It's been a long few months since tearing up the old 2018 layout--yes, I went through with it. Part of the reasoning was that we got new Unitrack for our 6-year-old and new trains to go with it, and needed the table. So in the interest of catching up on half a year's worth of stuff, I'll start with the new purchases.
For Christmas we got the 6-year-old this fine Atlas Susquehanna #4004 Dash 8-40B, along with a bunch of freight cars, to go with his new Unitrack.
Here's a quick video run-by I finally got around to uploading. It runs very nicely, especially for a used engine. Then again, I'm not used to running diesels, or any locomotives that have so many points of contact on the track. It's so nice to not worry about choppy power supply to the motor.
The other new engine that we got was for the 6-year-old's birthday this spring. He's been wanting a passenger locomotive for a while, since we have the 25-year-old Amtrak double-deckers. The old Amtrak EMD F40PH was beyond repair--at least for me and time--so I got him a new one from KATO. It's easily the best engine I've ever run. We took it outside in March on a warm sunny day.
That's about it for the modern additions to our collection. I also found a big, cheap lot of freight cars for the Susquehanna engine, and added another switch and more track to the tabletop layout.
The next update will be back to Civil War era trains, as I've worked on some new cars, figures, and buildings. Stay tuned. Hopefully it won't be another five months until then.
