Tuesday night at the Huff & Puff

Sorry I was late Jim & Jim, not a good start to the night. We did manage to get some work done. Jim got the wiring all out of the way of the tracks and worked on the switches to turn the power on and off to the 2 inner loop tracks. The base of the town was all screwed down ready to start working on the scenery, then we started operating for the rest of the night.

picture of Cliff smoking along, from last week








Tate is quite proud of his new look.
















Jim pulls out of Lincoln as Rick looks on.






Glen switches Coastal Oil as Trent leaves Heron's Landing.

Tuesday night at the Huff & Puff

No construction was attempted, we only ran trains. I even ran a train so no pictures. We did manage to snare a train on all the new, incomplete feeder wires. I think we need to solder these on, connect them up and get them fastened up out of the way, before we damage someone's train. There are also 2 areas that need to be completed, the coal mine and cement plant, so I think we need to have an unscheduled work night, as you can't wet and glue down ballast while the DCC system is on.

Plumbob's track cleaning tube

Jim made us up a 4 inch ABS tube with plastic end caps to clean ballast off our used track. We put all the dirty track removed in our latest upgrades in the tube and filled it with soapy water and a bit of alcohol. After a week of soaking the track was removed.  most of the ballast had fallen off, but where paint had stuck to the ties it need coaxing with a stiff brush.


All this track was cleaned in one shot.

Tuesday Night at the Huff & Puff

Jim and I got there early and soldered in more feeders, our plan is to have the inner 2 tracks of the upper loop, on  switches, so they can be powered off. This way 2 passenger trains can be held there. A piece of ceiling tile was cut and fitted on top of the foam blocks, which had been partially shaped to fit in place. Buildings were collected and put in their respective locations. Then the road and parking lots were drawn in. The road down to the station at the east end of town adds a lot to the scene at that end of town, but the other end will be a challenge not to end up looking like a big rock slot. If we can build in a road that comes from the main road, down to the west end of the station, it would break up the scene, and look something like the Wellington street bridge area. Still a long way to go, but it's beginning to take shape. Don't forget the Woodstock Train Show is on Sunday.

Tate ran a train and is looking forward to getting his decoder.

New Town of Wellington

concept drawing

building at left could be painted and used as Whitelaws

Using the foam blocks Don brought in as the foundation, a flat tier would be built behind the station. It would run back to the rock wall (view block), and taper down to the track level at the east end. The road bridge which  crosses over the tracks at the west end, and acts as a view block for the hole in the backdrop, would go through town and continue down hill and curve around to the station. As seen from the concept drawing, at track level, there would be a hotel next to the station and a small industry past that. On the upper level there would be a row of stores, behind the road, hiding some of the rock wall. A house overlooks the road down to the station. Behind the station would be Whitelaws and a yellow brick house that acts as the Vets office next to Whitelaws.  A store or 2 would be to the east of that. The tier adds visual interest, hides the incomplete back of the station, closes the gap below the rock wall and allows for the highway bridge at the west end.

Tuesday Night at the Huff & Puff

Meeting night, decided dues stay at $100.00 per year, decided to buy some trucks and buildings from Don and 2 curved turnouts from me. It was also work night. Rock castings were added to the view block at the cement plant.









The coal loader was also set in place.

















 Started adding feeder wires to the upper return loop.










 Styrofoam blocks were placed where the elevated part of the new town will sit, inside the upper loop, to see how it will look. I think it will take a lot to make it look right, but that's half the fun.

Sunday Fun

A good number of members showed up for work. Some set about ballasting the tracks to the cement plant and a pit for unloading coal was created near the kiln feeder building. The rest worked on the upper loop. It was decided to insulate the inner 2 tracks of the loop so the power to a parked passenger train could be switched off. Sections of all this new track work was ballasted and glued down, to hold everything in place. On Tuesday night we will run some test trains to see if everything works OK. If all goes well it will be wired up and then ballasted.


The turnouts at Trent's Hill were moved and the loop and the mainline were connected back up. On the upper mainline the track on the right, in the picture, will be the passing siding.