NTS & B Layout in Progress

NTSS&B MTH Rail King Lighted Billboard 30-90478

2026-08-09T18:30:00.000-04:00

I finally had a little free time to work on the layout, and have been hitting it hard. Another friend was moving into a small apartment, so he gave me a MTH RailKing Long Island RR Billboard (30-90478). It really looked nice, but the Long Island RR did not fit in with my layout scheme. Since I had just came back from the Lionel Operating Train Society (LOTS) convention in Buffalo NY, I decided o replace the billboard with one from the convention. Then all I had to do was to find a place for it on the layout (there aren't to many spaces left).

This was the easiest installation of the group of 3. Since I already had a floodlight for yard, all I had to do was connect the billboard wires to the floodlight.

Original piece

My Modification

NTS&B Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon

2026-08-09T18:11:00.000-04:00

My YMCA Friend's train also include a Lionel #394 Rotary Beacon. Since I have many planes above, I had to find a place for it. The beacon is operated by a finned top over a dimpled bulb. If and when the bulb gets hot enough, the heat rises through the fins, which causes the beacon to rotate. Since this seldom works, I decided to put it near the wall in the winter area by the Helix, and use a lower voltage to power it so it would not light up the wall.

This was another fun project. It's at the back of the layout, so to drill holes for the wires, and position the tower, I had to climb on the layout and stretch to the max. Then I had to crawl under the layout, and run the wires using an access hole that was almost large enough for my head and 1 arm. After I got the wires pushed through the plywood, I had to climb back over the layout and stretch to connect the wires to the tower. Then back underneath to determine which voltage to connect the power to, and add another ground wire to the power strip. For this one, I did not add a switch, which simplified it a little. Another piece of cake.

NTS&B Lionel #252 Operating Crossing

2026-08-03T21:00:00.000-04:00

A Friend at the MCA sold his childhood trains to me. This included a Lionel #252 lighted Operating Crossing Gate. I had never seen one before, so waned to use it. It took some thinking, but I finally found a place to install it. Then I had to move a couple side panel switches around, but was able to add another button switch for guests to control the gate.

I had forgotten how much fun it is to add an accessory. You have to crawl under the layout to feed the wires, and connect them to the correct terminal block, which entails stretching yourself to the limit in awkward positions. I have forgotten how far down the floor is now. Then you have to crawl back out, and drill a couple holes through the side of the layout, connect the wires to the switch, and fasten it to the layout. Now you can drill holes for the wire to get to the accessory. Then its another trip back under to feed the wire to the accessory back through the plywood. And finally, up top again to connect the wires to the crossing gate. Put a label on the switch, and its all done. Piece of cake.

NTS&B A 4 Ft x 7 Ft 17 shelf addition

2026-04-23T00:51:00.000-04:00

I cleaned off the wall facing the shop. I moved the large painting and the lighted Lionel sign to the basement den. I raised the speaker up as high as possible, and removed the corner ceiling shelf which I gave to Carolyn. I then built a 4 foot x 7 foot unit with 17 shelves. Currently my father's work tool box is in front of the lower 5 shelves, but will be moved or given away in the future when more train storage is needed, which may be sooner than anticipated.

Tool box and out door chair cushions

Top almost full already

NTS&B A 22 inch x 5 shelf addition

2025-03-31T00:34:00.003-04:00

I had purchased 4 x 0 Gauge and 5 x S Scale 22 inch long aluminum shelves at a recent show, and made a small 22 inch long 5 level shelf under the layout at the shop end. I ended up flipping the top narrower S Scale shelf over, and added a piece of 0-27 track. I used some spare wood I had to make the side and back frames. Since I'm having shoulder issues, it took about 4 days to build, and I did not paint the wood.

NTS&B LCCA Sign Installed

2024-07-28T16:00:00.001-04:00

I bought an animated Light Works illuminated LCCA at the 2022 LCCA convention in Nashville, and have finally gotten around to installing it. I located it on top of the Hard Rock building. Here is what it looks like.

NTS&B Some More New Shelves

2024-04-10T17:26:00.006-04:00

I keep running out of storage space, so needed to add some more shelves. The shelves keep getting closer and closer together. Here they are start to finish.

After clearing the stuff off the walls, I discovered that the shelf brackets I used had to be reversed (of course), so here is the final result

Using a router, I notched the full length of each 1x4 shelf for the train wheels, instead of using track.

I was actually making 3 set of shelves. 1 set was about 5 foot wide and from floor to the bottom of the ceiling loop. The other 2 were about 3 feet wide to fit under the layout. After painting the sides and shelves, I cut the boards to the desired lengths and assembled them.

I installed a hardboard backing, so the shelves would be free standing.

I had to make a couple cuts for the shelf bracket on top, and an outlet in the lower shelf. After positioning the unit, it only. After setting it in position, it only required a screw in each side on top to hold it sturdily to the wall.

The remaining pieces of the boards were used to make 2 small units under the layout. Each top shelf was made using 2 shelves together to make an 8 inch shelf. This allowed me to display cabooses and tenders at an angle, greatly improving display space.

NTS&B Santa's Workshop

2022-02-14T12:55:00.004-05:00

My Grandson gave me a building he made for me for Christmas. Of course I had to find a place to put it. Here's a couple pictures of it all lit up.

NTS&B Some More New Shelves

2021-04-14T23:55:00.001-04:00

For some reason, I keep running out of display space for my trains. I decided to fill up the last remaining space I could find in the train room with an approximately 8 foot wide by 7 foot tall shelf. I reduced the spacing between shelves to the minimum I could, which picked up an additional 2 shelves over my other 7 foot tall one. Here are the before and after pictures.

New shelves before loading up.

I have purchased a couple 4 car subway sets recently, wanted to free up a couple tracks on the main line to accommodate visiting trains, and get my remaining trains out of the train closet. The trains that were on the subway and mainlines were very long, so took up most of the new shelves. By the time I got all of them on the shelves, I am almost out of space again. Here are what they look like after being loaded up.

NTS&B Train Room Lighting

2021-03-17T23:55:00.006-04:00

I sometimes forget to turn the layout off, so I wanted a routine to run about 10PM to shut everything down automatically. I used to use an X10 for home lighting control, but the system was not dependable. Also, the software was not upgraded to run on Windows 10 and my new system did not have a serial port, so I was out of luck.

Then may son gave me an Amazon Alexa and plug for Christmas. With additional plugs, this gave me the flexibility to turn off my layout, and my workbench automatically every night.

Along with my florescent lighting in the train room, I had 14 recessed spot lights. I have been told that blue lighting over the layout simulates moon light better than just turning off the lights and using the lighting on the layout. I decided to change out all of the spots with smart adjustable color floods and spots. These are also controlled by Alexa, so I can change the overheads to any color and brightness I want. The lights are very bright when set to white, so I can use them instead of the florescent to help minimize the fading caused by the florescent. The Alexa routing also turns these light off automatically at night, in case I forget. The flood lights from Walmart work very good when using the built in Alexa commands, but are intermittent when changing colors using a routine.

Here are a couple pictures.

Simulated Moon light with bulbs set to blue.

An attempt at Sunset

Ready for St. Patty's Day. Can even set to red and green for Christmas.

And Bright White

NTS&B Name Changed to North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville

2020-12-19T01:26:00.005-05:00

I am getting ready to paint and letter some cars, and decided that if I was going to change the name of my railroad, I needed to do it now. The name was North Pole, Tinseltown South, and Bigville (or NTS&B).

I wanted to include my 12 year old grandson Sabastian in the layout name, and had a small town that needed to be named, so I decided to name it after him. He was born a couple years after I already named the layout, which is why it didn't originally include him. So, now the new railroad name is North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville (or still NTS&B) I have buildings, tunnel portals, and a bridge already with the initials, so none of that had to be changed.

Here is the new billboard leading into the town. I used an HO street light to illuminate it.

NTS&B 2020 11th Piedmont Pilgrimage

2020-11-22T18:22:00.012-05:00

Update-In December 2020, after this video was made, I renamed the layout to North Pole, Tinseltown, Sabastian, and Bigville.

Due to the COVID19 Pandemic, there were no live National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) Piedmont Pilgrimage tours this year. The NMRA decided to do virtual layout tours for interested participants, to keep the event alive. Since I had already done 10 of the tours, I decided to continue my trend and do the virtual tour, which also serves as a nice way to document the layout . Here is the youtube video. I hope you enjoy it.

NTS&B Shelves On End Wall

2020-05-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

Again, I find myself low on shelf space. I built these 4 foot tall by 8 feet wide shelves on the end wall with the idea of finally getting everything out of the train closet.

NTS&B Kathy's and Jennifer's Billboards Finally Installed

2020-03-12T17:56:00.000-04:00

I finally got time and energy to finish the billboards. I modified some medal spotlights I purchased years ago at the York train show. I replaced the light bulbs with LEDS, and installed them to light up the new billboards. Here are some pictures of the results.

Kathy was from Long Island, and liked New York Central, which allowed me to buy that line without getting into too much trouble. I thought it was only fitting to take her picture with a NYC F3.

When Jennifer was little, I bought her an HO Santa Fe set. She loved it because it was "Santa's Train". Here is the O-Gauge version with her billboard.

NTS&B Dedication To Jennifer

2020-02-14T00:45:00.000-05:00

On January 18th, 2020, my poor sweet daughter Jennifer passed away. It's been really tough for me to handle. Over the years, she has contributed many scenery items to the layout. Sometimes, I think she just wanted to give me a challenge for how to fit them in, since most weren't train related. Because of this, I wanted to do something on the layout in her honor. I decided to make a billboard for her similar to the one I made for Kathryn. Here is the result.

NTS&B Merry Christmas 2019

2019-12-29T00:08:00.000-05:00

Another year has passed, and the layout has progressed very little. Kathy passed away this past August, and my daughter has moved in to help take care of me, and get help for herself. It made the holidays much less lonely. She made cookies, helped set up and decorate the tree, hung the stockings, and picked out and wrapped most of the presents. It wouldn't have been much a Christmas without her. We celebrated an early holiday in TN with my son, his wife, and Jennifer's son, then had another holiday here with Kathy's daughter Carolyn and her husband. Carolyn carried on her mom's tradition and made a nice lasagna, which Jennifer helped me finish off in record time. All in all, the kids made it a much better holiday season than I had ever anticipated. Here are a couple pictures.

NTS&B Trump Train Passenger Car

2019-11-23T21:35:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple pictures of a passenger car I recently acquired.

NTS&B Dedication To Kathryn

2019-08-31T07:20:00.000-04:00

This layout is dedicated to Kathryn, my wife of 25 years, who passed away this morning at 7:20. Even though she didn't actually work on it, she was the main influence to it's design and provided encouragement for the building of it. She said my original plan, which was a nice simple layout down the middle of the room, was much to “Simple and Boring”. She wanted multiple trains running over and under each other, at least 1 helix (spiral) to the ceiling, and 4 seasons (she only got 3), the Lionel Disappearing Mountain, and many other ‘minor’ layout aspects. She even influenced the name of the layout, because she wanted something “Not To Simple and Boring” or NTS&B, which turned into “North Pole, Tinseltown South, & Bigville”. I believe she regretted her comments on the design towards the end, but was happy with the results. I think she just wanted to keep me out of her hair for the last 12 years. I decided to make a billboard in her honor.

NTS&B More Under Layout Train Shelves And Stair Steps On Back Wall

2019-04-25T23:55:00.031-04:00

For some reason, I keep running out of shelf space to display my trains. This time I built a 40 inch wide shelf and a 4 foot wide shelf under the layout. I also added some more stair steps to the end wall upper shelves to make room for my ever expanding 4x4x0 Generals collection.

Corner of Autumn Section

End of Autumn Section by back wall

NTS&B Cable-Stayed Bridge Finished After Only A Little Over 10 Years

2019-02-22T00:35:00.000-05:00

I finished the cable-stayed bridge on 01/12/2009. I originally planned to have the cables illuminated with changing colors similar to Niagara Falls, but could never get it to work. I could never get the lights to illuminate the cables. Now, only 10 years, and 1 month later, I finally have it working. I also added side trim, and repainted it to a lighter color. I used a multi-color LED strip with the LED's surface mounted on a copper strip. The unit came with an IR remote-control, so you can set solid colors, or blinking or fading colors, along with the brightness. I mounted the strip face down, to limit the light showing on the ceiling. I cut the string in half, ran jumper wire under the track, and ran a strip on each side of the bridge. I also had to use some diodes in series with the controller to balance out the different color LEDs. I then added the side trim to contain the light on the bridge. Here are some pictures. I also made a video on youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfKsEvBKUwk

Bridge in 2009 and up to time of upgrade

Updated Bridge

LED strips face down on bridge

And a few pictures at night. The camera is very light sensitive,
so the ceiling looks like it is lit up a lot more than it really is.

And now a movie.

NTS&B Lionel 197 Radar Tower Motor Replacement

2019-01-20T23:56:00.000-05:00

I finally got some time to work on the layout again. My Lionel 197 Radar Tower used a vibrating motor consisting of a coil, a rubber 'drive' washer with stubs on it that grabbed the base in 1 direction to cause the rotation, a medal washer, and the radar antenna. The drive mechanism was very noisy, and currently undependable. No matter what I did, I could not get to dependably rotate. I finally decided to re-motor it with a 12VDC 60 RPM Gear Motor. I planned to run it off a 3VDC adapter to get the required 12-15 RMP for the antenna. The problem is, my 3VDC adapter was actually putting out 3.5VDC, so I added 2 diodes in series to drop the voltage to 2.44, which ended up right at 15 RPM. Here are a couple before and after pictures.

Original Radar Tower

Parts removed from original Tower

12V 60 RPM Motor 25mm x 72mm w 4mm shaft ($4.99)

Created plastic mounting washers from medicine bottle

above and below the tower to hold motor.

Resulting smooth, quiet running tower

(with motor hanging way down).

NTS&B Merry Christmas 2018

2018-12-26T23:39:00.000-05:00

Kathy was in the hospital and nursing home with pneumonia from mid November to December 14th. We had a nice Thanksgiving dinner in the nursing home with Carolyn and Anthony. We had planned on going to Tennessee over Christmas, so I wasn't going to decorate this year. Since she was so weak, I decided to cancel the trip, and have the house decorated for when she came home. Here are a couple pictures of the outside decorations. Carolyn came over Christmas, made Lasagna and spent most of the day, so overall we had a nice Christmas also.

NTS&B Union (Rico) Station completed

2018-08-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

I finally got the courage to light up and detail the Rico Station. Here are some pictures of the final product. Following these pictures are descriptions and pictures of the steps.

For the lighting power, I used a 4 pin connector which included a voltage, a fixed ground, and 2 switched grounds. The connector allows for easy removal of the station. One of the switched grounds controls the passenger platform lights, so that was connected to the passenger area of the station. The following picture shows the freight lights off, with the passenger side lights on.

The other switched ground is used for the parking lot street lights, so that was connected to the station freight area and outside lights. This picture shows the passenger lights off, with the freight side and outside lights on.

The fixed ground was connected to the tower light which is always on.

I connected the 4 wires from the connector to a 14 pin barrier strip. The strip distributes the grounds to the light and LEDs, holds the bridge rectifier to convert the AC input to the DC required by the LEDs, and contains the 1 resister to control the brightness of each group of LEDs. This made it very easy to modify the brightness of the LEDs without re-soldering resisters. It fits perfectly under the raised sidewalk on the freight station end. I used a little poster putty underneath the strip to hold it in when putting the station on the layout.

About 20 years ago, I added a wheat light to the tower, which I left (and never connected). I added a 2 pin connector between the light and the barrier strip, for easy roof removal.

For the passenger side, I used 5 yellow LEDs from another Christmas string, without sockets. I made a ticket office from foam board, painted it about the same color as the station,and put 1 LED in the ceiling. I then printed out wainscoting for trim and glued it to all of the walls. I had bought 2 doll house chandeliers about 20 years ago (and actually was able to find now), and modified them with 2 more LEDs. I glued a balsa wood rafter near the roof peak, and hung the chandeliers from that. The inside wasn't bright enough, so I added 2 more LEDs glued to the sides of the room. After the station was put into position, I added benches and people. Here is what the passenger side inside looks like.

For the freight side inside lights, I used 6 bright white LEDs from a Christmas string, including sockets. I used 2 balsa wood 'rafters' to mount the lights on. Originally I did not use the sockets, and had it made up very neatly. Unfortunately, I touched the wire directly to the voltage, and blew all six. The sockets do not make such a neat job, but at least the LEDs can be changed easily if required.
I printed out a wood floor pattern, mounted it to foam board, in put in a false floor. All of the wires from the other lights are fed through this area, so the floor allowed me to hide them a little easier. I also installed five LED sidewalk lights to the outside of the building, which I had found on EBay for $15. The lights are mounted by drilling holes in the wall, and fastened with a nut. The wires for these units were run along the rafters with the other lighting wires. After the station was put into position, I added shelves, pallets, barrels, and other freight items. Here is what the passenger side inside looks like.

NTS&B Lionel 132 Operating Stop and Go Station platform extended

2018-07-14T12:20:00.000-04:00

Although the 132 station has been servicing passengers for a number of years, sometimes the poor passengers had to make a major leap (of faith) to reach the passenger cars, since the station was in a curve. I finally extended the platform for their convenience. The extension was made from a printed page as close as possible to the original color and pattern of the original, glued to a piece of Styrofoam. So far, the passengers seem quite happy with it. The following pictures are the before and after.

Station before adding the platform extension.

Station with platform extension.

NTS&B Layout Billboard illuminated

2018-07-04T00:00:00.000-04:00

I bought a set of 3 Life-like 16V HO street lights for a good price with no idea where I would use them. Then I remembered that my layout billboard could use some illumination for night time running. I cut about an inch of one of the lights, and used it behind and over the billboard. And, I still have two more left for future projects. Here is what it looks like.