Weekend Update 7/20/14

[up1950s]

Kudzu!

And it has its own sticky .

[VonRyan]

Not much progress for me lately. Making some progress on carving out the road on my Nn3 layout. Nothing photo-worthy yet. I'm hoping to have the road carved and everything sculptamolded by the end of the camp season.

[chuck geiger]

Denver to Cheyenne UP Excursion train, lots of shots: http://cheyrails.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-union-pacific-excursion-train-from.html

[chuck geiger]

A-B-A unless they magically found another B.

This was a big sore spot with Steve Lee when he ran the program. He desperately wanted an A-B-B-A set. He knew of one other intact E8B, but its owner had some sort of beef with UP (or Steve & co.) and was not going to let go of it - to UP, at least - at any price. Steve had an E8B hulk on the turntable whiskers, but it was just an empty shell and was going to bring all sorts of EPA compliance woes down on his head if he attempted to repower it.

Ended up A-B-DD-40

[davefoxx]

Mission accomplished.  After I put the Auto Train back on the tracks and the NTSB completed its investigation, I went back to the A&R railroad crossing.  Unfortunately, when I cut the piece of styrene for the road a few months ago, I mis-cut the piece and was left with a gap against the rail.  The only obvious way to fix that without starting over was to install a wood railroad crossing on the A&R track.  Because I was able to put that row of ties outside the rail, the gap was filled.  Whew.



Now that it's finished, I'm not only pleased, but this creates a contrasting look as compared to the nice smooth "asphalt" crossing over the nearby SBD tracks.  See the old photo below.  I'm hoping to differentiate the two roads' construction.  Eventually, there will be different colored ballast to help distinguish the separately owned lines, too.



DFF

P.S.  I enjoyed the comments about the Auto Train wreck.  Thanks for playing along, guys.  Have a great week!

[davefoxx]

Dave:
I like the texture of your ground cover. What are you using?

Thanks,
Bill

Bill,

DKS is correct: that's my representation of kudzu.  Here's the materials list:

Woodland Scenics Poly Fiber "Green" #FP178 and Scenic Express Super Leaf Scale Leaves "Spring Green."  I stretched the poly fiber really thin to create the plant's stem structure.  This also makes the poly fiber go a long way.  Then I sprinkled on the leaf flock and glued it down with matte medium or diluted white glue.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[C855B]

Ended up A-B-DD-40

Yup. I saw the 6936 in your pix. Coulda done a whole lot worse, for sure. The E-units are nice, but the Big Jack really needs to be on the point.

[randgust]

Dave, well done.   That really does look like Kudzu. 

I've got a shot of an 'abandoned' through truss bridge on ex B&O at Dundon, WV (BC&G jct) where the entire truss is covered like a giant Chia Pet.  Would make a great model if anybody would believe it.

[mrnhn]

Kudzu!

God bless you David

[davefoxx]

Dave, well done.   That really does look like Kudzu. 

I've got a shot of an 'abandoned' through truss bridge on ex B&O at Dundon, WV (BC&G jct) where the entire truss is covered like a giant Chia Pet.  Would make a great model if anybody would believe it.

Thanks, Randy!  I'd like to see that truss bridge.  While I was studying pictures of kudzu, it was often unbelievable to see what had been gobbled up and just how invasive that weed is.

DFF

[One of One-Sixty]

No pictures for me, but just getting something model rr related since last Oct is a big bonus for me.   I spent the weekend trying my hands installing decoders for the first time.  Now I have all my 253 Series N'EX trains fitted with decoders, now have to set-up a test track and program them.

Pre-ordered the Kato turntable, just dont know where to put it.  Will be drawing out a plan and narrowing my rooster down of what locos and equipmentI want to run.

[jmlaboda]

Kudzu... The Grass of the Southern Railway!!!  (And the butt of more jokes than Rodney Dangerfield...) a lawnmower, Kudzu's worse enemy.

What did you use?  It really looks great!!!