Weekend Update 11/21/10

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I helped out at the CRHS's Trainshow yesterday.

We had a good showing, much better than the Lion's Hall in years past. I think it was a good show, people seemed happy, and we raised some money for next year's preservation projects.

[diezmon]

no modeling for me.  I did get to attend the Worlds Greatest Hobby on Tour here in St. Paul.  That always renews my motivation

would have stayed longer, but the kiddies get bored

[conrail98]

Nothing for me yet as far as progress on the benchwork, but I did spend the day with the parents and wife/daughter going to a Day with Thomas at Strasburg and then up to the CRHS show where I cherry picked some a lot of used code 55 flex, much to Ed's chagrin (but not his wife's),

Phil

[BCRail_FSJ]

Not too much new here.  Organizing all my tools and supplies and making more space in the layout room while riding out the first cruel blast of winter in Calgary.

[dnhouston]

No pics, but I did manage to get some time to run the trains  ;D, but I didn't realize the route out of staging was partially blocked.  I started up the train, it snagged, and then hit the floor!  :'(  Now I'm trying to figure out how to reattached the tender on a MP 4-6-2.  ??? (Trying to get to Richie's picture #2)  Any pointers would be greatly appreciated (other than keep the line clear  )

[esa123]

I finally finished all the track laying and wiring for my Progressive Rail layout. Next step will be to tune up and detail the track (joint bars, input ties, etc). In an unrelated side note, I also spent the weekend riding real trains as my fiancee and I traveled from Raleigh NC to Tampa via Amtrak. It was very relaxing and for only $45 bucks each way per ticket I'd recommend it to anyone!

Here is an overview of the layout. It is made of three modules: two 2ft ends, with a single 4ft center section making the total dimensions 1x8 ft. Just like the prototype there are no runaround tracks so it will require two locomotives to complete the daily switching tasks.


This is the left end which will become progressive's transloading facility.


Here we have the right side which will included a paper company, food distributor, siding, and a chemical/corn syrup distributor (haven't decided on the last one yet.



Just a couple of pics from the AM-fleet cars, the leg room is amazing compared to flying and since we had a 15hr train ride it really came in handy. Also of note, each seat has two 120V plugin's so you don't have to scavenge the train looking for power!





Cheers,
Erik

[davefoxx]

I finished laying out the 1:1 track plan that DKS sent me for my new Aberdeen & Rockfish Ry., and I installed the cork roadbed.  Pardon the pictures, I didn't have time to set up better lighting.  First up is the view from the Seaboard System mainline heading north into Aberdeen, NC.  The joint A&R, Southern (ex-original NS), and Seaboard System interchange yard is on the left, and the town is on the right.  Trackage to the right of the double-tracked SBD main is A&R track.  One change to the track plan I made was to space the A&R's track in downtown Aberdeen farther from the SBD mainline after I discovered that I had no room for ground throws:


Here's another picture of the yard.  I'm hoping to have 15-20 car capacity, depending on car length, which is sufficient for this layout for now:


Here's the north side of Aberdeen with the Southern interchange at the lower right.  The two tracks at the upper left are the A&R's enginehouse:


Finally, this is Raeford, NC on the other side of the layout.  At the lower right is the interchange with the Laurinburg & Southern.  The other sidings in this town will likely be a destination for coal loads and a team track.

[delamaize]

Nothing new to report here. I did work a few more bugs out of some scratchbuilds, and I got a new stalion in the stable, a kato GS-4 (thanks, bobcat!) now I got the problem, sell more of my train stuff that don't fit my era, to fund the daylight consist, and the articulated chair cars are getting hard to find. Also, I thin kI may have to do sound decoder with this beast, she screams to be heard!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dave, how many cars do you expect to move through the L&S Interchange? You might want to move that puppy down a bit so you can get at least two in there.

[davefoxx]

Dave, how many cars do you expect to move through the L&S Interchange? You might want to move that puppy down a bit so you can get at least two in there.

One's fine for me on the L&S interchange.  With the number of destinations and the small yard, I'm not going to be running monster-length trains.  Oh, and trying to think for the future and the next Yard-on-a-Shelf, it's likely that the L&S interchange will be repurposed.  It needs to be somewhere in this location to be able to make that turn.

You may also note that I will not be able to get any cars on the Southern interchange, but that's okay, because those swaps occurred in the yard.

Thanks for asking,
Dave

[93cram]

Installed Digitraxx decoders in Micro Trains FT A & B units.
Had to pry the copper tabs from the decoder a bit, since the decoder board is thicker than the original board and thus tabs
don't fall exactly the same as originals.
Had to file down the portholes inserts too because when getting the frame back into the shell, the Digitraxx decoder
board which is slightly wider than the original board, prevented the frame from sliding in correctly.

Otherwise, nearly lost both A units air horns, broke a coupler with the B unit....well business as usual  > ;D :
It was my first real modeling project (read 'hands down', no computer aided layout design etc...) since 10 years.

Not really a five star job, but I'm proud I eventually got through 
Next step : install of TCS decoders in one Atlas GP7 and one RS1

[John]

I glued together a Brach's Candy building .. it will be one of several customers in my Baltimore section of the M&O ..

[chuck geiger]

Dave looking good. I am using the alternate plan DKS posted. Should
be getting started next month. I am jealous.

[Dave V]

Prepping the layout to move to Florida this week in a U-Haul trailer.  First, two shots of it without trains or vehicles in the now empty basement.  I also took down the lighting fixtures, so the lighting plus older iPhone makes for poor quality:





The two pieces are separated as cleats and bolts are removed.  Also removed are the decorative skirts, the DCC control station, and the enginehouse roof (I made it removable in case I derail inside the enginehouse).

[jsoflo]

I finished work on my Taylor/Binghamton yard modules and before bolting them to their carry-ends for storage (to allow space for work on the next set of modules) I shot a couple of photos from a railfan perspective:









my best,
Jan