Seaboard Central 2.0

[davefoxx]

While on the subject of streets, last night, I resprayed the road in Southern Pines (access to the propane facility), because I had a bad reaction from the 70% isopropyl alcohol to the Dullcote finish in the road surface.  This is not the first time that this has happened, and, in fact, in the past, I was able to respray Dullcote and the reaction was hidden.  This time, it was too far gone, and the Dullcote didn't hide the "white" spots completely.  So, I sanded the road's surface, and resprayed with my road color of choice: Rustoleum primer.  However, I used the dark gray this time to contrast with the lighter gray color I used in Aberdeen and to look like a more recently paved surface.  We'll see once it dries whether I like it or not.  If not, I'll respray it again with the lighter gray.

Pics later.

DFF

[davefoxx]

So what, you cannot visit Pinterest unless you "sign up"?   

Apparently, but I can see the pictures of the two plans of RR Xing markings, so I got what I needed from that link.  I haven't signed up, either, nor do I wish to do so.

DFF

[Chris333]

Apparently, but I can see the pictures of the two plans of RR Xing markings, so I got what I needed from that link.  I haven't signed up, either, nor do I wish to do so.

DFF

I clicked the link and as soon as I scrolled down the page a pop up type thing to sign up appeared with no way to get rid of it basically telling me to never visit that site as long as I live. Problem is so many Google image searches include Pinterest. Sorry rant is over, nice roads! 

[conrail98]

I clicked the link and as soon as I scrolled down the page a pop up type thing to sign up appeared with no way to get rid of it basically telling me to never visit that site as long as I live. Problem is so many Google image searches include Pinterest. Sorry rant is over, nice roads! 

Hit your escape key, that kills that modal window,

Phil

[davefoxx]

While on the subject of streets, last night, I resprayed the road in Southern Pines (access to the propane facility), because I had a bad reaction from the 70% isopropyl alcohol to the Dullcote finish in the road surface.  This is not the first time that this has happened, and, in fact, in the past, I was able to respray Dullcote and the reaction was hidden.  This time, it was too far gone, and the Dullcote didn't hide the "white" spots completely.  So, I sanded the road's surface, and resprayed with my road color of choice: Rustoleum primer.  However, I used the dark gray this time to contrast with the lighter gray color I used in Aberdeen and to look like a more recently paved surface.  We'll see once it dries whether I like it or not.  If not, I'll respray it again with the lighter gray.

FYI, I did end up respraying the access road to the propane dealer with the lighter gray primer.  I really liked the idea of the contrasting color, representing newer blacktop, but the darker gray primer just didn't work out as well as I had hoped.  Maybe it will work for a patch here or there, but it was not a good color for the whole road.  So, nothing to see here; move along.

DFF

[davefoxx]

Hamlet Yard has been in need of a dedicated yard switcher, so, today, I broke down and finally pulled the trigger on an Atlas MP15DC, decorated in L&N (Family Lines) colors (road number 5039).



I found a picture of the prototype locomotive #5039 online, patched for the SBD.  If my SBD decals are close, I'll make this modification.  And, as you can see in the link below, I don't even have to remove all of the L&N lettering from the cab side!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=443023

I ordered a TCS decoder, too, so, hopefully, I'll have this switcher kicking cars around Hamlet Yard within a week or so.   

DFF

[davefoxx]

In anticipation of the arrival of Hamlet Yard's new yard switcher sometime in the not too distant future, I tackled a very small project to address an issue that had been annoying me for quite some time: the capacity of my locomotive facility.  When I built the three tracks, they each held approximately three Geeps or two SD units.  Recent purchases had overwhelmed these tracks, so, yesterday, I lengthened these three stub tracks by approximately eight inches each.  This was enough to allow each track to now hold four Geeps or three SD units.  Big improvement.



Now, not only does the majority of my fleet fit comfortably in the locomotive facility, but this frees up one of my classification tracks in the yard where I had to store the three SDs before this modification.  I admit that it's tight around the tracks to add a parking lot and locomotive facility details, which is another reason why my first attempt involved shorter tracks, but I couldn't operate the layout well without more capacity.  I have ideas to fix up the "employees' parking lot."   Stay tuned.

DFF

[davefoxx]

This is why I love working with foam for my scenery base.  To address the lengthening of the locomotive facility's tracks, I had to rebuild the road access to the yard.  This is before:



Once the tracks were lengthened and I realized what I was up against, I took a utility knife with a long snap-off blade and hacked the foam out to establish a level spot to work from:



Then, I installed a piece of 1" thick foam that I cut down to 1/2" thickness for the parking lot:



In this last picture, I have started blending in the surfaces and roughing in the road with lightweight spackling.  Once this dries, I'll hit it with more spackling to do further blending, and, if necessary, I'll do some more carving:



More later,
DFF

[Rich_S]

Hamlet Yard has been in need of a dedicated yard switcher, so, today, I broke down and finally pulled the trigger on an Atlas MP15DC, decorated in L&N (Family Lines) colors (road number 5039).




DFF

Dave, Nice switcher. I have a few of the Atlas MP15DC's, a couple in P&LE paint and a couple more in Union Railroad paint. They are nice running models and the only issue I have, even though all four of them are MP15DC's from Atlas with the exact same Digitrax decoders installed and the only different in the setup is the engine numbers, two of them are faster speed wise, puzzling? For slow speed switching they work very well. What I find odd is, two of them have a top speed that is almost twice as fast as the other two locomotives.  I've run into that problem with a couple of my GP38's, but I think the issue there is they have different decoders installed.

Nice re-work of the Hamlet engine tracks and parking lot. I have one suggest for you to kick around. The engine track closest to the hill side, maybe cut back the hillside just a little and put in a nice retaining wall? I'm not sure what Seaboard used the most, stone or concrete for their retaining walls? But that will add some interest to the locomotive servicing facilities. 

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

Dave, Nice switcher. I have a few of the Atlas MP15DC's, a couple in P&LE paint and a couple more in Union Railroad paint. They are nice running models and the only issue I have, even though all four of them are MP15DC's from Atlas with the exact same Digitrax decoders installed and the only different in the setup is the engine numbers, two of them are faster speed wise, puzzling? For slow speed switching they work very well. What I find odd is, two of them have a top speed that is almost twice as fast as the other two locomotives.  I've run into that problem with a couple of my GP38's, but I think the issue there is they have different decoders installed.

Nice re-work of the Hamlet engine tracks and parking lot. I have one suggest for you to kick around. The engine track closest to the hill side, maybe cut back the hillside just a little and put in a nice retaining wall? I'm not sure what Seaboard used the most, stone or concrete for their retaining walls? But that will add some interest to the locomotive servicing facilities.

The MP15DC has had more than one release the first release had their slow speed motor in it. After that they came up with a even slower motor. So you must have 2 from different releases. 

[basementcalling]

In anticipation of the arrival of Hamlet Yard's new yard switcher sometime in the not too distant future, I tackled a very small project to address an issue that had been annoying me for quite some time: the capacity of my locomotive facility.  When I built the three tracks, they each held approximately three Geeps or two SD units.  Recent purchases had overwhelmed these tracks, so, yesterday, I lengthened these three stub tracks by approximately eight inches each.  This was enough to allow each track to now hold four Geeps or three SD units.  Big improvement.



Now, not only does the majority of my fleet fit comfortably in the locomotive facility, but this frees up one of my classification tracks in the yard where I had to store the three SDs before this modification.  I admit that it's tight around the tracks to add a parking lot and locomotive facility details, which is another reason why my first attempt involved shorter tracks, but I couldn't operate the layout well without more capacity.  I have ideas to fix up the "employees' parking lot."   Stay tuned.

DFF

All that power in the yard. Must be a Sunday.

[davefoxx]

All that power in the yard. Must be a Sunday.

Why, yes, today is a Sunday.   

DFF

[davefoxx]

While waiting for lightweight spackling to set up, I masked and threw down some Rustoleum primer for my base road color on the next section of road in Aberdeen.  Once this cures, I'll be able to mask and spray my concrete color for the sidewalks.



DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Dig the MP15!
Check out the chromed out horn.

[Rich_S]

All that power in the yard. Must be a Sunday.

Why, yes, today is a Sunday.   

DFF

That's just too funny  ..... There is no weekend on the railroad, we are 24/7 and the trains run everyday.  The standing joke on the railroad is, if your rest days are Tuesday & Wednesday you have the railroad weekend