Northwest Industrial Park Engineering Report

[SSW7771]

I may have missed this - what are you using for track?

The track is Atlas Code 55 flex with #7 turnouts.

[SSW7771]

Marshall,
Great to see progress. Ballast looks nice. LED's are a nice idea...get the the power supply that is adjustable.
Looking forward to seeing more.
Y-it

Thanks for the tip. I will look into an adjustable supply.

[Ken Ford]

The track is Atlas Code 55 flex with #7 turnouts.

Thank you - it looks great and validates what I'm planning.

[SSW7771]

Some new power arrived in the mail yesterday, a pair of SP GP60s. The industrial park crew will be riding in style. Set them up on the layout to test run and an inspection by my son Miles. 

[SSW7771]

I went ahead an pulled the trigger and ordered some LED strip lighting off Ebay after talking to @soo at last weekend's train show in Plano, TX. Since the scenic portion of the layout is only 5 feet, I got two rolls of LEDs one bright white and one warm white. I temporarily taped 3 strips of the bright white to get a feel of how it will look. I have to say I am happy with the look, a tad blue but I will add 1 or 2 strips of the warm white to help balance the color. Below are a few photos along with Miles who was giving me a hand, ok maybe not. 

[SSW7771]

Here are the LEDs I am using

[coldriver]

I went ahead an pulled the trigger and ordered some LED strip lighting off Ebay after talking to @soo at last weekend's train show in Plano, TX. Since the scenic portion of the layout is only 5 feet, I got two rolls of LEDs one bright white and one warm white. I temporarily taped 3 strips of the bright white to get a feel of how it will look. I have to say I am happy with the look, a tad blue but I will add 1 or 2 strips of the warm white to help balance the color. Below are a few photos along with Miles who was giving me a hand, ok maybe not. 

Looks good Marshall - I'll be interested to see what you think about the warm whites.  Seems like my eyes see things blue-er in person than they do in photos.  I've gone to all daylight bulbs (from bright white), although the couple daylight LED strips I'm using do seem to be pretty blue. 

[Rossford Yard]

I got the warm white LED, only thing they had at HD.  Old layout had all daylight lighting, and blue walls to really blue it up.  Biggest reason to use daylight type is photography, the warm white light causes orangish photos.  In person, it looks fine.

Layout and son looking good, Marshall!

[SSW7771]

Thanks Dean and Jeff!

Here is a comparison photo. The left is 3 strips of bright white and the right is 3 strips of bright white with 1 strip of warm white. Definitely an improvement with the addition of the warm white. If I have time this weekend I might try a second warm white strip.

[SSW7771]

Taking a break from working on the layout and setup for some op sessions. I had a couple of op sessions with Miles before bed time over the last few days. He has been getting better at not causing so many derailments. He has learned how to throw the turnouts using the pull knobs, but still does not understand the concept and throws the turnout under a moving train.  We still learning!




I have decided the lighting is good and to move on to other items. I have started working on a non-rail served industry that will be near the front right corner.

[coldriver]

He has learned how to throw the turnouts using the pull knobs, but still does not understand the concept and throws the turnout under a moving train.  We still learning!

There were plenty of new hires in the yards I worked in who didn't understand that concept either.  The old-heads said that pretty much every switchman was destined to throw the turnout under a car and cause a derailment at some point in their career.  So it's good that Miles already has it out of the way - he'll be ready for the Oregon Joint Line before you know it! 

[Philip H]

From one dad to another - that smile makes it all worthwhile.

[SSW7771]

There were plenty of new hires in the yards I worked in who didn't understand that concept either.  The old-heads said that pretty much every switchman was destined to throw the turnout under a car and cause a derailment at some point in their career.  So it's good that Miles already has it out of the way - he'll be ready for the Oregon Joint Line before you know it!

From the stories my Dad use to tell, this does not surprise me. Miles needs to get much taller before he will be ready for the Oregon Joint Line.  For only being 19 months old he has shown great restraint from grabbing the new FVM GP60 when it is within his reach. You can tell he really wants too!

From one dad to another - that smile makes it all worthwhile.

Yes very much so. I took him to the train shown over in Plano a couple of weeks back, it was lots of fun. He spent a good while following a train around one of the modular set-ups pointing and babbling. LOL

[SSW7771]

I just realized I did not post about the final set-up of the lighting. I decided to go with 3 strips of the bright white and 1 strip of the warm white. I mounted all four strips to foam core board and stapled into place. This allows me to remove the whole set-up later if needed.

[SSW7771]

I made a little more progress on the non-rail served industry today. Yesterday I painted the parking lot/foundation and today I did the striping for the parking spots. I used a yellow colored pencil I stole from my wife while she was grocery shopping. You can still see the tick marks I used to layout the stripes. I was hoping the yellow would cover these, but I was wrong. I will try to erase them and then touch up the striping later. The paving joints were done with a light touch and a mechanical drafting pencil.



Still need to glue down the wheel stops and frame out a couple of flower beds in front of the building. Also I still got a lot of work left to do on the building itself.