01/23/2006 It's been quite awhile since I've done any work to speak of on the layout. Work, Family and the Holidays really sucked up all of my free time. This last weekend was the first time I spent any substantial amount of time in the train room. I've had a Bachmann 2-8-0 that has been acting up for quite awhile now, so I decided to make it the subject of my first weathering project. Afterward, I cleaned it all up and reset its DCC chip, and low and behold, it started working like new again. All it needed was a little TLC. I also weathered a couple of cars just to get my hands wet. I took their pictures next to another of the same car but straight out of the box, just to give you a good comparison. It turned out to be a lot easier and a lot more fun than I had ever expected.

02/16/2006 I've been working on the Argo Mill again. Tearing off the old wooden roof and replacing it with some texture paper sheets representing tin siding in various stages of rust. I'm also taking this opportunity to install more lighting on it. I've also been weathering a few more cars. Here's one of them that I thought turned out nice.

02/27/2006 I finally finished the Argo Mill's new roof. I also converted the boiler room walls to use the brick texture sheets. I added two external lights, which I think show up nicely in these photos.

03/05/2006 I began work on the mountain behind Jasper. Not much to show yet, bet here are a few pictures.

04/11/2006 Finally got back into the train room. Started working on the Banks Ice House kit from Bar Mills. It's a laser cut wood kit that so far has gone together without a lot of extra work on my part, and has a ton of detail. I can't wait until it's finished.

04/15/2006
Made a little more progress, weathered the decking and started the buildings.

04/17/2006
Added more weathering and finished more of the buildings.

04/20/2006
Finished the Icing Platform. Lighting has been installed and the structure has been placed on the layout temporarily until I add the rock molds on the mountain behind it.

05/06/2006 Started work on a Gas Station kit by Micro-Scale models.

05/09/2006
Finished the Gas Station. Lighting has been installed and I'm just waiting to complete the scenery before installing it on the layout.

05/14/2006
Opted to go with the opional canopy over the pumps. Also, decided to light the first floor interior.

06/05/2006
Had a friend I met on ScaleRails custom weather my SW9. He goes by the nickname of Griff and you can check out his work at GriffsGrimeShop. Here's a before and after shot
There are 13 shots total, check them out here

08/02/2006
Started work on the Northeastern Scale Models "Box & Crate Factory". It's a laser-cut wood kit, but I decided I wanted the first floor to look like it was built first and the second floor was added later. To that end, I covered the first floor walls with brick texture sheets and then covered that with Drywall spackle.

After letting everything dry overnight, I sanded the spackle down, trimmed out the door and window openings, and then stained it to look like stucco. After everything dried, I chipped out a few places to show the underlying brick and added a few cracks for effect.

08/06/2006
Spent the day making mountains. Worked on the cut leaving Jasper and on the area behind the engine house and turntable. Those needed special attention because I couldn't remove them, so I had to cover them with plastic to protect them from all the plaster drips. Man that stuff is messy!

08/16/2006
Finished the Box and Crate Factory complete with interior detail and lighting.

A Few more shots.

09/12/2006
Did some more work on the mountains around Jasper.

10/23/2006
Finished the Jasper Station. It's the Whistlestop Junction kit by Bar Mills

10/25/2006
and a few taken at "night"

11/29/2006
Finished the Jasper Warehouse. It's the Bartlett kit by Showcase Miniatures

12/29/2006
The mountains around Jasper, and the town itself, are finally starting to take shape!