Good Morning All. Cloudy and 67° this fine morning. The chance of rain this morning hasn't materialized yet, and the overnight stuff stayed north in Oklahoma. Expecting 83° for a high later today with significant south winds. Tonight they shift from the north for a low tomorrow morning of 46°. Variable weather for the next ten days. Took advantage of the wind-free day yesterday to rake some leaves for the compost pile. There will be more as only about 2/3 of them have fallen. Today's wind might take care of that. Garden prep for the spring is coming along nicely. I added 2" of aged wood chips, a layer of wood ashes and 3" of grass clippings to the surface before incorporating it all into the soil. It will loosen my heavy black clay soil so that it is more workable this spring for planting.
A couple of sausage, egg and cheese biscuits should do it for me this morning Francine.
Thanks as always for the likes, reactions and comments regarding the layout progress yesterday;
Guy, Sherrel, Joe, Phil, Chad, Garry, Curt, Hughie, Tom, Jerry.
It was a very slow progress day out in the train shed yesterday. I mostly ran trains while waiting for paint and glue to dry. Painted some additional detail parts for Wayne Feeds. I cleaned and sorted some junk that had accumulated on the workbench, however almost none of it got removed! Over in the railroad maintenance yard, I started adding ground cover, ground foam and fine ballast for gravel. In the paint booth, I painted a large handful of ties with some rattle-can black paint, to use as eventual detailing in the yard. Decided that I need to acquire some type of jib crane to add to that scene.
Work yesterday didn't warrant any pictures, so I'll post some of my most popular consumer small businesses, bars and speakeasies.
My smallest bar is Archie's Place. It's in the middle of a Downtown Deco kit called Addams Ave. Part I. This is a Hydrocal kit.
Another is the Green Door Lounge. It's a laser-cut wood kit from Blair Lines.
Murphy's Bar is next in the parade. It's a DPM kit known as Skippy's Chicken & Ribs.
I still lack an interior and when I get to finishing this part of the layout, there will be an outdoor beer garden overlooking both the train tracks and a small stream.
Over on the main drag in Vernon, is Saulenas Tavern. Another laser-cut wood kit, this one from Bar Mills.
Down the road from Saulenas is Second Class Saloon. This is a Grandt Line plastic structure.
I have a few more, but I need to take some better pictures than I have right now. To be continued.
Troy - With very few exceptions, I rarely solder joiners/track. Since I attach feeders every six feet or less and to at least one lead off every switch, it isn't necessary for me. I am very lousy at soldering anyway. I attach the joiners very tightly and fortunately I don't get much if any at all layout expansion/contraction. To fill unexpected gaps between rails (I am not perfect), I use some type of Evergreen Styrene, which can be cut and fit into the gap. While I whittle down a piece of I-beam, there are some other shapes that will work. Once I paint the track, you can't tell that it's there. Of course this is much easier in HO scale than N. Filling the gaps with solder or putty could work as well.
Today is National Pickle Day, so pucker up!
Everybody have a great day and stay safe.
, and only spent $80 for the week 
