I am helping my brother with his N Scale railroad and need some practical and photo advice on building a control panel. Basically, the "table" is a door covered with a foam insulation sheet at a 47 inch height. We've laid out the track centerlines and will begin installation which will include Atlas switches with the machine attached to the side of the rail versus underneath. 

Last few months I have been working on a redesign of the BQR control panel. I had decided to use DTM30s to drive the display and control the electrically operated turnouts in the layout. Turnouts in the proximal Deseronto yard are operated with Modratec levers -- a very solid and satisfying mechanical link with a well designed coupling mechanism.

To All: Thanks to Ricky Rupp of Modern Rails Company I was able to letter this Pullman-Standard PS-2 Covered Hopper Demonstrator. I painted and applied the decals to a Walthers Trainline car.The prototype car toured the railroads for many years as a sales tool. Here we see the demo passing Nameoki/Danville Yard on the layout. Yours, Elvin Howland/E. St. Louis Rail Group Layout

Roadbed and base landforms are in on my IAIS Grimes Line layout’s Fleur Yard extension. I’ve also marked the track centerlines, and finished the fascia and skirting around what’s left of the utility closet.

Bill Meredith describes the construction of three RGS locomotives from white metal kits on the C&Sn3. You can read his blog post here: http://coloradosouthern.blogspot.com/

Enjoy if you visit,

Darel

I recently moved and the old W&N Branch layout had to bite the dust.  Now almost a year later, the new right of way has been secured and the new and hopefully improved W&N Branch will rise from the ashes.

I have a roughly 23x25 ft room with a door roughly centered in the short wall.  There are no windows in the room.  It is finished and carpeted.  I have a separate work room and the basement rec room adjacent for a crew room.

Here is an update on the the layout. Little on wiring, Train runs 112 feet of the mainline, and the new spline work through Palmer Lake. so sit back and enjoy the video.

Mike Deverell

This is the latest paint and weather job - C&A’s number 3 locomotive.

It started life as a Bachmann “Russian Iron” in mint condition dcc fitted, which I got on eBay for somewhere around a ludicrous 45 dollars. No one else was bidding – right time/right place I guess.

Other than fitting a tender light and replacing the decoder (and painting of course), I haven’t made any changes.

The last blog post was in February 2015 and the last one to do with any progress on the layouts is over a year old. 2014 was really a year of no modelling whatsoever. read more...