Weekend Update 2021/05/16

[GaryHinshaw]

We've received word that Richie's computer has crashed, so we're forced to wing it this weekend.



Over to you all. 

[bbussey]

Bummer! 

I've increased the number of my RBB&B circus payloads the past week.  The office/ticket wagon, the first of the food service equipment in the form of the commissary wagon, and a replica of the famous Two Jesters calliope wagon.

[wazzou]

We should format the title of the thread as @up1950s has done so it can be found if so desired, IMO.
Carry on...

[DKS]

Did a bunch of stuff... finished another handlaid Code 40 turnout...



...built my own "Tortoise" to power said turnout...

...scratchbashed a Pratt pony truss highway bridge...



...and finished, painted and installed a steel trestle.



Details begin here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=49183.msg710004#msg710004

[Bryn]

Work starts on my Briggs kit of a C415. Chassis built up and fitted with a Zimo MX616 decoder.

[Bob]

True Treats.  On the corner of High Street and Hog Alley is True Treats Historic Candy - the 4th Harpers Ferry building I have constructed. One of the neat things about Harpers Ferry is that many of the buildings are unusual.  In the Google Street view (below left), you can see this really strange ‘connector’ that was built at the back of True Treats and extending to the former roof of a tiny little brick building with 3 windows – I have no idea what this small building is. If I was free-lancing the town, there is no way I could have conceived of such a structure.  My N-scale version is somewhat compressed, but has all of the major elements – part of the foundation will be buried once the building is installed – Hog Alley and the stone wall visible in the photo will be modeled and will slope upwards as in the prototype.  Once again, I printed photos of brick walls, laminated these to black styrene, and then cut out openings for windows and doors.  Actually, I now cut the windows out of the styrene first because I can draw lines to help guide the cuts; these are then covered by the brick photo paper and then I cut the paper over the openings. Still need to weather things a bit more, but I’m happy with how this is coming together. More photos and details in the Layout Engineering thread.
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[Kentuckian]

True Treats.  On the corner of High Street and Hog Alley is True Treats Historic Candy - the 4th Harpers Ferry building I have constructed. One of the neat things about Harpers Ferry is that many of the buildings are unusual.  In the Google Street view (below left), you can see this really strange ‘connector’ that was built at the back of True Treats and extending to the former roof of a tiny little brick building with 3 windows – I have no idea what this small building is. If I was free-lancing the town, there is no way I could have conceived of such a structure.  My N-scale version is somewhat compressed, but has all of the major elements – part of the foundation will be buried once the building is installed – Hog Alley and the stone wall visible in the photo will be modeled and will slope upwards as in the prototype.  Once again, I printed photos of brick walls, laminated these to black styrene, and then cut out openings for windows and doors.  Actually, I now cut the windows out of the styrene first because I can draw lines to help guide the cuts; these are then covered by the brick photo paper and then I cut the paper over the openings. Still need to weather things a bit more, but I’m happy with how this is coming together. More photos and details in the Layout Engineering thread.

Bob, these structures look really nice; this is some excellent modeling. You are quite prolific, too! I’m going to guess that the small rear structure was originally a kitchen. Back in the day kitchens were separated from the main house for several reasons, not the least of which was the high risk of fire. Being in town, this one was close to the house. A kitchen, or a servant’s quarters, or a combination of the two?

[Bob]

I hadn't thought about that, but you are right - this makes sense that this was a stand-alone kitchen.  Next time I visit the town I'll see if the owners of the store know something about the history of the structure.  Thanks!  Bob

[Maletrain]

Harpers Ferry is a real life 1:1 "kit bash" that showcases how towns actually grew.  At least until all the old structures got bulldozed to make room for a modern strip mall.

Modelling more buildings like that would make a layout seem much more real than just putting individual DPM buildings along a street.

[Bob]

I like your term '1:1 kitbash' - that describes the town nicely.  If I could have made the layout deeper, I could literally do the most historic part of the town at 1:1.  It is probably at about 60% to scale, which isn't bad at all, and your use of kitbash nicely describes the rather hodge-podge nature of the buildings - all of them pretty old, but quite a few different styles.

[GaryHinshaw]

We should format the title of the thread as @up1950s has done so it can be found if so desired, IMO.
Carry on...

Actually, I've been meaning to ping Ritchie about changing the format*, so the WU threads can be dated sorted.  As it is now, they can only be sorted by month, as long as you don't mind grouping Jan, Oct, Nov, Dec....

Nice work so far! Carry on...

*I'd also offer to change all the old thread titles for uniformity.  Just a bit of OCD in me.

[OldEastRR]

Bob, these structures look really nice; this is some excellent modeling. You are quite prolific, too! I’m going to guess that the small rear structure was originally a kitchen. Back in the day kitchens were separated from the main house for several reasons, not the least of which was the high risk of fire. Being in town, this one was close to the house. A kitchen, or a servant’s quarters, or a combination of the two?

Could also be a summer kitchen -- in warmer parts of the country, cooking in the summer was murder and overheated the whole building. So another detached area was built for a summer kitchen, sparing the main structure from overheating. 

[Dave V]

I volunteered today to assist with boarding during the Colorado Railroad Museum's first-ever triple steam up.  D&RGW C-19 #346 turns 140 this month, and D&RGW K-37 #491 joined RGS #20 in helping to celebrate her birthday.  I made this movie of all the narrow gauge awesomeness that I was drowning in this morning.  I only wish you guys could smell this video...it reeks of Hesperus coal.

[TiogaTracks]

Cool stuff Dave V and DKS!

I just got the necessary thumbs-up from the wife and family for my next adventure: the Wellsville Addison & Galeton RR outside in Large-scale, plus a slice of Penn Central/early Conrail, possibly including the PA Grand Canyon line.  Details are still coming together, but it will fit into the narrow or otherwise not useful sections of my small in-town yard.  I need to finalize the plan so we can know where to put our plants, so I’m sure a I’ll have more layout design questions for everyone here.

-Steven

[GaryHinshaw]

Tank car mania continues with my quest to body-mount couplers on my fleet, while also improving some of the end details in the process.  This time the victim is an Athearn late-style LPG tanker.  The printed replacement part for the B end is shown on the left, the part installed on GATX 203198 in the middle, and a stock model for comparison:



From above you can clearly see the grab irons and open grating platform:



I also included some holes in the end of the frame to capture the guard rails that run along the length of the car.  In the stock model these are just glued to the inside edge of the frame and that bond tends to break with car handling, like on the stock model above.  ​The thing that blows me away the most is the detail on the brake stand chain which has open links in two planes:



The printed part also includes a new saddle, which will I will modify for a few of the prototypes to come that have slightly different designs.