Jump to content

My cobbled together layout


traingeekboy
 Share

Recommended Posts

Used to hang wet washing out in Moscow at minus silly temperatures. Within 20 minutes it was solid. Bring it in and stand it in the corner. When it thawed, it was dry.  Wife started moving furniture one day and rolled the carpets up. Out into the snow and laid them out. Shovelled snow onto the carpets and brushed it in with a stiff brush. Then hung the carpets over a fence and beat the snow out, before taking them back indoors again. I have never seen such clean and fresh smelling carpets as that day. She did it here in England a few years ago. Into the front garden. Neighbours all thought she had lost the plot.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Not a lot to report. I am slowly assembling my baggage car and that is going well.

full&d=1549227145

I've got two side walls nearly done. The end walls are cut to size. Just need a moment of peace and quiet to complete this car model. 

I keep trying to find an old 4-4-0, or 2-4-0. I am actually more fixated on the 2-4-0. People just go crazy over them on the auction site. Even a broken ones fetch more than I think I should pay. 20+ dollars and then you add 10 dollars for shipping, and it's ridiculous. I just need a broken old clunker, or two to play around with. Grrr..... 

 

The Rio Grande railway had this:

Baldwin_2-4-0,_Denver_&_Rio_Grande_Monte

I think I could make a loco sort of like that with one of these old Pocher brand bowker locos.

s-l1000.jpg

 

In my version I would simply cut off that gold jewelry on the top of the boiler and move the bell there. Then I would raise the cab a bit for the bigger scale I am doing. Some paint and it would be perfect.

 

I actually like the obnoxious large smoke stack, it just screams 1890's. 

 

Edited by traingeekboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

I had a seller reduce some figures from O scale to 1/55th. Had to purchase them, as I really needed to see how my models stood up to actual people.

I can now say that I am very much into this 5.5mm USA prototype 3' gauge modeling.

 

Spring is here too. Was eyeing ye olde garden railway and considering a new track arrangement so I can run my new models. 

 

 

Resized_20190323_183607.jpeg

Resized_20190323_183622.jpeg

Resized_20190323_183321.jpeg

Resized_20190323_183417.jpeg

Resized_20190323_183530.jpeg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, traingeekboy said:

..My favorite paint for doing figures is Humbrol. It brushes on nice and thick and often only needs one coat. I can't seem to source it locally anymore. :(

And then when you find somewhere that sells it there's often the problem that they can't send it via the postal system! Amazing that a little 15ml tin of enamel paint can be considered hazardous by some carriers.

Nice figures by the way Griff - they look well at home against the engine.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep trawling the Denver Public lLbrary digital collection. My focus is Gilpin County and the Gilpin Tramway.

This image caught my eye. It is just so vertical and full of little stone retaining walls.

Use the zoom bar and then grab the photo to explore it more closely.

http://digital.denverlibrary.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll21/id/11912/rec/203

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 7 months later...

I still peek in and am still fiddling around with model trains when I can.

Not long ago a local model railroader gave me want amounts to about 3 big boxes of model train magazines. I have tons to read.

 

This popped up on the news feed. I've been down to that railway it's pretty awesome. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cumbres-and-toltec-scenic-railroad-train-passengers-see-colorado-new-mexico-as-it-existed-140-years-ago/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember you - you're an 'existing' member! Thought we'd got a 'new' member among us for a moment. Welcome back Griff!

I enjoy going back over old magazines too. I haven't actually purchased any for a couple of years as I've gone over to the digital versions which take up far less space but I still have a fair number of old paper copies packed away and it's always good to get them out and take another look through them. You can pass those 3 boxes over after you've done with them if you want.

Just enjoyed the 'Old West' clip. There are some excellent rail journey's out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi Griff. We're together on the forum because we share a mutual interest in model railways but other than that we rarely get an insight into another members life outside of the hobby and although I can recall you mentioning your involvement with movies previously I have never known to what extent that has been. Viewing the above clip has given me a better understanding, especially after following a link to IMDb and from there further on into the www where I discovered a tribute posted in May 2017 and scrolled back through your thread on here to tie that in. You can discover so many things online.

I hope everything goes well for you, just don't allow life to get in the way of enjoying yourself. We want to see you building that layout too!

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hey thanks Mick,

I am kind of one of few world authorities on the inventors of RPG's now. It's amusing because I am a very introverted person and would rather hide out with the trains. What can I say, lots and lots of hobbies. Some end up as careers.

Hoping for some warm weather here. We are not on strict lock down, but most people are not working. Restaurants are closed but allowed to do Take Away. I need to spend a day sorting my shed. It turned into one of those places you throw boxes randomly that ends up being too much chaos. Really need to get it back to be my little work shop haven.

Nice to see all the updates, scrolled through a bit of them.

I am thinking of doing some structure buildering during this isolation period. I found this FREE card stock you see... :D

Can't recall if I had posted this little crane project, probably did.

 

Resized_20190412_181056.jpeg

Resized_20190412_181056.thumb.jpeg.d57ec51ecf29c616c9ed0287cc9e0b60.jpeg

Edited by traingeekboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not sure what I had posted so here are some more randoms...

The figures are mostly painted now even the second one got his pants.

A sleepy squirrel friend loves to cuddle.

And some experimenting with cheater hand laid track. I plan to remove most of the sleepers then glue the rails to hand cut real wood sleepers. Then I can remove the remaining plastic sleepers that were keeping my set track aligned and I end up with what looks like painstakingly hand laid track. The more I find out about hand laying the more I realize it just can't be that hard.

 

Resized_20190720_221817.jpeg

Resized_20190620_094436.jpeg

Resized_20190609_153314.jpeg

Resized_20190609_141743.jpeg

Edited by traingeekboy
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Just sneaking some time building a structure for my future 3 x 4 layout. 

The first stage is tedious. I am using my rail nipper to cut planks from free coffee stirrers.

You know how I am, "If It's Free, It's For Me!"

4333_111352_570000000.jpg

I also scavenged some free lumber for the proposed layout. I love free things.

I needed a light ply I could easily cut as sub roadbed. I want to create something that is not flat except for track and structure bases. I found a roughly 2x4 piece that should be plenty.

In other news, my garden railway is really beyond repair. Going to have to tear it all out. 

Edited by traingeekboy
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our On30 railroads are taking very simmer routes. May be i'm following you down the scavenger path.

On my garden railway I have two areas of baseboard that need replacing. I really should crack on with it. You're beyond repair message is a warning to me.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, chris said:

Our On30 railroads are taking very simmer routes. May be i'm following you down the scavenger path.

On my garden railway I have two areas of baseboard that need replacing. I really should crack on with it. You're beyond repair message is a warning to me.

I think real model railroading has always been a handyman's hobby on a certain level as you can spend a fortune on all the extras like structures.

I avoided tearing out all of my garden railway because I had hopes I could come back to it. It's been years now. I used experimental techniques on my layout as well. Some things are just fried now. The ply having been spray painted in some places did not seal well. I should have used brush on oil paint. Over all it has become a tragic sight.

Yet I still have that passion for wanting another garden railway. Once you've run trains outside you get a taste for it and a regular indoor layout won;t fill that need entirely. Also, all my 55n3 trains could run on a outdoor HO layout as it;s all the same gauge.

I suppose I will have to go see your garden railway build to see what your issues are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Sad not doing the garden railway. Yet, I am still squeezing in time prepping models to run on the HO/OO track.

I did a lot of research on a really rare log car type. I've actually been unable to find anything but old photos, so any guess on the actual dimensions is pretty vague. so this may be the first model ever built of one. I did take an old photo and cut the people out and use them to measure. I decided 20' long was about right. 

 

Decided to use the kitchen tools to cut strip wood as the razor saw takes too long.

 

I also bought some cheap water color paints at the dollar store to use as wood stain. 

 

 

Resized_20200725_231356.jpeg

Screen Shot 2020-07-11 at 3.01.00 PM.png

Resized_20200726_114843.jpeg

Edited by traingeekboy
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...