole setup.
> 
> I knew I could work it other ways. I had looked for DPDT switches but could not find any that were spring centered. I know they are out there, but the closest I found were rocker switches designed for door windows in cars and I decided they were two big. The part I really liked about the Stapleton switch was that it included two LEDs to put in the panel to show which way it was set. Making a disagram of the layout on the panel and putting the switches near where the turnouts appears and the LEDs to actually light the track appealed to me. For now, I am continuing with the Kato switched in a specially build wood bank that holds tham where I can get to them.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This limitation is a mixture of cost, space, and interest. I bought a couple of the commercial house kits and scenery and it is more expensive than I imagined. I know we can do it a little cheaper by being careful what kits we buy or by scratch building. My original idea was that one side of the oval was for a residential district and the other side was for a commercial district. The oval is about 18 x 30 inches, which when scaled out is a pretty good size, so we added a the cross streets. Subtract the street widths and you end up with four city blocks that are each about the equivalent of 90 x 180 feet which strikes me as a little small for a small town but close to a downtown in an older big city.
> 
> Chris had mentioned that he had seen a couple kits that did a whole block of store fronts and that it would be easy to modify those into what we wanted. The houses would seem to be in the three to a block range for that but for each side of the block. It just gives small back yards. I may try to talk him into building a block of row homes like in Philly. Each home is 12 feet wide and all connected into one building. That would give me six or seven homes in one block.
> 
> But the more I think about it, I keep thinking that I only need enough houses to give the impression of a residential area. That lowers the count of houses a lot. I can take advantage of the selective compression we talked about to make it representative where everyone can get the impression, instead of trying to make it more lifelike or anything. That is what we are doing with the trolleys anyway, because there is no city in the world where there is a single trolley line going around four city blocks, especially with it in just one direction (we could not make it work very well with two directions for the trolleys - just not enough room for the loops).
> 
> Steve


Steve;

If you decide to get a smaller soldering iron, I have a recommendation. I have two Weller brand, pencil type, soldering irons. I also have one of their big black soldering guns the 100-140 watt type that's shaped vaguely like a German Luger pistol , hence the name soldering gun.* 
The little irons come in 25 watt, and 40 watt versions, and I have one of each. The 25 watt iron is good for electronics and soldering rail joints Which you would probably never do with Kato Unitrack. I also use it for scratchbuilding N-scale code 55 turnouts and crossings, but again, that's not something a Kato track guy is ever going to need to do. The 40 watt iron is good for soldering larger items like the wye shown below, or a complete yard throat on one big piece of PC board. So. for your basic electrical soldering the 25 watt iron should be fine. Both these Weller irons have an unusual, triangular shape at the top of the handle. This lets the soldering iron be its own "stand" which is a handy feature. so are the LEDs built into this triangle. They light up what you're soldering. Home depot caries these irons. I think they are about $25, which is a decent price for an iron this well designed and made. I have been using both of mine for years, and apart from occasionally replacing worn tips with heavy gauge copper wire, have not had to do anything to them. Very few places will sell you just a soldering iron tip anymore, like they used to. They would rather soak you for a whole new iron. I hit on the copper wire idea and bought one foot of the heaviest wire Home Depot had. I got at least twenty tips for a buck or two. 

* Long ago I worked for Diebold, a company that makes all sorts of security equipment for banks. One of our techs was working on the hold up alarm and accidentally triggered it. He was using one of those big Weller soldering guns and immediately dropped it on the floor. When that alarm goes off the cops appear at both doors of the bank in a minute or less. Our guy didn't want to be holding a gun-shaped tool when Barney Fife, and his trusty 12 Ga. riot gun, burst through the door. He preferred to keep his head on his shoulders! 😄 

My other Weller soldering gun story happed while I was in the Navy. We had the bigger 200-240 watt soldering guns. The carrier my squadron was deployed on was headed home for christmas. We were crossing the North Atlantic in December, and traveling at a pretty high speed. Needles to say, it was COLD up on that flight deck where we were trying to solder a little wire into a co-ax connector on one of the planes. In the immortal words of Ed McMann to Jonny Carson, How cold was it? The 240 watt soldering gun couldn't even melt the solder, that's how cold. You might say the wind chill factor was a bit high! 😄


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> My other Weller soldering gun story happed while I was in the Navy. We had the bigger 200-240 watt soldering guns. The carrier my squadron was deployed on was headed home for christmas. We were crossing the North Atlantic in December, and traveling at a pretty high speed. Needles to say, it was COLD up on that flight deck where we were trying to solder a little wire into a co-ax connector on one of the planes. In the immortal words of Ed McMann to Jonny Carson, How cold was it? The 240 watt soldering gun couldn't even melt the solder, that's how cold. You might say the wind chill factor was a bit high! 😄


A'fore I forget again, Thank You for your Service, I too am a Veteran, Army, but also was a Navy Brat 'til I was 8 years old








Dad was a Hospital Corpsman on a Minesweeper, MSO 461 the Observer. Then my son came along and was also a Corpsman for 10 years before getting


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Been busy the last few days, I was running the freight and it was derailing over on the crossovers. I thought they were #6s until I got them here but I think they are #4s. Looked on youtube and found a fix, filing a notch in the rail where the point rail goes, so far no derails after an hour of running through the two turnouts. It's fissed WOOO HOOO. Next was the new enclosure for the Kato controller to be used as a Jump Throttle on the Digitrax, looks like it was made for it. I've got the turnout switch panel almost finished, waiting for more terminal ends, ordered some and they wait for 4 days to tell me they are unavailable 😡 cancelled that order and ordered some elsewhere, can't find any in town


















Now to fashion a panel to hold all the controllers in that corner


----------



## Steve Rothstein

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Been busy the last few days, I was running the freight and it was derailing over on the crossovers. I thought they were #6s until I got them here but I think they are #4s. Looked on youtube and found a fix, filing a notch in the rail where the point rail goes, so far no derails after an hour of running through the two turnouts. It's fissed WOOO HOOO.


Glad to hear that fixed your problems. I had just posted in a thread about two Kato questions because I wasn't sure if it was my GG1 that was bad or my turnouts. My Mikado had no problems but my GG1 was derailing t any speed above about 1/3 throttle. I got a few answers that suggested that I do the same thing you did. @traction fan also suggested that I check the GG1 wheels to make sure they are within gauge too. So, next week my son and I have some work to do on our turnouts and on the GG1.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Steve Rothstein said:


> Glad to hear that fixed your problems. I had just posted in a thread about two Kato questions because I wasn't sure if it was my GG1 that was bad or my turnouts. My Mikado had no problems but my GG1 was derailing t any speed above about 1/3 throttle. I got a few answers that suggested that I do the same thing you did. @traction fan also suggested that I check the GG1 wheels to make sure they are within gauge too. So, next week my son and I have some work to do on our turnouts and on the GG1.


Yeah something about the turnout points not fitting tight against the rail so the notch gives it some room to get out of the way .Don't know if Kato is aware of this glitch, the points on these two turnouts are flimsier than the #6s. So far the modification seems to be working, if it starts acting up again I'll have to get another double crossover to replace these two. OOHHH our modern problems LOL


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I've got the turnout switch box finished wired up. I'll write down the schematic for my own purpose here juss in case someone else were to stop by and help fix a fault, pretty simple though it's a "go - no go" set-up

And now for something comPLETEly different  I've also been working of the Tank Farm / Petrol Yard. Not set in stone yet and I need to paint the scratch built building and I have one more tank in the midst of painting. The Yard may not be like the real ones but oh well LOL Servicing not only storage but also rail service and truck fuel haulers








Oh, the piping you see from the building to the various tanks are from an HO sized kit meant for a refinery but I made do with them and the hoses going to both the truck and rail cars is insulation from solid copper wire slipped of in one piece


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I've got the turnout switch box finished wired up. I'll write down the schematic for my own purpose here juss in case someone else were to stop by and help fix a fault, pretty simple though it's a "go - no go" set-up
> 
> And now for something comPLETEly different  I've also been working of the Tank Farm / Petrol Yard. Not set in stone yet and I need to paint the scratch built building and I have one more tank in the midst of painting. The Yard may not be like the real ones but oh well LOL Servicing not only storage but also rail service and truck fuel haulers
> View attachment 555411
> 
> Oh, the piping you see from the building to the various tanks are from an HO sized kit meant for a refinery but I made do with them and the hoses going to both the truck and rail cars is insulation from solid copper wire slipped of in one piece
> View attachment 555412


WCB;

Looks like you're off to a good start.
I have a couple of suggestions and questions though. Railroad tank cars are usually filled from the top, and emptied from the bottom. In your second photo, the hoses seem to be attached to the side of the car? If they are loading oil from the dock, into the cars, then shouldn't they be feeding into the top of the dome? If they are draining oil out of the car, well that's usually done from the bottom of the car into an underground pipe, or a hose that is lower to the ground. It would take a lot of pumping to get oil up that steeply-slopped hose and into the dock structure. Not impossible, but a little odd looking. I seem to recall seeing prototype loading facilities with the hoses smaller, and supported by posts, but I'm not at all sure. In any case, you may want to check online for prototype photos.
My question has to do with the era of your tank farm . One built in say the last twenty years? would have a **** wall around the tanks and sometimes another around the whole facility, to contain leaks. That might be a nice detail to add as you develop your scene.
Second question: It looks, in your first photo, like Kato N-scale turnouts have all metal frogs, is that correct? 

regards;

Traction Fan


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

On the tank load / unload, that makes sense and the fueling deck is just sitting there for the moment, I can add the lower drain / pump out lines as I make it more permanent. The containment will be with the storage tanks down in a dugout. I've seen pics of that as well as the containment berms, I don't know what era I'm going for, train-wise it's modern, road vehicle-wise it's European and British with some American sprinkled in, house and structure-wise it could be most anything post-Civil War to present day LOL

Yes, all of the turnouts I have are Kato and all have metal frogs, all are power routing with the single crossovers being #4s (I believe) and those can be switched from power routing to not by moving a screw underneath (I moved the screw on these 2)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Been rather busy but not all on trains, had to do an oil change on one of the cars (PITA 'Zuki, didn't do the filter this time), the S10 and the Hot Rod are next and much easier. Here is what was done to the layout, got the pit dug for the tank farm, oil lines done, tanker drain hoses (I looked online and this is close to what is out there, probably will shorten the hoses), RXR markings on the highway coming into town, will need to get some more, built the control board, now to run the wires and hook everything up, got the Military Memorial built and sitting close to where it will end up


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Finished the turnout wiring last night. Everything works as it should. Got the various power cable tucked up under and held with plastic "U" holders. Now I've got to find and address a problem I'm having with the E5 loco (Silver Streak), and this issue isn't with the SDs even with just about the same wheel base. This is on all 3 tracks there are parts of the track that has small dead spots, the headlight flickers and sometimes the loco stops completely depending on the speed set. The SDs go around the same track and closely watching the headlights no skips or flickers at all. The lights in the passenger coaches have had a problem of flickering since new and I first put the light kits in them. Could it be dirty track (I went over it all with alcohol and a rag a week or two ago) I'm looking to get a track cleaner, any ideas on what to get, I've seen those cleaner cars, that would work too








Maybe a bit ghetto but the wiring out the bottom left to right go along with the toggles left to right with first set go to upper left toggle. Plastic covers over the screws so no spitzensparkenz ⚡😲⚡


----------



## Spruslayer

Not sure this will help your loco issue but for track cleaning i did this treatment and it totally changed how my layout runs.
Its called NO-OX-ID A-SPECIAL HD Anti Corrosion Antenna Electrical Contact Grease .
It is labor intensive but the improvement is night and day for me.
I was experiencing stalls especially in the double crossover and some turnouts, even at random places on the track.
Stalls are all but gone now, I still have issues with the double crossover but i think its due to the points not making good contact. I got the stuff on E-bay for about $7 and it took a couple of days to complete the treatment








Here's the steps to do this.
The only part i didn't follow was i only ran my loco about 45 minuets instead of to hours 
And i also still clean the rails with WD 40 contact cleaner caues the gunk still builds up even though their is no running problems.


All contaminants such as plaster, glue, or oil, should be removed prior to No-Ox application. The steps below are all VERY important and none should be skipped.
1. Use a mild abrasive such as fine sandpaper or a brite boy on all rails to remove any oxidation.
2. Wipe all rails with a rag and alcohol to remove any dirt and fine particles.
3. Vacuum all rails to ensure cleanliness.
4. Put very thin smears on your finger and rub it on your rails. The total amount of NO-OX-ID “A SPECIAL” that should be applied to 500’ of N scale track is about ¼ teaspoon. If you can SEE No-Ox on rails, you are putting TOO MUCH on! DO NOT APPLY MORE!
5. Run all your locomotives, EXCEPT ONES WITH TRACTION TIRES, (no rolling stock yet) over all of your track for at least 2 hours. You may notice some wheel slippage and skipping, (DO NOT PANIC) this ensures that all wheels get treated with No-Ox.
6. Remove all locomotives from track and wipe all rails with a clean rag to remove any excess product. Don’t scrub, just rub.
7. Wait 24 hours.
8. Wipe rails again. Rag will be black.
9. For locos with traction tires, turn them upside down, connect track power so that wheels turn. Put a small dab of No-Ox on a Q-tip and apply to all wheels that DON’T have traction tires. While wheels are still turning, use a clean Q-tip to remove any excess No-Ox.
10. Run trains and forget about cleaning your track except for occasional light vacuuming. .

Your layout lookin awesome!


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Finished the turnout wiring last night. Everything works as it should. Got the various power cable tucked up under and held with plastic "U" holders. Now I've got to find and address a problem I'm having with the E5 loco (Silver Streak), and this issue isn't with the SDs even with just about the same wheel base. This is on all 3 tracks there are parts of the track that has small dead spots, the headlight flickers and sometimes the loco stops completely depending on the speed set. The SDs go around the same track and closely watching the headlights no skips or flickers at all. The lights in the passenger coaches have had a problem of flickering since new and I first put the light kits in them. Could it be dirty track (I went over it all with alcohol and a rag a week or two ago) I'm looking to get a track cleaner, any ideas on what to get, I've seen those cleaner cars, that would work too
> View attachment 556444
> 
> Maybe a bit ghetto but the wiring out the bottom left to right go along with the toggles left to right with first set go to upper left toggle. Plastic covers over the screws so no spitzensparkenz ⚡😲⚡


WCB;

Try cleaning the track at the dead spots first, simply because that's the easiest thing to do.
Does your E-5 loco have the same problem on other track, or only in certain spots? Are those spots on curves, straight track, or turnouts ?
Since your other locomotives do not have the same problem, it's most likely to be inside the E-5, but the preceding track-related questions were aimed at the possibility that there is some interaction between the E-5 and the track. For instance, one of the wheel contacts in the E-5 may not like curves.
If cleaning the track makes no difference, I would next clean the wheels of the E-5. Again, try the easy fixes first.

If the problem remains after the track and wheels are both clean, you will need to pull the body shell off the E-5. 
I don't know how Kato gets the power from the wheels of their E-5 loco, to the input of the DCC decoder.
The ideal connection, electrically, would be soldered wires directly from the wheel wipers, right up to the decoder.
Manufacturers tend to use the frame, (on DC locos) or some form of snap-on metal strips rather than wires. (I guess they don't want to give those Chinese ten-year-old's an extra grain of rice in their pay envelope for taking the time to solder wires! 😄)
However, you can't beat wire for electrical reliability. That's why our houses & model railroads are "wired" instead of "bracketed."  So if they didn't use wires, you might consider adding them.
In any case, if the problem is in the E-5 locomotive at all, then you have one of the only two possible electrical problems. An intermittent open circuit (most likely) or an intermittent short circuit (less likely, but still possible.) Trace the path from wheels to decoder, and you should find the problem. It's very unlikely to be beyond the decoder since both the motor, and the headlight, have the same behavior, and they are on two separate outputs of the decoder.

As for track cleaning:
First I'd do it more often than once every "week or two." My old club cleaned all 25 scale miles of their track before each operating night. The track does get dusty just sitting there.
Second, I am a contented user of "Brite Boy" track cleaning blocks. So was the club. There are many who dislike the Brite Boy, claiming that is scratches the rails. If you're one of that group, then stay "On the rag" & alcohol.  Personally, I've yet to see a metal rail damaged by running a Brite Boy over it, even quite vigorously.
Brite Boys quickly pick up a lot of dirt from the rails, (after all, that's exactly what their supposed to do!) In the first photo, the Brite Boy on the left has just been cleaned with LPS-1. At the very bottom, you can just see traces of the dirt trails that were cleaned off the rest of the block. The Brite boy on the right shows some of the dirt it has just removed from the track.
To clean the crud off the Brite Boy, I spray it with LPS-1 greaseless silicone spray, and wipe the Brite Boy with a rag. This system has worked well for me for many years. The photos below show Brite Boy track cleaning blocks, a can of LPS-1, and a Minitrix wheel cleaner for N-scale locomotives. This is the blue & white striped object to the left of the LPS-1. (By the way use LPS -1, not LPS-2, or LPS-3. The first is somewhat electively conductive. The other two are not.) All three are good things to keep an N-scale model railroad running smoothly.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Spruslayer and I'll look up that compound

TF, here is a pic of the E5's innards, the pickup rails have wires soldered directly to the underside of the decoder, up at the motor pickups I have double layer of Kapton tape insulating those tabs and they are soldered to the appropriate locations on the decoder as well, I even took the board off (when I doubled the Kapton tape) and installed slightly smaller gauge wire.

I've heard of the Bright Boy and questioned the abrasive on the rails but if your outfit has been using them with no worn out track then that might be an option plus me getting a wheel cleaner gizmo. If the E5 is running fast enough then there is just the flickering across some areas both straights and curves. As I said and noted the SDs at a crawl no flicker and no stalls (they are running a "combine" or whatever the word is)


----------



## Magic

What I do is to use a little alcohol on the Brite Boy to clean very dirty track.
Works great and requires less pressure to get things clean and the alcohol 
acts like a lubricant.
I just clean them with soap and water but LPS 1 would be better.

Magic


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Spruslayer and I'll look up that compound
> 
> TF, here is a pic of the E5's innards, the pickup rails have wires soldered directly to the underside of the decoder, up at the motor pickups I have double layer of Kapton tape insulating those tabs and they are soldered to the appropriate locations on the decoder as well, I even took the board off (when I doubled the Kapton tape) and installed slightly smaller gauge wire.
> 
> I've heard of the Bright Boy and questioned the abrasive on the rails but if your outfit has been using them with no worn out track then that might be an option plus me getting a wheel cleaner gizmo. If the E5 is running fast enough then there is just the flickering across some areas both straights and curves. As I said and noted the SDs at a crawl no flicker and no stalls (they are running a "combine" or whatever the word is)
> View attachment 556470


WCB;

The copper strips along each side of your E-5's mechanism look suspiciously like substitutes for wires to me. When you pulled the DCC decoder board off, what was underneath? How does current get from the wheels, up to those copper strips the wires to the decoder's underside are soldered to? 
There should be some other, smaller, copper contacts called "wheel wipers" down inside the trucks that rub against the wheels. The electrical path from those up to the decoder inputs should, in my opinion, be all wire. When the decoder circuit board was pulled off, did the long copper strips come off with the circuit board, or stay on the locomotive? I suspect they stayed behind. If that's true, then there must be some contacts on the bottom of the decoder board that are intended to touch the copper strips when the decoder board is mounted on the locomotive. They, and / or the wheel wipers may be dirty, or not making good contact. The contact points on the board that mate with the copper strips are the real input to the decoder, from the wheels, not the copper strips themselves. So we really don't have an all-wire feed from the wheel wipers directly to the input of the decoder. I can't see the truck end of this circuit in your photo, or the underside of the decoder PCB. Photos of those areas might help. 

I think you mean your two SDs are running as a "consist." A "combine", in railroad parlance, is a car that carries passengers in one end, and baggage, mail, or express packages, in the other end. It is a combination passenger and cargo car. Both these terms, and a slew of others, are in the attached file. you can peruse them if covid lock down has you that bored.  

regards;

Traction Fan 😊


----------



## Aqualungs

So far this is what I use and track is super clean and shiny so far. I use the eraser till I seen shinyness, small shop vac with soft horse hair brush attachment. Then finish with the ACT6006. X









Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Aqualungs

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Spruslayer and I'll look up that compound
> 
> TF, here is a pic of the E5's innards, the pickup rails have wires soldered directly to the underside of the decoder, up at the motor pickups I have double layer of Kapton tape insulating those tabs and they are soldered to the appropriate locations on the decoder as well, I even took the board off (when I doubled the Kapton tape) and installed slightly smaller gauge wire.
> 
> I've heard of the Bright Boy and questioned the abrasive on the rails but if your outfit has been using them with no worn out track then that might be an option plus me getting a wheel cleaner gizmo. If the E5 is running fast enough then there is just the flickering across some areas both straights and curves. As I said and noted the SDs at a crawl no flicker and no stalls (they are running a "combine" or whatever the word is)
> View attachment 556470


Does it come from the factory with the motor tabs folded and soldered? 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

WOW. doing MY part to stimulate our economy by ordering a wheel cleaner, track cleaner juice and "dust monkeys" that ride the rails under a boxcar, should help along with the Bright Boy ordered. I hit one part of the track that was causing some of the blinkys on the E5 with a block eraser, a very notable improvement but grooved the rubber (I have more of them here)

Now to answer all the ???s about the E5 loco, the (factory) copper strips running front to back on both side are where the power gets to the decoder and / or the DC board. In the pic there are copper pins / bars attached to the trucks, both sides, and ride back and forth on the underside of the strips. The motor tabs with the original DC board were simply folded over and held in place with the grey plastic piece in the center. When I got the DCC decoder I went with how Mike Fifer did the install on this very model of loco, soldering the two wires to the underside of the board and then to the copper strips, then soldering the motor tabs to the appropriate place midway towards the front then just so it wouldn't get lost installed the plastic "plug" in it's hole. The (factory) copper strips are held in place by a plastic locating pin and with flat plastic fingers (just ahead of where the wire is soldered and ahead of the front edge of the decoder board). It was stressed that the motor contact fingers needed to be insulated from contact with the copper strips. The measly piece of Kapton Tape that came with the decoders is why I bought a roll and doubled up the insulation


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Now I have another $64 question, does anyone know where I might be able to find and purchase some of the RXR pavement markings like pictured, N Scale. The outfit I bought these previously don't have any more and other outlets and vendors don't have anything like them. These were the type that you place them and rub the backing to get them applied. Thanks


----------



## MichaelE

I like your tank farm and the piping, but I have one comnent.

Tank farms are built with dikes around the tanks. They are not built at a lower level than the surrounding terrain.

This is because the closer to the underlying water table the tanks sit at, the more likely a very low or empty tank is likely to float as the water table starts rising after heavy or prolonged rain.

Been there, done that.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

MichaelE said:


> I like your tank farm and the piping, but I have one comnent.
> 
> Tank farms are built with dikes around the tanks. They are not built at a lower level than the surrounding terrain.
> 
> This is because the closer to the underlying water table the tanks sit at, the more likely a very low or empty tank is likely to float as the water table starts rising after heavy or prolonged rain.
> 
> Been there, done that.


Thanks, too late now, I've seen the ones with berms but IIRC there was one farm that had tanks just below ground level, the farm was on high ground and Noah would have floated by before those tanks floated. If need be I can move the farm and end up with a frog pond instead


----------



## Aqualungs

I watched the same Fifer video on decoder install. Nice work in the pics. I even contacted Mike about the video on YouTube because it conflicts with the install instructions in the article on his site. The article advised to not solder, but Mike stated he soldered them. Anyhoo.. Good video. Hope it's just dirty track!
I like those street layouts. I also need some!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Aqualungs said:


> I watched the same Fifer video on decoder install. Nice work in the pics. I even contacted Mike about the video on YouTube because it conflicts with the install instructions in the article on his site. The article advised to not solder, but Mike stated he soldered them. Anyhoo.. Good video. Hope it's just dirty track!
> I like those street layouts. I also need some!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


Thanks, I was piddling around with the body off the loco and noticed that one of the copper strips wasn't "rocking" like the other three ends, SO out came the magnifier and then the razor knife, seems that when I soldered the L/R wire I musta touched the iron to the plastic jussta smidgen, I removed the flat "finger" (see pic) piece Scraped a rough spot off'n it, scraped a spot next to the copper strip and all 4 corners "rock" now


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Oh the streets are Busch 7087 flexible roadway. It can curve a bit but once the sticky touches down it's pretty much there where it is. Here's a pic of my first layout with it down around town 









And during the tear-down the roads were still intact mostly


----------



## MichaelE

I use the Busch product too. I'll be ordering more soon. It's good stuff, but as you said, once it's down it's not coming off without a putty knife or a razor blade scraper and a can of lighter fluid.


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> WOW. doing MY part to stimulate our economy by ordering a wheel cleaner, track cleaner juice and "dust monkeys" that ride the rails under a boxcar, should help along with the Bright Boy ordered. I hit one part of the track that was causing some of the blinkys on the E5 with a block eraser, a very notable improvement but grooved the rubber (I have more of them here)
> 
> Now to answer all the ???s about the E5 loco, the (factory) copper strips running front to back on both side are where the power gets to the decoder and / or the DC board. In the pic there are copper pins / bars attached to the trucks, both sides, and ride back and forth on the underside of the strips. The motor tabs with the original DC board were simply folded over and held in place with the grey plastic piece in the center. When I got the DCC decoder I went with how Mike Fifer did the install on this very model of loco, soldering the two wires to the underside of the board and then to the copper strips, then soldering the motor tabs to the appropriate place midway towards the front then just so it wouldn't get lost installed the plastic "plug" in it's hole. The (factory) copper strips are held in place by a plastic locating pin and with flat plastic fingers (just ahead of where the wire is soldered and ahead of the front edge of the decoder board). It was stressed that the motor contact fingers needed to be insulated from contact with the copper strips. The measly piece of Kapton Tape that came with the decoders is why I bought a roll and doubled up the insulation
> View attachment 556509
> 
> 
> View attachment 556510


WCB;

IF, and only IF, you continue to have problems with semi-stalls & headlight flickers from you E-5, I would solder a thin (28-32Ga.) stranded wire from the bottom copper tab on each side of the trucks, up to the track power input terminals on the decoder board itself, not the long strips. Then you will have an all-wire path from the wheel wipers, directly up to the decoder PCB. You could then forget about the long (factory) strips, and remove them. Hopefully, cleaning the track, the wheels, and the inside surface of the wheel wipers, will fix the problem.

The reason "it was stressed that the motor contact fingers not come in contact with the long brass strips" is that doing so would bypass the DCC decoder. The long brass strips are supposed to feed the track power into the decoder's input terminals. The motor, and its contact fingers, is an output. Shorting the input to the output would be very bad! (here play the song "Smoke gets in your eyes."  )

Regards;

Traction Fan 😊


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Good News today, this is a major WOOO HOOOO moment, the fiddling around I did last night (minor electronic surgery done, the money spent on my Army Training didn't go to waste). All of the light blinky and stuttering and stalling went away, SOOOO apparently when I soldered the L/R wire to the copper strip and touched the plastic piece with the iron it was JUST enough to have it break contact sometimes because it couldn't move like it should. The surgery was a success because running both trains on all four loops for over 2 hours there was not one light blinky, no "cough cough", and not stoppage except for where I didn't get the turnouts flipped back before the locos got there (controller shut down the tracks til I corrected my . . . . . . . . mistake  I bet yall thought I was gonna say something else LOL. As far as soldering wires down to the trucks, that might make the problem worse by taking away the movement of the channels where those truck "stubs" travel and make contact under the copper strips. Both trucks have a pair of those stubs with a total of 4 contact points from the trucks. It seems to be fixed now so I'll leave it be

Now another layout update, I found a vendor that sells highway markings, lines, and YES railroad crossings, another WOO HOOO  I also have more road material on the way as well as street lights, some people, and a mountain background picture for the back right side.

I applied the highway that I had on hand, 1/2 of the 4-lane through where the town will be (not quite enough for the other side) and one of the side roads. I'll butt the other side up next to what's there and then paint the double centerline yellow


















Oh and there is the eraser I used last night, it's kinda crumbly due to being OAS, I have more plus the track cleaners on the way


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Good News today, this is a major WOOO HOOOO moment, the fiddling around I did last night (minor electronic surgery done, the money spent on my Army Training didn't go to waste). All of the light blinky and stuttering and stalling went away, SOOOO apparently when I soldered the L/R wire to the copper strip and touched the plastic piece with the iron it was JUST enough to have it break contact sometimes because it couldn't move like it should. The surgery was a success because running both trains on all four loops for over 2 hours there was not one light blinky, no "cough cough", and not stoppage except for where I didn't get the turnouts flipped back before the locos got there (controller shut down the tracks til I corrected my . . . . . . . . mistake  I bet yall thought I was gonna say something else LOL. As far as soldering wires down to the trucks, that might make the problem worse by taking away the movement of the channels where those truck "stubs" travel and make contact under the copper strips. Both trucks have a pair of those stubs with a total of 4 contact points from the trucks. It seems to be fixed now so I'll leave it be
> 
> Now another layout update, I found a vendor that sells highway markings, lines, and YES railroad crossings, another WOO HOOO  I also have more road material on the way as well as street lights, some people, and a mountain background picture for the back right side.
> 
> I applied the highway that I had on hand, 1/2 of the 4-lane through where the town will be (not quite enough for the other side) and one of the side roads. I'll butt the other side up next to what's there and then paint the double centerline yellow
> 
> View attachment 556558
> 
> 
> View attachment 556559
> 
> Oh and there is the eraser I used last night, it's kinda crumbly due to being OAS, I have more plus the track cleaners on the way



WCB;

Congratulations! I'm glad to hear that your E-5 is now running smoothly. Good job 
The idea of soldering wires to the trucks was only if you continued to have the stall/blink problem. Since you don't have it anymore, I definitely agree. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Happy train running. 🙂

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks TF, I'm used to having to work around glitches, just the other day I was checking out the Benz to take her out for a spin, noticed the hydro tank was low, REALLY low. I ordered some of the ZH oil for it and now it's been raining the last couple of days so no road runs yet. Oh and no oil under the car, SO, I'm figuring that it's not leaking but instead is still bleeding itself of air. (OH what we Mercedes owners go through working on our cars)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Got the wheel cleaner in and couldn't tell any difference before and after, oh well, no skipping. I also got a 3 "Company House" set, built as cabins for the park. Roadway came today and got the 4 lane down with the 1st coat of yellow centerline down as well as two roads headed out of town. Ran the wheels of'n the trains in between LOL


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

An oops moment after laying down some roadway going out past the loco shop. I mixed some paint to cover some of the white lines and as it dried it darkened a bit. I'll experiment some more and come up with a lighter color, this mix was 4 drops dark grey and 2 drops of black. I also have two road crossings set / built and have some curved ones on the way so I can finish the shop road out of town









Update, I mixed another small batch of paint, looks closer but I'll let it dry overnight before taking another pic. May be one of those "close enough for government work" plus new asphalt and patched pavement is darker for a spell

Update II, dried remix looks better but still shows. A color expert I'm not so I'll leave it be unless I can find something different to do with it


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I used a lighter grey and black, IIRC 4/2 ratio, looks better. I'll come up with something before laying any more roadway, curved crossings aren't here yet and the next two roads are on track curves

I got some foamboard and 2 sided tape today for the mountain backdrop. A little more work to get it all the way up in the left corner. Been thinking about putting another "layer" of backdrop (not with a mural) up against the double track to make a bigger separation between the outer and double track, kinda like being one of those walls separating one "side / town" from the other. As it is now the outer track is barely seen before coming back into view around the curve at the far right side 









And yeah 🤨 I needs ta clean up my mess on da table 😁


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I used a lighter grey and black, IIRC 4/2 ratio, looks better. I'll come up with something before laying any more roadway, curved crossings aren't here yet and the next two roads are on track curves
> 
> I got some foamboard and 2 sided tape today for the mountain backdrop. A little more work to get it all the way up in the left corner. Been thinking about putting another "layer" of backdrop (not with a mural) up against the double track to make a bigger separation between the outer and double track, kinda like being one of those walls separating one "side / town" from the other. As it is now the outer track is barely seen before coming back into view around the curve at the far right side
> View attachment 557178
> 
> 
> And yeah 🤨 I needs ta clean up my mess on da table 😁


WCB;

How many beers had you consumed before you took the last photo? It looks like the photographer was a wee bit unsteady, and having trouble focusing himself, the camera, or both. 😄 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

LOL @ TF 
I never said I was a photographer, though my Dad was a Medical Photographer (I've seen some "interesting" body parts on both film and stills and watched Dad taking pic of still steaming internals fresh from the operating room). No beers here though, I'm a "non-alcoholic" Beveridge LOL. I'll put the blame on my phone camera and the light


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> LOL @ TF
> I never said I was a photographer, though my Dad was a Medical Photographer (I've seen some "interesting" body parts on both film and stills and watched Dad taking pic of still steaming internals fresh from the operating room). No beers here though, I'm a "non-alcoholic" Beveridge LOL. I'll put the blame on my phone camera and the light


Yech! Why would anybody take photos of human entrails! I know it probably served some legitimate medical purpose, but still gross! 
My wife is a nurse, and watches many of the medical shows on TV. When they show the surgery part, I just close my eyes. It beats barfing.

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

LMAO It was so neat to go to work with him, I've seen short films (edited leftovers) of heart surgeries, a toe joint replacement, and a couple of couldn't tell what it was being "fixed". The Surgeon wanted pics or videos for teaching purposes. Most all of the TV surgeries are blurred (we are fans of "Dr G") so you can't see the nitty gritty but I'd love to see clear and concise or even maybe watch an autopsy. My son is a Doctor, maybe one day . . . . . . . Not meaning to be gross but since I was a kid I was loosely involved in the medical profession with Dad being a Hospital Corpsman and a photographer and when he retired from the Navy continued with medical photography. My son pulled 10 years as a Corpsman then got out and did Med School 

Taking a break at the moment, road and crossing building today, pics when I'm done for the day


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Sorry about the previous fuzzy pics, hope these are better. I did some more road crossings, in the middle of one pics to come later. I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday looking to get something to build some retaining walls and got some second choice wood slats, scale-wise they are 2 ft wide, should do good as they are flexible for bends. Also got some interlocking brick paving, marked as HO but I think it'll work for my purposes, sidewalks in town and a couple of brick patios, maybe even a driveway for a house

Bricked sidewalk and entrance to firehouse and new floor inside








Sidewalks and walkway between diner and City Hall perhaps even add some tables and chairs there. I'll paint the stoops


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Sitting here earlier today and thought the brick work needed a little weathering, SO, up came the sidewalks and did a little magic on them and the driveways. A little grey dabbed on with a paper towel then wiped before it could dry


----------



## Aqualungs

Lmao at the Drinking and photography. I dig the printed papers. Very cool

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

On the printed paper if you mean the backdrop, it came rolled up, once piece. I think it fits perfect with the hill I built


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here are the last two road crossings, first one comes from the loco shop vicinity headed up and away from town. The other crosses two sets of track and heads to the tank farm. Markings are down and just have to install the various stop signs and RR crossbuck signs


----------



## Aqualungs

Looks great!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Some more done, I'll need to get a few more "City Buildings" and a couple more industrial buildings. I've got "Main St" laid out plus another going up the hill . I built the beginnings of one retaining wall, still need to cap it and keep going, haven't decided if it's a wood or concrete wall yet, could be either

Oh, I looked at several supply vendors sites and the few various retaining walls offered either weren't tall enough or wanted too much (IMHO) for just a short piece of material, as you can see the elevated tracks have a good sized length that will require some sort of wall or hillside for a cover-up. I have some wider "boards" that I can use as well, what you see is scale-wise 20-25 ft long and 2 ft tall per board
















Yeah, the gap at the bottom and corner will be filled in or hidden


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Some more done, I'll need to get a few more "City Buildings" and a couple more industrial buildings. I've got "Main St" laid out plus another going up the hill . I built the beginnings of one retaining wall, still need to cap it and keep going, haven't decided if it's a wood or concrete wall yet, could be either
> 
> Oh, I looked at several supply vendors sites and the few various retaining walls offered either weren't tall enough or wanted too much (IMHO) for just a short piece of material, as you can see the elevated tracks have a good sized length that will require some sort of wall or hillside for a cover-up. I have some wider "boards" that I can use as well, what you see is scale-wise 20-25 ft long and 2 ft tall per board
> View attachment 557802
> 
> View attachment 557803
> 
> Yeah, the gap at the bottom and corner will be filled in or hidden
> View attachment 557804
> 
> View attachment 557805


WCB;

Your layout looks better and better. You are making real progress!
Did you actually scratchbuild your retaining wall? Congratulations!
What did you use for the lumber? Two feet is pretty wide for a board, and It definitely looks like a wood retaining wall, concrete would be smoother. I too have a long area of retaining wall. Mine is concrete, and made of a long sheet of foam core board, that I bought dirt cheap at Walmart. I think a 24" x 18" x1/4" piece set me back 89 cents.

Both the covered bridge, and the abutments/retaining walls, in the photos below were built with 1/16" scribed basswood. In N-scale, 1/16" is about one foot, which is a more reasonable size plank. The bracing is 1/16" x 1/16" basswood, an N-scale 12" x 12' beam, also reasonable for a major structural brace.
No, I'm not telling, and showing, you this stuff in order to say a mean "Na Na Na Na" to a less experienced modeler. My point is that you can use the same materials I did and it will actually be easier than what I think is the board-by-board construction method you used, and it will look better too. Basswood, both scribed and plain, is available in hobby shops or through online vendors. Good old Google should help you find a dealer. Basswood is also a bit stronger than Balsa wood, though either would work.

For your city buildings you might look at the "General Electric Building" kit marketed by Model Power.*
Its a nice, four story, brick structure that can be made higher using pieces from a second kit. I have a seven story version. The leftover wall sections can be used to make another smaller building. The Design Preservation Models structures are also very nice looking and easy to build. D.P.M. is now part of Woodland Scenics, but the same kits are still available.

Keep up the good work;

Traction Fan 🙂

* Like many plastic structure kits, this one has appeared under different brands, and different names.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks TF, yes The Wall was scratch built, each individual board cut one at a time and trimmed to be equal lengths. I went to "The Lobby" and looked for thin sheets of wood, no joy, and during our wanderings came across some extra long X extra narrow X extra thin "popsicle sticks" . I figured if I paint the wall a medium grey/concrete hue color it could pass for a poured wall. In the meantime continue looking for another material to use for other walls, the PITA being that is needs to be flexible to fit around the curves. I'm not going to worry so much about the backside because being against the room wall when completed and running trains it won't be seen anyway. Wood retainers I was going to model with the boards vertical similar to your covered bridge retainers. I've got some wood pieces from 1st layout that I can use under the bridges as concrete abutments, sorry no decent pics of those. I'll BOLO thin basswood, thanks

On the buildings I have my eye on a few different possibilities for the City Center (The "story" goes that the roads were reconfigured when the double express tracks were built and Highway was widened into the 4-lane). I also find I have a bit more room for additional industries and retail outside of Town. A little here, a little there as budget allows


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks TF, yes The Wall was scratch built, each individual board cut one at a time and trimmed to be equal lengths. I went to "The Lobby" and looked for thin sheets of wood, no joy, and during our wanderings came across some extra long X extra narrow X extra thin "popsicle sticks" . I figured if I paint the wall a medium grey/concrete hue color it could pass for a poured wall. In the meantime continue looking for another material to use for other walls, the PITA being that is needs to be flexible to fit around the curves. I'm not going to worry so much about the backside because being against the room wall when completed and running trains it won't be seen anyway. Wood retainers I was going to model with the boards vertical similar to your covered bridge retainers. I've got some wood pieces from 1st layout that I can use under the bridges as concrete abutments, sorry no decent pics of those. I'll BOLO thin basswood, thanks
> 
> On the buildings I have my eye on a few different possibilities for the City Center (The "story" goes that the roads were reconfigured when the double express tracks were built and Highway was widened into the 4-lane). I also find I have a bit more room for additional industries and retail outside of Town. A little here, a little there as budget allows


WCB;

Hobby Lobby is hardly the be all and end all of hobby supplies. I think they cater more toward craft enthusiasts than model railroaders. www.modeltrainstuff.com or www.trainworld.com should carry basswood. "Midwest" and "Northeastern" are two popular brands. Basswood actually is pretty flexible especially the thin scribed variety in the parallel to the scribe lines direction. The little N-sale water tank below is made of basswood and the actual tank is about 1.5" diameter. That's pretty flexible to be able to wrap around that tightly. I've been working on my own retaining wall / city block /staging yard cover, today. Since I wanted a very lightweight lift-off structure, I used foam core board for the basic shape, and covered the "wall" side with 1/32" model aircraft plywood. For the support posts I'm using coffee stir sticks which work out to 2' wide in N-scale. While a bit large for your individual boards, the same two feet is pretty reasonable for a vertical reinforcing post on a large concrete retaining wall. The photos of the prototype wall in Seattle, look like it was very basic, just a long, flat, boring, concrete wall, with a reinforcing post every so often. BTW model aircraft plywood is a great structure scratchbuilding material to have around. One trick I use a lot is to glue a piece of plywood to the back of a scribed basswood wall, to keep it straight and flat. I have a spot on my layout where the story is that a river was diverted when the elevated rail line was built. We think alike. Scary!

regards;

Traction Fan 😄


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Well not knowing all the "spots" of where to get needed supplies (I'll check those you mentioned, thanks) one must get what and where we can. We also have a Michael's nearby but didn't go in there. I'm one who has done all sorts of "off-the-wall" projects, I'd go in a store looking for who knows what, I'd attempt to explain what I was doing and what specifically what I wanted/was looking for. Sometimes I lucked up, and sometimes not. One in particular was the brushes in a Mercedes blower motor, wasn't going to pay $100 for a pair, went through the brush bin and found a set that was for a Makita electric tool, a bit of slight filling and the blower was working again (that was a mild one lol) You should have seen some of the things I did on / with my boat that I was rebuilding, had to halt it due to medical concerns and is when I got the train "bug". Most of the work was being done by myself with some ingenuity and thinking outside the box. I used the same gantry cranes to change a fuel pump in my truck. Here's a pic showing both








And where the pump is under . . . . 









Oh, and on my Benz, when I was told that the exhaust manifolds off of a 5.0 Euro motor (parts car I bought) would bolt right up to my 5.6 engine, out and off came the American version of exhaust and in went the Euro pipes that let my engine breathe better and the butt-dyno said HP was boosted as well

I got another section of wall built and set, working on another section

Yeah, GMTA is a bit scary huh ?


----------



## Steve Rothstein

Along the lines of other supply shops, you might look for hobby shops that specialize in Radio Control Airplanes. The good ones still sell balsa and plywood kits and will have a stock of various wood to choose from. And they are used to people going through the wood to select which specific piece they want (checking density or flexibility, etc.). 

I have used Tower Hobbies (Tower Hobbies: RC Airplanes, Drones, Cars, Trucks and Boats) for a lot of supplies when I flew R/C. I also used Horizon Hobbies but I do not think they sell much wood or supplies of that type very much. And I could not go without letting you know that you can always mail order directly from Midwest for either balsa, plywood, or basswood at Midwest Products - When Precision Matters.

For n gauge, you can get some pretty fine strips of balsa that are probably strong enough for almost anything at that size. The first two bridges we put on our layout were just straight sheets of 1/4 plywood. It was only about 8 inches long for each but the trains never even caused a flex in the wood. We have replaced them with proper Kato bridges now, but that worked as an interim design. Basswood is much stronger and would also work well.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Steve, I'll check those out too. The others mentioned by TF led to nowhere due to not knowing the manufacturer, I know sometimes here on the Web you have to be specific in searches. As far as the appearances on my layout, as long as I'm satisfied with it I'm good to go and I'm always on the lookout for items for my various projects.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I checked those two too, a good many items were "out of stock" or "pre-order" which means to me that they aren't available until / unless enough orders come in to make a limited production run

I got the Wall completed on the other side, one section ended up a little askew / cockeyed (story on that one will be that the "crew" was hurrying to get done because it was Friday, payday, and they all planned to go home for the weekend instead of partying 🍻at the hotel  🥂 🤪 🍹 🍸 😜








I can live with it, probably won't be the only boo boo done here LOL. Now to paint it


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Steve, I'll check those out too. The others mentioned by TF led to nowhere due to not knowing the manufacturer, I know sometimes here on the Web you have to be specific in searches. As far as the appearances on my layout, as long as I'm satisfied with it I'm good to go and I'm always on the lookout for items for my various projects.


WCB;

I mentioned the manufacturers "Midwest" and "Northeastern" in my post.
I googled "model aircraft plywood dealers" and found a dozen, including Amazon, Target, and even Hobby Lobby. Check google yourself, if/when you are actually interested in actually getting any model aircraft plywood. Watch out for the thickness though. Several places only offered 1/8" thick plywood, which is way too thick for model railroad structures. The same google trick works for basswood. And yes, thanks Steve, for the information.

Regards; 

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

TF, I know you mentioned Midwest and Northeastern and gave you credit for them, I was just saying that I couldn't get anything from them because of not knowing specific manufacturers names, IIRC I did put in basswood sheets and balsa sheets, no joy except a few of those wooden toy trains with the wooden tracks. Looking at HL and Michaels websites do the same, you can put your hand on something in their store but difficult to find online unless you know names and their particular descriptions


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I came up with some concrete retaining wall using two different thicknesses of styrene sheets, was searching the web and a light went on. Got two sections built and first coat of granite grey applied, the smaller was the experimental and have a third larger section about to finish the assembly








An addendum pic, the three sections of The Wall I have painted, let it dry a bit more and I'll go install. The unpainted tabs will be done after gluing up










Oh, ordered enough buildings to finish up the city and have a start of a second "roadside town", you know, riding out through the country you run through a small little "Burg" (might even have a name "unincorporated") with a country store, a gas station, and an abandoned building. THAT could be the second Town that was suggested


----------



## Aqualungs

Nice! I had some more buildings come in.. barely have one built though lol! Been so busy with other crap. I like the retaining walls! Can't wait to see them done!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Aqualungs said:


> Nice! I had some more buildings come in.. barely have one built though lol! Been so busy with other crap. I like the retaining walls! Can't wait to see them done!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


When I get new stuff in I'm kinda like a kid at Christmas, open it all up and pick one out and start building. I found a "sidewalk cafe" set with tables, chairs, benches, and umbrella on a stand, some brick wall sheets, and a farm trailer to go with my tractor (which used to be on the keyring for my lawnmower, perfect N Scale item). I also found but haven't ordered cinder block wall sheets that the seller claimed to be embossed on both sides for a dividing wall

The other buildings are of "The Town" series, one is Otto's Auto Parts, one is either the bank or credit union, CRS, and a couple of late model cars, '79 Chevy and a Buick wagon (get em when I find em) Most of what I have so far are Western Euro and British. I do have a 57 Vette, 70s Plymouth, 79 Chevy Taxi, new Freightliner trucks, HUMMER pickup. Then the Audis, Mercedes, VWs, MG, and a Limo and Hearse of the same chassis, a 2CV and a Trabant (East German)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here we go, viewed from the Town's hilltop and looking down Main Street








Break out some Bob Seger, Down On Main Street








Oh, and the guy standing by the doorway was "lost" for a few days and survived being run over AND drug by a train, been looking for him and glanced at the double crossover, there he lay no worse for wear. I fingered that before he went missing again I'd "plant" him somewhere


----------



## Aqualungs

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Here we go, viewed from the Town's hilltop and looking down Main Street
> View attachment 558004
> 
> Break out some Bob Seger, Down On Main Street
> View attachment 558005
> 
> Oh, and the guy standing by the doorway was "lost" for a few days and survived being run over AND drug by a train, been looking for him and glanced at the double crossover, there he lay no worse for wear. I fingered that before he went missing again I'd "plant" him somewhere


The streets and Cobble stone sidewalks look good! I'm trying to decide what I want to work on today. 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I painted a little of what's to be the grass on this version. I had a strip of masking tape over a foam joint, didn't look right so doing something different, we'll see how that turns out. Cafe in town is up and running now and can now do hay rides come OktoberFest time








I've got some new tiled floor for the diner as well as some folks for inside








I had to fashion a hitch on the tractor








Still waiting for some other buildings to arrive and now have some supplies to scratch build some houses


----------



## QueenoftheGN

Oh wow, the change just a few weeks can make is impressive. Question, who makes that white saloon looking building with the balcony, I may have to pick one up for myself.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

QueenoftheGN said:


> Oh wow, the change just a few weeks can make is impressive. Question, who makes that white saloon looking building with the balcony, I may have to pick one up for myself.


Thanks Annie. I'm just poking along here, some days don't do much and other days I get a lot done, partly due to meds adjusting for 'betes. There is probably a saloon inside there, that is the Hotel that I got from TrainMasterModels, can't remember who made it (I poked around, it's American Model Builders Windsor Hotel) but it's laser cut wood and is easy to assemble. The balcony posts are toothpicks I cut to fit, the ones that came in the kit broke, really thin wood, so's I modified it

Already have the diner apart, you can see the booth through the front window and it's being populated and a new checkerboard floor installed


----------



## Steve Rothstein

What did you use for your streets? Did you make them completely by hand or use one of the pre-made street surfaces? I have been trying to find a good street surface tape I can use for my layout.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Steve Rothstein said:


> What did you use for your streets? Did you make them completely by hand or use one of the pre-made street surfaces? I have been trying to find a good street surface tape I can use for my layout.


I use the Busch Asphalt roadway, it's flexible and can be curved, just have to be careful when laying it out, pretty much once it is put down it's there, especially after it's pressed down, REALLY sticky

Busch Asphaltstrasse N7087
Busch 7099 is the 180 degree curve

Let me add this Steve, when laying the roadway I first trim up the end (sharp scissors are a MUST) if it's going up against road that's already down. Peel back about 1/2inch of the backing and set the edge where it's going. You can use a straightedge for long straight road (I usually just eye-ball it). the curves are tricky, do just a little at a time, if you go too sharp it'll bunch up, pull it back up and make it not so tight. They also make a curve piece of the same material, cut to fit


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

While waiting for the mail to run yesterday I was a sittin' here and had a brain storm - build a barn and make it big enough to drive the tractor through it SO . . . . . here it 'tis. A scratched built barn with 3 horse stalls, the doors and windows can be adjusted later if need be

























It doesn't matter if it isn't quite right, the roof looks a little wonky but that's ok, there is an apartment on the upper floor LOL. I've also got two buildings "framed up" and have windows installed, now to build a bar in one and office cubicles perhaps in the other, one more building is on the way


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> While waiting for the mail to run yesterday I was a sittin' here and had a brain storm - build a barn and make it big enough to drive the tractor through it SO . . . . . here it 'tis. A scratched built barn with 3 horse stalls, the doors and windows can be adjusted later if need be
> View attachment 558338
> 
> View attachment 558339
> 
> View attachment 558340
> 
> 
> It doesn't matter if it isn't quite right, the roof looks a little wonky but that's ok, there is an apartment on the upper floor LOL. I've also got two buildings "framed up" and have windows installed, now to build a bar in one and office cubicles perhaps in the other, one more building is on the way


WCB;

Nice work!
You may have to scratchbuild your windows. I went to the local train store today and they didn't have any windows. They said that Grandt line had gone out of business. There were a few items from Campbell and Tichy Train Group that they normally stocked , but were out of. Mind you this was in HO-scale. Good luck finding much in the way of structure detail parts in N-scale. I looked in my Walthers catalog no dice. Haven't tried online yet.

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## TommyB

The barn looks good! I have not tried any scratchbuilding or kitbashing yet, but it will inevitably have to happen. I don't know if it's more of an N scale thing or not, but I do find it difficult to find certain structures. For instance, I want an overhead travelling crane for an open air loading/unloading area at an industry on my layout. Cannot find anything suitable. So I am looking through scrap and unused pieces I have lying around, as well as what is available in scratchbuilding supplies that I can purchase. I can visualize in my head what I want, and what the crane needs to look like (I spent many years as a crane operator in the steel pipemaking factory I worked in for 30 years). So far I can find most things that I need, but the one thing that I have not found anything suitable for is the crane operator's cab. I thought of maybe using something like a telephone booth that I can convert to something that resembles a crane cab. But I have had no luck finding anything like that either. I'll keep searching and thinking. Seeing projects that others have done is encouraging. Thanks for posting your barn!


----------



## traction fan

TommyB said:


> The barn looks good! I have not tried any scratchbuilding or kitbashing yet, but it will inevitably have to happen. I don't know if it's more of an N scale thing or not, but I do find it difficult to find certain structures. For instance, I want an overhead travelling crane for an open air loading/unloading area at an industry on my layout. Cannot find anything suitable. So I am looking through scrap and unused pieces I have lying around, as well as what is available in scratchbuilding supplies that I can purchase. I can visualize in my head what I want, and what the crane needs to look like (I spent many years as a crane operator in the steel pipemaking factory I worked in for 30 years). So far I can find most things that I need, but the one thing that I have not found anything suitable for is the crane operator's cab. I thought of maybe using something like a telephone booth that I can convert to something that resembles a crane cab. But I have had no luck finding anything like that either. I'll keep searching and thinking. Seeing projects that others have done is encouraging. Thanks for posting your barn!


TommyB;

Gold Metal Models sells photo-etched metal models of phone booths in N-scale.
You might also be able to adapt common items like part of the plastic box that holds a new toothbrush. Cut the bottom off and use it for the glassed-in cab The frame around the cab can be made from "Chart Pack" or 3M brands of super-narrow masking tape, or commercial plastic, or brass, angle. Add a roof made from a tiny bit of commercial sheet styrene, or the plastic tab from a loaf of bread.
If you're talking about a rolling gantry crane, there is a commercial plastic model from some European manufacturer, but I don't remember the brand. You might check www.walthers.com and search for "cranes", and "Intermodal equipment."
GHQ models also makes a crane, and power shovel. These are metal models of smaller caterpillar-tracked vehicles, but they might furnish a cab.

The structural members of a gantry crane, reduced to N-scale, will be very thin, and quite fragile, if made of plastic. I suggest making it out of brass shapes from K & S brass, and soldering it together.
The little coal dump trestle in one of the photos below has actually had to be built twice. The photo shows the original model that I made from basswood, using plans published in Model Railroader Magazine. It was accidentally broken, and unfortunately, nearly everything on my little shelf layout is close enough to visitors that things are vulnerable. So I made the replacement model from brass, with soldered joints. The new, all-metal, version is all but indestructible.

Many common, everyday, items can be repurposed as scratchbuilding materials, you just have to develop an eye for "What can I make that into?" The photos show some of my scratchbuilt structures that contain some "creative" parts.

The lighthouse and keeper's cottage are made of small stones from my back yard, held together with plaster. The lighthouse was cast around an empty large, conical, thread spool that my wife's "surger" sewing machine uses. The roof is a re-purposed child's spinning toy top, the finial at the very top is a drop of hot glue, and the railing is HO-scale brass ladder stock.

Molly McGuire's office shed is made of PC board material soldered internally to brass angles. The outside is coated with scribed basswood, and the "Tarpaper" roof is made from very fine grit emery paper.
PC board is an unusual material for structures, but its relatively cheap, very strong, and has a special advantage if you plan to light the structure, no wires are needed, and therefore, no wires need to be hidden. The PC board "walls" can carry power to the LEDs.

The rocky cliff shown is made from tree bark, sold at home improvement stores as a landscape cover material. A huge bag cost me a whopping $3.

The prototype little train order station at Black River had an unusual diamond pattern shingles. I was quite puzzled about what to use to recreate these weird shingles on my N-scale model. One day I pulled a brown paper lunch bag out of the package, and found my shingles! The sawtooth pattern at the open end of the lunch bag made perfect shingles!

So. look around, you may find "scratchbuilding materials in the strangest places. Walmart's craft section has contributed a few.

Good Luck & Have Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## TommyB

Lots of good suggestions there, TF. I've done a lot of searching for the type of crane I need. Walthers does make one....in HO scale, though. I find all kinds of cranes but none of the type I want. However, some of those cranes can furnish parts and pieces that I can use to build what I want, I suppose. Price becomes a factor when looking at buying a kit that you only intend to use a piece of. I like your ideas for finding scratchbuilding materials lying around the house. Now I think I will keep a small carboard box on my work table and toss in any unused plastic parts, or items found around the house like your bread tabs and such. Attached is the Walthers HO version of the crane.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The windows in the barn will get outlined framed in white for now, was planning on building open doors trimmed in white as well as the corners and eaves. If I can find some doors and windows I'll build a house or two. I've got some rock facing I was thinking of using to build a few basements in/on the hillsides for some of the houses or even closed-in crawl spaces. I've got some more "house lights" on the way and will soon be setting the buildings where they will end up being, the street lights I have will go in after that (with resistors on those needing them)

Two more painted up and almost ready, a bar and an office (maybe the bank)


----------



## traction fan

TommyB said:


> Lots of good suggestions there, TF. I've done a lot of searching for the type of crane I need. Walthers does make one....in HO scale, though. I find all kinds of cranes but none of the type I want. However, some of those cranes can furnish parts and pieces that I can use to build what I want, I suppose. Price becomes a factor when looking at buying a kit that you only intend to use a piece of. I like your ideas for finding scratchbuilding materials lying around the house. Now I think I will keep a small carboard box on my work table and toss in any unused plastic parts, or items found around the house like your bread tabs and such. Attached is the Walthers HO version of the crane.
> 
> View attachment 558372


TommyB;

That crane could easily be made with Micro Engineering Plate girders and styrene structural shapes from Evergreen, or Plastruct. Unfortunately, the 80' N-scale plate girders are not available now. I needed some and ended up getting the HO-scale version and cutting them in half. M-E still offers their 40' girders but they are smaller and you would need a lot of them. Your small box of stuff saved will soon become many big boxes as you save 

Good Luck & "Good Hunting;"

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## TommyB

I have looked at Evergreen and Plastruct. No doubt there is plenty of material there that can be used. Railings, steps, and ladders will work very well, and basic shapes can be fabricated into the long beams, or girders, depending on the talent level of the modeller. What would be needed, I think, are some tools that are not in my toolbox...yet. For sure some kind of mitre cutting tool/jig. I've been back in the hobby for one year now, and it takes time to accumulate proper tools while you are building a layout from the very beginning. I start looking through catalogs for certain things, then I see something unrelated that makes me go "wow, I want that" and away I go off in a different direction. Catalogs are candy stores. Micro Engineering plate girders are something I have not come across. I will have to look into that. Thanks. Here is a photo of where the crane will go.


----------



## traction fan

TommyB said:


> I have looked at Evergreen and Plastruct. No doubt there is plenty of material there that can be used. Railings, steps, and ladders will work very well, and basic shapes can be fabricated into the long beams, or girders, depending on the talent level of the modeller. What would be needed, I think, are some tools that are not in my toolbox...yet. For sure some kind of mitre cutting tool/jig. I've been back in the hobby for one year now, and it takes time to accumulate proper tools while you are building a layout from the very beginning. I start looking through catalogs for certain things, then I see something unrelated that makes me go "wow, I want that" and away I go off in a different direction. Catalogs are candy stores. Micro Engineering plate girders are something I have not come across. I will have to look into that. Thanks. Here is a photo of where the crane will go.
> View attachment 558432


TommyB;

Yes, we all get pulled in different directions at times. 😄 Just say no to catalogues!
I have an X-acto mini miter box, which frankly, I hardly ever use. My go-to tools for cutting precise angles are a Midwest "Easy Cutter", and a "K-Tool brand "Precision Miter."

The first is a hand-held tool, somewhat resembling a deformed, oversized, pair of diagonal cutting pliers. The top cutter is simply an elongated, very sharp, knife blade, and the bottom cutter has been replaced by a miniature triangular table with deeply scribed lines delineating various angles. You just insert the piece of wood, or plastic, to be cut, align it with the desired angle marks, and squeeze the handles like any other pliers. I think this is made by the same Midwest company that makes scale model lumber. Excellent tool.

The second tool is a benchtop device, with a plastic table about 6" square. The table is marked off in degrees of angle, and a pivoted arm, containing a replaceable single edge razor blade, does the cutting. There is an adjustable stop for repeated cuts of the same length. This thing is very handy for cutting lots of identical length, and/or angle, pieces for things like the little wooden trestle below, or the bigger wooden road bridge, both of which I scratchbuilt from basswood, & fine brass wire.
This tool is quite similar to a Northwest Short Line tool that they call "The Chopper." I also have a NWSL "Precision Sander."
These are all nice tools, but its easy to go overboard on specialized tools. Probably 90% of my scratchbuilding is done with an X-acto knife fitted with a # 11 blade, and a stainless-steel, scale ruler. I also use my Optivisor a lot, since I'm an old fart, and can't see little stuff well without it. Optivisor shown below. Sorry, I don't have photos of the other two tools.

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I have two different pairs of reading glasses for the small stuff, with the bifocal w/plain lens the pair I use most. I now wear only one contact lens, left eye, as I had cadillac surgery several years ago and now have my "bionic right eye"


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Been working steady on buildings, the Bank is done, lit, and has people inside. I've populated the Bar and Pub with the band, bartenders, drunks, and dancers, showing before final gluing together as it's a 2 story with lights inside both up and downstairs









I've also installed lighting on the fueling rack for night time ops. Now to start putting stuff in place and wiring all the buildings and street lights up


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Been working steady on buildings, the Bank is done, lit, and has people inside. I've populated the Bar and Pub with the band, bartenders, drunks, and dancers, showing before final gluing together as it's a 2 story with lights inside both up and downstairs
> View attachment 558468
> 
> 
> I've also installed lighting on the fueling rack for night time ops. Now to start putting stuff in place and wiring all the buildings and street lights up


WCB;

Excellent work!  

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I have two different pairs of reading glasses for the small stuff, with the bifocal w/plain lens the pair I use most. I now wear only one contact lens, left eye, as I had cadillac surgery several years ago and now have my "bionic right eye"


WCB;

Cadillac surgery? Just how many luxury cars do you own? You talk about your "Benz" often. Cutting up that expensive car must have hurt! 😄 Auto correct strikes again!

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## TommyB

Very cool, Wookie_Choo_Bacca!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> 
> Cadillac surgery? Just how many luxury cars do you own? You talk about your "Benz" often. Cutting up that expensive car must have hurt! 😄 Auto correct strikes again!
> 
> regards;
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


Cadillac surgery, bionic eye - was cataract removal ALTHOUGH my son the Doctor IS "moonlighting" as a mechanic on his Caddy








And yes, the engine does run and you could drive it, technically, but not recommended due to iffy brakes (which will be upgraded with a power brake booster) PB, PS, and A/C were all optional back then, it does have PS


----------



## MichaelE

Wow, those rocker panels are really rough. Are repros available or will new panels have to be fabricated?


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

MichaelE said:


> Wow, those rocker panels are really rough. Are repros available or will new panels have to be fabricated?


Funny that you mention them. We bought the Caddy from a man that I've known for years, went to school with his nephews and one of them was the previous owner and had bought new rocker panels as well as lower panels for the rear doors. My son has some help in finding shops to do the metal work, new floor pan, his boss had a Mustang restored a few years back


----------



## MichaelE

That's great that you've got the replacement rockers. Back in the '80's I had a frame-off body restoration of a 1971 Buick GSX done for me that required new rocker panels, one quarter panel and a door skin. Fortunately Buick still had all this as NOS just sitting in a warehouse.

I remember the QP being $385, but can't remember the costs of the other parts. I also bought a brand new NOS in-the-GM box front grill for $100 and change. You couldn't touch that grill today for under $1,500.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

When Robert was 15 he came into some $$$ change and wanted to buy a car, no not video games or typical teenage junk, he wanted a car to work on and then be able to drive. It's just taken him some time, graduating HS, 10 years in the Navy and now Graduated Medical School that he's finally getting to work on it. Some of it he'll be farming out, metal work and such but putting it back together he'll do a good bit of that. He HAS driven it but knew back then that it needed work and adjustments done (transmission). A good battery and a hose from a gas jug it'll fire right up (tank will be replaced too)

His HS days and him coming back from a short road trip / driving excursion. An all original and 100% complete including trim road sled


----------



## MichaelE

I too had the metalwork and paint work farmed out and I did the rest of the assembly on a rolling chassis with the body remounted. It was interior, suspension, and drivetrain that I was left to do.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

His car was here while he was in the Navy and seeing the world lol but he bought a house that happened to have an enclosed garage that used to house a motor coach drive camper. More than enough room plus the two car garage that was original to the house, one big shop he has now. He has an enclosed trailer he bought to haul it around in and will use it to get the various assemblies to and from the shops


----------



## QueenoftheGN

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Been working steady on buildings, the Bank is done, lit, and has people inside. I've populated the Bar and Pub with the band, bartenders, drunks, and dancers, showing before final gluing together as it's a 2 story with lights inside both up and downstairs
> View attachment 558468
> 
> 
> I've also installed lighting on the fueling rack for night time ops. Now to start putting stuff in place and wiring all the buildings and street lights up


Looks very good!
Are those figures pre-painted or did you buy them painted?


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

QueenoftheGN said:


> Looks very good!
> Are those figures pre-painted or did you buy them painted?


Thank you

They are pre-painted, my eyes aren't what they used to be, especially for small up close stuff, reading glasses and magnifiers are used here

I just read that again, you asked if they were pre painted or did I buy them painted LOL yeah they came with their colors applied


----------



## Aqualungs

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thank you
> 
> They are pre-painted, my eyes aren't what they used to be, especially for small up close stuff, reading glasses and magnifiers are used here
> 
> I just read that again, you asked if they were pre painted or did I buy them painted LOL yeah they came with their colors applied


I will have to go prepainted also lol!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## traction fan

Aqualungs said:


> I will have to go prepainted also lol!
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


Aqualungs & WCB;

I paint my own, and I'll be 73 yrs of age at the end of this month. The last photo shows how.😄
The pre-painted figures are mega expensive. At least ten times the cost of unpainted ones.

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> Aqualungs & WCB;
> 
> I paint my own, and I'll be 73 yrs of age at the end of this month. The last photo shows how.😄
> The pre-painted figures are mega expensive. At least ten times the cost of unpainted ones.
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


Those figures look good, actually better than what I bought already painted but even though I might notice something on the layout, everyone else might not see any "defects". I modified a couple of paint brushes for smaller / finer work and they've done ok so far given my eyesight


----------



## Aqualungs

Eh at the size of a dime and on the plastic tree, I guess I could easily do them

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## traction fan

Aqualungs said:


> Eh at the size of a dime and on the plastic tree, I guess I could easily do them
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


Aqualungs;
I don't know if you're kidding, or serious.
In case you mean to try painting your own, get an unpainted set of 100 from Preiser their detail is fantastic, though my poor photography doesn't show it well, since I couldn't get any closer and still focus.
First, airbrush all of them a very thin layer of light grey primer. Then pick a color, and brush thinned paint lightly onto each spot you want to be that color. Do all the blues, then let things dry overnight. Next day do all the reds, etc.

Yes, do leave the figures on the parts trees. That makes them a whole lot easier to handle. After the completely painted figures have dried several days, spray on a clear matte finish and let that dry overnight. Keep this matte finish very light. 

Finally make a black wash with some paint, or ink, that is chemically different, and chemically milder than the paint on the figures. For example, I use Tamiya paint, which is alcohol-based. For my final wash I use water-based craft paint thinned way down with lots of water and very little paint. The water-based paint won't attack the alcohol-based paint. That's what I mean by "chemically milder." 

Small, very small, good quality artist's brushes are recommended. All the paints used should be flat colors, and thinned to the point that they will sort of drool onto the figures, and flow along the molded-in details.
An optivisor, and plenty of light, are also highly recommended.

These little N-scale guys, & gals, are well,-----little! Like really, really little! 
However, a well painted figure or two, or a bunch, add a lot to any scene.
Work in short sessions and take your time, or you'll go ga ga pretty quickly.

Good Luck & Have Fun;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

When I paint parts of buildings, model cars, and such I generally leave it / them on the trees, then where they attach trim it down and touch-up. Some out there are talented enough to even have faces on their "little people", me, not so much and as long as I can get them already painted that's how I'll populate my layout(s)


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I got the last building in the other day, built and painted as well as wired for lights, retail space on ground floor with 4 apartments above. I also have wired up all the buildings / houses (even the schoolhouse) ready to drop in place and hook up. Oh and I blacked out the insides of those I could get to so the light wouldn't shine through the walls


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I got the last building in the other day, built and painted as well as wired for lights, retail space on ground floor with 4 apartments above. I also have wired up all the buildings / houses (even the schoolhouse) ready to drop in place and hook up. Oh and I blacked out the insides of those I could get to so the light wouldn't shine through the walls
> View attachment 558955


WCB;

Very nice job on the painting.  Looking forward to see them all in place and lit up for a great night scene.

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks TF. Note the brick sidewalk going around the building. On two others I've also had an OCD moment and have fitted the sidewalk to and between the buildings, the right side of what's pictured needs a trim after the glue dries. Still have to apply the grey wash to the brick









Oh and some of the multi-floor buildings will have separate light switches, retail closed and someone home upstairs


----------



## Aqualungs

Wow looks great! I have been at a standstill l. Too many other project's right now. Can't wait to get back to it

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks AQ, I had to take a break yesterday and go on my annual murder spree out in the yard. I can't stand to see my yard full of yellow flowers (I take a little pride in my no hassle castle), next project I'll be watching and not actively participating, new roof. 

I can't wait to see my layout lit up again, all the building and wiring will pay off soon enough


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks TF. Note the brick sidewalk going around the building. On two others I've also had an OCD moment and have fitted the sidewalk to and between the buildings, the right side of what's pictured needs a trim after the glue dries. Still have to apply the grey wash to the brick
> View attachment 558978
> 
> 
> Oh and some of the multi-floor buildings will have separate light switches, retail closed and someone home upstairs


WCB;

I've had good luck using patching plaster for brick grout. I use the pre-mixed plaster in a 1 Qt. plastic tub from Home Depot. I just spread it onto the plastic "bricks" and let it dry overnight. It can be weathered, if desired, by spraying a little dilute ink on it. The brick Mansion,. and retaining wall in the photo were done this way.

More recently, I've been working on my seven story Sears building. This is a flat, based on photos of the Sears Roebuck mail order warehouse & office building that once stood in Seattle. There are 99 windows in the main building, and 9 more in the annex, for a total of 108 windows! The reason I'm harping on the window count is that I had to modify HO-scale window castings to make N-scale representations of the type of windows the real building had. Then all those window frames got hand painted since I had "cleverly" glued them in place before airbrushing the building a brick red color. Actually, since the white paint of the window frames absorbed some of the brick red color, I had to do a second coat of white, 99 times, in N-scale! 

I found a fantastic way to produce an excellent brick color when I added the "mortar" between the bricks. I drooled a very thin wash of white paint onto the painted brick wall with an eye dropper slid along touching the wall surface, and It ran into the crevices between bricks pretty well. There was some excess white though, and it looked like the building was more white than red. I sanded the brick surface very lightly with fine grit sandpaper. This removed any white from the surface of the bricks, but left the crevices between them white.

An unexpected bonus of the sanding was that the red plastic, Holgate-Reynolds, brick sheet I had used on this scratchbuilt structure, turned a perfect "worn brick color" when sanded. I later used the same technique on two brick tenement buildings. This time I made smarter paint choices though. The Tamiya model paint I use is alcohol-based. I used this for the red brick, but instead of using Tamiya white for mortar, I used very dilute white craft paint which is water-based. The water-based paint did not try to remove, or blend with, the dried alcohol-based brick color. This meant no second coat, or pink widow frames. I'll take photos of the completed Sears building and post them, but don't hold your breath! LOL 😄 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> 
> I've had good luck using patching plaster for brick grout. I use the pre-mixed plaster in a 1 Qt. plastic tub from Home Depot. I just spread it onto the plastic "bricks" and let it dry overnight. It can be weathered, if desired, by spraying a little dilute ink on it. The brick Mansion,. and retaining wall in the photo were done this way.
> 
> I found a fantastic way to produce an excellent brick color when I added the "mortar" between the bricks. I drooled a very thin wash of white paint onto the painted brick wall with an eye dropper slid along touching the wall surface, and It ran into the crevices between bricks pretty well. There was some excess white though, and it looked like the building was more white than red. I sanded the brick surface very lightly with fine grit sandpaper. This removed any white from the surface of the bricks, but left the crevices between them white.
> 
> regards;
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


Oh that is so much work to do. What I've been doing (since the first brick building) was to "paint" the brick walls or whatever with either white or a dark grey acrylic paint (small sections) and before it has a chance to dry, lightly wipe off the excess paint leaving the joints colored in. In the picture the sidewalk on the left has been "painted" while the right has not. Also the Police building on the far right was the first example I did and since that method worked quite well I've continued to do that. The other buildings I've just painted them a color and they look somewhat weathered but most importantly the lose their plastic look. The Diner, 2nd on left, was a used building I bought that came weathered and I left it alone except for adding the interior and lights

Oh, the buildings are just sitting there at the time the pic was taken, final placement is going to be different


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Waiting on more wire to do the street lights, 28 gauge. I took the train station apart and did a repaint on it as well as added lights to it and a warehouse building (no pic of it)
Before street side








After track side


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Waiting on more wire to do the street lights, 28 gauge. I took the train station apart and did a repaint on it as well as added lights to it and a warehouse building (no pic of it)
> Before street side
> View attachment 559283
> 
> After track side
> View attachment 559284


WCB;

Your station originally looked very foreign. Your paint job helps a lot.
If, and only if, you want to "Americanize" it further, I suggest replacing the chimneys, or at least trimming off the lower sill on each chimney. In fact, most American stations that small would only have one chimney. European structures seem to go in for multiple chimneys. Maybe its because so many of them predate central heating.

The clock could also be "domesticated." That style, where the clock looks like a giant pocket watch, suspended from a hook on the pole, is oddly European. I would cut the clock off, trim away the two rings and hook, and then glue the clock onto the top of the pole.

The wood platform looks OK as is, but scrapping a razor saw along the length of the planks to form wood grain, and then repainting it in a flat brown wood color, will make it look better.

Likewise, the benches, two-wheel hand truck, and 4-wheel luggage wagon are all OK, but there are much better looking ones available from Preiser.

I can't see the actual blades of the semaphore in the photo, but I suspect they are likely of European type also.

Doing any of this stuff depends on whether you want to make a real showpiece out of your station, or simply leave it as is.
All my criticism is intended as constructive, and all improvements are your option, of course. I'm just passing on some ideas for you to consider. 

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

All the stuff that would have to be pulled up (and likely broken) I'll leave the decking with the dark grey it is. I repainted the building due to it being as dark as I painted it initially was too dark. The clock and the semaphore came with the kit and not knowing the origins I just installed them where the indructions said to (too bad that they don't work for real) Was just now thinking that IF I'm real careful I could build a completely new / different deck with the tile type styrene sheets I have here or even the rock sheets (different than the brick) I have the time to "play" with this


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> All the stuff that would have to be pulled up (and likely broken) I'll leave the decking with the dark grey it is. I repainted the building due to it being as dark as I painted it initially was too dark. The clock and the semaphore came with the kit and not knowing the origins I just installed them where the indructions said to (too bad that they don't work for real) Was just now thinking that IF I'm real careful I could build a completely new / different deck with the tile type styrene sheets I have here or even the rock sheets (different than the brick) I have the time to "play" with this


WCB;

Whatever you want to do.
Nearly all small, old time, depots had wood plank platforms. A few had brick, and modern ones are concrete.
A stone platform would be quite odd in North America but more common in Europe.
A working train order semaphore in N-scale is possible, though not easy, to scratchbuild. I made the one in the photo, and it does work, but it was a considerable challenge to build.
A working N-scale clock? Not yet!  

regards;

Traction Fan


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I've got one pack of the 3VDC street lights (10) wired with longer pigtails on them, I have the resistors that will be wired in close to the switches. The house and building lights have the resistors built in and will have separate power bugs for them. The 3.5VDC bug will be for the street lights in town, my calculations are 12 max on it. I also bought a different switch box, similar to the one I had already, but this one has an added panel I can mount the light switches to and keep the turnout switches laid out as they now are

I've been on the lookout for industrial type buildings and found two that are on the way here, both are, from my understanding, discontinued. A Bakery and a Foundry. I believe I have enough residentials for now. I'm not going for any particular "look" or and specific area of the world with this layout, if it ends up looking a bit realistic then that's a plus, if not then as long as the trains run and don't have a Gomez Addams train wreck then I'm doing good. All in all I'm just a big kid at heart (the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys) and since I'm retired . . . . . . . . My other project I had to stop because of health concerns so maybe in a couple of years I'll buy a running boat to go fishing and boat riding while still running my trains


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I've got one pack of the 3VDC street lights (10) wired with longer pigtails on them, I have the resistors that will be wired in close to the switches. The house and building lights have the resistors built in and will have separate power bugs for them. The 3.5VDC bug will be for the street lights in town, my calculations are 12 max on it. I also bought a different switch box, similar to the one I had already, but this one has an added panel I can mount the light switches to and keep the turnout switches laid out as they now are
> 
> I've been on the lookout for industrial type buildings and found two that are on the way here, both are, from my understanding, discontinued. A Bakery and a Foundry. I believe I have enough residentials for now. I'm not going for any particular "look" or and specific area of the world with this layout, if it ends up looking a bit realistic then that's a plus, if not then as long as the trains run and don't have a Gomez Addams train wreck then I'm doing good. All in all I'm just a big kid at heart (the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys) and since I'm retired . . . . . . . . My other project I had to stop because of health concerns so maybe in a couple of years I'll buy a running boat to go fishing and boat riding while still running my trains


TCB;

You might look around for a deal on a used "steady cam" camera mount like the movie companies use. Using that, you should be able to mount a small Z-scale layout on a boat. The steady cam will compensate for any rocking of the boat and hold your little layout level. That way you can fish and watch trains run at the same time! Geezer nirvana! 😄

Design Preservation Models (now absorbed into Woodland Scenics) has lots of industrial structure kits. Factories, warehouses, etc. All brick, generic American prototypes, and easy to build. They are even reasonably inexpensive, (though less so since Woodland Scenics got their paws on them.) You might check them out.

BTW I had an interesting experience yesterday. Another member, dboone, had a zoom conference with me about his layout. He has some videos out about his track planning and will incorporate some of my "wisdom" (such as it is  ) ,in his next video. I know video conferencing technology has been around for years, but being firmly set among the "digitally challenged", (aka dumb) this was my first time using it. Fun stuff. 😊

regards;

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The boat (more of an empty hull right now) I have is a 19 footer V-hull that I was in the process of rebuilding but as I said some health issues have stopped that. My SO loves and has owned pontoons in the past and yes they make fine fishing platforms (and with the flat floor you COULD mount a train, but why ?) I lean more towards V-hulls for the fun of wave / wake hopping. Will likely sell what I have and buy one in better shape and already running

I've been scouting various sites for the fare they have available and that's how I found the two. There are a few other possibles I saw (in no big hurry to get) to fill up any empty spaces on my table without busting the budget


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Busy, busy, busy here the last few daze, new roof scheduled for tomorrow AM, been working on the new switch panel. It's now mounted to the table and partially wired and now it's time for a BIG old home-made drink LOL

Wooky's No Hassle Castle








New switch panel, upper is the turnout wiring, lower will be lighting








Smaller panel will be at the bottom with larger standing up










Buy me a drink, sing me a song, take me as I come cause I won't be standin' long









And yeah I gotta paint some more green there 😁


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Roof is done and I got a bit sun burnt, a settin' outside watchin' the goin's on up top. Have ya ever had a bunch of folks up on yer house beatin' the crap outta it ALL DAY LONG (had to medicate 2 of the pups here)

Don't THAT look so much better ?









Back to the wiring today, should have some buildings lit up tomorrow


----------



## TommyB

I am, and have always been, an handyman DIY'er. But the one thing that I have learned now in these later years in my life is that sitting in a chair with a cold beer, watching a pro do the work definitely has it's merits. Your roof looks great!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

TommyB said:


> I am, and have always been, an handyman DIY'er. But the one thing that I have learned now in these later years in my life is that sitting in a chair with a cold beer, watching a pro do the work definitely has it's merits. Your roof looks great!


Yeah, if it was ME doing the job I'd still be on the tear-off part (IF I had even started it at all) while I can go up in any skyscraper, ride any roller coaster, even been at 39K feet in a plane (still wanting to ride in a helo, strapped in of course), I'm not too keen about high places and especially if there is a cliff or edge, so yeah, on the ground watching a Pro works well here


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I got the Bakery in today's mail. Here's an example of painting the brickwork, with and without with light grey on the dark grey brick building








I wiped it down again after taking the pic
Back to work on the electrics after supper


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

A WOOO HOOO milestone moment right here folks, we have LIGHT 💡 in the dark 🌃, well, part of the table that is. I also have the bakery and foundry done but not yet placed. I know about where they will be going. I need to set all the buildings, houses, sheds, and such to see if I need any more to fill any voids



























Now to go and glue down the streetlight posts so they won't lean or spin around


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I can't believe it's been 16 days since posting on here 😲 PART of that was waiting for the slow boat to bring some needed supplies (you'd be surprised at just how many shrink tube pieces you go through with wiring 😵) Well, good news, I have enough of the 1.5mm tubing that I doubt I'll EVER use them all up LOL 1800 of the buggers. Working on and doing some rearranging of the wiring, 1 switch for the commercial buildings, 1 for the street lights, 1 for residential, 1 for the oil tanks complex. So far using 2 power bugs, not full max capacity on them, my calculations on one said 12 LEDs and I have 10 hooked up to it. More pics when I get it all hooked up and working to my satisfaction









I also completely redid my Veterans Memorial and have it populated with some visitors, V for Victory


----------



## QueenoftheGN

Everything’s really starting to come together, looking good!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

QueenoftheGN said:


> Everything’s really starting to come together, looking good!


Thanks Annie, and just when you THINK you have everything all lined up and ready to go . . . . . . . OH NO, had to go back and make 6 feed wires to the switches THREE INCHES LONGER 😕 (DANG, forgot a pic of the switch panel, I git it later) THEN started the trains up with the track cleaner pads wetted with cleaner juice I bought. The SDs ran ok after a few minutes but the Streak was a different matter, even switching tracks did not improve performance, seems I've been having troubles with it since installing the DCC board 😡😠.

ANYWAY, here are a couple of pics now that all the lights (except the warehouse) are up and running. I'll have to get a different outlet power strip, those power bugs are oversize and take up extra space and no room for turnout bug. I'm gonna go back online and look for another track cleaner, Bright Boy perhaps, something out there will work (I hope), the rubber eraser bars get eat up by rubbing the track


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here is the finished switch panel, covers the operation of the turnouts (still need to put lines for track between switches) and the lower for the lights. Now to start back on the various "decorations", green paint for grass, 3 different shades of brown for dirt, 2 greys for rock faces, even found "pavement" so I can add a few road patches and do some driveway and parking lots


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I worked on all the locos and rolling stock last night and finished up earlier today cleaning the crud off the wheels. Some were worse than others but they ALL got "the Treatment" of the tip of a toothpick run around each and then each truck buffed with a fingernail brush (a little bigger than a toothbrush). Waiting for delivery of a Bright-Boy and a tub of _NO-OX_-_ID_ _A_-SPECI_A_L to clean and treat my track. I've done a couple of alcohol rubs and rubs with a block eraser (old Army trick to clean electrical contacts), no joy and the mess made with rubber bits all over the table. Hopefully the NO-OX will keep the corrosion from forming on the track (one thing that everyone who have used it says happens). The products I bought previously didn't impress me at all, not to mention none of my passenger cars will fit on the gizmo. The locos will run on it but I didn't notice any discoloration from the wheels being cleaned. I'll do the toothpick with a 9volt supplying power to spin the wheels


----------



## Spruslayer

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I worked on all the locos and rolling stock last night and finished up earlier today cleaning the crud off the wheels. Some were worse than others but they ALL got "the Treatment" of the tip of a toothpick run around each and then each truck buffed with a fingernail brush (a little bigger than a toothbrush). Waiting for delivery of a Bright-Boy and a tub of _NO-OX_-_ID_ _A_-SPECI_A_L to clean and treat my track. I've done a couple of alcohol rubs and rubs with a block eraser (old Army trick to clean electrical contacts), no joy and the mess made with rubber bits all over the table. Hopefully the NO-OX will keep the corrosion from forming on the track (one thing that everyone who have used it says happens). The products I bought previously didn't impress me at all, not to mention none of my passenger cars will fit on the gizmo. The locos will run on it but I didn't notice any discoloration from the wheels being cleaned. I'll do the toothpick with a 9volt supplying power to spin the wheels


I did the no ox treatment to my door layout
I had an immediate improvement, if a loco stuttered or stalled it was the locos fault.
The claims of not ever cleaning the track didn't work for me.
I tried that and it did run a long wile but the stalling returned due to dirty rails,
After about a weeks worth of running and no cleaning, the rails were heavily covered in that blank gunk.
After cleaning everything returned to normal. Not sure if cleaning the rails removed the treatment but now if there is an issue a track cleaning will take care of it.
Your layout is looking awesome, great work!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Spruslayer said:


> I did the no ox treatment to my door layout
> I had an immediate improvement, if a loco stuttered or stalled it was the locos fault.
> The claims of not ever cleaning the track didn't work for me.
> I tried that and it did run a long wile but the stalling returned due to dirty rails,
> After about a weeks worth of running and no cleaning, the rails were heavily covered in that blank gunk.
> After cleaning everything returned to normal. Not sure if cleaning the rails removed the treatment but now if there is an issue a track cleaning will take care of it.
> Your layout is looking awesome, great work!


Oh I'm not talking about never having to clean the track again but just to give it a good cleaning and then application of the NO-OX to slow the corrosion that will happen, can't completely stop it


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

A couple of updates and an upgrade, FIRST the Bright Boy got here and I gave the outer loop a buff, scrub, what-have-you then a pair of back to back alcohol wipes. Ran the Streak loco alone for a few minutes and no skips, no blinkys. I'll give the track another good clean before the No-Ox goes on, that should be here tomorrow.

Next, while running the Bright Boy around I found one spot that it was removing the paint from the rail-highway crossing I had made/installed, so OFF it came and I rebuilt the crossing using a couple of leftover kits I had on hand, looks much better and the rails are just a bit higher than the wood 


















Now to ready the layout for some additional asphalt streets and do some of the scenery


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Bright Boy'd the entire track, including the sidings, two alcohol wipes and a vacuum before applying the NO-OX. Yeah it feels a little greasy but the indructions say a lil-dab'll do ya. Yes there has been some wheel spin but that was only after adding the 'lectric cars (passengers with light kits), since their metal wheels would need "The Treatment" along with the locos. I switched the Streak to the double track while the SD consists running the hills on the scenic route for another hour then the track gets a wipe and shutdown for 24 hours before a final wipe


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Bright Boy'd the entire track, including the sidings, two alcohol wipes and a vacuum before applying the NO-OX. Yeah it feels a little greasy but the indructions say a lil-dab'll do ya. Yes there has been some wheel spin but that was only after adding the 'lectric cars (passengers with light kits), since their metal wheels would need "The Treatment" along with the locos. I switched the Streak to the double track while the SD consists running the hills on the scenic route for another hour then the track gets a wipe and shutdown for 24 hours before a final wipe


WCB;

After you have used your Brite boy a few times, you will find dirt build up on it. You can clean it with LPS-1, WD-40 contact cleaner, or possibly with alcohol. Your layout progress looks very good!

regards;

Traction Fan


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> 
> After you have used your Brite boy a few times, you will find dirt build up on it. You can clean it with LPS-1, WD-40 contact cleaner, or possibly with alcohol. Your layout progress looks very good!
> 
> regards;
> 
> Traction Fan


Thanks for the pat on the back there TF, now to get started again on the scenery. Yeah, the Boy got a bit cruddy on the one side I used, juss seeing how dirty it would get. I thought about the cleaning of it and used a clean stainless toothbrush, lightly of course and it came clean as a new one, then I went over the track a second time before the wipe down and NO-OX application. 

I ran the locos and the lighted passengers last night for two hours as the direction said then shut everything down for 24 hours, gave it a good dry wipe just a bit ago and everything runs much better, no skips, no blinkys, nothing. One thing I did do today was with the passenger lights still flickering I pulled the trucks and put just a touch of NO-OX on the copper contact strips as well as the LED contacts inside. No more blinky from them now WOO HOOO. I love it when a plan comes together


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Still kicking here, did a porch post replacement and the house looks awesome. I'll add some pics in a bit of the layout progress, I've been painting the grass, building and painting driveways (Granite Grey), filling in cracks and gaps in the foam, started with spray foam but didn't like the results, switched to wood filler that I had on hand and like that better. I also had to pull some of the track up, hard to explain but the joint gaps were too big in some spots for my liking and jammed tight on others, also fixed the "easement"(?) for the inclines/declines. Cut back some of the foam around the back side, will fashion some sort of dirt track maintenance road


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here are some promised pics of progress made. I've re-done the Tank Farm piping as they (real ones) aren't fed by just one pipe, now each has it's own pipe and valve to the pumphouse, when I set the pump house in place I'll install the larger in-feed pipe and the underground pipe to the tank car rack. I've filled in the gaps in the foam layers and it's ready for paint, some grass and some rock and dirt outcroppings (paint as I go). My paving crew was busy yesterday and finished the hospital parking lot (juss ask and I'll 'splain what I did there). Driveways for several houses also done, either masking tape or white labels painted granite grey. 




































It's coming along and again is giving me something to do and lets my creative side come out


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Here are some promised pics of progress made. I've re-done the Tank Farm piping as they (real ones) aren't fed by just one pipe, now each has it's own pipe and valve to the pumphouse, when I set the pump house in place I'll install the larger in-feed pipe and the underground pipe to the tank car rack. I've filled in the gaps in the foam layers and it's ready for paint, some grass and some rock and dirt outcroppings (paint as I go). My paving crew was busy yesterday and finished the hospital parking lot (juss ask and I'll 'splain what I did there). Driveways for several houses also done, either masking tape or white labels painted granite grey.
> View attachment 563062
> 
> 
> View attachment 563063
> 
> 
> View attachment 563064
> 
> 
> View attachment 563065
> 
> 
> It's coming along and again is giving me something to do and lets my creative side come out


WCB;
Looks great! Nice work.  

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> Looks great! Nice work.
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


Thanks again TF. I've got the school bus parking made and finished, and the parking area for the bakery done. I have enough asphalt ready for the warehouse employee parking, the forge building, and the loco repair shed parking as well. Coming right along, not in any real hurry


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Can anyone give a SWAG of what I've modeled or what this / these will end up being on my layout ?? Painted some scenery last night til I ran out of paint, FEDEX has once again dropped the ball on a delivery, out for delivery on Saturday and now tracking claims "delivery pending" whatever that means (I really don't see how they are still in business, late and super late deliveries, boxes damaged beyond all recognition, items refused due to such damage and they re-deliver in the middle of the night *yes, that really happened here*)


----------



## Steve Rothstein

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Can anyone give a SWAG of what I've modeled or what this / these will end up being on my layout ??


Looks to me like you started an orchard but haven't put the tree tops on it yet. It might be a telphone pole farm, they have to grow those things somewhere, right?


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Steve Rothstein said:


> Looks to me like you started an orchard but haven't put the tree tops on it yet. It might be a telphone pole farm, they have to grow those things somewhere, right?


A pole farm, now there is an idea, they'd only be scaled 25 footers, have to find longer party toothpicks for taller poles and would likely be way cheaper than telephone poles proper from the various vendors. I'll look for some today at the store so's I can build my layout "power grid"

But no, good guess, not an orchard or poles


----------



## GNfan

Posts for the chain-link security fence surrounding the tank farm? I used to work at a place that stored hazardous materials in tanks like that, and your new plumbing looks about right.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

GNfan said:


> Posts for the chain-link security fence surrounding the tank farm? I used to work at a place that stored hazardous materials in tanks like that, and your new plumbing looks about right.


Thanks GN, I kept looking at the initial plumbing and couldn't quite put me finger on it, THEN it dawned on me - each tank needed it's own feed line so's the gas wouldn't mix with the diesel, etc.

Closer, I'll give it to ya, I've got some chain link but didn't think about posts, it'll be much easier to set it with some of these as posts. Original idea was barbed wire posts


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Can anyone give a SWAG of what I've modeled or what this / these will end up being on my layout ?? Painted some scenery last night til I ran out of paint, FEDEX has once again dropped the ball on a delivery, out for delivery on Saturday and now tracking claims "delivery pending" whatever that means (I really don't see how they are still in business, late and super late deliveries, boxes damaged beyond all recognition, items refused due to such damage and they re-deliver in the middle of the night *yes, that really happened here*)
> 
> View attachment 563189


WCB;

Maybe "Delivery pending" is related to that old history channel series "Ice road truckers" where suicidal maniacs drove loaded semi trucks along a road of ice formed over artic lakes. "Delivery pending" therefore might mean pending the ice cap over hell freezing thick enough to support a Fed X truck?  BTW My guess on your latest creation would be some sort of defense against N-scale paratroops. 

Traction Fan 😄


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> WCB;
> 
> Maybe "Delivery pending" is related to that old history channel series "Ice road truckers" where suicidal maniacs drove loaded semi trucks along a road of ice formed over artic lakes. "Delivery pending" therefore might mean pending the ice cap over hell freezing thick enough to support a Fed X truck?  BTW My guess on your latest creation would be some sort of defense against N-scale paratroops.
> 
> Traction Fan 😄


Yeah TF, like those Braveheart spiked posts "as long as a man" LOL actually all good ideas but they are my new barbed wire fence posts, will get more chain link for surrounding the Tank Farm

The package came today, now to do some more painting, coming right along here and run the trains some too 

OH, hell DID freeze over a few years ago, the Eagles got back together, for a short time


----------



## MichaelE

The tank farm I worked at for Clark Oil back in the early '90's had a pipe manifold where the contents of any or all tanks could be fed or mixed from one tank to another as well as an incoming river barge feed and rail head feed.

Each tank had it's own pump that was reversable, or the tanks could be gravity/pressure fed depending upon tank level at the time.

We blended gasoline mixures and asphalt mixures in these tanks and they were loaded to over the road tanker trucks for various companies we contracted with.

We made grades of asphalt from AC5 TO AC30.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

MichaelE said:


> The tank farm I worked at for Clark Oil back in the early '90's had a pipe manifold where the contents of any or all tanks could be fed or mixed from one tank to another as well as an incoming river barge feed and rail head feed.
> 
> Each tank had it's own pump that was reversable, or the tanks could be gravity/pressure fed depending upon tank level at the time.
> 
> We blended gasoline mixures and asphalt mixures in these tanks and they were loaded to over the road tanker trucks for various companies we contracted with.
> 
> We made grades of asphalt from AC5 TO AC30.


I didn't know all of that Michael (the complexity), perhaps we can say that the mentioned manifold is housed in the modeled pump house. It just made more sense and realistic to me to have one tank/one pipe. On the other end of the 3 horizontal tanks is the truck loading platform that came in that kit. All told here is 2 kits plus parts of an HO petroleum piping kit and a scratch built building. Pic shows the truck loading platform with red hoses denoting gasoline, green diesel, yellow kerosene, I had to modify that setup a bit due to extremely small plastic parts that broke, I poked around the 'net found what I thought would work here


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Taking a break from the layout, letting the paint dry before tackling some more. Some of the rock faces have been done and pretty satisfied how they turned out using the "dry brush method" though you can see some places where it went on a wee bit heavier than intended, oh well LOL. Started with a base of elephant grey the dry brushed granite grey over that and finally dry brushed black. I painted a brown for the dirt transition and again satisfied here (may not look completely real but aren't these layouts supposed to be our "Fantasy Railroads" anyway  😎 ). Oh, and I have no idea what the guy at that house is doing but having a BUNCH of deliveries made today LOL





































Yeah I know about the ripple in the pavement, can't seem to keep that one spot down 🤔


----------



## Big Ed

You built a containment pit for the large tanks, now you need containment for the small tanks.
Or the EPA will shut you down. 
Looking good.

Edit, what's behind the green area? What are you hiding.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Big Ed said:


> You built a containment pit for the large tanks, now you need containment for the small tanks.
> Or the EPA will shut you down.
> Looking good.


Maybe I can bribe someone to hold them off for a bit 🤫 I've got plenty of places I could hide a body or two LOL 😏

I've got some materials that I could fashion a concrete containment wall


----------



## Aqualungs

Looking good in the neighborhood. My layout is also a fantasy layout. I'm trying to get away from the real world. Anything is possible in a parallel universe. 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Fiddling with the chain link fence I have here, it's going around the water tower. It may not look realistic but I'm gonna make corner posts because the fence is kinda flimsy and easily bent plus the mounting stobbs are only 1/16 (?) long. I ordered a different fence that has long pins (like it's sister WS privacy fence) That fence will be for the Tank Farm


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Big Ed said:


> Edit, what's behind the green area? What are you hiding.


Which green area ? Going uphill past the houses I've got what will be a dirt road going up to the weekender cabins and beyond that, the still


----------



## Big Ed

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Which green area ? Going uphill past the houses I've got what will be a dirt road going up to the weekender cabins and beyond that, the still


It was on the bottom of the tank farm picture.
I don't see it now.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Big Ed said:


> It was on the bottom of the tank farm picture.
> I don't see it now.


I dunno, went through all my Farm pics, not hiding anything here, the only "illegal activity" going on might be the liquor still but here in Georgia you CAN make up to 5 gallons for personal consumption 🌽 🥂 🤪 🥴 LOL


----------



## Big Ed

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I dunno, went through all my Farm pics, not hiding anything here, the only "illegal activity" going on might be the liquor still but here in Georgia you CAN make up to 5 gallons for personal consumption 🌽 🥂 🤪 🥴 LOL


It does not matter.
But,
on the foam in the picture ,on the bottom ,there was a green shaded in area ( like from a paint program) and underneath you could see some yellow marker pen markings.
Looked like "someone" shaded in the area to cover up the markings.

Now the picture is shown with a few inches cut off the bottom where the green shaded area was. "Someone" cut off a few inches. 

Like I said it don't matter.

Many moons ago I had some white lightning up in the Smokey mountains Robbinsville, NC.
I was up there for a week delivering old gauge rail to the scenic RR that was being made. We had made other deliveries out of Jersey, the largest was a ballast tamper machine.
Got to hang around with the locals, one time drinking that stuff was enough for me! 
It was back to good old ice cold beer.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

There was a guy who passed away a few years ago that went up into the mountains when he had a big enough "order" and came back with apple, peach, or blackberry shine. Sampled a bit of it I did, smoooooth goin' down but I'm not a regular drinker.

Here's pics of the Town's well and water tower with it's new security fence in place. The corner posts are part of the foam pins I have here, cut off the tops and super-glued them in place, same with the joints in the fencing. This style of chain link is too fiddly for me, glad I figured a way to use it


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> There was a guy who passed away a few years ago that went up into the mountains when he had a big enough "order" and came back with apple, peach, or blackberry shine. Sampled a bit of it I did, smoooooth goin' down but I'm not a regular drinker.
> 
> Here's pics of the Town's well and water tower with it's new security fence in place. The corner posts are part of the foam pins I have here, cut off the tops and super-glued them in place, same with the joints in the fencing. This style of chain link is too fiddly for me, glad I figured a way to use it
> 
> View attachment 563378
> 
> 
> View attachment 563379


WCB;

Nice looking fence and scene! Good work  

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## JeffHurl

Yeah, that fence turned out great! Looking good!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks TF and Jeff. Waiting for some WS chain link fence to arrive, it'll be for the tank farm, been doing some more painting and got the rock faces done, looks good to me


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

I got the cliff wall finished and the fence around the used car and auto parts emporium in place. I made a big order on FleaBay last night to get some more modern / newer cars and some for the yard, including already crushed cars (now to model a car crusher LOL). I also go a sweet deal on a (I'm guessing) 64 or 65 Chevelle in N scale, it will be a "driver"


----------



## JeffHurl

It would be nice to have a source for "normal" vehicles in 1:160 scale. Seems everything readily available is a either a muscle car, an exotic, or from the 40-50's


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

JeffHurl said:


> It would be nice to have a source for "normal" vehicles in 1:160 scale. Seems everything readily available is a either a muscle car, an exotic, or from the 40-50's


Yeah, that's my beef, the lack of modern rides, OH, don't get me wrong, they ARE available but are mostly European, VW, Benz, Audi, Cooper Minis, Smarts, I even got a British Limo and a Hearse. I do have a late 70s Chevy Taxi and an Impala as well as late model Freightliner Tractors. A couple of the cars I've got coming are (I think) 60s Nova wagons and an LTD wagon, I saw some advertised a pair of Eldorados, pair of Cougars, Vettes, didn't get them though


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here we go, Busted Knuckle Used Cars and Jiffy Used Auto Parts, doing similar to what Pull A Parts is doing, selling parts and whole running cars. Now just to wait for the shipment of cars for both sides








The gates are where the pavement is


----------



## BigEd

Looks like a Lambo on the right in red... my favorite.


----------



## JeffHurl

I'm thinking Ferrari F40


----------



## BigEd

JeffHurl said:


> I'm thinking Ferrari F40


you might be right. The pram handle seems very prominent.


----------



## JeffHurl

I'd be happy to drive either one, lol!


----------



## BigEd

JeffHurl said:


> I'd be happy to drive either one, lol!


Funnily enough, I don’t fit in them…😇


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Dunno which it is, doesn't have any glass or interior so it's in the bone yard


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Been busy the last couple of days, been building the chain link around the Tank Farm, will finish it up tonight before I go house and pup sitting at my son's over the weekend, he has a sick pup (post-op surgery) that needs more than just someone dropping by to let them out, water and feed. I've gotten a boatload of stuff I ordered and more coming next week, trucks, cars, and a bag of misc broken rail cars and stuff that will be used as "relics beyond repair"

Farm fence








Construction Vehicles








More trucks and trailers








Fleet of used cars, included in these are two Mercedes, a Citroen, 3 Mustangs, 3 Cougars, 3 Nova wagons, LTD 2 and 4 door and 2 LTD wagons, Mayberry Sheriff car, 53 Chevy, and a camper








Wrecker Fleet, was looking for just one, ended up with three









I've still got a Lowboy truck, 2 refrigerated trailers, and a flatbed trailer with tractors coming


----------



## JeffHurl

Very nice! I like the way the chain link fence turned out! You have a good variety of cars in the lot. Are you going to paint the wreckers or leave them gray?


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

JeffHurl said:


> Very nice! I like the way the chain link fence turned out! You have a good variety of cars in the lot. Are you going to paint the wreckers or leave them gray?


Thanks Jeff, some of my OCD going on LOL. I thought I'd leave the wreckers as they are for now, they did have red grills I painted silver and also painted the pusher bumpers black. I finished up the fence and these pics show the front gates, a closed side/rear gate and the open rail gate. I still need to do the ground effects but still have a lot of that to do


















The rail gate is modeled to be at rail height when closed, even though they can't move


----------



## BigEd

Love it!


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Well boys and girls, I'm BAAACCCKK. I spent the weekend house and dog sitting for my son, he and his g/f had a show to attend in Tampa. While down there went to "the Lobby" just to see if they had anything I could kill some time with / on. Well I came up with a C-130 that is close to the correct scale to hang with fishing line above the layout. This plane is modified a bit and is my version with twin 20mm cannons up front, a 40mm Bofors gun under the wing, and a 105mm Howitzer in the rear. I fashioned the guns with stuff I had here and used pictures from the interwebs along with my imagination. All it needs now is a matte clear coat to take some of the shiny away

Introducing MY version of "Puff, the Magic Dragon"


----------



## Big Ed

Tank farm looking good. 
Fence/Gate too, but the tanker trailers won't be able to get in through those gates. Not enough swing room off the road. Unless they have another entrance?


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Big Ed said:


> Tank farm looking good.
> Fence/Gate too, but the tanker trailers won't be able to get in through those gates. Not enough swing room off the road. Unless they have another entrance?


Should be enough room (in my mind), two gates there and the red building is just there in the way. Trucks come in the gate to the left in the pic and then back up under the fill platform, when they leave they go out the right gate


----------



## Old_Hobo

I think big ed means that there is no room for the long tankers to turn off the road and drive thru the gates….too tight a turn….and ed should know, he was a tanker yanker all his working life…..


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Old_Hobo said:


> I think big ed means that there is no room for the long tankers to turn off the road and drive thru the gates….too tight a turn….and ed should know, he was a tanker yanker all his working life…..


Oh ok, I could go back and rearrange the gates as I have some leftover pieces of fence


----------



## Big Ed

If you take your tractor trailer tanker, or even a box trailer you have they are longer yet, take the truck and place it on the road like your driving it.
Then attempt to drive thru your gates, I don't think you will clear the gates with the trailer. And the gates will be smashed. Swing it as wide as you can when driving in off the road and see if you can clear the gates. Coming in from the left would be harder pulling in then coming down the road from the right. Try it, see if you can drive thru the gates with your tanker trailer unit. 
You don't need to add gate but take some off where the gates are to make the entrance wider. If the wall wasn't there you could just make the road wider. Then there would be enough swing room.
Now........no one but me and maybe a few others will see the small entrance, so up to you if you want to make it wider. 
It is fine for your non trailer tankers, plenty of room for them.
And besides that, ( to me) the fence looks great.


----------



## GNfan

I think you'd want some sort of guard shack at the main gate. A Woodland Scenics "Built and Ready Work Shed" might be adequate.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Ed, busting the bubbles in my fantasy world LOL. J/K I have some fencing left I could widen the entranceway. You being a trucker from another Mother I respect your insight, I drove a tandem rock bucket and never dragged anything behind me


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Good idea on a Guard Shack GN, didn't think about that


----------



## Big Ed

Old_Hobo said:


> I think big ed means that there is no room for the long tankers to turn off the road and drive thru the gates….too tight a turn….and ed should know, he was a tanker yanker all his working life…..


Looking at the picture of the Shell tanker, visualize yourself driving in off the road or out.
Do you think you could clear the gates? If you knew how to drive the tanker rig. 
I am not rivet counting I am just saying. 
It is your layout to do as you want. Me being a wheelman noticed this right away.

Wooky take the tanker like your a kid playing with it, driving it, and see if it clears.
Don't forget to blow the air horn.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

LMAO, made me think of "Major Payne" and the Toot Toot LOL No, you offered a suggestion and it makes sense, even with my shortcuts on the scenery a proper gate width makes sense as NONE of my vehicles have insurance on them LOL


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Oh and I already doubled the width of the swinging part of the gates, maybe I should have ordered HO fencing


----------



## Big Ed

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Ed, busting the bubbles in my fantasy world LOL. J/K I have some fencing left I could widen the entranceway. You being a trucker from another Mother I respect your insight, I drove a tandem rock bucket and never dragged anything behind me
> View attachment 564297


The dump trucks around here, most of them drive like a bat out of hell. lol
That is something I never drove, except for a small Ford rack/dump truck.
Been a tanker yanker most of my life.
Picture you driving the dump truck with a 30' trailer, the tanker trailer is about 45' long without the tractor, so total length would be about 60' or so depending on the tractor. 
I don't know how you would make a gate that opens left to right on rollers. You know what I mean? Make the gate opening wider and instead of opening in it opens left to right.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah, Jimmy had 3 trailers, dumpers, but I didn't have the "A" license. And the truck pictured had the Allison 6 speed automatic, no clutch, I loved that truck


----------



## Big Ed

I hate automatics, give me a gear shifter any day, and the more gears the better. 
My plant started buying automatics years ago, I gave up 5 new tractors to keep my truck with the shifter.
The automatics today are nice, unlike when they first came out for trucks. But I would rather have the gears to use as I want.
If you get stuck in snow or mud you can't even rock yourself out with automatics.
And starting out from a dead stop I could out shift an automatic any day.
Now they issue automatic truck driving licenses, lol And they can't operate a rig with a gear shifter.
It is a different world.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Yeah, they have 2 types of auto, the full automatics like what's in your car except no "park" position and the other is auto-shift which has a clutch and a brain to do the actual shifting. I've driven both with the vehicle delivery service my Dad used to run. Each has it's merits and shortfalls but in a dumper without mountains to drive up and down the automatic was a nice way to do the day, not as tired when finished. I ended up back in a stick truck when the economy tanked and Jimmy all but shut down, he still had roll-offs but no empty trucks


----------



## Big Ed

A lot of West coast turnaround rigs that have automatics fall asleep when driving them.
Shifting keeps you awake, plus on snowy, icy roads I would rather be in command of the shifting.
I have drove some of the fully automatics when mine was in the shop.
Soon they will be all be automatics, I hear today that you have to special order them with the gears to shift.
Unlike years ago when you had to special order automatics. And the first automatics had a lot of problems.
Lets say I am old school, I am glad I retired now. 
I now watch them crash on the news.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Agreed, we took 3 auto-shifters to a company in Chattanooga, these made 6 total and the owner said that since switching to them he's not had to rebuild any transmissions. I know from experience that there are some roads that dumpers go on that shifting is difficult at best. More and more companies around here are going with automatics Retired here too


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Working on a gate redo and trying to scratch a tank car with no trucks, hand rails, etc into an on-site fuel tank for the construction company, be back in a bit


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Alright, here we go with the redo of the two front gates of the Tank Farm, still not quite enough space but then again this is a fantasy land of sorts and I'm happy with it. Thanks for the heads-up Ed. Now to fill the holes left by the original configuration. The one tanker is backed up on the loading platform. I don't know the actual hose colors but in my world here the reds are gasoline, green is diesel, black is #2 heating fuel oil, and yellow is kerosene / jet fuel










Here is the rail tanker I'm working on to be an on-site diesel tank for the construction company, equipment comes in each day and refueled before parking for the night. My idea is to fashion a cradle so it won't roll around and a containment wall around it instead of it being buried like at gas stations


----------



## Big Ed

Much better. Carry on. 
Did you try playing with them? 
Steering them in off the road?


----------



## JeffHurl

I like your idea to use the tank as an on-site tank to store diesel.


----------



## Big Ed

For the Texaco tank, do you have some wheel sets? You don't need the wheels. It will sit good on the wheel frames.
Then build a containment wall.
There is a place in Baltimore That I delivered to that had some late 1800's and early 1900;s tankers and were using them for chemical storage. Using them to date. Big heavy body's, put together with big headed rivet's.
Got some pictures here somewhere.

Is your rack bottom load? Colors are fine.
Most racks are going bottom load today.
Is there a siding for a few RR tankers in the yard?


----------



## Big Ed




----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Big Ed said:


> Much better. Carry on.
> Did you try playing with them?
> Steering them in off the road?


OH yes, the "Lil Kid" in me makes me play cars, trucks, and trains LOL. No the truck rack was top load I think but the little plastic pipe parts of it were real fiddly / weak and broke so I cam up with the multi-colored hose setup, works for me even if not exactly "proto-type" (is that the correct word ?)

No wheel sets or frame on the TexTank, it and some other misc stuff came with the car / truck shipment. I got a loaded gondola, cattle car, a "baby" tanker, a 3 dome tanker, 2 box cars, and a box car shell. All of these need either trucks and/or different (knuckle) couplers or turn the boxes into a hobo camp

A GMTA moment on the tank pics you posted was the idea I had and just finished the glue up (tank itself can still be removed for the moment til painting is completed. I still need to rig a dispensing nozzle and steps


















Oh and yes, I do have a rail load / unload platform over to the left with a siding


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Here is the completed tank and containment walls, I'm thinking the walls may be a wee bit too high but I'm good with it. Scratch built the lower half of the stairs (did some measuring with what I had on-hand and my somewhat vivid imagination). Hand rails are completely scratched and I found a wayward gas pump along with pieces for the upper platform. Here is the result, notice also I installed the feed line to the pump. I think there is supposed to be some sort of vent on the tank somewhere, Ed, let me know please


----------



## Chaostrain

Based on my real life experience of hauling various hazmat loads I'd say you have it pretty close. It needs to be tall and wide enough to contain the full tank without splashing over. I've seen containment walls to where you can barely see the top of the tank. If it can't be spread out it needs to be tall.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks Chaos, I went back and repainted the handrails with yellow, it bled out some of the rust color and looks a little weathered now, no pics (forgot). I worked on and built a guard shack / yard office for the Farm and once again re-did the re-do on the gates (playing "Trucks" as Ed mentioned / suggested) and now the trucks go and come without knocking over anything (plus the drivers were complaining LOL) I also covered up some of the wallered out holes and are ready to lay entrance asphalt. I think if I do any more fencing I might get HO size for the needed wider gates plus they will be taller, these scale at 5 ft tall in N. (which I just checked, HO chain link would be 10 ft N scale which would be a bit taller or real close to commercial height fence in the real world) 

OH, and there is a better shot of the rail car contraption for loading and pumpouts


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Just piddling here, a house A/C went South on us and we replaced it. I don't have but one pic of what I've accomplished here but have the Tank Farm entrances paved, Foundry parking paved, some touchup painting done and finally got the C-130 gunship "Puff" flying patrol over the layout. I manufactured a 20mm Rotary (Gatling) Gun to replace one of the 20mm cannon. One day I'll rig up electric motors to spin the propellers


----------



## Big Ed

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Thanks Chaos, I went back and repainted the handrails with yellow, it bled out some of the rust color and looks a little weathered now, no pics (forgot). I worked on and built a guard shack / yard office for the Farm and once again re-did the re-do on the gates (playing "Trucks" as Ed mentioned / suggested) and now the trucks go and come without knocking over anything (plus the drivers were complaining LOL) I also covered up some of the wallered out holes and are ready to lay entrance asphalt. I think if I do any more fencing I might get HO size for the needed wider gates plus they will be taller, these scale at 5 ft tall in N. (which I just checked, HO chain link would be 10 ft N scale which would be a bit taller or real close to commercial height fence in the real world)
> 
> OH, and there is a better shot of the rail car contraption for loading and pumpouts
> 
> View attachment 564720
> 
> 
> View attachment 564721


Is the cabover a Freightliner or Peterbilt? My guess a Freight shaker, by looking at the top of the radiator.
Shell pulls out of there? How about a few Shell decals for the storage tanks?

There are uses for different scaled items that can be used in different scales. Fence, like you said.
Something like decals for the Shell logo is another, the tanks might handle an O scale decal on them. Or HO.

Need some heavy duty grounding wire on the rail car contraption. 

Most RR tankers load and unload on some sort of containment pad/pit now a day. Something to catch a small spill.
It wouldn't be hard to make one up, I want to make one for my O scale eventually.
If you run out of things to do.


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Ed, my thinking is that the "nosed" hauler is a Peter so the flat nose is a "Shaker". I hadn't though about the other scales signs but that makes perfect sense, Thanks, I'll look for some Shell or maybe even print some off the interwebs. I have 2 2 GULF, 2 Phillips 66, and a Quaker State rail cars and an ESSO truck with one I could print and apply a name to. I could use some brown thread here, call it weathered copper, as the heavy grounds for the platforms. I've got the "baby" rail tanker in a containment pit, my MicroTrain trucks don't fit it right but they don't fit one of the other freebie cars I got last week either, they had rapido couplers

Oh and I see what you mean by the containments for the rail cars


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Well boys and girls, Ladies and Gentlemen, kids of all ages , I'm back. I've been working on my Hot Rod now that the weather is a bit cooler. I got a 2nd hydro pump from a good friend on another forum. A couple of years ago he also sold me a very rare and NLA factory skid plate to protect the sump and bottom of the radiator

I got a few more things for the layout, fencing for the construction company and a couple of vehicles, as well as doing a little scenery work. I thought I'd check in and let yall know I'm still here and doin' fine


----------



## traction fan

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> New thread here of my layout rebuild, I'll update each day with pictures (the guys over on BenzWorld say "no pics then it didn't happen" LOL). I don't know everything about model railroading so if anyone has suggestions as I go along by all means post them here. After giving the trains one last run on the present configuration, I started yesterday by carefully packing up all vehicles, both rail and road. Today I gutted all the wiring from under the table and removed all the buildings, it looks kinda like a war zone now. After wetting down the track sections I carefully lifted each to disconnect and tossed them in a bucket of water to soak. I'll be scrubbing all the ballast and glue off so the track will be ready for recycle later. I've ordered the Kato V11 double track with concrete ties and it's also super-elevated (trains lean into the curves) and will re-use the present track. It's funny how fast a demolition can take after the construction took so long to do
> 
> Here is the neighborhood before
> View attachment 550415
> 
> 
> And now
> View attachment 550416


Since my friend, and fellow model railroader, Dave has christened me, "The king of do overs" I probably shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. Why tear it up and re-do it? By the way, nobody "knows everything about model railroading," so don't sweat that. 😄

Traction Fan 🙂


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

traction fan said:


> Since my friend, and fellow model railroader, Dave has christened me, "The king of do overs" I probably shouldn't ask, but I'm going to anyway. Why tear it up and re-do it? By the way, nobody "knows everything about model railroading," so don't sweat that. 😄
> 
> Traction Fan 🙂


Maybe should also call you "A Day Late and A Dollar Short" LOL. A year or so into the rebuild is a funny time to ask but I'll answer the best I can. I wanted to be able to run two trains on two different tracks (done), to have a Town setting separate from an industrial area as well as scattered residential (done, sort of), to have more than just a "flat track" with a hill and possibly a hidden track (done), plus I was intrigued by the super-elevated (leaning into the curves) track (done).

Oh and I'm not saying that I won't tear out part of what I have laid out now but every time I buy something I'm "reminded" that the present table won't get any larger LOL


----------



## Aqualungs

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> Well boys and girls, Ladies and Gentlemen, kids of all ages , I'm back. I've been working on my Hot Rod now that the weather is a bit cooler. I got a 2nd hydro pump from a good friend on another forum. A couple of years ago he also sold me a very rare and NLA factory skid plate to protect the sump and bottom of the radiator
> 
> I got a few more things for the layout, fencing for the construction company and a couple of vehicles, as well as doing a little scenery work. I thought I'd check in and let yall know I'm still here and doin' fine


Same here.. was busy with outdoor house work or bring outside lol. Now back working on the RR. 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Aqualungs said:


> Same here.. was busy with outdoor house work or bring outside lol. Now back working on the RR.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


Yeah, still having to tinker on the car at the moment. Here's a rundown of what was done, I know this is off topic but . . . it has a Self Leveling rear Suspension (SLS) that I did an overhaul on last year. The pump was resealed but was leaking into the engine. I sourced another pump, resealed it and it's fine now except for one strut (shock) that needs replacing, not leaking but it has a worn ball joint on the bottom. I also did a complete radio change and ran new speaker and antenna wiring with new speakers all around, sounds good now. The car sat all Summer due to the 95+ degree heat, sweat cracked just by walking out there. 

Now I can get back to Railing, planning to do the Construction Company's yard with taller chain link fencing (HO size). The track will need a good cleaning and wipe down from my leaning over the table and touching the rails with my forearms.


----------



## Aqualungs

You sound like my brother lol! I cleaned my track last night. Have a little fun and back to working. Only outdoor thing left is leaves. So I have a leaf sweeper cart to build. My back went south, and I'm probably gonna a need a 3rd surgery. Huge bummer

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

The only leaves we have are down at the fence in back, got a new lawn blower for that, no more raking the fence now. I'm torn betwixt my two obsessions, the "Choo Choo Empire" or my "Banker's Hot Rod". I just LOVE driving this 30yo car, best car I've ever owned except for a '75 SS454 El Camino I owned a LONG time ago


----------



## Aqualungs

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> The only leaves we have are down at the fence in back, got a new lawn blower for that, no more raking the fence now. I'm torn betwixt my two obsessions, the "Choo Choo Empire" or my "Banker's Hot Rod". I just LOVE driving this 30yo car, best car I've ever owned except for a '75 SS454 El Camino I owned a LONG time ago
> 
> View attachment 570396


Nice! Same leaves in the wet backyard only 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks, Maintaining this top of the line model hasn't been too bad here but again it IS a 30yo road machine that for the most part still looks, runs, and drives like new. The new radio, a Continental, looks period correct and the speaker upgrade was with Cerwin Vega, sounds pretty good AND it has bluetooth


----------



## Aqualungs

Install looks good! How many miles on that peach?

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Thanks, that radio looks period correct and similar to the original Becker which quit working (not an uncommon issue). She has 235K on the clock and though has a few minor issues runs and drives almost like a new one. The PO had a bunch of work done ($18K in repair tickets but part of that was the labor, I do my own wrenching). I'm 50K miles away from another "major" maintenance item, the timing chain and guides, the achilles heel of these engines (not a biggie if done every 100K)


----------



## Aqualungs

What have you been up to? 

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Aqualungs said:


> What have you been up to?
> 
> Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


I've been tinkering with the car, got the radio in with all new speakers and it sound wonderful. Also rebuilt a pump for the hydraulic rear self leveling suspension and went ahead and swapped out the other strut with a new one I had here, THEN the ling to the leveling valve finally gave out and broke (a 30 year old part) In the meantime been adjusting meds trying to get me back to "normal" (if there is such a thing LOL) Almost went swimming here the other day when a water valve to the fridge started leaking. Gonna have to go see the Doc Monday for a meds problem (Will all this ever end ???) I haven't even turned the trains on in a while










This is the new link, it's amazing that this small $50 part can keep a car from being driven and it only moves up or down from level maybe 1/4-1/2 inch doing it's job


----------



## Aqualungs

Sounds like alot! Hopefully they get your meds under wraps and you feel better soon!

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk


----------



## vette-kid

Wooky_Choo_Bacca said:


> I've been tinkering with the car, got the radio in with all new speakers and it sound wonderful. Also rebuilt a pump for the hydraulic rear self leveling suspension and went ahead and swapped out the other strut with a new one I had here, THEN the ling to the leveling valve finally gave out and broke (a 30 year old part) In the meantime been adjusting meds trying to get me back to "normal" (if there is such a thing LOL) Almost went swimming here the other day when a water valve to the fridge started leaking. Gonna have to go see the Doc Monday for a meds problem (Will all this ever end ???) I haven't even turned the trains on in a while
> 
> View attachment 571705
> 
> 
> This is the new link, it's amazing that this small $50 part can keep a car from being driven and it only moves up or down from level maybe 1/4-1/2 inch doing it's job


I feel ya there. My project car isn't CO located with me, so it keeps me from working on it much. Have to alternate Sorenson on the car or trains though 

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

vette-kid said:


> I feel ya there. My project car isn't CO located with me, so it keeps me from working on it much. Have to alternate Sorenson on the car or trains though
> 
> Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk


What slows / slowed me down with the car is that in Summer time it's 90 degrees plus in the garage, even with shade you crack a sweat just going out there. One of these daze I'll install a window A/C through the wall, no windows out there


----------



## Wooky_Choo_Bacca

Train still on hold here. I got a new car stereo system installed including radio and new speakers. Rebuilt the radial pump for my hydro suspension in the back and Christmas brought me a dash cam. One other present in the works is a 20 ft boat, pics of it when I get it here


----------

