Lisa,
Have not heard from you in a few days. I hope that all is well. You are probably spending as much time as possible with your layout before the weather discourages you. These mornings feel like Fall. It was so foggy this morning that you could hardly see your nose in front of your face. That reminds me of a funny story. We were coming down Cabbage Hill in Oregon in the truck one night. The truckers were talking about the fog on the CB. One of the truckers said,"It is so foggy that I can't see my dash lights." We almost laughed off the road. I wonder has anyone ever tried to model fog?
I haven't had long work times on our layout, so I have been doing the boring RR tie painting. That seems to go on forever. Larry is still fussing with the turntable. If anyone can fix it, he will. We probably should have planned to purchase Walthers' ready to run one. The problem with that now is that we would have to do some major adaption to the bench work because it sits between two joists.
I hope that your boys keep providing help. They are probably thrilled when you apply their ideas.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Good evening, I survived the long weekend, it was extra long for me because Tom took Fri off as well, spend much of the time helping Tom's family. We did quite a bit of work on his mom's house and I am trying to help his sister get a business web site designed and she has very little comp. knowledge so she asked if I work work with her on this venture. I want to help her out because with her treatments she's unable to get a regular job so hopefully this will work for her.
Ed, thank you for the kind words and encouragement, if we keep our faith and seek to find the good in a situation we will always come out of it stronger.
Sue, The trains were ment to be Owen's(my 8year old) but he started to lose interest so I am very glad that his interest has peaked again, I need to be careful to let him do some things his way even if it's not done the way I would do it. My feeling is so what if his area doesn't look "professional" he's enjoying himself and he's learning by doing. James(6) and Trevor(4) both like to help as well. James is very talented and has some great ideas and Trevor likes to "drive" the train. so we have the start of a family hobby which I think is great.
If I missed replying to anyone I am sorry.
I'll check in tomorrow.
I hope that you have survived the holiday weekend. Maybe you found some time to work on the layout. Keep your 8-year old interested because it is much more enjoyable working with someone else.
I am hoping to work on the mountain in the back of the layout tomorrow. My rickety bridge has had a few setbacks, so back to the superglue.
Simply put: A unit has cab; B unit doeasn't. Cab normally needed at front for driver (Engineer) to drive safely.
Eric Stuart
Lisa, Great idea to get your 8 year old involved. It will just bring you two closer. What kind of homes did you build?
Welcome Mrscrow I am very glad you stopped in I hope you will feel welcome and come by a chat sometimes.
Sorry I didn't check in yesterday but had to deal with a problem ( someone broke my windshield during the night) and I was a little stressed over that and not being able to drive (especially when the police officer "tagged" my #plate(I could be wrong but I don't think that's a good thing). Any way enough bad news, I was able to do some work on my layout. We now have three homes in my mountains, my 8 year old requested it ( since it is "his" train I did it) , after I was done it looked like I had planned it that way, so" alls well that ends well"
ChristineM, I sit on your side of the fence completely, (well almost completely,there is usually a stray finger that hits a throttle control now and then), but my passion, (like yours I think) is in the creation, from an idea or a thought to the actuality, I love scenery and I am 'sponging' up as much info, techniques, methods and madness as I can, as well as 'reinventing a few wheels' of my own ....
Welcome MrsCrow, first post but you may have been a 'reader' I know, welcome either way and great to hear you and your grandson are having fun.... and letting imaginations run wild... imagination is what life is all about.
My thoughts are with you Lisa and your family through this difficult time, my words are futuile but my sentiment is true. Dont forget yourself in the stress, make time for you, take strength where you find it and lean on those who offer support.
Karl.
Christine, We will hit the Puyallup show in November. There are always some good buys there. There are so many great club layouts. It is so great to network with other modelers.
Joel Bragdon will have his geodesic foam scenery there. His workshops are very interesting. We attended his presentation at a Logging Model Railroading Convention in Sonora, CA, in April. We are converts. It is a lot easier to bend the rock into place.
The train show in Lacey, was quite small, with lots of N & Z ( no pun intended), also Lionel. It was at the Thurston Co Fairgrounds. There are very few enclosed buildings. Two hours allowed us to view everything.
How about you? Which shows do you usually attend?
Lisa (and Tom),
I'm sorry you have to endure your MIL's illness without help from your family. My Mother passed away 2 years ago after being diagnosed with cancer just 3 months earlier. Fortunately for us, our family pulled together to make Mom's last 3 months as good as we could. Mom didn't want to die in a nursing home or hospital, so we took care of her in her home.
There are no comforting words that I can offer you, other than to tell you that you are in my prayers.
On a lighter note, you AREN'T the only woman on the forum, but your question sure attracted a crowd!!
God bless you, and more importantly, may God bless your family. They may need the prayers more than you!
Darrell, quiet...for now
Lisa, Often the trees that you see in the LHS are designed after trees that are local to manufacturer. When you do trees, your mind will want trees that are local to your area.
I have some preservative that I bought from a dried floral wholesaler several years ago. Honestly, it looks like diluted elmer's. When it runs low I am going to try that. Using it might make them tougher to dropping. Have fun.
thank you all for your support especially those who have gone through it, it is becoming out of control the numbers of people I know who have it, I have 4 fam. members with different types but only my MIL is terminal.
Sue, I have been harvesting many likely plants from my yard, I have one bush(I have no idea what it is called) that gets these pink flowers in the summer, they look like a cross between Queen Ann's Lace and Baby's Breath but once the flowers fade the old stems look a lot like an oak or maple tree, I spay it and add some colorful "foliage" and they make great fall trees. I looked at some of the trees they had at the LHS and mine are better( not bragging, it's just the stems are perfect for trees)
My spouse survived chemo at the VA and is free (Ye never really free) from cancer. However it did make it to her Lymph system and we are living out our days together however many years we are given.
Cancer is very destructive, only way to beat it is to live free and on your terms otherwise ye are lost.
Lisa, I lost my Mom to cancer. She fought the dreaded disease for 10 years. She was able to care for herself until the last week, when she went into the hospital and died. She hired my brothers girlfriend to do chores around the house. It is so hard to see the bad days. Just pray for the good ones. Look in your backyard for landscaping supplies. You might be suprised, a little hairspray and ground foam can go a long way.
Thank you everyone for prayers said, this situation is very difficult only made harder by the family lack of support, both with the work as well as the expences. Tom and I are the least able to help but, other than my sister-in-law, we're taking most of the burden. I'm glad to hear about all the progress everyone is making it all sounds great. I need to get my mind off my problems for a while so maybe I'll try to work on the train for a bit.
Take care
lisap wrote: No rail time today I'm afraid had to give my sister-in-law a hand with my mother- in-laws house( we had to put it on the market to pay for the nursing home, she's in the last stage of her cancer all the can do is try to manage the pain), That will be my prority for a while. Anything I work on for a while will have to be scratch build. Between Helping with my mother-in-law and our own finacial struggles, we're stugging to making ends met, not enough $ for extras. Sorry for the pity party ,there is just a lot going on and I guess I needed to let it out.
No rail time today I'm afraid had to give my sister-in-law a hand with my mother- in-laws house( we had to put it on the market to pay for the nursing home, she's in the last stage of her cancer all the can do is try to manage the pain), That will be my prority for a while. Anything I work on for a while will have to be scratch build. Between Helping with my mother-in-law and our own finacial struggles, we're stugging to making ends met, not enough $ for extras. Sorry for the pity party ,there is just a lot going on and I guess I needed to let it out.
My family's prayers are with you!
Life is simple - eat, drink, play with trains!
Go Big Red!
PA&ERR "If you think you are doing something stupid, you're probably right!"
sansouci wrote:I recently went to an open house hosted by a retire couple: she does the scenicing, painting, tree making, building construction etc. whily hubby does the electronics and wiring. Good division of labor for the artistic vs the technical.
That is how I THINK our will workout. Neat when it works that way.
Sue,
I model Great Northern and Northern Pacific. I also have an S, P & S caboose. I'm more interested in the actual layout building then in train operations which makes me different from most of the people on this board.
Do you go to any of the train shows in Puyallup? Are there any good ones in Olympia?
Christine
gear-jammer wrote: George, We used 3rd planIt also. We have been impressed that everything has been right on. My husband, Larry, is a truck driver. He has observed that often the sidings and yards are lower than the mainline, so we only put cork under the mainline. We really have not noticed much difference in noise. However, when we get our Shays operational that may be different. The close-up of your yard is great. How are your knees from working on the details? Sue
George, We used 3rd planIt also. We have been impressed that everything has been right on.
My husband, Larry, is a truck driver. He has observed that often the sidings and yards are lower than the mainline, so we only put cork under the mainline. We really have not noticed much difference in noise. However, when we get our Shays operational that may be different.
The close-up of your yard is great. How are your knees from working on the details?
Excellent, I was standing on a chair to take the pictures. The layout is 53" average height
I cheat, I put the 1st yard on flat cork and WS sheets, the nd yard is up on road bed sinec we had so much in stock at that point. Now I will build up the "GROUND" to the proper height with plaster and mold in the ditches, culverts, pits and whatever else floats my boat. THe club memebrs helping me think the 2nd yard with the roadbed will looke better since you can hide so much under plaster.
Sounds , no pun intended, good.
I make my own mixture using a product called MBL Master Batch Liquid. It is a spin off of the base I use for our leather dye product line. It is latex base and never hardens. I use a dulling agent to flatten out the look. So far it works on cork and WS foam with no puckering on the WS.
We are doing the yard to test this putting down fine cinders around the TT and Roundhouse's With 750ft or track and up to 10 operators it was a big deal for the sound level.
This is a 3rd planet view of our phase one: red marks are operators.
this is the real yard
this is the other yard to do:
lots to do!!
P.S. Lisa, this is how you blow $30K in 8 months
George, On the section of mainline that I ballasted, it was on cork and I used 1 part elmer's carpenters wood glue: 1 part water. On the stretch to the log landing, I have plaster cloth on woodland scenics foam inclines / risers. I used elmer's all purpose 1:1 water. It was a little shiney so I put some of the wood glue next to it to compare color etc. (Most of that will be covered, but a good place to experiment.) On our previous layout, I liked the color of the wood glue when I glued wood chips on the track.
The cork is probably much quieter, but we do not have enough of the spur line finished to tell for sure. I need to complete my tunnel and landscape before placing a rickety bridge. You know, it's a puzzle.
gear-jammer wrote: Christine, Welcome. What area are you modeling? Anything local? My husband & I are modeling Northern Pacific with Weyerhauser. We hope to add some S, P & S. Lisa, I did some more ballasting last night. Hopefully, I will get my tunnel portal and my cardboard lattice done this weekend. I need to get some photos prior to sealing things up. Sue
Christine, Welcome. What area are you modeling? Anything local? My husband & I are modeling Northern Pacific with Weyerhauser. We hope to add some S, P & S.
Lisa, I did some more ballasting last night. Hopefully, I will get my tunnel portal and my cardboard lattice done this weekend. I need to get some photos prior to sealing things up.
Miss Sue, what kind of glue are you using over what type of roadbed? This is the stage where the NOISE comes in.
I am playing with about 4 different mixes looking for quit as possible.
Miss Christine (same age as my wife Krystine)