Building an Overton Passenger Train – Rebuilding a Budget Steam Locomotive ?
There’s something special about bringing an old train back to life. In this project, we’re kicking off the build of a full Overton passenger train consist, starting with a budget-friendly steam locomotive that turned out to be much more of a project than expected.
What began as a quick repair quickly turned into a deep dive into decoder troubleshooting, wiring fixes, and future lighting upgrades. And honestly—that’s part of what makes model railroading so rewarding.
This is the start of a series that will cover everything from locomotive electronics to detailed passenger interiors.
Let’s get into it.

• Decoder problems
  
• Wiring that needed attention
  
• Some questionable previous work
  

• Installing passenger interiors
  
• Painting and detailing seats and walls
  
• Preparing cars for lighting
  
• Final assembly and detailing
  

• Fitting the interior components
  
• Making sure everything clears the trucks and couplers
  
• Preparing surfaces for paint
  

• Even illumination throughout the car
  
• Minimal wiring clutter
  
• Reliable electrical pickup
  
• Warm, realistic light color
  

HO Scale Berkshire Knitting Factory Receiving Warehouse Build Begins
Sometimes a project comes along that pushes you completely out of your comfort zone. This is one of those builds.
In this episode of Jack on Tracks, I start what might be one of the most ambitious structures I’ve ever attempted: a full cutaway factory building for the legendary West Island Model Railroad Club on Long Island — a club that has been around for almost 80 years. Being able to contribute something to a layout with that kind of history is both exciting and a little intimidating.
And of course… I decided not to take the easy route.

• Interior brick walls
  
• Custom doors and windows
  
• Interior lighting
  
• Structural roof trusses
  
• Detailed warehouse spaces
  

• upgraded brickwork
  
• laser-cut details
  
• interior lighting
  
• visible structural elements
  

• Will the wall laminations stay flat?
  
• Will the interior brick actually look convincing?
  
• Did I just make this project way harder than it needed to be?
  

• the warehouse interior
  
• the brick walls
  
• the roof structure
  
• the lighting bringing everything to life
  

• installing the interior brickwork
  
• fitting the laser-cut windows and doors
  
• designing the interior layout
  
• adding roof trusses and structural supports
  
• planning the lighting system
  

February's gone!  Time for more great photos...  Here's the tail of the head end heading into the south portal of Rockport tunnel.

   

Two pesky critters and two pics of evidence bad neighbors make for bad fences.        

Here's the "New" thread     

I build stuff with virtual legos
I use lego cad on pc and leo cad on mac.
 Also i take coloring books of mostly muscle cars use 3d paint on pc to color pages.            

My dabbling in z to see possibilities of a large layout in a small space large being relative to scale
Looking at 2 x 8 foot, pic is 4 loops aprox 2 x 3 foot.

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Caboose i drew and 3d printed, more pics to follow of printer and prints.

Any S gaugers with 3D printers should look at the site printables as there is a group who draw and print open soures 1:64 scale trains under the dragon railways group.

   

was leafing through some 0old model magazine's today and ran across the article on earnest Warther's the detail he put into his locomotive carvings still stuns me , I don't think most of the younger members of the form ever heard of him if you haven't goggle him its worth the time.
Jim

Time for another edition of:   2026 Big Blue NASCAR Racin'

We're looking forward to Daytona in a week!!  February 15th!!!!!

All you have to do is choose 3 drivers and check in to see your team's standings.

Remember this is only for bragging rights, no entry fees, no payments, no prizes!!


Reply here if you would like to join in!!!!

https://bigbluetrains.com/showthread.php?tid=10245