Well, I found a fella near me who is modeling a former PRR mainline that used to go from Indianapolis to points east. It has long been abandoned and torn up, but we are trying to keep it alive in his basement. I've been helping him with the layout, and plan to do so until it is finished and we start some regular operations sessions as a club. So far only he and I are doing anything, but we kind of like it that way. You can visit the layout's website here. Most of these videos are available to be viewed directly from the website, or just search for CIOR on YouTube.

My Videos












His Videos

Aw - I want to play!

( * ...begins to blow dust from N-Scale models... * )

Meeeee Toooooooo!!!

A good friend of mine has a basement Lionel setup, the whole basement. If plans go right I should be there tonite running trains with him. I'd rather be running my own but a lack of time and space keeps mine in boxes.

Nice work you have there, it looks and sounds terrific. Sounds also like a DCC system!

Looks like a great layout to run just about anything on

A few more, from last night's debugging session, while we prepare for an NMRA layout tour in 2 weeks.

Neat!

Really sweet Dan, I especially like that stack-train ina couple of the videos. Any chance of a few arial shots of that layout for perspective on size?

But then you would see the unfinished parts we leave out of the videos because it just looks so plain compared to the finished parts...and the mess we made down there.

It's a 3-deck 40x30 layout that wraps around 3 walls of the basement. You can see the track plan here.

Below is a shot looking along the 40 foot north wall. You can clearly see all three decks in the shot. The large 6' diameter helix is behind me and to the right, and the Dunreith diamond I like to feature in my shots is directly behind me. The middle deck is fairly complete, except for a few odds and ends. The lower deck is just staging that will wrap all the way around and reverse under the helix (hopefully), and the upper deck is still awaiting our attention (except for the Cargill grain elevator you can see in the photo).

It really makes you wan't to shelve the PC and MSTS as there is nothing more cool than watching that train pass by you. The hours invested always give back a great return as you ease your mind into your trainsets and head out, just as you get to track speed the wife yells down the stairs that the pizza guy pulled in the driveway, damn

Very cool Zebo

Thanks for the photo! It is really neat to see the perspective now and know what you are really seeing. So the upcoming NMRA show, just for kicks or is it a competition show?

It's the Midwest Region spring convention of the NMRA. The Central Indiana Division of the MWR, NMRA is hosting it this year. During the show there will be layout tours, one of which will be the CIOR. You can visit the website for the convention here.

Awesome layout and making me wish I had the space, time and money to make such a layout! Good work, dudes!

I'm the fella with the layout. Names Matt.
Anyway, took a shot during our test ops session, this was at the end of the day and Dan got the idea to run a 80 car train. So the other 7 of us stood back and I grabbed a camera for the sure to be priceless derailment.
Here is a shot in happy times, pre derailment.



A local and 2 thru freights clog the double track mainline. Did I mention, there are 2 sidings, one on each side of the mainline and it took the L-51 crew a half hour real time to flop around 2 industries.



3 thru freights and a local on the mainline stuffed into a tight spot. God Bless the poor Dispatcher at this location.



Just wait til it gets going.............And NO, Dan won't be running another mixed 80 car freight with 4 SD60's on it.

Maybe a coal train.....

Yeow...I look huge in that basement!

I guess it doesn't help having that low ceiling. Remember, that is Joe blocking most of the other shot.. haha

Uhh...Ahh...Umm...Never mind, I'm no one to talk!

Welcome aboard our little V-Scale layout Matt, glad to see you keeping good company like this! Sure is nice to see the faces behind these forums once in awhile. When you guys do get to the show, be sure to bring a few memories to this place for those of us not fortunate enough to be there.



Small basement right?

You guys are lucky have all that space!

I mean our attic is huge too, but "MIND THE ROOF"...."BANG"...."OUCH!!!"

No basement, no attic , and floor space is a premium <-----for now . Oh Dan not to worry lighting, and camera angles always tend to make folks look larger.

In my case I think it is speaking the truth. I went and weighed myself after seeing that picture and I was not pleased to see I'm teetering on joining the 300lb club. 290 pounds! A year ago I weighed 250. I foresee rabbit food in my immediate future...

Sounds like me - depends upon whose scale I weigh myself with. At least you have several inches of height to hide it on. I quit growing up at 17, and started growing out. Been fighting that ever since! Bunny food? It gives me a whole new reason to claim the title " !" I just have to get re-e-e-eal conservative on the portions of what I normally eat.

Porterhouse............rabbit food

Seriously.

Yeah, on a lo-carb diet...

Hehe, I shouldn't have shared my pet-peeve food with Matt. It's going to be hard laying back on the porterhouse steaks. I have them at least twice a week.

Eat the Porterhouse w/o potatoes or veggies, with Vinegar & Oil on the salad (Iceberg only if you please) and you have a good head start on the Atkins Diet!

Dan, try bodybuilding.com, the site has a ton of info on diets, and exercise programs for everybody. That site is like my second home.


http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/index.html

My second home is White-Castle!

Ask Dan how he is moving today? He had fun yesterday laying many scale miles of secondary track (staging) and even a few trains ran.

Paint, we need not mention paint.

Besides, I never met a person that ran on fuel of LBoes French Fries........
:-)
Pictures to come. (not of the fries)

Heh heh heh,...