Finished Blair Line's Green Door Lounge Kit

 Wow, more posts this month than all of 2020! Suffice to say, my enthusiasm is rekindled. Anyway, on to what I actually did.

Today's project was building Blair Line's Green Door Lounge kit. I thought this kit would look right at home by the Juanita Shop complex. I'm sure the guys who work there would appreciate a place to grab a few brews and let off steam after a hard day of keeping K4s and I1s on the rails.

I went with Floquil "Reefer White" on the walls, "Coach Green" on the windows and trim, and "Grimy black" on the roof. Assembly was a tad tedious but much easier that the Railroad Rooming House. 

One thing I love is the assortment of old-timey bill boards that come with this kit. I have a feeling a few of them may end up on some of my other buildings.

Now I need to scavenge some more buildings. There's train show coming up on the 11th. Perhaps I'll find some there. Although the Delta variant, I'm not sure I'll go.

Finished American Model Builders' Railroad Rooming House Kit

 My first structure kit in quite some time. As with other laser-cut wood kits, I painted everything prior to assembly. I went wit Tamiya "Linoleum Deck Brown"on the walls, Floquil "Reefer White on the doors, windows and trim, Floquil "Grimy Black" on the roof and Floquil "Caboose" on the chimneys.

As is typical for an AMB kit, assembly is a bit tedious. Each window contains three separate pieces. Truth be told, I left off the upper sashes on the back windows since they won't be visible. 

They way the paint turned out, I think the building doesn't really require additional weathering.

The Hippo is Back

 I'm happy to report my Key Imports I1 is back in service. All it took was a new tender truck from Bachmann. As previously mentioned in this blog, I converted the tender pickup from drawing current from rail to both. Unfortunately one of the trucks fell apart. Replacement at about a fifteen-minute job. 

The locomotive was a bit herky-jerky on her test run. But, considering she sat for the better part of two years, that's to be expected.

A note about the real I1s class, they were nicknamed hippos by the PRR crews due to their girth. They were commonly used to haul iron ore to the steel mills of Pittsburgh and other heavy-haul trains.

Lighting fixes

 The other day, I noticed my streetlights in Johnstown were unusually dim. At first, I thought my low-voltage power supply had gone bad. However, after swapping it with a know good, that proved not to be the case. I ntoiced the PC board became hot within moments of current being applied.

I moved to the barrier strips that distribute power and noticed a small plume of smoke coming from one. Long story short, when my wife was stashing some of her stuff, she bashed to wires into each other, creating the short. This fix was dead simple. Now my N Scale motorists can stop treating the Busch traffic lights like a four-way stop!

Some more lighting in Gallitizin had glitched out on me. Namely a street light and the office light at the cement plant. The street light's wire had come loose, that simple fix. The office ultimatly required a new LED.

Unfortunately the Altoona end of the layout is pretty much dead in the water until all the stuff I ordered arrives. In addition to the structure kits, I've also ordered up a new urban backdrop from eBay. seller a.b.b.r_81 (link). More on this when it arrives.

Finished Ballasing the Mains

I'm proud to report every inch of main line track on this layout is ballasted. All that remains now is  the Altoona yard tracks and the tracks by roundhouse. Then I can kiss the ballast goodbye until the next layout. However, that will have to wait until I can get to the hobby shop.

In other news, the Pittsburgh Staging yard has gone from procrastination purgatory to almost finished. Five of the six tracks are glued down. To honest things weren't as smooth as I expected. I must have gotten a bad batch of rail joiners because I had more than a few that simply would not go onto the rail!

If you're wondering about the white blotch in the middle of the otherwise brown table top, well, the soldering iron had something to do with it. I used a bit of Dap patching Patch'n'Paint to fill the hole Talk about a bone headed move.

Full Steam Ahead!

 

 

 Today was a productive day on the layout. First and foremost, I decided to try and return my I1 to service. It had stopped responding to the throttle and then one of it's tender trucks fell apart. I put it on the programing track, addressed the decoder and, when tested, the locomotive moved! Thank God! with ongoing chip shortage (damn pandemic) getting a replacement may be a tall (and not to mention costly) order.

After the I1, only my T1 and Alco FB remain out of service.

 

 

 

 Next on my list was ballasting. Now, all but about ten feet of main line are ballasted. That just leaves the yard and a few tracks in the Juniata Shop. That will have to wait until I get to the hobby shop.

Another project, painting the fascia burnt umber. It looks so much better in a neutral color.

 

 

I finally started laying track in the Pittsburgh staging yard. About damn time! The track is the old Atlas code 80 stuff.

 

 

Lastly, I added some turf to a small area near Altoona with some help from  Victor.

This is about all I can do until all the stuff I ordered arrives. I swear waiting is the hardest part. Didn't Tom Petty write a song to that effect?

More Buildings for Altoona

     I stuck with my Altoona plan for a whole ten seconds. I was going to leave the whole area inside the Altoona loop undeveloped. Well, the more I thought about, I realized there were some structures I really wanted to include.   

    To wit, I have ordered up American Model Builders' "Railroad Rooming House" and Blair Lines "Green Door Lounge" kits. Both should lend a nice seedy, wrong-side-of-the-tracks vibe to the area. I've always wanted to include the former on a layout. Perhaps I'll add a few more structures and make a few blocks long area. I'll add a few businesses and a few houses.

    I've also realized I goofed when it comes to the mountains. The shops are south of the tracks and the city is to the north! Um, oops! I guess I'll need to hunt down some generic city backdrops. On that same note, I went ahead and moved Alto Tower to the north side of the tracks.

    Lastly, I thought the shop complex needed a power house. Thankfully, I had Model Power's "Coverall Paints" building sitting under my layout. This was salvaged off my last layout. I previously removed the base, painted it Floquil "Boxcar Red" and did the mortar effects. So all I had to do was pull off the "Coverall Paints" signs, plunk it on the layout and call it a day. Eventually I will add roads and parking areas.