Weekend Update 9/3/17

[conrail98]

My brother-in-law came over, mostly to have one of those old-hat father to new father chast, but we cleaned out my basement and started benchwork on the layout:

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Basically one half of staging and one length of one wall,

Phil

[bnsfdash8]

Just sharing one of my favorite models, BCOL 4643.

[SecretWeapon]

Working on Spring Grove, PA as open house weekend draws near.  2 weeks !


More photos in layout engineering report.

SWIFT is so bad, they mess up even on model RR's. SWIFT on the roof.

[jmlaboda]

Wow!!!  Talk about eye popping!!!



That's a beautiful model!!!  Too bad it isn't in two tone green...

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I didn't do much for myself, but I did something even better: helped a friend move his layout along.

First we ate this: "Maryland Mac" (Mac n cheese with cream of crab soup topped with old bay chips) at Broom's Bloom (http://www.bbdairy.com/)
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Then we got to work. Here's where we started: a drawn out trackplan (that had been laid on the plywood before), that was going to have foam placed under it.
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We did some cutting and fitting of foam.
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Properly tagged it.
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And glued it down.
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[learmoia]

And glued it down.

 NMRA Logo?  

~Ian

[Ed Kapuscinski]

NMRA Logo?  

~Ian

Yep! Two of em side by side.

[VonRyan]

Did a lot of non-train stuff this weekend, but the best of all was what I did today.
I went with a friend of mine to the Annapolis Corps of the Salvation Army and helped install two new faucets over the sinks inside of their Emergency Disaster Services canteen, and helped to diagnose an issue with the gas oven.
The official orders have them staying put (whereas originally they were going to be heading to Texas) for the time being, waiting to see what hurricane Irma is going to do. But with the current predictions, it looks like the work I did today will be seeing plenty of real use very soon.

Today was also the first volunteer service work I've done since my scout troop folded a few years ago. The recent events following hurricane Harvey have had me considering ways to continue doing service work, and so I'm in the process of applying to become a member of my local corps of the Salvation Army.

[VonRyan]

A few pictures too:

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[bbussey]

My third attempt at a GTW 40' auto box with end doors. I think this one is going to work out.

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[Dave V]

Almost done with the Rico depot...

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The original kit:

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The real thing:

[OldEastRR]

My old Kadee/MicroTrains PS-1 boxcars got obsoleted by the new Atlas ones.  I really didn't want the expense of dumping them  and replacing them with Atlas. I only had 7-8 cars, so I thought I'd try rebuilding them like real carshops did. This involved cutting off the roofs, filing/grinding away the extra wall to the correct height, filing down the truck bolsters, cutting off and replacing the lower door rails with scale styrene strip.

Original Kadee on left, modified on right

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The modified Kadee matched with the Atlas PS-1

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The first couple of rebuilds were Frankenstein-ish until I perfected the method. Squadron putty covered any seam lines where the roof got glued to the body. The bulkhead tops aren't quite right but nobody looks at them. The last car I did turned out the nicest.
Most of these cars had the old metal Kadee rib-back wheels, so to go along with the reshopping theme they were sent to the wheel shop to grind down those big flanges! A bonus was I could get the treads to be shiny metal like real car wheels. The original doors didn't quite fit the new height (the doors are correctly sized), so I rebuilt their attachments:

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While the wheels were out I weathered them and the trucks, too. Still need to attach the brake wheels, then off to the paint shop to try to match the original colors when I repaint the roof edges. I liked this project because it involved problem-solving. Now I'm eyeing the few MTL 50' PS-1's I have and debating whether to reshop them. 

[Cajonpassfan]

My third attempt at a GTW 40' auto box with end doors. I think this one is going to work out.

(Attachment Link)

Oooh, that's a nice; I want one!
Otto

[MK]

Did a lot of non-train stuff this weekend, but the best of all was what I did today.
I went with a friend of mine to the Annapolis Corps of the Salvation Army and helped install two new faucets over the sinks inside of their Emergency Disaster Services canteen, and helped to diagnose an issue with the gas oven.
The official orders have them staying put (whereas originally they were going to be heading to Texas) for the time being, waiting to see what hurricane Irma is going to do. But with the current predictions, it looks like the work I did today will be seeing plenty of real use very soon.

Today was also the first volunteer service work I've done since my scout troop folded a few years ago. The recent events following hurricane Harvey have had me considering ways to continue doing service work, and so I'm in the process of applying to become a member of my local corps of the Salvation Army.

Good for you!!!!  Sometimes there are things more important than trains.  Very few, but some. 

[garethashenden]

Oooh, that's a nice; I want one!
Otto

Me too! Can it be an ESM kit?