August Improvements

August has been a mixed bag of socializing, home improvements and layout additions.

The first addition is one of six hydro tower model kits. The rest of the kits I plan to assemble over the winter. All the towers are going to line up with a power house that I plan to build at the bottom of the dam. Hydro electricity with be the very first product that my layout community will produce. To. bad it is a useless commodity considering all my buildings in town are solar powered.





The second welcome addition is a retaining wall to keep the pesky hostas plants off the train tracks. Every time I went out to run my trains the big leaves were blocking the tracks. I cut and hack at the them but they grow back blocking my trains the next time. I figured if I can't beat them, then I should barricade them in. Lucky I had some stones left over in my rock pile.





Next I was able to sweet talk Mary's cousin Steve & Nadine to donate some cool rocks for the layout. I was only able to get 6 in my car before the shocks started bottoming out. I decided to place them all together to create a two level cliff beside the tunnel openings.





The fourth train related thing is a new storage desk for the rolling stock. I managed to get a piece of old office furniture and added sliding shelves with my grooved boards. Now I have a safe place to keep my locomotive, battery cars or all the other cars that I don't want to keep outside.





The next project I am working on is painting the popsicle train bridge so I can keep it outside on the layout instead of hiding in the garage most of the time.

Girls just want to have fun 3

July has been too hot to work outside on the layout. With only a couple of small rain showers and temperature / humidity above 40degrees. It has been too hot for the poor plants we purchased. The layout looks more like a desert than a thriving farming community. Oh well.
I started taking pictures of the girls at the end of June but never got back to finished taking pictures until early this morning.

Night Train - 07-16-11

The first train cars we purchased were four half-price Grand Trunk Railway boxcars. I've been using two of these cars to practice my weathering and graffiti skills. One has been untouched and the 4th car I have chopped up into my multipurpose car. In December I drilled holes to fasten a snow plow and a camera mount. A lighting mast was added to shine a small light over the top of the plow, but the height was too high for it to fit through the tunnels. I lowered the mast so the light is perched above the camera. I took the modified train car out last night and shot these pictures and video.

Bob

Stations, Poles and Fences

Now that we are in the middle of July, the heavy work on the railway has almost ground to a halt. Though spreading stones for the vehicle roadways has become too difficult to do in this heat I have found smaller things to build and add to the layout.

The largest addition would be the north platform and depot. Stacked patio blocks create the perfect height to load and unload train cars. I’m hoping to get some crates and cargo to decorate the platform soon.

The second addition is the row of telephone poles. Though I’ve photographed my plastic poles I have also picked up some wood sticks to make some poles from scratch.

And lastly I have added 2 new fences. The first is a “horse fence” made from coffee stir sticks and the second is a “highway fence” made from 1/4" chicken wire. I am pleased with both of them and have picked up supplies to make more.

Finally the Train Goes Round & Round - 06-18-11

(BOB ENTRY)

I decided to take a day off work in order to redo and complete the entire upper loop of the train layout. This is the first video of the train going all the way around the layout as it is now. Decided to shoot it with the camera aiming sideways. I am VERY pleased with the results.

My favorite part of the video is when the train is travelling over the canyon and the sound echo's back off the dam.

Enjoy!

GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN - Part 2 - June 5, 2011

(ENTRY BY BOB) On Saturday morning we headed off to Winona Garden Railway for an Open House that was advertised. We took an engine & some train cars along with a bunch of figures so we could take some new pictures but a severe storm blew in and we did not take a single shot. We did purchase some track & some new train cars (we'll save those pics for another entry).












It was a quiet Sunday on the railway, so the little figures got out to relax. The water in pond was a little low after a dry week and the fountain was getting knocked over squirting the water outside of the pond liner. We opened up the rain barrel and got the creek flowing. The girls wanted to do a Photo Shoot.





















Of course, the wild life was around too. The bunny found the rail crossing signs as it discovered that the new plants make a yummy salad bar.