Interim Shenanigans

As usual, things aren’t quite going as planned. While the new train room is ready to go by now, work on the new layout has been postponed for now. I would like to have all the track and materials required for the build ready to go, which will take a few more months. I have the majority of the required track, but still need at least one pack of flextrack and a bunch of turnouts. I have most of the track underlay, but still need some more for the staging area. On the electronics side, a booster and a few reverse loop modules are needed before the build can commence – the modules are on their way, but are taking their time.

In the meantime, the train room has been given a paint job, including the beginnings of a scenic background all around the walls. The previous, small layout has been re-assembled. This way, the trains can stretch their legs every now and then instead of sitting in a box for several months. And I have a playground for some testing and experiments.

On the outside, the doorframe has been completed, so the door can close properly. Some decorations have gone up, but the outside walls still need a paint job.

We did some work in the storage area. I salvaged two lockable office cupboards from my previous workplace, and a bunch of shelves here and there. Today we went through and organised everything, and it’s good to know that there’s still room for more – we will need it.

My BR175 diesel railcar is finally operating. I acquired a main decoder for it, but still needed two function decoders to operate the lights in the end cars. For that, I used my two low-end decoders which were harvested from the old track tester, and the little steam loco. The latter will get a new decoder in time, the former has been decommissioned – it never ran to any degree of satisfaction and was therefore never suited for the task at hand. Scroll down for a short clip of the ‘Vindobona’ in action.

And what to do with a decommissioned loco? It went into a display cabinet, along with a few other model trains we have acquired but won’t be running, and a bunch of train-related paraphernalia and books.

Long story short, even though the new layout still has to wait, there’s always other work to do, and fun to be had.

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