Weekend Update 3/24/13

[nkalanaga]

Access to both sides of the car would be nice, but it isn't essential.  The Pasco, WA NP depot had two tracks that served as a team track.  One was sandwiched between the passenger platforms and a freight platform, while the second was between the freight platform and the gravel parking area, actually in the gravel.  They could put a car on the platform track, unload it onto the platform, and from there into trucks parked on the gravel (and the other track), or put the car on the front track and unload directly to a truck, onto the ground, or from the other side onto the platform.  Neither track could be unloaded from both sides at the same time efficiently, and only one track could easily be used at a time.  Before Amtrak, the rear track often had an SP&S baggage car sitting on it.

In your case, I'd put a platform along the open side of the track, if you want a platform, and back trucks up to it.  Freight could be handled directly between rail and truck across the platform, or temporarily stored on the platform.  It looks like the straightest section is at the far end, so I'd put the platform there, with a ramp at this end, where the lot seems to extend past the curve in the track.  That way you could also unload vehicles and such without blocking usable platform length.

[pedro]

Nils- my opinion, your scene calls for a "house" track for MOW, and it could double as a bad order setout track. It doesn't need to be an "industry" in the traditional sense. The large open area could accomodate track materials, a pile of ballast etc. and an old container or two for tool storage. A crude ramp for offloading equipment from flat cars too.

[mu26aeh]

Thanks for the input guys, I like the idea of a transfer track. I have some places for covered hoppers already, I was wondering, are there transfer facilities for chemicals? Do they have temporary storage tanks or tanks of any kind? I thought it would be cool to have somewhere to set out some tank cars.

You could have an transload site for Corn Syrup, topic about it from here on railwire

http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=20462.0

[Kisatchie]

All I did this weekend was put 6 small parts on ONE Intermountain 8000 gal tank car. 


Hmm... I put 8000 N
scale gallons of beer in one
Intermountain tank car...

[jnevis]

MRR, IIRC< did a one pager on a petrochem transload facility about a year ago.  It was not much more than a track and a couple pipes to a storage shed (think DI Armco structures) then to a couple small tanks with piping to a small road.  The ADM vegetable oil transload in Lodi is a fairly large operation but is basically a building, tanks and a loading platform.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=guild+st+lodi+ca&hl=en&ll=38.138223,-121.246619&spn=0.002166,0.002406&sll=38.003385,-79.420925&sspn=6.28359,9.854736&t=h&hnear=S+Guild+Ave,+Lodi,+San+Joaquin,+California+95240&z=19

[cv_acr]

There was some direct dialog between DS9 and Babylon 5 that influenced both series. You can see a lot of influences in Battlestar Galactica, with the mood, lighting, extremely complex character development and multi-season plot arches. I won't even mention the parallels between the philosophical arguments of God or aliens as higher beings. Its just damn good television.

Ronald Moore, one of the main co-producers of the new BSG show, also worked on Star Trek TNG and DS9.

[pjm20]

Well, better late than never. I got this in the mail today from BLW:

[RWCJr]

Built the overhead crane for the roundhouse model. Also got in some LED strips that are 5mm in width. Supposedly 12v, but they are way to bright with a 9volt battery used for checking it. Will have to locate a cheap-o power pack. Wanting to use them in 3 light segments to illuminate the RH. Thats the strip behind the pencil.

[peteski]

Built the overhead crane for the roundhouse model. Also got in some LED strips that are 5mm in width. Supposedly 12v, but they are way to bright with a 9volt battery used for checking it. Will have to locate a cheap-o power pack. Wanting to use them in 3 light segments to illuminate the RH. Thats the strip behind the pencil.

Too bright? That's what resistors are for.    No need for another power pack.

If you look at your LED strip, it looks like the LEDs are ganged in groups of 3, each with a series-resistor (the darker component between LEDs). If you'll split the strip into 3 LEDs per strip, try adding a resistor in series with each strip.

Try few values: 220, 470, 680 ohm,  1/8W or higher wattage resistors. The higher resistance values will decrease brightness further. These resistors should be available in Radio Shack.  In general, white LED light strips are quite bright and usually need to be dimmed down for use in N scale.

[kelticsylk]

Guys, these Weekend Update threads are a favorite of mine (with or without Star Trek reviews).

I'm always inspired by the quality of the model work and photos. Gives me a standard to shoot for on my own layout. Thanks for posting your progress.

[cv_acr]

RWCJr:

That is a nice-looking cab on that crane.

[RWCJr]

Thanks Chris, painting should be fairly easy. The prototype photo that I'm working from shows the entire crane and cab painted mineral red (brown) except for the three transformers in the cab.
Peteski, your suggestion is sure valid. But I want the light output to be adjustable, with different intensities for normal outside viewing and to be able to tune the output when taking photos of the interior. The 5mm width is too wide to be able to add to the underside of the truss frames. Going to try to add the strips to the underside of the roof near the truss and with a styrene strip glued to the bottom of the roof to restrict light from the side of the strip away from the truss. Hopefully this will help concentrate the light to the floor between the stall tracks.
Robert

[Dave Schneider]

Thanks Chris, painting should be fairly easy. The prototype photo that I'm working from shows the entire crane and cab painted mineral red (brown) except for the three transformers in the cab.
Peteski, your suggestion is sure valid. But I want the light output to be adjustable, with different intensities for normal outside viewing and to be able to tune the output when taking photos of the interior. The 5mm width is too wide to be able to add to the underside of the truss frames. Going to try to add the strips to the underside of the roof near the truss and with a styrene strip glued to the bottom of the roof to restrict light from the side of the strip away from the truss. Hopefully this will help concentrate the light to the floor between the stall tracks.
Robert

Perhaps a variable resister would work to control the intensity? An inexpensive solution if it meets your needs. That looks like it will be a very nice scene when completed.

Best wishes, Dave

[VonRyan]

To recap my own weekend,
I did a good bit of railfanning on saturday on Speta, Amtrak, CSX, and the West Chester Railway Lines. Had fun putting my mom's new T3 through its paces.

Sunday it was back to Wilmington, DE for the Greenberg show at the Chase Center on the Waterfront. I got to test out how my atlas reefers do without their weights and I can report that they ran flawlessly, even better so than before. I managed to snap off some photos of the action and will be sure to get some of them up for perusal later on today.

-Cody F.

[peteski]

Peteski, your suggestion is sure valid. But I want the light output to be adjustable, with different intensities for normal outside viewing and to be able to tune the output when taking photos of the interior. The 5mm width is too wide to be able to add to the underside of the truss frames. Going to try to add the strips to the underside of the roof near the truss and with a styrene strip glued to the bottom of the roof to restrict light from the side of the strip away from the truss. Hopefully this will help concentrate the light to the floor between the stall tracks.
Robert

To make all the light strips installed in the building dimmable you would need to wire them up in parallel then use one higher wattage resistor in series with them.  Simplest way would be to have a switch wired across that resistor. That would give you 2 levels of brightness: Full and dimmed.  You can also use multiple series-connected resistors, each with a shunting switch wired in parallel with it. That would give you several levels of brightess depending on the switch settings.

Another way is to use a variable resistor instead of one with fixed value. But for that you need to get a variable resistor which can handle the current going through it.