Large Scale Central

Cliffy's Train Meet 2016

General Discussion
#1

This year, like last year, we’re having a two-part open house. First comes the annual corporate party of my friend and neighbor, Curtis. They have lots of kids, so I’m glad to run trains for them. That was today, and they came and went, nice and non-structured. Here’s a representative pic.

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Here’s a cute shot of some of the boys that chased the train non-stop for an hour,

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Both girls and boys showed interest and followed the train. After everyone had left, and I had put stuff into the barn, a mom with two little girls came over. They’d come later, so had missed the action. So I brought the train out again. And I tell ya, those two little girls chased the train just as much as the boys had done.

Finally had to shut things down, supper was calling.

It really warmed my old hermit heart though to see all the kids loving the train. Even on as barren a layout offering as mine, and with only one short train running.

===>Cliffy

#2

OK, now for some back-story.

WOW, it’s really tough to blow leaves off your layout when there’s wind of 20-40mph all around you.

All the gremlins came off vacation today, giving me numerous switch and switch machine issues. I had to shut down my upper line, due to a certain turnout that had issues I couldn’t repair in time. Bummer.

The good news: track cleaning went swiftly, using my trusty Swiffer, and the loco (an LGB mogul, outfitted for DCC) ran like a champ for 2 hours straight. Until I messed up on a switch alignment, and sent her on a spur, and crashing into a concrete mountain. But, she survived just fine it seems (at least, under the lowered light). She ran ok afterward, at least for what was required… need to give the poor dear some love tomorrow…

I really need to start thinking like a railroad engineer, and pay attention to things like switch alignments.

Back to the wind. For two hours straight, as I ran the train, I had to keep an eye out for newly-fallen twigs and leaves. Old leaves might not derail a train, but you can bet that fresh poplar and oak leaves will. And did I mention it’s been windy today? With gusts up to 50mph? Crazy, at times I could hardly hear someone talk!

Total blast though.

Next week, our own annual neighborhood train meet. Need to get some repairs done before that… !

===>Cliffy

#3

Looks like a good time Cliff, great looking railway.
You need to post more pictures of it.

#4

That’s very kind of you Vincent!

Not much has changed since last year, so here’s a vid from our meet in 2015:

The main things that have changed since then are the more mature plantings, and the new backdrop wall (under the deck).

My good friend Jerry shot this from his drone, really cool.

More recently, here’s a ride through the southern part of the layout, in and out of the new train barn:

I hope to post an all-around train-view vid next week.

Thanks for asking,

Cliff

#5

Good stuff Cliff!

#6

Thanks Brutha Roosta!

#7

Nice Cliffy!

#8

Very nice indeed

#9

That’s neat, Cliff. Especially with the kids. Seeing their faces makes it all worthwhile. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

#10

Very nice RR, and I like that deck with the bridge over the tracks, too.

Really great to see the kids enjoying the trains!

#11

Kids and trains. Doesn’t get any better then that…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#12

Thanks for all the kind remarks fellas!

And I agree, seeing kids (even kids you don’t know) get super enthused was really neat. Many of the parents (and therefore kids) hadn’t seen a G-gauge outdoor layout, so hopefully some inspiration will stick for a few of the kids.

#13

Cool, sounds like a great event. Glad it went so well. I doubt the kids even noticed that Murphy was visiting your upper loop. That guy must have the worlds busiest schedule just considering all the large scale layouts he visits!

You can really see how some of the vegetation has grown in between and the older and new videos. It’s really looking good. Don’t worry I won’t get in touch with your local inspector about that wiring on your fan.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#14

Thanks very much Randy, and you’re sure right about Murphy. And that fan… you have a good eye. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-sealed.gif)

And yep, the kids didn’t notice the upper loop inactivity, so all was fine. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

#15

Looks great Cliff

I like the way those NS rail heads glisten!

Jerry

#16

Great looking layout and cool video, Cliff!

-Kevin.

#17

Thanks Jer, and I hope to see ya soon over here.

And I’m glad you like it Kevin!

#18

As I mentioned in the OP, this is a two-part open house, with last week’s being for my neighbor’s company party. Today, after quite a bit of prep, we’re ready for folks to come over for our annual neighborhood train open house and potluck dinner. Wow, gorgeous weather this year! Low 70’s, little wind.

My big excitement so far today was a pipe break in the basement. After disconnecting a hose on the patio from the bibb, it took 5 or 10 minutes to notice the water dripping onto the patio from behind the siding near the faucet… major “Oh noooooh!” there. Went inside, water spraying quite nicely everywhere. So, after 2+ hours of cleanup, I got back to leaf blowing.

After that, things have gone well. My better half, Linda, is organizing the food, and everything’s cleaned up and running. So before the folks get here, I took a couple trains-eye-view vids, one going forward, the other backward.

Now for the get-together, woo hoo!

Thanks for watching,
===>Cliffy

#19

Look on there bright side, Cliff- now you can have a water feature inside and outside!!!(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)

-Kevin.

#20

Plumbing project, ugh. That requires 3 trips to Lowe’s.