Hi All,

Here is my new venture into HO ........ The Milwakee Road beer line plan from MR ........ differing only in scale from Morganth ..... i intend to alter some of the areas in the middle the water may go but the bridges stop to add a second level aspect, as to a second level for the tracks i am undecided as yet dependant on the buildings i choose to include, the locos having room to turn around allowing switching operations inside the circuit.

As the plan is now it measures 12ft X 4ft ........ but will be 13ft X 40'' when finished.

Built in 4 modules making it easy to transport in the future one section hinged to allow access to the window which should provide good light over it especially in the summer evenings Code 83 peco track with an NCE powercab should provide good control.

The silos could move to the rear of the layout along the back track to add more interest there one of my first thoughts of adaptations.

The wood came today and i made a start, off to look at track tomorrow

Any thought for buildings on it or other ideas welcome





The plan will turn around like this.

Here's a good one for the guys with the electrical know how.

I picked up a Dayton AC Axial Fan from Acklands Grainger. They advertise on their website a cord that is compatible with the unit, however, silly me to my surprise its not really a plug in the wall type unit, but a cord that is compatible with the prongs only on the back of the unit. The other end is just a pair 18 gauge wires :|

Specs on the unit are AMPS 0.23/0.22, WATTS 27/25, 115 Volts. 60/50Hz.

My question is, do I need to wire this up to transformer before I can plug it in? Or can it be wired directly to a plug?
:?

OK,so here is where ill be posting pics of my weathered and detailed locos and rolling stock. first up is a test pic of a bachmann 2-8-0 spectrum that has been perty darn dirtied up as if its been in ALOT of service and is near the end of its years.--josh

In another thread titled "Steam Engines & Tenders" in this forum tetters posted a couple of pics of a Santa Fe 2-10-4 on a Pennsy turn table where they had to use extension rails for the back truck on the tender because it was too long for the table. In one of the books I picked up at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum, SANTA FE MIKADO 2-8-2 PICTORIAL, the first 2 locomotives shown in the book are ex-Pennsy "Mikes" with Belpair fireboxes. I have also seen a lot of ex-Santa Fe steam on the Pennsy in videos, but I don't remember the dates. According to the book mentioned previously, the 2 "Mikes" were acquired from the Pennsy and subsequently rebuilt in July of 1945 at Topeka. They were then retired in July of 1947. I don't know when the units were acquired by the Santa Fe or when the Santa Fe sold units to the Pennsy. I think the Santa Fe dieselised before the Pennsy, but am curious if any one knows when they sold the units to the Pennsy? My "Worley" book, IRON HORSES ON THE SANTA FE TRAIL probably has the information, but it is packed away during our house remodel.

...and you don't even have a cat.
The other eveniing my beautiful wife and I were in our cellar, taking pictures of the deplorable condition of things down there. We noticed a quite large hole just below the foundation, where some pipes had been run through for the water.
I was leaniing over the half-wall to get a better look at it when I saw two big yellow kitty eyes looking back at me! Just a matter of maybe a foot away! Then a black kitty face appeared, along with a friendly "meow."
Well, long story short, we now have a black cat with medium length fur, and a very small patch of white fur on her chest. She is getting used to being around people, and last night she even jumped up on my lap! I have been able to hold her on my shoulder, and pet her since the second day after we found her. I really love cats! And dogs, and squirells and racoons, and skunks and....

We have a very large Landscaping company near me. Since I use the main roads to and from work, I always see their trucks. They bought a new SUV for the approaching spring season.

On the license plate, they decided to make a cute statement for a landscaper:

GRN GRSS

I, of course, having visited these threads way too much, began laughing - because instead of reading it: Green Grass"

I read it as GERN Grass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I guess GERN Industries will be producing sod soon too.......

If you didn't notice yet, we have changed the logo at the top of the forum to:
[align=center][b]
Big Blue Trains Forum[/b][/align]

It also has our slogan that we have kept for over 10 years:

[align=center][b]Keep It Gauged[/b][/align]

The reason behind this is that we wanted to have one standard logo.

Another reason is that it now gives us the ability to offer our members a way to express themselves while, of course, helping out the funding of the boards.

I am pleased to announce, the Big Blue, Gauge Net Store:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.zazzle.com/big_blue_gauge_net/gifts">http://www.zazzle.com/big_blue_gauge_net/gifts</a><!-- m -->

All profits made here will go directly into the upkeep of Big Blue... Thanks for looking!!!!

A guy named Catt led me here. Looks like a nice place. I'm setting up a 4x8 with the help of my boys. They are 6 and 8. Takes twice as long to get anything done, not to mention the distactions of everyday life. See ya'll later.

I thought that I had mentioned this before, but I can't seem to find it: is there some way we can get an icon or symbol to denote those Threads to which we're subscribed? I was reminded of it by this POST

What I'm suggesting is something like the boxes containing check marks, as shown under "Rating", below:

[album]638[/album]


Wayne

Okay so, im getting real sick of sitting here and waiting to start on my M&ET modules. Still also waiting to hear back from the 2 places i turned in resume's to for a new job...

So if i cant buy the things i need to start the M&ET modules and buy the things i need to finish the CAT Rental Moudle right now i will compromise and work on something that i can build and start building right now. Its killing me not being able to work on anything.

Anyways, so i dismantled most of my old shelf layout but i left a few sections up that i had planned on using for storage. But i had a change in plans cuz i hated seeing all the sweet buildings i had built up and just sitting there. After going to Palm Springs this past weekend for my Girlfriends Cheer Competition and seeing the UP mainline along side State Highway 10, I have decided that this would be a pretty cool scene to model. I plan to have model a section near the house that we stayed in for 2 nights in Palm Desert. I want to model Highway 10, Washington Street exit off the 10, and the double UP tracks that pass by the area. I also am adding in a small section for switching that is totally fictional lol.

This layout is 12'x4'x18" L-shaped shelf layout. HO scale of coarse and should make for some very nice picture spots. Im making my Highway 10 model 6 lanes wide (3 in each direction) which is what it is in real life. Im also adding in a 2-1/2" section that separates the 6 lanes. I noticed that it is sorta like a ditch, so i will make mine like that as well and adding in a little water here and there.

I also noticed that alot of the double UP tracks were lined with trees on both sides of the 2 tracks. the only reason i can think for this is a wind break because the run alot of double stack trains coming from the Port Of Long Beach inland.... But i thought this would be a neat thing to model so i will do that on the left side of the layout. The tracks will also be elevated a bit from the highway, as i noticed this was another thing along Highway 10, the tracks were up higher.

The overpass/ exit for Washington Street will be a bit of a challenge. In real like the exit for the street travels up and meets up to a high overpass that crosses the highway and tracks. I want to do this as well, should make for another cool detail.

Right now, the only thing i will need to get are overpass kits and some Central Valley Mainline Tie Strips, Couple Central Valley #8 turnout kits, and some Code 83 rail, which hopefully by the time im done working out all the kinks and layout of this layout ill have a job to buy the above things lol

The small switching section which is 4'x18" includes all the following Walhers Cornerstone Buildings and Backround Buildings:

2 Buds Trucking Backround Buildings bashed together to make a long building
1 Centennial Mills Backround Building
1 Armstrong Electric Motors Backround Building
1 Heritage Furniture Backround Building combined with a George Roberts Printing Building

Here is a few pics of the layout of the buildngs and the start of the right side of the Highway

















More Progress to come soon!! Also finally have a reason to do a tutorial on how to do roads with Woodland Scenics Smooth-It, so i should also have that up tomorrow