Weekend Update 11-15-09

[rswinnerton]

No train stuff this week. Installed a new floor in my dining room (with some help from Sean) the new floor had to be in by Thanksgiving as per the bosslady. Next weekend I get to wire in the outlets. Oh joy.
Russ

[tehachapifan]

Great stuff! ;D

I applied decals to the kitbashed SP SW1500....



Russ

[BCR 570]

This weekend we are enjoying the annual PNR 7th Division meet TRAINS 2009 in Burnaby, B.C. and as always there is some excellent modelling on display.  We also have some surprise visitors in the form of Bill Schaumburg from Model Railroad Craftsman magazine and Darren Altbaum from True-Line Trains, who has announced a line of Canadian railway paints for CN, CP and PGE/BCR, all developed from original colour chips with the assistance of the various SIGs.  No more mixing!

During the week I completed installation of the second bus wire (red) and connection of feeder wires in the helix.  This is my first attempt at layout wiring and soldering, so it was a learning process.

Wires stripped and ready for connection:




Feeder wire wrapped around the bus wire:




Flux and solder applied, and allowed to cool:




Pre-positioned heat shrink slid into place and shrunk:




It was then time to connect the DC power pack to the bus wires, cross my fingers, and hope that there were no shorts or other problems.  To my delight, the test train ran flawlessly up and down at a constant speed, indicating that the branched bus wires were delivering a steady voltage from top to bottom:






The last step in this process is to terminate the bus wire runs with capacitors and resistors in preparation for DCC operations.  My first complete power district will then be ready for DCC trials.

This was difficult work in a confined area but the results appear to be highly successful.  Now where did I store those little capacitors and resistors that I bought last year?


Tim

[Two Truck Shay]

So sorry to hear of your losses, Puddington. It's been a very tough year in that regard.

Russ, your switcher is looking very, very cool indeed. Nice work!

Tim, looks like a challenging wiring project. I'd prolly sort that sucker out and never find out where!

On my project, the masonite spline assembly is slow work, but I'm very happy with the end product. I completed the staging level loop tonight (the last section is in the clamps as I'm posting this).

Homasote roadbed is on order, as are some sample track pieces. I am considering Code 55 track by Micro-Engineering, Peco, and Atlas. I have some time before I will spike anything down, however. I still need to do some sanding and build the grade that will connect the staging level to the mainline inches above, but at least I was able to hammer in the masonite spike!



Hope the picture works...

Randy

[James Costello]

Great stuff! ;D

I applied decals to the kitbashed SP SW1500....



Russ

Looks great Russ!

You should be finished in time for Atlas to announce them in their December releases.... 

[tehachapifan]

Looks great Russ!

You should be finished in time for Atlas to announce them in their December releases.... 

With my batting average, it's extremely possible that this will happen! : ;D

Russ

[Ed Kapuscinski]

And THAT Russ, is why I've been so interested! (And, well, you know, it IS an awesome model...).

I was hoping Daniel's article would've done it, but now we've got two, it's gotta be a lock!

[AlkemScaleModels]

Lost a little modeling time thanks to the Nor'easter that resulted from Hurricane Ida.  She spent several days toward the end of last week, and we finally saw the sun today for the first time in about a week.





The river was pretty angry about the whole thing...

Model shots later...

Lee

That looks scary!

[wm3798]

The Potomac has it's moments, but when 2.5 miles of Choptank gets its hackles up, you're best to drive home a different way.

[chuck geiger]

So sorry to hear of your losses, Puddington. It's been a very tough year in that regard.

Russ, your switcher is looking very, very cool indeed. Nice work!

Tim, looks like a challenging wiring project. I'd prolly sort that sucker out and never find out where!

On my project, the masonite spline assembly is slow work, but I'm very happy with the end product. I completed the staging level loop tonight (the last section is in the clamps as I'm posting this).

Homasote roadbed is on order, as are some sample track pieces. I am considering Code 55 track by Micro-Engineering, Peco, and Atlas. I have some time before I will spike anything down, however. I still need to do some sanding and build the grade that will connect the staging level to the mainline inches above, but at least I was able to hammer in the masonite spike!




MORE PHOTO'S PLEASE - Great benchwork and love the SPLINE

Hope the picture works...

Randy

[GaryHinshaw]

Now I'm getting nostalgic.  It looks great!

[Opie]

Built a stand for my layout in preparation for the move to a safer room in the house.




Also, finished up some ballast work in the incompleted freight yard until next weekend.

[John]

I took a little road trip this weekend, and found this ..



near here

[up1950s]

I took a little road trip this weekend, and found this ..

How rare is that thing John ?

[Ian MacMillan]

Is that a cheater caboose? Its not attached to anything...