Year end wrap-up

This’ll be the last post of the year. Looking back, I’m rather surprised at this year’s projects and posts. I start each year with big plans to do certain things hobby-wise, but as the months roll on, many of those get abandoned and replaced by new ones that I hadn’t thought of earlier and seem more interesting than my previous plans. Same thing again this year. I have lots of ideas for new projects, but how things will roll-out is anyone’s guess :-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

 Purple haze

 Night at the Bookery

 Stella's stop

 Long walk

 Waiting at the library

 if (FORTRAN) then Stop

 "Just chill"

1 am at Grille's

"Baby it's you"

Sounds good from the parking lot

Next year I'm gettin' a power-mower

Overtime

Sunny day

Day at the beach

Midday freight train

Planning for next year

Reassembled layout

I rather like the above view of the layout after all the buildings and scenery have been re-installed. This view emphasizes that the layout is completely flat - that was done on purpose to maximize the possibilities for installing buildings.
Below is a video of a test run of the Bachmann Birney. It runs quite well since it went through the cleaning and adjustment earlier in the year.

I was fiddling with lighting and saw these interesting shadows. I had to snap a picture. I'm not completely happy with the final image, but it seems to suggest other pictures that could be taken.

Pictures from a weeknight and day

 Homeward bound

 Waiting at the library

 Just in time

 Late night at Archie's

 Coming to an arrangement

 Day at the beach

 Picking up

Dropping off

More photos from around town

 Down the street.

 Testing the waters.

Home after a long day.

Omnivagant layout design

[Section of the Decatur, Jackson & Newton trackplan, Model Railroader, May 1940]

I’ve been fiddling with my copy of Model Railroader’s 75th collection to try and evaluate its search capabilities.I got a little sidetracked when I came across the May 1940 Layout of the Month feature about the Decatur, Jackson & Newton, an interurban and street railroad designed by Mr. Linn Westcott. I was struck by the word ‘omnivagant’ in Mr. Westcott’s description of the 4‘x8’ layout he had designed, “Provision is made for point-to-point, once-around, triple loop, omnivagant (wandering anywhere and everywhere), and switching operations.”  I’d never heard of the word omnivagant before, but I liked the concept he described. 

Mr. Westcott declares that “model interurban and street railroads have it all over regular model railroads when it comes to getting a lot of operation in a small layout without cramping.”  About the same time I came across the Decatur, Jackson & Newton I also stumbled across this slot-car video - shown below - on youTube. It struck me as very omnivagant. I don’t know if the Decatur, Jackson & Newton could actually be built; regardless, omnivagant is a concept that seems worth exploring.