For my 600th Post, I wanted something special. Please share what you want to do for 2005.
Since getting started for the time in 30 years way back on Dec 18th or so I’ve
Cleaned out 13 years of packed garage, when wife said it couldn’t be done. [angel]
put up the old 4 x 8 on two sawhorses. Also have a two drawer stand for center board support.
Found old trains. (Found packed away in first wife’s old dresser) [:)]
Found old train track. ( Really hard, hadn’t seen that since 1994.) [:)]
Put up two loops of track, found out only 1 power supply still worked. Gee after 30 years of sitting, why should everything run well? [}:)] Bought two used ones at LHS. Yes honey, they were free. Bought EZ command DCC system. Tried it was free, but she found the receipt, so it was look how much money I saved. [:D]
Rolled my favorite engine right off track, table onto concrete. Concrete won. [}:)]
Met new old friend. He likes trains. He fixed 1 other old loco by cleaning and oiling so I had a running engine. [bow]
Found old Christmas village buildings, and put them, and batting up so I had a Christmas town. Also installed Christmas lights in a chain thing. The work perfect around the layout, in 1 day I had two trains, lights, and a villiage.
Santa comes and sets up two Thomas trains under the tree for 6 year old son. Santa and his helper Mrs. Claus, finish setting up trains and daughters computer at 3am. Santa tired. [|)] [|)]
During December and January trains cars have magically been showing up here. Something called Ebay. Yes honey they were free !
New projects.
1.Convert 4 x 8 into 14 x 8 with space between edge and track so trains don’t roll of table. By the way Christmas lights are staying so far, they keep trains from rolling off table as well as blink pretty.
2. Search thru 8000 books
Well we’ve bought another house to do-up and sell so we will be moving from here as soon as we’ve finished doing this one up.
The idea is to make money so in a few years we can have a train room the size I want with a house round it[:D]
So i’ll have to pull the layout down and move it, I bolted it together so hopefully it will be ok.[;)]
The next house has room in the garage too, no insulation or heating but it will do.
We will only be there 6-12 months. I just have to stay focused on the wee light at the end of the tunnel, BIG train room in the house.[:)][:)]
Build Phase II of my HO layout, a massive city scene similar to Art Fahie’s city of Amherst on his Niagara & Pearl Creek layout. The kitbashing of the very large structures involved requires about $1,000 with of kits from various manufacturers. I’ve already started purchasing and fabricating the buildings even though I’m still a couple of weeks away from completing the 12’ or so of the benchwork needed.
Got the basement cleaned out.
Got the decking up for the first room’s layout.
Put together the kato and two athearn kits.
This weekend:
Finally get the project car out of the garage (it’s been four years) and into the shop.
Clean out the garage, then move all the stuff from basement storage to garage to free up the rest of the basement for future layout.
Work with brother on building the new computer.
2005 Layout Work:
Continue work on my large metro area; had trouble deciding on a city, so decided to combine my two loves: comics and mrr. The buildings will be inspired by artwork of Gotham City, but still have prototypical functionality. Incorporate the HO batman figures I found on ebay (from Mattel’s Microverse line, discontinued) without turning the whole thing into a big toy.
Move the workbench from the dining room to the basement to satisfy the lady of the house. Take her out to dinner a few times to make up for months of train mess in our living area.
The Hogwart’s set is nearing the phase where my daughter can take over landscape structures and scenery. Hopefully by mid-march I can start my 11x11 layout. REally looking forward to it.
I’m working on my first layout. Started January 1, 2005. That’s official. I spend the 4 months preceeding that reading MR and everything on the web I could. I dreamed of layout and loco’s. I built my benchwork the first weekend of 2005. Spent the next couple weeks trannsferring a track plan to the track bed. Since then I have been full steam ahead…no pun intended. This weekend I will be blasting the upper and lower tunnels on the west end of my 8x4 Rocky Shores Rail Road (R.S.R.R.). In real terms this means I’ll be constructing the foam tunnel walls and installing them.
I started out with this layout following Dave Frary’s plan for the Cactus Valley RR. Immediately following the completion of the trackbed, I have gone into full customization mode. Because of errors in measurement and the fact that it is not exactly the same size I am now “capitalizing on opportunities” in my layout. The learning curve is huge, but I having lots of fun and find the whole process very relaxing.
Summation: 2005 will be spent bringing the Rocky Shores Rail Road to life. Sadly, I already have plans for expanding the layout in 2006! But ain’t that just thenature of the beast?
Trevor
“I swear some day I’ll get a really cool tag line.”
Well, I have quite a few things on the Block, and here’s what I know so far. Many things are sure to come up in the ARK’s future plans though.
Finni***he curve that I tore out last night. That should be done soon as soon as I get the Roadbed for it.
Re-ballast all the track. I had taken most of it out when i re did my industrial area.
3.Scratchbuild a large, and I mean large warehouse like building to be used as a a printing plant on the new industrial section.
4.Finnish new Scenery around new industrial area.
5.Put water in and scenery around my lake.
6.Paint a few rolling stock and Engines, this will happen anytime this year.
7.Start at least one and maybe two moduals to photograph new cars, engines, and buildings on in natural light
8.Scratchbuild a few peices of MoW equipment.
9.Add more details to the layout(On going all year long)
10.Weather buildings and rolling stock.
As I said, this may all change, it’s definately not set in stone or anything.
Well, I hate to admit this, but I’m considering dissassembling this layout and starting on another one. This time I will use Peco and/or Shinohara turnouts or maybe hand lay the turnouts. Will use either Atlas or MicroEngineering flex track. More main line running (the current layout is all switching). I may do a dual era thing, i.e. about 1960 and another set of equipment for the mid 70s. I have a fair amount of stuff from both eras already on hand. And I am trying to decide about going to the NMRA in Cincinnati. That’s easily $1000.00 or more that would go a long way toward locomotives and cars of either era. On the other hand, those layout tours sound great, the clinics are always informative, and it’s enjoyable to meet people you have only met on line or read about in the magazines in the past. I met David Barrow of Cat Mountain and Santa Fe fame at the 1998 NMRA, for example. Gotta decide on this one quickly before all the layout tours I want to go to are sold out.
I’ll be continuing to work on the scenery, get the Deer Creek yard to where I really want it, then start ballasting the track and incorporating an icing dock for refrigerator cars, installing a curved viaduct at the eastern end of Yuba Pass, and hopefully taking over the other half of the garage to build a staging yard and engine facilities (turntable and roundhouse). I’m planning on using a four-span through truss lift-out bridge section (crossing the American River) to get to the yard from the main layout. We’ll see–carpentry is not among my best skills. Oh yah–I need to re-motor my PFM L-131 2-8-8-2, but the drive train is so weird that I’ll probably have to have it done professionally. Don’t want to think of how much THAT baby’s going to cost!
Tom [:P][:P][:P]
I concluded at the end of last year that my current layout was just not adequate for my wants. So this year I’m planning on building a train room in my basement and as of right now all my efforts are planning a new layout. When Summer comes I’ll start dismantling the old layout and start on the new one provided the planning is done.
For 2005 I want to detail ALL my locomotives, get all my train detection circuits in with the target lighting working and be ready to start my scenery by 2006…Chuck
Finish scenery on existing 8x1 layout. Build another 4x1 module to extend it for exhibitions that will also be usable stand-alone as a micro-layout. Install reclaimed kitchen cabinets in train room with new worktop as a support for the layout (with storage cupboards underneath). Install more DCC decoders. Add a handheld throttle to the DCC setup (probably a Roco Lok-Maus, eyeing their start sets as a cost-effective way to get hold of one, unsure whether to get the cheapest one (£95) or pay the extra £50 for their very nice ICE 2 express set with sound). These are mainly in the order of being able to afford them or getting around to it…
Install a LocoBufferII and get DecoderPro up and running.
Build and install a 4-6 track staging area/yard.
Detail my SD40-2s.
7.Install automatic grade crossing controls so the crossing lights flash.
8.Replace the handful of low-end Lenz decoders with Digitrax or TCS.
Install at least 2 diesel engine sound decoders in F7s.
Install an under table, steam locomotive, first generation and second generation sound decoder system.
Almost forgot!
Give my website a facelift.!
A lot to do. I’ll accomplish most of it if time and funding remain at current levels.