layout progress & engine pics

[UP SD40-2]

OK now how long have been working on this? If I understand correctly only a couple of months. If that is right it is amazing. Looks great to me.
Les

lester perry, WOW!, you are one of the people thats work REALLY inspires me on this forum, THANK YOU! for the kind words , and YES, i started this layout 2 months ago. **Pitchwife & wsor4050, i am glad you liked the Diner, THANKS! . the biker scene was art imitating life for me back in my twenty's. the "LPD's" were a little to "friendly" with the waitress, and their "LPGF's" sure let them know about it after the meal!announce1 tooth1 BTW wsor4050, her sister is brunette, every bit as good looking, but twice as hard to handle, if you knew her...i feel sorry for you. hamr tooth1 sign1

 

[belg]

Who makes that lpgf? Is it a Preiser? Thanks Pat

 

[UP SD40-2]

Who makes that lpgf? Is it a Preiser? Thanks Pat

belg, you are 100% correct! i bought the "German railway personal" set SOLELY for the LPGF:thumb: , thats right, $23.00 just for her.ops: hey, for the scene i was creating, she was PERFECT, so i just had to have her.hamr tooth1

 

[UP SD40-2]

well folks, i am NOT finished with the west end of the layout, i have quite a few more things i would like to do to it, HOWEVER...i think its time to start work on the east end of the layout. on the east side there is only 1 business, "TRI-STAR INDUSTRIES". this manufacturing plant has 2 tracks that serve it, and will be the largest, most complex building set on the layout . it will take a little time to get "Tri-Star Industries" to the point that i am at with "United Transfer" and "West end Diner", but i will post my progress as i go. i have been working REAL hard on the layout over the last 2 weeks, so i think i''m going to take a week break and work on a couple of my engines:thumb: , but next week i will be hard at "Tri-Star Industries". :thumb: hey,...stay on track! View attachment 26854 View attachment 26855

 

[lester perry]

For whatever it is worth it has only taken me 10 years to get where I am. Now it is almost time for phase 2. Probably start next summer. If I don't move.
Les

 

[UP SD40-2]

For whatever it is worth it has only taken me 10 years to get where I am. Now it is almost time for phase 2. Probably start next summer. If I don't move.
Les

10 yrs eh Les, no wonder your layout looks so good and inspires me so much!:thumb: phase 2? what does phase 2 have in store for us? , no doubt whatever it is, it will be AWESOME!:thumb:

 

[lester perry]

Phase 2 starts with about 7 yards of concrete. I need to add onto my building. Then more C&O and more mountains. exchange with PRR. And a work area wich I do not have now.
Les

 

[UP SD40-2]

OH CRIPES Les!jawdrop thats some BIG plans for phase 2 of your layout! hey man, i really hope your plans work out. i would love to see your C&O grow, see some mountains on it, and an exchange with PRR:thumb: . GOOD LUCK Les!:thumb:

 

[UP SD40-2]

Something different...

i thought something different for a change might be nice, being an engine nut i thought i would put in the ONLY engine i have that isn't a UP, CNW or patched unit, its my Alco RSD-15:thumb: . this is one of my favorite engines...oh heck, who am i kidding, they ALL are my favorites! but seriously, besides being an Alco fan, my son and i have actually been in the cab of the REAL GBW #2407:thumb: , it resides at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union Illinois. if you live in southern Wisconsin, or northern Illinois, i STRONGLY recommend going to the IRM. i make the trip once a year, and ALWAYS enjoy visiting old GBW #2407, and MANY other AWESOME engines they have there:thumb: . the bottom pic is 2yrs old, and has my son walking in front of GBW#2407, going toward another of my favorites, UP gas turbine #18!:thumb: View attachment 26859 View attachment 26860 View attachment 26861 View attachment 26862

 

[UP SD40-2]

Railfanning...

WOW!, what a GREAT afternoon i had today! i took the afternoon off of work,(HA!, yea right :cry: , i wish!) and took my camera down to one of my favorite railfanning hot spots, you know, right behind the "West End Diner". i grabbed a bite to eat, took a couple Tums and spent an hour and a half trying to get a couple good shots. i was able to catch three East bound trains, the first was an auto-rack train, the SD90/43MAC was notched up pretty good, it was going so fast i was lucky to get the ES44AC flag unit and Dash-9 in the pic . the next train was a hotshot container train, it too was clipping by at speed with an AC4400 on the point, one of the last unpatched CNW Dash-9's:thumb: and an SD70M. the last train i seen was a local with a few cars of mixed freight, it was pulled by 2 SD40-2's:thumb: , the second engine i recognized, i see it running around here often . WELL, hope you guys had as GREAT of a Friday afternoon as i did . THANKS, till next time...stay on track!:thumb: View attachment 26874 View attachment 26875 View attachment 26876 View attachment 26877

 

[UP SD40-2]

My Views On Quality...

Hey guys, i would like to take a minute to talk about Quality. i have just added the Proto 2000 GP30 w/QSI to my UP engine roster:thumb: . the GP30 is NOT the first Proto 2000 i have owned, but after i took it out of the box and ran it, i got to thinking about the QUALITY that was running right in front of me. i own engines from Tower55 - Bachmann, all of them were either bought with DCC/sound, or i have converted them to DCC/sound , my point is, out of my vast engine collection, 5 brands, in my eyes are of the same QUALITY. (**NOTE, this is about diesels, steam is a whole nother ballgametooth1 ) Sure, my Tower55 and BLI are GREAT!:thumb: , heck, i wouldn't give up ANY of mine...HOWEVER, i honestly feel that Proto 2000, Atlas and Kato are ALL in the SAME ballpark as far as QUALITY goes . as far as the way they run, well they ALL run just as well as each other, i find NO difference. (**keep in mind though, ALL of my engines have sound decoders in them with "back EMF".) As far as "looks" goes, i can hardly see a difference, i think the detail in ALL of the 5 brands i have mentioned is TOP NOTCH!:thumb: Lets talk about price, if you get them with DCC/sound, they are all within about $20.00 of each other if you shop around . if you buy ANY of the 5 brands i mentioned without DCC/sound, then buy a "good quality' DCC/sound decoder and put it in, now you are at the price you would buy a BLI or Tower55. **EXAMPLE, i bought my UP SD90/43MAC Kato for $149.00, i put a Loksound decoder in it that cost me $109.00, total cost= $258.00 thats one dollar cheaper then my Tower55, and LET ME TELL YOU, they BOTH run GREAT!, and i think the detail in both of them is about the same :thumb: . **MY BOTTOM LINE, if you are going to buy a GREAT QUALITY DCC/sound engine, or buy the engine DC and put a GOOD QUALITY sound decoder in it, Tower55, BLI, Proto2000, Atlas and Kato, in MY EYES, are all about the same :thumb: . JUST MY THOUGHTS . till next time...stay on track! View attachment 26921 View attachment 26922

 

[Clerk]

WOW! Thanks guys for all the good pictures. Fantastic scenery and engine work:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[UP SD40-2]

WOW! Thanks guys for all the good pictures. Fantastic scenery and engine work:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

THANKS Clerk!, the only detailing i have done to the GP30 is put sun visors on it, painted the white on the hand rails, weathered the trucks and painted the fuel cap and gages.

 

[Chessie6459]

Great Photo's. I enjoyed looking at them.:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:

 

[UP SD40-2]

THANK YOU, for the complement Chessie6459! **well, i have been working on "Tri-Star Industries", but haven't gotten far enough to show my progress yet. since i named this thread "layout progress & engine pics", I'm going to throw in a couple more pics of some of my UP fleet. since i started this thread i have been trying to post a different engine in every pic, i have held true to that so far except in a couple pics. eventually i would like to put my whole UP fleet in here . collecting engines is one of my FAVORITE parts of this hobby, so i hope you guys enjoy these pics till i get a little farther on the layout. thanks! View attachment 26955 View attachment 26956 View attachment 26957 View attachment 26958 View attachment 26959

 

[doctorwayne]

Very nice photos, and some interesting motive power. I particularily like that Baldwin, but both of the Alcos are nice too.

Wayne

 

[Chessie6459]

THANK YOU, for the complement Chessie6459!

Your Welcome.

 

[UP SD40-2]

THANK YOU doctorwayne!

Very nice photos, and some interesting motive power. I particularily like that Baldwin, but both of the Alcos are nice too.

Wayne

doctorwayne!, THANK YOU so much for the kind comments , i am ALWAYS glad to hear from you, as i am REALLY inspired by YOUR work!:thumb: :thumb: . i am a little confused on the part you wrote about the Baldwin though . sure i am a BIG engine nut , but honestly, i only have ONE Baldwin out of my entire engine collectionops:, and have never posted it until now. its an RF-16 "shark", though NONE of the roads i model had "sharks", in my eyes, the RF-16 was BAR NONE the best looking Baldwins EVER MADE:thumb: . the sharks were popular with eastern roads, PRR, NYC, MGA, and came out around 1950. i have had this model for YEARS, and plan on doing it up as a D&H, problem is its just one of about 5000 projects i have going, and just keeps getting put on the back burnerops: . THANKS! View attachment 26976 View attachment 26977 View attachment 26978 View attachment 26979 View attachment 26980

 

[Russ Bellinis]

I think Dr Wayne mistook the Fairbanks-Morse for a Baldwin.

 

[UP SD40-2]

I think Dr Wayne mistook the Fairbanks-Morse for a Baldwin.

AHHH!!, THANKS Russ!!:thumb: i never thought about it, but i bet your right . the Baldwin AS-16, AS-416 and AS-616 all kinda look like the Fairbanks-Morse hood units. i can see it now, THANKS! **SIDE NOTE: i live here in Beloit, HOME OF Fairbanks-Morse engines!:thumb: my grandfather & great grandfather BOTH worked at Fairbanks-Morse at the time they were making engines. they made the parts that went in the prime movers of those awesome engines:thumb: !!! both of them have passed on years ago. neither of them were big train nuts, but were craftsman that loved their job and took GREAT PRIDE in their work. i have TONS of FM engines in N and HO. LONG LIVE FM!!!:thumb: :thumb: View attachment 26984 View attachment 26985 View attachment 26986 View attachment 26987