Cane River and Winnfield Rock.

[danielb]

Photo update time; I planted some trees and added a bit of detritus for character.



Does it stand up to the close up test though? I think it does, what are your thoughts?

[danielb]

It's been a while but I've actually got something done today. Nothing interesting, just cut the back scenes to size and started work on a cassette. Wiring and decoder fitting later, so should have some interesting photos up this evening.

[Tyson Rayles]

The ground covers are looking good.

[danielb]

Cheers Mike. That means a lot coming from you.

I checked my emails today to find I have won an eBay bid I'd forgotten about. An atlas GP-15 in BN cascade green should be on it's way to Cane River shortly.

[danielb]

Spent my lunch break adding more weathering to two of my locos, still a ways to go yet, but they are getting there.

CSX 18


BNSF 9782


Any suggestions?

[danielb]

Cane River has a new road switcher - nothing like a bit of cascade green!

[danielb]

Burlington Northern No. 1384 idles in the lumber yard between duties...

[danielb]

Today I spent the afternoon painting the back scene. Needs more work but is basically done. Need to add more clouds and add washes to fade it out a little.

Anyway, here it is:

[faraway]

The painted trees are well done. They match the real trees very good. It gives the right feeling of depth. The high lights on the solos are great. They look 3-dimensional.

[danielb]

So, did a little more on the backscene today, as well as working on the roof of the warehouse, cutting more wood for the lumber yard, base coating the barrel shredder, and a few more tin jobs.

Good news is that I have been given an old wooden frame which - when shortened, will make a full set of legs for the layout. Perfect.

So, photo time:

Grain Elevator


Scrap heap.


Details of the bayou.

[Tyson Rayles]

Looks nice. What brand and code of track is that?

[danielb]

Cheers Mike.

The track is Peco Code 55. I've been considering Micro Engineering for my next layout but I've got enough Peco track to do most if not all of it anyway, so no point buying more if I don't have to!

[Tyson Rayles]

That's the same track that I use. I've found it to be very durable and reliable.

[danielb]

As there were only 3 weekends left before TVNAM, this long weekend saw a lot of work done on the layout, though most of that was wiring and structural work.

Wiring needs connecting up tonight, and then I plan on spending the evening playing trains. This weekend coming will see the legs and lighting rig finished off.

Between then and now, I'll be working on whatever small project takes my fancy on that day.

For example, last week I scratchbuilt a scrap baler for the scrap yard:


The weekend's work now has the layout looking like this:


Though I did misjudge the length of the screws I used and ended up doing this:


Oops.

Time to get a little creative in disguising it - I started working on scratchbuilding a water tower for the lumber yard - I figure there's some sort of sawing machinery that needs to be kept cool. I have no idea if that's plausible but it'll hopefully look cool so I don't really care! Here it is so far just hanging in place by the end of the screw it's designed to disguise:


It's made from the lid of a Pritt Stick cut in half, plus a load of split and broken balsa that came off my old layout, cut into strips and recycled. Waste not, want not! The pipes are from cotton buds - Q-tips to you yanks! I get pots of them from the £1 shop as they are great for applying weathering powders, and afterwards the plastic sticks see use as pipes, poles, oil drums, etc:


Good times!

It would seem as well that my fleet of motive power and stock is going to grow considerably at TVNAM. I'm currently lined up to get 9 locos and about 30 freight cars at bargain prices, so expect to see a couple of unscheduled locos appearing on the layout on the day.

I'll keep it as a surprise for those who are attending! Photos taken on the day will of course be posted up here for those who can't make it.

[danielb]

Well, I meant to spend the evening finishing off the wiring and testing the layout, but I've got an annoying case of man flu, and by the time I'd gotten home from work I just wasn't in the mood to be diving into anything massive.

As such, I just chilled in bed, watched some TV and started fitting my rolling stock with Kato 11-702 knuckle couplers. For the price these things are great - sure, you have to use an uncoupling tool to uncouple them when switching as they aren't capable of automatic uncoupling.

But considering I never intended to use uncoupling magnets anyway, this doesn't bother me at all. Plus they were incredibly cheap compared to the alternatives - £12 delivered for 50 pairs from PlazaJapan.

They are designed as drop in replacements for Rapido couplers, and - whilst they don't seem to fit EVERY coupler pocket, I've so far managed to convert about 20 freight cars and only had 2 where I had to swap the trucks as the couplers wouldn't fit.

I've checked them with Microtrains couplers too and they seem to be perfectly compatible.

For a cheap alternative to Rapido couplers, they definitely get my recommendation.