Weekend Update 10/29/17

[mu26aeh]

I started working on handrails for GLTX 98 while I await decals for YorkRail 1500.  I installed the sanctions this afternoon and put a white stripe on the sill.  Had a couple drop grabs left over from CF7 kit, so I put them on here as well.  But now I have to order a pack of them since doing individual drop grab irons wasn't something Ive done before the CF7.  Of course, I haven't done DIY handrails until the SW1200 either 

[Cajonpassfan]

Did you try the gallery instead?  I now upload all my photos there.  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=42854.0 I especially like the drag-drop option.

No I didn't, and don't particularly want to. Is the direct upload option is no longer viable?
Otto K.

[Cajonpassfan]

Why we run our little trains so fast? In my experience I can cite 2 reasons:

1. Because when viewed in-person they do not  look like they are moving too fast. Honestly!   

         YES THEY DO IF YOU'RE CLOSE UP. Honestly.

Only when you view the layout in a video or in live camera view (like a live-video camera mounted inside a loco) from a N-scale person's perspective, the real scale speed violation becomes very real.  As an example, We were running one of the live-video camera equipped trains on the layout, watching the engineer's-perspective view on a living room TV (using a radio throttle to control the loco).  We were driving the train at what seemed to us to be a realistic scale-speed (about 40-50 Smiles/hr. There few other people still in the layout room, working the operating session. After a while they yelled over telling us that there seems to be something wrong with out train because it is really crawling!  IN their perception what to us looked to be realistic speed was way too slow when viewed in-person.  SO we asked them to tell us when the train gets to what looks to them to be "realistic speed" and we cranked up the throttle.  When they tols us the train was running at their "realisitc speed" to us watching the video feed it looked like a roller coaster speeding down the track! It seems that the same applies to videos of model trains.

         I am shocked! ARE YOU INVOKING THE TEN or TWENTY FOOT RULE when it comes to ops? 


2. Because we have an ops session in progress and we need to get to our destination quickly!  Yes this was more tongue-in-cheek reason.

But I also think that in smaller the scale it is more difficult to operate in realistic speeds. For example, to me, it seems easier to keep the speeds down on an 0 scale layout than on N scale one. This is probably due to the fact that the scale distances are much longer in larger scales, and it is easier to stay closer to scale speeds when driving physically larger models.

But seriously, that's why it think N scale is far better in smaller, more intimate settings, like a smaller club or a private home layout. Our little trains get lost in exhibit halls with a lot of noise and people, bad lighting and competing scales. Same goes for sound, it's much more effective in a controlled environment, and it actually helps running at scale speeds.

As to the second reason, you have it right, I too have participated in ops where everyone is in a hurry, switchers run at 60 mpg, and somehow stress is the name of the game. But where's the fun in that.... sometimes people do try to cram too much operation into a limited space, and it's a balancing act keeping folks busy without making yard crews crazy.
Your mileage, and MPH may vary
Otto K.

[arbomambo]

Rapido wood reefers were popular in the 30s...

[peteski]

No I didn't, and don't particularly want to. Is the direct upload option is no longer viable?
Otto K.

Most likely still available -  just has to increase the storage capacity.

BTW, someone down-voted your post - How you prefer to post your photos your choice (even if it makes more sense to me to use the gallery), so I gave it my up-vote.

[peteski]

Rapido wood reefers were popular in the 30s...

My oh my, look at the size of those gaps between the boards - just like the Rapido reefer!   

[Cajonpassfan]

Rapido wood reefers were popular in the 30s...

Beautiful photo Bruce, love that ice truck!
But the PFE reefer is a forty footer....
Not touching the board spacing with a ten foot pole... 
Otto K.

[nkalanaga]

Some cars back then, for whatever reason, had fancy boards, with curved edges, apparently because the owner WANTED the grooves to show.  I've even seen at least one picture of a passenger car with the boards grooved in the middle, to make them look like two narrow boards.  Why they would either one I have no idea, given that it would make the car more expensive, but some roads did.

[Spades]

My SD-9 project is moving along.

Gathered up the parts needed:





Ready for paint:



Thanks,
Wolf

SP Wolf

The SP SD-9's had two ladders on the short hood. If you use the ladder from the original  Micro Trains caboose it is the same width height and spacing.  Your stuff looks great

[robert3985]

deleted

[JMaurer1]

Wolf:

I see you removed some of the ladders on your SD-9's...what are you going to use to replace them? When I was a HO modeler, Detail Associates had a ladder kit for the SD7/9 so when I started in N I cut the ladders off of 2-3 N scale SD7/9s only to not be able to find anything that worked to replace them. I would love to be able to finish them some day...

[Lemosteam]

Rapido wood reefers were popular in the 30s...

Oh dear God, you've restarted GapGate!   

[peteski]

Oh dear God, you've restarted GapGate!   

No, that would be me again.

Also, the humor is again lost. I compared the 1:1 reefer's board gaps in (that gorgeous photo) to the model in jest. It is obvious to  anybody looking at the 1:1 and the model to see that the boards on the 1:1 item are much closer together.   I was being facetious.   The "  " smileys at the end of my statement should have been a clear indication.  But no - and then there were the subsequent down-votes.  Geez! I thought that more TRW members had a sense of humor. Wrong!   

[Santa Fe Guy]

No, that would be me again.

Also, the humor is again lost. I compared the 1:1 reefer's board gaps in (that gorgeous photo) to the model in jest. It is obvious to  anybody looking at the 1:1 and the model to see that the boards on the 1:1 item are much closer together.   I was being facetious.   The "  " smileys at the end of my statement should have been a clear indication.  But no - and then there were the subsequent down-votes.  Geez! I thought that more TRW members had a sense of humor. Wrong!   

I'm laughing at it all. Some just have too much time on their hands, get back to modeling I say.
Rod.

[peteski]

I'm laughing at it all. Some just have too much time on their hands, get back to modeling I say.
Rod.

This down-voting craziness continues. If you look at Spades' post (few posts before this one), his post got down-voted twice for saying:

The SP SD-9's had two ladders on the short hood. If you use the ladder from the original  Micro Trains caboose it is the same width height and spacing.  Your stuff looks great

What is negative or offensive in the above statement? This place is turning into insane down-voter asylum.