Author Topic: Weekend Update 11/24/24  (Read 3860 times)

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OldEastRR

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2024, 08:08:36 PM »
+7


My first rough attempt (in-progress) at converting a Rapido NH 8600 coach into a "county" series lounge-buffet-dwg rm car. Luckily I found the corrugations of a KATO RDC matched (enough) the Rapido ones, so I could blank out one vestibule's doors. And while I still vainly try to convince Rapido to make an N version of the NH streamlined parlor car, they have come out with another version of a NH car in HO. I don't doubt they''ll eventually produce every single car of the Merchant's Limited. In HO.
I'm also working on a baggage-lounge-buffet-day compt rebuild of a Rapido coach.

shark_jj

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #2 on: November 22, 2024, 11:00:23 PM »
+43
This week I was cleaning out some of the stuff my wife and I have accumulated over our 75+ years.  Opening a box I found about 4 dozen DVD backup disks from old computers.  Going through the files on the disks I found some photos of my first N Scale layout from the 2000-2005 era that I thought had been lost.  In 2000 I had met my now longtime close friend Justin at the NMRA St. Louis convention and we enjoyed some long chats about the benefits of N Scale.  I left the HO club I had been a member of for over 30 years and started on my first N Scale layout.  I had always been a Pennsy modeler and a fan of the Horseshoe Curve and had tried to model it unsuccessfully in HO.  I decided my first foray into N Scale would be to attempt to model the Horseshoe Curve.  I had posted a couple of photos of this first layout around 2008 or so in my PRR Allegheny Division thread, which was my 2nd Horseshoe Curve layout but they were lost when Photo Bucket went from free to fee based.  I thought all the photos of that layout were gone so I was delighted to find these and thought I would share them.   The important thing about this layout was that it showed me what N Scale could accomplish and that it could operate as reliably as HO.  I was sold and so was my HO equipment.  It is still a little hard to believe that it's almost 20 years ago that I tore this layout down.

The Curve was 10 ft wide by 12 ft long and was fully enclosed with a pop up in the middle for access.  That design decision enhanced the scenic quality of the Curve but proved to be such a PIA that it led to the eventual decision to tear it down and build Horseshoe Curve version 2, the PRR Allegheny Division.  This 1st version of the Curve was completed in time for the NMRA National Convention in Toronto in 2003 and was on the layout tour.  The remainder of the layout had operating trackwork but was bare plywood with no scenery.      The Conrail photo was used as part of the advertising for the NMRA National Convention layout tour.  You can see the difference when photo lights are used to light a scene.   At the time I was undecided on whether to model the PRR years or the Conrail years and had equipment for both.   

The HO Club I belonged to used the CTC64 Command Control System.  My home HO layout had used the Onboard Command Control System.  I had unsuccessfully tried to get the club to convert to the new Digitrax system and so when I built this N Scale layout it was Digitrax from the get go.  I still have the ER Models Sharks seen in the photo below and they still have their decoders installed.  These days the decoders are probably worth more than the locos. 



This photo with the Conrail units was used in the advertising for the convention.



This photo looks down the valley from behind the Curve.  An upbound coal train and a downbound passenger are about to pass.  There were no super trees then.  Lichen, puff balls, and weeds covered in foam were the trees of the day. 



In this view we can see the gift shop and the parking lot the roadway and the sluiceway running down to the reservoir.



In this final upbound shot we can see the just see the reservoir on the left side of the picture. 


« Last Edit: November 22, 2024, 11:02:15 PM by shark_jj »
John

BCR 570

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2024, 07:26:42 PM »
+11
More progress on the sides for my Sperry car build:




More here:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=57684.75


Tim
T. Horton
North Vancouver, B.C.
BCR Dawson Creek Subdivision in N Scale
www.bcrdawsonsub.ca
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3MbxkZkx7zApSYCHqu2IYQ

John

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2024, 07:32:15 PM »
+4
No trains - but spent the weekend tinkering with this ..  It was a black Friday impulse buy -- will never meet the standards for the NWS - but I'm having some fun interfacing it to some software .. and before anyone notices, yes - it wasn't aligned to North yet :)    It's also surrounded by the house, and trees .. so wind speeds are way off ..

« Last Edit: November 23, 2024, 07:35:25 PM by John »

Jeff AKA St0rm

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2024, 07:42:08 PM »
+11
Got a little weathering done. This unit has seen lots of heavy work


Rasputen

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #6 on: November 23, 2024, 07:51:08 PM »
+12
I rebuilt three Tortoise switch machines from my friend's layout.  They all had failed aux contacts:
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]


The heat stakes had failed to hold the phosphor bronze contact strips onto the quadrant arm.
I drilled and tapped them all for 00-90 screws:
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up1950s

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #7 on: November 23, 2024, 10:18:54 PM »
+1
No trains - but spent the weekend tinkering with this ..  It was a black Friday impulse buy -- will never meet the standards for the NWS - but I'm having some fun interfacing it to some software .. and before anyone notices, yes - it wasn't aligned to North yet :)    It's also surrounded by the house, and trees .. so wind speeds are way off ..

Have you taken it for a drive to compare its high speed reading to your speedometer on a calm day while avoiding the slipstream created by the cars body ?


Richie Dost

johnb

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #8 on: November 23, 2024, 10:38:21 PM »
+8
modeling took a back seat to working on my 1957 Ford Fairlane 500, put the alternator and radiator back in.

wazzou

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #9 on: November 23, 2024, 11:39:38 PM »
0
modeling took a back seat to working on my 1957 Ford Fairlane 500, put the alternator and radiator back in.


That’s not a Coyote.
Bryan

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Member of MRHA


johnb

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #10 on: November 24, 2024, 12:21:43 AM »
0

That’s not a Coyote.
you're right, that is a 428, and instantly cooler than a Coyote

John

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #11 on: November 24, 2024, 06:41:50 AM »
+7
Have you taken it for a drive to compare its high speed reading to your speedometer on a calm day while avoiding the slipstream created by the cars body ?

No - I have not ..  This was on sale at Amazon for $151 - so I really don't expect much, but for a budget system it's ok ...  My siting location is too protected by woods and the house to give any kind of accurate reading .. both direction and speed -- to get above the obstructions, I would need to mount this on the roof about 10 feet over the ridge.    Another drawback is the system has the temp sensor and tipping bucket stuck up at the top of the mast .. so its a maintenance issue and also not an accurate rain measuring location.   At my age, I don't want to climb roofs :)

What I do like about this thing - it uses a super capacitor to drive the circuitry which is recharged by a solar panel .. the system works in the 900mhz range. It turns on the transmitter every 16 seconds, long enough to transmit the data into the base station, which then uses the wifi network to upload to Ambient Weather Net and in turn Weather Underground.

One of my jobs in the Navy was the weather equipment maintenance officer on the east coast and this gives me a chance to relieve those days ..

I am going to tinker with a roll your own setup using a solar powered arduino with a smaller footprint that I will probably stick on the roof above the obstructions that won't raise the ire of the HOA :)

https://www.techhive.com/article/583407/ambient-weather-ws-2902-osprey-weather-station-review.html



I

jpwisc

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #12 on: November 24, 2024, 07:26:54 AM »
+16
I was just hanging out at TrainFest in Milwaukee. It was cool seeing the new Tangent hoppers in person. I did buy a few. Then ran some trains…
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Karl
CEO of the WC White Pine Sub, an Upper Peninsula Branch Line.

John

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #13 on: November 24, 2024, 10:46:23 AM »
0
I was just hanging out at TrainFest in Milwaukee. It was cool seeing the new Tangent hoppers in person. I did buy a few. Then ran some trains…

(Attachment Link)

Love the station .. is it scratched?

Ed Kapuscinski

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Re: Weekend Update 11/24/24
« Reply #14 on: November 24, 2024, 12:22:57 PM »
+1
This week I was cleaning out some of the stuff my wife and I have accumulated over our 75+ years.  Opening a box I found about 4 dozen DVD backup disks from old computers.  Going through the files on the disks I found some photos of my first N Scale layout from the 2000-2005 era that I thought had been lost.  In 2000 I had met my now longtime close friend Justin at the NMRA St. Louis convention and we enjoyed some long chats about the benefits of N Scale.  I left the HO club I had been a member of for over 30 years and started on my first N Scale layout.  I had always been a Pennsy modeler and a fan of the Horseshoe Curve and had tried to model it unsuccessfully in HO.  I decided my first foray into N Scale would be to attempt to model the Horseshoe Curve.  I had posted a couple of photos of this first layout around 2008 or so in my PRR Allegheny Division thread, which was my 2nd Horseshoe Curve layout but they were lost when Photo Bucket went from free to fee based.  I thought all the photos of that layout were gone so I was delighted to find these and thought I would share them.   The important thing about this layout was that it showed me what N Scale could accomplish and that it could operate as reliably as HO.  I was sold and so was my HO equipment.  It is still a little hard to believe that it's almost 20 years ago that I tore this layout down.

The Curve was 10 ft wide by 12 ft long and was fully enclosed with a pop up in the middle for access.  That design decision enhanced the scenic quality of the Curve but proved to be such a PIA that it led to the eventual decision to tear it down and build Horseshoe Curve version 2, the PRR Allegheny Division.  This 1st version of the Curve was completed in time for the NMRA National Convention in Toronto in 2003 and was on the layout tour.  The remainder of the layout had operating trackwork but was bare plywood with no scenery.      The Conrail photo was used as part of the advertising for the NMRA National Convention layout tour.  You can see the difference when photo lights are used to light a scene.   At the time I was undecided on whether to model the PRR years or the Conrail years and had equipment for both.   

The HO Club I belonged to used the CTC64 Command Control System.  My home HO layout had used the Onboard Command Control System.  I had unsuccessfully tried to get the club to convert to the new Digitrax system and so when I built this N Scale layout it was Digitrax from the get go.  I still have the ER Models Sharks seen in the photo below and they still have their decoders installed.  These days the decoders are probably worth more than the locos. 



This photo with the Conrail units was used in the advertising for the convention.



This photo looks down the valley from behind the Curve.  An upbound coal train and a downbound passenger are about to pass.  There were no super trees then.  Lichen, puff balls, and weeds covered in foam were the trees of the day. 



In this view we can see the gift shop and the parking lot the roadway and the sluiceway running down to the reservoir.



In this final upbound shot we can see the just see the reservoir on the left side of the picture. 




Truly incredible man.