Weekend Update 8/20/17

[nkalanaga]

A little late, as I was out of town for the eclipse, but gravel parking lots are still fairly common in the drier areas of the west.  As long as you have well drained soil, usually some kind of sand, it works fine.  Gravel over clay gets very messy, as the gravel sinks when it gets wet, and then everything sinks into the clay mud.  Wet sand just packs tighter, making a better surface for the gravel.

[w neal]

With all respect to Mike (I know that he puts on a great show), I gave up the N scale weekend for the eclipse. All I can say is that is was WWWAAAAAYYY worth it. Trains will always be there. Click below for a link to my post on TB.

http://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?threads/its-monday-august-21st-2017-weekend-modeling-update.109242/#post-1024843

[chicken45]

As for those upside down photos...apparently there's something in the metadata of the photos where Apple software listens to it, but Windows stuff ignores it.

Don't know if that's still true or not.

[peteski]

As for those upside down photos...apparently there's something in the metadata of the photos where Apple software listens to it, but Windows stuff ignores it.

Don't know if that's still true or not.

Others agree:
http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/971808
http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-why-your-iphone-photos-sometimes-appear-upside-down-2014-10

[Dave V]

What you can do is in your iPhone photos app, rotate the image 90 degrees and save it.  Then rotate it 270 degrees and save it.  Works every time.  I think what that does is explicitly define the orientation in the metadata, but I'm guessing.  Nevertheless, next time your photo is sideways or upside down, try that.

[rickb773]

Spent some time trying to dirty up/weather my RDCs.
(It is still a bad idea to let a color blind person around paints or pastels!)

[craigolio1]

Nice!  How are those Concor models running after all these years? One of those was my very first N scale model (dummy, I couldn't afford the motorized model)!

Craig

[OldEastRR]

The ConCor dummy RDCs are great to run with a powered KATO one. I bought KATO RDC shells (they come with windows, engine blisters, etc) and with a little work they fit the ConCor frames great. Change the couplers for MTLs easily. This way I get strings of RDCs without all of them being powered.

[rickb773]

Dupe

[rickb773]

Nice!  How are those Concor models running after all these years? One of those was my very first N scale model (dummy, I couldn't afford the motorized model)!
Craig

They still run well but noisy (they are heavy cars), kinda fast, no lights.
I have one motorized ConCor and a dummy trailer and two powered Kato Budd demo units.

No comparison to my Kato units which are lit, front and back, smooth running machines.
(I need to get someone to remove the yellow stripe from my demo units so I can reletter them for the PRSL.)

The PRSL got 6 of them in 1950 and 6 more in 1951.
They would run them as a single 2-3 unit train to Tuckahoe and split them and send them off as individual units to 2-3 different seashore towns.
On the Millville branch they replaced Baldwin AS-16s trailing 1 or 2 Pennsy P70 coaches.
The PRSL ran them until the end of PRSL passenger service and then NJ Transit got most of them, although some scattered to the railroad winds.

Two units perished in a shop fire and for many years the PRSL would lease the Budd demo RDC-1 for summer shore service in return for overhauling it before returning to it Budd.

Photo from W.J.Coxey collection:

[Point353]

The PRSL got 6 of them in 1950 and 6 more in 1951.

All 12 at once: http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prsl/prsl-rdc-ark.jpg

[craigolio1]

I love RDCs. Soon after I got that dummy I began to modify it so the trucks looked better and it had body mounted couplers. I never finished it but always thought I might just become. I bought a bunch of Kato when they were cheap so the odds of it getting finished are slim but I'll hang on to it. Who knows. Maybe I'll drop a Kato shell on it as suggested if I use an RDC mech as a helper in one of my passenger trains.

Craig

[OldEastRR]

The dummy RDCs are perfect when you have a split service route where one car terminates and the rest go to other various end points. I pull into such a town with a powered RDC and a dummy, switch the dummy out onto a house track or former spur, and leave town with the consist. I'm basing this on a memory of trip long ago through New England. I saw a big piece of passenger equipment parked like a car next to the strip mall!An RDC (forgot which RR it was) sitting till it would go back into service the next day's commuter runs. I had never seen anything like that back in the Midwest and the image stuck with me.  Amtrak once did that overnight parking thing too, but it was conventional equipment and sat next to the station.