Weekend Update 5/25/25

[gi-depp]

Weathering the Kato UP5542

[altohorn25]

Six RBB&B seat wagons ready for paint.

Excellent work.  That is a lot of folding chairs to paint blue..... 

[altohorn25]

Working on some more wagons for my late 1940's RBBB circus trains.

The yellow one is one of the ticket wagons.  While the body is not correct for the prototype wagon, it gives the correct idea and adds a little color variety to the consist.

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[Rasputen]

I wanted to install a wired TCS decoder into a Broadway Limited Stealth 4-8-4, so I had some adapter boards made to plug the engine harness in to.  The BLI 4-8-4 has a pretty clever drawbar that hides all of the wires and keeps them from getting tangled.
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[Sumner]

I finally got around to adding some sound to my Kato/Kobo UP Excursion E9's -



So, ding-ding, toot-toot, and off we go 



-Mark

Brings back memories.  951 went past me quite a few times when I lived on 1st Street in Laramie, Wyo in the 60's.  Took a picture then and ....



... did a watercolor in the '70's.  I have 951 on the layout with sound also.

Sumner

[tehachapifan]

gi-depp, your weathering looks amazing! Would love to hear your process!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've been searching for a good "keep it packed up" train to go along with my V&O 603 when visiting layouts with it.

I did some digging through my stash of "models not in regular rotation" and came across a couple things that, when all added up, will make a pretty decent wreck and MoW train.

So, last night, after arming myself with some prototype photos (of both real equipment and V&O MoW stuff), I engaged in the model railroad equivalent of the "vibe coding" I've been doing during the week.

First, the star of the show. A Tichy wrecking crane that I built as part of my Model Railroading Merit Badge.

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Next up, an old RPO now dedicated to support services.

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So much more to do, on both these models and the rest of the train, but this is really fun.

[nickelplate759]

I've been searching for a good "keep it packed up" train to go along with my V&O 603 when visiting layouts with it.

I did some digging through my stash of "models not in regular rotation" and came across a couple things that, when all added up, will make a pretty decent wreck and MoW train.
...

What a great idea! I've long wondered what to do with that old Rivarossi mishmash of a Monon ex-Army hospital car (with added vestibule).  It's perfect for an MOW car!

[Peavine]

Peavine:  How did an ATSF caboose end up in Durango? 

The D&SNG used to have a camera at the depot, and they had a standard gauge stock car there for a while in 2009.  I don't know why, or what happened to it.

It was privately owned in the backyard of a gentleman named Andy. He passed away at 95 about six months ago. He purchased the car in 2009 from a gentleman in New Mexico named Bill. Bill got it from the Santa Fe in 1987 when it was sent for disposal. I spent the morning with a forklift installing the battery box, put batteries in it and all of the lights and refrigerator work. To say that I’m shocked would be understatement

[Peavine]

Gi-depp,

Your weathering looks amazing. Please share your technique!

[Jesse6669]

Inspired by @Cory Rothlisberger I made a Photoshop mock-up of a control panel for the East Norwood layout, while I was planning the blocks/power routing for the layout.   

   

I also wrapped up the N scale PRR H22a hopper, and made a test print of a Z scale version that was simply a re-scaled version of the N model. The Z one needs beefier stirrup steps and some other minor tweaks but it works. And the 2E-F2 trucks work nicely.  It'll have talgo style couplers.   
 
N Scale: 
   

Z Scale:   

[altohorn25]

I finished up the circus wagons I started this morning.

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[jpwisc]

I finally cracked out the GMM details and got them onto some old Roundhouse 50’ tank car bodies that I smoothed out.
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[NtheBasement]

My layout will be toured for the national NMRA convention in July.  I don't know if I will be able to demonstrate the loading and dumping operations during the tour so I've made an updated video that I can show to visitors.

[randgust]

I had such success with getting the front truck 'hot' on the Nn3 Showcase bitty Shay that I patiently waited for Walter Vail to rerun the 30-40 N one, and got one the moment it was announced as a rerun.

I've put a Kato 11-105 truck on it for the front-truck pickup, adding front and rear headlights (finding a spot for the resistors is the hardest part) and on the N one, imitating the Nn3 by adding MT 901 short-shank Z couplers on it.



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/ShowShay4009.jpg

I'll put up a build thread on this if anybody is interested, it's repeatable, and it's worth it.