Weekend Update 9/20/26

[up1950s]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas_%28locomotive%29#/media/File:Texas_after_cosmetic_restoration_at_Spencer_Shops,_NC_Transportation_Museum.jpg

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https://www.jimpearsonphotography.com/category/new-mexico-railroads/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIW19IlSNLG/

https://indyencyclopedia.org/railroads/

https://rlhs.org/WP/railroad-history/

https://scenicrailroadusa.com/railroad/north-alabama-railroad-museum-mercury-and-chase-railroad/

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Oerlikon_-_%27Gleis_9%27_w%C3%A4hrend_der_Geb%C3%A4udeverschiebung_2012-05-23_15-38-40_%28P7000%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original

https://pleasureinsimplethings.com/appreciating-the-season-by-steam-train/

[CR4100]

I'm having a Smurftastic weekend.

I used AI to upscale and sharpen an image I found online. The area behind the decal is painted silver which gives a nice 3D effect when the light hits it right.

The car is a Thrall 3000 cf hopper, same as the original.

[randgust]

OK, this is from last weekend at the Altoona N Scale Weekend and I didn't build the module or even take the picture!

This is Ed K's rather groundbreaking Seidelmann Run module - the 'shadowbox' Ttrak concept with self contained lighting, backdrop, and 'dead season' scenery.

The locomotive and train is my rebuilt Trix Decapod with DCC, a Kato five-pole, and sound, pulling the 1914 Cole Bros circus train; that's a Dietriech elephant car up front (laser kit).  Ed's taken the winning shot of that one, it ran pretty well this year.

The ONLY modification I made to Ed's shot was cloning in some more water across the front.


 
Ed got good 'green' Conrail shots on some of mine so that was fair too.   What a great weekend.  The combined Ttrak module layout was 7 scale miles of main line and hard to say how many modules.

Ed photographed all of them and then ran a 'hi rail trip' over the entire layout.

[chuck geiger]

I have Griff on this weekend and he loved Altoona and saw the Ed work of art. He is going to joing Railwire.

[nickelplate759]

Painted the pink foam.   Went from this:



to this:



I didn't paint over track center lines I already had laid out - they'll get covered with track anyway.

Roadbed and track laying starts this week!

[kiwi_bnsf]

Over the last three weeks I've spent more time that I'm willing to admit developing a bunch of extensions to the ProtoThrottle firmware:

• New Stack mode multi-step variable brake for ESU decoders
• New always-on airbrake simulation with prototypical main reservoir and compressor behaviour
• New scale speed display on the main screen
• New Operations Mode main screen with two extra configurable functions
• New 2-stage horn, function on emergency, and headlight improvements
• New Shared Loco Configuration store allowing throttles to share configs wirelessly (including PC import/export)

I'm not sure how many ProtoThrottle users there are on The Railwire, but if you are interested — I've put together a YouTube presentation with a deep dive into all the features with demos:

Everything is publicly available on my GitHub at:
  https://github.com/tim-benson/mrbw-cst
  https://github.com/tim-benson/mrbw-cabbus

If you have any questions/feedback — I've started a thread in the DCC section:

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=61506.0

Cheers

[muktown128]

I have Griff on this weekend and he loved Altoona and saw the Ed work of art. He is going to joing Railwire.

I met Griff and his wife railfanning in Cresson on Friday.  He's originally from Jersey.  I had a really nice chat with him on Saturday and gave him a couple of cars I purchased at the show (Bluford Wabash dented gondola and Athearn CB&Q covered hoppers that Lombard was blowing out) to weather.  I wish I attended his clinic. 

Scott

[Lemosteam]

Sneak peek from Keystone Details. More here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=59564.msg847499#msg847499

[packers#1]

I had Friday off because my wife and I were originally going down to Charleston this weekend, but with that trip getting cancelled because the people we were staying with had their upstairs AC go out, I spent Friday getting some layout work done. Specifically, I took a stab at painting some track to start the scenery process. I used white, various grays, black, and raw and burnt umber to get a variety of browns and grays to mimic various eras of ties for a shortline. I'm pretty happy with the results.



I also spent time building this Southern Tier Grain Modelers small hopper unload bucket conveyor for my fertilizer plant, as the one that came with the kit was rather bulky. The handrails are a bit wavy, so that'll eventually get replaced with brass, but otherwise I'm really happy with it. I painted the main structure chrome and the two electric motors Vallejo dark blue. I've built the Tichy ladder but don't have a bright yellow for it, so I'll need to get that to paint it. I've also painted the one set of legs I didn't use Chrome as well to practice some weathering techniques; I'm planning to use AK Interactive washes to grime it up and add some light rust on the legs. I'll also use my oil varnish and pan pastel technique to highlight some rivets and fasteners, and once planted on the layout, the track clips as well.


Finally, I updated my Layout Engineering Report with the current track plan and will be adding some overview shots shortly:
https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=59236.0

[towl1996]

Sneak peek from Keystone Details. More here: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=59564.msg847499#msg847499

That looks great! The possibilities...

[cnw780]

Over the last three weeks I've spent more time that I'm willing to admit developing a bunch of extensions to the ProtoThrottle firmware:

And I have spent most of my weekend trying to set this up and play with it.  (Thanks for doing this BTW)

Also tried (unsuccessfully) to 3d print some stuff.

~Tim

[eja]

I also spent time building this Southern Tier Grain Modelers small hopper unload bucket conveyor for my fertilizer plant, ....

Like the elevator, good job. 

Can you post dimensions, please.

[nickelplate759]

...and in go the first pieces of roadbed!


After 2 years I'm thrilled to get to this point.

All in all it's been a productive week for the NKP-ish.   My goal is to have at least one operable track around the layout by Halloween.

[Maletrain]

What camera was used to get the engineer's eye view of the run around the Altoona T-Trak layout?

[packers#1]

Like the elevator, good job. 

Can you post dimensions, please.

Thanks! It’s a bit over 6 inches tall, and I had an extra leg section that’s about 2.25” inches as well. The platform is roughly 1.5x2 inches, and the edge of the unloading grate to the end of the motor is 3.5” with the unloading grate at 1.25x1.75 inches

Here’s the link to it: https://tullymodels.com/product/spur-transloading-facility/