Anyone use this stuff for detailing their steam locomotive's side rods, valve gear and drivers? Pros or cons?

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Thanks, Mark

Just a thought, but over the years we have run challenges for winter scenes, sometimes we just post photos and cards relating to the holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years). Mostly we have some sort of holiday thread or challenge that is train related. How about this year that we just post whatever we feel is appropriate for the season? Post a photo of your kids or grand kids around the Christmas tree, a photo of you shoveling snow at home or basking in the sun on vacation in Hawaii, or possibly one about a train in the snow. You can write a poem, or just say, "Merry Christmas", you can talk about your holiday plans that may not necessarily include trains; it doesn't matter, as long as it is about the season. Post as many times as you like, this is not a contest, just another way to stay in touch.

My first post is a photo of a card that my son Pat (or Packey our go-to web guy) gave us a few years ago. The bear on it is now the feature character in his web-based cartoon strip, Flatt Bear.

   

So I have completed and sold my "Lance Mindheim" style ISL Shelf layout and had a break from modeling.....long enough to take not of the new generation N Scale locos that are arriving on the scene with fine details as in the FVM GE ES44AC I acquired in NS colors. I'm more of a modeler than a train fanatic but modern US power is where my heart lies, even though I live thousands of miles away in South Africa. Here is my HO ISL http://bigbluetrains.com/forum/viewtopic...=46&t=4271 using UP and SSW re-patched locos based on prototypes in the late 90's.

I have always wanted a Geneva Sub style layout with MU trains of Inter-modal cars or Hoppers and reefer units dragging through scenic areas or mountain passes, hence me wanting to get into N Scale so as to make use of the space I may have available.

Here is my basic idea, Intermodal yard and a few other industries on route to a mountain pass on the southern section of the island then dropping under the shelf to emerge again in the NE corner. Designed with a staging yard underneath that would just hold cars and with the possibility of having a continuous train running while swithich the Intermodal yard or any other industry...

let me know your thoughts...

   

Dimensions are 100mm x 100mm grid. N Scale code 55 track. Trying for a 400-450mm radius minimum. #10 on main and #6 in yards and smaller industries.

So my last plan for a proto-freelance Central Florida HO layout has failed to ignite me. I think partly because I felt I was following a trend of that scene and repeating what others had done could be somehow easier as there were models to model. It's nice but I'm not sure it's for me.

Trawling my saved bookmarks and youtube favourites I found I really enjoyed those based on the CSAO lines in Southern New Jersey. Particularly trains out of Millville running mixed CSX, NS or even yet-to-be-painted old Conrail locomotives.

The traffic is low and slow, the trains haul small numbers of cars and I liked the New England area. There aren't a lot of businesses still taking rail services but I'm happy to mix industries that did at one point with those that do, in my layout time of 2007ish or currently. What I am struggling with is that I have the space for a shelf switching layout 9ft x 9ft x 18" wide on two walls and an extension of 5ft x 12" wide making a truncated C or U design. But the prototype industries are quite spaced out and typically a single spur off the "main" quite often ending up curving 90 degrees to the main.

So i feel my options are -

Imagine a small industrial park or industries that are in close proximity.
Pros: I can make them fit
Cons: although I can model each industry prototype together they wouldn't be prototypical. Would I loose the feel of the prototype? What design attributes would identify the layout as in South New Jersey? Street running or close by road, trees, semi-rural?

Model a single industry
Pros: prototypical and would fit my space
cons: most industries are single spur and the most varied of traffic seems to be lumber yards taking center beams and boxcars in single numbers. Wouldn't be best use of my space and I feel would not offer the amount of modelling and operation variety I'm after.

Look further afield.
Pros: unknown depending upon what I find:-)
Cons: analysis paralysis?

Other options?

I'm worried I'm trying to fit a prototype into my space that will not result in a satisfying build or layout to operate.

I'd really like some advice, thoughts or a reality check;-)

Here are some of the locations I've been investigating -

Collection of businesses
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Glass manufacturer, interesting to model the buildings but they seem to only take sand in covered hoppers.
537 Crystal Ave, Vineland, NJ 08360, USA
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RFC Container Co
30 Maple Ave, Cedarville, NJ 08311, United States
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Extech Building Materials
385 Asbury Rd, Farmingdale, NJ 07727, United States
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Builders General
222 Throckmorton St, Freehold, NJ 07728, United States
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Many thanks,

Steve.

After almost 6 years of layout construction,my layout is for the moment done. The are some additional details that can be added but right now they are not important.
I have all the rolling stock I need for now,enough motive power,I'm satisfied with the industrial areas (these areas had been re-worked many times because I was
not happy with them) and the scenery elements work as well.
So,all this being and and I stated this in a blog 3 years ago it is now time to have some fun and run some trains. I have a system in place for
switching etc.
But wait- here's my problem,After all the time and effort I have put into my layout ,running trains seems to me to be not that important.
So now my question is this-has this ever happened to anyone else and what if anything did you do to work through it?
Because right now my layout is saying to me-"here I am,run some trains" and I'm saying "whatever".
I would like to know your thought on this issue and how you handled it.
Thanks
BobS

I've been experimenting with using small plexiglass boxes as the base for building projects. The first were these two brick paper-covered towers in Kings Port.



I just recently made a Rexall's Drug store for my business district at West Mill using a box like this.



With more brick paper and other details it came out like this:





I added the drugstore to extend main street so the buildings blocked the view of a couple of staging tracks behind them. You can see a GP38-2 sneaking out behind the coffee shop above. In order to to this I had to move the entire line of stores a little forward, narrowing the street too much to be believable. I decided that cars do not use this street so there is a new municipal parking lot on the west side of the business district.



Next step is to paint and detail those cheapie little cars.

On my layout plans I'm thinking of ditching the runaround after settling on a New Jersey CSAO theme and seeing photos of trains running with locomotives both ends of train to handle trailing and facing switches. However I'm unclear how this is handled proto typically.

I can imagine a train switching a facing point would run past it, disconnect the forward locomotive, the rear locomotive would reverse past the switch and then shove the train into the spur. I'd like to check that with the forum.

Thanks,

Steve.

No matter how much I clean my tracks I still have the same problem spots. I have 2 Athearn mp15acs and both of them lose power in different spots on my tracks but they both pass over each other's problem spots with no issue. I've used every tidy track product made by woodland scenics and I can run a q-tip over the rails and the q-tip is clean. I'll run one engine the full length of the layout with no issue and on the return pass it stops in the same spot every time. It only recently (maybe 2 weeks ago) has started giving me issues. It annoys me so much that everything sits for days and I don't want anything to do with it or work on it. What's the deal??

I am starting to get into some super detailing projects for the HO division of the Grande Valley Railway.Since this is uncharted territory for me at this point I am starting with some old TYCO and Bachmann cars.First order of business is replacing some grab irons/ladder rungs with .010" round rod.A bit frustrating but sure makes a big difference in the looks of the car.Here is a pic of my very first project with more to follow as I make progress. :mrgreen:



For what it's worth the Athearn PS-2 floor is a direct P-N-P for the TYCO shell which gets you screw mounted trucks and body mount couplers.