Weekend Update 9/28/25

[up1950s]

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https://www.goldstonefinancialgroup.com/three-of-the-rarest-model-trains/

https://www.facebook.com/AandBHobbies/posts/the-most-expensive-model-train-was-sold-at-auction-for-250000-in-2006-the-model-/1049069123986740/

https://modelrailwayengineer.com/is-this-the-most-expensive-model-railway-ever/

https://www.trovestar.com/generic/group.php?Collection=4

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[rickb773]

Death of the PRSL - Part I

Quick video of the last trains on my "late" Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines layout.
When I have fully recovered from by colonoscopy/endoscopy adventures I'll update with the reasons for the PRSL's demise and future plans.
(I think I have one more layout left in me.  )

[Lemosteam]

Ok that’s it. No more dang tugboat! Finally finished the tug for the layout. The Ropes of Scale place came through. Really, really nice product.

To make the front and side buffers I used short pieces of the rope, dipped one end in CA, held that end down and scraped the piece with the blunt side of a steel blade, pulling it away from the glued end repeatedly until all strands separated and frayed out in a fan like shape. It was actually kind of fun.

[samusi01]

That bow pudding is done well. I’ll need to borrow the technique.

[Scottl]

With the rest of the backdrops up, I've been working on the vegetation.  Here is the Windy Point- Henry House scenes so far.

[craigolio1]

Ok that’s it. No more dang tugboat! Finally finished the tug for the layout. The Ropes of Scale place came through. Really, really nice product.

To make the front and side buffers I used short pieces of the rope, dipped one end in CA, held that end down and scraped the piece with the blunt side of a steel blade, pulling it away from the glued end repeatedly until all strands separated and frayed out in a fan like shape. It was actually kind of fun.

Wow that looks so good!

Craig

[craigolio1]

With the rest of the backdrops up, I've been working on the vegetation.  Here is the Windy Point- Henry House scenes so far.

Scott your railroads are inspiring.

Craig.

[NtheBasement]

Continuing a project to replace the flood loader on my layout.  The old one was based on a concrete silos (see new way video), but in real world silos loading happens in a tunnel and you can't see, much less control, what is happening.  The new one is a more open steel structure.  It is grossly oversized due to how much room the coal valves and measuring bin take up and because it has to hold enough coal to load a 24-car train.  Real world loaders are constantly being filled by conveyor during loading.

And... all this part of an automation scheme, where the loading will be automatic as long as you control the train speed.  I made a couple of mistakes along the way.  The current scheme has a single optical detector.  The problem with it is that the coal chute is over the couplers when it reloads the bin after loading a car, and loose coal always dribbles out.  I'm going to use a dual sensor system that starts the reload while the filled car is still under the chute.

[trainforfun]

Quick video of the last trains on my "late" Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines layout.
When I have fully recovered from by colonoscopy/endoscopy adventures I'll update with the reasons for the PRSL's demise and future plans.
(I think I have one more layout left in me.  )

Been there with coloscopy / endoscopy many times in the last 10 years , hope they found something they can repairs !
Hope you will still build and operate trains layouts many more years .

[jpwisc]

I am almost done with another car in the vegetation train. The cab car has functional ditch lights for those long backing moves.!
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[NorthWestGN]

Nice work as always everyone, the tug looks great! I tackled a problem that’s been triggering my OCD since I got this Bachmann NW2 off of marketplace, they did a horrible job on the road name placement:



I cut a thin strip of one of my wife’s cotton makeup remover pads, laid it over the lettering and wet the pad with 70% IPA  and let it soak for about 3 minutes then scrubbed and scraped the lettering off. No mess or damage to the rest of the paint:





A little ghosting from the original lettering and ready for decalling:



About 15 minutes per side and a little weathering will hide any evidence, now I can quit grinding my teeth…

Brent

[Sumner]

Procrastinated some not really looking forward to painting sitting on the top of the layout but made some progress. Maybe I can finish this side in one more day now. That would be nice.

More info/images on painting the clouds on this backdrop on Railwire ( HERE )  and a link to this whole build ( HERE ).

Sumner

[Jesse6669]

Great weekend update!  Love that Tugboat especially--it really comes alive with the rigging/ropes etc.

With the Z scale tri-level autorack essentially complete, I figured I'd work out a bi-level one.  It's the more modern flatcar used in the early 70s compared to the one I modeled on the tri-level.  Here's the first test print, some refinements are needed but it's comping along well I think. 



I finished up some decals for the bi-level as well and some others including this set of NP PS-1 decals for another Z scaler.



And did some railfanning, catching the Amtrak Phase IV Heritage on #5 yesterday.

[chuck geiger]

I am almost done with another car in the vegetation train. The cab car has functional ditch lights for those long backing moves.!
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JP, how did you make that grass/field?

[jpwisc]

JP, how did you make that grass/field?

That’s my mowed lawn zone, I put down a brown latex paint, then use Woodland Scenics fine blended turf. I use a couple other colors (dirt, burnt grass) to add some variety. It all just glued with Scenic Cement.