That crazy Bruce!

It's been a crazy summer and while I've had more time that usual to work on the train, I've been putting things off. Recently, Bruce and I exchanged some emails and set "a train play date" as Lisa calls them and I suddenly had some motivation - I mean he can't come over and see NO progress, right?
I managed to get enough of the new barn built to place it on the layout and I put in a new fence between Isaly's and the East Yard and glued down some brick roads and sidewalks in Uniontown. That, plus the base I built for LAS Fabrics would have to do.

Isly's Deli with a border fence, brick road and sidewalk

It's always great catching up with Bruce and we talked about our summer, upcoming travels and then focused on the layout. Like the email exchange, it was inspiring getting his perspective and thoughts on what we could do for some of the scenes and I was pleased that the trains ran fairly smoothly while we were talking.
Then he dropped the bomb.

Purchased backdrop for Herminie

We were discussing backdrops and I like the one I purchased for Uniontown. I talked about what I wanted to find for behind the mine in Hermine, a backdrop for the city scene in East McKeesport, and the corner of the layout between the two.

Same backdrop in the corner

"What do you think about painting a backdrop?" he innocently suggested.
I may have sputtered the beer I was sipping, not sure. My artistic skills are limited to black and white...as in I think I can cover a white space with black paint. But, he talked me into it. We parted with him planning to pull the 1947 MR article that he thinks is the best How To on the topic and me focused on pulling sample photos from my PRR books for inspiration.
This should be interesting!

Next!

Sometimes, the nice weather, chance to go camping and kids activities conspire to suck the motivation right out of me. I've visited the train room a few times but have not been motivated to do much other than run a couple of trains around the track. I have several activities planned but they generally fall in one of two categories.

Intimidating

These are the plans that either stretch my skills or represent a "no turning back" situation.

• Hills between tunnel and East McKeesport
• Creek and pond
• Mounting the Uniontown backdrop

Backdrop looks good in Uniontown but scared to mount it

Lazy

These are the tasks that are not particularly hard, I am just too lazy to work on them.

• Clearing the RIP track which includes the 4 or 5 cars that didn't fit
• Cleaning up the ballast around the layout
• A new base for LAS Fabrics so cars fit on the siding
• Ground cover in East McKeesport
• Brick roads in Uniontown
• Finish the Irwin tower including interior lighting
• Wire the programming track switch
• Better storage for cars and locos not on the layout

Will they run?

Well, the St Helen's Festival, Boys Scout summer camp and Lisa's an my trip to Las Vegas are behind us. The house is settling back to normal, just waiting for the master bath remodeling to complete this week. Yeah, things have been a bit busy the past few weeks since my last post. Time to focus some effort on the train layout.
I did some cursory cleaning around the room, it gets rather dusty in the room behind the garage with both doors open and various bugs wandering in. I had to laugh when I pondered the tree stump in the corner that I did not remember placing there. Turned out to be a single moth wing. How does that happen?
Tentatively, I powered up the layout, curious how the trains would run after being idle for about 2 months. Amazingly, after a few jerky runs on the two mainlines, and only a spot clean or two of the track, they were running smoothly over the layout - even in the 3 hidden track sections in the tunnel, behind Untiontown & Herminie and behind East McKeesport. Not bad and rather inspiring to continue my work.
On the short list is to finish a barn for the corner between Irwin and Uniontown, just need to figure out I want to cut it for the illusion of more depth, then I can finish the surrounding area with a split rail fence, some cows and horse that I have...then get some chickens. I have plans to add floors, furniture, walls and lights to the interior of LAS Fabrics, making it the first interior lit structure - G. G. S. Cabinets was the first structure with people and machines visible through the window but no lighting yet. Then I should probably turn my attention to the corner between Herminie and East McKeesport and finish the cut hillside and creek Bruce and I talked about the last time he came over.
Finally, I have several friends from Boy Scouts and St Helen's that are interested in seeing the layout, so I need to get the layout ready for a few open houses.
Should be a fun and busy summer!

And into summer...

Been very busy the last few weeks, but not in the train room. Our annual church festival at St Helen, which Lisa and I are heavily involved, took evenings and weekends away from the trains. Frankly., too hot to be motivated to build the structures and work on scenery. Actually, I use just about any excuse to avoid scenery. Sure it turns out OK when I am done but still intimidates me when I tackle a new area.
For Father's Day, the kids gave me a flat screen TV so I could watch football games in the fall and play train videos and DVDs as background to the operating sessions.

V over the train perfect for playing videos during operating sessions.

Moving Along

With the strange spring we've had - sunburns one day, frostbite the next - I have not been too motivated to be in the train room. If it's a nice day, I want to be outside. If it's cold and wet outside, the train room is uncomfortable. Still, I have been able to get a few things done.
First, I stopped at Smitty's one afternoon after an appointment in Oakwood and bought a piece of flextrack to repair the kink in the rail of the passing siding from the outer main to the west end of East McKeesport. I also found a Walthers barn kit that I think I can use for the farmstead between Irwin and Uniontown.

Arrows points to a kink in the track that needs replaced

I did manage to get this track replaced and now have no problems running trains from to to the outer main. I just need to add ballast and it will be complete. I also spent some time creating a base for LAS Fabrics so the building will be high enough that the boxcars can easily move into the loading dock. I need to add some styrene to simulate the rails being placed in cement and then some grass, details and vehicles (which I don't have yet).
Last night I started a project to further detail LAS Fabrics. The kit is assembled but it's a hollow building with large windows and does not even have a back wall.I have a piece of sheet styrene painted black for the back and plan to add some floors, desks, factory machines, tables, offices, lights and people to really bring the place alive.
There are a few more evening projects like wiring the programming track (Track 1 in the East yard), finishing the exterior of the switching tower, gluing the brick streets and sidewalks in Uniontown and attaching the backdrop there as well. There are some 10 cars on the RIP track or my desk awaiting minor repairs plus about 20 car kits that need assembled. I could do one or two of those every evening and clear the backlog but then I would need more storage space for the built cars. The one project I keep stalling on is the hillside in the photo above because I just am not sure it will come out right. I know I just need to tackle it and make changes later to improve it.
The good news is now that the weather is a little warmer day to day, the trains run pretty well every time I go out there. Of course, I have been moving trains without using the car cards so everything is messed up. Hope Bruce does not drop by expecting an operating session anytime soon! Seriously, it only takes 15 minutes or so to square up the cards so no real problem.
Once I get a few of these projects knocked out, I will get some current photos and show the world.

Catch Up

I have not gotten much done on the layout lately. The weather was pretty cold and the train room was not as inviting but, really, I was just being lazy. I did complete the apartment and I really like how it looks. I envision little in the way of an interior - may a person or two - but most of the shades will be pulled on the windows. Some light and maybe some forced shadows.

Complete apartment building in East McKeesport

Bruce came over last weekend and we talked about several projects we have been bouncing around. The corner left (west) of East McKeesport, past the trestle bridge, has been an area of major conversation and deliberating. He came up with the idea of a couple of hills - one in the corner and another in front of the mainline coming from hidden staging for the major elements in this section of the layout. I had bought a different Woodland Scenics rock mold a few weeks ago and made some castings that I laid against the stacks of insulation pieces to give us a visual representation. We talked about the area to the trestle and a tunnel for the trains on the trestle to disappear into. I decided we needed to add a sluggish pond or creek in front of the new hill sides (there are no bodies of water on my layout) and he thought that would work.
Although we did not get much work done, we did discuss a lot of ideas and have some plans for the next working train session. We also pretty well proved his theory that the oil in the electric motors is thickening up in the winter and that's why they take so long before they run smoothly. We cleaned several sections of the track which improved performance but was not the culprit.
Another interesting point this week was reconnecting with my friend, Vic. For those who have been following my blog, Vic's Bait & Tackle was the first completed scene on that last layout and this layout. It's named after a co-worker who lives in the Boston area and loves fishing. Doubt he would be terribly excited by the fishing in Keystone Lake which is where his mythical store is located. None the less, it was great catching up.

Vic's Bait & Tackle, named after a co-worker I had a chance to see this week

A Near Perfect 10

Engine 7046 was idling next to Clancy's Tavern, waiting for engine 9205 leading the east bound UN-2 Uniontown Trick. The traction motors of 9502, a sleek F3A, were digging into the slight grade out of East McKeesport. When it reached the crossover, instead of heading straight as it should, it suddenly lurched into the curve....someone had left the switch open! The men standing around Vic's Bait & Tackle Shop were witness to the most spectacular sight as the nose of the F3 drove straight into the broadside of the Heinz 73 pickle car. The force sheared the couplers off the adorning cars and sent the pickle car into a death spiral down the steep raven.
But wait...all was not lost. The spectators, now Olympic judges, were amazed as, in those final moments before complete obliteration, they witness Heinz 73, the ungainly and awkward pickle tank car, execute a near perfect 360 with half twisted, pulling out as it was reduced to the individual nuts and bolts that created it.
It only took a few minutes of discussion before the witnesses scored a unanimous 9.9!