It has been awhile since I have posted anything - in fact a few years. I continue to move ahead in fits and starts. I added a road to the rural side of the layout and have made a couple of new model kits. I guess slow and steady.

Just got a new Woodland scenics Static King grass applicator. Noticed a number of differences between this unit and other vendors as seen on the web. The spreading grid on the bottom of the hopper is plastic, not metal. The electrification is a crown-shaped piece at the top of the hopper.

Whelp, I've done it. I've finally landed on a track plan for my new layout. This plan is the result of months of design and deliberation. It incorporates nearly all of the features I love in model railroading and should provide me many years of enjoyment. I go in-depth into the design of the track plan in the following video:

If you actually look at most modern gondolas out there today, you’ll find that most open top cars from the last 30 years or so actually don’t have any interior paint or coating, but instead the interior of the cars are raw, unpainted steel (other than perhaps some overspray from the painting of the exterior of the car).

I need some help guys, I'm really frustrated here. I've got a Spectrum 2-6-6-2 that's giving me intermittent short. I've already had a friend hardwire a Digitrax sound chip inside and replaced the circuit board inside the locomotive with the micro-connectors from Micro-Mark. 

Near as I can tell, the short only seems to happen with tight curves when the rear truck has moved over to the left far enough. Is there an exposed piece of metal that I'm missing, do I just need to replace the lead wires in the truck?

Hey everyone and Happy Thanksgiving!

In my latest video, I weather an HO Scale boxcar without using an airbrush.  This box car is a NMRA Winnebagoland Division Club car and its very close to some Milwaukee Road box cars that used to travel on the Marshline. 

We'll use prototype photos to come up with a plan and add a very heavy dose of weathering to an Accurail Box car!

Andy

Hello All,

As I said earlier, I'd post an update of what I got done on the actual layout this weekend. I got all the wiring done for the first module of Dawson Creek and put some ballast down. I also put up fascia board along the module and installed the first of the Digitrax throttle hookup panels (conveniently salvaged from my old layout). The silos are pretty much in their final spot although a couple of them still need to be weathered. Hopefully I can finish up ballasting and maybe start on some other scenery the next time I'm home.

My new TT scale diorama was inspired by the railway station Finsterwalde (Lower Lusatia).

So as I’m researching possible central Pennsylvania early 1900s prototypes to model, it seems that the narrow gauge railroads that are of the most interest to me all ran Climaxes in the 25- to 35- ton range. The White Deer & Loganton, Eagles Mere Railroad, Lewisburg & Buffalo Valley, Susquehanna & Eagles Mere and the Laurelton Lumber Company all ran Climax locomotives in the 25-ton range. 

So... I gotta have one if at all possible. 

This blog will be where I keep research, beg for help, document a build or bash, and beg for help. :)