Weekend Update 11/3/13

[basementcalling]

Had enough time this week to paint and weather the concrete bridge piers (Woodland Scenics Road System Concrete Top Coat is the perfect colour), fabricate the HCD benchwork for the scene, and then place the bridge and piers in position to see how it will all look.

I have yet to install the lighting for the bottom deck so excuse the gloom within which the Beatton River scene is sitting.

Talent!

Spectacular work!

[craigolio1]

Track heights are 32, 44 and 58 inches respectively.   The lowest benchwork is the under the Beatton River bridge where it sits at 27 inches.      Low I know, but since I only have 13 ft x 10ft of horizontal space I figured doing 3 decks was the best way to achieve what I want

Thanks.  I'm planning three decks as well and I'm always interested in others' designs.  I'm planning on operating my lower deck on a rolling stool.

Craig

[bbussey]

After a few false starts, I finally have started wiring the control panel.  Got the main track bus LED working, as well as the accessory bus LED and the program track LED.  Had to refresh myself on Ohms Law, and then bump up each LED resistor by 50% to reduce the brightness from eye-searing to noticeable.  The toggles for the bus lines as well as the program track are working as well.  I need two additional momentary toggles, but there's no rush since they aren't needed until the crossovers are in.





I have the revised crossover mechanism done, so now the layout top has to be cleaned of crap in preparation for the first crossover to be set on the layout and wired to the control panel.  Once the six mainline crossovers are in, the track-laying will start to go quickly.

[craigolio1]

That control panel is a work of art.  Ever since I read Lynn Westcot's "HO Railroad That Grows" I've loved control panels.

Craig

[mcjaco]

Once the six mainline crossovers are in, the track-laying will start to go quickly.

Famous last words.   

[peteski]

The panel looks good Bryan.  Interesting placement of the switches.  I do like it. We had a similar dilemma when designing a panel for a friend's layout and we placed them in a different location.



The track diagram lines are a bit chunky for my taste but they have to be to contain the track numbers within them.  Overall, very well done!

[Philip H]

The BRS welcomed 3 new pieces of rolling stock this week:



Gonna have to work on the first two - clearly one of these things is not like the other.

The shop foreman also had an engaging discussion with one of his guys about when the track work crossing Bufkin's Bayou will be finished:



Bryan & Peteski, those are  HAWT panels.  And I love all the bridge work seen this week.