Weekend Update 3/27/11

[wm3798]

I like the look of the wires, Dave, but honestly, I'm not going to use the stuff.  Frequently when I'm staging a photo shoot, I find that I have to pull up a few poles to clear a view, and wiring everything would make that impossible.  I don't want RRPictures to reject my shots because there's a pole in the way!!

Also, you've got a fairly compact layout, so adding this kind of detail isn't a stretch (another pun!).  On mine, the vignettes are separated in such a way that the line poles work better in some places than in others, and using the line would make starting and stopping the poles look a little weirder.  As it is, I can just end the line wherever necessary without it distracting the viewer.

It might be nice to use them on the downtown streets as a detail, but that would make the trackside line poles look naked...

KB, the village looks very east Carolina... but tone down those kit colors!  The scene will be perfect with a little less sheen...

Lee

[Bendtracker1]

If I may, I would like to present my layout. :-\
In the last week I got the last three turnouts installed on the north side of the layout at Fordyce and Haskell, AR. and also got some cloud storage setup to upload some pics of the layout to.
Please keep in mind that these pics were taken back in October of 2009 just after the last spike for mainline was driven.

Since then I’ve gotten everything on the main layout wired, the Digitrax LocoNet and UP-5 panels installed and a PM-42 connected which gives me four electrical sectors on the layout.
 
The track work on the north side of the layout from El Dorado to Haskell is pretty much done.  Next I'll focus on getting the industry leads cut in for the town of Dubach, LA.  I need to cut in three more turnouts for this.

When I get a little more time, I will try to get some updated pics of the layout to show the progress to date. 

The Little Rock Line

Here are some pics of the YARD [then scroll down about halfway]
It was finished back in the summer of 1996 before we took it to the ‘97 National in Madison, WI.  Now it's used as part of the layout.

Allen...

[Dave Schneider]

I had a rather frustrating week with most of the stuff I tried not working out very well. I worked on the roof of the Milbrew building using the Silhouette to scribe roll roofing. I had to do it three times, and I still managed to screw something up this last time. I just about destroyed the walls of the Milbrew building as well. I had tacked the walls onto the building core using some double stick tape. Unfortunately, it was the really sticky variety (which I used by mistake). I managed to delaminate parts of all of the walls, and spent a bunch of time gluing it all back together. I did manage to make the rooftop stairway access and the elevator "headframe" for the roof, but that took a couple of attempts. What a week...I have a ten day trip to Europe coming up at the end of the week, so I don't expect to make much more progress for a while.

Best wishes, Dave

[noblerot]

Almost 2 years in the making! After screwing up the original Bluebird paint job, I finally finished a New Jersey Transit U34CH in the disco paint scheme.







View from the back before finishing the pilots.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Nice. Now if only there were commuter cars to put behind it.

[seusscaboose]

If I may, I would like to present my layout. :-\
The Little Rock Line

very nice Allen,  I look forward to seeing that progress!

[Philip H]

Dug out a box I almost forgot about...  Good news Phil, out of two, I have created one...

The decoder with the dual LED's was toast.  Also had to tinker with the drive to fix some slipping gears.  All better.

Lee

SWEET!!!!  I expect the bill shortly . . . .

Dave V.  Next time I'm in Mobile we'll have to meet in the middle - if the old GM&O railroad hotel is still standing it makes for great photos.  And about that line - the grey is really the best look.  As to Cat - having a thing for highspeed locos under wire (of the European variety) I would say not to worry about the curve.  If you look at the real stuff it tended to be a "curve" that was made for short straight segments pulled off by a lot of wires . .

As for me, other then running Da's Choo's for my toddler (Who turned 2 yesterday) I haven't done much in the train room in two or three weeks.  Might have something to do with the new job I started in another part of NOAA on the 14th . . . . back at it soon.

[MichaelWinicki]

I was back n forth when it came to telephone poles yes or no, and if I were to wire them yes or no.

But looking at picture after picture of real thing... Trains & telephone poles seem to go together.

Then came the wiring question.  Not long ago someone posted a gorgeous photo on one of the forum.   It looked prototypical in all regards.  It even included the needed telephone pole as part of the image.  But there were no wires.  A lot of folks probably wouldn't notice the lack of wires.  But I did.  Even as good as Dave V's scenes were before, I think they go up a notch with the wired poles.

[SecretWeapon]

Almost 2 years in the making! After screwing up the original Bluebird paint job, I finally finished a New Jersey Transit U34CH in the disco paint scheme.







View from the back before finishing the pilots.

Beautiful work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those U-Boat's were beasts.

[justTRAINcRaZy]

KB, the village looks very east Carolina... but tone down those kit colors!  The scene will be perfect with a little less sheen...

Understood. My plan of attack has been to go thru in waves, adding more scenery/detail in each pass. Problem is, with 300+ linear feet of scenery it takes a while to make each pass.

[noblerot]

Beautiful work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those U-Boat's were beasts.

Thanks Mike, they were indeed. Working on the bluebirds again which are my favorite diesel locomotives.

[Mark5]

On the telegraph/telephone wire thing, I believe in "house rules" ;D

Personally, I'm a bit of a fence sitter on the wires (or wire sitter on the fences?). On the one hand, scale sized wire properly installed would look awesome. On the other hand I don't want stuff in the way. Tough call for me, luckily I'm in N scale where you can make a reasonable argument for leaving the wires out. I kinda like the look of them when well done (Dave's look pretty good!).

In summary, I'm not prepared to start a religion on this topic.

[Bendtracker1]

As for the wires,
If you’re going for a diorama/display, contest or photo shoot, then the wires are a must.   I think the wires look awesome and add a lot of detail!

In which case I think the Charcoal color would look better as it does not stand out as much as the green does.  Unless one could tone the green down with some sort of weathering powders or chalks a bit.

On a working layout though, unless the wires were out of harms ways, and even though they stretch,  my thoughts would be that after a couple of times repairing them from a good hand swipe >, I would be inclined rip them out and go back to bare poles due to the aggravation .

I’ve seen numerous layouts/modules where they’ve used typical thread for wires and as time moves on the dust begins to cling, before long you have wires that look as if a flock of white birds that are perched on the lines.  Maybe the EZ line won’t attract as much dust or as easily as thread.

Dave how did you attach the wires to the cross arms?   Did you just loop them from one pole to the next or did you glue them in place?
Allen…

[Puddington]

I am kinda "ying/yang" on wires. Not too many attempts in n scale I've seen looked very good. Dave's look better then most but I'm still not sold; plus I'm a serious klutz so I'd have them down fatser than a midwest tornado.....

[sizemore]

Finished stripping the dreaded PA's covered in lacquer paint. Took receipt of some parts for the GPW. Celebrated my 31st driving down the "Western" Shore checking out places I've never been. In Chesapeake Beach there was a Railroad serving the "OC of Washington D.C." aptly called the Chesapeake Beach Railroad...in Chesapeake Beach. It's still a tourist town but very clean and inviting and a fun getaway. They have a railroad museum there which was pretty neat to visit. Picked up a hat, shirt, mug and book.



The S.