Hey Hey -What's That Sound

Sound equipped loco's in HO scale are a relatively new on the scene (at least affordable ones anyhow). The larger scales have enjoyed this feature for some time now. I myself don't have a large fleet of sound equipped locos - actually at the moment I have one diesel and one steam that are so equipped. There are just not alot of models right now that I ma interested in purchasing ( Read - waiting for Maine Central units). That being said, I have 3 Intermountain U18B sound equipped locos reserved through my local dealer. The latest is that they will be shipped sometime next spring. Atlas has also recently released another run of GP38/40's that are now sound equipped, so I just have to wait for them to do another run of GP38's in Maine Central. On another note, I have recently started to scenic an area that I plan on putting a pond in. I have to hit the books/ Internet, to ensure I get some good ideas. I will post some pics when I have completed the area - till then have a peek at a short Video clip of my sound equipped diesel leading a local interchange freight. Till next time....

Mine over Matter

Well -mine agony is finally over. I have found suitable scenery material to use for my mine landscaping and am fairly please with the results. For the ground cover, I used a product called Highball Products "Real Dirt". The ballast for the tracks is another HighBall product - HO scale Cinder ballast. Woodland Scenics provided the coal for the pile and the spillage around the chutes. The mine itself is the common Walthers New River Mine Kit. I weathered it with Bragdon weathering powders and finished it off by airbrushing it with a light coat of thinnned Pollyscale Earth. More details are to be added, but I wanted to get this post done, so you all didn't think that the mine had gotten the better of me. Till next time cheers.

Passenger Service on the Sub

Well, I'm finally getting around to posting again. Since the last post, I have ordered some scenery items that I am going to try to use for groundcover on the mine area. I have ordered through Walthers two items. Hopefully one of them will do the trick. The items are both Highball products - one is their dirt product ( geezzz - where'd they get that saying "Dirt Cheap") and the other is Z scale dark grey ballast. Keeping my fingers crossed that one of them will look good. I have received through mail order another of the Atlas D&H RS36 Trainman locos. These locos are a great bargain, and might just be the ultimate loco's for operators who like to handle (grrrr) locos and rolling stock. They have the excellent regular Master series drive train, but lack all the delicate detail parts that a lot of the newer locos have.

Since my scenery progress has been at a standstill for the last couple of weeks, I have decided to post about Passenger service on the Nottingham Sub, or rather lack there of. Service will be minimal with the odd CN RDC passing through. Have a look at the latest pic as CN RDC D300 passes through. The model is a Proto 1000 model that I purchased when they were released about 7-8 years ago.Till next time...

More Trees and More Frustration

Hi Folks;

Well not much new since the last post. One thing that struck me this week was how quickly landscapping an area can be a "tree swallowing act". This past Saturday, I flocked (with Woodland Scenics Green Blend) about 80 trees and "planted" them as well. Needless to say, the area looks better, but one would never guess that there were several dozen new trees in that area!!

On another note, I have come to an impass on scenicking the mine area - it is like I have become obsessed or something - my wife would totally agree. The problem is ground cover. I dont want to use ground foam and have spent many hours these last two weeks scouring the internet for pictures/ methods of doing this. I have seen many nice layout pics on the net of groundcover for industrial type areas - It seems like using real dirt is common. After reading about George Sellios using ball diamond clay, I even visited the local field - no luck it was just course sand type material. Nothing in Walthers catalogue looks suitable - so here I am frustrated and at a loss!!!!

On a more positive note, I installed several throttle holders around the layout recently. I stole (woops - borrowed) the idea from a modular group at a local train show that I attended a couple of years ago. The great part is that they are cell phone holders with adjustable sides that hold my throttles nicely - and the best thing is that I aquired them at one of those low price dollar store outlets. I have included a photo to show one in place. Till next time....

Model Railroad Season

Hi Folks;

I love this time of year - the weather here in Nova Scotia is often great and scenary is beautiful. I have a view out my window as I type this post of all the great foilage colors that this time of year brings. I guess that is one reason I have decided to model the Maine Central at this time of year. I like the varity of color. Speaking of Fall, some friends and I made the annual trip to what I feel is always the best Train Show of the season - the annual Truro Show. I manuaged to aquire a few things and all within a reasonable cost. It was great to see all the "regulars" and talk about the latest happenings. In particular, I spoke with Scott Jay of Bayside and Tidewater fame about the possiability of joining the UMG modular group - sure sounds like something that I would be intrested in! Progress is still ongoing on the layout - albeit no long marathon modeling seesions, just slow regular progress. I have recently finished the main scenary ( details still needed) on a acouple of tunnel areas . Check out the pics of a local freight (led by Alco Switcher 961) as it emerges from one of the new tunnel areas. The other pic is of freight led by GP-38 #258. I am currently working on the coal mine area and plan on posting a few pics when I have that area further along. Till next time.

Running Trains

Well I finally got the chance to run a few trains - when you are in the middle of scenary work, the layout can get to be quite a mess. I mask over my track work to keep plaster and glue off the rails. That being said, I have some areas of the layout that have been masked over for some time. One large area that has been finished as far as major scenary work (details of course to be added) was recently "unmasked" and so I was able to clean the track and finally get 'em running. See the photo below of two hard at work Atlas Alco CN MLW C424 pulling a long freight up the 2% grade.

Another neat item that I have installed on my layout recently is the new Walthers (actually made by Heljan) 90' turntable. This is the prebulit one with indexing and control module included. Before this I had the old Walthers 90' one ( the one that was a kit). It was difficult to build and never worked well for me. I must say it was neat to simple take the old one out and install the new one in its place. The existing hole in the benchwork was a perfect fit, and i incooperated the control box into the layout fascia. Have a look below as visting Atlas Alco RS36 D&H goes for a ride. Well thats it fo now- train show in Truro next weekend - hopefully there will be some neat items up for grabs. Later.

Tree's and Loco's

Recently I had a little get together with some of the guys one Saturday afternoon and one of them brought over the new Paul Scoles scenery video (has been advertised in the magazines). Paul has absolutely gorgeous scenery on his layout and it was very intresting to see some of his techniques. One idea I picked up on was that he uses alot of natural materials and for his forest floor he just collects allot of twigs and bark and grinds them up. Well I got my wife to pick me up a real cheap food processor ( she won the tug of war for the good one in the kitchen) and tried a few different things (leaves twigs etc). I really didn't like the first couple of tries and then I remembered reading in one of the mags that someone had used pine needles for this very thing. As luck has it, I have a couple of large pines growing at the back area of my property, so I went out and started gathering some up ( I think the neighbours were wondering what the heck I was up to). I added in some very small twigs and turned on the blender. I must say I was really impressed with the results, and I think the key is to not put it down in too thick a layer. Diluted white glue of course is necessary to hold everything in place. I have included a picture to show you- I think it looks good.On another note, I have acquired two of the new Maine Central Atlas RS-11's (see photo) that were released this summer. They sure are impressive and I have one of the older versions that was released in the 80's. The detail is so much better now, that the old one has been retired to the closet!!! I have prepared them for use on the layout by installing TCS MC2P (with short harnesses) decoders and Kadee # 58 couplers. I really like these decoders as they are really small and will fit just about anywhere. Converting each loco with these really is a 5 minute job. Bye for now.

First Post

Hello All- Welcome to the Nottingham Subdivision Blog. My name is Wayne Woodland and I live in Bedford, Nova Scotia, Canada. I was going to start a website several years ago for my model railroad, but never got around to it/ didnt want to have to pay for it. Since then I have seen many model railroad blogs and thought that it would be a great way to do this. I have been into modelrailroading for many years, with the usual break occuring in High School and afterwards service in the military. I have been back in the hobby continously now for approx 12 years. The Nottingham Sub is my second layout in this time period. The layout is base upon a fictional junction between the Maine Central and CN set in the era of the early 70's. The layout is in a room with 12X 22 in size. I have been working on this layout for approx 5 years now. I have done all the work by myself and am now in the scenary phase with it approx 50 % completed. The layout is DCC equipped with the Lenz 100 system. I previously used the Atlas Commander system (bulid by Lenz) and when the time to upgrade came, I decided to go with Top -of the Line Lenz system as I could use many of the existing components such as Throttles and Power bus connections. The Lenz is a great system and I feel much easier to use than some other systems (aka Digitrax).Most of my locos are Atlas with some Kato and Proto 2000 as well. I also have a Bachmann 2-8-0 with a Soundtrax sound decoder. The majority of my locos are equipped with TCS decoders, as I have had very good luck with these and again much easier to program than Digitrax. There you go a basic introduction to the Nottingham Sub. I'll try to post updates often- be sure to come back and catch the latest.Cheers.