West Allen Street & Thawne

[danielb]

Progress for today - a PS-1 boxcar converted over into a woodchip hopper - most famously done by the Bangor and Aroostock, though the Central of Georgia had a fair few, so I'm going to do this one up in Midland Belt colours as one of a few they purchased from the Southern.

I'll be adding more as and when I can, as any excuse to make use of 40' cars is welcome due to the short length of the fiddle yard.

Unfortunately with the way the layout fits in my layout room, the fiddle yard cannot be extended any further as there is a wall in the way. This shouldn't be too much of a problem soon though, as the next extensions I have planned include a yard.

Enough yapping from me, here's the hopper before paint:



In addition, I set up some cars on the layout ready to start an operating session once the wiring to link Handy Co and West Allen Street together is complete. Couldn't help but take some pictures though.

Alco RS2 #2127 backs onto the trestle at Noel's Fuel and Merchantile with a couple of coal hoppers...


...whilst the crew at Handy Co are busy getting a flatbed truck lined up ready for an inbound shipment.


Sybil at the Trackside Cafe has taken delivery of a couple of new vending machines and is waiting for her bus boy to finish his break and stock them with the latest delivery of soda pop.


Vilas Brothers have just taken delivery of a tank car full of chemicals ready to make paint thinners. Not sure what they need the gondola for yet though!


Finally, SD35 #3088 idles on the refuelling spur awaiting a crew change.

[MountainMan]

Nice!

[danielb]

I spent last night doing as many little jobs on the layout as I could - the two I have worth showing are the coal yard, and a freight car load I made from scraps.

The coal pens contain 2 different grades of coal, as well as sand. The overgrown pen at the end holds gravel, but judging by the greenery growing over it, they haven't sold any in a while!



The car load is made from offcuts of basswood strip and a broken old cog from an Airsoft rifle. I'm hoping to pick up a heavyweight flat car or two at some point, and this will be going on one of them. For now, my Western Maryland flat car is seeing some use instead.

[danielb]

Progress for this "weekend", I've cleared out my layout room, done some woodworking, some electrics, some structure and rolling stock projects, and a lot of scenery work. I also did a lot of planning on the next stages of the layout after Handy Co is finished.

Oh, I also ripped my finger open on some code 83 rail, which really bloody hurt! You'll be able to see the mess it made on the side of my freemo module. Either way, I'll heal.

Photos!




















Beyond this, I also realised that I've not actually taken photos of MBRR 437 after I'd patched and detailed it. I need to find a seated HO scale figure smoking a cigarette suitable to use as one of the other crew on the locomotive, to go on the chair.

[danielb]

So today I have arranged for a big chunk of my N scale collection to go to a new home, as well as 4 HO scale locos - not to worry, it's just the stuff that no longer fits my modelled area/era. As a toast to the sealing of the deal, I splashed out onto eBay and got this:



Proto 2000, DCC Sound fitted. I've wanted a sound fitted covered wagon for a while, and this one will be getting a repaint - probably into Southern tuxedo, or MBRR yellow. Or maybe even L&N - I do so love L&N F units.

So on top of that, I've been working with the space I have in my layout room to adapt the plan of Snow & Ramon, as well as a planned yard - for now known as Harrison Yard - to flow around the room. Fingers crossed it works once I've got some structures mocked up!

Below is the 1:1 sized trackplan for Snow & Ramone - there will be a removable module in the back corner in front of the cupboard that holds our water heater/boiler, and a lift out bridge to allow access to the boiler - it's being designed so as to allow the cupboard doors to 100% open - a stipulation of our rental agreement, and common sense really!

[danielb]

As part of the work progressing on the layout, I've been toying with the idea of making a YouTube channel dedicated to the build, and finally got around to doing so yesterday. This kind of thing is pretty new to me, so you'll have to take that into account when judging the quality of the video! Any pointers/suggestions would be appreciated.

I'll try and make another video later this week, but for now, here's the introduction and layout tour.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/e73EFQAlB0c">https://youtu.be/e73EFQAlB0c</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/C-Za6tsd4qs">https://youtu.be/C-Za6tsd4qs</a><!-- m -->

[danielb]

Lots of little jobs done yesterday, too many to show, so here's an overall "ground level" shot of Handy Co, showing the effectiveness of the photographic backdrop.

[danielb]

The Midland Belt just took delivery of a pre-owned F7...

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/QRieGDYTeps">https://youtu.be/QRieGDYTeps</a><!-- m -->

[MountainMan]

In one of your images, there is an orange toggle with a threaded rod mounted on your fascia. Switch control?

[danielb]

Hi Mountainman, I had to go back over the photos to see what you were referring to - oddly enough, it's a screw I used to hang the US flag from the front of the layout. That's being replaced with some velcro tomorrow, just waiting for the paint to dry on the new fascia I fitted today.

[danielb]

It's been a while since I've updated my progress on here, but that doesn't mean I've been idle - quite the contrary.

Mansfield show is in 2 days, so I've been rushing around getting the layout prepared.

I've made a few purchases which I'm hoping will arrive before the show, mainly a pair of Southern Autoparts Boxcars - I think they'll be quite interesting to switch around the layout due to their sheer size!





Next up, I've done a little work on the details on the layout - I've added some signs in various places, blended a bit of ground cover, and build a shed for the fuel transfer facility on the West Allen Street team track.

The sign at Noel's has had some posters added, including one that keeps up the layout's references to the DC Comics universe:




Here's the oil shed, both after the build and in place on the layout. It's a clevermodels kit, as is the fuel tank - which came with it.







A quick shot showing the construction method:


And the photos of the model in place on the layout:




I've also been updating my YouTube channel created for the layout - I'll hopefully record something at the Mansfield show too.

[Tyson Rayles]

[danielb]

Mansfield 2017 went quite well, despite a few issues with some of the lighter freight stock derailing in places.

I'll post up a more in depth progress report with photos as soon as I am able. In the mean time, here's a quick video of the chain switching system in action:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://youtu.be/Lf7WtsymQYY">https://youtu.be/Lf7WtsymQYY</a><!-- m -->

[danielb]

Whilst I prepare a new update, here's a link to a gallery of photographs taken of the layout by Ford at the Mansfield show:

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://flic.kr/s/aHskVxcYjG">https://flic.kr/s/aHskVxcYjG</a><!-- m -->

[Tyson Rayles]

Is that chain plastic? If not I hope it never touches both rails at the same time!