# O Gauge Alma & Jupiter Bay Railway



## Guest (Nov 26, 2015)

My layout is 6x9 with a 30"x30" extension on one corner. It's in a spare bedroom so there's no room to expand. I started construction in October 2014. I'll post some earlier pics and current ones as well. There's still a lot to do on the layout. These pics are from early on.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2015)

These are more recent pictures.


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2015)




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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Nice progression Joe, looks great! Over what time period were the pictures?


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## Guest (Nov 26, 2015)

Thanks John. I started the layout in October last year, so a little over a year.


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## Lemonhawk (Sep 24, 2013)

Great depth of field in the photos! do anything special to achieve it? Really neat looking scenes.


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2015)

Lemonhawk said:


> Great depth of field in the photos! do anything special to achieve it? Really neat looking scenes.


Thanks Lemonhawk. No, I just took the pictures. I have an old Canon PowerShot and a Canon DSLR. I guess they are just good cameras.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Great shots Joe. :smilie_daumenpos:

I think the only downside to running O is the room you need. You have quite a lot packed in there. There is never enough room!

Why did you add the foam? Just for muffling sound or were you planning something different when you started? Is your lake carved out underneath?

That table size would make for a nice N layout.
You still have all your N scale? ( I forgot).


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## Guest (Nov 27, 2015)

Thanks Ed. The surface is extruded styrofoam. I did that to make the sections light weight in case I move. On top of that is carped padding foam. It reduces the running noise a lot. Running trains on the FasTrack on styrofoam was very loud. The carped foam padding worked wonders.

I still have my N scale. I run at the club and on our traveling T-Trak layout. I went to O because I have an inherited condition called tension tremors. My hands shake when trying to do things and I found it impossible to work on N scale. The good part is that my condition is considered benign since there are no problems other than the shaking. It's not a serious condition like Parkinson's.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

They say that running on the Fastrack is loud anyway you do it. I don't have any.

Yes, I remembered about your condition but did not want to mention it here.
It sounds like it would be hard to do all most anything with it.

I do still see some spots that need something on your table?
It would be nice if you had more room too.

I wish I had more room. 
Even those with a lot of room probably wish they had more. 

I see Sparky came back over "there"? 
I have been getting e mails from him ever since he left? 
Most of them are passed on e mails, the junk kind. I pass him my interesting junk e mails.
Not much conversation gets typed just the passing of the e mails and the occasional Happy holiday stuff. 
I do remember him saying years ago about something wrong with him but that was a while ago.
Good to see he is getting back into the swing of things, I thought he had left the site over some BS?
I do look there once and a while but I don't really have the time to log on to say anything. It is not like it used to be there years ago, and his HO site is just plain DEAD.
I expect it to vanish and am surprised it is still there.


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2015)

I don't mind talking about my condition. Fortunately it's not serious, just annoying.

I'm friends with him on Facebook. He's been sick but seems he's finally getting better.

Yes, I wish I had more room.

Things have been slow on NSO. The owner is the only administrator and doesn't visit the site that often. We don't know if it's because he is just too busy or if he's lost interest. There's a loyal core of members and it's been hanging on.


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

Hi Joe
Do you still have the layout up or are you starting to take it down?


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2016)

Tony35 said:


> Hi Joe
> Do you still have the layout up or are you starting to take it down?


The layout is still up, Tony. I have started packing some of the trains to get ready to move. I'm leaving enough so I can run the layout, but I'm not doing anymore work on it.


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

Country Joe said:


> The layout is still up, Tony. I have started packing some of the trains to get ready to move. I'm leaving enough so I can run the layout, but I'm not doing anymore work on it.


That is good to hear 
At least you can run some trains to relax after getting some packing done


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

Your layout has some basic similarities to mine. Not size, but aesthetics.

You have stark raving white walls at the edge. So do I. (BigEd mentioned it, now I can't get that out of my head)
Have you looked into getting some background pics, like rolling hills, or distant citiscapes?
if you have found any premade, please post it. I need that too.

You used foam to silence the trains. So did I. I did one place with sculpting, but that was it.
(I cut a ravine into the foam, raised the roadbed and put in a homemade trestle)
Are you going to do any future sculpting, as in a river, other than that nice one with the canoe?

(EDIT) I just read that you're packing up to move, so I guess the question about background pics is no longer a necessary one.


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2016)

Ron, the walls are actually a hazy blue color by Benjamin Moore called Harbor Haze. The look good in person but appear white in pictures. If I wasn't moving I would use some kind ob backdrop. A good backdrop makes the layout seem much larger.

The table surface is extruded styrofoam. That worked fine for N scale but running O gauge on FasTrack was unbearably loud. I put a layer of carpet padding over the styrofoam and that quieted things down a lot.

We are moving to Florida later this year. We've had enough of NY winters though this was a mild one. Our new house will have an 11x20.5 train room. I'm looking forward to the new house and a bigger layout.


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

You planning on building a full walk around layout using up all that space?


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## Guest (Mar 21, 2016)

I don't know yet, Tony. I've been looking at various track plans to get ideas but don't have any firm plans yet. I would like to build my O gauge and have a small N scale layout as well, kind of like Ron is doing. The house should be ready by November. Once we are in I can really plan a new layout.


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## Tony35 (Mar 18, 2016)

Either way, having that space for trains!
Sweeeeeet


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## VegasN (Mar 14, 2016)

Really cool looking town. But, wow, that thing makes my N scale look teenie,,,,,


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2016)

Tony35 said:


> Either way, having that space for trains!
> Sweeeeeet


It sure is, Tony. I'm looking forward to the new room.



VegasN said:


> Really cool looking town. But, wow, that thing makes my N scale look teenie,,,,,


Thanks. O gauge takes up a lot of space. When I was only doing N scale N seemed a good size but since I went back to O gauge N does seem tiny. Heck, HO seemed huge to me and now I think it's too small. It's funny how your perspective changes depending on what you're used to.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

I meant to ask previously, I'm presuming this carpet pad was to quiet the Fastrack. How well does it work?


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2016)

It made a significant difference, John. I first bought small a piece of padding and ran the track from the table surface to the carpet padding surface and back and noticed a big difference.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

Good information Joe.


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## Guest (Mar 25, 2016)

John, that was one of my favorite bits on Laugh In. I also liked him as the dirty old man with Ruth Buzzi.


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## gunrunnerjohn (Nov 10, 2010)

It just seemed appropriate.


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