Weekend Update 10/14/18

[C855B]

This project is actually from last weekend.
I'm thinking about changing out the ginormous ladder. It is bugging me -- LOL

The ladder can go away.

Adam @draskouasshat is right, pole climbing in your depicted era was done with gaffs, spikes that attached to boots which dug into the pole as it was scaled. Not so much in modern times because of safety issues, not to mention that the spikes chewed-up the poles.

[up1950s]

I will have to keep my eyes open for Tim's Diesel house Richie...to compare notes !  

Whoops , sorry MARK .

[up1950s]

Yup, nowdays you have bucket trucks 

I used to hump poles for the NY Telephone Co ( remember them ) in the late 60's , learned on hooks in school but out of school used only pegs or ladders .

[peteski]

 

Have a great weekend!

md

That is amazing Mark!  I love it!  This build really deserves a thread of its own (in the Scratchbuilding section).  Too bad you weren't doing that all along, with just teaser photos here in the Weekend Update threads.

While your work is gorgeous, and this has nothing to do with you or your post, it would be nice and courteous of people replying to any threads with lots of photos if they trimmed the long string of photos from their reply.  I seen the original photos once, I don't need to scroll through them all again in all the "kudos replies".  Sorry for the rant - this is one of the things that annoys me.

[peteski]

Original configuration was 110V-powered and a direct replacement for the electronics board was located, but there were other issues with the 110V system, plus a desire to convert to LED. On finding appropriate 12VDC LED assemblies (semi-trailer taillights!), I figured the Circuitron FL-2HD flasher board might do the trick. It did, and on initial testing was the discovery that the current draw was so low at 10-15mA, so the whole thing could run on eight D-cell batteries for 15-20 days continuously. Fitting the battery holders into the base was a fabrication challenge, but it worked, the finished photo above taken after a week of uninterrupted operation.

Now maybe I can get back to working on the layout.

Looks good!
I'm also really, really surprised that the LED truck tailight you used only needs 15mA of current @12V.  I counted 24 red LEDs in that lamp. To minimize current consumption, these could be several stings of series-connected LEDs tied together.  Red LED needs about 2V to operate.  6-series connected LEDs could theoretically run from 12V without a resistor, but you have no control over their current.  Let's assume that there are 4 of those stings of 6 LEDs in there (a total of 24 LEDs).  The total current the lamp consumes would be divided evenly between those 6 strings of LEDs.  15mA / 6 = 2.5mA per string (and 2.5mA per each LED).  If they only need 3.3mA to glow as brightly as they appear, then those are wicked efficient red LEDs.  In  my experience red LEDs are much less efficient than Blue or White LED.  Call me surprised. 

[BCR 570]

Peteski:  Your comment re re-posting of lots of photos seems a fair one to me.  All that is needed is to quote the original poster's text, unless one's reply is addressing a particular photograph in which case a re-post might be warranted.

Example:

I will have to keep my eyes open for Tim's Diesel house Richie...to compare notes !

Mark:  No diesel house in my plans; there was a single track engine house in Chetwynd upon completion of the yard in 1958 but it was gone by 1977.  Yours is coming along nicely and i will enjoy seeing it in person one day.


This week saw further progress on my three MLW RS-3s, including removal of original pilots and infill of top steps:






Also, C-425 807 is out of the paint shop and ready for installation of lighting, speaker and decoder:






This locomotive was still in Erie-Lackawanna paint in 1977 with only the BCR dogwood logogram and new number on the cab and number boards.

Thank you to Jeff Briggs for the great paint and decal job; now over to Dave Mackinnon for the lighting, speaker and decoder installations.


Tim

[peteski]

Peteski:  Your comment re re-posting of lots of phothttps://www.therailwire.net/forum/Themes/default/images/bbc/quote.gifos seems a fair one to me.  All that is needed is to quote the original poster's text, unless one's reply is addressing a particular photograph in which case a re-post might be warranted.

Exactly!  Or even better, go one step further when including one or couple of photos in the reply: reduce their size.  Just add a a tag which will display the photo at a certain width (the height will be calculated automatically). That is what I often do.  The tag is "width=300" inside the  the photo lnk's first IMG tag (that will shring the photo to a large thumbnail size).

Like this:

Code: [Select]

[img width=300]https://www.therailwire.net/forum/gallery/7/1731-131018014743-7687323.jpeg[/img]

This week saw further progress on my three MLW RS-3s, including removal of original pilots and infill of top steps:



Tim

Nice job Tim!
(I used the width=300 to shrink the included photo).

[Point353]

While your work is gorgeous, and this has nothing to do with you or your post, it would be nice and courteous of people replying to any threads with lots of photos if they trimmed the long string of photos from their reply.  I seen the original photos once, I don't need to scroll through them all again in all the "kudos replies".  Sorry for the rant - this is one of the things that annoys me.

Imagine if there was some means to simply cast a vote to express one's approval for a particular post instead of necessarily having to quote it and add a comment.

[SP-Wolf]

remove the ladder, we linemen don't need ladders to climb poles!!!!!!!

Drasko

Howdy Otto,
Funny thing - the pole is plumb -- When I first looked at the photo, I thought the same thing. So, I went back up to the train room and checked. Strange --

The ladder can go away.

Adam @draskouasshat is right, pole climbing in your depicted era was done with gaffs, spikes that attached to boots which dug into the pole as it was scaled. Not so much in modern times because of safety issues, not to mention that the spikes chewed-up the poles.

Thanks, Guys --- this helps!! And, thanks, for the education!!

Wolf

[craigolio1]

I will have to keep my eyes open for Tim's Diesel house Richie...to compare notes !

md

Tim yourdiesel shop looks incredible! I’m sorry I could t resist.

[MK]

Been there. Never, ever, ever again. 

Back before cell data was "a thing", I designed portable sensor arrays for field deployment with 2-way radios and special modems for data comms. We ruined dozens of these small gel and AGM (absorbed glass mat) batteries. No matter how often we scolded everyone about battery care, after events the equipment would get stored in a closet or whatever, and not immediately recharged. Storing a mostly-depleted PbHCl battery is nearly always fatal to future use, and these batteries are not all that cheap.

With too many field failures due to batteries that wouldn't hold a charge, I modified the design for D cells, and we installed a fresh set for every event. Worked like a charm, and the batteries would last the entire two- or three-day event with power to spare.

Since I'm frequently the one who hauls the crossbuck, I knew its duty cycle, and it was the same situation as the sensor/telecom system - infrequent, on-demand use for 2 or 3 days at a time, and then hastily stored with no access to recharge power. The solution - well, at least to me - was obvious.

That is true.  You do have maintain the batteries and can't leave them in a state of discharge or sulfate will build on the internal plates.  With any type of rechargeables you do have to take care of them or else...  We use lipos for our R/C airplanes and helicopters and they have to be treated well or they can be ruined in one flight, not to mentioned a crashed model.

[peteski]

Imagine if there was some means to simply cast a vote to express one's approval for a particular post instead of necessarily having to quote it and add a comment.

There is - it is called up-vote (which is already being utilized on those great posts here).
Then there is Facebook.  Not a fan of it and of the silent "thumbs-up" procedure.  Even a small 1-sentence kudos (without quoting the entire origina post with a long string of photos) is nicer. 

[BCR751]

The latest edition to my MoW fleet.



Doug

[BCRail_FSJ]

Just a few touch ups on the backdrop this week.   Gave the room a good clean up also and I am working on some overall and close up photographs of the layout for the PGE/BCR modellers display board at the Vancouver Train show next month.    Looking forward to visiting Canada again even though November temperatures will be a bit of a shock after 3 years in Auckland.

[chuck geiger]

The first Luke Towan Washington Palm. Made mistakes that will be corrected as the process moves along: