# Farm Location and accessories



## Wood

After opening a section of my layout I need to develop a new scene. See the picture below: 









My goal is to make a detailed Farming venue and incorporate two of my Postwar accessories. The 3662 Milk Car and 3656 Cattle Car accessories. Included will be farm hands, barn, vehicles, animals with a corral, gardens and lots of land shrubbery, grass, trees and rocks.

This is going to take awhile because I am learning new techniques and want to try to make a very nice scene. I will post regularly and keep you up to date. My goal is to ask for your help and solid critiques. Please post your thoughts.

The first project is assembling and detailing a Deerfield River Laser Kit DRL O-407. I purchased this from a forum member who never put it together. The kit is their Cannery/Brewery. But it will look great as a red farmer's barn. 









I am going to modify the kit by providing a wide entrance, large enough to allow the entrance of a tractor. I plan on providing lighting. I will leave the barrels on the roof and use them as rain catchers. It does not have a floor or hay loft, so I am fabricating both and will include them in the finished unit. It did not come with shingles and so I have to think about how I will finish the roof.

Below are pictures of my progress to date.


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## AG216

Nice kit.
IMO double hung windows will be better look.
The original make it look too busy.
Andre.


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## Wood

Andre, very good point. And, what it came with are too fancy for a barn. I'll have to find some that will fit the openings.


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## Guest

Wood, what is your plan for the second level? Will it be used for storage, like hay, etc., or used for another purpose?


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## Wood

It is a natural for hay bales and accumulated junk, like most lofts. I put a light into the loft so light would shine through the cupola and dormers. I am only going to put two dormers on. The only way you can see into the loft is through the two end doors. I could leave one door closed and leave the other off and simply pack the end with hay. Any ideas??


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## sjm9911

Not knowing anything of farms or modeling. How about a hay lift pully on the open end. Then stack half of the doorway with bails? Seams I always associate barns with that kind of thing. That and weather vains. Wood nice job so far and the milk car and cattle car are fun. As a side bar where are the operating tracks going? If on the siding , you could block it so it gets separate power. That way you could run the train and unload milk and herd cattle at the same time.


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## josef

Just to add. I think I have a picture of my barn, if not, I'll take one when I go back up north. (I'm in Florida now, 2nd home).
I have a Dairy Barn similar in design. If your going to use it as a Dairy Barn, don't store a tractor or other equipment in it. We had a machine shed for that. Its unsanitary, and in no way would you want leaking fuel, oil, or anti-freeze on the floors or onto feed laying around which cattle or stock can get into. We did pull the tractor through several times a week with the manure spreader attached to muck out the barn, then hose it down. Once a month, completely disinfected.
The hay loft was just for straw and hay stacked. We used rope and tackle to hoist bales. The only equipment we had in barn was a grain wagon from which we had oats and corn mixed stored in. Easier to fill buckets with grain to feed the cattle with. Especially Winters.
Nice choice on Barns. Most Dairy Farmers painted theirs white for Dairy. Everything else red, browns or green even.


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## Wood

*sjm911 Posted: Not knowing anything of farms or modeling.* 

I know a little. I have a barn on my property. It is actually a Carriage House circa 1890. So in some sense I am modeling my own home. 

*How about a hay lift pully on the open end. Then stack half of the doorway with bails? Seams I always associate barns with that kind of thing.
*
That's a natural and yes I do plan to put a pulley on the open end.

*That and weather vains. *

Absolutely and a variety of birds on the peak.

*Wood nice job so far and the milk car and cattle car are fun.* Thanks, My grandchildren love them. 

*As a side bar where are the operating tracks going? If on the siding, you could block it so it gets separate power. That way you could run the train and unload milk and herd cattle at the same time. 
*
The siding is the location of the accessories. I have discovered the only way to run the cattle car is to provide two sources of power. The car must run on 14 volts and the corral has to run on 16-18 volts. My layout normally runs on a steady 18 volts because I run all command equipment. I will have to block the track and supply separate power to the corral.

Thanks for your help. Tonight I will am painting the exterior and will post a picture.


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## Wood

*Josef posted: If your going to use it as a Dairy Barn, don't store a tractor or other equipment in it. We had a machine shed for that. *

Excellent idea - a Tractor shed. My Brother lives in Maine and operates a Green House farm. He has a tractor shed. I forgot all about that. I have become a city slicker. 

Red is my color. All of my, early Maine, families barns were red with a white star in the peak. I just put the second coat on the exterior and will post a picture later.

Josef, if you find the picture of your barn. Please post it.


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## MtRR75

I don't know anything about dairy barns, but I have been in a lot of horse and cattle barns. I have never seen glass windows anywhere where the animals could reach them -- too easy for them to bump them and break the glass -- not good for the barn and the animals. Here in the south (and in the few northern barns that I have seen), window openings are covered with solid wood hinged doors that open to the outside. They can be opened in the nice weather and closed in nasty weather.

The large entrance is where the cattle will come in -- It would most likely have a sliding door. Windows on that side should not be glass. If the interior setup is such that the animals are milked on that side and can't reach the other side, you could use windows on the side opposite the cattle entrance. You could also keep the windows in the gables.

You should consider an opening between the first and second floors -- with a ladder -- so that hay bales could be dropped down from above without going outside.

A wood floor where the animals are would not stand up to the heavy traffic. More likely a concrete floor, or here in the south a dirt floor.

P.S. Don't forget a couple of herding dogs to bring the cattle in.


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## Guest

I like it a lot! Please keep us posted with your progress.


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## josef

Here's a picture of my farm in Buckingham, Il. I took it while flying over on my way to Florida. And also of the barn backside, were we also loaded the hay from. You can see the original white paint it use to have under the red paint. The are was also fenced were the cows were kept until coming into barn to be milked.


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## Wood

Josef - Nice farm. I notice the extensive cultivated farming surrounding it. Is that still part of the farm or has it been drawn into the Agri-farming industry? I still see a couple of heifers in the fenced area, is your family still milking?

I saved the pictures and as they say "a picture is worth a 1000 words". Good stuff to help my modeling. Room is always sparse on a layout. But, I think another addition needs to be some kind of homestead.

It is an impressive location. I love flying over those parts of the mid and western states and seeing those big rectangular blocks of cultivated land.


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## Wood

*Passenger Train Collector posted: Please keep us posted with your progress.*

You know I will.


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## josef

Wood said:


> Josef - Nice farm. I notice the extensive cultivated farming surrounding it. Is that still part of the farm or has it been drawn into the Agri-farming industry? I still see a couple of heifers in the fenced area, is your family still milking?
> 
> I saved the pictures and as they say "a picture is worth a 1000 words". Good stuff to help my modeling. Room is always sparse on a layout. But, I think another addition needs to be some kind of homestead.
> 
> It is an impressive location. I love flying over those parts of the mid and western states and seeing those big rectangular blocks of cultivated land.


I Farm 550 acres. Still all mine. Thanks


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## Wood

MtRR75 said:


> I don't know anything about dairy barns, but I have been in a lot of horse and cattle barns. I have never seen glass windows anywhere where the animals could reach them -- too easy for them to bump them and break the glass -- not good for the barn and the animals. Here in the south (and in the few northern barns that I have seen), window openings are covered with solid wood hinged doors that open to the outside. They can be opened in the nice weather and closed in nasty weather.
> 
> Ok, that should be easy to do....
> 
> The large entrance is where the cattle will come in -- It would most likely have a sliding door. Windows on that side should not be glass. If the interior setup is such that the animals are milked on that side and can't reach the other side, you could use windows on the side opposite the cattle entrance. You could also keep the windows in the gables.
> 
> You should consider an opening between the first and second floors -- with a ladder -- so that hay bales could be dropped down from above without going outside.
> 
> I was planning on drop chutes such as I have in my barn.
> 
> A wood floor where the animals are would not stand up to the heavy traffic. More likely a concrete floor, or here in the south a dirt floor.
> 
> Oops to late for that but a good point
> 
> P.S. Don't forget a couple of herding dogs to bring the cattle in.
> 
> Yup, and some cats to keep the mice population down.


Lots of great input.


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## gunrunnerjohn

josef said:


> I Farm 550 acres. Still all mine. Thanks


WOW, that's a lot of land to deal with. I presume you have some help, right?


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## josef

Me and the wife. This year because of rain, did hire help, (outside independent contractor from Iowa to help harvest the crops), now paying for drying, But great crop yield per acre. Most already sold, contract on remainder. Now I just have to outlay, and have some leftover for next year.


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## gunrunnerjohn

You are hardy souls, that's for sure! The Gang Laborer tag seems to fit you well!


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## Guest

*You should consider an opening between the first and second floors -- with a ladder -- so that hay bales could be dropped down from above without going outside.*

My suggestion, too from earlier post.


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## Jim M

Wood, we're partial to barn scenes. I like the kit you are doing. I don't want to post photos to your thread but a link to a barn scene my wife did might give you some ideas on how to populate your barn. Hay, hay and more hay, cats and machinery and all kinds of stuff give it a lived in feel. I look forward to seeing your progress.

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=418


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## Wood

> Jim M posted: I don't want to post photos to your thread but a link to a barn scene my wife did might give you some ideas on how to populate your barn. Hay, hay and more hay, cats and machinery and all kinds of stuff give it a lived in feel. I look forward to seeing your progress.
> 
> http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=418


Jim - Please understand I am looking for good ideas and you just showed all of us some incredible ideas. I am very grateful for your contribution. You and your bride did an incredible job.

After all the postings I feel the need to reassess several of my objectives. I am mostly on the same page but the ideas presented have led me to think of several different ways of incorporating ladders. shutters, tractor sheds, a homestead, plenty of details and hay, hay, hay... 

At the moment I have another question for you. Some of the details can be made but many of them I am better off purchasing. For example shingles. I looked at the cost of buying card stock and premade shingles or maybe tin. But, I found a way to take 300 grit sand paper and cut it and slot it and paste it on to the roof top. It looks good and saves $$. Vegetation, rocks and scenery I can easily find and build up. Tractors, figures, tool benches, cats, dogs, rakes, farm equipment, etc are better off purchasing.

My question - When you are building a scene how much of the scene will you build yourself? What are the things you buy and will not build? Do you scratch build building or kit bash.


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## Jim M

We for one, scratch anything that we can be scratch build; at least we try. Figures are hard to do so they are bought and re-painted. I did sculpt a dog out of sculpy once and it turned out OK. Most furniture to populate an interior we scratch build. I've made benches, desks, chairs, saws, file cabinets, etc out of drawing paper, card stock, wood, sculpy, etc. Use your printer to print out some details like signs, feed bags, logo's, any image you think might help. The card stock that comes (or at least used to) as a divider in Lipton tea bag cartons works great for furniture. As for buildings, my wife scratch builds everything and I have built the kits we've collected over the years (she hates kits) The barn I posted the link to was a model of a barn we once had before we moved. The siding of the barn is made from wooden coffee stirrers, the roof was tin foil, the loose hay was chopped up baling twine and the hay bales were small blocks of wood with chopped up green baling twine glued to the blocks. I scratch built the hay rake and the brush hog.... well, you get the idea, you just let your imagination take over and once you start it's pretty easy to start thinking outside the box. Hope this helps, good luck and have fun.


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## PatKn

Jim M said:


> Wood, we're partial to barn scenes. I like the kit you are doing. I don't want to post photos to your thread but a link to a barn scene my wife did might give you some ideas on how to populate your barn. Hay, hay and more hay, cats and machinery and all kinds of stuff give it a lived in feel. I look forward to seeing your progress.
> 
> http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=418


AMAIZING! Modeling. One of the best I've seen :appl::appl::appl::appl::appl:


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## Wood

*Jim Posted: 
We for one, scratch anything that we can be scratch build; at least we try.
*

Phewwwww... I thought so.  

Well the flag is down. Time to crank the engines. Let's see how it all comes out.


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## josef

PatKn said:


> AMAIZING! Modeling. One of the best I've seen :appl::appl::appl::appl::appl:


I agree. Its a working barn. To bad so many barns are left in despair. I use our barn to store hat, stray and wood chips now. But try to keep it up with repairs.
Early years, barns were used for cows/goats to be milked in, horses boarded, feed and bedding stored and kept out of the elements. Farmers were self efficient. They raised their basic needs for the family in way of food. Surplus or excess were sold. Early morning cows were milked and then taken to nearest railway in milk cans to be picked up and transferred by rail. (I remember getting up early before school for this everyday chore). We grew corn, wheat, and oats for staples, and had small gardens for other. Excess we sold on the roadway were we had a stand. Excess to be sold. As demand rose for food staples, and we saw prices rise in food crops, we could afford to buy our milk at the grocery store, and kept only a few cattle for meat, same for hogs we raised.
Slowly over the years we had less need for the barn when we turned to commercial supply for the staples, we had the money, and turned our fields to corn and beans on a rotation basis. (rotated because corn takes nitrogen out of the ground, beans resupplied it). Silos came down, as did corn cribs. Because now we had Co-Ops, and buyers almost when we harvested.
I still heat the machine sheds with corn cobs, plant winter wheat, corn and beans and have 10 acres set aside for hay. Have a market for hay in Wisconsin and for the horse owners.
Somehow, to me, its not a farm unless there is a barn. But many farms only have the land, the house the farmer lives in, and a pole building to store his machinery.
We still have the original outhouse, thought moved and filled in, we use it to store garden equipment, rakes, shovels, etc.


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## cchancey

Wood, I'm clueless when it comes to farms because I grew up in Boston. But I do have some suggestions. If I am off base, I apologize in advance. If this is going to be a dairy barn then you will need to have a row or rows of the equipment that the cows are "held" to for milking. I believe it is something that the cows head is placed threw to hold her in place and then the nozzles that attach to the cows utters, then the hoses that connect to the piping which leads out side to a usually large storage tank. The latter is where trucks pull up to and connect by hose to fill up to take the milk to the processor. There are sources to obtain the "parts" to make this detail in your barn, e.g. Plastruct. Also, if you want to have some small "workshop" type equipment, i.e. what ever might be found in a barn, you might want to look at Model Tech Studios web-site. They have a large selection of pre-painted/weathered details that may fit in nicely. I would suggest placing your barn and farm house (if you are planning on having one) on the other side of the support column shown in your photo. I would make a paved road leading up to the milk tank area for trucks to come and go and extend this road over to the tracks, make a cross-over to your area where you will have your cattle and milk accessories, and make a road that goes to both the cattle and milk accessories. For the cattle accessory, I would suggest building a cattle (cow) loading ramp where trucks can pull up to and unload the cattle(cows). For the milk accessory, I would suggest making a building where the milk tank truck can unload its milk and then on one end have the "Lionel silver cans" (buy a lot of extras) come out onto a loading dock where a truck can pick them up and take them to your milk accessory. Of course, you would be placing lots of little details all over the area to create very detailed scenes.

That's it for now. Good Luck! And keep the photos coming.


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## josef

cchancey said:


> Wood, I'm clueless when it comes to farms because I grew up in Boston. But I do have some suggestions. If I am off base, I apologize in advance. If this is going to be a dairy barn then you will need to have a row or rows of the equipment that the cows are "held" to for milking. I believe it is something that the cows head is placed threw to hold her in place and then the nozzles that attach to the cows utters, then the hoses that connect to the piping which leads out side to a usually large storage tank. The latter is where trucks pull up to and connect by hose to fill up to take the milk to the processor. There are sources to obtain the "parts" to make this detail in your barn, e.g. Plastruct. Also, if you want to have some small "workshop" type equipment, i.e. what ever might be found in a barn, you might want to look at Model Tech Studios web-site. They have a large selection of pre-painted/weathered details that may fit in nicely. I would suggest placing your barn and farm house (if you are planning on having one) on the other side of the support column shown in your photo. I would make a paved road leading up to the milk tank area for trucks to come and go and extend this road over to the tracks, make a cross-over to your area where you will have your cattle and milk accessories, and make a road that goes to both the cattle and milk accessories. For the cattle accessory, I would suggest building a cattle (cow) loading ramp where trucks can pull up to and unload the cattle(cows). For the milk accessory, I would suggest making a building where the milk tank truck can unload its milk and then on one end have the "Lionel silver cans" (buy a lot of extras) come out onto a loading dock where a truck can pick them up and take them to your milk accessory. Of course, you would be placing lots of little details all over the area to create very detailed scenes.
> 
> That's it for now. Good Luck! And keep the photos coming.


Some good ideas there. But from the Dairy Farms of my youth. We had a storage tank, (large circular about 10 feet across, by 5 feet deep, stainless steel. This was kept inside barn in far section walled off, away from the milking section. Whitewashed and kept immaculately clean. I don't know of any farmers, including us that had concrete, or even blacktop back then, all gravel. Toward the end, we did have tankers pull in and we pumped the milk, filtered. Tanker would go around different farms. Milk pumped in was metered and you would receive a receipt with going price per gallon. Before that, we filled milk cans and hauled to freight station before 6:30AM for the 7AM train. It saved us having to drive 50 miles to buyer. As to shipping or receiving cows, the trailers were low enough that cows would be able to exit or enter from fenced areas without difficulties. Hogs was another matter since many trailers were double floored and we did need a ramp to load top area. But mostly when it came time to sell either, we would just haul to local weekly auction house. Store, butcher shops, and small acre farmers would purchase.


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## Wood

This is so much fun!!! How wonderful to have a forum filled with memories which are now made available for modeling. 

cchancery Please keep the ideas coming and Josef you have been so helpful. Thank you.

I am going back to work on it tonight and tomorrow. I am letting these ideas percolate because several of them I will definitely incorporate.


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## Wood

Well no work on the barn. My job has been a tough run these last few days. However, I have let this project percolate and that gave me a chance to come up with an overall plan for the space. You will see in the picture below many of the ideas you all shared that I now incorporated.

My orientation is not for run down facilities of a bygone era. I like crisp modern equipment and operations. So my Barn, Homestead and equipment will look well cared for and dressy. (I own an 1890's home and carriage house that my wife and I have fully restored to it's original beauty. It's in my blood to be neat, organized and well maintained.)

To begin with my area is 8' long by 18" deep. It will not be a dairy farm. It will be a farm with dairy and beef cattle. We will also have a greenhouse and crops. In this space there will be an access road, a trolley stop, and the low end of the adjacent town with a motorcycle shop Woodland Scenics kit, Tatoo parlor, Stingers bar, and a locksmith by Andre from River leaf Models. I fully intend to use the non scale Lionel Mild car and Cattle car. It gives my grandchildren great joy and that's what makes me happy. 

The farm will have the barn, a cattle stockade, Tractor Shed, crops and Homestead. I have not found the Homestead kit yet or if I save it for last, maybe I'll scratch build it.

If you counted them up you will see 8 structures that I will be building. All are kits accept the Cattle stockade and tractor shed. 

Frankly, You and I might all get tired of this.  I fully expect this to take me several months to complete. But, I'm not going any where and I hope you don't get bored. But if you do that's ok too. I'll post as I make progress and I hope you will respond and enjoy the progress.

View the pic to see what I am talking about.


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## cchancey

Jim M said:


> Wood, we're partial to barn scenes. I like the kit you are doing. I don't want to post photos to your thread but a link to a barn scene my wife did might give you some ideas on how to populate your barn. Hay, hay and more hay, cats and machinery and all kinds of stuff give it a lived in feel. I look forward to seeing your progress.
> 
> http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/BlogShowThread?id=418


This is a beautiful model. The detail is amazing. This is one of the best scratch built models I have ever seen in 60 years in the hobby.


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## cchancey

Wood, This design looks very logical and realistic in flow. I think that this design would work out very well for what you want to achieve.


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## Wood

Thanks Carl. Lot of work to due. But, I'll "gither" done....


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## PatKn

Wood said:


> Frankly, You and I might all get tired of this.  I fully expect this to take me several months to complete. But, I'm not going any where and I hope you don't get bored. But if you do that's ok too. I'll post as I make progress and I hope you will respond and enjoy the progress.


Bored????  I'm looking forward to it.  Keep us updated Wood.


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## Jim M

cchancey said:


> This is a beautiful model. The detail is amazing. This is one of the best scratch built models I have ever seen in 60 years in the hobby.


Wow, thank you so much.


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## Jim M

PatKn said:


> Bored????  I'm looking forward to it.  Keep us updated Wood.


I second what Pat said. Keep us posted, it's gonna be fun.


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## Wood

*"Step by step"*

Moving on... Everyone prides themselves on scratch building. I finally know the real answer. It saves tons of money!!!

Trying to incorporate several of the ideas presented here. One was a weather vane and another was picked out of Jim M comments:

*"the loose hay was chopped up baling twine and the hay bales were small blocks of wood with chopped up green baling twine glued to the blocks."*

I decided to try my hand at these ideas. I had previously ordered, from Scenic Express, a package of hay bales - $10.99 for 5 bales. I figure I may need 25-30 and I also need loose hay spread all over the place. After a little practice I figured it out. Saved $60.00 with bailing twine I had in the barn and scraps of balsa wood in my junk pile. Cost $0.00 

I also ordered two work benches. They are nice but also a little expensive. I dabbed them up with acrylic paint and they look good.

My next project was a weather vane. This is another Scenic Express laser cut. Check it out in the picture. I think it looks pretty good. 

I am now on to building a staircase up to the second floor in the barn, putting wooden shutters on windows in the front of the barn and crafting my own feed bins and stables inside the first floor of the barn. 

Step by step and with lots of thanks for your great ideas.

















The greenish bales are the Scenic Express products.


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## josef

As to stairway. All the barns in my area, (in fact only one of our outbuildings had a staircase), had just ladders to hay lofts. We also dropped our bales down through them. Ladders were either at one end or center with a trapdoor so it could be closed, (important when bringing and stacking bales in loft so we wouldn't accidently fall through.).


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## thedoc

A few points to consider, milk was usually transported to a separate location to be loaded onto the refrigerator cars. Bales of hay were brought up to the hay loft with an elevator (an electrically powered conveyor belt at about a 45 degree angle), from the hay wagon. I did some of both when in HS many years ago. Now more modern farms use rolled hay and very large bales that are just covered and stored outside. To be really old fashioned use forked loose hay in a hay wagon, and a pulley system to get the hay into the loft, powered by horses. This is what my neighbor used when I was young, and I was on the wagon tramping the hay down while the older boys were using pitch forks to throw the hay onto the wagon.


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## Wood

*theDoc posted: Bales of hay were brought up to the hay loft with an elevator (an electrically powered conveyor belt at about a 45 degree angle), from the hay wagon. 
*

Now that's a good idea. I could modify my coal loader, which never worked right, and put it in a hay wagon. But that means another 20 bales. Now were pushing 50.


My Grandson helper Luke and I pushed the number up to 20 bales today.


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## Big Ed

Nice barn you built.:thumbsup:
The Amish will help you with the roof. 

How about adding some big, old looking, wood structural beams on the first floor?
That is one thing I always look at in big old barns. The huge timbers holding it up.
I guess the roof would use some too?
Some stalls for the horses?

A block and tackle on a beam up top? For bringing in the hay?
A man and a women laying in the hay?


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## gunrunnerjohn

Looks like you have a willing helper! :thumbsup:


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## PatKn

You got a great future model railroader there Wood.


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## josef

Nice looking bales, very realistic looking. Just a thought, hay is usually a very light toned green. If left were sunlight can get to it, as round bales are now, they turn to the color of straw. But if stored in barn loft, they would remain light green till used.


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## thedoc

Wood said:


> *theDoc posted: Bales of hay were brought up to the hay loft with an elevator (an electrically powered conveyor belt at about a 45 degree angle), from the hay wagon.
> *
> 
> Now that's a good idea. I could modify my coal loader, which never worked right, and put it in a hay wagon. But that means another 20 bales. Now were pushing 50.
> 
> 
> My Grandson helper Luke and I pushed the number up to 20 bales today.
> 
> View attachment 89802
> 
> 
> View attachment 89810


I should note that the bales were not end to end on the elevator, there was several bale lengths of space between each bale. Once I was on the receiving end of the elevator and my Uncle (who owned the farm) was on the wagon loading the elevator. I was throwing the bales to a friend, my age, and my grandfather. My friend noticed that I was throwing more bales his way than to my grandfather. I asked him what did he expect me to do.


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## thedoc

Yes, straw is a golden yellow color, and hay is a light green, straw is much lighter to load, but much dirtier when you are working with it.


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## Wood

Super detail info and good stories. As a grandfather I am certain yours was grateful for throwing those bales to your buddy.

I bought some green bailing twine today. My hay bale cost went up another $0.99.


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## thedoc

When modeling someone working with bales of hay, we always wore thick leather gloves and the knees of our jeans wore out quickly, I used my knees to boost the bails up to the top row on the wagon. Usually the bales were set to be about 40 - 45 lbs, and we could throw them up on the top level of the hay wagon, usually just over head. Once in awhile the hay was mixed with some other weed and the bales were much heavier, 80 - 90 lbs, or more. Those we stacked on the bottom row and we put the lighter bales on top. We would usually just drag the heavier bales into position without lifting them. Straw was usually around 25 lbs or less.

BTW, when those heavier bales came up the elevator, I didn't even try to throw them, I just put them down and stood on them.


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## thedoc

Just a note on stacking hay on a wagon, when I was doing it we stacked the hay with the stems running vertically. The bales came out of the baler with the stalks running horizontal and we would turn them on edge to stack them. If I remember correctly there were 2 rows of 3 bales first, then 2 bales on each row next with a bale long ways on the ends across the 2 rows. This would be repeated till the stack was as high as we could reach, even standing on a bale in the next row. The next to the last row was 3 wide with 2 on top to tie the stack together. I don't remember if we tried to tie the stacks together or not, but we stacked till we had no more room to stand on the wagon and sometimes stood on the tongue of the wagon to put the last bales on. If you are modeling the older style of baled hay, early 60's and before, this is the way I did it. 

On wider wagons it may have been 4 bales across the bottom, but this was 50 years ago, so cut me some slack on my memory. 

There were usually 2 of us on the wagon stacking bales.


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## josef

Some very good hints and stories here on baling and stacking. At my age, I still do it, and enjoy it. We still haul hay and straw the old fashion way. Rope and pulley. The bales we make, hay, have for the last 30 years weight 75#. Straw is lighter, and we also buy wood shavings which are packaged and same size as a bale. We purchase the shavings by the semi-truck loads 2500 a season. Many horse, and small farm owners, now like shavings also. We stacked them as high as possible, but left space between for airing and cooling, (they still generate some heat, and when not cured properly, generate enough heat to combust and start a barn fire). 
Years ago, because of coming rain, we baled early and put the wagons in the machine sheds, lucky we did. The next morning with coffee cup in hand walking the grounds and entering the shed, I felt heat. Hooked up tractor and pulled all 3 filled wagons out to driveway were we started throwing bales to ground and bottom center bales were smoldering and glowing. Another hour and might have lost a shed and equipment.


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## sjm9911

Nice hay and furniture wood! 
Whats wrong with the coal loader?


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## Wood

*Update 10/21/15*

Josef and theDoc. I enjoyed reading your information about loading hay and coming close to burning down the shed. I never threw bales of hay but it must have really packed some muscle on you. 

Below is a series of pictures I wanted to show of my own barn and let you see where I am coming from. I just finished putting in a new floor in the carriage side this past weekend. 

The model is progressing and I am looking forward to your comments. I will be working out how to shingle the roof and hopefully you will be able to help me. 

sjm9911 - the coal loader is worth a whole posting. For me I could never get it to run correctly and finally tucked it away. 

I hope you enjoy how I have presented this info, let me know what you think.


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## thedoc

Wood said:


> Josef and theDoc. I enjoyed reading your information about loading hay and coming close to burning down the shed. I never threw bales of hay but *it must have really packed some muscle on you. *


Ha! I wish. I graduated HS at 135 lbs and it's taken me 49 years to add another 24 lbs, I would hardly count that as building muscle. But one body builder did complement me as being nicely proportioned about 30 years ago. I do what I have to do, but CHF has certainly slowed me down in the last 10 years.


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## PatKn

Wood, You might want to look at purchasing shingles. Rusty Stumps sold the shingles in the project I have been following on another forum. You might want to read this thread: http://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/topic/continuing-saga-of-the-pandampprr?page=27 Myles is a master builder (Maybe a candidate for MTF?)  and is building a building that is one of Andre's kits made to his specifications. Page 27, where I supplied the link, is where he is starting on the roof. There is a lot of useful information in this thread. 

If you are lighting the barn, why not use LEDs? You won't have to worry so much about changing blown lights. Nowadays, LED lighting is the way to go.


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## Wood

Thanks Pat, I definitely miss Trainman2001. He is a true artist and writer. I'll spend some time reading the post today and see where he goes with his shingles.


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## josef

Most Barns in my area had metal roofs. Was cheaper, stronger and needed less maintenance. My barn was built in 1937, and still has original roof. All my neighbors that have metal roofs, the barns are still standing. Those with shingles are in despair or down.


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## Wood

Mega apologies to all of you for my long delay in getting updates in. Between all the best excurses in the world I just want you to know I have not forgotten my project. It is maddening to me to have an unfinished project. So here we go. 

I have learned to use slides on this forum because I can condense the information together and the pictures do not come out supersized. You can see the relationship between each picture and the work that is being done. 

It is the roof. I have finished it and now I can move on to detailing the barn with windows, shutters and the interior which all of my next steps.

Please comment and let me know what you think.


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## MtRR75

Nice roof. I'll bet you could pour water over it and it would not leak!


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## PatKn

Real nice job Wood. :thumbsup:


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## cchancey

Wood, the barn is excellent and great job on shingling it!


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## Wood

Thanks guys. I do think the roof would hold off the rain or at least until the sandpaper starts dissolving... 

The barn will sit on a stone foundation and I have details to add to the interior and exterior. Right now I want to make sure my layout fits together. So, I am going to cut some Masonite for the Trolley stop parking and a road into the "wrong" side of town and toward the farm.

I cut a template to use for cutting the Masonite and laid out where I think everything will fit. Tomorrow night I'll cut the Masonite and roads and fit them into position.

Then it's back to kit building and getting ready for placement.


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## Wood

Tonight was the cutting of the roads and parking area. I now have the spacing in place so I can know where the buildings will fit and the scenery for the outer areas. 

Below are pictures of the Trolley parking and access road. This area was cut from 1/8" Masonite It will be painted flat black to look like asphalt. It will be outlined with a roadway and parking spots. I used the template I made last night and cut with a jig saw and a fine cutting blade. I always cut from the back side because that leaves no rips in the top side of the wood. I use a wood rasp to finish the edges and fit to the track radius. 

























The next set of photos shows the farm area and the "wrong side of town". I cut these roadways from foam board because it is easy to bash the foam into a rough and well used roadway. My favorite tools for cutting foam board are an X-Acto knife with a #12 blade and a razor knife with a new blade. I will be filling the track with wood boards so cars and equipment will be able to cross over the tracks.

I have not painted any of these roadways because I need to sleep on the layout and make sure this is where I want to be. You'll notice I narrowed the roadway from a two lane to a single lane in front of the Barn and along the track. I am almost afraid I have too much roadway in this area. 

I also need a Farm House and it has to have a small foot print - 6"X6". If you know of any prebuilt let me know. I have enough kits to build and I don't need another right now but I do need a farm house. I will be removing the greenhouse and placing the Farm house to the right of the milk car in the last photo. 

Thanks for viewing this project.


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## Wood

*Chain Link Fence*

The trolley stop needs a fence to protect passengers from the yard consists heading out to the mains. A Chain Link Fence would work perfectly. In research on this forum and on the internet I discovered purchasing a fence was very expensive. However, several of you shared your plans for building your own. On the internet I discovered a Lionel blog about building a fence and thought it would be a good project. 

The link for the blog is here:

https://lionelllc.wordpress.com/projects-and-tips/modeling-a-railroad-bone-yard-an-introduction-to-weathering-your-models/scratchbuild-a-fence/

I followed the steps pretty closely and found it to be an inexpensive easy project. Most of the parts were available in my scrap piles. My total cost $8.95 for screening and three hours of labor. 

In brief you use 14 gauge wire for the framing and window screening for the chain link. I soldered the wire together after building a jig. The gig was 8 scale feet high and 10 scale feet wide. 2" X 2 1/2"









The next step was cutting the screen. I cut it on a diagonal to provide the normal view of diamonds on the fencing. It was glued on with Gorilla Instant glue.










Finally I used a flat grey rattle can to paint the whole fencing. You can see the results below.


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## PatKn

Nice looking fence Wood. It will look good on your farm scene. Thanks for posting.


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## MtRR75

Nice job; realistic fence.


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## Wood

Thanks Pat and MtRR75. The building of the fence will enhance your soldering skills. It was very detailed. I used thin .032 solder so that I would not leave bulky blotches. Installation was another project all by itself. I drilled 3/32" holes, filled with Gorilla Super Glue and fitted the base in each hole. It was tougher then building the fence. Some consideration might have been to build it in place. Below is a picture of it installed. The picture is 2' away but, it is what I call a 4' view. On close inspection you can see the warts in my efforts but, this is an add-on and not the central item for inspection so I am comfortable with a few warts. I need to move back to the farm side and install my rebuilt milk station and cattle corral. Once these are in I can return to the barn, finish the details and install the scenery. Getting closer to completion but still a ways down the road.


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## Wood




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## MtRR75

That came out really nice and realistic. Great job.


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## josef

Is that a stove I see in the barn? If so, its a fire hazard. We had stoves in our machine sheds and some outbuildigs but never in a barn. In all the Dairy, horse barns, in our area, and those farms I travel to in Wisconsin and Indiana to see their test plots by seed companies, I've never seen a stove in their barns. In fact, my insurance won't allow one. Just a thought.
I like the fence and the scenery you made.


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## PatKn

Beautiful job Wood. :appl::appl::appl: I love how it came together. Nice looking scene. It adds to your already fine looking layout.


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## Wood

Thank you Pat, MtRR75 and Josef, It is a beginning on modeling. I agree that it came out pretty well. I am hooked on modeling now. It takes a jump of faith that you can do this and then it takes practice. Coming up with a solution for the roof and building on my own, out of 300 grit sand paper, was really fun and searching Valley Models and finding rocking chairs, anvils, saw horses and ladders made it easier.

Yes Josef that is a stove. When the insurance inspector came around I told him it was solar powered.  It works with the two old men sitting in their rockers and telling stories about our best days gone bye.


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## gunrunnerjohn

Nice farm scene, lots of great detail.


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## sjm9911

Looks great! Missed the fence last time around, it came out nice too, the little spots you see as not perfect will definitely blend in. I find we are all most critical of our own mistakes, no one else but us notice them nice project wood, lots of detail and thought went into it well done!


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## Wood

It's landscaping time. This is the east side of the track and farm scene, the first pictures are for the crop area. I used Styrofoam sheets to create a field.



















The next scene is another 2" block of foam which I carved with a hot wire. This will eventually be covered with vines and brush growth.


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## Wood

For some reason I had to break this into two posts???

The last, southwest corner, will be a rock crag with a small pond. It is also my first attempt at a water scene. All foam carved with the hot wire then clued to the table with Elmers and some Plaster of Paris to hold it all together. The last picture is my pond painted and ready for placement.


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## Guest

Interesting project to follow, Wood. I did notice in one of the photos that some of the Holsteins are falling down on the job. Bad for giving milk.


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## Tucgary

Wood, This is a great thread you are an excellent modeler. 
Can I ask what you used for dirt in your corn field?
Tucgary


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## Wood

Gary, Thank you for your very nice comment. Modeler is what I am trying to become. I made a decision two years ago to personally meet Modelers I respected and knew from the forum. I had some wonderful visits with them. Last year I made the decision to upgrade my layout through modeling. Currently, I have upgraded about 1/3 of the layout. I am very new at this effort so I am really grateful for your very nice comment.

The earth is from Brennan's Model Railroading. I get the "fine" earth. There are many who use earth from their backyard. Brennan sells a good product in a plastic bag for $6.95. It is about 3-4 cups of product. You don't have to use much and it covers nicely. Mike Brennan also has some great information and techniques he sends with every order.

http://www.brennansmodelrr.com/store/index.php?categoryid=118

My local hobby shop carries Woodland Scenics gravel, turf, grass, etc. They come in plastic containers that hold about 6 cups of product and they cost $11.95 each. I buy several containers and sprinkle the product on the surface then glue down. Often I will sprinkle several different grades and types of rock and gravel to achieve an authentic look. I glue mostly with white glue mixed with earth colored paint and water. 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mixture. Sometimes for the light stuff I will simply use a spray on adhesive and sprinkle the product over the set adhesive.

I buy the products because they are easier then trying to make them, you really do not need a lot and because they are versatile. I use Woodland Scenic fine green turf to make my own trees and bushes. I have mixed several ballasts together to create some nice track ballast and yard dirt.

Woodland Scenics also provides some great how to videos. Thank God for that!

http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/video/c/woodlandscenics

It is another whole part of the hobby and I really enjoy the creativity. I have never been very artsy but, it isn't that hard and it is simply a matter of just doing it!!!


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## Wood

*Brian posted: Wood. I did notice in one of the photos that some of the Holsteins are falling down on the job. Bad for giving milk. *

I milk those Holsteins hard and if they don't produce they are up on that cattle corral and off to the auction block. Thanks for spotting them, they'll be two heading out tomorrow.


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## Wood

The pond hill is all set. The most important part of this picture is that I am now satisfied and happy with the look being created. More shrubbery & figures to add.


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## Guest

The farm seen and related real estate is really looking very good Wood!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You did a superb job.


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## Wood

Lots of progress. I have completed two of the three parts of my over haul of the layout. Below are pictures showing the finished areas. Enjoy and feel free to ask any questions.

Part 1 - The Farm:














































The Trolley/Budd line:




















The final section is what I call the Wrong side of the Tracks. It will be 4 structures. Woodland Scenic's Duece Motorcycle Shop kit. Three of Andre's River Leaf Model Kits, Betty Lou's Tatto Parlor, Spiders off beat rooms for rent and a Shady Locksmith shop. I think this will take some time but I'll be starting soon and look forward to your comments.

This is the space they will be placed in.


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## Steamfan77

Very nice Wood! Lots of detail in each scene. 

Andy


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## PatKn

:appl::appl::appl: The farm looks fantastic, Wood. Can't wait to see the wrong side of the tracks.


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## Guest

Wood, the transformation of this area looks great... cannot wait for updates and pictures on the next area, the "wrong side of the tracks".


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## Bill Webb

Wood great job on the farm. I wish that I had been following along.

Wrong side of the tracks will be fun. You know that MTF has "the expert" on this in Lee. His trailer park and pole dancing emporium keep an entire regiment of detectives busy 24 hours a day. You might want to include Veronica in your scene to show how cosmopolitan she is.

Later today I want to get back and review how you did the farm scene. Perfect for the milk and cattle cars.


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## Wood

Thank you Pat, Andy, Bill and Gene. I personally feel good about the improvement in the layout and more importantly the improvement and confidence I have built in my modeling skills. Carving hills and ponds out of Styrofoam is something I never thought I could do. But, you can do it. Just try one, then another, and wow it gets better every time. 

Kitbashing is the most fun. The barn started out as a beer refinery. It fit what I needed and I added lots of new parts to make it a pretty neat looking barn which copies my Brother's barn in Maine and my barn in Newport. Building solar panels on the roof and adding finishing touches like the meter and a worker on the step ladder. The details really give life to the site. My daughter visited over Christmas and I got a great big wow out of her. Nice.

Bill - *"You might want to include Veronica in your scene to show how cosmopolitan she is." *That is a super idea. Now I have to come up with a story line like Lee does. Oh no another skill set....  I'll work on that.


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## Guest

> The final section is what I call the Wrong side of the Tracks.


Wood, any update on this section of your layout?


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## Wood

southernrr said:


> Wood, any update on this section of your layout?


Hi Gene the Southernerr, My apologies. Let me give you all the details. 

Item # 1 - Santa Claus brought my wife and I a puppy for Christmas. A black Labrador Retriever. Oh my, oh my, oh my, we forgot how much attention, love and exercise these beautiful dogs demand. We received him at 7 weeks and 10 lbs and now at 17 weeks he is 30 lbs.

View attachment 144001


Item # 2 - Our 1890s home required a new connection to the street. Which required the replacement of our interior cast iron pipe from the middle of the house to the street. The nice part of the project was rebuilding another work area for my scenery projects. Here is a great piece of information. In the 1800's they used cast iron pipe inside the home and clay pipe for the connection of your home to street pipe. The clay pipe, in the ground, was "like new" and thankfully saved us from having to dig the street up.










Item # 3 - I was invited to join an informal O scale Model Train group in my community. There are about a 14 members and there are no dues, officers or club house. They get together, at a different member's home, every other Tuesday night from September through to April. As you would expect it is a super nice group of guys. I was amazed with their layouts and commitment to the hobby. We all live within 20 miles of each other and it has been fun seeing what they have done and what they are doing on their layouts.

Guess who is up next? You got it - me!!! I have been busy tweeking my layout and making sure everything runs as close to perfect as I can make it. I am a little nervous about the visit. It is tomorrow night and I will take pictures so you can see the group and here their comments.

Gene, All said and done I laid out the first model on my work bench and have not been able to touch it. After this visit tomorrow night, I do feel like I can start making progress. When I first started this whole redesign of the table I knew it would be months of work. So bear with me and I'll be posting again soon.

My thanks for to you for staying in touch. Wood


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## Lemonhawk

Could not have picked a nicer dog! That looks like some serious pipe replacement. Fired tile does last a long time, hopefully the plastic pipe they replaced the cast iron with will also. Out of curiosity was it a joint that went bad! Cast iron also has a long life but the joints are a weak point.


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## Wood

*Lemonhawk posted: Out of curiosity was it a joint that went bad! Cast iron also has a long life but the joints are a weak point. *

The cast was supported at each joint with a fitted brick so they were in pretty good shape. The problem was surface rust caused deterioration of the pipe. Oddly it did not appear to breakdown at the bottom. It never leaked. It became quite scaly and the top gave out with multiple small holes and finally a hole about the size of a half dollar. I had been watching this pipe for the last 20 years and decided now was the time.









Finished product:


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## Guest

Wood, no apology needed and I thought we were busy around here... cannot top what you guys have going on there.

First of all, your pup looks like a great dog. It's been many years since we last had a dog, but do remember the effort and time it took along the way.

Good news on not having to dig any further than you did to get the pipes all in order. Our house was built in mid 1900's, so not anywhere near as old as yours, but we often joke that we have almost replaced everything imaginable in the last 18 years of living here.

Great news on the new train club you joined. Wish we had something like that here. No worries on your layout, though, from the pictures posted along the way on the forums. Your setup is top notch! 

I'll look forward to your progress in upcoming weeks/months ahead.


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## Wood

Thanks Gene, I am very happy you asked and I truly enjoy your support. Wood


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