I am converting to DCC. I am using Arduino Mega 2560 R3's to run things. I need to get started with a good software base. Does anyone have a good suggestion? I have a tablet and a droidmax phone that I hope to use as controller interfaces.

Getting ready to go back down to Ken Patterson's. This time with another ITLA kit.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cjiecfr-gPI

I need some honest, but constructive critiques of a large scale, outdoor layout. I will post more info in the following post about era, location, prototype, etc.

This track plan is based on the amount of available space at our current house. If we end up staying, we will be adding an addition(as noted on the drawing). Should we move, I would use this same plan, and locate on the property a 80' tangent.

What potential problems am I missing?

Hello All,

This is my first attempt at a "build blog". I have bin vicariously enjoying the hobby through YouTube for the past 6-7 years. It is amazing how you can learn so much and really enjoy peoples wonderful layouts through the internet. Now that I am finally able to get back into the hobby, I am going to start with a small switching layout. This will primarily be an opportunity to really dial in so many modeling techniques I have learned online.

I don't think this cab ride got posted here as I have been spending too much time on that evil social network's HO Scale group.  We finally got around to recording (and editing for an oops or two) a ride across the entire layout in April.  At one point the operator got lost (okay more than once) and we edited out one instance where the camera actually got stuck and wouldn't get through a snow shed!  But with the wonders of editing, here is a trip back in time to August 1911 on the SPNG!

So my tight space has given way to more ample room. I was over at the new house and was doing some measuring. The back wall is 14' long. I could attach my current shelf to the wall and add 6' to it and call it good. 

Wiring continues on my layout, albeit slow paced. I realized I needed some hookup wire and a few other odds and sods to get the job done. Then spring arrived and I have been outside enjoying the good weather. I did get facia on and my MRC prodigy advanced2 hooked in. Just about to tackle the final hook ups on the turn table. I do wire in toggles so I can shut power off to the tracks. 

Time to get back to work before the day gets too nice and I head outdoors.

Throughout the late 1960s up through the 1990s it seems to me our hobby was heavily focused on the coal mining industry in the Appalachians and even the Rockies. However, these days there is much more attention being directed at the Midwest and even eastern farming areas where both industry and agriculture coexisted. This blog is about modeling grain elevators and feed mills along with supporting industry and operations.

So I have received my new Peco - Double Slip Switch, over the next two days I will be installing it into the mainline at Shippensburg and connecting it to the storage tracks (north & south) on the layout.