NTS&B Some More New Shelves

 For some reason, I keep running out of display space for my trains.  I decided to fill up the last remaining space I could find in the train room with an approximately 8 foot wide by 7 foot tall shelf.  I reduced the spacing between shelves to the minimum I could, which picked up an additional 2 shelves over my other 7 foot tall one.  Here are the before and after pictures.

New shelves before loading up.

I have purchased a couple 4 car subway sets recently,  wanted to free up a couple tracks on the main line to accommodate visiting trains, and get my remaining trains out of the train closet.  The trains that were on the subway and mainlines were very long, so took up most of the new shelves.  By the time I got all of them on the shelves, I am almost out of space again.  Here are what they look like after being loaded up.

NTS&B Train Room Lighting

 I sometimes forget to turn the layout off, so I wanted a routine to run about 10PM to shut everything down automatically.    I used to use an X10 for home lighting control, but the system was not dependable.  Also,  the software was not upgraded to run on Windows 10 and my new system did not have a serial port, so I was out of luck.

Then may son gave me an Amazon Alexa and plug for Christmas.  With additional plugs, this gave me the flexibility to turn off my layout, and my workbench automatically every night.  

Along with my florescent lighting in the train room, I had 14 recessed spot lights.  I have been told that blue lighting over the layout simulates moon light better than just turning off the lights and using the lighting on the layout.  I decided to change out all of the spots with smart adjustable color floods and spots.  These are also controlled by Alexa, so I can change the overheads to any color and brightness I want.  The lights are very bright when set to white, so I can use them instead of the florescent to help minimize the fading caused by the florescent.  The Alexa routing also turns these light off automatically at night, in case I forget.  The flood lights from Walmart work very good when using the built in Alexa commands, but are intermittent when changing colors using a routine.

Here are a couple pictures.

Simulated Moon light with bulbs set to blue.

An attempt at Sunset

Ready for St. Patty's Day.  Can even set to red and green for Christmas.

And Bright White