Also, back a few months I finished building the water extension and painted it. The actual water effects will come a bit later.

The post Prepping the Yard Tracks and Water Update first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

I am trying to go back and fill in my website with the projects I have been working on for the last five years or more. There is a lot I have done that I have not posted about. Blogs and/or websites like this have evolved a bit and getting the feedback (or not) isn’t the same as posting about something on social media. A crazy piece of track work I built for my Bronx Terminal got over 1,200 likes and a lot of comments but there was basically no description or series of pictures showing how I got to that point. I like seeing the progress and so I want to also show the process.

For the next phase of my Bronx module I needed to build the Terminal Bridge so I could get cars off the car float into the yard. The first three tracks are operational and those are the offloading/onloading staging tracks for the car float. While building it I put in more time than I thought I would so I figured it should be able to qualify for an AP Merit Award. It passed and you can see the progress photos and descriptions on this page. I don’t need another Merit Award for the Structures Certificate because I have already earned it, but I figured by having it evaluated I would make sure I was modeling up to the standards I expect of myself and hopefully receive some feedback on possible improvement.

While I have posting the latest project I just finished, I thought I’d also go back to the beginning, at least the beginning of my Free-mo adventure and start back-filling those pages with that information. How I got started into Free-mo and Free-moN and the process I used to build my modules.

The post Merit Award for my Transfer Bridge first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

The post Jim’s Trains Menu Updated first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

You can watch them on my Videos page.

The post Videos showing some of the trains I model first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

I was recently reminded that my website hasn’t been updated in forever so here is a quick update with more to follow, hopefully. I have been so so so so busy! The saying goes “Time flies when you are having fun” so I say I must being having so much fun!!!

Since updating last, I have gotten into Free-mo model railroading. I also do a little bit of Free-moN which is N scale Free-mo. I am in five clubs, including being Superintendent of the Northern Utah Division, NMRA. For those that don’t already know, I model in HO/HOn3, N/Nn3, On30 and Live Steam which is 1/8 scale which is the same as 1.5″ scale or Ride-on.

And yes, I am still building turnouts for whoever needs them!

The post A Quick Update first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

In addition to the National N Scale Convention, the NMRA National Convention that our division, the Northern Utah Division of the NMRA, hosted in 2019 has also come and gone. Many years of planning we did have fun and many, many people expressed the same enthusiastic response of enjoyment! I was able to finish a room in the basement and had a busload of 50 people from all over the world come and visit my little railroad! One of my goals was to show you can have lots of fun in a small area AND earn MMR without having an entire basement full of trains!

The whole time I have been working on custom orders and now that those two big conventions are over I’ve gotten back to working on orders as much as I can. I would like to get back to actually working on my railroad, however. It seems I always have a couple of large orders I’m working on. Every now and then I’ll get one of my own turnouts done too.

Let me know if you need something special or just place an order and I’ll work it into my schedule.

Curved On30 #8 vs Nn3 #4

The post Custom Turnout Orders Update first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

If orders are placed, they will be put in the queue and completed in the order paid, as always. I may or may not get to it before the end of June. Small orders of one or two turnouts are likely to be done quickly but there is no guarantee before July 1.

Most of my “fun time” to work on my own trains comes at whatever pace I can give it, which is fine. With this deadline of the convention approaching however, there are several items I need/want to complete in the next several months. If you have questions, as always, feel free to email me or use the contact page on my website. Thanks!

The post Custom Turnout Orders first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

December 2017

This time of year is full of traditions. Many model railroader’s stories begin with the memory of a train around the Christmas tree. I have a special Christmas train with Santa on it that we set up nearly every year. It doesn’t always run great and my kids are getting older so I wait to bring it upstairs and sometimes the holidays pass without getting it out. My son who used to say he hates trains, more recently said, “It’s not that I don’t like them…” He has been slowly coming around and starting to show a little more interest. I’ve never pushed him into liking them but I am glad he’s warming up to them. When setting up the tree this year he was the one who said to get the train set up. I brought up my Bright Boy too and cleaned the track while we set it up. He didn’t help scrub the rails but he did connect the track sections. There were a few issues at first getting it going but the little extra effort paid off because this year it is running the best it has in awhile!

12 years ago I first set up our Christmas Train. Now it’s a tradition even my son want to continue!

One of the best things that the AP has helped me with is just getting more things done. Yes, it’s easier to sometimes just relax, but how much effort is it to build one more boxcar or tune-up a couple cars that have been giving you troubles? It was more effort to get out the Christmas train than to just do without it again this year. Guess what? For me it is worth it so my kids will have the memory of the train under the Christmas tree and not just in Dad’s Train Room.

What traditions do you have? Are you sharing your love of trains with other friends and family members? How can you get them involved with your hobby? Remember my son who now doesn’t dislike trains? In the picture below you can see a smile on his face as he is driving the train over the installed track he helped build for his Eagle Project! Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter what scale, just have fun and do something train related and if you can involve someone else, even better! If it becomes a tradition, better still. Let’s not only learn more but DO more and by so doing we can enjoy the journey together!

Who can help having fun driving a train!?! Especially over the track you helped to build!

p.s. You can view my video Christmas Card below:

The post Newsletter 12/17 first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

November 2017

I hope you were able to enjoy the Intermountain Train Expo this past weekend. I know I did! Two full days of trains and friends! It went by too quickly. The Rocky Mountain Region had their Board Meeting after the show on Saturday. It was good to see friends from Colorado come out. In fact, a new friend, Martin Pirnat from Durango, brought a model to be judged for a Merit Award! I’m glad he did so we could see work from others in our Region. It was very well done, and a kit that I have but haven’t gotten around to building yet so it gave me some good ideas!

Bruce Alger said he almost brought a model and I told him to bring it the next day. I’m glad he did. I had visited his house a week or so ago and was able to see his layout. He showed me that model then and said he might be interested in having it judged for an AP Merit Award. At the time I wasn’t sure it would earn enough points because I just saw it on top of the plywood with lots of tracks around and didn’t take the time to study it. I was more interested in his “fancy” benchwork. Ask him about that next time you see him. Anyway, I told him to bring it to a meeting so we could evaluate it. Well, I’m happy to say upon giving it a closer look, studying it with the AP guidelines, it is extremely well done and definitely earned a Merit Award! Well done, Bruce!

Al Badham brought two more of his cars, which of course earned Merit Awards because they were up to his usual high standards. They were very nicely detailed, even on the interior.

I’m glad there were a few who entered the Square Foot Challenge. Rick Luther’s was excellent being inspired from a photograph. I had fun doing it, practicing some scenery techniques I want to use on my layout. Lowell Didas’ grand daughters had fun being very creative. My favorite was Karin Gerald’s with her use of a HO boxcar as a large “building” on an N Scale scene. I loved the sense of humor with cows going in one door and people getting their hamburgers on the other side of the building!

We passed out more than four boxcars so we will be continuing with this in the next couple of months. I built mine in about a week or so of evenings, not more than an hour or so every other night. The longest time was spent letting the paint and glue dry! For me, having the deadline helped me get it done. I had been wanting to do a small project just like that to practice some new skills. Watch the website for details and we will talk about it at the next Division Event. So the rest of you, get thinking and be creative. It doesn’t have to be a realistic scene but can be. It also doesn’t have to be HO scale as Karin proved.

Events like the Expo give us a chance to share with each other and catch up with friends. I had a great time and I hope you did too. Let’s continue working on a new model or scene, whatever it might be. Let me know ahead of time if you plan to bring something to be evaluated at a Division Event. Even if you don’t want something evaluated, bring something to share with the rest of us and that way we can enjoy the journey together!

The post Newsletter 11/17 first appeared on Jamestown Trains.

October 2017

What’s on your workbench? Sometimes it seems I have too many projects. I’ve said before that the AP Program has helped me focus to be able to get projects completed. I’m at the point where I need to do scenery on my HO layout. In the meantime, a side project has come up that might delay me from getting the scenery even started but in the end I hope will help. I’ve always liked the smaller footprint of N Scale. Next summer the National N Scale Convention will be in Salt Lake City! I’ve decided to build a small layout that will help me practice some scenery techniques and make use of the equipment I have been given or bought over the years. If all goes well, I may even be able to use it to achieve the Scenery AP Certificate! This is a hobby and you should enjoy what you work on. Yes, I want to get the scenery done on my HO layout but I have also wanted a small N Scale layout for years as well. Trains are what I like. I just happen to be able to run them in 1.5” scale, On30, HO/HOn3 and now N and Nn3 scale! Yes, if I’m doing N you bet I’ll have narrow gauge too!

What else is on my “virtual” workbench? Track building – the “big stuff”! My son recently finished building 600’ of track for Shay Park as his Eagle Service Project. My cousin, Pete, and his friend Brent came over and helped me deliver it to the park. The morning of Oct 21st the club, and anyone else who can help, will be laying as much of it as we can. Last Saturday a few of the club members installed another switch in preparation to lay the rest of the track.

What else is on your workbench, you say? I have started using the “Tree Making Machine” as I like to call it, that I picked up at the National Narrow Gauge Convention in Denver. In December I plan to give a hands-on clinic on using that. It’s fun and I can make trees fast! The thing I learned from beginning that “project” is that it isn’t hard, you just have to get in and start doing it! There are so many things like that in this hobby. Sometimes we suffer from “analysis paralysis” as I have heard it called. I am that way too. I urge you to just get working on something! It doesn’t matter if it’s just one tree or a hundred. It can be a project for a club or group, or even a whole new layout for yourself. Share your ideas and your passion with the rest of us and you will find others who might want to help and in that way we can enjoy the journey together!

The post Newsletter 10/17 first appeared on Jamestown Trains.