Of course I did! Did you think I’m as dumb as I look? [;)]
Truthfully, I didn’t even see the flag, let alone the stars.
Jim
Southwest****Chief - I really liked how you layed out your town. Nice collection. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Jim,
I purchased the hedges from Scenic Express. Here is a link. It looks like the colors may have changed though as there used to be yellow.
The hedges come fully assembled. All you have to do is cut it to size and glue it on the layout. Couldn’t be easier.
[#ditto] and what a great web-site also !! That video clip is really neat too !!
Thanks, John
Southwest Chief,
Wow!! Your Garden RR really grabs the sights and sounds of SW Colorado. What type of locomotive was in the video that made the true to life steam whistle sounds? Loved the sounds of the Galloping Goose as the train passed by.
Thanks [:I]
Heh, yeah with all this talk of Plasticville I forgot about the outdoor layout.
For the cabride video, I used an LGB Mogul pushing a gondola camera car. The Mogul is battery powered using Airwire control. The sound is by Phoenix, using a Big Sound 2K2 board with the file DRGW. Goose #5 is similarly operated, but uses a Phoenix Big Sound P5 board, and the file Goose.
I really like looking at the photos of the layouts using the Plasticville pieces. It really does look like you are going back in time to see what train sets from the 50s used to look like. I love realistic layouts as well, but these look more like what Lionel was really “designed” for. A “kid” playing with his toy trains.[;)] I have somewhere around 10-12 Plasticville pieces, and some MARX tin stuff, that I REALLY want to set up right now, so I can have that “50’s feel”!! However, it will probably wait until it gets a bit cooler outside, as I must take advantage of whats left of the warm weather to get things done!
Jim
Ok Southwest Chief what are you and the other guys using for streets on your layouts? I am ready for some streets but dont know what to use.
Southwest, I have done that gondola camera car trick, too. [8D] Have you found the Phoenix sound system to hold up good in rain and snow? Here is a video of our garden rr. The rains have really pounded it this year, washing the ballast away from the roadbed.
I’m using streets intended for HO scale. I run mostly O-27 equipment and since Plasticville is scaled for use with both O and S scales I’ve found these streets work fine for me.
The manufacturer was Mini Highways. Unfortunately I’m not sure if they are around anymore as the listings on Walthers is not too promising, with everything out of stock and unknown when they’ll be back. Here’s the link: Mini Highways
My Uncle, who also has an O scale layout, uses Moondog Express streets and they work well too. I could not find a link for these streets but using Google this is the best I could find: Moondog Express
I’m not brave enough to test my sound and RC systems in the rain. I doubt they would last long. I keep my locomotives in either the roundhouse or on the twin bridges under a tarp.
Everything, except the track comes inside over the winter. Occasionally we’ll take some trains outside to run in the snow, but not while it’s snowing.
Summer monsoon rains don’t do too much to the roadbed, but dirt splashes up on all the buildings. The winter snow eats away most of the roadbed. I don’t use any ballast (like the prototype) and simply refill and regrade the line every summer. It sounds like a lot of work, but results in smooth running and is not that bad. It usually takes a week or so to go from “hibernation” to up and running again…depending on any track damage the elk may have caused [banghead] Late spring tear down takes a good 2 weeks, as I like to clean all the rolling stock and buildings before they get put away.
That was a fun video to watch. It was neat to see a Colorado & Southern #6 running your train. My C&S #6 was the first LGB sound loco I ever got. I’ll never forget that LGB whistle and bell. She’s not in original paint, has a new sound system, and runs on batteries now but she’s still running strong. I renumbered her as 345. My other mogul, 315, was the power on the video train.
Most of my Plasticville & Marx pieces live on a plateau atop a mountain on one end of the layout. I think they look great all grouped together:
Your layouts all look great!
Jon 8D
Unfortunately, Moondog Express is no longer in business. I was fortunate enough to find an original set of their streets, unused, on Ebay last year. They’re made out of rubber and are heavy enough for temporary layouts (no gluing down required). I think Scenic Express also carries streets suitable for O.
Hi Matt,
Your layout is so neat with all those Plasticville buildings. The vehicles are so appropriate to give it a 1950’s look. I love the hedges too.
Here are 3 of the Plasticville on my layout.
dsmith - some nice pics of a nice layout, Dave. Love the micro-bus.
David nice pics. I like the fruit stand scene. Is that the new Frosty Bar?
Hi Matt,
The Frosty Bar is an old one. I found it in a box of old plasticville at a train show last year. It was missing all the stools so I made them out of golf tees.
The Farmers Market is a new one.
The Diner is old. I added a brick base to elevate the diner and make it look more permanent along with steps with a handrail and shrubs out in front.
Golf tees…what a clever idea.
SOTHWESTERN CHIEF, beauty of a layout KUDOs to you.
laz57