The February Update for the JAM.

I've seen some people who build a helix that contains multiple tracks (more than 2), and use them for staging. It seems like a great way to conserve space if you are already going to have a helix, and don't want a separate deck for staging.

I've got a condo under contract, scheduled to close on April 20th. I will be devoting almost all of the main living/dining room to a layout, and using a spare bedroom as a small TV/living room. Got my priorities, see?

I'll comment on the diagram in the next post to keep the main post small.

...you're about to take a razor saw to a piece of a kit, not just random stock styrene.

It came out okay. Goal is the kitbash below. The Walthers papermill isn't really big enough to be convincing, so I'm re-purposing the back wall, which would be invisible anyway:

As part of the ADM project I need some grain trailers with the tarps open. Therefore, I needed something to represent corn kernels that was near scale size. Now your significant other probably won't appreciate this but I appropriated a jar of ground mustard to represent the corn as it has that bright yellow color and is the right size.

I just used diluted white glue to adhere it to the surface. once this dries out I will go back and touch up areas where the mustard didn't stick.

Awhile back had shown a old diesel locomotive picture that had the drive shaft outside body and run between the two sets of motors. If I remember correctly some one told me it was old hardware store in the Boston area. Any help would be appreciated.

 You can guess what this one is about...

During our last session here one fellow decided to run on the St J and LV line.  This line has recently been put in operational shape with some cleanup to continue.  He ran the line with a small steamer and then asked how he could run on the rest of the layout.  At that time the only option was to transfer the entire train my hand.

   A few years ago I bought a combo belt and disc sander. The belt has been very useful the disc not so much. The RPM was just to much for the disc to be usable for my needs.  I found a hand crack disc sander however was a bit to pricey for me, not that i mind spend money for quality tools. Here is the solution I came up with for a mere $40 and a few hours of fabrication.

Since I was out of filament for my printer I took another break for the ADM project. A while back I came across a picture of a BN gondola that had had the gravel, dirt, and junk in it for so long that grass and weeds were growing in the car.

I had an old Roundhouse NW Gondola so I set about weathering it and creating the load. My load is not removable but it could be easily done that way.