Weekend Update 2/9/25

[Jim Starbuck]

Making slow and steady progress on my EMD Model 40 project (N Scale)


Thanks,
Wolf

Most excellent Wolf!
I’m looking forward to following your progress.

Jim

[craigolio1]

Congrats!  First go-around is a real "golden spike" moment.  Write the event and the date somewhere on your benchwork; it won't seem like a strange thing to do in 10 years.

Oh I like this.

Craig

[Sumner]

For $75 to $150 you can run a DC and a DCC loco on your layout at the same time with the same phone or WiFi throttle.  Just updated my DCC-EX.

Sumner

[Lemosteam]

I am trying to add a variety of trains to my schedule.  One is a scrap train.  I was going through my boxes of flat and gondola loads when I found several of the thing on the left.



Crushed junk cars do not look like that, so I had to paint the loads then add dirt and rust, as on the right.

You are not going to haul crushed junk cars in gondolas in perfect shape with shiny paint jobs.  i decided that my first two would look really trashy.  Most of the subsequent gondolas will be less trashy.  I am still trying to get the hang of putting dents into the steel gondolas using a soldering iron on very low power.  The dents on the Rio Grande gondola do not show up well in the photographs taken with a telephone.  I did slip once on the black one and went through the side.  A little putty, paint and a letter covered up that.  in fact, the letter was from and old set and semi-discombobulated, which was ideal.

I love yours and need these crushed vehicles! Do you recall where you obtained them???

[OldEastRR]

I had a huge triumph this week. On Friday I ran a train. Why is this such a big deal? I’ve been building N scale trains for 25 years and have never had an operational railroad in my house. On Friday that changed as I ran the first train around my train room. Still loads of work to do but this is a momentous occasion.

Here’s a video of a loop around the room.

Craig.

I love the shot of the housing subdivision under construction. Houses only half-built, bare landscaping all around, barely roads. That would make a great finished scene with the appropriate workers doing their jobs, & their cars and pickups, home building supply trucks, cement mixers and workers pouring driveways, bare house frames erected, piles of building materials, brown bulldozed dirt, etc. all over. How come nobody ever modeled a scene like that? Certainly would be different and an attention-getter. Not everything is the world is finished and complete.

[OldEastRR]

Started reworking the yard area.  The upper yard had been attached to the lower yard, which is set up as a TTRAK modular design.


I've separated them, and will hang the upper yard on some shelf brackets so I can pull out the TTRAK yard for those occasions when it needs the be portable.

Lee

That's a lot of yard for such a short mainline. I assume it's basically a parking lot for equipment. 

[Lemosteam]

Finally finished two grapplers. One fully opened, and one fully closed (prior 2/2 weekend post). The two photos show the full range of articulation in the kit, which will be glued in the open state later. Not fun assembling these, but not impossible either. Paint and weathering next week.






The assembly steps.

Grapple arms to upper links. You can see the 0.010” PB wire prior to glue and snip.


Arm and link assemblies to lower lift pulley.


Upper links to upper pulley lift.


Completed assembly with magnet.

[garethashenden]

It lives!! Kinda

[R L Smith]

I've been JRTM lately, but have gotten back to the workbench. Working on scratchbuilding the DL&W depot at Painted Post NY, which still stands and is a nice historical society museum.







The Tichy 'Victorian Door' is 9 feet tall and has a two-pane transom (painted below), but the depot door is 10 feet with a 3-pane transom. Some cutting and fitting from another Tichy product got me pretty close:



I did the scribe and break method to cut the window and door openings, which is tedious.  Ready for reassembly now. 




1 wall cut, three more to go!



Ron

[brokemoto]

I love yours and need these crushed vehicles! Do you recall where you obtained them???

(emphasis mine)

For that scrapyard scene where you had one of your excellent cranes coupled to a Penn 44 tonner in last week's Update........................?  No scrap yard is complete without crushed automobiles.

I got them from Hay Brothers.  They were piled high so I cut them in half.  At the time, they came unpainted, so I had to paint them.  I used black, green, red and brown. You do not have to be too careful when you paint the cars as these are crushed junkers.  After painting the individual cars (what you could see of them), I covered each pile first with a wash of water and Floquil Rust plus a few dabs here and there.  I washed most of those dabs with water  Finally, I covered each pile with a wash of water and Floquil Grimy Black. 

Hay Brothers' Garage website still is up and they are on FeePay.  Meanwhile, I will run upstairs and see if I have any more.  I have six loads after sawing in half three of them.  I might have more.

I suppose that I will have to add tie-down lines to them for use on flat cars.  The tie downs will be alright on gondolas, as well.

UPDATE:  I went upstairs.  I do not have any more of the stacks of crushed cars.  I have only one of junk cars and mixed scrap metal for a fifty foot gondola and only two for a forty.  I have only one each of old tires for a fifty and forty foot gondola.  I was hoping that I had more.  Here are some photographs so you can know for what to look.  I did try to get a better photograph of the mixed scrap metal and "1940-53 cars" for the fifty foot gondola.

Some of Hay Brothers loads come painted; some do not.  They sell (or sold) other scrap metal loads and baled scrap loads, as well.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Spent some time cleaning out the closet in my office this weekend and uncovered this old gem. Nice little nip of Evan Williams they handed out at the NSC back in 2008. Thought it was about time to properly dispose of it...

[MK]

You could have used to to clean track!   

[seusscaboose]

Started reworking the yard area.  The upper yard had been attached to the lower yard, which is set up as a TTRAK modular design.


I've separated them, and will hang the upper yard on some shelf brackets so I can pull out the TTRAK yard for those occasions when it needs the be portable.

Lee

that last pic looks like the Old' Elkins.... in the old house...

[Jesse6669]

Making slow and steady progress on my EMD Model 40 project (N Scale)

I didn't even know EMD made a critter like this.  That's cool!   

Yes, all originals on Tinkercad.

As much as I've tried to get "psyched" to use Fusion, I still do my models in Tinkercad with the occasional use of MeshMixer.  Simple and it just works. 

[Chris333]

EMD model 40 in T scale?