Weekend Update 4/10/16

[arbomambo]

is that the Railfan  quarters at Summit?

[Cajonpassfan]

Otto, what is that trolley body in the background?

Chris, that's the makings of the LARy funeral car Descanso. It was a kind of an icon, as it sat at Summit for many years and as Bruce noted, was used by a generation of railfans. One can't model Cajon of that era and not include the Descanso. I started bashing it from a Bachman Brill shell, but put it on hold account one of our fellow Cajon pass friends, Guido Cherici, is working on a 3d print in both N and HO, see last picture.
Otto K.

[C855B]

I'll also add that the car belonged and still belongs to the Pacific Railroad Society, and was used as a bunkhouse for a while by Chard Walker, one of the operators (and most famous) at Summit station. It now lives at Orange Empire Railroad Museum.

http://www.pacificrailroadsociety.org/PRS_Descanso_Funeral_Car.html

Chard was a hard-core railfan, and the job at Summit was his objective in initially applying for work with Santa Fe. This was, of course, why he was so welcoming to railfan visitors. One of his favorite stories was relating one of the "non-fun" tasks of the job - climbing the train-order semaphore mast several times to re-light the kerosene lamp in the middle of a blizzard.

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks Otto, really appreciate that coming from you. You do some wonderful work!

Jon

Well Jon, thank you, and you're welcome!
Looks like we got ourselves a mutual admiration society of two
Otto

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I also did some work on CR 3812 and finished up 5987.

Those are sooooo hot.

[Blazeman]

In doing my painting and decal work, I'm finding I need some "Hydrogen Peroxide" decals for my white PROCOR tank cars. 

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3364350
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3214534
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4017499

My company's cars.

[jmarley76]

I built myself a table saw this week... now comes the fun part making stripwood

That's awesome! Thank you for sharing! 

Made a old tie load from balsa to fit an MT gon...

[randgust]

Hey look he listens! 

After running a few test cuts I've made some modifications. I've raised the table, and have added a guard for
the blade. Keeping in mind that this is a 1.5" blade and the stock I'm cutting is 1/32" or thinner I'm thinking this should be sufficient

Last shot is a few test pieces of pine with no sanding or any other prep, the piece closest to the dime is .020". Definitely promising results

I don't know if they've changed the design and metallurgy of those steel saw blades or not, but when I tried them they dulled up very rapidly, and before you knew it, you were making as much smoke as sawdust with a dull and heat-damaged blade.   Dremels are rather high RPM to low-torque motors.   I was never too impressed with the blade design, it was more like a toy saw blade than an actual one.   Easy to burn them up. 

I have a 10" overhead radial saw I've run for decades and still have 10 fingers, although my snowblower nearly claimed four of them.  The big overhead radial has scared the he[[ out of me several times, including launching jammed stock during ripping across the room and sticking it through a door.  (Never stand directly behind the work...)  This might only nip the end of a finger off but still deserves a lot of respect because you have to be so darn close to the tool.  My father the 'pro' woodworker was minus the end of his thumb from a jointer.

With a veneer blade I could actually cut stripwood with the 10" radial if I had enough clamps and guides, so yeah, it can be done.   

You probably want to try basswood as well as pine to see how that goes.     

[bnsfdash8]

Those are sooooo hot.

Thanks. I fear the CR bug has bit me.

[Philip H]

Thanks. I fear the CR bug has bit me.

There a 12 step program for that.

[w neal]

Added bushes &  trackside junk. Tried to weather some ties. Eh, It was a break from doing taxes. 

[ryan_wilkerson]

Shrink wrap and black paint...I'll work those into the install. Epoxy is a good idea too, thanks.

Nice job on the install.  Shrink wrap tubing should work well for what you want.  It can also prevent light leaks into the body or through the windows (in certain installs).

I usually use magnet wire to hook up LEDs (it is very thin, flexible and easy to hide).  I also sometimes modify the light pipes and install the LEDs as close to the headlight lens as possible to maximize the brightness.  Then I paint the modified light pipe black to prevent light leaks.

Other times I glue the LED next to the light pipe or headlight opening and then cover it with a dome of a 5-minute epoxy. Then I paint the dome black, again to prevent light leaks.  Sometimes I use a layer of silver and then black paint to make the paint layer light-tight

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Thanks. I fear the CR bug has bit me.

It's easy enough to have happen.

Join us... http://www.thecrhs.org/ lol.

But seriously, Conrail was great, largely because it spanned the end of "old time railroading" and the beginning of the modern era. Like 40' boxcars and GP9s? Check. Into widecabs and stacks? Check.

[jmarley76]

One more project finished to report on...

Here's a "conveyor unloader" I ordered from Shapeways (here's the link - http://shpws.me/Cu5L). I think it looks pretty good and has convinced me to look at more 3D printed items.

[unittrain]

Added another section to the bridge. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1474/25789001763_c6252d53cb_k.jpg https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1639/26299568032_ca1a086296_k.jpg