I have not touched the hobby for quite some time, now being under city quarantine lock down all we have is time. So if figured it would be fun to do a lock down O Scale build during that time. I've only started two weeks ago so it's in an infancy stage and it's a small layout of 12' x 9 1/2' but I figured that was good enough for now otherwise pinball machines would have to start to go lol. In the meantime I'll just make it as detailed as possible with some animation throughout the board here and there.

Here is where I currently stand, pay no attention to the tools or other objects I used while the glued object were drying in place "you grab what ever is close". The white areas of plaster is where I'm continuing along, it's a slow crawl around the board.

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I love weathering, here are a few photos of what I have done along with some shots of them on my old layout

However this will get there at some point, I do know I have at least until April 30th

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BTW, did anyone notice TFTC tucked away under the new layout, lol. I had to put a machine down so I dropped that one onto dolly so I can roll it out in a few minutes and setup on the fly when ready.

So cool I love UP, one of my favorite road names. I’ll post pix of them shortly

Very Nice, G scale is awesome but boy it eats up a lot of real-estate quickly. The Aristo's are nice and go for a pretty penny now that they have gone out of business quite some time ago. I tried to keep it all compatible so my G Scales are also MTH so I can run the DCS system as well with AC current vs DC but I do have a lot of Aristo in the attic as well. For some reason I prefer AC current vs DC when go long distances especially outside i think the impedance is different between the two. At some point in time I need to do G scale layout at my home in the mountains, I have just about 24 acres with a nice 1.2 acre clearing so would love to do something there but need to bullet proof it that I don't destroy it with the lawn mowers or the ATVs lol. Nice work on the layout, always great to watch the iron horses run...

Oh yeah at one point I had a small G scale layout in the basement and it was just after I lost my Dad that's why I remember it so vividly I said to myself " Hey let's try this live steam thing ". Well I can you tell you this, don't try live steam in a house lol... Smoke everywhere, alarms going off like mad, hearing my Dad in my ear saying " you asshole " lol. Yeah that was pretty much the end of my live steam experience. I'm more partial to the sounds of the PS2/PS3 boards anyway.

Yep, soulds like some of the pinball guys too lol. These are hobbies and hobbies are meant to be fun. If you enjoy the way something looks, sounds, plays etc.. that's all the matters. If other's enjoy it too then great your in good company, the ones who don't can just move along but bottom line is are you having enjoyment with it that's what counts.

You guys have all raised great points about this hobby, well except the old debating douche bags but other then them it's limitless to what your imagination can do. I do love the point that it's not really about the railroad itself it's all about the world around it, that's where the realism ties in and brings it all together. Like I said in my first post, I know this is a much smaller layout then I normally had especially for O scale, having two main lines both pretty much running a circle pattern with the inner switching into a siding yard and the outer switching to two outer legs to unload at a warehouse and that's it. However it's what you build around that concept, the detailing, animations ( yep I have few that I'll post vids when in place) that brings the fun altogether. I know it's not for everyone, and everyone has their own taste which is great otherwise in this world we all would be chasing the same woman ( or man I won't discriminate lol ), but it's fun none the less. Remember when we were younger and built those Monogram/Revelle muscle car kits or the Tamiya 1/35th tanks or planes then put them on a display shelf when finished. Well to me it's basically the same thing just on a larger scale with more detailing and creativity and the train is the animation.

Now how about a retro laugh:

From what I recall if correct the song originally from Bud Light with the original singer and voice announcer however it was done for a radio commercial slot and these hobbyist did a video segment to the audio track.

That was great!

Sorry I thought I had answered that (CRS), that Conrail is MTH Premier rolling stock as 95% of all my stock, with the exception of a few Lionel's tossed in like the N&W Legacy GP-7 cab #2446. Actually everything but that geep in those photos are all MTH Premier.

I know to some extent I'm working like an ass all over the place but I jump from location to location as things dry to try to maximize how much I can get ahead on during this quarantine, but being from NYC I think I'll have more time then what was projected at first. So as soon as the rain passes, I'll go outside and get more dirt for the layout and in the meantime I started to drop some taller pines on the board. These are about 8-10" pines made with 8mm dowels and hemp rope. At first I didn't care for the base trunks after shaving the dowel a bit to give contour, so I rubbed them down with Elmer's glue or any other white glue really, covered them in saw dust and then airbushed giving it color. Not too bad I can live with it, looks better in person then cell picture. You can see it here with the along with switch-man Joe Donothitme by one of the yard exits.

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I love running whatever down the rails, I know there are rivet counters out there that things have to be exactly prototypical for them and that's great if they are into that. For me it's just about trying to incorporate some realism into my miniature world, and now a days you can still see the Bigboy running down modern lines in a lashup with a Dash-9 etc so the realism or somewhat prototypical can still apply.

So I just spent the last three hours today cutting foam, pouring hydro-cal rocks, making quilt batting shrubs all to blend in a oil tanker derailment scene (from Lionel that was already mounted on a base). It's not nearly done yet but I'll post a shot of it's current state.
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Check this out from late last year, they just got it up and running again.

There is a major N95 mask shortage currently, so they have to take this one on the chin.

Never liked MTH or Lionel tracks, Atlas is the only track I ever use and solid rail throughout. Now train wise MTH is way better then Lionel in quality and reliability, Lionel isn't terrible but not nearly as good especially when it comes down to Legacy vs DCS, legacy is a one way signal and DCS send and receives back and fourth at the train and the TIU .

Hobby forums and threads are safe sanctuaries away from politics, keep that non sense for the voting polls and out of the hobby.

Yep, very sad day indeed. Hopefully someone will buy it and pick up the reigns and continue.

Mike has stated a few times over the last year or so that he has been thinking about packing it in and finally made it official, I just assumed that he would have children that would have picked up the ball and ran with it but guess not.

Mike was great for making a lot of those off the beaten path road names, it's a shame now for I doubt that Lionel or Atlas will. I really hope someone or a whole group of someones pickup the torch and continues his line.