How Could You Forget the Caboose?

This morning I woke up feeling a little better for the first time in a week. Still, I didn't want to push it by going to work or Church and it was rainy and cold here in Georgia. So I stayed at home and played with trains all day.

Early this morning I went to the basement and worked on Section 3. Here is the top that has been marked for waffling.

It takes me about 10-15 minutes to cut out the waffle. I then glued it to the base section and screwed the sides down to the side panels. A few reinforcing blocks were added to areas where the glue didn't take.

Here is one of the 1 1/4" drywall screws that must be flush with the top surface so the foam will adhere.

I keep a note board going in the basement when I work so that I don' t forget to tell you things. Bob wrote on it when he was over. One thing I didn't mention was the idea of a third leg. Bob suggested that one module have a third leg (which is more like a kick stand) so that the first module will stand on its own while I attach the next module. Great idea! I'll do this if my Harbor Freight legs ever show up. Arrrrggh!

To make sure the glue takes, I put some weight on top of Section 3. The other sections make perfect weights. I was down in the basement for about 45 minutes before I took the family to the store and to lunch.

Steve told me that I could come over today and we could talk about his Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in HO Scale and kick around some ideas. I also wanted to test run the new Southern ten wheeler with sound, so after my family all went to take a nap I slumped out into the dreary, rainy day.

Steve and I always have a good time. Elaine, his wife, was there and helped us. We re-measured his basement and checked the dimensions. While there, I noticed some structures that he acquired from a collection buy out (he sells trains on Ebay). A few items were PERFECT for the layout, so I grabbed them.

The locomotive ran very rough at first. Steve noticed the connector cables were dragging, so I fixed those. There most of been something on the wheels, too, but once we let it run for about an hour it was running perfectly. The sound is amazing! Micro Mark has these locos on sale and I highly recommend them. They are heavy an pull very well. Steve took a picture which I'll share with you later.



I made a quick trip over to the Trainmaster Models hobby shop to see if my track was in. I ordered some Micro Engineering HO track, code 83 sections. They still don't have them. Then I gave Scott Chatfield a list of the rolling stock I needed. I already bought the boxcar above lettered for the Central of Georgia. He showed me some others.

This car is very poorly put together and will require some work. The weight is loose and one of the brake parts was loose in a box. Price wasn't bad and it did have metal wheels and automatic couplers, but it is going to the rip track.

While looking through the abundance of rolling stock I noticed a caboose. Then it hit me. I FORGOT TO PUT A CABOOSE ON THE LIST! How stupid! I guess I just normally like modern railroading and forget about the old crummy on the back end. Silly me. Ok, now I need a Southern caboose for the 1940's. They didn't have one and didn't know of one available. I looked to repaint one, but decals aren't available either. Oh shoot.



I bought another boxcar, one painted for the Seaboard. It is perfect for this era.

I love it when Johnny Cash sings about the Orange Blossom Special and this just reaks of Southern heritage.

Steve took a look through his collection and I bought this Norfolkd and Western boxcar.


It was missing the weights and the floor is falling out, but it was a good deal since he gave it to me as a gift. Got to love train friends.

This little shed and platform will be used to house bagged sand for the locomotives at the turntable. Whoever put these together did a great job!


The shot is blurry but this small water tank is great for the layout, as is the speeder track for division maintenance. The water tower isinsulated, so I may modify it.

Steve had two small warehouse looking buildings with tin roofs on them. Ibought both for the cotton Gin. It seems his wife knows about ginning and cotton and gave me a lot of new information to think about.


Here is the other gin building. She picked cotton for$0.03 per lb, and the gin bought it for $0.09 per lb in the 1950's.


This structure is beautifully built and painted. I bought it for the harbor area. It could also serve as the railroad office.

When I designed the layout I put in a very skinny and tall knitting mill. I figured that I would have to scratch build it since no model is that tall and skinny. When I saw this model I knew it was a perfect fit and the quality of the craftsmanship was excellent. It just needs a few tweaks! I'm so happy!

The mill will need power, so I bought the stack to go with it. Steve and Ihad a great time together today!


My wfie Marie, Taylor and I went to Lowe's for some curtain parts. I bought this small sander for her, but I intend to use it on the layout to remove splinters.


More glue. I keep running out of glue. Really, I should just buy a gallon. That's it for today. I'm going down to make dinner.