NTS&B Merry Christmas 2018

Kathy was in the hospital and nursing home with pneumonia from mid November to December 14th.  We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner in the nursing home with Carolyn and Anthony.  We had planned on going to Tennessee over Christmas, so I wasn't going to decorate this year.  Since she was so weak, I decided to cancel the trip, and have the house decorated for when she came home.  Here are a couple pictures of the outside decorations. Carolyn came over Christmas, made Lasagna and spent most of the day, so overall we had a nice Christmas also.

NTS&B Union (Rico) Station completed

I finally got the courage to light up and detail the Rico Station.  Here are some pictures of the final product.  Following these pictures are descriptions and pictures of the steps.

For the lighting power, I used a 4 pin connector which included a voltage, a fixed ground, and 2 switched grounds.  The connector  allows for easy removal of the station.  One of the switched grounds controls the passenger platform lights, so that was connected to the passenger area of the station.  The following picture shows the freight lights off, with the passenger side lights on.

The other switched ground is used for the parking lot street lights, so that was connected to the station freight area and outside lights.  This picture shows the passenger lights off, with the freight side and outside lights on.

The fixed ground was connected to the tower light which is always on.

I connected the 4 wires from the connector to a 14 pin barrier strip. The strip distributes the grounds to the light and  LEDs,  holds the bridge rectifier to convert the AC input to the DC required by the LEDs,  and contains the 1 resister to control the brightness of each group of LEDs.   This made it very easy to modify the brightness of the LEDs without re-soldering resisters. It fits perfectly under the raised sidewalk on the freight station end.  I used a little poster putty underneath the strip to hold it in when putting the station on the layout.

About 20 years ago, I added a wheat light to the tower, which I left (and never connected).  I added a 2 pin connector between the light and the barrier strip, for easy roof removal.

For the passenger side, I used 5 yellow LEDs from another Christmas string, without sockets.  I made a ticket office from foam board, painted it about the same color as the station,and put 1 LED in the ceiling.  I then printed out wainscoting for trim and glued it to all of the walls.  I had bought 2 doll house chandeliers about 20 years ago (and actually was able to find now), and modified them with 2 more LEDs.  I glued a balsa wood rafter near the roof peak, and hung the chandeliers from that.  The inside wasn't bright enough, so I added 2 more LEDs glued to the sides of the room.  After the station was put into position, I added benches and people.  Here is what the passenger side inside looks like.

For the freight side inside lights, I used 6 bright white LEDs from a Christmas string, including sockets.  I used 2 balsa wood 'rafters' to mount the lights on.  Originally I did not use the sockets, and had it made up very neatly.  Unfortunately, I touched the wire directly to the voltage, and blew all six.  The sockets do not make such a neat job, but at least the LEDs can be changed easily if required.
I printed out a wood floor pattern, mounted it to foam board, in put in a false floor.  All of the wires from the other lights are fed through this area, so the floor allowed me to hide them a little easier.  I also installed five LED sidewalk lights to the outside of the building, which I had found on EBay for $15.  The lights are mounted by drilling holes in the wall, and fastened with a nut.  The wires for these units were run along the rafters with the other lighting wires.   After the station was put into position, I added shelves, pallets, barrels, and other freight items.  Here is what the passenger side inside looks like.

NTS&B Lionel 132 Operating Stop and Go Station platform extended

Although the 132 station has been servicing passengers for a number of years, sometimes the poor passengers had to make a major leap (of faith) to reach the passenger cars, since the station was in a curve.  I finally extended the platform for their convenience.  The extension was made from a printed page as close as possible to the original color and pattern of the original, glued to a piece of Styrofoam. So far, the passengers seem quite happy with it.  The following pictures are the before and after.

   Station before adding the platform extension.

 Station with platform extension.

NTS&B Layout Billboard illuminated

I bought a set of 3 Life-like 16V HO street lights for a good price with no idea where I would use them.  Then I remembered that my layout billboard could use some illumination for night time running.  I cut about an inch of one of the lights, and used it behind and over the billboard.  And, I still have two more left for future projects.  Here is what it looks like.

NTS&B The aliens have arrived

With all of the news about illegal aliens on TV,  I found some trying to sneak into my layout.  The flying saucer is actually an 'S scale' model from CatzPaw Innovations LLC, which is a 3D printing company.  They printed the unit, painted it, and added the LED lighting which sequences around the saucer and illuminates the top and bottom.  After many attempts at hiding the wires, this is the best I could do.  I originally had it hanging right underneath one end of a florescent light, and no matter what I did the wire stuck out like a sore thumb,  I had tried painting the wires 3 or 4 different colors with now help.   I finally moved it away from the light, and hung it closer to the ceiling, which is much better.  Since the top light is close to the ceiling, I put a piece of tape on it to keep it from lighting the ceiling so much.  Installing it also gave me a much needed break from the passenger yard lighting.  Here it is.

NTS&B Union (Rico) Station parking lot

Now that the lighting is complete, with the exception of the Rico Station itself, time to add a road, parking spots, steps to the platforms, and people.   The gray car featured is a 1959 Chevy Impala 2 door, which is the closest I've found to my first car which was a 1960 Impala 4 door.  Notice the blonde young man driving the car :).

 Parking lot with stairs and parking spots.

Road and parking lot by station.

1959 Chevy Impala.

NTS&B Union (Rico) Station side lighting

I still hadn't added any lighting for the Rico station side parking lot, final subway entrance, and final station platform.  Here are the results. All that's left now is the Rico Station parking lot and lighting. 

 Parking lot street lights.

 Final subway entrance and station platform.

NTS&B Outside platform lights

The outside platform is too narrow to actually put on any street lights or station roofs, but I still wanted some  lighting on it.  I found some soft brass tubing, and used it to make overhanging fixtures that are mounted under the upper level.  The tubing may be too soft though, because if you accidentally hit it when placing trains underneath it, it will bend out of shape.  I then took some bases from the Model Power 12-16 Volt Peel and Stick lights, and made fixtures from them.  Here are the results.

NTS&B Tinseltown platform to mainline platform lights installed

Up until this time, the poor passengers from the Tinseltown platform had to walk down 2 long flights of stairs in the dark to reach the main station platforms.  I decided it's time to add lights for their safety.  I added three 3 volt light poles in series, since they were using the same 12 volt supply that the Tinseltown platform is using.  Even though the voltage was correct, they were still to bright for my preference, so I added 1 diode and 10 Ohm resister to dim them down appropriately.  Here are the results.

NTS&B Bigville Platform Street Lights Added

I had installed lights over the Bigville platform and stairs under Bigville, but the poor passengers had to walk the from there to the main station platform covers in the dark.  I therefor added 3 street lights for their convenience and safety.  Since the Lionel street lights are much brighter than the wheat lamps used in the rest of the area and I am using only 1 AC power supply for both, I added a diode in series on the street lights to balance out the lighting.

View from under Bigville.

View from Tinseltown end.

NTS&B Remaining 2 station platform roofs designed, built, and installed

When I laid out the passenger yard, I had four removable platform bases that I had planned to cover with roofs.  Unfortunately, I had not planned on the subway entrances taking 2 of them.  Therefore, I had to make the remaining 2 roofs over the permanently installed platform. This required a different strategy for removal for maintenance.  Two of the vertical posts are glued into the platform. The post on the left is removable, and the horizontal piece holding the lights are glued to this post.  That makes it possible to remove the post and the lights in one piece.

NTS&B First 2 station platform roofs designed, built, and installed

Since the station platforms were so narrow, I had to make my own platform covers.  I had pre-planned for two, so the platforms were cut to the appropriate length.  This allowed me to build and light the structure on the bench, and then mount it to the layout.  The platforms are just laid on top of the plywood, with 2 pins used for alignment, so they can be easily removed for maintenance.  Here are a couple of pictures of one of them.

Structure before mounting.

Underside, showing alignment pins.

Platform in position.

Platform lit up and roof installed.

NTS&B Starting Passenger Area scenery with subway entrances

Jennifer bought me a really neat subway entrance for Christmas from Lowes a few years ago.  I liked it so much, I ended up buying four more to make stairways from the passenger platforms to the (fake) people tunnel underneath. Three were just the right width for my platforms. I had to cut some off the sides of other two using a table saw, since that platform was narrower.  I also removed the paper stands from the sides and added them to the front of each entrance.  I added lights and people and installed them in the appropriate areas.  Each pair is mounted (hot glued) on a lift out platform that is aligned by pins underneath that go into the plywood, for easy maintenance.  Here is what four of them look like.

NTS&B Green House

I spotted this Plasticville Green house at a local train show.  Even though the price was right, I managed to resist it for most of the show, since I didn't know where I could place it.  Finally, the temptation won out.  It fits in great in the spring area, so I added (plant grow) lights (of course) and installed it.  Here are the pictures.