The Hermitage Road layout is about 95% finished so recently I added some details to the track and industrial settings to help make things come alive. Below. This is a switch stand at the Monticello Railroad Musem in Monticello, Illinois. I’m using this photo and others like it as a guide to finish layout details on my turnouts. Below. I took this picture last year on the BNSF at Abilene, Kansas. I’ve seen other places like this where new or used track parts are piled up near in-service tracks, so I added something like that below. I added my own … Continue reading No. 199: Layout Details for Hermitage Road

In the first week of December 2023, I finished construction and scenery for the layout—all the messy work—and transported the layout downstairs to its permanent home. The layout had been in the garage since July where I did all the messy jobs like Styrofoam cutting, wood cutting and dirty scenery work. The layout’s permanent home is on a carpet remnant in the basement of our rented home, so I did all the dirty work outside where I didn’t have to worry about messing up the floor. I use real coal and real dirt for a lot of the scenery and … Continue reading No. 191: Setting up Hermitage Road 2

Hermitage Road is slowly taking shape. In my last layout post I described painting and weathering rail and ties in preparation for laying down ballast. I use dirt dug up from a roundhouse site for ballast. In the late 2000s I lived in Indiana and drove through Richmond, Indiana frequently. On one trip past Richmond I stopped and found the site of the former Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse. I dug up a couple of bucketfuls of dirt and cinders at the roundhouse site, brought it home, sifted it, and stored it away in a few one-gallon bins for later use. 13 … Continue reading No. 189: Ballasting Track on Hermitage Road

In the last post I described painting track and getting it ready for ballasting. Prior to ballasting, I felt it was important to install backdrops, fascia and lighting. In this boring post I’ll describe–briefly–how I installed backdrops, fascia and lighting. Below. In early July I rented a table saw from Home Depot, bought some 1 x 2s and 3/16-inch Masonite, and got to work. Here is the layout in the garage all set for backdrop installation. Looks like I’ve got a coffee ready too. I decided to hang the backdrop in three sections. One small section for each end, and … Continue reading No. 187: Hermitage Road 2: Fascia and Lighting

The blog has been “dark” since the end of April. It’s been a VERY busy summer for me and my family, and now it’s time to get back to it. I mentioned in my last post–way back in April–that I had a full left knee replacement on April 5th. Recovery was much more difficult than I expected. The first two weeks were tough and I was in a lot of pain. After three weeks I was able to start working from home, and about that time I got back to the YMCA and was lifting weight to supplement physical therapy. … Continue reading No. 185: Hermitage Road 2: Rebuilding the Alcatraz Paint & Varnish Co.