A few pictures from my layout. Will post new one later.
Doing scenery at the moment (...and it's messy )

Cheers


Main line to "La Chine Yard"

Took the family to the L+kv open house yesterday. It was a mostly complete layout with some excellent track work. I love to see it in action on an operating night. Here's some pics.        

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I'm just testing to see if I can post everywhere except the Shutter bug forum.
This is the V12 motor I built for the Packard for the junk yard.

Moderator: you can delete this entire post if you like I am just trying to sort out what my posting problem is, Thanks


   

OK let me see what happens here . If this works then I'm pretty sure I am only having trouble with the Shutterbug forum. Anybody got any idea why that could be? See my post in forum problems for an explanation. Thanks

As some of you might know, I write an article every month titled, "Out Arizona Way" for the Valley Courier in Cincinnati. This year my Christmas article is about trains and memories. It appeared in the Dec. 3rd edition. Here it is in its entirety:

Quote:OUT ARIZONA WAY: By Don Day

Trains and the holidays

Railroading and the holidays seem to go together regardless of where you are. Some of you may not know this, but I’m somewhat of a railroad buff having admired anything railroad since I was a kid. I didn’t get into model railroading until after I “retired,” there was just not enough time to allow myself a hobby before then. I remember when train stations were brimming with holiday travelers. Some were heading home to be with family, some just barreling out of town for a respite from the hustle and bustle of the season. Surely though, this was also the time for anyone with a train set to pull it out and set it up under the Christmas tree. I grew up in New Jersey and I remember getting the price of bus fare to head downtown to see the trains running in the department store windows. Gone were the mannequins wearing the latest fall or winter fashions, now they were decorated with animated figures, usually it was Santa surrounded by snow-clad scenery, sleds, bikes, gift packages under trees and a train in just about every window. We’d head upstairs to the huge, almost full-story toy department and sure enough, there was another Lionel train running with just about every accessory possible. Miniature people and things that did something, like the conductor that would pop out of the little house with a lit lantern every time the train passed by. We’d strain our necks to see the logs that would load when a freight train stopped to pick them up, what a delight for a young boy. I imagine there were many an adult mesmerized by the trains as they circled around billowing smoke out their stack and blowing their whistles. Yeah, I remember having to squeeze between these looming figures on my tiptoes, just to get a glimpse of all that action.

All that was great to help create the holiday spirit, but the practical matter is, that it’s all there to sell stuff, toys for sure, including train sets. Usually these sets were presents, sitting unused for the rest of the year, until the Christmas tree was put up once again and then the tracks were placed around it. Sometimes kids, with their parent’s help, had a train layout in the basement or attic; these too would wind up around the tree just because that’s what you do at Christmastime. I model the very small N scale; in recent years though, I’ve been putting my one and only much larger G scale train under the tree. It’s easier to get things back on the tracks when our grown boys or our grandchildren cause a derailment.
Well, here in Arizona, we don’t have those huge department stores with all those windows facing busy streets, what we have are the malls. If we’re lucky, some model railroad club will be granted some precious space around the mall or inside a store to set up their display. Usually though, it isn’t one specifically for Christmas, or at best, anything like what I was used to when I was growing up. No, if it were even close, you’d find me hanging around the malls jumping up and down to look over shoulders, just to renew those old memories.

There’s much more to do train-wise around the holiday here other than setting up you trains, or ogling someone else’s. How about a full-size adventure? Head up north where the Grand Canyon Railroad normally takes riders between Williams and the Canyon. However, they change routes in December and some of their trains head right to the North Pole. Yep, you can enjoy and evening ride on their “Polar Express” which includes a stop to be greeted by Santa, along with sleighs, elves and snow. There’s plenty of hot chocolate and cookies on the way as someone reads the Polar Express story. Each child receives a silver bell as they board the train, and trying to be true to the story, they are encouraged to wear their pajamas.
Christmas is all about creating memories; we all have them. Some of the kids of today will remember riding the Polar Express to the North Pole; those of the future may have an entirely different memory to share. My memories go back to those Christmas window displays, the trains and all that attention to those fascinating details. Whatever you fondest Christmas memories are, they need to be cherished and shared, for the new ones may not always bring the same satisfaction.

This was built on a modifioed Mantua Chassis , I built an auxalliary gear box to slow it down a bit . The rest is Scratched from Brass except for some cast detail parts.    
   
   

I've been trying to post here for several days but ?????? Jim K.

Well, I'll be darned, it worked this time. (Edit) Hello everyone.

Well, it is only a year late in starting , but late is better than never I suppose.
My old layout can be found here: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109544">http://www.zealot.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109544</a><!-- m -->
It was a good sized HO layout with continuous running and the emphasis on scenery, but there was a problem: it took up too much room! Well the family has the family room back but I need my trains so.............

The first idea was to do a 2' X 21' shelf layout (track plans were made and a lot of time spent on searching for locales, structures etc) but I felt that 2' still encroached on the room too much. I really didn't have hope that a 1' deep shelf could be both interesting operationally and scenically satisfying. Any one who knows me understands that I have NO track planning ability whatsoever but I was not in this alone. Kurt (cnw1961) is the track planner and the real vision behind this 1' X 21' HO shelf layout (he'll say I helped...don't believe him! well I guess I did help a little....does saying "Great idea!" pass as helping?)



Left Side    (The track above the coal house leads to a hidden staging area in a closet)


Right Side


It represents the industrial end of a smallish town set in a rural area.
Transitional era
RR is Northern Pacific (who else?)

The real key, as I see it, is to try and make 1ft seem as deep as possible. I have been researching methods and techniques designed to do just that. It is a challenge but that will also be the great fun in building this layout.
I hope you all find this thread fun as well.

You ain't seen nuttin' yet as far as a costly hobby. I was poking around on E Bay looking for more 1/64 cars when I spotted a 48 Buick with a buy it now price of 345 .00 BUCKS. I just had to see this , must be a mistake ---- NOPE it was real . It was a 1/43 model from some outfit called Motor City , still thinking it had to be wrong I looked at the guy selling it. He had a big feedback number & that Motor City stuff seemed to be all he had AND he had SOLD A BUNCH of them --- Many for over 1000.00 DOLLARS -- for a 1/43 scale car . I can't even get my head around how a 4 inch long mass produced ( even in limited editions they are mass produced) diecast car can fetch 1500 dollars as one Packard ambulance did.