Weekend Update - 6/27/2010

[John]

It's time to see what you have done .. for me - I finished a river crossing ..and hosted a few folks for a night of running trains in circles ..

[wm3798]

It's Back!



Showing the new alignment and tunnel portal.  For reference, here's the before shot.



Under the temporary design, the tracks cut hard to the right, restricting the speed and equipment I could use.  This simply couldn't stand on "The Fast Freight Line"...  Today, some wiring and track work to get her running at least out to the end of track.

Lee

[Bob Bufkin]

Thanks John for the invite and running on Thursday. 

Finished a Tichy signal tower which I slightly modified.  Also working on several Rix Products early highway overpass with piers to place later.  Been running the M1 round and round and still have two minor problem areas which are my priority to get fixed.  Great to see PRR steam run around my layout.  The M1 and H10 provide me lots of enjoyment.  The conversion of the Kato mike into an L1 is now on my short list to get done. 

[Dave V]

Started replacing some 40' Trainman boxcar roofwalks with Micro-Trains roofwalks.  The mounting tabs on the Trainman boxcars have to be sanded down quite a bit.

Also played with my new choo-choo:



Took this roster shot of my PRR ESM G26 (with Hay Brothers Garage load):



...and finally started slowly updating my website to include the new layout extension and my more robust PRR to CR process:

[BCR 570]

Work has slowed down considerably during the last two weeks and I have been able to reclaim some hobby time in the evenings. The layout has laid dormant since my trip back to the UK in February. Last week I cleaned the track, reconnected the DCC system and ran a work train:




Over on the model desk, I am building a PGE chip car for a friend. It is back from the paint shop and I have applied the decals:




I have also been working on a circuit for occupancy detection in the helix to enable an operator to monitor the progress of his train from an indicator panel out on the fascia. Here is the test circuit uninterrupted:




When a train passes the LED infra red emitter, the signal to the detector is interrupted and an indicator LED is lit:




Tim 

[DKS]

I'm doing research on T Gauge switches. Back in October 08 I'd made this:



It works flawlessly, but it would be impractical to manufacture. Nearly two years later, Eishindo released this:
 


It has some problems. So, as an exercise in developing a better design that could be mass-produced, I've just completed this:
 


I'm still testing, so I don't have a complete performance evaluation. But preliminary results so far suggest that the best of the lot is still #1.

In the meantime, I've been tinkering with a little T Gauge roundy-roundy suitcase layout:
 

[2-8-8-0]

Waiting on payday to get some materials from the LHS to finish that C-16 and a structure.

Attempting to get my airbrush to spray Model Master flat black in something resembling a consistent pattern.

Listening to my brother complain about the compressor sound.

And avoiding the outdoors, as Ohio is heat and humidity and sticky atm!

[bbussey]

Got the turtleback baggage finished in time for the convention model contest.



And for the Conrail guys, I unearthed this while organizing photos.  A prototype model of Ron Bearden's T6 master for GHQ decorated for CR by Ron, coupled to an Overland NE and the GATX new image airslide.

[atsf_arizona]

Great pics, bbussey.   Hope you had a good NSC2010.  

For me this week, just reposting the NSC 2010 photo links from other spots, as I know some folks come just to this one
thread every week.  Hope you enjoy.

The following links are to the online photo albums from Houston NSC2010:

Tues (includes Gordon Bliss ATSF layout):       http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010tuesday





On the above layout, notice that Arizona on the upper level, has light brown fascia, and
Illinois, on the lower level, has green fascia.  Interesting use of color to separate where
you are on this superb made-for-operations layout.

Scenery in Kingman Canyon by Jason Smith.


Speaking of Jason, the Wed photos includes Jason Smith's UP, and shots of all the Contest entries:

Wed:   http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010wed

Here's a couple pictures of Jason's layout:







Thursday:   http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010thurs

Here are 3 photos from Thursday:









And finally, the photos from Friday's Train Show including manufacturer shots:

Friday:   http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010friday

Which includes:

Pictures from today's Mfg Bfast and Swaparama/Trainshow.

Some highlights:

The HO Fox Valley Models Hiawatha shell:



Pre-production Intermountain SD40-M2 (note I said *Pre-Production*):





Digitrax sound decoder install:



You can go see a whole lot of pictures at the URL above.

Much more to see, including Hien Ngyuen custom locos, projects from many other
manufacturers, Kato Kobo Custom B&M RDCs (note I said *custom* - not a production
run), a few more NTrak pictures.  

You really want to check out the N Scale Collector's and Lowell Smith special runs too.

Lots to see in the album, that URL again is:

http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/nsc2010friday&page=all

[atsf_arizona]

On a complete different meet, I came home and was the the San Francisco Bay Area Prototype Modeler's Meet on Sat 6/26, in Richmond, CA:






Lots of great models there, including this spectacular one, max space efficiency in HO:





The train runs in a loop - you just had to see it to appreciate how amazing it looked in action.  Info about above layout (quoting espeeboy's excellent description): the show stopper might have been the above by Greg Malinowski. It's an insanely good little crazy detailed/kitbashed/weathered "Bay Freight Division" - a small 36" diameter layout built on a perfectly round 1" thick piece of plywood! Those inside hidden curves and ones leading into the paved diamond crossing are about a 12" radius!!!

FYI, Greg notes that his industrial creation and "Mini-Mo module" focal point is a "placebo" factory. Harry and some of the other attendees will probably be posting close-up shots of it but the layout features INSANE detail like a trashed ROW, detailed loading dock/parking lot, hand-painted graffiti, realistic texture on his parking lot pavement and building rooftop, the most realistic concrete K-rails you'll ever see... so much eye candy on such a small layout!


Many more great photos and models there, including N scale by Ryan Wilkerson: 



See all the pictures at:

http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/bapm2010&page=all

Enjoy!

[BCRail_FSJ]

..Just a bunch of rolling stock work at the moment.  A couple of kitbashing projects that attempt to reproduce BC Rail 60' boxcars.  Also, some woodchip car shells that need some paint and detail work

[conrail98]

I finished one wall and started cutting studs for another for the "train room" for the basement. I just now have to figure out whether the wall will be for Hershey/Annville or some place in the Shenandoah,

Phil

[wm3798]

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PdL-CUz5mOq7s464Ixrm4w?feat=directlink

 

[Dave Schneider]

Man what a weekend to make my first contribution to the Weekend Update. Lots of great stuff this weekend, and now this humble submission of the Milwaukee Road Commerce Street Tower. This stood along the Beer Line through at least the mid-1960s and controlled the crossing gates for the busy switching operations serving Schlitz, Pabst and Blatz. Although it was gone by my era, the Walthers kit made me want to include it. My rationalization is that it was kept in place as a pit stop for the switch crews (why didn't you do that before we left the Yard Office?).

Anyhow, the kit is really nice, although trying to align and glue the 8-sides was at times like trying to put an octopus into a string bag. I did a quick dusting with some chalks to try to age it a bit, but after looking at the photos I need to work on my technique! The actual tower leaned towards the west a fair bit as seen in the proto photo, and I will try to replicate this...of course building things out of plume shouldn't be too hard for me.





Best wishes, Dave

[Puddington]

Very nice Dave - that's a beauty !