An AHA moment!

An AHA moment! 

Larry and I [Glen] got caught up on making streams for bridges along the front of the layout near Valleyview one recent Tuesday night. One of us, probably Larry, thought we should have a culvert coming out of an upper portion behind one set of bridges, thus creating the need for the bridges. I went home thinking about what to use for a culvert and, as I save most things that look like they could be useful, spied some hollow plastic tubes from fax machine rolls. AHA! A section of this could possibly make a pretty good culvert. I have a 10" metal lathe in my basement so I chucked up a short piece of the tube and cut grooves on the one end to simulate the culvert corrugations. Then I used a round needle file to round out the grooves. One could likely use a drill press and a regular round file toward the smaller end and get a similar result or use a triangular needle file. A shot of aluminum paint and some rust paint to simulate weathering and we had our culvert. Now to get it installed.

                

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

Great strides were made in adding scenery in different areas of the layout.  Bill, our newest member worked on the branch line while others made more trees.  Don informed us that our digitrax system has been shipped.  A few members did some general clean up some of which included removing excess ballast and testing the track with a box car.  All of the rocks behind the port were painted and Trent put on a base coat of tan paint on his hill.  Bill located the Simmer's block of buildings (he painted them) to Valleyview, the first this town has received any attention.

rock wall painted

Trent added a base coat of paint

Bill and Ralph work on the branch line

town of Valleyview

no one told me there was a meeting

Woodstock Train Show

The  WOODSTOCK MODEL TRAIN SHOW AND SALE  takes place on Sunday, April 13th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the Oxford Auditorium and the Mutual/Market Buildings, on the Woodstock Fairgrounds, at 875 Nellis Street.  The April Woodstock Model Train Show will be expanded to two buildings and will feature over 170 vendor tables of Model Trains of all scales including Train Sets, Locomotives, Transformers, Rolling Stock, Track, Structures, Photographs, Videos, DVD's, and Railroad Memorabilia.  Worth the drive from anywhere.  The largest Model Train Show in Southern Ontario.  A great family event, with lots to see for anyone that is interested in Model Trains.  At least seven model train layouts will be in operation throughout the day.   Admission is $5.00 per person

Farm scene

Doug's barn was painted red and positioned in the start of this little scenic touch. A picture of a farm house was glued onto the backdrop with painted trees and bushes blending it in. A driveway, fence, farm clutter and animals will complete the scene.

Painting the log pond

The log pond at Miller was painted with spray cans of light green, tan, dark green, dark blue and black. The black at the front edge makes the water look deeper.

bare log pond

adding paint

Program Track

This track is electrically separated from the main line by two brass rerailers, which are insulated at each end, so you can't program the whole layout by mistake. We thought that the track being brass would alert operators that this section of track has no power. The rerailers will allow you to push your engine on to the main.

Tuesday night at the Huff and Puff

A little later, but I forgot my camera and had to go back to take some pictures.  The top of the quarry was repainted and covered with ground foam. More trees were added to the branch and at Miller.  The New river area was worked on and some scenery was put down along sections of the main line.  The yard at Lincoln was ballasted and the main street was touched up.

ground foam blown on to wet paint at top of quarry

greening up the branch line

main street touched up

scenery along the main line