This has been a busy week. From Thursday evening until yesterday I've been busy out in The Cave, sorting and moving boxes and packing material, pulling out my old portable train layout, and trying to get it ready for running once again. Well, I'm glad to say trains are running in The Cave once more after a hiatus of many years!
Back in the '90s when the layout was built I deliberately didn't put legs on it. Instead I placed it on two cheap metal folding sawhorses for support. Lifting and getting the layout in position with legs on was too awkward for one person. With sawhorses, I could set them up and carefully place the layout on top of them by myself. Here in The Cave though, I wanted to maximize storage and all thos legs sticks out of two sawhorses would have taken up too much usable space underneath the layout (besides - I can't find the sawhorses !!). The layout itself measures 39 1/2" (100.33cm) x 60" (152.4cm) and is powered by an MRC Power Pack. The track is Marx 0-27 gauge, the 'lake is I believe Faller lake material - just a piece of rippled plastic laid over a blue sheet of thin cardboard, and the hill around the lake is a piece of carved Styrofoam, covered in spackling, painted, and covered with ground foam held in place by a 50/50 mixture of white glue and water with a tablespoon or two of dishwasher detergent. The buildings you see on the layout now are mostly different than the original set I used back in the day and they may even swapped out at some time as well. There is a K-Line 'L'-shaped ranch hose, a Lionel Prewar water tower, a Marx train station and tunnel, and a Littletown service station.
For my inaugural (or re-inaugural) run I chose a New Marx/Ameritrains Pennsylvania Coal Hauler set. Here's the YuoTube video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2Gwls012DM
Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina
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