Seaboard Central 2.0

[conrail98]

Thanks, Allen.  I'll try that and see how the math works out on my layout.  The trouble is that Hamlet Yard is not nearly as big as I would like, so I won't have the problem that you have: excess capacity.   

DFF

I've also got a few formulas that have been passed to me by the operational guys around here. They kind of follow along what Allen talked about but it also helps into an operational plan if you so desire,

Phil

[Rich_S]

This thing is friggin' sweet!



It was a bear to get the shell off and especially back on, but, that accomplished, this little MP15 runs really well.  I like the detailing, and the appearance of an open cab is a pleasant surprise, especially considering that it still has lights at both ends.

DFF

Dave, To remove the shell, the method that works best for me is to slip a precision screw driver under the frame in the rear of the locomotive and pry up on the frame with the precision screw driver.



When putting the shell back on, the most difficult part for me was alighting the light hood in the cab area and insuring the light tube slipped into the light hood. On one of my MP15DC's I missed the light tube and didn't realize it in time, it cracked the light tube but thankfully it still transmits the light to the rear headlight and number boards.


 

[davefoxx]

Good tips, Rich.  I agree that the most difficult part was getting that light tube and shield lined up when putting the shell back on.  Hopefully, I won't have any need to pop the shell off again anytime soon.

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

A small track realignment project this weekend: While playing with my new yard switcher, it suddenly dawned on me how to double-end my caboose track, which will make building and breaking down trains so much easier.  A cut-up #5 turnout just fit into the yard lead, but I had to realign this track to pull it off:

Before:


After:


Just waiting for some glue under that cork roadbed to dry and then those push pins will be pulled, and I'll be able to re-lay the yard lead's track.  The stub will now be about 2" to 3" longer, which may not sound like much, but will allow me to clear approximately five or six cars a little more comfortably and without putting the locomotive off the end of the yard lead.  The realignment will also allow me to build and install the piers underneath the road bridge.

DFF

[John]

I'm telling you .. each time you modify this thing, you come closer to the basement empire
The cost to benefit ratio of this mod should be huge

[Dave V]

Love it, Dave!

[davefoxx]

I'm telling you .. each time you modify this thing, you come closer to the basement empire

Oh, dear.  Don't tell my wife.

The cost to benefit ratio of this mod should be huge

You're correct, John.  The benefit is huge.  No more runarounds to get to the other end of a caboose to pick up or drop it.  Time saved.  The cost, however, was nothing, if you ignore sunk costs.  The two pieces of flextrack were the same pieces from before the modification, and the turnout was sitting in the scrap pile (probably left over from the Aberdeen track modifications when the extension was built).

Thanks,
DFF

[davefoxx]

Love it, Dave!

Thanks, Dave!

[davefoxx]

Done!  Other than waiting for glue and lightweight spackling to dry, this revision really didn't take that long.  Not visible, I had to fill in a ditch before I moved the yard lead.  Now, I can go in with more lightweight spackling and ease the slope of that hill.  You can probably see how much the yard lead shifted towards the layout edge.  This was a good thing for scenic purposes:



"I'm home!"  This is where the Hamlet Yard switcher will probably spend most of its life, when not switching cars in the classification and arrival/departure tracks:



It works.  I'm really going to enjoy this new double-ended caboose track:



Between this and the lengthened locomotive facility tracks last weekend, the yard is much more enjoyable to operate.  The bad news is that Atlas just announced eight new Seaboard System locomotives to be available in 2015.  Yikes!  Where am I going to put them?   Heh, never thought I'd have that problem; too many locomotives of the road I'm modeling being produced. 

DFF

[mu26aeh]

Between this and the lengthened locomotive facility tracks last weekend, the yard is much more enjoyable to operate.  The bad news is that Atlas just announced eight new Seaboard System locomotives to be available in 2015.  Yikes!  Where am I going to put them?   Heh, never thought I'd have that problem; too many locomotives of the road I'm modeling being produced. 

DFF

Does your layout yards include any locomotive shops ?  You could always have a few locomotives "dead in tow" being taken to shops for service/overhaul into staging.  Can have a couple extra locomotives to swap out from time to time when the new ones show up from Atlas.   Wait, do i remember you do not have staging yet ?   

[davefoxx]

I've got no real locomotive shops, just the servicing area, so I'll just swap out locomotives from time to time.  Nope, no staging yet.  I'll get around to it sometime.  What's holding that up is some hand-built curved turnouts that I want to build, so I can redo some of the trackage on the A&R line.  There's no use in building the staging, until I know what the track alignment is going to be.

DFF

[mu26aeh]

Forgot the troll face, another reason to have staging 

[davefoxx]

I finally ordered and received one of those S&S Hobby Products stencils to do the R_XR markings in the street.

The result:


The brass stencil can be seen leaning against the ruler in the picture above.  You'll notice that I did not use the horizontal bars at the top and bottom of the stencil and instead drew 24 scale inch thick lines that were more representative of the actual markings in Aberdeen, North Carolina.  Unfortunately, the R_XR stencil is way too short.  The _X measures in at under ten scale feet long, where the prototype is 20 feet long.  Since most people see these things from a low angle and they're foreshortened, I hope these look okay to y'all.  I certainly couldn't freehand them any better, that's for sure.  The horizontal bars that I drew are placed approximately ten scale feet from the _X, as opposed to fifteen feet as seen in the real world, to allow for the look of the short RXR marking.  Now that I've had the opportunity to step back and look at it in the picture, I'm okay with it.

As I said, the road needs to be weathered, but I wanted to show how it looked coming out of the stencil, except that I did freehand the Rs where the stencil bridges left them incomplete.  I used my white colored pencil to do this project, so there was no paint to bleed underneath the stencil.  I drew this one first, figuring that if it came out good enough to avoid a repaint of the street, then I would go back and do the markings on the road sections that are already weathered.

DFF

[wm3798]

I'm liking your street work, especially the wood grade crossings.  I'll be needing a few of these on the CH&FP.

[Scottl]

Between this and the lengthened locomotive facility tracks last weekend, the yard is much more enjoyable to operate.  The bad news is that Atlas just announced eight new Seaboard System locomotives to be available in 2015.  Yikes!  Where am I going to put them?   Heh, never thought I'd have that problem; too many locomotives of the road I'm modeling being produced. 

You and me both.  This is really the golden era of n scale.

Great to see you tweaking your track plan to make the most of operating.  Few HCD layouts inspire me particularly but you have really made a convert of me.