Weekend Update 2/22/15

[Philip H]

A small passenger ferry about 90 feet long. Z scale version shown. I built it for a customer, and it might be just too prickly to build for a kit. I'll look into it next month when I get back to Ohio. I think a kit might be about $30, but have no intention of making a cast resin hull for it.

Hey Pete,
Take off the blue passenger cover on the back and you have a really close ringer for a nearshore charter fishing or "headboat" http://www.countrygirlcharters.com/CrystalDawn-jjpegweb%5B1%5D.gif

[Mark W]

A steam powered freight needs some help on the new Mountain Pass Mega Module at Free-moNebraska.

[ryan_wilkerson]

That's a heck of a big return loop Mark! What are the dimensions and grade?

[Lemosteam]

What a useful engine!  Thomas would be proud!  Loved the vid- thanks for sharing!

[carlso]

Mark,

super video, thanks for sharing.

That pink mountain scene is going to be awesome when completed, please update as you go along with it. It is yours, right?

One question, I was fairly active with NTrak, with the New Mexico RailRunNers in Albuquerque and set up with them all over the Southwest. This FreeMo concept is fairly new? Is it slowly making NTrak obsolete? What is the difference between FreeMo and NTrak? Inquiring minds need to know.

Thanks again for the vid,

Carl

Oh, BTW, if that had been an SP AC-9 heading up that reefer block, no help would have been required.  
 

[ryan_wilkerson]

Carl, you can see the FreeMo-N standard here: http://www.free-mon.org/

I did NTRAK also..about 20 years ago. It was a lot of fun.

FreeMo-N is allows more freedom in design, which lends to being able to create more prototypical scenes or just more interesting routes like what Mark has shown in the video.

A few high points of the differences: 50" rail height, code 55 rail, single track standard (double track works too), DCC, larger curves (I believe the minimum radius is 22"). Since it's newer, the standards take into consideration all of the improvements made in N scale in the last couple decades. Lots of fun!
A few groups:
http://www.sv-free-mon.org
http://www.nlandpacific.com/
http://www.mnfreemo.org/content/n-scale
http://pnwfreemo-n.org/
http://www.sac-free-mon.com (this is a new group that I'm a part of)

The discussion group was started in 2002:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Free-moN/info

[dnhouston]

Great video Mark, and the comments added that special touch 

[Mark W]

And of course, add to Ryan's list Free-moNebraska

At our show this weekend, the #1 question we were asked was "What's the difference between Free Modular and N track?" 
I merely said "Look at our layout, and then over to the N-trak layout." (actually it was the HO equivalent)
The next question was "Yeah, how come yours isn't straight?!"   

In a nutshell, you have a standard end-plate and a few minimum requirements.  Everything else is left to you with the condition of aiming to raise the bar in high-fidelity, realistic modeling. 

After pacing a train around the layout, practically everyone came back and said, "Yeah, this is way cool!"


Follow the layout thread for progress on the mountain.  This one is all my dad's idea.  It's a few inches larger than a 4x8, split into 4 sub modules.  The grade is 1.6 with 23" minimum radii (except for one curve that needed to hit 22").  The other day I calculated the total loop length which came to *drumroll* 37 feet!  That means we can turn around a train that is 1.1 scale miles long!   

[Palouse51]

Otto,  I am good friends with Gregg and I am lucky enough to get some castings from him.  They have not been released yet.

Palouse51.  I believe the first cars were converted in 1947 and continued into the mid-fifties.  I'm not sure how long they saw service but into the sixties for sure.  They saw service all over the system.  Some were converted at the Como shops and some in Tacoma.  I have seen pictures of them from Minnesota to Montana to Washington.

Thanks for the info Andrew. If I can find any photos of these cars I'll add one to my project list.

[nkalanaga]

Cody:  Then those are a model coupling, not a model of a prototype?  Given the number of different couplings used worldwide, they looked like something the British might have cooked up, sort of like the "chopper" couplers many British-designed narrow gauge lines use, including NZ.  They look like a scaled-up model coupler.

[garethashenden]

Cody:  Then those are a model coupling, not a model of a prototype?  Given the number of different couplings used worldwide, they looked like something the British might have cooked up, sort of like the "chopper" couplers many British-designed narrow gauge lines use, including NZ.  They look like a scaled-up model coupler.

They are model couplings. The prototype used "3 link" couplings which are basically three links of chain.

[tom mann]

Great stuff this past week, guys.  I'm glad this thread is gaining in popularity; it is almost like browsing a magazine in that there are several pages of highly informative but disparate content. Thanks to @up1950s for starting it off every week and for coming up with the lead graphic.

[ryan_wilkerson]

Sorry about that Mark! I was working off google search results to quickly get the links and missed a copy/paste on FreeMoNebraska.
That's pretty cool that your Dad is involved! A 37' loop is very impressive. Having a helper spur at the top and bottom would make for some interesting operations for the trains that need it.

And of course, add to Ryan's list Free-moNebraska

[unittrain]

Working on a bridge abutment these are just mocked up progress shots 

[nkalanaga]

Gareth:  Yes, I noticed the model of the 3-link coupling on the car, but thought maybe the prototype used both, so the car could be run with others regardless of how they were equipped.  Do any 2mm modelers use the 3-link couplers as their model coupler?  With a good pair of tweezers it seems that they would work.

I've always wondered why British railways didn't use the European screw-link couplers.  Did they prefer to have slack in their trains, or didn't want the expense/complication/whatever of sprung buffers?