Weekend Update 8/1/2009

[John]

What you done this week .. for me - just spend money .. Picked up a new DB150, power supply, and a digitrax signal driver card .. now need to build some traincat signal bridges

[Zox]

I'm trying to get a handle on finishing the scenery on my bridge module.

Overlaying the module diagram over aerial imagery. Now's where the selective compression needed to get the dam on the module will come back to haunt me... :-\



Cheesiest stand-in scenery EVAR  :



And a failed attempt to match the angle of the Bing bird's-eye view:

[tom mann]

wow Zox, that is really looking great!

[BCR 570]

For me it was more work on C-630M this week.  Having finished the modifications to the deck/sill assembly, it was time to start drilling lots of holes in the carbody and cab for all the detail parts.  The front view shows the holes in the nose for the new headlight and ditch lights, holes for the new front corner grabs, the brake lever removed (to be replaced by a brake wheel), headlight up top filled and hole drilled for bell and horn bracket, a myriad of holes for all the other cab details, and rails for the BLMA sunshades in place:




The rear view shows the holes for the rear grab irons.  I originally drilled these while removing the original moulded ones, and then looked at the builders photos and realized that on the BCR units the rear grab irons were offset to the left - grrr.  So I had to fill the right hand holes and drill new ones to the left.  Holes were also drilled for the new rear corner grabs:




Here are most of the parts which are waiting to go on, many proprietary, and a few such as the top spark arrestor plate scratchbuilt:




Finally, I built a front mounting plate for the LEDs which will illuminate the ditch lights on the nose:




Next up will be installing the TCS decoder and the lighting arrangements.


Thanks for looking,

Tim

[oakcreekco]

Great job.

Something "special" about those 6 axle Alcos

[Day One]

Nothing photo worthy for me this week but yesterday marks the first time in over 6 months I've managed to do anything for my own trains and layout.

I was lent a SPROG II and used it to program 5 Soundtraxx equipped loco's last night. 3 MRL F-45's with the Athearn installed soundtraxx decoders and two 2-8-4 berkshires that I installed soundtraxx decoders into. I have a Digitrax Chief based DCC system on my layout and I could not get it to program the address of the berks. All other options would program fine but not the address for some reason. The SPROG worked perfectly. JMRI DecoderPro recognized it and I was able to use the decoder definitions I had already defined to program the loco's and then was also able to test the loco and sounds using the SPROG. I think I will be picking one of these up for myself in the future rather than paying for a DCC programming booster. I've been wanting to put a small test loop in my office next to my home PC for static dislplay and loco testing since I haven't been able to work on or access my layout in the garage for a while. (too cold in the winter, buried under other projects in the spring, and now too hot in the summer!)

[Caleb Austin]

Not a whole lot for me this week. Too busy with summer.

Been weeding up the spur track. I still need to add some sort bumper at the end.


Also edited this up.

[Dave V]

Progress continues at "Enola."  Sorry again for the crappy iPhone photos.  We're still not sure what we're going to do to replace the good camera (that was dropped at the beach by NOT ME and got sand in the lens)...







Note the cable trench along the yard ladder.  I'm using ground throws with contacts to power the frogs, and with all that wiring, it's easier to bury the wires and drop a few feeders instead of dropping all of them through 2" of foam and the hollow core door.  A service road will cover the trench.

The transition between code 80 on the old layout and code 55 on the new is obvious:

[John]

where did you get the curved turnout?

[shay6]

I've been doing some quick-and-dirty diesel detailing this summer courtesy (mostly) of the Atlas parts department:



NW-2 got longer exhaust stacks courtesy of Atlas VO-1000 parts (tried hard to find a picture of a C&O or even a B&O NW-2 with the short Kato factory stacks and found that the longer ones were much more common on Chessie units)



GP-7 got correct horn placement and nose bell from Atlas SD-24/26.  The nose bell thing will be happening again with SOU and N&W geeps soon.



GP-30 got correct horn placement on both sides of the cab.



GP-15 got home-built cab signal box.  I figure I'm more likely to win the lottery that find a sunrise one in stock so I finally sucked it up and made one.



I screwed up the lighting / shutter speed on this shot but think I like it anyway...

Jeff

[justTRAINcRaZy]

Have finally gotten back around to some scenery.

First 2 are of where the NS M-Line leads off, High Point, NC





The next 3 are of Foils Inc a metal recycler located near Speedrail Industrial Park, Harrisburg, NC







A couple from the Fresh House, Salisbury, NC. This is a warehouse for Food Lion. (The building is just a shell stand-in for now).





Finally, a look north towards Innes Street in Salisbury.

[wm3798]

Caleb, you need more layout and less Chessie!  Your pictures are outstanding, your scenery is like, wow...

Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

From the CRHS RBQ: http://picasaweb.google.com/ed.kapuscinski/TheBaconExplosion#

[Dave V]

where did you get the curved turnout?

Fast Tracks.

[wm3798]

Got some more work done on the roundhouse, including the roof.






But the highlight of the week was the Conrail Historical Society's Rail B Q up in Marysville.  I was able to grab an old friend and his son for a day trains and good food.


Here's Ed Kapuscinski with his notorious creation... "The Bacon Explosion"


Lee