Good Morning All. Clear and 50° to start the week. Wind should shift to southerly soon and warm things up for the next ten days. No rain in sight. Back to a somewhat normal day here I hope.
Yesterday was well spent but busy after morning Mass and then lunch. My contractor buddy (who is actually a licensed plumber) came by and we fixed the pesky water leak out at the water meter. It might have only been leaking around 15 gallons a day, but apparently it had begun about a month ago and the ground was saturated and there was standing water in the area. He wasn't able to make it out last weekend. Downside was that I only had two of the three parts needed for the repair (I keep a stockpile), so he spent an extra hour going to town and back for the other one. He bought three so I now have two spares that I hope that I never have to use. While all of the glue and other adhesives were setting, we swept the chimney. I did that myself for 38 years but my wife doesn't want me getting on the roof any more. It cost me $150 for three hours work, not bad for a plumbing repair on a Sunday. I actually handed him $200 and he handed me back $50. Hell, if I did it myself, it would have taken me longer than that just to dig the area up, about 3/4 cu yard of wet mucky clay soil. After everything dries out I have to go back and refill the hole, but at least the water doesn't have to get turned off to do that. I can also take my time since my HOA (me) isn't too picky.
This morning calls for a couple of breakfast burritos, Flo. The usual, sausage, egg, potato and cheese with lots of spicy salsa on the side. Wonder where's
Troy with those Amish doughnuts?
Thanks to all who commented or liked the pictures yesterday;
Troy, Lee, Sherrel, Joe, Jerome, Karl, Garry, Tom O, Gary, Phil, Chet, Ken, Curt, Rick, Chad, Tom, Jerry, Patrick.
Made it out to the train shed late yesterday. I only had time to finish the mortar wash on the remaining three sides of the DPM structure.
I'm still thinking that it's a little too bold. I'm going to experiment with a few ideas that I have been mulling over to see if I can tone it down a bit.
Everyone seemed to like the intermodal freight running through the layout, so I hooked up a pair of ScaleTrains SD40-2's to a manifest freight and ran in the opposite direction for a few photos. See some of these towns from a different view.
Entering the outskirts of Charlottesville from the north.
Passing that intermodal freight on the passing siding in Charlottesville.
Coming down "the alley" in Charlottesville.
Excuse the lack of ground cover on the right for now, this is where I left off detailing (temporarily) due to the lack of suitable structures.
Next, rounding the corner behind the plastics factory into the area that I am currently working on.
On the approach to downtown Vernon. Note the Bar Mills "Wicked Wanda's" structure on the right that I re-purposed as a rooming house.
Entering downtown.
Leaving town behind that rural residential area.
Passing the flour mill on the left and the grain elevator on the right through the countryside. Another manifest freight on the left powered by a pair of F45's.
One more and I have hit the limit on the number of pictures in a post.
Rounding the loop on the end of the peninsula past the paint distributor in the industrial park.
This is an opposite view from yesterday of the difference using the N scale roadbed can make on the siding.
Ray -
Tharrs Baarrz in them thar 'ills, umm, flat areas.
Yes. I like to incorporate some occasional whimsical mini-scenes here and there throughout the layout.
Lee - That's really a fine job on the circus wagon. Whenever I finish up the layout, I would like to try something like that, although not necessarily circus wagons. Maybe 1:48 boats.
Tom O - I have been pretty much hit or miss on the mortar. For whatever reason, some of my older structures look better than what I am doing now. I want some to look "new, mortar only", but end up with "aged weathered" structures that look bleached out. I should try that stuff that
Greg uses. On another note. All of my LHS's price everything 20% under the Walther's prices. If Walther's sale price is less than that, they will match it and obtain a rebate from their Walther's rep.
Everybody have a great day. Stay safe. Keep your social distancing and wear your masks.