Update-1/20/2013

Well, here's a new brief update on my progress so far.  I did recieve the Forney and it is a beautiful model.  I decided to start with the tank in the back since the Gurley's tank has higher sides and also a flared edge that is not on the Bachmann model.  I traced out templates out of a sheet of paper and test fitted them to the engine.  This past weekend, I finally cut the first side of the tank out of styrene and it looks good so far.  The new tank's demension will be a little off since the original drawings for the Gurley are for a 36" guage, not 30" guage.  I also swapped out the outside frame pilot truck for an inside frame one.   On a side note, my HO collection has also received attention.  I currently have two projects in the work, Southern Pacific GP40-2 #7395 as she appeared in 1989 and Santa Fe GP38u 2307 as she appeared in 1993.  Both engines are going to be kitbashed from Bachmann GP40s, one from my childhood Santa Fe 6067 engine and the latter from a Bachman DCC Equipped #3507.  So far, I have removed all the plastic light bars from the 7395 in order to remove all the paint to get an empty shell to work with for detailing.  As for the 2307, I'm in the process of removing the numberboards on the long hood since it appears that the ATSF GP38s were delievered without them.  Hopefully I get some more work done on this long weekend and I will have some photos up on my Flickr shortly.

Update-1/1/13

          Aloha!  Well it seems that 2013 has come, and it has also brought a LONG overdue layout update.  First off, the North Shore and Pacific has aquired a Bachmann ON30 Baldwin 2-4-4T Forney that will be delivered shortly.  The engine itself will undergo a few modifications to resemble Disneyland Railroad #3 "Fred Gurley": and then will be placed into service as NS&P #3.  Secondly, phase 1 of the North Shore and Pacific Railroad is approaching the final stages of planning and will hopefully be under construction shortly.  This first module is 12" by 39" and will contain a station and some small other details that will be finalized later.  The station itself is a Design Preservation Models #5187 Woodland Station kit that was recycled from my old Woodland Scenics Grand Valley layout.  Even though it is a HO structure, from what I have measured, a six foot tall person in O scale could comfortable walk through the doors and look out the windows of the building.  I'm going to kitbash the depot itself to fit in better with the layout, but presently I don't have any specific plans for it.  With the mainline looping around the layout and running behind the station again, I had to put in a viewblock to seperate the two scenes.  However given the nature of trying to keep the whole module at a 12" width, I was left with about an inch between the back of the depot and the mainline. I have decided to make a "wall" of plants and bushes that will be underneath a canopy of Palm trees.  At "night" I plan to light this vegetation up with lighting to give it nice effect. With this being my first railroad that I have designed on my own, this first module will be the "guinea pig module" that I can experiment with and try things out on. I'm planning on trying out some "special" effects that will make the module come to life.  These effects that I'm planning are some semaphores that will add some animation and then trying out the Dreamplayer to add to the ambience with the sound of Hawaiian music, birds chirping, people milling about in the depot, etc.  I know this is very hard to visualize and I'm working on a sketch that will hopefully be up soon.  Mahalo for following along.