Tuesday, November 23, 2010

About time for an update!!!

Well, it's been 7 months since my last update. After 16 years, I finally decided to go back to school to get a masters. I'm now halfway through the program and it's kept me BUSY!!! Thanksgiving has offered a little relief so I thought I'd add a quick update to show a few things that did get worked on.

First off is this scene where my IC/KCS main is about to cross the double track Southern/NS line. Here, I've added in the bridges, a couple layers of plaster cloth and some of Joe Fugate's cement ground goop. I REALLY like his recipe for this ground goop as it forms a VERY solid scenery base. Having a solid base is important to me with my three young kids "helping" on the layout!!

Next is the last bit of track that I installed. It included these industrial spurs towards the backdrop. This will be the Georgia Pacific MDF board plant in Louisville. It has an outgoing shipping track for box cars, two "Glue Tracks" for tanks and hoppers and one track for woodchips. I only have one more track to get in service on the layout. It's a Rip track in the Artesia yard. I need to get off my duff and put it in!!

Finally, we have downtown Ackerman. The L/A Local pulls through the siding at Askerman while Pap cooks fish at Pap's Place in the background. These downtown buildings were built by Rich Cobb. He did a great job on them. I can't wait to finish this scene.

Well, that's all the updates for now other than a few mechanical and electrical repairs while running trains.

Been a slow layout week...

I've had a slow week working on the layout as I got involved in a few DCC installs on some locomotives. One thing I've learned is DC...