Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[Ian MacMillan]

Contractor installed a new window yesterday. Didn't plan for it to have a view of the crossing, it was just luck:

Murphy s Law says a building will be up and blocking that view shortly!

[C855B]

Murphy s Law says a building will be up and blocking that view shortly!

Good one, but in our town highly unlikely. In fact, it is more likely that any given building in (or not in) the way of something will burn down. Which, if you look closely at the shed to the right of center, you will see that the roof on it has in fact burned. Main problem with this angle is the piles of gravel the city dumps behind their sheds in the ambiguous no-man's-land between their land and the CN r/o/w. There's one in the center of the view, with a little bit of snow on the north side of the peak.

For nearly four years, up until about a month ago, the view from the north end of our building (CN train pix just above) was blocked by stacks of drainage pipes stockpiled for a mis-funded project that got the city manager fired. The pipes are visible in the Google satellite view, which appears to be from last September or so.

When the railcam goes up it will be on a 30-foot tower. No worries.

[C855B]

Gee, not a lot of progress this week that would show-up in photos.

The tow truck operator (and car shop owner) who helped me get the scissor lift out of the truck turns out to be a serious N scaler. He said that he just hasn't had the time for the hobby and is thinking about selling his stuff to restart later. I advised him to hold off until I start working on the layout and to come by and see if it doesn't change his mind. Again, they're crawling out of the woodwork.

With the lift operational, I have been spending a lot of time in the air removing abandoned gas pipes and power conduit from the trusses, both apparently for space heaters in what must have been a service bay 25-30 years ago. Alphonso ("Phonsie") has been working hard as always, dealing with the last of the old A/C system including the air handler, now loaded into the truck for tomorrow's trip to the metals recycler. Speaking of scrap metal, I moved the remainder of my 1:1 signals collection from the garage at the house to the building. Much to Robyn's relief... she was tired of tripping over them.

HVAC contractor came by this week to go over the rough-in plan for the studio area so we can finish insulating and start getting the drywall up. His crew will be by tomorrow (Monday) to review the main ductwork plan.

Biggest surprise this week was finding out that I had been nominated to serve on the city's architectural preservation committee. Apparently everybody has been watching the progress on the layout building and it has somehow left the impression I know what I'm doing with rejuvenating old landmarks. "Hey, this is amateur hour, guys, but I'm honored... how can I help?"

[packers#1]

congrats on the progress and nomination!

[C855B]

Thanks, Sawyer!

Oh... forgot to mention that I have been working on the layout plan in earnest. Not quite ready to show the latest revisions, but I have the Nn3 quarry line for the cement plant laid out*, and am just puzzling over how to meld the Monolith and Victorville prototypes into a loader/yard situation that makes sense. Monolith's loading queue is and was very, very simple, Victorville's quite complex, with several yard tracks to manage loads and empties.

Also am pretty close to fleshing-out the East Yard engine terminal complex. I don't want to nail that down quite yet, not until I get the auto plant trackage visualized since it may intrude into the space.

* - Albeit standing by for David's go/no-go on the Nn3 tie system he proposed.

[C855B]

Latest revision of the track plan as noted in previous post.

[DKS]

* - Albeit standing by for David's go/no-go on the Nn3 tie system he proposed.

Really? My word. Well then, I'll have to give it some serious consideration. I have version 2 ties on their way to me for testing.

[C855B]

Seriously. I laid it out with the MTL Z sectional library for fit - which came out great ("Victorville Cement", above) - but execution will need an N-scale solution for tie size and spacing. Something which keeps me from having to lay stick-by-stick will save beaucoup time, and your inspired idea came along at the right stage in planning. Tip o' the hat!

[C855B]

Wow... a month's transpired since the last update. May have a little to do with spending two weeks on Amtrak, round trip to California. (Great trip. We're already planning our next one.)

Picked up some track-laying supplies last night:



With that over with , minor building progress to report. HVAC crew had installed ducting in the studio area before we left on the trip, the ducts a critical path in the way of insulation (done) and drywall (not started yet). Today, Phonsie and I finished the support joists for the main HVAC ducting, so I can call the contractor and get his guys going on the next phase. My next task is running conduit and fishing wires for the HVAC.

(Oh. The ties are to better define the parking area before we dump new gravel. Just more general exterior spruce-up.)

Other than that, progress is a little slow because it's still pretty cold here. Just doing what we can.

[C855B]

Has anybody played with the Apple/Philips Hue Lighting System for effects lighting? It's fairly new (last December), and at $60 per bulb its moderately pricey, but if bright enough (600 lumens, or ~60W-equivalent each) it might be the solution I'm seeking. Reviewers so far are loving the bulbs and hating the software, but there's a developer API for it and 3rd-party apps are coming online now to address the shortcomings.

I have a starter pack on its way. If it works, it has the potential of vastly simplifying layout lighting versus the direction I was going previously with separate general lighting and stage-lighting hardware and controls for effects. End cost would be roughly the same, it was the multiple 110VAC circuits and control cabling I was dreading to make the original plan work.

[Specter3]

The Hue light thing looks really neat. I love my Apple gear and have even picked up a mac book now. So I would say that barring the bulbs not living up to billing I would say it will probably work just like you think. I have started buying led lights as opposed to the crappy CF we have had forced on us. I have had no problems with any of them so far.

[Scottl]

That is a pretty neat system.

[C855B]

FedEx showed up with the package yesterday, and I played with the bulbs, software and API after my evening class. Very promising, and certainly significant for us. I'm starting a thread over in DCC/Electronics.

[MVW]

Wow! Checked out your link to Hue, and man, does that look like something that could be fantastic for model railroaders. You mentioned $60 for each bulb. What was the price of the bridge?

I'll be following along on both threads.

Jim

[C855B]

The bridge comes as part of the $200 starter pack, which includes three bulbs. So I guess you could say the bridge costs $20, but OTOH you're currently not going to get one separately but have to buy it with three bulbs.

I hope they get around to bulk pricing for the bulbs. I cringe at the thought of the 30-35 I'll eventually need for my space. Criminy!