Had a chance this past weekend to work on the helix for a few hours and made great progress. Drilled holes in the risers for the threaded rod. Installed one half section and got it calibrated. Looks great and was a lot smoother intstall than I thought.

Pics are up in the Main Gallery.

Check the Layout & Gallery sections. *NOTE: I will probably be posting more and more photos to my main Gallery page due to its ease of use.

Got some work done on the benchwork and the Helix – pics are up in the Gallery.

Well, to whoever reads this, you may be wondering where I’ve been. Last update was back in April and a lot has happened since then. First of all, I’m a DADDY! His name is Kyle Thomas and he weighed in at 8lbs 5oz, 21″ long and was born on 6/23/04. Mom & Baby are both currently doing fine. We’ve been spending all our time with baby so no time for layout work, really. We also just got back from an annual trip up North to Cape Cod and are just now getting back into the swing of things.Which means, I will finally have a little time for the layout. So, progress report: I have updated some of my trackp plan, a new version coming soon online. I’m desperately searching for a Precision Scale brass model of a B&O Q-1c 2-8-2 which is the class of #4320 which ran the GB local often email me if you have one for sale! I explored deeply the possibly of using an Athearn USRA Light Mikado as a starting point for a Q-1c, and thanks to many on the Yahoo B&O list, I’ve decided not to do it. Just too much work for me at this point. The model and the prototype are so different in several key areas, most notably the boiler jacket which has 5 courses on the Q-1c and 6 on the Q-4 (which the Athearn is most like). I’m tidying up a few things here and there around the site, like adding some more sources to the History page, etc. I’m saving up to purchase the DCC system and preparing to get down to the basement to get that benchwork going! Check back soon for more updates.

Well, it’s been exactly a year since I began ripping out the walls in the train room. I’m a little disappointed in my progress as I wish I was further along, but at least I’ve made some great headway and I’m still moving on strong. The last couple weeks have been good – I finished painting all the cinder block walls, bought more supplies from Home Depot (including all my drop ceiling materials), and the paneling has started going up on the wood-framed walls! It feels good.So one big decision is that I will not be putting up new furring strips on the cinder block walls. Instead I’m going to leave them as-is, painted white. This came about after a conversation with Kelly who encouraged me to leave it alone and just get that benchwork started! My reasoning is along the lines that the room itself is not good for much else than a workshop, storage room or model railroad layout room! So, why not leave the walls alone? I also decided to leave the electrical box alone. I am not planning on any upgrades to the home in the next several years, so I can’t rationalize doing a heavy-up right now. That will save me about $1400 for the time being.

SO… in this new year I am off to a good start. I feel confident that the room will be finished and a lot of the benchwork (hopefully all:) will be up before this winter is done. Hooray! Pics of the progress are up in the Gallery.

Completed all the wiring for the room and installed about 70% of the outlets. I am holding off on some of the outlets b/c they are to be installed after the paneling on the walls. It’s great to make this progress. I think I will paint the walls next and measure for paneling and drop ceiling.

I also added a couple more links to the Links page. Check it out!