…And then it was already August!

Seems time is really flying by this summer. We’ve had a late start to the season following a wet and stormy Spring. Farmers were struggling to get crops into overly soaked fields before the deadlines for getting such things completed. When the good weather did arrive, it brought many very hot and humid days. Those days are good ones to stay inside and try to get things done on the layout.

For a small shelf layout (alright, TWO small shelf layouts if you include the lower level HO scale Hawaiian Big Island Rail) I’ve been having a difficult time getting a lot accomplished. As I wrote in my last blog entry, it seemed I’d get one thing done only to have a couple other projects take a turn for the worse and put me back a square one.

It’s still a balancing act for me while retirement looms just out of reach still. Two half-time jobs, and freelance photography business keep me busy. The wedges of the pie that are left called “free time” are sliced very thinly, one of those wedges includes model railroading.  Add to my typical week yard work and cabin repair and maintenance, keeping the home fires burning, our dogs, trying to go camping, going fishing…forget about THAT this year…and penning a few magazine articles, and there’s not a bunch of “free” time leftover. I’m sure many of you are pulled in dozens of different directions as well that keep you out of the train room.

When I have put my mind to it to get into the modeling mood, I have made some progress on the layout, concentrating all my efforts of the On30 project while the HO pike stays pretty much dormant. 

Some positive accomplishments this summer so far include:

Purchasing a very nice all wood roller cart with shelves that are just the correct height and depth to store On30 freight cars and some locomotives.  Half of the seven shelves will store cars for the HO Big Island Rail. I see this storage unit as my car interchange cart. I will designate shelves for out-going and in-bound rolling stock for both layouts. It’s a good, safe place to keep them stored while off-line, so to speak. It was a little pricey, but sure looks better and is much sturdier than the typical big box store plastic shelf units.

I researched and purchase some ribbon LED lights for above layout illumination. They were inexpensive and fit the bill for my small layouts. I had used the bulky 4-foot shop lights for past layouts, and those would have never worked for my new layout situation. I purchased two 16-foot-long strands of the daylight-balanced LEDs for each layout.

One was just not bright enough. But running two strips is just the ticket. They do not give off any heat and are dimmable and use room outlet power. I also picked up a strand of multi-colored LEDS to use for special effects and to simulate nighttime in the swamp. I penned an in-depth magazine article about using the LEDs that should be published soon.

I also began working on creating the illusion of lightning bugs, or as them Yankees say – “fireflies.” Again, I’m documenting these efforts for a possible how-to magazine story.  But so far, the results are very promising. I also am bringing my haunted mansion back to life, so to speak, as the centerpiece of the swamp corner on the layout. I’ve added sides and a roof to the carved foam front to help darken the interior to show off a ghost. Recently some other modelers have shared photos of the dilapidated structure I used for the model, showing it was likely a church in the swamp. So, I’ll have to modify my “back story” on this building. Creating those stories is as much fun as building the actual models.

One area of the layout has nearly completed scenery. This is the Green River Lift Bridge, saved from the old layout, but on a smaller scope. This is also a lift-out section to allow access to the window behind. I was motivated to do this project so I could get the “money shots” needed of for another magazine article.

I’ve been replacing the miniature lights that burnt out from too much juice and have wired (hopefully) the correct resistors to them this time. I also ordered a new power supply with variable voltage adjustments to be my dedicated power source for all the lights and accessories. This should solve any overloading the lamps.

And finally. I’ve installed a natural swamp sounds loop to the corner swamp area. I dumb the sound effects onto an old MP3 player and wire it up to a pair of speakers from a trashed set of headphones. They put out good sound at just the right volume.

So, looking at this list of things accomplished during the last month or so, in addition to my other duties and obligations, I suppose I HAVE gotten a lot done on the layout this summer after all.