Tehachapi, BC

[DKS]

By the way, I was just planning to ballast over the top of the board (possibly encapsulating it with something first), and leaving a seam so I can pull it up if need be.  Depending on how that looks, I may want to recess the mount to be level with the sub-roadbed.  Not sure yet.

If you're using traditional dilute white glue to bond ballast, simply soaking it with water will release it, so you may not need to do anything special, other than perhaps apply something to the signal base/wiring to waterproof it.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks for the pic, Gary, what I was afraid of.
My cantilevers are soldered onto an 1/8” brass tube, see pic. (Seemed like a good idea at the time).
Yea, hiding the board shouldn’t be a problem, but I would probably spray bomb the bright blue frames with some neutral color first..
Enjoy your trip!
Otto

[Wutter]

@Cajonpassfan the bottom of the board looks like this:


(shown in the picture is another board version that accommodates up to 1/16" tube, but the normal version is two 1/32" holes)

With 10 resistor pads to build up to a 3 target signal. Usually when I mount my signals, I find that I don't need to recess it because a lot of signals have a little pad or foundation that they are mounted on, and then I just ballast over the top of the board, but keep the glue outside of the seam area to make it easier to remove if I ever need to pop it out for repair.

Not a superb picture but after its ballasted over, it looks like this:
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[ednadolski]

@tom mann 's oversized fake dime again.... 

[C855B]

@tom mann 's oversized fake dime again.... 

Yeah, and those alligator clips are real alligators.   

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks for the photos @Wutter. 

Woof Otto, 1/8" is O scale!   But honestly, I don't see where you would need a Wutterboard in that situation.  Unlike 38 ga. magnet wire, your leads appear to be beefy enough to run straight to a plug or controller board.  Excellent job on it, by the way!

[GaryHinshaw]

Work continues near CP Summit.

This is the control point at TBC's summit across the entrance door.   First I noodled a bit with ballasting around the signal base:



I'm happy enough with the look that I don't feel a need to recess the mounting base into the plywood.  (The ballast will darken when I glue it down, but I'm waiting to add some scenery here.)  To wit, I am now working on the scene around this control point, which includes the south portal of Tunnel 17, the last tunnel on the climb to the prototype summit:



Here is where my version stands as of this morning as seen from the entrance:



The tracks are curving around to cross the door at Summit.  Obviously a lot to do to finish this scene, but it is hopefully starting to look recognizable.  The backdrop is a quick hack from Street View to help get the proportions right, but it will have to be resized, reprojected, and have the sky trimmed, but I think it might work.  Hopefully the odd shape of the 3-d to 2-d transition will not be too weird when the backdrop is better sized and the transition is softened with colour, texture, and foliage.

[Bendtracker1]

Your layout is really shaping up Gary!!!

[GaryHinshaw]

Thanks Allen. 

The last official session before Vanrail is now in the books.  We had 6 operators: 5 road crew and a dispatcher, at least a few of whom were smiling (l-r: Brian, Victor, Len, Doug):



We tried out switch lists from jmri Operations for the first time (just for the local trains).  Tim had the first crack at switching Edison with a list and it seemed to go well (except for a few glitches in how I set up Operations, since improved):



My favourite meet of the evening was the oil train holding for a meet with the grain train (with rear helpers):



I was too excited to compose a better shot. As proof, I offer this:



  It was a very busy session: for the first time, we got through the full schedule of 13 trains, including locals, and new dispatcher Michael Batten did a crack job under rapid-fire conditions.  The signals at Summit performed well and were a big hit. 

Thanks to the crew for helping bring this machine to life.

[MK]

That last picture has got to be a TRW Banner of some sort!  Where is @DKS ?

[DKS]

[CRL]

He’s a “head” of schedule. 

[GaryHinshaw]

[mark dance]

The Railwire: Modelling that is A Head above!

[CRL]