More fun with the trains

[Texasmark]

Since some folks liked the layouts, and we had a really nice rain yesterday, and I'm a home bound boy again today, lets have some more fun.
I mentioned earlier that my fun was in the design, finding, and building especially the farm related aspects, and In building this, I was amazed at what I could find in N scale modeling resources that existed. Obviously between NOLA and Chicago and on the Chicago end there was beef handling and on the way grain handling. So I will "bore you" with some closeups of what I was able to find and build. The availability of grain train cars, trucks, and likewise cattle haulers, was amazing. Also to find replicas of "Swift and Company" resources was amazing.....I know a lot of you ate their offerings over the years.

Of particular interest was the original McDonalds model that I surprisingly found. As I said before, when they arrived on the scene the wife and I had 4 chillins to raise and we frequented that facility often....and who wouldn't for the great food and greater prices.

So I'll bore you with some closeups this morning......."bear" with me.....grin.

 

[Randyscottsboro]

I like your roadbed, what is it?

 

[jon f mn]

Very nice pictures! Some from further back to see the whole setup would be really nice too. I had a train when I was young and sometimes think about doing it again

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

I like your roadbed, what is it?

Looks like Bachmann EZ Track. The roadbed comes attached to the track..

Mike

 

[Texasmark]

I like your roadbed, what is it?

I laid down a green cotton material for a background covering the whole sheets of plywood. The roadways were roofing underlayment, asphalt coated material, black....trade name was "30# felt", with the stripes and such painted on. It came in thin rolls for roadways in straight rolls or individual curved pieces, or larger sheets for parking lots and such......this was really an asset in the initial planning and layout of the intrafructure.
I bought a lot of my layout off ebay as they had multitudes of things that fit my N scale theme and most were very economical. Probably all of my buildings came as kits which I assembled and painted as required....all off ebay; bought a lot of rolling stock, both new and used engines and rail and road cars and trucks off ebay. My train "They call the City of New Orleans" is Kato and new. Bought it off ebay from a brick and mortar shop that sold new supporting things an ebay supplier. I bought numerous new engines. I was absolutely amazed at the mass of items available there.

Out of the at least a hundred individual components I purchased, I may have had a handful of problems or semi-problems. Problems were usually engines and the problem with them is that they had been sitting up for who knows how long, and may have had undue wear, both requiring a good cleaning and lubrication. Other problem was that I liked long trains so I bought a lot of the same type car....box, tanker, military, flatbed, livestock, etc. All were used and most all were from different manufacturers so they had different couplers meaning I had a lot of coupler work to get them all coupling together....that was a big problem with the small N scale parts.

 

[Texasmark]

Looks like Bachmann EZ Track. The roadbed comes attached to the track..

Mike

Yes, reason being just what you said....roadbed is also furnished.....makes for a really fast, reliable, and good-looking track layout....bought a lot of Bachmann engines too, both new and used off ebay.

 

[Texasmark]

Very nice pictures! Some from further back to see the whole setup would be really nice too. I had a train when I was young and sometimes think about doing it again

What I did was to try to get the pictures large enough to see some detail...so I got at each end and in the middle taking 3 pictures of each layout. Today I added some more train pictures here and highlighted some of the interesting points. Thanks for the compliment.

On your "might get back into it"..............................DO IT!!!!! You'll love yourself for rewarding yourself with such a rewarding experience....like I said, the fun was in the planning and execution of the build. One problem however.....if like me, you had to have everything...like I found a police station kit, built and installed it, and off to the races.....had to find some police cars...ebay to the rescue again.

 

[Texasmark]

I laid down a green cotton material for a background covering the whole sheets of plywood. The roadways were roofing underlayment, asphalt coated material, black....trade name was "30# felt", with the stripes and such painted on. It came in thin rolls for roadways in straight rolls or individual curved pieces, or larger sheets for parking lots and such......this was really an asset in the initial planning and layout of the intrafructure.
I bought a lot of my layout off ebay as they had multitudes of things that fit my N scale theme and most were very economical. Probably all of my buildings came as kits which I assembled and painted as required....all off ebay; bought a lot of rolling stock, both new and used engines and rail and road cars and trucks off ebay. My train "They call the City of New Orleans" is Kato and new. Bought it off ebay from a brick and mortar shop that sold new supporting things an ebay supplier. I bought numerous new engines. I was absolutely amazed at the mass of items available there.

Out of the at least a hundred individual components I purchased, I may have had a handful of problems or semi-problems. Problems were usually engines and the problem with them is that they had been sitting up for who knows how long, and may have had undue wear, both requiring a good cleaning and lubrication. Other problem was that I liked long trains so I bought a lot of the same type car....box, tanker, military, flatbed, livestock, etc. All were used and most all were from different manufacturers so they had different couplers meaning I had a lot of coupler work to get them all coupling together....that was a big problem with the small N scale parts.

I forgot to answer your question.....Absent Minded Farmer nailed it. You might check my response to his post on this bunch of inputs. it'll tell who built it and why I chose that brand of track. I bought new and used track off ebay. Since I have 5 tracks around the NOLA layout and 2 around the small town layout you can see that I consumed a lot of track. Have had zero problems with that track.

 

[RedMF40]

That looks like a lot of fun

 

[RedMF40]

This always cracks me up

.Train tunnel with cat

 

[Texasmark]

This always cracks me up

.Train tunnel with cat

That's a very nice tunnel and very nice rail bed.

 

[RedMF40]

That's a very nice tunnel and very nice rail bed.

First time I saw this video I assumed it was a real railroad scene. Very realistic. Until the cat came out.

 

[Texasmark]

So what do you say....just a curious cat? I don't know how cats think.....I know they are possessive, and spoiled even before you spoil them. I have had dogs most of my life and a decade ago I had a cat for about a decade, a Siamese male and we made each other comfortable. I forget what happened to him but he got some kind of incurable disease and I had to have the vet put him down.........To this day I cannot believe that I cried when the vet handed him to me in a box to take him home and bury him but I did.....I guess I loved him.......so what's wrong with loving your pet.....not a thing....good for you and good for the pet.....I'm getting wet eyed over typing this!

 

[RedMF40]

So what do you say....just a curious cat? I don't know how cats think.....I know they are possessive, and spoiled even before you spoil them. I have had dogs most of my life and a decade ago I had a cat for about a decade, a Siamese male and we made each other comfortable. I forget what happened to him but he got some kind of incurable disease and I had to have the vet put him down.........To this day I cannot believe that I cried when the vet handed him to me in a box to take him home and bury him but I did.....I guess I loved him.......so what's wrong with loving your pet.....not a thing....good for you and good for the pet.....I'm getting wet eyed over typing this!

I recently had to bury my two cats, very difficult time. They were longtime friends and great friends to each other. Because of their distinctly different personalities and the way we somehow all got along, it’s something that will never be recreated with another pet. They’re all different, same as people.

To your question: Cats seek out places they can barely fit into just to explore or maybe find a secret hiding place where they can spend time undisturbed. My former cat climbed onto a stool at the kitchen breakfast bar and closed herself up in my laptop case. She liked knowing she was hidden but could spy on me.

 

[Absent Minded Farmer]

This always cracks me up

.Train tunnel with cat

There is a rescue cat cafe in Osaka that has a train layout in it for the amusement of the cats & visitors. Which makes sense as the Japanese love cats & trains.

I think Japan may actually be run by cats.

Mike

Diorama Restaurant....

 

[560Dennis]

Was at John’s nursery today in Middlefield today I spied this set up going .

 

[Texasmark]

There is a rescue cat cafe in Osaka that has a train layout in it for the amusement of the cats & visitors. Which makes sense as the Japanese love cats & trains.

I think Japan may actually be run by cats.

Mike

Diorama Restaurant....

Looks like the cat is poised for a strike on the train....it just has that aggressive look they get when they are ready to pounce. I didn't know about the Japanese relationship....good for them.....I guess.

 

[Texasmark]

Was at John’s nursery today in Middlefield today I spied this set up going .

Nice seasonal layout. I think I see a third rail. Is Lionel the only train mfgr. in H or HO (whichever it is) scale?

 

[560Dennis]

Nice seasonal layout. I think I see a third rail. Is Lionel the only train mfgr. in H or HO (whichever it is) scale?

Sorry ,I don’t know the answer to that , I’ll try to look little closer a
T photo , I was looking every where else .

 

[Texasmark]

Sorry ,I don’t know the answer to that , I’ll try to look little closer a
T photo , I was looking every where else .

Some of my usual blabbering: When I was a young lad playing with my Lionel, very simple layout...on the floor in my room, the track in a circle and an engine and a few cars.....I didn't like the track because it didn't look like the real thing. Then, some time later in life, I guess "Scale railroads" were born and the two rail was born...I guess that's when it happened. I was glad to see that but never had a train other than the Lionel.

I was watching a program on TV decades ago and the subject was the trains in the Australian Out Back.

The program discussed the lack of a standard track width (for one example) causing riders to stop several times over a 500 mile trip between 2 towns. The stops were caused by the fact that the rails changed physical characteristics and you had to get off one train and get on another that fit the rails for that distance. I think there were 3 or 4 iterations of that.

Last, in another instance, Out Back again, there was a train that was able to make the 500 mile journey without stopping. Apparently the scenery was nothing but desert, desert, desert. The railroad had a problem with engineers going to sleep while operating their trains on the trip due to boredom. So the owners put a switch above the engineer that had to be reset in a short period of time...forget the number. The engineer had to get partially out of his seat and reach up to reset the switch. If the switch didn't get reset in the allotted time the train would stop........that had to be a real bothersome requirement especially for engineers that made a career out of operating that train.....human nature being what it is, I wonder if any of them ever brought along a roll of quacker (Duct) tape to tape the switch in place so that they could take a nap??????