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. 

NTS&B Eskimo Joe's Frozen Delights Igloo

Recently I had to order two decorative LED bulbs for our bathroom. I had replaced three of the four required bulbs already, but then Lowe’s stopped carrying the ones I needed. I therefore had to order it through Lowe’s on-line, and ordered an extra one as a spare. When they arrived on my door step, I had to really laugh at the size of the box that they sent them in. The box took up almost a full cushion on our couch.

What does this have to do with my layout, you ask ??? Anyone who has visited my layout knows that it is not a highly detailed, scale layout. Instead, it is a collection of souvenirs, Dollar Tree items, fast food toys, gifts from my kids, and various other non related items. Part of the fun for me is to try to imagine how to fit these items in with the existing scenery, in a manner that appears logical.
I also like to show people that you can make a fun layout without having to spend a fortune on buildings. Sometimes this means taking an inexpensive item (or piece of trash), and creating something new with it. When I pulled out the first bulb, I realized the shape of the plastic packing looked kind of like an igloo. Hmmm… A light bulb goes on (pun intended) !!!

First, I made sure I had a place where I could fit an igloo in the winter area (no easy task anymore). Then I carefully trimmed the base off the plastic form. Next I needed to paint it. First I tried spray on snow that you use on your windows in the winter, but it just wiped off very easily. Luckily it all came off easily, so I tried plan two. I had some white Krylon Fusion paint that is safe for plastic left over from a previous project, which worked much better. I proceeded to paint the inside and outside of the form to make sure I had maximum coverage. I then took a pencil and drew some lines on it to simulate the blocks stacked up, and then painted a door. Since it was pretty big, I wanted to make it look more like a store, so I printed sign and added a blue LED spotlight to illuminate it on those long winter nights. The assembly is very flimsy, so I hot glued it to the layout in multiple places. Here are a couple pictures of the finished product.  The building cost a little over $12 total. The best part of it was that Lowe’s threw in a decorator LED bulb for free !!!