TRAIN TIME: The Business District Comes to The 'Jeep' Layout

The 'Jeep' train layout got an upgrade this week. (I called it that because it was designed to be hauled in the back of my old Jeep Cherokee and at the time I was building a bunch of different layouts and needed a way to differentiate them mentally). I wanted to add a little more detail so I decided to break out some of my vintage vehicles and stage a photo shoot for the 'construction'. You'll see Banner, Gilmark, Ideal, Marx, Processed Plastics, and Dillon-Beck Wannatoy toys. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Berttina

Curious

The 'concrete' slab is 1/8" balsa wood with one coat of Woodland Scenics 'Concrete' paint and expansion lines drawn in with a pencil

None of the buildings are glued down allowing me to swap them out at a whim

TRAIN TIME: Playin' With The 'Jeep Layout'

I've been playing with trains more than I have in years ever since pulling the 'Jeep Layout' out of hibernation back in January. I haven't done much work on the layout itself except make some templates of where I want to do some future detailing. After the templates were cut out I used them as a guide to draw lines on the layout. We'll keep ya posted as this little project progresses. Next, I pulled a bunch of figures off of what used to be the big layout, The Marxville and Plateau (MaP), which is in the process of being re-born as...? well, as another layout of some sort.

Next, I pulled the engine and tender from the New Marx/Ameritrains 'Santa Fe Prospector Set' and hitched up three Train Collector's Association (TCA) 'Tarantula RR' limited edition cars. It's a beautiful lash-up and you can see it in action on this YouTube video. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

A visit from Chitty

TRAIN TIME: Resurrecting The 'Jeep Layout' - Pt 4

I haven't done a whole lot of work on the layout itself, but did manage to work on what now passes for my 'train room'. Last year I tore down all the shelves, work benches, and cabinets along two walls of The Cave and re-did the shelving and cabinetry The work left a lot of little holes in the wall were things were attached. I filled most of the holes but there were some strays that needed attending to. So I filled holes, painted over them, hung up a couple of pictures, swept up some and voilà instant 'train room' :-) 

I pulled out a Marx M1000 streamliner from the 1930s to see if it still ran. I haven't run this thing in about 10-12 years and it's still going strong. Yes, it does need lubrication but I didn't run it for long at all. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Here's a YouTube video of the M1000 running on the Jeep Layout

TRAIN TIME: Resurrecting The 'Jeep Layout' - Pt 3

Work progresses on the jeep layout at a rather slow pace. The past few weeks have been busy here - culling items to photograph and sell on fleaBay or take to the local thrift shop. Also, I couldn't help but notice in the middle of all this mayhem, just how much debris has accumulated in The Cave. Guys, you'll be able to identify with this - pieces of particle board, remnants of 1x2's, 1x4's, 2x4, etc, pieces of plywood 'just big enough for the next project' I tell myself. A project which will most likely never come to fruition. So yes, I'm trying to de-clutter the joint and make room to actually move out there.

While all this is going on I've also been messin' with the resurrected jeep Layout. A lot of my train stuff is buried but some things were within reach - like the paper buildings I've been featuring here on the blog and they were the inspiration for this next phase. I took off all the structures except for the Lionel prewar water tower and replaced them with the paper building I made from B.J. George's templates. The train station was replaced with a Marx HO scale passenger shelter. Where the K-Line 'L'-shaped Ranch House used to sit is now the fire station. This 'backwoods' type of set-up was inspired by what I've seen in Big Bear, CA, up here on Mt. Charleston, and elsewhere. I believe I'm gonna like the looks of this but it still needs teaking. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

These were the buildings I put on the layout just after resurrecting it. They are not the same ones I used to place on it when I was taking the layout to train shows 14-15 years ago.

Here I've replaced the plastic with paper buildings

This 'in the woods' location for the firehouse was inspired by trips up to Mt. Charleston, a favorite tourist destination and a nice spot to go to during the hot summer months

A pedestrian's eye view

The Oscar Meyer Wienermobile has come to visit.

TRAIN TIME: Resurrecting the 'Jeep Layout' - Pt 1

Back in  the late '90s I built a portable train layout for the specific purpose of taking it to local train shows. It had to fit in the rear of my Jeep Cherokee and so I called it the 'Jeep Layout'. I had a lot of fun with it for several years but then I grew disinterested in the local club scene and dropped out cold turkey. That was in 2002 and the layout lay dormant for the next twelve fourteen years. It spent most of that time in a vertical position and sandwiched between other project material until this week. Readers of the blog know I'm in de-acquisition mode and just making a concerted effort to get rid of stuff. To that end a lot of boxes and packing material has accumulated out there in The Cave as evidenced by these photos. With a few sales, giving things away to local thrift stores, and little rearranging some room opened up - just enough to get the Jeep layout out of its in-house storage mode. I love collecting toys but really did miss the trains and the fellowship of the train community. Gosh, I haven't run trains on any of my layouts for many years and I was itchin' to get back in the fold. As soon as I find some old pics of the layout I'll get them scanned so you can see what it was like in its 'heyday'. We'll just leave the narrative as is for now and get into more specifics in another post. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Just a portion of the pile of boxes and packing material I saved in the eventuality of selling off the collection

For now, the layout rests on plastic storage bins

It'll need some dusting and cleaning but overall it's still in really good shape. The frame will probably have to be repainted - something I had already done a couple times in the past.