OKC Train Show

Well I went up to the Oklahoma Train Show this past weekend. My wife joined me for this annual pilgrimage to this train show. I had a great time seeing some old friends and meeting up with some manufacturers. They had moved building this year because the old building was torn down and rebuilt. To me it seem like a smaller show and not as many people, maybe a larger area so everybody had more room , I don't know.

Ran into my friend Joe Steimann who owns Weathering Solutions   http://www.weatheringsolutions.com/ at their booth. They make some great weathering decals for people check them out. We caught up on some small talk and he showed me some things he is working on. I purchased this new graffiti set from him, always looking for something cool

Walked by another vender and ran across this map book I had been looking for.

Next stop was Soundtraxx Booth, nothing new. Talked to them about the new Economi decoder and found out the difference. I guess Im sticking with Tsunami until the next generation become available, from what they said it in the works, will see how long this takes.

Checked out InterMountain Booth and talked to them about the new FWWR SD40-2 and when they might be available , they were hoping very soon.

Went by Spring Creek Booth and purchased some new ExactRail cars for me.

I really like these highly detailed cars. I may start selling off a bunch of cars that I don't need and start replacing some with these kind of cars.

Ft Worth Opperations Day

Well I sign up for the First annual Ft Worth Operations Day and had a great time. Operated on some new layouts for me and meet some new friends.

I traveled to Decatur, TX to operate on Dean Ferris's Oregon Joint Line for the morning session. This is a large N-Scale layout located in a room above his garage.

Description:

The Oregon Joint Line is a joint NP/GN mainline through the mountains and canyons of eastern Oregon connecting the Pacific Northwest with California. The layout, which is set in 1969 just prior to the BN merger, has plenty of pool power from the connecting California roads (WP, SP, and ATSF). Most heavy trains (freights are typically 22-28 cars long) receive helpers for the shove up the 2.2% grade to the summit at Snowline. A forest products shortline, the "Oregon & Northeastern", switches the Hines Lumber pulp/plywood complex and makes log runs out to Canyon Reload. The major terminal area has three yards (NP, GN, and the O&NE) with plenty of transfer/interchange activity and industrial switching.

Ran a couple of trains and learned to use track warrants for the first time. I was having too much fun operating, that  I didn't take a lot of pictures here are a few.

After getting done around noon headed to Keller, TX to operate on Greg McComas Michigan Interstate Railroad. This was a small layout in one of his bedrooms.

http://michiganinterstatemodelrr.blogspot.com/

Here are some Photos.

 

On Sunday I was able to work on the layout some more and got most of the bench work done for the new island.

End of Summer

Its been a quit summer with some progress to the layout. Been slow with other things to do but some changes are being implemented. In Sept went to the St Louis RPM meet and had a blast, but being a 10 hour drive had lots of time to myself reflecting on what going on with the layout. I have been dragging my feet on getting the final peninsula added.

I just wasn't happy with the Brewery part of the layout, great industry but from a operating aspect a logistical nightmare, huge peninsula, hard to reach a lot of the tracks, just a giant pain in the ass. So after working on the trackplan came up with some changes. I got rid of the brewery and added track work from across the tracks, might add the brewery as a backdrop scene.

 Updated track plan:

So let the demolition begin. started by removing all track work in effected areas and removed peninsula that was changed:

Starting adding adding new roadbed and working on the new peninsula.

Need to update

Hadn't realized it's been almost a year with no activity so a update is needed. This past February I spent the weekend up in Tulsa OK at there annual Operations Event. This made me realize I really need to get off my butt and get back to working on the railroad even a little bit.

So after cleaning off the railroad a little bit of painting was done. Makes a difference to the layout now looks like soil instead of the ceiling tiles.

Then the rails were painted:

All track feeders in this room have been installed and structure are being planned and building them will start soon so scenery can ca-mince.

Also working on Motive Power and cars.

I have purchased a Athearn Genesis GP7u that will be stripped and repainted to represent FWWR 1500.

Also got a Athearn Genesis GP38 that will be stripped and repainted to represent FWWR 2007:

Lots of stuff to get to before I go to the St Louis RPM meet in August.

Hope to do more updates this year. Good bye for now.