Thanks
Mike - As i mentioned, I had no experience with code 83 or even code 100. I was using N scale rail joiners when I started the HO scale layout. I had quite a large N scale layout, but back in the late 70's,, N scale had a lot to be desired. The majority of the locomotives didn't run very well, although there were a few exceptions, and there wasn't much of a choice of road names. One of my biggest gripes was the oversize rail at the time. I didn't have a lot to spend on the hobby so I started the layout by hand laying the rail to individual ties using Homabed homasote roadbed. Larter on working on the layout, my Kadee spike gun quit working for maybe the 6th time and Kadee would not rebuild it and more as they had stopped manufacturing the spike gun and no longer had the parts to fix it. At that time, Shinohara was making code 70 track and that's what I used.
![homabed%201%20001[1].jpg](https://modelrailroadforums.com/forum/attachments/homabed-201-20001-1-jpg.268641/ "homabed%201%20001[1].jpg")
I did some experimenting with the LED string lights. I got one strip started but ran out of double faced tape to mount the lights. I still have to attach a strip facing down to light the front of the module.
I am getting a bit excited to be doing something in the hobby again. Looking at the picture above, I am thinking of putting Tschache Oil (pronounced shocky) on the extreme left with a few homes on the right and something in the middle. When I was working on the layout early in the build, I had an older friend who was known as Junior Tschache, who had inherited something from his family that was in the oil industry. Sort of a joke. He liked it.
Guess I could post more photos from the club.
Oops. Dewey had a bit of an accident. Issues like this could snarl up running on the layout so this is when I put the RDC on the tracks while linger trains had to take a passing siding and park.
It could get crowded duting operating sessions as the layout was open to the public during operation sessions. The club was part of the Northern Pacific Museum and our rent and utilities were free to have the layout open to the public.
These photos were taken a few years apart. The first one was taken in the Livingston yards when it was still Burlington Northern. The shops had just rebuilt the locomotive and it was heading out to the Mount Rainier Scenic Railway in Washington, as seen in the lower photo. The first photo was taken in the late 70's. It was a help knowing the shop foreman as I would get a heads up if anything interesting was happening. They had corrected the paint job on the nose when it arrived in Washington. The Mount Rainier Scenic Railway has a YouTube channel where you can see this locomotive in operation along with some steam that they also operate.
This is the Northern Pacific Depot from the track side. The second photo is from the street side. It is in the basement of what was the baggage building. The club occupies what were three rooms. One was baggage, one was machinery and the third was a coal bunker.
LATER
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