The start of scenery

I bought a few plaster cloths rolls and it has been bothering me that the area so see here only had pink foam and paper. Since I was putting joint compound on the walls and making a mess anyway, I figured "what's a little more mess".

The three rolls I had didn't go very far, so I ended up buying a box of twelve. Plaster cloth is a lot easier and less messy, but I'm going to have to go back to the old way, since I have plenty of hydrocal and the cost for the plaster cloth is so high.

I decided to hit the top of the helix with some of the extra rolls of plaster. This area has the potential for a good railfanning spot because it comes around the corner at eye level for most of us. Just wait until the ground and tress are in.

More Lights

Before and after pictures of Wiscasset


Before and after pictures of Bath

New lighting for Portland, Deering & Yarmouth Jct.

I was happy with the first set of lights I received for Brunswick and ordered more. I turns out I should have ordered one more reel. I am about six feet short.

I spent the last two days running an auxiliary bus for layout lighting and accessories. When that was complete I put up the new reels of lights in the other areas that were needed.
One of the things that are different with this set of lights was that I needed to angle the lights a bit toward the backdrop. I had been mounting the lights on the front board of the upper level because the tape would be held with full contact. With upper level being wider at this point the lights were out at the very front. I placed a thin strip of wood angled at about 30 degrees toward the back, to allow the lights to shine a bit on the backdrop.


All of the light reels can be cut smaller and the cut pieces have a place to solder more wires on so the the cut pieces can still be used. I was told that soldering might not work, but I was able to do it and that means it can't be too hard.

Here you will see before and after pictures of the south end of the layout.

The sun comes up in Brunswick

I finally got around to seriously looking at lighting options for the lower level. I looked at numerous options and for now I settled on a flexible LED light strip. It is 16 ft long, there are 300 LED's that run off 12 vdc and is 24 watts of power. You can look at the first picture and see what Brunswick looked like before I put any lights in. It was even going to get worse once all of the scenery was installed above.
The strip comes with a sticky backing, but until I was sure of where it will go and even if I liked it I temporarily fastenened it with tie wraps. This took all of 5 minutes.

Look at the difference in Brunswick once I turned the lights on. It probably looks better in person than with a picture. The LED's are about 1/2" apart so the lighting is real even. The front to back spread of the light seems real good also. If you are a purest with the color then you'll have to figure it out.
This is the LED strip. It is not much thicker than movie film. It comes in color temps, just like fluorescent lights do. I chose "natural light", 4000K-4500K, with a yellow background. There are other options in regular light and reds, blues and greens. You can get a white background and waterproof if you want. I figured worse case I can use them as under cabinet lights in the kitchen.
I put a link at the bottom, in case anyone wants to look. These are ordered from England, but then shipped from Hong Kong.

http://www.ledlightsworld.com/smd-3528-flexible-led-strips-300-leds-p-90.html

Searsport Industrial Gets Local Control

First the new industries were installed and then the track was made operable in the computer. This allowed the dispatcher to throw the turnouts if needed for overflow, but wasn't good enough to allow operations. The next step in allowing the new industries to come on line was to get the new local control panel operable , so the YM could do the switching. This has now been done. the final step will be to change out the modified waybills to match the new industries

Not only is there local control for the new industries. The Searsport YM will be glad to know that four yard tracks were lengthened 1 to 1 1/2 car lengths, which should help, if just a little, in the yard. This was all there was room for.

First Signal installed

Today marks the first signal installed on the BRWM. The signal is installed on the approach to Searsport.

Chuck

Last minute additions before the MER Open House

With all of the additions from The Eno Valley Railroad, I spent time placing things around the layout. I finished the track work and Tortoise Machines for Searsport. Hooking up the electrical stuff will probably have to wait. I placed some of the new rolling stock in the area, just to dress it up a little.
I found another small building for a siding that will probably be used in Wiscasset. It will be the only industry to be located there. It should give me a chance to try a milk train and give the passenger trains something to switch.
I also changed out the screens for the Eno Valley Dispatch Panel. It is very nicely done, so it will make a nice addition. The other monitors will be used as spares.