Summer of 2026 is moving by fast so I thought I would put out the quarterly roundup of some of the things going on with the layout that have not already been covered in other posts.
Soundtraxx Econami DCC decoders have now been installed for the Lovelock local in both Carlin and Lovelock and for the 44 ton switcher at the EP Minerals plant in Lovelock. Plus, the original Digitrax sound decoder that was for the Carlin switcher died and got replaced with the Soundtraxx model. There are now a total of 5 sound decoders stationed around the areas of the layout where switching goes on.
Recently I added this small section house at the east end of Carlin yard. This will provide a place where main line crews can wait out of the weather while the yard crew is moving cars and also some equipment related to re-fueling activity can be stored here. I scratch built is structure from styrene with the door and windows coming from Tichy. The roof was printed on plain paper from a Visio drawing.
I recently acquired a holder for my phone that allows me to record a video while running the throttles at the same time. So for the first time in over 3 years, I have a new layout video up on YouTube. In this one, instead of background music, the locomotive sounds are coming from the stationary sound decoders.
Link to the video: https://youtu.be/CFmkwDiLaUU
In June we learned that the 2027 N Scale Enthusiasts convention will be held in Sacramento. This is only about 100 miles from me so I am looking forward to making it to this one.
