Just installed this Life-Like flashing light storage tank...


...along with a Bachmann swimming pool for the Tyco Colonial House!


Plasticville split-level house. I still need to paint the figures (I have to get more colors of paints, for that matter!)


Grade crossing. It's not hooked up yet, as I need to get a good controller that's somewhat easy to use and will be DCC-compatible. The nonoperating plastic signal I will replace with a Griswold-style crossing signalfrom NJ International.


Another overview showing the new stuff...

I am thinking when I upgrade to the E-Z Command system and build Stage 2 of the track on my layout, I will have one siding be connected to an Atlas Connector switch so I can power it on and off when need be, and put a standard DC locomotive there, while I keep the DCC locomotives running in most cases.
I have a BUNCH of standard DC locomotives, but my Life-Like Proto 1000 F3A is DCC-ready! 

Update time again!


I've done some more detailing on the layout.


An entrance to Roundpost Junction!


The Dickerson Station and Honest Larry's Cars are in business now!


Life-Like Supply House in the background, with the Tyco Crossing Gate and Atlas Gateman Tower.




Farm with apple orchard. I thought the Plasticville barn was going to be large, but it's in perfect scale!


Trees growing around the tunnel.




Tyco operating box car dump station and freight unloading depot, and Life-Like dumping station and lighted yard tower.

Here's a few more updates...



I am experimenting with ballast. Maybe once I vacuum up the excess stuff, it won't look as messy.


Landscaping on the second sheet of plywood. There is going to be a farm on this side, too (I will be getting Plasticville barn and "farm building with animals" building kits.)


Already adding some scenic details to the existing plywood section as well.

That would make for a decent starter set, particularly if someone wants to start out with a train set using a diesel switcher locomotive.
Bachmann did have a set like that in the late 1970s: the Yardmaster, but it was with a blue-and-yellow Santa Fe switcher, pulling a boxcar and hopper car and caboose, and it only had a 36" circle of track instead of a 45x36" oval (which is what you have in mind, though the E-Z track equivalent would be 47x38").
Of course in the late 1970s, the Bachmann locomotives then were not the best quality compared to what they have today 

Finally finished applying the landscaping (except ballast) to the original existing plywood!

As you can see, it is already looking much better than the old layout.
Though once the landscaping on the second sheet of plywood is done, I still need to get some new buildings! Probably a mix of old and new (definitely some Plasticville!)

Quote from: trainmainbrian on March 30, 2014, 09:26:13 AM
& I would also put in a YARD AREA as well since your into the building stage of your layout.. Most people building a Layout include an area to store there Trains & Rolling Stock & as well make it more fun in operating sessions because you can switch out rolling stock & make up other trains as well....

Keep up the good work....

As a matter of fact, Stage 2 of the layout will have some sidings to make a small rail yard!


Placing some of the buildings onto my layout now. I'll get around to weathering them soon.


Finished another end of landscaping; there is only a little left on the first sheet of plywood now that needs to be decorated, along with the rest of the second sheet.

I have also now hooked the track and blocking control to my MRC Tech-4 280 power pack, along with wiring up two of the switches. I ran one of my locomotives on the completed loop on the original existing plywood and it worked pretty well.

Quote from: RAM on March 30, 2014, 03:40:25 PM
You would be better off getting a Bachmann 2-8-0 instead of the Tyco.  That is if you plan to run it. 

For running on my layout, I do plan on getting a Bachmann Consolidation. I know Bachmann made a nice Santa Fe 2-8-0 Consolidation locomotive in the "Bachmann Plus" line in the '90s. (Or maybe once I get more cash I'll get the Spectrum version instead!)

And jbrock27, when looking for track on eBay I always look closely at the pics to see if it really IS nickel-silver. Usually I would tell by the color of the rails:
Gold, copper or rust-colored: Usually brass
Completely silver: Steel
Pale-gold and shiny: Nickel-silver

At least with Bachmann's E-Z Track it's easy to tell the nickel-silver sections from steel!

Though if you're simply replacing the track from an old train set (doesn't matter if it's Bachmann or Tyco or whatever) and you want to still use snap-track, then just get this:

If the set came with just a circle or a 45x36 oval of track, this is a decent upgrade; you get a nice 54x36" oval with passing siding, except the switches are manual (you can upgrade them to remote switch machines though.)
It connects using terminal joiners; just hook them up to your set's power pack (if it still works, or a new and better power pack), put the locomotive and cars on the track, and you're ready to go!

Quote from: jbrock27 on March 30, 2014, 07:59:51 AM
Re: the TYCO crossing gate-I used to have one-did you replace the section of straight track that came with it or are you saying it came with nickel silver?  The reason I ask, is, to my knowledge, TYCO never produced n/s track-only steel and brass.  So if the crossing is stock and has not been modified, you may want to check to see if it is n/s by placing a magnet on the rails Wiley.

PS  And before the "S" curve police arrive, let me point out to you that it looks like you have one coming off the left handed snap switch that runs near the post, diverging to the interior of the layout.

Yes, the early Tyco crossing gates had a removable track section, very much like the older Bachmann crossing gates did. So I took advantage of that and replaced the brass track section with nickel-silver, to be consistent with the rest of the track there. Beginning around the mid-to-late 1970s, those Tyco crossing gates had the track built right onto it (likewise with similar crossing gates from Life-Like and Pemco; Bachmann still had a removable track section on their crossing gate until it was modified to work with E-Z Track.)

And I am aware of the S-curve, but in most cases I will slow the train down there as I go through, as it's often wise to slow down a train when it's traveling through a switch.

My previous railroad layout had somewhat of a 1970s theme to it, mostly with rolling stock, accessories and buildings:

As I am interested in vintage HO train products, that was a given. Except the only 1970s locomotive I used on this layout was that Tyco diesel switcher, the older version that used Mantua's little (and effective) motor instead of the crummy "PowerTorque" pancake motor. (Though I may get a Tyco "Chattanooga" or Santa Fe 2-8-0 Consolidation steam locomotive, mainly for collecting purposes; it's nicely detailed, but it has a "PowerTorque" motor that was placed in the tender car.)
If the OP reads this, if you're going to do a 1970s layout and you have brass track, I DO NOT recommend using it. Most model railroad manufacturers in the 1970s just used brass track (including Bachmann), and while it can be a good electrical conductor, it oxides rather quickly and often requires a lot of maintenance. Steel is a little better, but still not as good a conductor as nickel-silver (I know AHM and Tyco both offered steel track in the late 1970s; Bachmann didn't start making steel track until around 1982 or 1983.)
If you want traditional tie-and-rails sectional track for this "70s" layout, I recommend getting new Atlas Code-100 nickel-silver track. Even older locomotives will perform better on it! Otherwise (particularly if you aren't going to be using any of those old "action" accessories that require conventional track) go with Bachmann's nickel-silver E-Z track.

Been a while, but I've got plenty of updates!


Completed extended train table from early this week. The plywood on the extension can be removed temporarily if I need to access something from the other end.
This is before the landscaping I started this week. Here are where I've decided buildings will go...

Where I'm installing my Tyco operating boxcar station and freight-unloading depot, along with my Tyco lighted yard tower.


I can now finally install that Tyco operating crossing flasher! (The lights don't alternate flashing; they just come on steady as the train goes over the sensor, but still a nice accessory!) I also put my Life-Like Snap-Loc station building kit here.


Tyco crossing gate (with nickel-silver track!) and lighted freight station. On the other side of the second track I will install a crossing signal and gate there. (There will be another crossing on the layout that will use a Bachmann dual crossing gate.)


My two Center St. building kits! I plan to maybe get a couple more, like that Furniture Store one, as I do have room for some more structures on this layout. For those unfamiliar, the Center St. building kits were made by Pola and originally branded by Tyco in the 1980s and early 1990s, then by IHC until the end of the 1990s.


These are the buildings I have so far on the extension. I'm also going to set up a farm here.


On Tuesday I began the landscaping. And HERE'S how far I got as of today...


(The track areas with no landscaping on them will have ballast applied to them.)


My new Woodland Scenics tunnel!


The progress so far as of now.

I will be able to still access that track by going over to that side of the table. It isn't completely shoved into a corner, because then that would REALLY restrict things for me.

But besides that, we got the lumber today! We will then assemble the benchwork some time this week, and then I will get started on landscaping. I did draw where the roads will go on the existing plywood, and I also did a bit of test-fitting of some of the track to get an idea on how the roads will be positioned and such:


I have a feeling this is going to be quite a project...

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on February 11, 2014, 10:16:16 AM
Rather interesting waste of time labour and materials on the railroads' parts...

Rich C.

You mean the short gates? There was actually an accident there in 1998 when a teenage girl was hit and killed by a speeding train; one train passed and she rode around the gate, unaware a second train was coming. They even have a small memorial near the crossing still.
Or the way they placed the signals?
The MBTA owns this crossing; most of their crossings use gated signals, and many of them have the cantilevers, but not this one.

But anyways back on topic, that information richg posted seems to help. I will investigate it a bit more. It does have a single wire sticking out with some kind of unusual clip. I'll try to get a picture of that.

Quote from: jbrock27 on February 10, 2014, 09:53:23 PM
W, what are the dimensions of the new layout?

It's like an 8x8 square, but with 1/4th of it cut out.

Quote from: electrical whiz kid on February 11, 2014, 07:49:58 AM
Per the location of the warning lights.  Is there any particular reason you have located the warning light/sign where it is, or is the road located in UK?

Rich C.

For some reason that is where you are supposed to install the warning signal on the base. I suppose I could use it as an "extra" signal of sorts, like at some real-life railroad crossings I've seen: