Weekend Update 9/13/26

[up1950s]

https://gadsdenpacific.org/exhibits/n-scale/

https://rrmodelcraftsman.com/big-layouts-and-perseverance/

https://modelrailwaylayoutsplans.com/daves-n-scale-layout/

https://www.reddit.com/r/modeltrains/comments/83hn03/my_gramps_has_been_working_on_his_n_layout_for_50/

https://www.gatewaynmra.org/2014/jerry-prott-n-scale-great-empire-model-railroad/

https://steamtrainstories.com/models/largest-model-railroad/

https://www.pilentum.org/more-than-250-model-trains-the-big-markling-model-railroad-layout-in-germany

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[nickelplate759]

Finally got the last of the pink foam down on the NKP layout. This is the area between East Wayne yard and New Haven Indiana, where the NKP and Wabash cross.





More info here
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=39614.msg847104#msg847104

[chessie system fan]

I did some weathering this week and tried some new techniques on the interior.  Yes, I'm aware that a wooden car doesn't have a rusty inside.   

[nkalanaga]

It could look rusty if it's been hauling something that color. 

[altohorn25]

[Sumner]

Been doing a bunch of rewiring of the 8 power districts to take advantage of being able to run DCC and DC in them with the DCC-EX command station.  Basically done with that so I can go back to laying track and will have the buses in place to wire the track drops to.  Here is an update video....

Sumner

[Dave V]

In between travel to Penn State and a trip to Europe I managed to finish up a pair of structures for my Huntingdon PRR module.

It's pretty much mandatory for anyone modeling Pennsylvania to have at least one IHC Colonial:



Then I needed a corner building, so the DPM Corner Apothecary fit the bill:



Both help to flesh out the town of Huntingdon at 4th Street and Allegheny.



And it was after I put these two structures next to each other when I realized I'd used the same gray for the trim on the one as the walls on the other... 

[Jesse6669]

I finished up the ballasting of McCullough Yard.  Still needs some detailing like switch stands, weathering, and backdrops, but it's progress. 

[BCR 570]

Nice yard work; what did you use for the road between the tracks to differentiate it from the ballast?

I started learning how to make trees this week.  These are the beginning of armatures for some birch/aspen trees:




Tim

[rickb773]

This has nothing to do with N Scale, but I thought the folks might get a kick out of my recent train adventures.

My cousin's daughter-in-law's father recently passed away, and he was a Lionel fan.
My cousin asked me to stop in and give her daughter-in-law some advice on what to do with the trains.
So, I meander over thinking that I would just have to tell them the trains were junk with no value.

On the way to the basement there is a O Guage "Big Boy" sitting on the mantle.
We go down the stairs to a normal somewhat dirty basement and I come face to face with this:


And that was the smaller of his 2 layouts (maybe 1/5 the size of his other layout).

Here is the yard area of the "other" layout: turntable, roundhouse, transfer table, coaling towers, lights, ....


1,2, or 3 of every Lionel accessory ever made plus MTH/Williams buildings that also are very highly valued.

I felt light a kid in a candy store. It took me back to my childhood days traveling to the big city (Philadelphia) to see the Wanamaker's department store's huge Lionel Christmas display layouts. Just overwhelming!

I enlisted the aid of @Ntrainz1 and we went to work organizing the collection so that we could find the cars that went into the relatively few boxes we uncovered.
~ 125 engines, an S1, 2 Berkshires, 5 Hudsons, one absolutely beautiful MTH E6 Atlantic, ... 2 wall shelves of F units, 1 wall shelf of FA-1s, 1 wall shelf of GE 44 toners, 2 GG1s, ....  Maybe 25 junkers in need of repairs.


This picture of his passenger trains does not even include his beautiful, still boxed, silver Burlington passenger set.


I am sure there are well over 100 freight cars and we haven't even started on track or accessories yet.

[Roger Holmes]

I finished the clocktower portion of my N scale Milwaukee Road Everett Street station which was located in Milwaukee.  There are two more large sections to finish. More than 100 molded in windows to paint.  The next section is about 2/3 done. The third is about 1/4 done. It is assembled and has the brick color sprayed on.  I hope to post photos of those in a few weeks.

[Chris333]

Did a boiler test print of a Huntington & Broad Top Mountain 2-8-0.


This started out as a Kato 9600:


I added a Faulhaber 8x16 with a 4:1 gearhead.

The prototype:

[Jesse6669]

Nice yard work; what did you use for the road between the tracks to differentiate it from the ballast?
Tim

Thanks Tim, the road, and the crushed rock surface near the engine house are sanded grout (Laticrete Spectralock Part C -- mix of platinum and natural gray, with a good dollop of Bragdon dark gray "grimy gray" powder mixed in to darken it a bit).  I just sprinkled it on trying to keep it thin and even, then wetted and appllied WS scenic cement.   The engine house area got a layer of light gray (ash) after it had dried, as well as some of the dark gray for spilled diesel and crankcase oil.

If you need some, let me know--I have two milk cartons nearly full of the stuff that I'll never use up since I'm basically done with ballast work on East Norwood.  Glad to give them to you (or anyone) for the cost of shipping.
Jesse

[InterurbanModels]

While making a car, I took a liking to the Illinois Central colors and remembered that I had a collection of them, ranging from Kato to MTL, plus an Intermountain model. It wasn't easy to get them to run together with tight coupling, but it works now perfectly. Of course there are a lot of foobies, but the "look and feel" of an IC train is well rendered. (This consist is a "Gourmet Express", having not less than 3 dining cars...  )

Not having much time and being lazy, I only used my modular "kitchen table" layout. The train is so long that it is nearly "eating" his rear end like a snake. But if you look at it from just one narrow angle, you almost believe it...

[delamaize]

While making a car, I took a liking to the Illinois Central colors and remembered that I had a collection of them, ranging from Kato to MTL, plus an Intermountain model. It wasn't easy to get them to run together with tight coupling, but it works now perfectly. Of course there are a lot of foobies, but the "look and feel" of an IC train is well rendered. (This consist is a "Gourmet Express", having not less than 3 dining cars...  )

Not having much time and being lazy, I only used my modular "kitchen table" layout. The train is so long that it is nearly "eating" his rear end like a snake. But if you look at it from just one narrow angle, you almost believe it...

Very nice, I actually just finished my version of the city of New orleans. It's mostly Lowell Smith cars, with a couple random wheels of time, walther's, micro trains, and Concor cars thrown in. Power is an ABA Set of the old LifeLike plastic frame E6s. They can pull a trump out of the ground, and these three actually run really well, and are quiet, which really surprises me as normally old plastic frame life likes for meat grinders.


Unfortunately, it's a little long to run on my layout. It will run, but it's not ideal. So here is a picture in the storage case I made for it. Since I took this picture I have added two more Wheels of Time baggage cars.

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