Freelance 2014-2

[Brakie]

Push the limits -- heck, add as much track as you think you can get away with. A railroad yard has a lot of track, as do important junctions, as do large industrial areas. Mountain passes have track looping around, back on itself, over itself. Add spots wherever you can, for instance, on a dual-use track, main in one session, spur in another, especially where something like a lifting panel is involved. Use things like crossings as scenic features.
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I avoid the dumped spaghetti bowl time saver ISL simply because less is better and it leaves room for scenery which can make or break the ISL.

A trailer lot,trucks,a yard tractor moving or spotting a trailer, a road crossing,gates,fences etc makes the ISL believable.

[wsor4490uk]

Reinhard

I've been following this thread with interest as I'm just about to start my Florida Highland shortline layout in my shed
I couldn't agree more . Less is more in my eyes too.

Somehow layouts cramped with track look toy trainish to me.
There seemed to be a tendency in the old days to fill every available inch of plywood with track and run it with brightly coloured non weathered trains .

I've already removed a couple of turnout from my first plan including removing one complete industry

From what I've seen of the States and that's not much, everywhere I'm interested in modelling, always seems to be very spaced out. The building not the people

Freelancing does also seem to be the way forward too, nobody can say that's right or more usually that's wrong....

[jwb]

The only thing that concerns me here is that the 'less is more" guys seem to have a chip on their shoulders. "Get over it. . ."??? Wow, Chris.

[Mike Kieran]

Chip on their shoulder? Why? I don't begrudge large layouts. If the layout owner is happy with his/her layout, then I'm happy for them. I've been to some great layouts that are amazing to see. I don't agree with everything that Lance Mindheim says, but I do share some of his views, even before he became bigger in the model railroading scene. I'm actually a bigger fan of Sir Ian Rice (to bestow "honorary knighthood" on a Brit is big coming from an Irish Catholic such as myself).

Me personally, I am a big fan of short lines. I want to run my GE 45 tonner with a short freight and push back to the interchange caboose first. That's what I like to see. I like track plans without runarounds because most prototypical runarounds are at least a 1/4 mile long, which would be 15 feet in HO Scale. Short lines are easier to model, especially in ISL form. I like my small track plan because it will be easier to build in a shorter lifetime and it won't take up too much of my time when it's built. I've been to some train layouts that are more time consuming to maintain (keeping dust off the layout, track maintenance, repairs, rolling stock, staging, etc.).

I don't want to consume that large a portion of my time with the layout, especially since my wife (who I absolutely love being with) and I want to one day start a family and I like to couch potato with my wife every night while watching The Big Bang Theory (yes, I'm aware that I am too sugary sweet for some of you).

There's room for everybody in this hobby.

[jwb]

You weren't the guy I was thinking about, Mike. There are others who seem to want to pick fights about something said weeks ago on another forum. "Get over it."

[Mike Kieran]

This hobby is about having fun. If someone wants to pick a fight with one of us, no big woop. I have the same amount of money in my pocket if people agree or disagree with me. This is why I still have a full head of hair at 48 years old and low blood pressure.

[Ralph]

I have the low blood pressure but I blame my hair loss on my mother's side of the family. Seriously, I think there is enough room here for people who like the "Munsters" AND the "Addams Family"...Oh wait...that's another discussion, but you get my drift.

[Mike Kieran]

Don't worry Ralph, you're a sexy beast. I just wouldn't cover my head with a Mr. Met hat. It's funny that you mentioned the Munsters / Adams Family because Fred Gwynn (Herman Munster) and Al Lewis (Grandpa) hated each other in real life.

I can honestly say that Fred Gwynn was an absolute gentleman and Al Lewis was bat-crap crazy after meeting the two of them in The Village by NYU. Al Lewis had an Italian Restaurant named Grandpa's (ironic, because he was Jewish, not Italian) and Fred Gwynn could be seen walking his dog around the neighborhood where they lived near to each other.

[wsor4490uk]

Reinhard

Here are a few photos of the locos I'm going to use.

   

   

   

   

It still needs fading and weathering but it has already been refitted with Stuart/Kato motor and trucks so I have a really slow smooth running loco

[Brakie]

This hobby is about having fun. If someone wants to pick a fight with one of us, no big woop. I have the same amount of money in my pocket if people agree or disagree with me. This is why I still have a full head of hair at 48 years old and low blood pressure.

Absolutely..I'm probably a minimalist when it comes to designing a small ISL but,I try to pack as much switching as I can while staying away from the spilled spaghetti bowl look.

I'm sure my way of designing a ISL may be foreign to many but in the end we are enjoying the hobby in our own way.

This is one of my many favorite(including yours) ISLs on you tube.
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_x7e7dPbTs">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_x7e7dPbTs</a><!-- m -->

[wsor4490uk]

The CF7 started life as a Pioneer Valley unit,
The lettering was removed using T-Cut and Highball Graphics produced some new decals for me

   

   

   

They will also work with these two

   

[Ralph]

Don't worry Ralph, you're a sexy beast. I just wouldn't cover my head with a Mr. Met hat. It's funny that you mentioned the Munsters / Adams Family because Fred Gwynn (Herman Munster) and Al Lewis (Grandpa) hated each other in real life.

I can honestly say that Fred Gwynn was an absolute gentleman and Al Lewis was bat-crap crazy after meeting the two of them in The Village by NYU. Al Lewis had an Italian Restaurant named Grandpa's (ironic, because he was Jewish, not Italian) and Fred Gwynn could be seen walking his dog around the neighborhood where they lived near to each other.

HA!!! Look what my wife got me for my birthday last summer!



I always thought Ed Gwynn was a class act. Loved him in "My Cousin Vinny". How cool is it that you met them both?

[Ralph]

Chris...nice loco.

[faraway]

Reinhard
Here are a few photos of the locos I'm going to use.
.....

Chris, I see. You want to talk Florida CF7. I am ready

Somehow grew a new shoe box over night.... needs to be integrated in the ground cover soon.

My engines have the old Athearn trucks but got Kato motors like yours. The PCB was replaced and LEDs instead of bulbs installed.

[Mike Kieran]

Is this getting into a CF7 waving contest? I would yell show us your CF7s, but someone might think that it's a bunch of science nerds on Spring Break.