Weekend Update 5/18/14

[up1950s]

http://techandtonic.com/my-hobbies/adventures/abandoned-railroad-ride-carrizo-gorge-to-goat-canyon-trestle-on-klrs/

[Teditor]

I went to the link, what an amazing story, and what a magnificent trestle.

Ted (Teditor) Freeman
From the land down under.

[eric220]

I made this:



This is the throat for the Penn Station, River City platform tracks. I'm hoping to get it installed along with the platform tracks soon so that I've got somewhere to park my passenger trains other than in the freight yard.

[dougnelson]

I made this:

Wow!

[dougnelson]

Completed GHQ R50b reefers.  The first one is done with PRR's Futura lettering scheme from 1939.  The second is the standard PRR lettering style.





Doug Nelson

[mark dance]

Our monthly Ops session was last night and I continued with a couple of experiments. 

The first experiment is a test of graphite on the track instead of religiously wiping down the track and cleaning all the loco wheels before every session.  The layout didn't have a problem with dirty track or intermittent contact before  but then I did do lots of preventative cleaning which took time.  It would be nice to get that time back and apply it to progress rather than maintenance but not at the sacrifice of operating performance.  So far so good...no noticeable drop off in conductivity over two back to back sessions.  There was a bit of hesitation for the short wheel based Nelson switchers on some switches in the yard that I will look into.  The experiment will continue.

The second experiment is to exercise the variables in the car forwarding system. I "dialed them up" for last night's session and that led to lots of cars being moved ... about 350 total.  The crew were quite experienced and everything went smoothly and I think a good time was had by all. 

Here are some shots from last night...

Railwire's own Tim H in the front with Steve S in the background.  Tim is working the Kraft job at Castlegar and Steve is running the eastbound Boundary wayfreight at Cascade


Anthony C and Bill D at Nelson


John G running the ore MT at Barr creek


Steve again this time with the wayfreight at Castlegar


Railwire's  Gary H with the wayfreight east at Fife [note the blatant disregard for Rule G! ]


and finally observing a train for Cranbrook on the Nelson sub at Troup Junction.


Have a great weekend!

md

[chicken45]

Great job, Doug! I was hoping you'd be able to sneak out of the convention to the RBQ and bring those along.
What paint blend did you use? Looks like a 50/50 mix of boxcar red and zinc chromate.

I've been dragging my feet on this station but I made some more progress.



So the roof is just temporary. It will be thinner.
I'm not happy with the printed window color not matching the paint. Maybe more weathering will help. I'm also not happy with my weathering. I'll tackle that in the future.
You will notice the far baggage door is a different color. That color was taken from the digital paint chips from Floquil's website. Once printed, they didn't really match. Maybe I'll take a picture of my model and use the color picker on it and use that for the new doors and windows. The other doors were faded in photoshop.

I will eventually do a second version made from styrene instead of wood. What do you guys think of this incarnation?

[Cajonpassfan]

Eric: ooooh
Doug: aaaah
Mark: what fun!
Otto K., crawling under layout installing more Tortoises; I'm on number 72.... 8 today!

[chuck geiger]

I will be posting pictures on http://cheyrails.blogspot.com and on Railwire from Depot Days in Cheyenne
this weekend. Our radio stations will be live. Big event here - Check it out:

http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/main_image/title-images/posterdepot2014_2.jpg

[engineshop]

I re-designed my servo mounts since I was not very satisfied with the standing up kind.
 




With the new design, I can now bend the wire on the switch instead of the servo horn which means no more scratched fingers.



I will use a piece of wire insulation or cork as a cap for the end of the wire, so that the wire can not lift up.



I also could add a moveable end switch mount that is easy to adjust.

When I tested the new mount I noticed, no hum anymore. I believe, the upright position I used before, the wire becomes to long and bends in the end position. Since it does not bend every time the same, the servo cannot reach the end points and hums. Maybe there is another reason but as long as the hum is gone, I am happy.

[dougnelson]

Great job, Doug! I was hoping you'd be able to sneak out of the convention to the RBQ and bring those along.
What paint blend did you use? Looks like a 50/50 mix of boxcar red and zinc chromate.

Hi Josh:

Nice work on the station.  Where is/was the prototype?

I did make a cameo appearance at the RBQ for about an hour or so.  Sorry I missed you.  I did not bring any models with me, it was bad enough that I was wearing a PRR shirt.  Were you wearing your NS Darth Vader suit?

The R50b is straight PollyScale Box Car Red, which I am told is a good match for 1940s/early 1950s PRR passenger car color.

Doug.

[Smike]

Thanks Richie for sharing the story on Goat Canyon.
Looks like another week of great stuff already, I figured I better post up actual work before someone locks my account. 

I finally completed my HO N Scale Gevo project. Custom handrails, and a bunch of other custom detail parts, as well as Loksound DCC installed (Thanks jdcolombo!) I used the Fox Knowles speaker with a custom built enclosure without any holes for sound, it sounds great. Drawback is now I feel the need to put these in the rest of the fleet. 

[chicken45]

Hi Josh:

Nice work on the station.  Where is/was the prototype?

I did make a cameo appearance at the RBQ for about an hour or so.  Sorry I missed you.  I did not bring any models with me, it was bad enough that I was wearing a PRR shirt.

The R50b is straight PollyScale Box Car Red, which I am told is a good match for 1940s/early 1950s PRR passenger car color.

Doug.

Hi Doug!
This is Gallitzin. 
Yeah, we didn't get there until around 5. The house search in Baltimore went on a little later than we expected. There's always next year, though!
I recall you saying you planned to use Box Car Red, but I never would have guessed it from that picture.  In the picture of 2870, what color is that baggage car on the right? I thought that color was Box Car Red.

[dougnelson]

Hi Doug!
This is Gallitzin. 

I recall you saying you planned to use Box Car Red, but I never would have guessed it from that picture.  In the picture of 2870, what color is that baggage car on the right? I thought that color was Box Car Red.

Galitzin! Very nice.

The car to the right is probably Badger Flex Pennsy Maroon.  It is a better match for later 1950s/1960s PRR passenger car paint.  A bit darker and browner.  The PS Box Car Red matches the 1940s/early 1950s color that is a bit lighter and more orangy.

Doug.

[peteski]

Eric,
great trackwork! I'm curious - would the 1:1 scale trackage have utilized double slip switches instead of crossings and turnouts?  I just love the looks of double slips.

Mike, that model looks amazing!  The smaller handrails and all the extra details make it look like it was H0.  The only clue is the coupler.