Great article by Tom Patterson on John MIller's layout. Am glad to have enjoyed operating it in the past, and look in great anticipation in doing so on the upcoming new layout.

Consolidation #20 is ready to join the roster.  She started as a Blackstone diamond-stacked C-19 and received a lot of the same treatment #19 did.  The most notable differences between the two are that #20 has a notably shorter smokebox and older-style headlight, in addition to an intermediate C-16 pilot rather than the plow.

I'm getting ready to wire my doodlebug track and have been cleaning out under the layout to allow for access.  I wanted to test the system before doing the permanent wiring, so I used some temporary wiring to try out my Tam Valley "Train Shuttle" control.  I made the necessary cuts in the track, hooked it up, and made a crude video.  I'm happy with the way it works; however, the doodlebug doesn't stop in the same place at the middle point in Hoovertown coming from either direction.  This isn't a huge problem as it will still stop in the proximit

Roof. The car started from a undecorated kit from Branchline. I swore that at one time you could get the roof from Atlas when they took them over but it's no were to be found on their website. I have emailed Atlas and am waiting their reply. Does any body have any ideas who makes a roof like this. Its a 40' Diagonal panel roof. I have to build say 20 or more of these cars. The other thing I was thinking of was to have them 3D printed. Would this be a wise option or to costly.

Hello everybody,

I have starting my home layout 'Lodores & Silvertown' in HOn3 (23' x 10'). The layout is a freelance design of an  RGS branch line in the Rocky mountains.
I have created a blog, showing the construction progress of the layout:

http://h0n3.blogspot.com/

Happy new year

My friend Greg Dahl built a nice Pikestuff engine house for my layout. I told him not to paint it since I would do that in my company colors. He brought it over for a New Years day operation session. He did a great job, and after the session I started in on the pant job. I finished the roof in stainless steel. and painted the sides a primer grey before putting on a few coats of yellow.

Updated 11/15/2015

This bridge has been begging me to be included in my layout. Lately it seems to consume my thoughts so I spent some time with a tape measure and camera but had to go back a couple more times. There are so many little details that I wonder if anyone but me will notice (or care). On the other hand, who am I building this for? Certainly I live in a vacuum so, aside from these posts, it will never really get any scrutiny unless I ask - so here goes.

After all of the good advice I got in the building buildings thread, I felt ready to take on something more challenging. 

I'm still not ready to cover the staging yard lead up as it still needs tweaking.  My previous changes at Cranberry Portage opened up the possibility of going counterclockwise and building out the South Main mine area.  I lost some "storage shelf" area to the layout but it was a worthwhile sacrifice. 

I have been working on the VIA Rail yard and shops lately.  Here are some preliminary photos of the area, taken with a cell phone to check for details.  Once complete I will photograph again with a better camera and a backdrop.