A test board ~5" long with 12 3528 SMDs wired in groups of 3 (series)...  It is a bit higher than the backdrop but that is only due to the shelf supporting being at that height for right now (need to build the proper supports still)

According to this posting on MyMotherlode the state of California is considering closing Railtown 1897 by July 2012.  It would be very unfortunate if this does occur as one of the last working roundhouses in north america will be closing as part of it, the only other I am aware of is over in Pensylvania and I heard something about it closing as well.

This is what my cat thinks of today...

however, hopefully everyone has a safe and enjoyable holiday.

After watching the first two of Joe's videos I have come to conclusion that a traditional double deck layout while functional would potentially waste a bit of an opportunity of building something a bit better.  I have expanded the size of my working area slightly (about 2 1/2 feet) and started laying out a mushroom configuration.  The extra space is necessary to ensure a 30-36 inch walkway on each level.  Here are new diagrams for lower/upper showing what I am working with:

Well, with my collection of train videos getting a bit stale (my son has seen them all a number of times) I have placed an order for the entire "how-to" series and live ops series this morning. I am pretty sure they will satisfy for a long time :)

We have picked up a number of "kid friendly" model train videos over the last couple years and more recently picked up a number of the Dream Plan Build series from MRR (some have been good, others not so much).

Anyone else have good videos to recommend?

Mike

Well, now that the planning has started again on the train layout it is time to get some feedback

Below is a very rough drawing of the area of the (mostly) climate controlled garage, the area is roughly 8'x18' with one end having the outside 2' corners cut off at a 45. Most of the year this area of the garage stays around 65-70 F and the entire garage is insulated, including the garage door. The only thing left to do is replace weatherstripping material around the garage door (need to do that before the snow gets here, so likely a trip to the hardware store in the near future)

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