Weekend Update 3/27/11

[up1950s]

David K. Smith , I was admiring that first shot , then I saw that dime shot , the wizard of wee you be !

[justTRAINcRaZy]

I worked on a couple of neighborhoods this week. It's nice to get some of these spots covered finally.

KB

[Iain]

I worked on a couple of neighborhoods this week. It's nice to get some of these spots covered finally.

KB

That road looks like it's just been rained on.

When are you next holding an ops session?  Or, for that matter, when could I come see the layout?  Once I get the new truck running, I'll be heading to Spencer to do some work at the museum...

[up1950s]

KB , that's really nice . Very believable scenes .

[Dave Schneider]

Very nice work everyone. David, your Gorre station looks great. Can't wait until we see the quartersawn oak desk for the ticket agent! Love the Milwaukee stuff of course. Bill, another wonderful looking passenger car. Did this car run on the Hiawatha? Roger, nice to see your work here. When I was a kid going to see the Brewers play, we would usually park on the east side of the parking lot where the Milwaukee had a couple of tracks filled with similar looking cars awaiting rebuilding. David V., I don't mind seeing empty line poles but it will be interesting to see how it looks. SAH and KB, very nice work. I have to confess that I get your railroads mixed up at times. If I am not mistaken do they both have the black fascia lightbox look? This style photographs very nicely it seems.

Best wishes, Dave

[justTRAINcRaZy]

@Richie - Thanks

@Iain - Next session is May 07. You can stop in anytime. I will be out of town most Saturdays in April, but home each evening and Sundays.

@Dave - The shadowbox looks better in person I think. It's hard to take a pic from the aisle as the black seems to absorb all the light.

[chuck geiger]

SAH, BCR, Lee, JUST TRAIN - great pictures - Grandson Patrick came over and the layout is
running and is he fired up - He filed down ties to slip under tieless joiners, worked on a hillside
and ran trains:

[Dave V]

Okay, so the results of my EZ Line experiment.  Using charcoal gray on the town poles leaves something to be desired...  While realistic, they disappear.







Now the lineside poles, using oxidized copper green:

[MichaelWinicki]

Okay, so the results of my EZ Line experiment.  Using charcoal gray on the town poles leaves something to be desired...  While realistic, they disappear.

Boy, I'm torn on what to use after seeing yours Dave. 

Yeah the gray disappears, but maybe it should... I dunno.  I'm curious on what others think.

I'm not sure about the green.   It sticks out more.   The color throws me a little.

[Bob Bufkin]

The wires look nice except it does block the train at some locations.  Let us know down the line (pun intended) it they are dust catchers.

[up1950s]

Very nice pole work Dave , but I question if they would put a pole twix the mains . I would think the railroad and the pole owners would insist on putting two poles before and after the tracks to raise the wires if needed and keep the right of way clear  .

[MichaelWinicki]

The wires look nice except it does block the train at some locations.  Let us know down the line (pun intended) it they are dust catchers.

That's a good point Bob.  I wonder if that makes the gray a better choice?

[BCRail_FSJ]

It has been mostly wiring this week.  I have strung bus wires under all completed lower deck benchwork and installed terminal connectors at section joins.  Feeders have been soldered to the bus wires.

Track laying commenced at the north and south bridge approaches and includes super elevation on visible curves.   These photos taken on the south bridge approach show the super elevation effect of 0.020" styrene strip mounted underneath the outer edge of the ties.   

[bbussey]

Okay, so the results of my EZ Line experiment.  Using charcoal gray on the town poles leaves something to be desired...  While realistic, they disappear.

They are supposed to disappear!  When you focus on them, they are noticeable.  Looks great, don't change a thing - other than perhaps the pole between the two mainline tracks, as suggested.

[DKS]

Okay, so the results of my EZ Line experiment.  Using charcoal gray on the town poles leaves something to be desired...  While realistic, they disappear.

As others have said, the grey is the perfect choice. If they didn't disappear, they'd look too fat; the grey makes them look thinner than they are, and hence more realistic. When you see photos of real scenes having lines running through them, often they're all but invisible. Subtlety is the key to realism here.

I'm actually wondering about the oxide green for the trackside lines; I'd be inclined to use grey there as well. I usually think in terms of the oxide green being more appropriate for catenary. While it may also be "correct" for RR telegraph lines, I think it stands out too much. Using grey, you could string many more lines (as is often the case in real life), and it wouldn't be visually overwhelming. Consider:
 

Very nice pole work Dave , but I question if they would put a pole twix the mains . I would think the railroad and the pole owners would insist on putting two poles before and after the tracks to raise the wires if needed and keep the right of way clear  .

I agree. I think it would be more likely to have poles on either side of the mainline, not one smack in the middle of the ROW.