How cool! I don't remember what my family had, probably run of the mill stuff. We built bridges, x overs and towns to run around the Christmas tree.

The neighbor started it. He had, and still does, a Lionel lines set up where you can toot the horn! Great memories. Thank you for sharing.

Huge layout at Marklin trains in Germany.

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So I've been working on the setup of the village along side my wife.
My knees are killing me to say nothing about my thighs and gluts.
I got the switches all wired and working and swapped in a set of metal wheels/pickups on the sound car so it works well now too.

Did I tell you my knees hurt?:(

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607212127.jpg

I used to know if that was a gp17 or 19, but now I don't.
I do really want to see your layout. Had a bunch of Reading rr stuff I gave away when I left Pa...

It is a GP7.

I found the following 2 videos a couple years ago regarding repair of a steam locomotive in Germany. Not model trains, but an actual steam locomotive getting new drive wheels, tires and bearings/bushings, etc. The narration is in German but you can see from the video what is going on. Heavy duty stuff.

In the start of the first video, the center drive wheel jumps track and that is what started the process. There are other videos besides the two below on the reconditioning of 01 202 locomotive.

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When my boys were little, I tried to get them involved in building or playing with model trains like I did as a kid. We found out there are these model RR clubs throughout Socal. Pasadena, Socal model RR society, Glendale has one. These places are no joke, they are definitely adult toys. Elaborate set up with all kind of electronic controls for various trains that run through out the building. These places are in commercial buildings. Serious work had gone into these places.

Part of my N Scale empire. I like to "scratch build" large structures. In larger scales, they would be huge.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607264678.jpg

^ Nice. The scratch built stuff if amazing. Way above my current talent level. When I'm at shows, I try to snatch up scratch built items. The laser cut builds are nice, but $$$$.

Greg- stop by sometime. Yesterday I was spray painting track inside. Ended up fumigating whole house. Nothing like opening up all the doors in the wintertime and letting all the heat out.

Stumbled on this site last night:


https://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/models/co-models/

The site is super slow, but some good scratch built stuff. This one model has a shay hno3 scale running right up the inside of a high pitch ceiling. Amazing.


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607266065.jpghttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607266065.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607266065.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607266065.jpg

I've made progress in the past couple years. Track work is mostly done, backdrop up. Next step for me is to add some terrain.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1607272696.jpg

I made a little video, unedited, of what it's like to ride on our train. Got brave and used my Sony A7ii to make the video so it's a little better than the one with the Canon SD1000.

https://youtu.be/n6Ver3RsJFs

Hope you enjoy it. Lock down doesn't leave much room for anything but having fun with the train.

Some amazing work, guys.

Thanks so much for bumping this thread and the Ebay tip. I dug my childhood stuff out of the attic. Dropped a few hundred bucks at Ebay and was able to throw this little layout together for my grandkids to enjoy for Christmas!


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608910660.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608910660.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608910660.jpg

A work in progress on my n scale.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608912086.jpg[img]httphttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608912205.jpg

So is Neil Young. He got into model railroading to help connect with his son, Ben, who has cerebral palsy.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608942264.jpg


Hamburg Germany's Miniatur Wunderland, the world's largest model railroad...it even has it's own airport!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1608942107.jpg

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^^^^ that is amazing.