What a cool small layout.  Looking forward to your rendition. 

Jeff

Morning all.

Welcome to fall.  It's 58 degrees right now to a high of 72.  

I have a meeting at work at 0700.  I have no idea how they will waste another hour of my life, but we'll see.  The only advantage is the Big Boy loco is also in Cedar Rapids today.  After the meeting, I'll find a place to watch it roll by.  

Jeff

Using two tiny dabs of glue, I placed the piece between the mainline rails to further test.  The trains have to run perfectly, scenic considerations are secondary.  I ran some diesels, big steam, little steam, light 2 bay hoppers, and several finicky passenger cars through it forward and backward, slow and at "Greg Speed"  .  No derailments.  Next the pieces will be spray painted grey. 

Jeff

The pieces were then cut and fitted.  The fitting took awhile, as I adjusted them so they first fit, then so there would be wheel clearance for the flanges . Then I added two similar pieces to bring it up to near rail height.  I tested with plain trucks and then a boxcar.  

Jeff

Next up was the road.  I used some strathmore board for this.  I already had some precut road width pieces.  I painted the track tops with some rust colored paint with drying retardant added.  I then carefully positioned the piece of board and pressed it onto the track, transferring the paint to the board.  It was easy to remove the paint from the rails with a swab.  

Jeff

Glued the track down as well as this small piece of track at the crossing before spray painting the track.  

Jeff

Morning all.

Last day of my six day weekend.  Not sure if I'll be mowing later or not.  Still working on the road crossing on the layout.  

Jeff

Morning all.

I'm off today, originally I was going to go to the Illinois Railway Museum yesterday and do things in the Chicago area today, but as I went two weeks ago and Saturday (not to IRM, unfortunately) to order/get the new van, I'm tired of driving, so didn't go.  

Fixed the detached Tortoise yesterday.  Hopefully some more layout work today.  

Trip to Costco later this morning planned as well.

Jeff

Morning all.

I slept an hour and a half late and I'm still the first one here?  Everyone must be out a Labor Day festivities.  

Maybe some layout work later.  Spray painted the track.  Time to work on the road.  

Picture of a commemoration parachute drop.   It's the 79th anniversary of the end of WW2.   Never forget.  

Jeff

Morning all.

Hard to believe it's September already. 

Hawkeyes won yesterday.  Slow start, but offense woke up in the second half.  Last year they were the worst offense in the nation, scoring an average of 14 points a game, and many of those were defensive points.  We're hoping for improvement this year. 

Need to mow the yard later today.  Maybe I'll take a short walk this morning as my broken toe hasn't bothered for the last few days. 

Will get that track painted today hopefully.

Always good to see a Zephyr preservation. 

Jeff

Morning all.

Long day yesterday.  Drove to and from Western Chicago to get the new van.  Now, the deal had been made, they had all are info, etc, and yet we were at the dealer for 3 1/2 hours!  Unbelievable.  If each sale takes 5 hours (I was there an hour and a half last week), no wonder they have so many sales people, who mostly sat around yesterday as it wasn't really very busy.   Anyway, it's much quieter than the old one and rides nicely.  

Iowa football starts this morning.  Go Hawks!

Jeff

Wonderful scenery and photography.  Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

Nice looking vehicles.  Especially the 1:1 jeep.  

Jeff

Nice picture, Ed.  Welcome aboard.

Jeff

Morning all.

Cooler here.  Only going to get to 88. 

They found a vehicle for us, so Friday we'll be driving back to the western 'burbs' to pick it up.  Need to clean out the glove compartment, etc from the old van today.  Might wash my car as the bugs on the windshield are making it difficult to see. 

Probably will spray paint the track that I put down Monday. 

Jeff