Test Run!

This week, Train Room guests included Darren and Patti Herman, visiting from Butte, MT. Knowing my fondness of all things ferroequinolgic, they gave me some great goodies: a Northern Pacific - Yellowstone Park Line route guide, and an unused Railway Express Agency tag! These items are pictured below, and have been added to the railroad papers collection. Over the weekend, a flood of progress occurred on various fronts. The staining of Craft Room shelf pieces was completed, as was the actual construction of the shelves. The faux fireplace was assembled by my wife, and I attached the top shelf and the entire assembly to the wall in the Cabin. I cut a rather large limb off the silver poplar in the back yard, and disposed of it. And, in the Train Room, I stained the train table top and affixed it to the frame! I brought the 4x8 and 3x8 pieces outside and applied the stain during the nice weather on Sunday. After they dried, I used a lot of balancing science to safely get the boards into the Train Room through the Cabin. To screw the boards to the frame required me to truly test the frame first hand - using a step ladder I climbed up onto the table top, and crawled over most of the surface to install screws. I used my exercise mat to protect both myself and the table while moving about on top of it. I'm satisfied with the finished result - if it can hold me up, it can withstand plenty of O-scale locomotives! It looks pretty good too. On Monday I moved the structure into position (which has some weight to it) and tested for levelness. I had to move a low-hanging picture to a higher spot. It is mostly level throughout - no shims are required, and it is highly unlikely that anything will roll on its own down the tracks. Speaking of which, I went through the tubs and boxes in the closets and pulled out all of the O-gauge tubular track I've acquired, and placed it on the table. It was so nice to handle and smell the old track again! On Tuesday I laid the available track according to my plan, and found that I need 16 additional curve pieces of various diameters. On Wednesday, I visited with Cal, who is selling a Lionel collection on behalf of an Estate. I agreed to help him assess the collection in my capacity as a member of the TCA. More info on that soon! I ordered the missing track pieces required to complete the track plan from TrainWorld. Also, I wired the outer track for testing, and successfully sent the handcar around it. Amber was present to see the first "train" operate on the new layout!
On MarksMTRR, I went back to previous entries and added tags based on featured railroads or trains. I'm shining up the my rails! Keep yours shiny too ~

The Hermans (and Amber) visit the Train Room in progress

The Hermans donated these great pieces of paper railroadania to my collection!

The tabletop has been stained and attached to the frame

And the first test of the outer track is a success!