Here is where I'm going on the changes.  Trains are operable right now through the loops in the garage.  There are a number of viewing angles that make the change viable/worth while.  The next step will be much more of a struggle to get started.  I need to relocate some reasonably well done scenes at least to some degree.  Will do some final photos of the Spiral Tunnel area.

Now that I'm getting back into the hobby, digitally at least, one of the big things I wanted to dive into was 3D printing.  It seems like a great technology that has finally evolved to the point that people can start using it en masse.  Personally, I think that 3D printing lends itself well to small parts that are difficult to make at the work bench and one-off models that model train manufacturers can't make a profit on.  While there is certainly a lot to discuss in regards to additive manufacturing, I'm going to eschew the default "How to" series of po

In a recent thread about automating layout startup using personal assistant devices, Jeff Shultz recommended these Etekcity wireless outlet controllers on Amazon .

The last three years have been an adventure, that's for sure!

Moving cities to Missoula, getting college mostly done, and now a complete upending of the economy that will last until this COVID problem has been taken care of. I certainly hope that everyone is staying safe and riding out the storm.

Somewhere I got the notion that having a turnout on a grade was bad for reliability. Is that so? Assuming the grade is constant through the turnout, so the turnout is flat, just not level with respect to the floor. 

In my track planning, I'm looking at a choice between:

a) shortening a grade so it lies between turnouts, resulting in a 2.5% grade when I was trying to stick to 2% or less,

b) moving a turnout, resulting in shortening my yard,

This is an Athern 40' Boxcar I purchased at a show in January for $5 and have since weathered. It was an assembled kit, however the previous owner had painted it a color that had more red in it than brown, however, it did have the decals on it.

After becoming the proud happy owner of 18 feet of yard modules, I realized I have a number of buildings I am going to need to build.   The group I am with is modeling 1923 steam operations in southern Ohio.   I can go into that more in another post.   This set of updates is to document my adventure in building a water tower. 

To start, I found a kit from Suncoast Models - No 3010 and a set of plans from Model Railroader for 1870s water tank ( published 2015)