Weekend Update 12/16/18

[peteski]

I had located the decoder based on the motor contacts, but this made me reconsider that. I was able to move the decoder backwards to the front chassis contacts. I then shortened the motor contacts and hardwired them to the decoder. Everything now fits!

Much more betterer!     Excellent!

[wazzou]

I started to paint and add details to the Missoula freight house.  So much left to do.

Don't forget the angled truck docks. 

[nscalbitz]

Three new ballast hoppers for my layout:
...
Tim

Tim did the prototype really fill them that high?
Just askin', coz,
d

[BCR 570]

Tim did the prototype really fill them that high?
Just askin', coz,
d

Sorry; no idea.  I am using the Hay Bros loads because they are the best I've seen.

Tim

[hegstad1]

Don't forget the angled truck docks. 

Oh, they'll get done!

[davefoxx]

Terraforming continues on the Seaboard Central 3.0.  This time, the nasty scar that was formed when I tore out the branch to increase the grade from 3% to 4% to gain the necessary clearance to get over the SBD line below (see pictures in previous posts) has been repaired.  This won't appear as much effort, but I have been procrastinating for months because I was concerned about blending the new grade into the existing hillside.  Thankfully, a lot of work with 1" and 2" thick foam scraps, a 3" snap-blade knife, and some lightweight spackling found that it really wasn't as bad as I expected, and the hillside is not at an unreasonable slope.  Please note that the far side of the track on the grade will get a hill above the track, similar to the effect I had on the Seaboard Central 2.0.  This will make the branch appear to be built into the hillside and not merely resting on a ramp:



At the same time, I also worked on the both sides of the cut, smoothing the hillside but leaving the area untouched on the left side of the lower track where an abutment for the trestle will go.  I spent some time cutting 2" foam blocks to build up the hill around where the abutment on the right side of the lower track will be.  Sadly, I was at a LHS yesterday, and it never occurred to me to look for abutments.  Today's work was done on impulse, so I hadn't planned ahead:



Here's the result of reworking the grade several months ago.  I have plenty of clearance, as the TOFC shown below is my tallest rolling stock.  Also, the track will actually be another 3/16" taller, because the bridge track does not have cork roadbed under the approaches:



This last shot gives you a different perspective of the cut that the upper track has to leap.  Gonna need another skewed trestle!  But first, I need those abutments to figure out where to cut into the hillsides and to start designing the bridge:



DFF

[Mark W]

Friday afternoon I received a package FULL of glass insulators @rodsup9000  had printed out in transparent green resin as result of a discussion in the 3D printing forum. 

This afternoon I put several poles together and wired them up with some EZ Line.  (Of course the new Turbo has to be shown off too!)


https://i.imgur.com/GnXXKEk.jpg


Very nice I think.  But the WOW factor really shines through when you back-light them.


https://i.imgur.com/TtpbtvI.jpg

[MK]

hey MK, I've got a lot of them. i can give you a couple if you can't find them.

Thanks Secret!  Maybe at Amherst?  You're going right?

[mark dance]

I forgot:  MarkW's way cool and beautifully painted Santa and Sleigh showed up...but the sleigh needed some work before being deemed "flight worthy".  Luckily the Nelson shops are nearly complete and the sleigh made a fitting first customer!



9 days to go!

md

[davefoxx]

This afternoon I put several poles together and wired them up with some EZ Line.  (Of course the new Turbo has to be shown off too!)

@Mark W,

Looking good, but permit me to make some recommendations:

(1) It's always really noticeable to me that some modelers merely wrap the "wires" around the insulator or even the crossarm, rather than glue the wires on top of the insulator where it belongs.  Admittedly, the "wrapped" method is much easier and certainly more durable, but the effect betrays the realism.  What I have done is to take my triangular jeweler's file and cut a small notch in the top of the insulator to give more surface area to glue the wire on, not to mention gluing EZ Wire to a point on top of an insulator is next to impossible.  Look at the picture below and you can see the wire (contrasted against the parking lot in the background) on top of the insulator.

(2) Which leads me to my next recommendation.  Look at the poles that I used.  They're similar to yours, except that I cut off the second and third crossarms so that the line poles don't look like every other Atlas telephone pole out there.  I also did that, so there was less wires to string.    Unless you plan to string twenty-four wires through each pole, you might consider cutting back.

(3) Try to leave more slack in the EZ Wire, and you can achieve a realistic sag in the wire.  I wish I had a better picture, but I don't own the layout anymore.

(4)  You probably can move your line poles farther apart.



Hope this helps,
DFF

[Mark W]

Cool, thanks Dave!  Great to know for when permanent installation comes.  This was just quick and dirty to show off the transparent print results.

The insulators I made the 3D model from are shaped to have cable wrapped or tied onto the lower portion rather than across the top, however because the EZ line is still a bit larger than scale tele cable, it 'spills' over the groove.  Nonetheless, your same technique should apply, I'll try gluing instead of wrapping. 


https://i.imgur.com/XCtpfKi.jpg

[Angus Shops]

Wow, those telegraph/telephone poles are genius! Good looking properly scaled poles are one of the big holes in product availability in N scale; it looks to me like you've filled the hole perfectly. They are so typical of the railroad scene and they are really hard to do well in N scale. I figured the best option, at some point in my future, was going to be some sort of etched part soldered to a brass rod, but this looks really promising. Are these going to be available for purchase?

I just checked my go to CPR image source (Nicholas Morant's Canadian Pacific, J. F. Garden.); it appears that CPR standard poles had 10 insulators per arm, and they look to be a mix of white ceramic, untinted glass, and green glass, but I'd be good with 8 per arm if needed... Most poles I've seen also have a 'V' shaped steel brace below each crossarm  to brace the arm in the horizontal position; would this be a doable?
Geoff

[nkalanaga]

If those ballast hoppers are loaded with ballast, they're probably overloaded.  The MILW 340000 series cars had a white line about 2/3 of the way up the side showing the load limit for ballast or other rock.  So far I can't find a picture of one of these cars online...

If the load is sugar beets, or other low-density material, they're fine.  Coal could also be loaded that high.

[eja]

@Mark W,

Looking good, but permit me to make some recommendations:

(1) It's always really noticeable to me that some modelers merely wrap the "wires" around the insulator or even the crossarm, rather than glue the wires on top of the insulator where it belongs. 

Hope this helps,
DFF

DFF ...

Did/do you work for the telephone company?

Great observations......

[PGE_Modeller]

If those ballast hoppers are loaded with ballast, they're probably overloaded.  The MILW 340000 series cars had a white line about 2/3 of the way up the side showing the load limit for ballast or other rock.  So far I can't find a picture of one of these cars online...

If the load is sugar beets, or other low-density material, they're fine.  Coal could also be loaded that high.

That sounds about right.  The cars Tim modelled had a load limit of about 170500 lbs and a capacity of 2775 Cu Ft.  Crushed rock (i.e. ballast) seems to run around 95 pounds/cu ft.  At that weight/cu ft the load limit would be reached at about 1800 cu ft or 65% of the car's cubic capacity.  Based on that, it looks as if the car would not be loaded with ballast above the top of the slope sheets.

Cheers,