A lot of you probably know this already, but for those who don't, while putting together my current challenge model, it dawned on me that for the most part, I've been assembling my parts with liquid "plastic cement". Well, not really. I bought a one ounce bottle of it many years ago and saw where it "contained MEC". Well, at the cost of $3.69, I got upset because I didn't tighten the lid and it evaporated quickly and it was a good 20 miles to the nearest hobby shop. So, I went to Walmart (or Home Depot) and bought a quart of MEK for less than $10 and poured some in the bottle. There was no difference, MEK dissolves the plastic just every bit as good as the Testor's plastic cement. I suspect that "contains MEK" really means, "100% MEK".

Just a few numbers,
Testor's Plastic cement = $3.69 per oz. (that's $118.00 for a quart and $1743.00 for a gallon)
MEK at $11.00 a quart = $0.35 per oz
MEK at $22.00 a gallon = $.018 per oz

A quart has lasted me probably five years, and I've still got half of it left. It is cleaner to use than the "modeler's cement" in a tube, which, incidentally, is just MEK in a thickening agent.

Hello all. I have been a rail fan for the last fourty years or so, but have never built a layout. This is my first attempt... I know nothing. So... if you see me screwing up, feel free to TELL ME!

My layout fictionally depicts a tiny portion of the Everett & Monte Cristo RR as it passes through Granite Falls Washington. After the E&MC failed, the line was used for many years as a logging line. Switchbacks and steep grades were commonplace in the Cascade Mountains.

(From the Granite Falls website)

Railroad Day’s Bio:
(I have been to this celebration...)
Railroad Days celebrates the era of steam trains that puffed through town beginning in 1892 when the Everett and Monte Cristo Railroad reached the town. By the next year the tracks reached to the mountain gold mining town of Monte Cristo. Gold mining lasted only a decade but logging trains were a familiar sight for many more years, along with passenger trains that brought tourists from Seattle and Everett to the famous Big Four Inn resort in the shadow of Big Four Mountain.

OK, here we go...

Track plan: Two separate lines, a short line that brings logs from the Big Four Mountain to the sawmill in Granite Falls and a mainline hauling lumber to points beyond. Tightest mainline radius - 9.5, Logging - 7.4.
Attachment 3

Showing the mountain: Mainline runs through the mountain via a tunnel and the logging line starts its climb in the orange tunnel then emerges into the switchbacks.
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Benchwork: 2" Pink foam. I passed everything through the table saw and came up with the back of the mountain interlocking into the base. The mountain sides are glued on to provide a general idea of elevation. The 7" X 38" cutout in the back provides access to the tunnels and a small staging area.
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That's it so far...
Thanks for a place to post this and ignore the packing tape lol, it is just holding the show together until the glue dries.

Ted

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Hello,

I am looking for major railroad companies in Louisiana in the late 70s.

I already found the following:

Rock Island
Santa Fe
Cotton Belt
Southern Pacific
Kansas City Southern
Missouri Pacific
Southern
Illinos Central Gulf
Louisville & Nashville

Any more Class 1s?

I guess The Frisco did not go so far, and the Union Pacific came later after the mergers...

Hope to hear from you.

Kind regards.

These two locos were brought to the last operating session

Bruce

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I've made a couple of posts here and elsewhere of photos I took when I went to Germany in 1971 looking for steam. (This was on a summer vacation from graduate school, when you could get a charter flight for a few hundred bucks and stay in youth hostels for a few bucks a night -- in retrospect, a real bargain to go see steam when nothing like this was possible any closer to home. I could also justify it by saying I was polishing my German for schoolwork.)

I finally got around to scanning the photos I took on that trip, over 40 years later. I came back from Germany with a strong interest in European railroads, and I built a small German prototype layout at the time. I've kept the Sommerfeldt components I used at the time, along with rolling stock, and I've desultorily picked up pieces here and there ever since. When I designed the "lifetime layout" I started in the 1990s, I included a certain amount of what would be German prototype trackage, complete with catenary. However, so far, while I've made a lot of progress on the North American parts of the layout, the German part still has only about 90% of its track laid, wiring incomplete, and no scenery. Scanning my 1971 photos has rekindled my interest.

I should mention that one thing I always wanted to avoid in designing my layout was the idea of saying "I was a big HO PRR fan, but I'm ripping that all out and going Sn3 D&RGW" or whatever. I've lived in a number of places and traveled to more, and I knew I was never going to settle on one prototype or approach to the hobby. Instead, I decided I wanted to suit myself, and I didn't want to go ripping stuff out every few years (or another approach that has me scratching my head, the UK guys who build a layout and sell it a year or so later).

So my intent was to find a way to include ways to satisfy all my interests, even recognizing that individual foci could well wax and wane over time. This has been the case for me with German prototype. Here is a track plan, not to scale, and without a whole lot of detail:


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So you can see that I designed an inner double track loop intended for German prototype on the left side of the layout. However, one idea I've worked with on this layout has been "dual use" trackage. Connectors have been built in from the North American main line to the European loop that will theoretically allow trains to leave the North American line and loop around the European section, especially if I choose to switch locos from diesel to electric to do this. Also, there is an industrial spur that can be served from either North American or German prototype. So far, the spur and trackage that leads to it is in use, exclusively for now by North American models. However, as I complete wiring on the German section, this will likely change. No German trains have so far made the full loop around -- again, interests wax and wane, and I'm providing for this in a "lifetime" layout.

Because I'm still laying German track, I'm going to start there. I've been back to Germany several times since 1971, and I began to become acutely aware of the differences between North American and German track. (Swiss, Austrian, and Italian track is also similar to German track). Here is a photo that shows what I'm talking about:


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The ties have different shapes -- rounded at the top -- and the rails are fastened with bolts, not spikes (I don't know what the current status is of Pandrol clips in Germany). I discovered that German model track can be found that shows this detail. Here is a shot of German trackage on my layout. I used some Pilz and some Roco track components:


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Here is a farther-back view of the area:


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The track in the foreground is North American (Atlas code 83). The dual-use pulpwood spur is to the right. (My observation in Europe is that pulpwood is a common industry there as well as in the US.) You can sort of see the dimensional difference. My next step is going to be working on ballast and details immediately near the track, as well as completing some tracklaying.

Since there are several German modelers here doing US prototype, I thought it might be interesting for a US modeler to discuss work on German prototype. Naturally, I'll be very interested in suggestions.

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Anyone ever use this. Looks promising, but at the $40 USD price tag, I'm a little worried.

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...one that is ideal for those of us building space-constrained, switching layouts <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://editor.des08.com/vo/?FileID=cdd986a1-c790-4bdd-a2df-f27684abd416&m=6bf0d489-41b0-4024-bea3-54a77c16a2b8&MailID=28504637&listid=49152">http://editor.des08.com/vo/?FileID=cdd9 ... stid=49152</a><!-- m -->

Two days ago, in the late morning, I was driving north on the Don Valley Parkway in Toronto. I was just about to go under the northernmost train bridge near Wynford Drive and I was delighted to see a very long VIA train just coming across the bridge. It was heading southbound (i.e. travelling east across the Don Valley).

It had 3 engines -- two F40PH's and one "non-cab" diesel (sorry, I forget what they are called!). The train consisted of about 12-15 (maybe more?) coaches and it had one domed observation car in the middle and another one at the end. It was quite a sight but I obviously had to focus on my driving!

Does anyone have any further info, i.e. what this train might have been or where it had come from or was going? I believe it was on the track that goes from downtown Toronto to Richmond Hill and Newmarket. I've seen GO Trains, freight and Ontario Northland trains on this line before.

Thanks,
Rob