Weekend Update 6/23/13

[lock4244]

Driest wishes for our Albertan friends.

Tim, speedy recovery.

I actually broke the rust off the rails and did a little 'modeling'... started installing container pedestals (thank you Pat at Trainworx) on my horde of Atlas trash flats to better represent the CP COFC flats they're foobs of. As always, skillfully applied with sledgehammer precision, but the cans stay on the cars now. I'll post a few pics later this weekend... four CP down, 23 to go; zero CN down, 12 to go (will require more pedestals to complete).

[mark dance]

Most of my hobby time this week was taken up preparing for and conducting the ops session Tim refers to.  I had three Railwire aumni there: Tim running the Slocan turn, Gary Hinshaw dispatching, and Greg Kennelly trying his hand as Nelson yardmaster.  All did a fabulous job and things went pretty smoothly from my end...I hope my guests thought so as well.

Additionally I made up several hundred trees and planted most of them at Troup Junction. 



The evergreens are WS and Heki shaped and flocked with a variety of foams.  The deciduous trees are Supertree armatures as a starting point. 





The deciduous trees upfront are still removable so I can get in and ballast so I will add a few more once that is done.  I am "ok" with the transition to staging...and am not going to try and "hide" it more than this.  No apologies for what it is - a hole through a backdrop to hidden staging - but I don't find it too distracting when I operate this sub at all.

Finally I put a “pico” LED in the semaphore prototype and that worked pretty well shining through the red and green aspects.  Some tweaking is required but there is nothing holding me back now from making the final signals but time to do it!

Have a good weekend and any of you in Calgary, Southern Alberta and Southeastern BC effected by the floods, my thoughts go out to you.
md

[nkalanaga]

Eric:  Considering some of the experimental locos the Pennsy had, I thought maybe that was their answer to the Swiss electric-steam switcher.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100328033050/http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/museum/locoloco/swisselec/swisselc.htm

[eric220]

Eric:  Considering some of the experimental locos the Pennsy had, I thought maybe that was their answer to the Swiss electric-steam switcher.

http://web.archive.org/web/20100328033050/http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/museum/locoloco/swisselec/swisselc.htm

I started wondering yesterday if anyone had tried that. No technical reason it couldn't be done, just not a very efficient use of electricity.

[eja]

eja - The pan is on the MP54/Bachman shortie behind it.  Admittedly, the perspective does look a little silly.

Yea, I knew that, but it was too funny not to comment.

[ednadolski]

Finished up this IM hopper.   More info & pix here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=29901.msg324285#msg324285




Ed

[up1950s]

Ed , there are rules about passing off prototype examples as models .

[Dave Schneider]

Ed , there are rules about passing off prototype examples as models .

I agree....I am pretty sure that is a real lake! Another amazing job Ed.

Best wishes, Dave

[Cajonpassfan]

The deciduous trees upfront are still removable so I can get in and ballast so I will add a few more once that is done.  I am "ok" with the transition to staging...and am not going to try and "hide" it more than this.  No apologies for what it is - a hole through a backdrop to hidden staging - but I don't find it too distracting when I operate this.
md

Mark, your scenery simply stunning, as usual. Beautiful work!
And while clearly no apologies about the hole in the wall are needed, I've had good luck sticking a small light source behind the backdrop and finishing a bit more scenery inside the hole to make it almost totally disappear. Just a thought you're free to explore or ignore...
Regards, Otto

[nkalanaga]

Eric:  No, it isn't, but in this case, it was a matter of survival.  By WW II the Swiss mainlines were electrified, but many yard and industrial tracks weren't.  Switzerland has little if any coal, and bought theirs from Germany.  Hitler cut off the coal, so the Swiss electrified the steam engine.  Build pressure while under wires, then use it as a fireless steamer on non-electrified track.  According to the article, it apparently worked quite well, given that it wasn't designed for the purpose.  A real fireless steamer, with properly fitted heating elements, would probably do even better.

[mark dance]

Mark, your scenery simply stunning, as usual. Beautiful work!
And while clearly no apologies about the hole in the wall are needed, I've had good luck sticking a small light source behind the backdrop and finishing a bit more scenery inside the hole to make it almost totally disappear. Just a thought you're free to explore or ignore...
Regards, Otto

Thank you for your kind words Otto...I have thought about lighting and sceni’cing the other side of the backdrop but was worried about what the light would uncover.  The rails actually pass both under the scenery on the other side (McCormack Creek valley) and against the garage door (which is opened for occasional maintenance).

But I used your suggestion as a prompt to test what lighting the other side might look like.  Here are a couple of "before and after" shots to show you all what I am dealing with.









Given this test I think I will stick with leaving it unlit so as not to draw attention more than need to the other side of the backdrop.  But thank you very much for the suggestion that finally caused me to try this out!

md

[DKS]

Made some headway on another boring building, although this one's a little less boring by virtue of its shape:

[Cajonpassfan]

David, looks just like the Flatiron building....just nineteen more floors to go....
Mark, how about a bit of the backdrop paint color in the lit up hole? Okay, I'm done here....off to the train room...
Otto K.

[PGE-N°2]

Thank you for your kind words Otto...I have thought about lighting and sceni’cing the other side of the backdrop but was worried about what the light would uncover.  The rails actually pass both under the scenery on the other side (McCormack Creek valley) and against the garage door (which is opened for occasional maintenance).

But I used your suggestion as a prompt to test what lighting the other side might look like.  Here are a couple of "before and after" shots to show you all what I am dealing with.









Given this test I think I will stick with leaving it unlit so as not to draw attention more than need to the other side of the backdrop.  But thank you very much for the suggestion that finally caused me to try this out!

md

Mark that's an interesting comparison. Really the only thing that ruins the effect is the colour of the light. If it was more of cool blue-white it might still have the desired effect. On the other hand if you open up the garage door, you could use real daylight to simulate daylight behind the backdrop  .

[rogergperkins]

David, the stock DPM structure is one of my favorites and among those I have assembled 3 types.
Interesting modifications you are making.   
Please keep us updated on the status.