Fascianating Evening at Keith's House

We had a great time over at Concrete Keith's house tonight!  Its the first Train Night I've been able to go to in a while so it was nice to get out in the ice and snow.  Almost everyone was there!

Concrete Keith
Coalfinger Ken
Popsicle Rick
Packrat Paul
Glue Bob
Steve-bay
Ken - yet to be nicknamed
Gator Scott

If you didn't make it, why not see a video from that evening!  Oh, we have all the cool tools!
http://richlawnrailroad.blogspot.com/2010/01/operations-at-keiths-1-8-10.html

My first project was to analyze the the placement of the gravel company.  Originally it was over in another corner but the building has very interesting lines and the location was making the fun parts of the building out of site.  So I grabbed it and stuck it in another corner that has a "dead" spot.

When pitched at the correct angle the structure comes to life!  The corner we later decided will become the lime mine and there will be a while excavation in the corner.  Perfect!

It will look good from all sides and especially when you walk down the long back aisle.

I'll take these four photos, fade them out and print them full size.  Then I'll take some color pencils and sketch in the rest of the picture and send them to Keith.

WOW.  Did I say that?  Oh yes.  This is an AMAZING piece of work for someone who is not inclined to scenic stuff.  The rockwork is fantastic.

This is looking down the waterfall.  Keith is going to come work with me on some other water pours to get ready for this rather tricky waterfall.  This is looking straight down the fall to see where the water will hit.

The top basin and the fantastic rock point will look fantastic.

Man we had a crowd tonight.  We were all working in the West Buffalo terminal.  Glue Bob (shown with glue though we weren't letting him use it) is on the right.  Keith (orange shirt) is making sure he keeps the lid on tight.  No glue on the fascia!

Our team job tonight was getting the fascia on the layout in West Buffalo.

Using 1/8" Masonite and some 2" x 2" wood we carefully bent and mounted the Masonite using 1 5/8" drywall screws.

It bends nicely around the turntable area.  Speaking of turntables Keith (who is a highly experienced and talented modeler) gave me som great pointers on building one from scratch.  Thanks Concrete!

Do you smell smoke?  Wow!  Bob, your drill is on fire!  Once you let the smoke out it doesn't work anymore.  We're still not sure how it happened but the burned out drill is no more.

Done!  Wow....very nice!  Some spackle, a coat of paint and some very nice electronics panels and it is good to go!

We finished the entire work load in about an hour, so nothing left to do but run trains.  So I took one Westbound.  Here we are passing the rolling mill.  The layout is based around steel making, but the feed industries aren't set yet.  So I've volunteered to make an industry map for Keith and I have a list of his available kits.

Another deep gorge and river!

Nice bridges adorn the layout.

The run time on this long layout is amazing.  Almost 30 minutes to go from staging to finish.

!@$!#@$ foamers!

You just have to love a train on a bridge like this!

And so much more scenery to go!

What a great night.  Keith is a fantastic host, modeler and friend.  It is always good to go visit.

Next week at Paul's!