NTSS&B MTH Rail King Lighted Billboard 30-90478

I finally had a little free time to work on the layout, and have been hitting it hard.  Another friend was moving into a small apartment, so he gave me a MTH RailKing Long Island RR Billboard (30-90478).  It really looked nice, but the Long Island RR did not fit in with my layout scheme. Since I had just came back from the Lionel Operating Train Society (LOTS) convention in Buffalo NY, I decided o replace the billboard with one from the convention.  Then all I had to do was to find a place for it on the layout (there aren't to many spaces left).

This was the easiest installation of the group of 3.  Since I already had a floodlight for yard, all I had to do was connect the billboard wires to the floodlight.

Original piece

My Modification

NTS&B Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon

My YMCA Friend's train also include a Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon. Since I have many planes above, I had to find a place for it.  The beacon is operated by a finned top over a dimpled bulb. If and when the bulb gets hot enough, the heat rises through the fins, which causes the beacon to rotate.  Since this seldom works, I decided to put it near the wall in the winter area by the Helix, and use a lower voltage to power it so it would not light up the wall.

This was another fun project.  It's at the back of the layout, so to drill holes for the wires, and position the tower, I had to climb on the layout and stretch to the max.  Then I had to crawl under the layout, and run the wires using an access hole that was almost large enough for my head and 1 arm.  After I got the wires pushed through the plywood, I had to climb back over the layout and stretch to connect the wires to the tower.  Then back underneath to determine which voltage to connect the power to, and add another ground wire to the power strip.  For this one, I did not add a switch, which simplified it a little. Another piece of cake.

NTS&B Lionel #252 Operating Crossing

A Friend at the MCA sold his childhood trains to me.  This included a Lionel #252 lighted Operating Crossing Gate.  I had never seen one before, so waned to use it.  It took some thinking, but I finally found a place to install it. Then I had to move a couple side panel switches around, but was able to add another button switch for guests to control the gate.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to add an accessory.  You have to crawl under the layout to feed the wires, and connect them to the correct terminal block, which entails stretching yourself to the limit in awkward positions.  I have forgotten how far down the floor is now.  Then you have to crawl back out, and drill a couple holes through the side of the layout, connect the wires to the switch, and fasten it to the layout.  Now you can drill holes for the wire to get to the accessory.  Then its another trip back under to feed the wire to the accessory back through the plywood.  And finally, up top again to connect the wires to the crossing gate.  Put a label on the switch, and its all done. Piece of cake.

NTS&B A 4 Ft x 7 Ft 17 shelf addition

I cleaned off the wall facing the shop.  I moved the large painting and the lighted Lionel sign to the basement den. I raised the speaker up as high as possible, and removed the corner ceiling shelf which I gave to Carolyn.  I then built a 4 foot x 7 foot unit with 17 shelves.  Currently my father's work tool box is in front of the lower 5 shelves, but will be moved or given away in the future when more train storage is needed, which may be sooner than anticipated. 

Tool box and out door chair cushions

Top almost full already

NTS&B A 22 inch x 5 shelf addition

 

I had purchased 4 x 0 Gauge and 5 x S Scale 22 inch long aluminum shelves at a recent show, and made a small 22 inch long 5 level shelf under the layout at the shop end.  I ended up flipping the top narrower S Scale shelf over, and added a piece of 0-27 track.  I used some spare wood I had to make the side and back frames.  Since I'm having shoulder issues, it took about 4 days to build, and I did not paint the wood.

NTS&B LCCA Sign Installed

I bought an animated Light Works illuminated LCCA at the 2022 LCCA convention in Nashville, and have finally gotten around to installing it.  I located it on top of the Hard Rock building. Here is what it looks like.

 

NTS&B Some More New Shelves

 I keep running out of storage space, so needed to add some more shelves.  The shelves keep getting closer and closer together.  Here they are start to finish.

After clearing the stuff off the walls, I discovered that the shelf brackets I used had to be reversed (of course), so here is the final result

Using a router, I notched the full length of each 1x4 shelf for the train wheels, instead of using track.

 

I was actually making 3 set of shelves.  1 set was about 5 foot wide and from floor to the bottom of the ceiling loop.  The other 2 were about 3 feet wide to fit under the layout. After painting the sides and shelves,  I cut the boards to the desired lengths and assembled them.

I installed a hardboard backing, so the shelves would be free standing.

I had to make a couple cuts for the shelf bracket on top, and an outlet in the lower shelf.  After positioning the unit, it only.  After setting it in position, it only required a screw in each side on top to hold it sturdily to the wall.

The remaining pieces of the boards were used to make 2 small units under the layout. Each top shelf was made using 2 shelves together to make an 8 inch shelf.  This allowed me to display cabooses and tenders at an angle, greatly improving display space.

NTS&B Santa's Workshop

 My Grandson gave me a building he made for me for Christmas.  Of course I had to find a place to put it.  Here's a couple pictures of it all lit up.

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

NTS&B Name Changed to North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville

I am getting ready to paint and letter some cars, and decided that if I was going to change the name of my railroad, I needed to do it now.  The name was North Pole, Tinseltown South, and Bigville (or NTS&B).   

I wanted to include my 12 year old grandson Sabastian in the layout name, and had a small town that needed to be named, so I decided to name it after him.  He was born a couple years after I already named the layout, which is why it didn't originally include him.  So, now the new railroad name is North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville (or still NTS&B)   I have buildings, tunnel portals, and a bridge already with the initials, so none of that had to be changed.

Here is the new billboard leading into the town.  I used an HO street light to illuminate it.

NTS&B 2020 11th Piedmont Pilgrimage

Update-In December 2020, after this video was made, I renamed the layout to North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville.

Due to the COVID19 Pandemic, there were no live National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Piedmont Pilgrimage tours this year. The NMRA decided to do virtual layout tours for interested participants, to keep the event alive.  Since I had already done 10 of the tours, I decided to continue my trend and do the virtual tour, which also serves as a nice way to document the layout .  Here is the youtube video. I hope you enjoy it.

NTS&B Shelves On End Wall

 Again, I find myself low on shelf space.  I built these 4 foot tall by 8 feet wide shelves on the end wall with the idea of finally getting everything out of the train closet.  

NTS&B Kathy's and Jennifer's Billboards Finally Installed

I finally got time and energy to finish the billboards.  I modified some medal spotlights I purchased years ago at the York train show.  I replaced the light bulbs with LEDS, and installed them to light up the new billboards.  Here are some pictures of the results.

Kathy was from Long Island, and liked New York Central, which allowed me to buy that line without getting into too much trouble.  I thought it was only fitting to take her picture with a NYC F3.

When Jennifer was little, I bought her an HO Santa Fe set.  She loved it because it was "Santa's Train".  Here is the O-Gauge version with her billboard.

NTS&B Dedication To Jennifer

On January 18th, 2020, my poor sweet daughter Jennifer passed away.  It's been really tough for me to handle.  Over the years, she has contributed many scenery items to the layout.  Sometimes, I think she just wanted to give me a challenge for how to fit them in, since most weren't train related.  Because of this, I wanted to do something on the layout in her honor.  I decided to make a billboard for her similar to the one I made for Kathryn.  Here is the result.

NTS&B Merry Christmas 2019

Another year has passed, and the layout has progressed very little.   Kathy passed away this past August, and my daughter has moved in to help take care of me, and get help for herself.  It made the holidays much less lonely.  She made cookies, helped set up and decorate the tree, hung the stockings, and picked out and wrapped most of the presents.  It wouldn't have been much a Christmas without her.  We celebrated an early holiday in TN with my son, his wife,  and Jennifer's son, then had another holiday here with Kathy's daughter Carolyn and her husband.  Carolyn carried on her mom's tradition and made a nice lasagna, which Jennifer helped me finish off in record time.  All in all, the kids made it a much better holiday season than I had ever anticipated. Here are a couple pictures.

NTS&B Trump Train Passenger Car

Here are a couple pictures of a passenger car I recently acquired.

NTS&B Dedication To Kathryn

This layout is dedicated to Kathryn, my wife of 25 years, who passed away this morning at 7:20.  Even though she didn't actually work on it, she was the main influence to it's design and provided encouragement for the building of it.  She said my original plan, which was a nice simple layout down the middle of the room, was much to “Simple and Boring”.  She wanted multiple trains running over and under each other, at least 1 helix (spiral) to the ceiling, and 4 seasons (she only got 3), the Lionel Disappearing Mountain, and many other ‘minor’ layout aspects.  She even influenced the name of the layout, because she wanted something “Not To Simple and Boring” or NTS&B, which turned into “North Pole, Tinseltown South, & Bigville”.   I believe she regretted her comments on the design towards the end, but was happy with the results.  I think she just wanted to keep me out of her hair for the last 12 years. I decided to make a billboard in her honor.

NTS&B More Under Layout Train Shelves And Stair Steps On Back Wall

For some reason, I keep running out of shelf space to display my trains.  This time I built a 40 inch wide shelf and a 4 foot wide shelf under the layout. I also added some more stair steps to the end wall upper shelves to make room for my ever expanding 4x4x0 Generals collection.

Corner of Autumn Section

End of Autumn Section by back wall