Motivation

Sometimes, we just need a little motivation to work through the problems we have. Last spring, I added some building lights, first in the Irwin Tower, which is at the entrance to the train room, then the barn in the corner between Irwin Yard and Uniontown. I have always felt building lights, like weathering, adds realism to our little model worlds. I ran the interior lighting bus to the end of Uniontown and lit up GGS Cabinets, named for my dad, George G. Several weeks later, I spent some time crawling under the layout and extending the bus to the other end of the layout which is Niagara Street. I added lights to the building with Clancy’s Tavern, a Dayton (Riverside actually) favorite of ours (we ate dinner there tonight as a matter of fact). Turned it on and...
Short.
I use a separate, older DC power pack, for the lights and it has an overload indicator on the top. Damn thing was blinking like a Christmas tree. I unplugged the new building, thinking maybe I crossed the wires to the LEDs (should not be a problem), and still had a short. Well, it was definitely in the bus but since I used 2 color wires and kept them carefully lined up on the terminal strips, I was just frustrated and gave up.
For a long time.
I kept thinking I just needed to disconnect one terminal strip from the next until I found the problem...somewhere a negative wire was touching the positive side of the terminal strip. Or, a bad terminal strip. But I did not feel like tracing the problem under the layout.
Enter the Dayton Train Show and reconnecting with Bruce. Just the motivation I needed. Tonight, I disconnected a known working terminal strip at GGS Cabinets and the lights are shining bright and clear. I just have to trace the OTHER half of the layout, two or maybe three terminal strips and I can fix the problem.
Guess what I will be doing tomorrow, on a cold, winters Saturday?

Catching Up...And Irritations

Yesterday, Bruce and I managed to align our schedules and get to the NMRA Divsion 3 Dayton Trainshow in the new Montgomery Fairgrounds. The show used to be at the Hara Arena which closed a few years ago, and the group did a good job pulling off a train show at the Upper Valley Mall...but it did not seem the same. I think the Fairgrounds will be a better venue (still miss Hara) although the nice weather probably colored my perspective as we walked between 4 different buildings to see all the vendors and exhibits. He also commented that I have not posted on the blog since February so I decided it was time to get back to things.

We had a great time and I managed to snag some more building lights (interior and exterior), an awesome artist rendition of the Monongehala Crossing (with Kennywood amusement park in the distant background) that Bruce said reminded him of the trestle bridge that crosses the layout and separates the Youghehany River scene from East McKeesport, And I finally settled on a little problem that has been bothering me. The PRR interchanges with the P&LE in Herminie and I had always envision the B&O crossing that trestle bridge. It’s just a scene break and the track goes nowhere (until I decide and get approval to drill through the brick wall and extend the layout into the backyard!). I wanted a signature B&O caboose with bayside windows. I found one this spring at a hobby store in Columbus for ...$55!!!!! I could not do it. I mean more than 50 bucks for a railroad car that would never move!! Crazy. So Bruce and I were on a mission to find one and I think we found 3...lettered for ATSF. I could repaint and number it (not keen on that) when we found a P&LE one for...brace yourself...$5.

A little weathering and it will fit in perfect! Sorry, B&O, looks like you lost the right of way!

So I have not done a lot over the summer, other life activities demanding my attention and being in a bit of a lull for inspiration but that leads to the other topic...irritations. I found a farmhouse to mask the end of the divider between Uniontown and the Irwin Yard. A $30 building kit that I plan to use less than 1/2 of the parts for a shallow 3D relief and the flashings were annoying. A couple of the pegs from the mold injection points were so thick I could not cut them with an X-Acto knife and had to resort to a razor saw! Next, I assembled a package of pallets. I noticed right away that the 4 sheets had 6 tops with outside cros members and 3 bottoms with the inside cross member...meaning my package really made 12 pallets and 12 somethings. Yeah, I can get creative and bury the 1/2 pallets under a stack of real ones (or place them on the growing Troop 442 campfire) but how hard would it have been to make 2 sheets of 9 tops and 2 sheets of 9 bottoms and at least have 18 complete pallets without a bunch of useless spares? 

Things that make you go...hummmmm.

Coming Out of Winter

I’ve posted before that it’s just a little hard working in the train room in the winter time. The 10’ x 14’ room is behind the garage and, while part of the house, not heated. There were times I came out and it was 34 degrees Farenheight before I turned on the space heater and warmed up to a balmy 49 by the end of the work shift. Needless to say, a little challenging to work with detail parts sans gloves and let’s not get started on using water based paints! Nonetheless, there were reasons to come out and ponder the work in progress.

Youghegeny River Scene

One area that I find inspiring and satisfying is the Yough River Scene. I had a vision for this corner that I was sure would be beyond my very limited artistic talent. It had been bare, painted insulation board for quite a while with a carved depression for the future river. The first challenge was painting the tree covered hills along the backdrop in this corner. I dithered forever and Bruce conveniently me that I should just give it a shot...we had plenty of sky blue paint to cover up mistakes! I read How To articles and looked at photos for ideas and tackled the task with a couple different shades of green and a stubby bristle paint brush. After I was done, I stepped back and was...stunned. No ribbon award winner, but plausible!
I painted the riverbed, added some talus rocks and sand, then Adam helped me sculpt the river water with a plastic resin you heat, pour and work really, really fast! Added a couple of canoes before it dried and then tackled the surrounding scenery. Dirt, grass, trees, stumps, fallen logs, dirt were next to make this a bit of an untamed nature area. Abandoned campfire, birds, deer, backpackers and fishermen rounded out the scene. Not too shabby!
I pulled the locomotives out of their winter hibernation over the weekend...I store them in the house so they don’t get too cold and the little lubricating oil in them don’t gum up and after a few times around the layout, the trains were once again running on the PRR Irwin District. This spring I hope to finish the ballast cleanup project I started in September, add the separate power supply and wiring for interior lights in the buildings, finish detailing Camp Bruce and build the farm house.
Should be fun!