This is a Mongram Hudson Steam locomotive kit. The ideal is that some steel mill used steam locomotives to provide steam to parts of there mill while the regular boilers was down for maintenance or repair. I wanted the locomotive to still be in rather good shape but also wanted to show it's age. The locomotive was painted and weathered by hand. The Ideal came from a magazine article about NWS&W using locomotives they bought for scrap from other railroads. They even saved a few and used them for work in the plant up until the early 80's.

New guy here. I'm constructing a 4 x 8 layout for DCC. I want to purchase a decent locomotive DCC ready. preferably a Santa Fe F7 unit. I don't want to take out a loan to do this. I'm a retired electronics technician and have installed decoders in starter set loco's. I'm looking for something with more power and reliability. I just don't know what brand to choose. I'd like to stay under $100.00 if possible.

Thanks Gerry

I did a little more work on the swing gate today because I didn't like how hard it was to open and close due to the friction between the gate and benchwork.  Here's what the benchwork looked like where the gate rests before I started.

Tonight I dropped the last section of rail onto the Lee Manufacturing siding and declared the track laying done, except the points on the south section. Interestingly, this was the first time I used one of the Proto:87 Stores rail joiners, all the other rails on this section being only one length long for now. The rail joiner worked great.

Slow progress but progress nonetheless; more details will follow as I find enhancements in the boxes holding all the stuff "rescued" from the old layout.

Well yesterday I finally got to test out the new MOW vehicle for the L&T Branch (JL&T Layout) this little beauty was picked up off eBay for around $50 delivered.

After years of "planning" or if you prefer procrastinating I have finally got the Hudson Bay Railway/Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Railway underway. Benchwork started on January 1st with the "help" of a 7 and 4 year old. Benchwork has since been completed on the lower level and bus lines, roadbed and track have started to be laid out.

First a little background on the prototype:

Its been a while since I have been able to post anything. My schedule for the month of September was hectic and so nothing was done on the layout for a while.

Anyway I had to back up and redo some of the joints on my backdrop. I discovered that the tape did not stick to the smooth surface of the hardboard. I ended up removing three joints and sanding the hardboard surface. That little bit of roughness seemed to do the trick. I repainted the backdrop and clouds.