2020 Time to start blogging

So my last post was nearly 1-1/2 years ago and I have not abandoned my model railroad, I have just gone through a few life events - another “thanks but you are not in our long term (next month) staff plan” job change, our daughter getting married, oldest son engaged and youngest two entering college - and I just did not have much time for the trains, even less to write about. A couple train sessions and a show or two with Bruce, an operating session with all 3 sons and my son-in-law (that was a blast) and working on a few small projects. I added a few figures, fixed a turnout, and dreamed.
A few months ago I decided to write down all the projects regardless of scope. Things like build an interior and light the coal mine to add the scout figures in Camp Bruce; fix cars on RIP track and annual rolling stock maintenance; organize workbench to replace card stock buildings. At last count, it was more than 140 different items. List in hand, a notional idea of priority and I had  plan to work away.
That was fall 2019 and the train room cooled, harder to go out to the unheated garage and work so I brought a couple projects into the house - replace PPG and US Steel mockups, build a Moose lodge for Uniontown - and I was making steady, if slow, progress.
Enter COVID-19, stay at home orders and little else to do. I changed focus and pulled every unopened box, started kit, scene details and scenic treatment out and looked at the collection. I had a LOT of stuff! Refocused, I’ve made some 60 trees for the woods between Herminie and East McKeesport, built the lodge and added a sign for McKinney Liquors (shout out to my son-in-law), added numerous figures and scenic details, finished the city park in Uniontown and arguably made more progress in the first 4 months of 2020 than the last 2 years. Part renewed motivation, part opportunity of time management... all good!

Woods between Herminie and East McKeesport in progresss

More to come...!

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!

Great Finds

I’ve posted a few times about great finds at the stores. Most recently, my stop at T&K Hobby and looking around the Beavercreek Hobby Lobby. Sometimes, I have great finds IN the train room. My inspiration to finish the Yough River was from the Woodland Scenics Realistic Water I had sitting around for the last couple of years from the N Scale 2’ x 4’ module the twins and I were going to build (did not get very far). The inspiration to finish the scene came from discovering about 8 ready to plant conifers and another couple dozen deciduous trees. Not to mention the figures I have collected over the last 12 months or more - canoers, backpackers, wild birds, and fishermen.
Tonight I was moving a few things around and found another stack of materials I had set aside. I went ahead and placed the laundry women on the layout in Herminie. The first aid trailer needs assembled but is planned to really wrap up Camp Bruce (with a few more tress and the Boy Scout troop I have waiting). I found the package of office equipment (desk, tables, chairs) that I bought earlier this year for the Westinghouse office building, the rest of the kit for the Irwin Tower and the details for Niigata Street - mailboxes, fire hydrants, phone booths and more!
That should keep me busy through Christmas or so!!

Working on the Youghiogheny River

As ususal, things have been on again off again on the PRR Irwin District. Fall weather here has been nice but I was not terribly motivated to work on the railroad. I did some small tasks. After finsihing the ballast on the East Yard in Irwin, I tackled the West Yard over a period of a couple of weeks or more. Actually rather easy work but a bit tedious. I went to the NRMA Division 3 (Dayton) train show for the first time in a couple of years and found some great bargains, including the Lancaster Farm house that I need to cut to fit into the partial scene near the barn area. Since I had that, I decided to focus on the farm and planted a few trees and installed the white fence. Looking good. That inspired me to finish the West Yard as well as the track in Uniontown and all I have left to clean up the ballast (in that corner) is the siding to Heinz and PPG.
I made a trip to Pittsburgh to visit my Dad and sister, stopping at T&K Hobby and found a few other good bargains including some water lilies and cattails for the Youghiogheny River scene. Now I had some more inspriration and began working there. Adam helped me pour the river (finally!) and I was not completely impressed but it was workable. I stopped in the local Hobby Lobby for a couple of picture frames and decided to check the model railroad section. Score! Some figures, a couple packages of ready to set trees and a terrific bargain on light diffusing and light blocking kits from Woodland Scenics and I was set. For the past two weeks I have been working in the Yough River section and am pleased with how it is turning out. I dug through my supplies and find some 40 tree kits (I suck at making these) and expect the scene to be complete by the end of the year. In addition, I cleaned up the ballast on the tracks in Herminie and Yough area. 
Almost ready for some open houses!

Getting back the mojo

Earlier this year, I changed jobs. I used to be out of town 4 days a week, reducing the time I could work on the train to the weekend. The new job is local, has been great, but its taken a while to find my groove. Since I was home more, family activities were a priority and I got busy with that. Plus, the summer can be brutally hot in the train room which is in a room behind the garage - unheated and no A/C. A few times, I ran trains and was please how well they ran for the lack of attention and neglect on my part. I would convince myself that I will work on the layout tonight...or this weekend, and get distracted with other things.
With the annual Dayton Train Show coming up, I was thinking about what I needed to jump start me back into things. Actually, I have a lot of...stuff...to work on. There are half a dozen of more cars on the RIP track, several more kits waiting to be built, the Irwin Tower is not finished, I have enough trees and scenery material to finish a few sections of the layout. And the Youghogeny River is still a dry wash! I have a list of about 40 different projects - some small, some quite involved - so it’s not a lack of ideas or material. I just need some mojo.
I got it today. Lisa convinced me...drove me...to the Dayton Train Show. Last year, after Hara Arena suddenly closed, they moved to the Upper Valley Mall in Springfield. I was not able to go then, but went today. I even saw a couple of the guys I used to talk to at the NMRA meetings. I ended up buying some more scenery materials, a couple of PRR memorabilia and the Walters Lancaster Farmhouse that is perfect for finishing off the barn scene in the corner.
So tomorrow, right after I tackle a few chores around the house, I plan to get back into the train room and get some freight moving on the Irwin District!