Didn’t get much of a narrative on the below, but I loved the pics so thought I publish.
“Thanks! Everyone has a hobby.
S Swetland”
“Easy way to soot engines and cars,use a hurricane light. Turn it up till you have black coming off of the flame, hold the item into the black till you get the desired effect. Spray with a sealer to hold effect.
Cowboy Up,
Dodge”
“Hi Al wasn’t happy with the steam tubes the way they sat so I cut the firewall back further and will replace the tubes with better ones.The front balkhead will fit back perfectly in place and will be left open to show the tubes for steam.maybe hang from a hinge or something.And the inside will be rusty brown as well as the rest of the locomotive.
Will dismantle parts and lay around and maybe sink the loco on a track on a slant in mud to make believe it is sinking and about to fall over to one side.Im also building a stil that will be sitting next to the engine with moonshiners.anyways you get the picture of a rusted abandoned locomotive sunk into the ground after years.
Kim”
That’s all for this missive friends.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you get started on your layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al
PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.
Sue is what you could call a Hobby room
cool man
How did you light up the steel mill inside?
I am working on an N Scale Steel mill layout, and that is an awesome affect.
Thanks
Brian
A wonderful layout & super cool hobby room! I am envious! Love the detail! What is the Prince Albert tin for?
Thanks for sharing,
Mike Luhouse,
Outer Banks of North Carolina
sweet hobby room and layout….lotsa great detail…!!
Al,
I am still amazed by the work and ingenuity these guy’s put into their layouts. There is no telling how much I have learned over the months, but it must be considerable. But I want you to know that I enjoy and appreciate your e-mails more than I can express. Please keep up the good work!
caw1
love the hobby room. the steel room lighting very effective.
Great layout and definitely the best hobby room I have ever seen.
Hard to tell what it is…looks likes a film in ‘Panorama’ run through a standard lens. All v ertical and no lateral. ould like top see more
Wayne
Great pictures! Coulf I please see the layout plan? Also what a room! Great job! Cheers Rossco Adelaide SA
Al,
I’ve followed followed the posts to you for a couple of years. Today’s brought it all back to me. I worked for 42 years at one of Australia’s iron & steel plants. The photos shows what appears to be the cast house floor of a blast furnace. It was quite nostalgic! Other than that the whole effect of Dodge’s is very stunning. Well done, Dodge.
Cheers,
Bruce
So sweeeet, now thats a man cave. love the railroad lamps it adds so much more. It adds so much to the decor gives you that feeling your on the rails
Alistair,It’s my belief that one of the great things one can do is make a difference to the world,or a part there of. And that is what you have done,and are doing.
And every body who contributes does the same,but without you, well your railway family,and for me, thank you from down under. Ron.
PS I’m an HO buff.
I really enjoyed the pics. I liked the people and the effects. Train was great and his tip with the light!
Good stuff guys. Really like the roundhouse and all the accompanying buildings. Great room too.
Jim AZ
I wish I was that tidy – my “safe space” is a mess!
Dodge:
You have great hobby room, right after my divorce from my first wife in “91” I took one of the bedrooms and set up two and half sheets of plywood and started a HO layout met a Lady and did not have the room to reset up so I gave it all to a young man that loved to come down and run it with me.
Have fun railroading
Art
From Central Florida on the Gulf.
Hi. Your railway room is too cluttered for me. It’s neither a model railway room nor a museum of railway bits and pieces. I would much prefer a separate area/room for each hobby. Of course space could be a problem. Your railway looks very impressive or what one can see if it. Would like to see more pictures of the layout if possible.
Mike Luhouse’s question about the Prince Albert tin — railroad telegraphers often used a tobacco tin as an amplifier on the telegraph receiving station. That way, even if they were not at their desk, they could still hear those dots and dashes from across the room. Most reproductions and those who still set up or operate telegraph systems still include a tin for the vintage look — and it’s usually a Price Albert.
I’ll share a 1920-30s joke my Mother just thought was hilarious in her childhood days. Call the corner store and ask, “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” “Yes,” the storekeeper would reply. The response back: “Then let him out!”
Very authentic PA can in the sounder!!!
Steve, Very nice hobby room and layout. The close-up photos were very effective at conveying the essence of railroading. My only pet peeve is almost all model railroaders store all their empty (of full) boxes for their engines and cars under the layout which, IMHO, looks junky. I plan to do the same thing but I bought some bookcases and a bathroom vanity base with doors and drawers so all the kit boxes won’t be so noticeable. A set of curtains below the layout fascia is also a good way to hide the junk underneath the layout.
Dodge, How do you avoid melting the cars in the process of “sooting” them? Too bad I sold my kerosene lantern when my wife got tired of camping out. 🙂
Hi Steve,
I like the roundhouse on your layout. Is that a kit or scratch built? I am trying to reproduce the roundhouse that was in my town. It is gone now.
Thanks, Ken
Instead of a lantern you could use old large candles. these can also give off large sooty flames.
Very, very nice
What is the squarish green thing sitting next to the chair.? looks like some sort of throttle.
The simulated blast furnace fire is superb!!!
Really really nice. The round house gets it.
Absolutely the “best” photo work I’ve seen on this site.Great perspective!!
Mike beat me to the Prince Albert in a Can joke. Your train room should be in a museum!