Weekend Update 4/27/14

[mu26aeh]

Isn't a bit of a time warp here ?  Since when would a SD70ACE be coupled to a single dome tank car.  Either the engine is before it's time, or the cars are long past their service window.  When did the rule come into place where you had to have buffer cars ?

[160pennsy]

These two T-TRAK modules were first shown last summer at the NMRA Atlanta convention 2013. Trying to finish them in time for Capitol Limited N Scale East 2014, 7-10 August 2014 in Chantilly VA http://www.bigtrainlayout.org/  The photo backdrop was stitched together from some shots of Johnstown, PA we found online. One of our North Raleigh Model Railroad Club members did all of the Adobe Photoshop heavy lifting as he works in the printing industry & had access to printers & heavy print stock. Brick roadways & sidewalks are thin latex material from Kancali. You may recognize some of the structures but the overall intention was to either kitbash, scratchbuilt or modify them so as to hide their origin. Trees are twisted florist wire or stranded steel picture hanging wire with furnace filter clumps as fine branch structure - green leaf flocking/ground foam will be added when I've decided on the right colors. The Kato Unitrack rail/ties have been painted & the roadbed ballasted where it leaves the brick roadways. Please forward any comments or suggestions to help me complete this project...I truly value the constructive criticism that Railwire members provide. **You can click the photos to enlarge**

[rickb773]

Isn't a bit of a time warp here ?  Since when would a SD70ACE be coupled to a single dome tank car.  Either the engine is before it's time, or the cars are long past their service window.  When did the rule come into place where you had to have buffer cars ?

There is definitely a time warp. Actually multiple time warps.

I model the PRSL in the early 1950s. The trackage through Westville and Woodbury (the towns I grew up in) are pretty accurate for the time period. After that time they started pulling up rails rather quickly. The 3 and 2 track mainlines went down to a single track. Westville had 10 spurs; it is now down to 1 (which has really picked up volume recently).

The EL RS3 showed up mid- to late 1970s (Conrail era) but the PRSL historical society stories of the fires it created made me want to acquire one. (Especially since the PRSL was in desperate need of some color.) Though during my time era, many Reading RS3s were borrowed from the parent especially for coal trains to the power plants.

I do love the new GEs and the NS heritage paint schemes so I will acquire some of them just because I like them. When I run them it will probably be with 3 and 4 bay hopper cars which I have. I just didn't feel like pulling them out for a photo session with an engine that needs to be returned. The heritage units are showing up in our area with long strings of tank cars but I don't have any modern tank cars.

So take it for what it is, a quick fun photo shoot from a modeler who just enjoys trains. When I set up operations, most of the time it will be early 1950s with appropriate equipment (and 1 or 2 anachronisms just to bug Lee). But I reserve the right to just enjoy myself with friends and run whatever gives us pleasure.

[BCR 570]

Chris:

Nice to see a layout photo.  Scenery and backdrop look good.  I echo the suggestions re low bushes and shrubs in the foreground and short trees further down the slope so as not to obscure the trains too much.  You could also add some detail along the right of way such as old ties, etc.

Tim

[John]

So take it for what it is, a quick fun photo shoot from a modeler who just enjoys trains. When I set up operations, most of the time it will be early 1950s with appropriate equipment (and 1 or 2 anachronisms just to bug Lee). But I reserve the right to just enjoy myself with friends and run whatever gives us pleasure.

And I hope you know my comment was meant in fun as well    btw .. I don't know if they used spacer cars in the 50s on tank trains ..

[John]

These two T-TRAK modules were first shown last summer at the NMRA Atlanta convention 2013. Trying to finish them in time for Capitol Limited N Scale East 2014, 7-10 August 2014 in Chantilly VA http://www.bigtrainlayout.org/  The photo backdrop was stitched together from some shots of Johnstown, PA we found online. One of our North Raleigh Model Railroad Club members did all of the Adobe Photoshop heavy lifting as he works in the printing industry & had access to printers & heavy print stock. Brick roadways & sidewalks are thin latex material from Kancali. You may recognize some of the structures but the overall intention was to either kitbash, scratchbuilt or modify them so as to hide their origin. Trees are twisted florist wire or stranded steel picture hanging wire with furnace filter clumps as fine branch structure - green leaf flocking/ground foam will be added when I've decided on the right colors. The Kato Unitrack rail/ties have been painted & the roadbed ballasted where it leaves the brick roadways. Please forward any comments or suggestions to help me complete this project...I truly value the constructive criticism that Railwire members provide. **You can click the photos to enlarge**

very nice set of modules .. like the roads coming in at an angle .. and the backdrop is fantastic .. thats an area where modelers can do a lot .. putting photo's into the backdrop as low relief structures as well ..

[Alwyn Cutmore]

After seeing your handiwork Doug and the quality of the castings I cannot wait for mine to arrive.

Regards

Al

[strummer]

very nice set of modules .. like the roads coming in at an angle .. and the backdrop is fantastic .. thats an area where modelers can do a lot .. putting photo's into the backdrop as low relief structures as well ..

+1

Mark in Oregon

[trainforfun]

And I hope you know my comment was meant in fun as well    btw .. I don't know if they used spacer cars in the 50s on tank trains ..

John , a question for you :

> do you think they will have to change the rule if the LPG tanker in between locos ever come a popular thing !?!?!?   

[Spades]

I decided to try to take my SW1500 kit-bashes to the next level by adding see-thru grills and radiator details. Cutting into a nearly-completed model was tough, but not near as tough as when I will need to cut into my completed unit!

http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/500/SW1500_Grills_2.jpg[/img]

Russ

Great work as always.  Did you do make the etch grill material? If so it would make a great addition to the MLE product line. 

Greg

[rickb773]

And I hope you know my comment was meant in fun as well    btw .. I don't know if they used spacer cars in the 50s on tank trains ..

John, I have followed many of your comments and have admired your grace and helpfulness in writing. I would never take any of your comments as anything other than helpful or jesting.

[BCRail_FSJ]

I have been working on this scenic test section .. the 'scenery slab' as I have named it.    Between this and the Beatton Bridge diorama I hope to test as many scenic techniques as possible and come up with good results before I scenic the actual layout.



This section is built on an offcut from a hollow core closet door.  It is 18 x 24 inches and will feature a single track on an embankment, paralleled by a paved highway.  A gravel road will leave the highway and cross the tracks at grade before leading down to a gravel clearing.   There will be some swampy ditches, a wetland or small lake and room for a few trees.



I finished rough scenery forms this week, using a mix of WS SubTerrain foam and black and white scrap foam core board.    Next step is to blend all the rough forms with Sculptamold.



This will be another on and off project but I will post progress as it happens....

[chicken45]

Well, I'm actually from Johnstown!
I don't know if your intent is in modeling Johnstown in this picture. If it is, your module looks more like Westmont, which overlooks Johnstown. Westmont was more of a wealthy area and residential. The houses sat along the ridge edge. I can't say for sure about tracks up there. Johnstown and Westmont were linked via the world's steepest inclined plane:


Johnstown proper sat in the bottom of the valley between these mountains. What's why we got flooded thrice in a century. So if you are modeling Johnstown, you need mountains for backdrops.
Since you mentioned Johnstown, it's all I can think about when I look at your photos, and I can't shake the feeling that you need a different backdrop. But if you aren't modeling Johnstown or Westmont, it looks great!

In this picture you can see Bethlehem Steel in the top left and the old PRR main along the river.

These two T-TRAK modules were first shown last summer at the NMRA Atlanta convention 2013. Trying to finish them in time for Capitol Limited N Scale East 2014, 7-10 August 2014 in Chantilly VA http://www.bigtrainlayout.org/  The photo backdrop was stitched together from some shots of Johnstown, PA we found online. One of our North Raleigh Model Railroad Club members did all of the Adobe Photoshop heavy lifting as he works in the printing industry & had access to printers & heavy print stock. Brick roadways & sidewalks are thin latex material from Kancali. You may recognize some of the structures but the overall intention was to either kitbash, scratchbuilt or modify them so as to hide their origin. Trees are twisted florist wire or stranded steel picture hanging wire with furnace filter clumps as fine branch structure - green leaf flocking/ground foam will be added when I've decided on the right colors. The Kato Unitrack rail/ties have been painted & the roadbed ballasted where it leaves the brick roadways. Please forward any comments or suggestions to help me complete this project...I truly value the constructive criticism that Railwire members provide. **You can click the photos to enlarge**

[mmagliaro]

Somes really great work this week folks.  Russ, that SW1500 looks amazing with those grills!

Well, here's what I built this week.
I attended to the breaker/overcurrent device on my layout.  For years, I just used one of those
little silver metal rectangular breakers with the red "stick" sticking out of one side made by Littlefuse.

They look like this:


It works, but it isn't the greatest for protection.  There's a good bit of delay, and these little breakers have a wide
range of hold/trip behavior.    So, I started entertaining thoughts of building a crowbar circuit
 that would simply open a relay to shut off the power.
Those can be extremely accurate and fast-acting.

But then I went back to my dinosaur days and realized that the cool old-fashioned Simpson panel meter
I use to monitor track current could provide the very trigger I need.


In fact, a panel meter is doing just what a crowbar circuit needs: It is creating a tiny voltage drop across a sampling
resistor (a coil, in the case of the meter).
So I opened it up and fashioned two very fine phosphor bronze wires as a switch.  They sit down inside the meter, positioned
so that when the meter is pegged at full-scale, one wire touches the other.  They have to be very fine "whiskers", because
the meter movement does not have a lot of mechanical force.  I used .006 PB wire.

I hooked that little "pair of wires" switch up to a simple relay trip circuit.  So it's a "mechanical crowbar".  It trips *exactly*
where I want it to, at the meter's full scale, and it trips immediately.  No heat issues, no delays.

It works amazingly well.  It won't shut off on an "instantaneous short", but darn near.  The only time delay is the time it
takes that meter to swing to full scale, which ain't much.

Here's a diagram of how it works.

[jpec]

That's some damn sharp work there...

Jeff