Jeffrey's Trackside Diner, May 2017! ALL are welcome, ALL ABOARD!

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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Steve

Interesting question. I have not yet built what I would really consider a proper layout. But IF I were to build a next layout after the upcoming one it would be the civil war era. I think that would be so fascinating because the Confederates were the first to really use the trains to move in mass their troops. It would be interesting to build a display of an actual battle scene with troops arriving via train… I think it would also be more challenging simply because the models are not out there for this era. So a lot of stuff would have to be scratch built…

YGW

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I am building a new layout, and for all practical purposes I have started over. New house. The era is the same (modern, 1975 to present) and the rolling stock is the same. The only change in resources is a larger room, much larger. Previous layout in a 12x13 spare bedroom; new layout in a spare 24x25 garage.

Robert

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Afternoon Diners,

Although I haven’t started my current 2x4 layout. I wished on a way larger one when or if that happens. (When I move out?) I have several N Scale middle size and room size layout designs and one in HO.

In N Scale I have collected freight cars from 1950s thru 2006. Several locomotives in the 1970s-2006. I basically focused on Conrail in 1987-1999, UP/BNSF 1998-2007, Amtrak 1971-present, New York Central 1956-1967 (it works with ATSF, UP) Chessie System 1978-1984?? Southern Pacific 1980s-1996 (it works with ATSF, BN)

But I mainly want to model the 1990s because you could model almost any or all railroads before the mergers. Like AMTK, ATSF, BN, BNSF, CR, SP, UP. Probably like CNW, NS, CSX, KCS if I was more interested in them.

In HO Scale just a simple Southern Pacific in the 1990s with a mix Amtrak Superliners I & II in Phase III and IV with F40 and 8-40BHW.

If I was I was going to restart again I’ll just one railroad, but I like them all. But I do have favorites. I don’t know on what railroad (CR, SP, BNSF, UP). The one railroad that will stay is Amtrak.

24

Hello fellow diners,

First time visit to this friendly diner! Just dropped by to say hello from Greece.

With respect to Steve’s question, i would start over, same theme/prototype, different knowledge/experience.

Yannis

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[:-^]

[#welcome]to the Diner Yannis, all are welcome here (if you behave).

Read the rules as Br. Otte (steven) has put out for the Moderators to follow. NO Politics, NO Religion, No Weapons, or anything else that could get into heated arguments etc.

Have never been to Greece or the Greek Islands, but have visited too many Greek Restaraunts and too often as well. Love the food.

There are are a great bunch of Guys here and the odd time a Lady as well. Lots of great information and answers to questions when you get stuck on something.

Tell us about yourself and your layout and hopes for the future.

Someone is usually here 24/7 as we have a world wide Gang that frequents the Diner.

Best Wishes,

Johnboy out…

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Good afternoon.

Yannis … Welcome to the Diner. … Before we moved to Kentucky, my wife and I were living in Michigan where there are many Greek immigrants. Greek Town in Detorit is famous for its many Greek restaurants, and we developed a liking for Greek food. … In fact, we recently ate at two Greek restaurants in St. Augustine , Florida (America’s oldest city).

Steven … I like your question about possible changes if we could start over. Actually, I have started over a few times in the past. In the 1980’s, I did model the 1900’s era with a fictional railroad serving three communities named Hither, Thither, and Yon. I was inspired by John Allen’s layout as published in MR and other publications. However, it was in a Midwest setting instead of the mountains. The layout was dismantled because of moving to another house. There were some other moves until 2002 when I started my current layout which is a fictional division of the Burlington Route in 1962. My current layout has sectional construction so it can be relocated if we ever move again. … I can go into further detail in the days ahead.

Also, Steven … Please tell us more about your layout. It looks very interesting to me.

Happy Model Railroading

27

Hello All:

I haven’t stopped in for a while, but I have poked my head in the door to eavesdrop now and then.

My pension check arrived, so I think I’ll splurge while there’s still money in the till. How about a nice salad with blue cheese dressing to start? Glass of water with that. Then a nice Porterhouse, medium rare, with baked potato and a nice seasonal vegetable. Asparagus, maybe? Lots of butter & sour cream & black pepper for the potato. No salt, and no steak sauce. A good steak needs neither. And of course one nice tall cold Bass Ale (just one) when the steak is served. I’ll think about dessert later, if there’s room.

Ed wins the prize for the quiz, so get him whatever he wants and put it on my tab. Fortunately for me, he’s probably still full from his big meal on his visit to Cleveland, so it shouldn’t cost me much.

Then I’ll get down to business paying bills. There won’t be anything left by this time next week, and I’ll be back to Ramen noodles!

Ed, I can only sympathize with you on the loss of Cicero. Samson, my Husky cross, is going to be eleven years old this summer, which makes him about the equivalent of my own human age. There’s no telling how much time either of us has left. I do know it would be hard to lose him.

Angelo, Herrinchoker, Ulrich, and all those with health issues: BABY YOURSELVES! Take it easy and take your medicine and take the doctors’ advice.

I have been wrestling with the yard work, which is one excuse for not dropping in. I agree with Ray that a cordless electric mower is a great option for a moderate city lot. They are easy to start, quiet, and dependable. My Toro 20" cordless is showing its age though, and is probably due for replacement. I had a devil of a time with the first and second cuts this year, and bought a new blade. But it just seems to be tired and showing its age. I’m curious about your exprerience with the new Ego

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Not exactly. Shortly after I met my now-wife, I drew up an HO scale plan for my railroad that would have fit in her garage. It was published in the September 2008 MR. However, since we moved to a house with a basement in Milwaukee after getting married, it was never built as drawn. All the prototype information described in that article still fits my current layout, though.

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Dinner time !

Yannis - So glad you dropped in. Pull up a chair and stay awhile ! Flo get him his favorite drink please. I will cover the tab.

ACY - I didnt think about that but that is very true. I have heard of rivers silting in…That is true ! A lion can pretty much eat anything he wants : ) anyway he wants !

Lion - Spaeking of Lions , here kitty kitty… Where are you…?

UP831 - So gald to see you again! Please share some photos of teh grand canyon. It is on my bucket list to visit…

TTYL

YGW

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Good Day, Diners!

I thought I’d better jump in here before I fall too far behind!

Recent days have been more conducive to indoor activities here in NE Ohio, weather-wise. The possiblity of snow is forecast for the weekend. No matter— I have my hobby and I also have a huge project I’m tackling to produce a slide show DVD commemorating the history of the GE plant that I retired from last fall. The plant was built in 1932 and I have thousands of photographs that I have scanned regarding the plant’s history. GE is finally closing the operation toward the end of this year and managers have asked me to put together this memento to be made available to current employees and retirees. I really have to keep my nose to the grindstone in order to finish it in time!

Thanks for the seamless move of the Diner, Ulrich. I recall being in the Union Pacific’s headquarters in Omaha back in 1966. There was a very nice museum there showing a great number of artifacts related to the Great Linking of the Seas by Rail.

Happy Birthday to Amtrak, too! I recall being in Cleveland Union terminal as the last Penn-central passenger trains departed for the last time. Amtrak never used CUT and even skipped Cleveland completely for the first few months.

Ken, you can update JMRI by going to the download page here:

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/download/index.shtml

Before you do, I suggest you make sure you have the latest version of Java on your machine:

https://java.com/en/download/

I’ll have to get back to you on the settings for speed table CVs on the QSI/BLI locos. If you can not access CV 5 & 6 you could possibly use the speed tables instead?

YGW, the GAF Stormguard runs about $70 for 200 s/f. They have a mineral coated product called WeatherWatch that is $50 for 150 s/f. I’m glad to help with the photos. Did you see

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Steve, Interesting question. I would keep the same era, the transition era, but I would start my plans with the mountains instead of a yard. Of course everyone wants 30" curves unless they can have 40" curves.

I am not sure how much expansion I will need from my current 2x7 to get adequate elevation for bridges. Yes, I know how to calculated grade, but turnouts and industries interfere with a straight line up to the top of the mountain, so to speak.

A double deck layout doesn’t appeal to me at all. I’m watching Popp on MVRP build the Canadian Canyons and while it’s interesting in a carpentry and design sense, I wouldn’t want it.

YGW careful on the roof. I used to listen to a financial advisor on the Internet who was doing something on his roof of his McMansion and slipped. The guy was going to get married, had a successful business and more money than all of us combined and it was over in a couple seconds.

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HOBBY BARN

Deuxième Partie

Additional photos of YGW’s Hobby Barn that should have been included in the earlier post.

Hobby Barn with finished section of siding.

That’s the update for now, folks.

Submitted in care of YGW—

Ed

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Yannis,

Welcome to the Diner, ask questions, enjoy.

herrinchoker ( a name given by Nova Scotians to commercial fishermen, usta be one, still am-sorta)

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It actually started out as a project associated with my work. There were a bunch offered and didn’t find that I liked any of them. I started exploring and found the diorama. I suggested and it was accepted. The first time (4 years ago) it took probably 8 hours over two days. (Lots of items needing cleaned, fixed, rearranged, etc.) It then evovled into a volunteer project on my own. The last time (2 years ago) it was about 6 hours on one day (cleaning) and then about an hour on another as I purchased and donated a few passenger cars as the main engine is a passenger engine and it allowed me to move the appropriate cars to the yard making it look even better (at least to me).

Hobby Front: Didn’t get much done on the layout. Got the sand tower a bit further along. Got the leg that snapped off reattached and got the nozzles glued on as well as the hoses bent to the needed shape. (Had some pieces bent preliminarily bent but got them bent to final shapes.) Got the damaged coaling tower closer to working order. (The repaired piece needs a bit of paint.) Also got a bunch more tree armatures made. I also have gotten three of the four wreathes that I forgot I had dismantled. (I think I should have plenty of tree armatures.)

I hope to get the coal hoppers worked on this evening as well. Maybe also get to my combo box car stirrup steps as well.

35

Steve, over the past 60 years I’ve probably already gone through more changes than anybody has a right to. My dad and I started out with Lionel, but by my teens I had decided HO was the way to go because it was more prototypical, had a greater variety of available equipment at affordable prices, and took up less space unless very unconvincing tinplate curves were employed. Dad stuck with Lionel, and I still keep quite a bit of his collection for sentimental reasons.

As I was growing up in Ohio in the 1950’s, the B&O and PRR were closest to my home, but I often saw trains of the AC&Y, NKP, and Erie. The NYC, Buffalo Creek & Gauley, Bellefonte Central, East Broad Top, and other favorites were encountered on family vacations. As a result, those are the roads I have favored through most of my model railroad experience, and my favorite era has always been the time of my childhood. As I got older, I traveled coast to coast and lived for various amounts of time in North Carolina, Chicago, Arizona, and various locations in the DC/VA/MD area.

Over time, I have occasionally bought and/or built models representing the Southern, North Western, Northern Pacific, Union Pacific, Southern Pacific, Bessemer, N&W, C&O, Burlington, as well as various shortlines and regionals that have piqued my interest. I’ve even thought about traction. If I did that, it would be the Interurbans of Northern Ohio in the 1920’s: Lake Shore Electric, Northern Ohio Traction & Light, and Cleveland & Southwestern. Narrow gauge has an undeniable appeal, and I’ve also considered other eras. Nevertheless, I keep coming back to the railroads of my youth, and I’m likely to stick with that even though I still like to keep some models that don’t quite fit. You are free to sue me for that. Just try it.

If I were to change, I would probably sort through the collection and keep my favorite HO items for display cases. The rest would be sold or traded to get a smaller amount of

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YGW,

Really nice looking hobby barn. Question: is the ramp on the downhill side next to the window for the cow??

herrinchoker

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Good evening all.

Janie - A nice slice of apple pie with a scoop (or two[;)]) of ice cream, and a Coke please. Thanks.

Steve - I like the question! So many choices…

If I had space, time, and money, I would go with a slightly different layout. It would still be same era and locale, but would include much more of a mainline run, allowing longer(ish) trains, and 89’ cars. (Passenger, autorack, and intermodal.) I would also include more of the class 1 line that my Proto-freelanced regional interchanges with. (The passenger trains would be prototypical length, others still “layout length” sized, but much longer than current.)

For a drastically different, a former Class 1, in detail, with enough room to model full length trains on it. (But, in a “what if” in the sense that it was never bought out and merged away.) (EDIT - I see my iPad deleted part of that last sentence… [#oops])

However, once our upcoming (1 year(ish) out) move occurs, the new layout will only be slightly larger, allowing a few larger (89’) cars, but not prototypical length passenger trains. Sacrafices need to be made somewhere, and it’s either go to N-scale, or lose out on prototypical length pax trains…

YGW - Nice progress! Also, glad you were able to keep your cool during the w**k issue.

Ken - Make a decision on the sound value?

Ulrich - Hope all is well.

Ed - You can keep all the snow over in Ohio, Thank you!

EDIT - Yannis - [#welcome] To the diner! (And the forums!)

Hello to any I have missed.

Weather - Another tornado* yesterday, destroyed a friends home, by sending a huge sycamore (twisted and snapped at the base) clear through from the roof on the second floor to the floor of the first floor. No one (the wife was home at the time) was injured though, thankfully. (Although they are afraid they lost a kitty.) Cooler, (50ish) but wet today, and the rest of the week. (50’s for h

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First time in the Diner, I must say the atmosphere is extremely friendly! Glad to have visited! I ll bring some Greek food next time around to share.

YGW, thanks for the drink! Next round on me.

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I have to share some news with you. I am very happy to announce that our club (Barrie Allandale Railroad Modellers) has made some significant progress in finding a new location.

We have been stuck in the back of a wood working shop for a few years and the conditions are terrible. The first limitation is that the room is a whole big whopping 350 sq. ft.! Yup, 22’ x 16’ with a small storage area off to one side. When the portable layout is set up there is barely three feet of aisle space around it. The second limitation is the sawdust and paint fumes from the wood working operation. We could hardly breathe at the meeting on Tuesday night from the paint fumes, and the dust is incredible. Perhaps the biggest problem with the current space is that prospective club members usually take one look at it and say “Thanks, but no thanks”.

Tonight we were actually reading a real bonafide leasing contract for a larger space (not huge but certainly an improvement) at a price we can afford! Next Tuesday we hope to be able to vote on making the move. If all goes well we will be moved by July! Please, everybody, cross your fingers!!!

Cheers all!

Dave

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Good morning, all! To make our newest Diner denizen, Yannis, feel at home, Chef Ryan has whipped up a batch of spanakopita as today’s special. Dig in!

And [#welcome] Yannis!