The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

If you don't use this clip, I'll be sorely disappointed:

BWAHAHAHAHA!!!  No promises that won’t make an appearance when you least expect it.  😝

DFF

[davefoxx]

I (finally!) stripped some incorrect decal work and applied new decals to properly number my Amfleet II cars for my 1980s-era Amtrak consist.  With some store credit received from Firecrown (MR’s new publisher), I purchased the book, Amtrak by the Numbers: 2, which covers all of Amtrak’s motive power and rolling stock from 1971 to 2021, including purchases, renumberings, and retirement.  Since my modeling eras are only in the 20th century and I have no interest in modeling anything more modern at this point in my life, this book will likely never become obsolete for my purposes.

The three-car consist- two Amfleet II coaches and one Amfleet Lounge (all in Phase III paint):
1) Amfleet II Coach No. 25016 built in January 1982, which has never been renumbered and was still on the roster as of 2021.
2) Amfleet II Coach No. 25072 built in September 1982, which was never renumbered but was damaged in Cayce, South Carolina, in the Train 91 wreck on CSX rails in 2018.  No. 25072 was eventually retired after incurring this wreck damage.  No lives were lost on this car, although, sadly, the engineer and conductor in the cab did not survive.
3) Amfleet II Lounge No. 28001 built in February 1981.  No. 28001 was named the “Atlanta Club” when it was converted into a Smoking Lounge in 1999, but the name was removed when it was later rebuilt into a Diner-Lite.

I told you that this Amtrak book was a plethora of information.  Also, the F40 is a Rapido model, and the Amtoobs are from Walthers:



A close-up of some of the decal work, including the addition of placards for disabled access.  Hilariously, I didn’t even know that those placards were on the decal sheet with white backing paper.  A discovery on a decal sheet from a recent purchase with blue backing paper made them more visible.  Looking back at the white paper-backed decal sheets, and, yep, there they are!



Please note that I have several consists for the different eras that are run on the layout, e.g., Seaboard Air Line in 1967, Amtrak rainbow era in 1972, Amtrak Phases I and II in 1976, and Amtrak Phase III in the 1980s, but I only keep a three-car train on the layout at any time.  Although I have the rolling stock to build longer trains (and sometimes I do run longer passenger/mail trains), a three-car train fits into the “Florida and Other Points South” pocket in my staging yard and can get out of the way to avoid logjamming freight ops. Here’s the “Florida” pocket; the other two tracks in this small staging section represent Hamlet, North Carolina:



Before the addition of this pocket track, I could not even keep a passenger train on the layout without it being in the way.  A three-car train is just ridiculous selective compression of the prototype trains that ran on the S-Line, but this is better than nothing.  And, as stated above, I can add additional cars and run a longer train.  I just don’t have to remove the entire train every time that I want to run freight trains.  This is much more enjoyable.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Motivated by the correction of the Amfleet II decals, I decided to move on to another unfinished project.  A few months ago, I had to rip out a section of a road to make room for the third track added to the folding staging shelf.  First up was installing a new subroadbed, using scrap cork roadbed.



Once the yellow carpenter’s glue that I used to glue the cork down dried, I rummaged under the layout to find my last scrap of black 0.060” styrene and roughed out a new section of pavement.



Unseen here is the gusset and shims under the old and new pavement that received a liberal application of liquid styrene cement to weld the road sections together as flush as possible with no vertical kinks.  Then, I smeared a coat of Tamiya White Putty into the joint.



I trimmed off the excess styrene at the fascia, but I have to wait for that putty to cure before I sand it.  I’m trying to be patient with that, to minimize the amount of reapplication of filler necessary by not gouging out uncured filler.



I may go at this tonight with lightweight spackling to complete the terraforming alongside the road.  Maybe.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Lightweight spackling:



DFF

[davefoxx]

The Tamiya White Putty cured overnight, so I sanded the road to conceal the road section joint and to clean off the excess lightweight spackling:



DFF

[davefoxx]

After I accomplished a thorough vacuuming of the layout to eliminate a thick layer of dust, I sat down at the workbench to eat lunch and found the golfer who’s holding the flag staring back at me.  A month or two ago, she fell off the layout and was stepped on.  Miraculously, she somehow survived, although the bottom of the flagstick was broken off.  She’s been living on my workbench ever since, waiting for a miracle fix.  I figured attempts to glue that little plastic piece back on (with very little glue surface) was a nearly impossible feat, if I wanted durability.  Since she’s near the layout edge, I need durability.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that I could try to replace the flagstick with a piece of piano wire.  I’d have to drill out her hand, but it’s crazy enough to just work!  Uh oh.  Problem: I don’t have a thin enough piece of piano wire.  So, I decided to sacrifice a drill bit.  I started with a #80 drill bit and then used a #75 and finally a #71 bit to open up a hole in her grip.  The #71 bit will become the flagstick.  While the #80 and #75 bits drilled through her hand without blowing out the side, I wasn’t as lucky with the #71.  That was okay, because I could still slip the drill bit in the notch created in her hand, and I glued it securely with some J.B. Weld Superweld.  This is the glue that cures with the supplied blue light.  I also cut off the flag from the plastic flagstick and glued it on top of the drill bit with more Superweld.  This was amazingly durable.  That said, sheer laziness led to “painting” it with a black Sharpie.



Using the next larger size drill bit, I planted her back on the green.  Since the drill bit is longer than the original flagstick, I can use that to plant her on the green.  The Woodland Scenics “Scenic Accents Glue” that I used on the other golfers’ feet just didn’t have enough surface area on this golfer, considering her stance, which is what led to her falling over the edge of the layout.  The drill bit sunk into the green will do much better in keeping her standing reasonably straight and, most importantly, on the layout.  I’ll paint that flagstick someday.  Maybe.



DFF

[davefoxx]

JFRTM!  Appreciating the clean and dust-free layout this morning, I put Aberdeen, Carolina & Western Ry. GP38 No. 3802 to work.  Here’s this Geep on the return to Star, N.C., after interchanging cars in Aberdeen.



DFF

[davefoxx]

Are you kidding me?  Today, I randomly discovered that BLI has announced my favorite business car, the Georgia 300, in HO scale.  I’ve seen this car in person twice: once chasing President Obama’s inauguration train bound for Washington D.C. in 2009 and the other by looking out the window of the northbound AutoTrain in 2014 at just the right time to see it in storage alongside the CSX mainline in Florida.



PREORDERED.  Oh, boy! Oh, boy! Oh, boy!

DFF

[davefoxx]

Looking for this heavyweight car to preorder is how I found the Georgia 300 in my previous post.  In a Facebook post this afternoon, I learned of BLI’s announcement for exhibit cars.  Among them is ATSF #5005 that was on the bicentennial train pulled by SCL U36B No. 1776 in 1972 from Richmond, Calif. to Richmond, Va.

The model, which is not 100% accurate, is close enough for me, if the paint matches the Atlas and Walther’s bicentennial pieces that I already own:



The prototype train.  ATSF #5005 is the second car:



The motive power and rolling stock that I already own.  I just need ATSF #5005:



This find makes me very happy, because, while Walthers has offered the correct ATSF car, they have not offered it in bicentennial paint.  There’s no way that I could match that paint scheme to the other cars and the U-boat by painting it myself.  No way!

DFF

[davefoxx]

A new project!  With the Amfleet cars decaled and on the rails, it was very noticeable that the rear end lights were dark.  That means no protection to the rear of the train.  So, I ordered some red LED lights from Amazon, to see what I could do about this.



The projection on the LEDs fit well into the holes in the interior of the Amtoob’s end wall.



Here’s the test with the wiring merely tack-soldered to the car weights, which also double as power strips between the trucks and the contacts to uninstalled factory lighting.

BEFORE (Something’s missing):



AFTER (Perfect!):



Now, I just have to figure out how to conceal the wiring and put the car back together.  I’m also hoping that the car has enough weight, so that these lights don’t flicker.  If they do, I’ll solder the LED wires directly to the contacts on the trucks, bypassing the contact (or lack thereof between the trucks and the metal floor weights).

DFF

[John]

Dave -- you can fix the flickering with a cheap keep alive circuit .. there are several videos on the tubes -- this is just one that can get you started .. where he wires in the capacitor, you can also solder on the LED wires the marker lights ..

[davefoxx]

Thanks, @John!  Something like that is exactly what I need.

DFF

[John]

Thanks, @John!  Something like that is exactly what I need.

DFF

You can get the capacitors for about $5–7 on Amazon.  I probably would look for 25 or 35 volt electrolytics.    Just make sure the polarity is correct

[davefoxx]

That’s good advice.  Thanks, John!  I watched that video, and he explained what could happen if the voltage is too high.    He only used a 16V capacitor, and that’s way too close to what my DCC booster puts out.  I was wondering what to use, so thanks for the recommendation.

DFF

[wm3798]

"I’d have to drill out her hand"

"Since the drill bit is longer than the original flagstick"




I'll see myself out.

Lee