Weekend Update - 2-8-2009

[John]

For me, lots of ballasting ..

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I pulled up some track I didn't like and laid out the yard:

[diezmon]

I did some ballasting too.. and worked on one of my background structures.





kids had the stomach flu too.. yipeee.

[up1950s]

[asciibaron]

i've been working on various methods of doing water.  i need to have a river crossing and a stream crossing - the river is slow and deep and the stream is fast and shallow.  no pictures to show, just know that gloss super heavy gel is not what you want to buy - it's WAY to thick for calm water and needs to be thinned with water to be workable - thinning results in air bulbs as the water evaporates. 

Gloss medium is perfect for slow moving water - i get get a nice coating with a brush and i can than stipple the top coat with some added color to get a nice "current" effect.

-steve

[Puddington]

Nothing this week as i was in Montreal most of the week; had one of the little guys cousins here today so we ran trains - pulled out my old HW GN consist.





Lovely little HW consist for the kids to play "roundy roundy" with......

[davefoxx]

Ed,

The yard's going to look real nice there.  One recommendation would be to use #5 switches.  Those ladders will be a lot shorter and you'll add significantly to the capacity of the yard.  Admittedly, those longer switches look nicer and will probably operate better, but you shouldn't be in Run 8 in the yard, anyway, so...

Dave

[DKS]

I've been shooting a lot of photographs like this one...



...and in so doing, discovering little oddities, such as the unlikely placement of the brake shoes...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed,

The yard's going to look real nice there.  One recommendation would be to use #5 switches.  Those ladders will be a lot shorter and you'll add significantly to the capacity of the yard.  Admittedly, those longer switches look nicer and will probably operate better, but you shouldn't be in Run 8 in the yard, anyway, so...

Dave

I had thought about that, but got a deal on the #7s. Plus I don't need THAT much more capacity there

[Dave V]

Ed,

I think that looks awesome.  You should ballast it with Silflor and diesel crud.

[wm3798]

You could do something useful with those #7's like build a yard for Elkins!  Those coal hoppers are really clogging up the works!

You also realize that once you build that yard, you'll want to have more places to send your trains other than back around the kidney... ;D

I finished the slug.  Got my railings in the mail this week, and installed them before the mailman was to the end of the block. 



Just need some air tanks to disguise the fuel tank thing in the frame. Otherwise, ready for service.

Lee

[Hyperion]

Ed,

The yard's going to look real nice there.  One recommendation would be to use #5 switches.  Those ladders will be a lot shorter and you'll add significantly to the capacity of the yard.  Admittedly, those longer switches look nicer and will probably operate better, but you shouldn't be in Run 8 in the yard, anyway, so...

Dave

I had thought about that, but got a deal on the #7s. Plus I don't need THAT much more capacity there

If XtrkCad is any indication, the difference between a #5 and a #7 ladder equates to a bit over 1" per parallel yard track.   I don't know with such a relatively small yard if an extra 3" on your smallest track is worth aesthetic and operational detriment of using #5 turnouts personally.  But if you were building a 10-track yard, the extra foot on the last track and some 60" over the full yard (double that if its' double-ended) would probably be worth it.


Me, I spent the week deciding how I would finally build some benchwork when I take next week off for vacation.  The wife will be out of town for the week, and I hope when she returns that half the 12x14 room has layout around the edge.  Fully finished benchwork and valance for one deck anyway.  I've decided it makes far more sense to build it in quarters (one-half of one deck) at a time, since its' highly unlikely I'll even finish the 12'x8'x18" anytime soon, let alone the other 12'x8' of the room.  I forgot continuous operation, which is a big thing to give up, but it's better than nothing.

So I've largely finished the plan, just some sidings to play around with, and have completely finished the benchwork plans (basically 18"x4' dominoes).  It'll be 1x3 framework, 1/3" ply on top, 2" foam, and fascia of 1/8" hardboard (can't settle on a width though -- either 6 or 8").  Valance will be the same except minus the foam of course.  And it'll be mounted on the wall using Rubbermaid's shelving system.  All in all, very much similar to Tim Horton's BCR he's regularly featured on SNFF on the Atlas Forum as well as in the recent issue of Model Railroad Planning.

[SecretWeapon]

[bobcat]

Looking good Lee. Those trucks look too new though.

[wm3798]

I actually had just painted them the grimy black color...  Guess I need to streak them up a little more...

Lee