Hi guys,

Ive been working on a new project for the past few months in my spare time. I got 5 of the Kibri Hotel Under Construction kits and have been slowly working on them bashing them together. Ill ultimately end up with 2 large tall towers, one a 14 story structure and the other a 10 story structure. Both towers will be connected by a walkway/bridge on the 7th floor of each structure.

Im currently working on the first tower still, on the 10th floor right now. I also got a large mobile crane (Kibri kit) and have built it as well. The crane is a monster and will be used on the job site. I will also be getting a tower crane for the job site as well as a couple concrete pumpers. Everything is still in the works as far as the layout of the structures and the whole scene will look, and i dont have a home for the scene yet either. Im thinking about doing another module (2'x8') and having this scene on one end and a large industrial building on the other end. An elevated single track running along the back of the module to get some train action in there and I think it would be another great module to showcase the construction, trucks, and trains similar to my photo diorama i did a while back.


I dont have any pics as of right now, but ill try and take some tonight with the crane and first tower im working on now. Anyways, just wanted to give ya'll something to read since I havnt been on in quite some time. Ill hopefully be able to work consistently on this new project and keep regular updates coming. The building of the structures is repetitive, so im really looking forward to getting them on a module to start building the scenery and construction site.

Stay Tuned

Just got back fro a road trip to Syracuse, NY.
Not much train action, what pictures I got, I was either too late with the camera, or it was too far away to be any use. Anyway, here are the only two. They really aren't worth posting, but........

Caught the tail end of the CSX stack train heading east out of Selkirk, crossing the Castleton-On-The -Hudson bridge.
   

This one, a unit grain train, heading into Selkirk.
   

Like I said...No wows, or ahhhhs.

As some of you may be aware my original intent was to go DCC on my 4x8 layout. I planned to add decoders to my locos and choose a DCC system once the track work was done and tested. Bus since then, I have become unemployed and I have been re-evaluating priorities. When I eventually go back to work, funds will still be tight for a while - maybe a long while. DCC, even a cheaper system, may no longer make sense. I figure it would cost me about 400 dollars for the basic DCC system and decoders for all of my locos. That 400 dollars would be much better spent towards other things, unless I can convince myself that DCC is vital to the operation of my layout. My original intent with DCC was to make wiring simpler, and to not have to worry about blocks and throwing switches when operating my layout. This still appeals to me.

But, here are my criteria:
1) No more than 4 locomotives will be on the layout at one time, and I don't envision double headers. The layout is small enough that trains will be short, and idle locomotives will have to be kept in the roundhouse in order to be out of the way.
2) One operator. There is a possibility of having a train run the loop while another switches my upper yard.
3) I have zero interest in sound. ZERO. I also have little interest in extravagant lighting effects (this is a 1915-1920 era layout)

My question is this: Am I overlooking some other advantage to DCC? WIll the trains run better or more reliably? If there is a significant improvement in performance, it may be worth my limited money. Considering I could segment my layout into blocks rather cheaply and easily - I am hoping someone can give me reasons why DCC is still the way to go. If I choose DCC, it will probably be 2 years before I can afford it. If I stay with block/cab control DC, I can have things wired in a week. Thoughts?

On another forum, threads appear about every other week with the subject of "My LHS is closing" or "This hobby is dying". Frankly, it gets old. The thread always develops a negative tone, and I decide to quit reading them. The points that are brought up are usually the same:

1) Usually the store is closing because the owner wants to retire.
2) The store has been there for ages.
3) Usually at least one person will chime in about how the store was terrible anyway, so good riddance. It is usually prices or poor return policy that fuels the complaint.
4) And then the conclusion is the same - the hobby is dying, LHS can't compete, and we should all panic.

I don't want to re-kindle that despair here. But it does make me think about what the LHS can do to make a profitable business. If you were to open an LHS what would you do to make things work? If I was to open an LHS today, I would:

1) Cater to multiple hobbies, and make sure there is an employee that knows about them. I don't think a hobby store can survive just catering to one hobby anymore.
2) Make the store inviting. Most of the hobby stores I have been to are disorganized, crowded, confusing, and generally uninviting for most people. Clearly separate the various departments, make sure the lighting is good, and have displays to catch the eye. This philosophy works for super markets - why won't it work for LHS?
3) Have a display layout that customers can operate, and do similar for other hobbies. Perhaps you can draw in customers who just want to come in to check out the display, and they decide to buy something. Or perhaps they come in to buy something for their RC car, and their kid becomes captivated by the HO layout. Take the Cabella's approach - make it appealing to simply browse and have fun!
4) Friendly staff. I quit going to one store because the owner was a bit of a jerk. I don't care how much you know, If you are a jerk to me and act like you don't want my business, I won't be back.
5) Make sure the basic items are in stock!!! there is nothing more frustrating than going over to the paint rack, and seeing half the paint colors sold out - including the most popular colors. I can't emphasize this point enough. Sometimes I need one more bag of green ground foam, and I drive across town thinking it should always be in stock only to find out they are sold out, and have been sold out for MONTHS.
6) Location. Is it me, or are most LHS extremely out of the way or hard to find? I am not saying they need to be on the prime corner in town, but at least put them near a residential area and in a location where some proper signs or window displays could bring in foot traffic.
7) Internet. I don't think a store needs to emphasize internet sales - but a lot of customers like to check out a store's website before visiting, or even calling. The website need to be easy to navigate, clearly list what is normally in stock and what services they have, and list a few items that are on special.

Personally, I don't think the LHS is a dead business. If done correctly, I truly think it could be a money-maker - provided the owner is willing to adapt and put forth the effort. What do you think?

When scratchbuilding or kitbashing large structures, plain sheet styrene can be a useful material. I buy mine from a plastics supplier (check the Yellow Pages) in 4'x8' sheets, and find the .060" thickness to be the most useful. Not only is it thick enough to be mostly self-supporting for small and medium-size projects, but it's also useful as bracing for really large structures, and much cheaper than using strip styrene from the hobby shop. Simply cut it in strips of a suitable width and cement it, at right angles, to the interior or the walls or roof.

For cutting from the large sheet, I place it on the floor of the layout room, then use an 8' metal straightedge and a utility knife. The latter is easier to control than an X-Acto knife, and the blades are cheaper, too. I use lacquer thinner as a cement for all of my styrene projects, as it's cheap and readily available. Any good solvent-type cement will work, though, if you've got money to burn.

Here are a few examples, all from Dunnville on my layout. Most of you have seen these structures before, so these are a "peek behind the scenes".

The first is the P&M Languay Pump & Compressor factory, seen here in an older photo:

   

Kitbashed from a pair of Walthers Waterfront Warehouse kits, here it is removed from the layout - most of the modelled structure is at track level, but one visible end fronts onto a street, one storey below grade:

   

While it appears to be rectangular when in place on the layout, it's actually a trapezoid:

   

Here's the rear of the structure, which abuts the wall/backdrop:

   

Interior bracing is merely a series of partition walls, all made from .060" sheet styrene. I added a few extra pieces of sheet to prevent skewing of the walls during construction:

   

The roof has no internal bracing - the semi-scatchbuilt cupola-style skylight serves for that purpose.

The railroad's main station, combined with a Post Office wing on one end and an express building on the other, sits across the sidestreet from Languay's:

   

Mostly scratchbuilt from .060" sheet styrene, the windows are modified left-overs from the Languay building. Like Languay's, the structure is trapezoidal in shape, and has street-level ends (it occupies a city block) which can be seen here:

   

The part jutting up into the air is the underside of the platform, permanently attached to the structure. Here are a couple of interior views, showing both interior partitions and a gridwork of 1" wide strips of .060" strips - they not only support the roof, but also add rigidity to the entire structure:

   

   

Next along the tracks, and across Walnut Street, is National Grocers Warehouse. Built mostly from Design Preservation modular walls, it's meant to represent a structure that has grown over the years, with slightly different architectural styles. The odd shape was necessary to cram it into the oddly-shaped real estate which was available:

   

Here's the foreground section removed from the layout, showing the back wall, curved to match the elevated right-of-way which passes behind the building. The styrene blocks cemented to the upper area of the curved wall are locators for a pair of overhead walkways connecting this section to the newer annex across the tracks:

   

And a couple views of the interior. Again, the roof-supporting grid keeps the structure's walls aligned:

   

   

Here's a look at the newer annex with the older section out of the way, with the blocks for the overhead walkways also visible:

   

And a look at the interior. This one also has a street-level area, which faces the Express wing of the station, across the street:

   

   

Here's the building lot, minus the buildings. The wooden blocks sticking up above the layout framework are locators for the structures, ensuring that the proper distance from the tracks is maintained:

   

And finally, a quick glimpse of the overhead walkways. This one used a roof from the carshops in Lowbanks, with the visible wall constructed from some Evergreen board and batten siding:

   

The unseen rear is plain .060" styrene:

   

Here's the other walkway, made from plain .060" sheet, with a roof from the Kibri crane used at the Dunnville team track:

   

I hope that this little behind the scenes look has been informative.

Wayne

I was just reading Garys thread and noticed how he kept complaining about how dark his ballast was. (I'm just poking fun at'cha Gary!) I've always modeled black 'cause that's what I remember in Flagstaff as a kid. So as I'm panning around looking at aerial images of the Flagstaff area, the first thing I notice is that... the ballast is no longer black.

The next thing I notice is some really dark discoloration of the ballast in specific places. Some of them within 1/4 mile of each other. It seems, though, that there is always a little white box right next to the tracks where the discoloration can be found.
What's the deal? Anybody got a clue?

This last challenge we had was by far one of the most successful ever. And that is including everything we've done since starting our old forum back in 2000. it seems that bashing and scratchbuild challenges are in good favor with most modeler.

Now the question I have for you all is, what next? We are thinking of keeping the same theme of building something out of something else, but this time with structures. The last time we did a structure challenge, we had one in three parts, bashing, scratchbuild and kit build. This time we're thinking in terms of combining all three in one challenge. That is, build a structure, be it from scratch, from spare parts, bashing a few kits together, or just taking a kit as-is and adding your own touches to it. How does that sound? Like in the previous challenge, we can allow everyone to enter as many structures as they want, with no limit on size or scale. We would start the challenge around the middle of May and run it until Sept. 1. That should be plenty of time to get in some vacation time, keep the lawn mowed, get in some fishing time and still get a couple of structures built.

You comments and/or suggestions are solicited and welcome.

Hi all;

Finally getting around to starting work on my HO layout (first one in about 15 years) and am looking for input on this potential plan. The layout footprint is an existing 4 ft x 20 ft section of L-girder benchwork that has access on all four sides.

I'm a die hard fan of short line and industrial railroads - the smaller/shorter the better - and am constantly on the lookout for very small operations that can be reasonably modeled. As a former railroad employee - prototype operation is the main purpose of any layout I build and the layout must have good switching potential. My favorite era is the mid 1970's to mid 1980's when the IPD Short Line box cars were every where and graffiti and "paint-outs" were pretty much non-existent. My motive power will be the GE 45/50 ton locomotive (my favorite of all locomotives) and perfect for a small short line or switching operation.

One of several such very short operations that I've found is the Lapeer Industrial Railroad (LIRR) in Lapeer, Michigan (owned by the Adrian & Blissfield Railroad). The prototype operation couldn't be much simpler. Just 1.34 miles of an abandoned class I line, preserved to provide service to a couple of customers.

Here's a link to a Google Map of the LIRR in Lapeer, MI: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s...43259&z=15. The LIRR branches off southward by the "Lapeer Amtrak" station on the map. If you look closely in the satelitte view, you can see the LIRR's GE 65 ton sitting on the spur next to the large grain bin.

One feature of this line that caught my eye is how the spur serving Lapeer Grain is arranged on a sharp curve next to the LIRR's connecting track with the CN (former GTW). Soooooooooo - taking out my certified modelers license, I added a couple of industries and tracks - this is what I've come up with:

   

You'll notice right off that rather than use the entire available space - I have blocked off what will be the back portion of the layout space with a 24 inch high backdrop and will use the back area for "off-line" freight car storage and a workbench area. That will allow me to clean off my desk and make SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed) happy.

The real LIRR has no run-around track, nor does it require one. The second industry on the real LIRR is located near the end of the line and switches from the same direction as Lapeer Grain. To increase operating potential, I added the siding, the team track/lumber yard spur and a second industry at the end of the line. This arrangement requires switching the industries from both directions and adds more interest to operations. Aerial views of the LIRR indicate there are at least two other large industries along the existing track, but are no longer rail served - so my addition of a couple more industries is believable, even if one of them faces the wrong direction.

I have no idea what the second industry on the real LIRR is, but aerial photos show tank cars spotted at the building. Not sure what my two industries at the end of the "main line" will be, but whatever they end up being, one or both of them will receive a lot of 50 foot box cars!

I probably won't call this layout the Lapeer Industrial Railroad (it didn't exist in my modeling era), nor base it in Michigan, so ultimately it will be freelance, but based on a prototype.

Some notes about the track plan and operation:
1) The switch on the CN/GTW main line (upper left corner) is strictly for looks as is the connecting "main track". I'll probably have a dummy connecting line locomotive and a few cars "passing by" for scenic effect.
2) The dashed line (lower left corner) is the roadbed where the line used to cross the CN/GTW. It will still have some ballast and a few ties buried in it.
3) The interchange track can hold 4 or 5 - 50 foot cars and like a prototype operation of this kind, daily interchange would be any where from 1 to 5 cars at a time. Thus, not every industry would necessarily be switched every day.
4) As on a prototype railroad, each industry will have specific spots for various inbound/outbound cars, often requiring some cars to be re-spotted while others are placed or pulled.
5) Operation will probably be the tried and true car-cards, although I do have a computer switch list generating program that I may use - if I can get it to work right!

I am working on a plan that would use both sides of the benchwork for a short line railroad based on the now abandoned Warrenton Railroad. By increasing one end of the benchwork to 5 feet in width and having a 24 inch radius turn back - it would give me a 'U' shape main line run with the interchange at Warren Plains on one side and the town of Warrenton on the other. But since I'm getting eager to get something up and running that can reach a completed look in a short time, I may just go with this plan.

Appreciate your thoughts and input.

Ed

Here's a link to a really great story re: the Heartland Corridor NS is currently working on:
<!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.roanoke.com">www.roanoke.com</a><!-- w -->. Hope you all enjoy it!!! (Don't mind the errors in word arrangement or spelling.)

When did the first walk-around model train controls come out? I like reading older issues of model railroader, and I have noticed at some point between 1970 and about 1980, the style of layout began to change. Layouts slowly evolved from a more rectangular with access holes shape, to an around-the-walls philosophy. Track plans evolved from a series of interconnected and overlapping loops to a linear style that is more common today. Layouts also got bigger. I used to think that was because houses got larger, people got more disposable income, more ready-to-run items meant lest time in the workshop, or a bigger emphasis on realistic operations. But looking at Gary's layout something dawned on me -

That style of layout would be pretty darned inconvenient without walk-around controls!

When did walk-around controls become readily available? Was this a main contributor in the change in layout style? I am sure people made their own hand-held rheostat controls fairly early on. But there was no "memory", so there would still need to be a long wire. When were the first commercial hand held controls available? I can't imagine they would have been made before transistorized throttles became available - mid 1960s?