Joe got the July magazine out the door today.

Les Halmos also flew out from Quebec to make the trip to the national convention (X2011W) in Sacramento.

To celebrate we had an op session. Here's proof -- these guys DO run trains!

Les (in rear) is the engineer of the Oakhill turn, Jerry is conducting (and guiding a sleep deprived Les around the switching dance in Oakhill)

Acme Produce large main warehouse office building etc is another Model Builders building.  Combined with Walters very old refurbished kit bashed structure makes for great industry at Apex Industrial  on Grande Pacific RR.

Okay - X2011 has come up with a great idea. If you've ever been to a National Model Railroad Association Convention, you've gotten a 3x11 (or so) wire bound book that contains all the information about the convention - including the schedule of clinics. It gets unwieldy, you've got to come up with a system of marking what clinics you want, it definitely doesn't have any alarms to remind you... and right when you need it, you've left it in the hotel room.

One thing that has been bothering me as I worked on the layout is how to operate the turnouts in the Deseronto yard. I had been going down the path of using power operation everywhere but the wiring was bothering me, to say nothing of the cost of all the gear required. The yard has 26 actuators, including four double slips, so that is a fairly high density for installing things, to say nothing of the collection of wire under the benchwork.

I want to say before going any further that I have had a fair amount of interest in this program.  I really liked the idea, and I even went so far as to think that it would be fun to make this achievement.  I am somewhat distressed, though by a couple relevant technological developments which essentially strip this program of all merit.

OK, the backdrop is completed and the sub-roadbed of pink foam is down; lights from IKEA are on their way and will be installed shortly. NOW, what is the best way of laying out the track before purchasing it? Paper copies? Use a 3ft section and draw around it? Mark a centerline?

I posted this also.

I have been working recently on the "Oneapee River" crossing on my Diamond River Valley Railroad. Please enjoy the pictures. while I am only using a simple point and shoot for these pictures I hope to be able to take some nicer shots once the scenery is  more or less complete.

The first shot is that of the blue foam being roughed in.

I've been moving along, slowly but surely.

I am still working on my mine buildings. Specifically, the hoist house. I actually had it all finished, but I did not like the result. There wasn't really anything wrong with it, it just wasn't right. I've attached some photos so you can see what I mean.

At long last the yard design is finalized. I am not overly happy about some of my compromises but I think it is workable. Some of the stuff that I wanted to put in the yard just would not go -- the coaling tower and ash pit. Since this is a transition era layout I decided to put those items in a different area and leave some foundation marks in the yard when I finally landscape it.

I'd thought I'd start a new little hobbyist series particularly aimed at getting modelers started on the modeling track.  blogs of this series will have "Starting Points" in their title.  And they are precisely that - points where YOU the new green modeler can get your teeth wet - and perhaps lose some of the edge on the intimidation factor