After feeling a little isolated because of a percieved lack of retail outlets selling model railroad supplies in the town where I live, I was informed by a fellow train fellowship member that there were two places in town that sold said model railway supplies.

So I checked out the information. And sure enough, one shop stocks a good range of model railroad stuff, and the other is a second hand dealer that has a large section of his store devoted to model railroading equipment - mainly locos and rollingstock.

So I started spending...

I purchased a number of packets of knuckle couplers to upgrade some of my cars which still had the older tyco style couplers, and some clump foliage from one store.

At the second hand dealer I found 4 MoW cars, probably part of a set. I couldn't resist, so I purchased them for the princely sum of about $25.00 for the set. I also purchased a number of other cars as well. One of the cars is a bitumen tank car which will really compliment the Illinook asphalt plant. Most of them have sprung trucks and metal wheels, which sound really good moving over the layout.

The asphalt plant for Illinook is coming along nicely. It's a bigger kit than I thought it was, and it's taking a lot longer to finish.

(The tree-line behind the tracks near the Flour Mill. I plan to put some taller trees in front of the background tree line in some places, particularly where the back scene ends near where the two modules join.)

Chatham is progressing too. I finished and installed the tree backdrop for the flour mill / TOFC track module, and have plaster bandaged the small hill which helps cover the join of the modules.

Over all it's been a pretty busy month on the model railoading front. And it looks like there is more to come. As I am hosting the November meet for the railroading group I belong to, I want to get as much of the scenery on Chatham and Illinook done as possible.