I used to post on The Gauge a lot but have been fairly "quiet" recently due several reasons. Earlier this year, I started on a small N-scale layout which has been progressing slowly. It's also a British layout so, in some ways, it doesn't fit that well with this forum as I'm using Graham Farish and Dapol rolling stock, etc.

In the spring, I also started a new part-time job which requires me to leave the house early, which means I can't model much in the late-evening which is when I used to and is my preferred time. This is one main reason why the scenery and finishing of this layout has been happening so slowly -- I'm either too tired or don't have enough time.

Well, last night, while recovering from the flu, I suddenly had several hours available. I was feeling much better, recovering nicely, and was able to work on my layout from 8pm till past midnight. I was great medicine and did wonders for my soul! Has anyone else experienced such "train therapy"?

Since February/March, I have been working on a small N-scale layout. It's about 27" wide (although I'm thinking of widening it to 28-29" and about 68" long. It's made from a piece of pink foam and is simply sitting on a small fold-out table.

I'm thinking of mounting it on a baseboard or piece of wood to give it some support and so I can possibly take it to train shows, etc. I do have a strong piece of fibre board that could work well, but it's very heavy. So I'm wondering if I should buy a piece of plywood and have it cut down to the layout's size -- or, could I get by with purchasing two pieces of strong green (the environmental kind), cutting it to size, and then gluing the pink foam board onto that? I think this could work as it should give me the strength needed as well as being very light. Ideally, I want something that would be fast & simple, due to time, etc.

Could you please let me know your thoughts and if either of these plans might work? Thanks in advance.

NS4000 and NS4001 by Norfolk Southern, on Flickr

Norfolk Southern 4000 and 4001 pose together outside the paint shop in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for their first portrait. The locomotives wear a new, special paint scheme to designate the units as prototypes for the DC to AC conversion program. 4000 was originally built by GE in 1995 as a standard-cab D9-40C, NS road number 8799. 4001 was formerly D9-40C number 8879. During their rebuild in 2015, they were converted to AC traction, received wide cabs, and redesignated as "AC44C6M". They will enter into normal revenue service across the NS system.

NOTE: One was released a few weeks ago, but quickly returned to the paint shop for some changes.

Hi all!
My wife gave me this for Christmas :


A Sony DSC QX100 WIFI Camera!

I have tested it briefly, and it looks promising. These pics are unedited and I only used the room lighting:



















A really cool gadget!

This is what I got from my 75 yr old Mom for my Birthday / Christmas present , great to have my mom around !!!!!!!

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I'm starting out on my first serious layout endeavor. I will be modeling a version of the town I grew up in, in Maryland during the late 1980's. My question is what is the difference between CSX car renumbering where the old road name and number are painted over, and "CSXT 012345" is painted over it vs the original road name and number left intact and the CSX logo added to the opposite end of the car? Are there specific reasons for this? How does this fit into the era? I will be using rolling stock from all of the companies CSX acquired with a man focus on B&O, C&O and WM. Trying to figure out how to appropriately number them. Thanks in advance.

Hi Lionel guys, I have a question I know one of you will be able to answer. I just got today a 2141WS "O" set that is exactly the set I had as a 6 year old. It does not have a transformer and I would like to have the same one that my dad got for the set in 1949. The set has the 671 steam turbine with the whistle tender, operating milk refer and log dump as well as caboose and a hopper car. The transformer I had was not a monster but had 2 knobs, one for the whistle which had a spring to return it. If I have a number I am sure I can find one somewhere.
Merry Christmas
Charlie
   

The industries of my ISL need to be different if the trains will have less boxcars and more e.g. covered hoppers and tank cars. That is a good point to switch to Freelance 2016-1 with an almost blank area designated for covered hopper and tank car supporting industry. No more facts today. I have just started thinking about possible solutions.


ps. I love center beam cars but they are like well cars to long for my layout. I will refrain from those space monsters.

So I'm in a bit of a quandary. I railfan CN Leithton Sub so I see 100+ car trains usually - CN, UP, BNSF, CSX, NS power. I live by the BNSF Racetrack and work a block from the UP triple track into Proviso. Problem is I have a 12 x 10-11 foot space for a layout and there's no way I can model the huge DPU'd trains I see daily. I can do locals since I really like switching but I'd still like to get a feel of the long trains running.

I had a smaller 9x10 donut which emphasized switching but when the larger space became available, I dismantled it.

Any suggestions from the collective mind on what to build? Model the main but only switch? Try to get enough staging to run an occasional longer train? Just do a shelf switcher? Do a "railfan layout" with just the mains?

I've got way too much invested in HO to switch to N and I don't want to do a multilevel layout.

Just pondering - any comments or ideas are welcome, including sell everything and just be a trackside foamer.

Thanks!