I'm having more fun watching this than you are... Love it!!! Perhaps a small hand held vacuum would be your friend to keep the layout clean of snow and loose ballast? Keep up with the updates!!!

After watching these videos I think I will be bringing my train back to life.

As I was watching your locomotive(s) hook up, I thought of the Oak Ridge Boys Quartet singing at the Cathedral Quartet Farewell. The Oakridge Boys sang, "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad". . . . now there is a song for you! Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Another problem with those penetrating lubes is they destroy electrical/electronic insulation if not used carefully. With 63 years of electrical/electronics experience with and teaching (22 years teaching) electricians, technicians, and future engineers I have seen and heard about thousands of sad and expensive pieces of junk because of improper and careless oiling. It needs to be just right. Not too little and not too much.

Hi, make sure the trip pins on the the couplers are adjusted so they do not catch on the diverging rails of the switches or the re-railer.. The couplers can sag sometimes and derail the car.

Love it! Can't wait to see what additions you decide on. Have a grand old time!

They make a track eraser to clean the tracks. I saw it on ebay for $5.95 Atlas #402 Track Eraser for Cleaning Track and Wheels I used this many years ago and it worked great.

I hate to say it but sometimes you have to clean the locomotive, pop the top clean and lightly oil the gears. Make some leads from your power pack, cradle your locomotive upside down, run it and clean wheels, I use 91% alcohol, but as said a bright boy pad will do, some people have a cleaning car set up to clean the track, I bought a new dc power pack for my dc layout, and was amazed at how much better my dc trains ran,MRC Tech7

The train show at the big E in West Springfield MA is next weekend. You would positively love it. Try to attend if you can !

Your track is probably picking up some extra corrosion due to some moisture in the air in your shop. It only takes 24 hours for that to happen. Try running the loco around on its own for half an hour every few days. That should keep your track “bright”…

Love your enthusiasm, I wouldn't have used sand for ballast. You'll be cleaning that up forever. WD 40 is hurting traction on your locomotives, freight cars are helping to spread gunk on your tracks. Clean rail heads with alcohol to improve performance, then a tiny drop of WD. Clean that sand up with a vacuum. Like your work it'll be great.

Hi from U.K. like the station, its similar to building off grid Houses and Barns !!! Nice track layout.

If the track joints are at a different levels they have a potential to create uncoupling situations and car hopping. Also KZfaq has a lot of model rr channels that are a wealth of information.

connectivity is a problem, it is a electrical circuit , one wire is each track and the wheels are conductors, they have cleaner car i believe you can buy that clean the track and then track cleans the wheel, so it needs a clean circuit, and building make dust. so the more you do, the more you clean. But i love it, i started with first and doing them in order when i cam and i love it. layout look great

Now we're having fun!

I’m glad to see the progression of the layout and you. A lot of fun figuring stuff out. Wd40 can leave a dust attracting residue as you said, it can get gummie too. I’m sure you’ll find an alternative.

Hi Ken. That was a goodtry out for wagons & 2 locos well done with that.

Ken,don’t let Chad or Dan near your train tracks because they probably won’t be nice to it lol 😂 😊❤

Wheel weights to balance a tire, perfect!

Excellent there Ken. Just a thought, try a vacuum to gently remove the unwanted debris from the surface. Could work….. 🤔

Yay, 12 cars long Ken! It made it up the hill! Too bad the snow turned out to be a real bug-a-boo! It did look very nice though. Yup, WD40 is silicon. Those Kadee car connectors do work really nice. It made the grade! I like the tunnel too! Wow, it worked! You'll need another locomotive for 13 cars. Very nice coupling of the engines and the cars. Great job Ken! Lucky 13! That was nice at the end with the scenery on the blue board. Thanks for this video Ken.

Congrats Sir Ken, loving 2 loco's

Ken 12 cars at 4 oz. each is 3lbs which is a hell of a lot of weight. If you are running your loco that hot try putting more weight on the top of the locomotive. That should cure your traction problem.

Ken a small yacht on the lake would look good!

Nice Layout Sir.

Way too go my friend..😎😎🙏

Do not use a sanding sponge, it will mess the top surface of the rails. Use a bright boy, or cr 26 from ho.e depot. Do not use wd40. Buy a wheel cleaner for your locomotives, like Woodland Scenic wheel cleaner. They are around 24.00 dollars.

love the sound looks good

We had 103 cars on our setup. FYI WD40 Dry Lubricant maybe next time. I never had this product 40 years ago. The issue is the wheels (Trucks) will build up carbon on the tracks and wheels from the electric going between them and this needs to be removed from time to time.

Bright boy to the locomotive wheels and check the locomotive to check for trash in the locomotive.

Love it. Are you going to redo or add to the scenery in the future?

Your layout is really coming along Ken. I especially like your sound effects as they sound so real. You did a nice job on that tunnel too. Have you taken a closer look at the wheels to make sure there is no crud build up? Keep up the good work.

You need your engineers hat😜👍

Great winter hobby! I use WD-40 too, I spray it on a rag to polish the rails. I then wipe the rail again with a dry rag which helps with traction.

One caboose on a train

try 90% isopropyl alcohol to clean the track / wheels , it leaves very little residue.

Why not run two trains with six cars each?

Use a bright boy to clean the track

I think the weights would maybe have been better not on top of each other, so it lowers the center of gravity, but it worked out in the end. You are soon going to run out of projects, I think you might start a new layout after this one maybe.

If you put metal wheels on the railcars it will reduce friction. Making the locomotive not work so hard.

Buy some Labelle 106 oil, and sme 108 Labelle grease For the locomotives.

Ken what is the overall weight that your train engine should pull

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👋🙋‍♂️🤗

Put weight over wheels

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Never glue weight use sticky pads

Do You Like Body Mounted Couplers Or Truck Mounted Couplers?

Turn the car around if it derails.

Ken you need some Frog Snot for your locomotive wheels. Don`t laugh look it up. Fuzz buster around the track will pick up loose ballast ans debris.

Check your built dates on your cars some look like steam Era not diesel era

No use this products