Cumberland Station TTrak and Other Adventures

[wm3798]

Wow, absolutely love this!  Very clever thinking.

Truthfully, it was borne out of sloth.  I had originally planned to install the switch in the roof top, but I couldn't muster the energy at that hour to carefully cut the slot into the thick DPM material, and square it up cleanly enough to look good.  Then it hit me... there was already a hole just the right size!  I drilled two holes for mounting screws (which still need to be dressed) and cut out the sashes, and voila!

And yes, @David K. Smith .  When one is modeling after closing time, you definitely have to look both ways before crossing the street!

In reviewing the photos, I noticed I have a small challenge ahead...


It appears the middle lamp has gone out over the platform...  I haven't installed the building in any kind of permanent way, but the platform and shed roof are glued together, and it will be a tight squeeze to change the light bulb... (LED).  I'm hoping its just a solder joint that's come loose that I can quickly touch with a soldering pencil to correct.  I'll have to go back through my construction photos to see how I installed that...

Lee

[chicken45]

I was in Cumberland just last week! I stayed at the Ramada. It wasn't a restful night.

Lee, this is nitpicky, and I'm only bringing it up because I'd like to also know the answer.
Do we know what the proper font for highway signs is?

[pdx1955]

Truthfully, it was borne out of sloth.  I had originally planned to install the switch in the roof top, but I couldn't muster the energy at that hour to carefully cut the slot into the thick DPM material, and square it up cleanly enough to look good.  Then it hit me... there was already a hole just the right size!  I drilled two holes for mounting screws (which still need to be dressed) and cut out the sashes, and voila!

And yes, @David K. Smith .  When one is modeling after closing time, you definitely have to look both ways before crossing the street!

In reviewing the photos, I noticed I have a small challenge ahead...


It appears the middle lamp has gone out over the platform...  I haven't installed the building in any kind of permanent way, but the platform and shed roof are glued together, and it will be a tight squeeze to change the light bulb... (LED).  I'm hoping its just a solder joint that's come loose that I can quickly touch with a soldering pencil to correct.  I'll have to go back through my construction photos to see how I installed that...

Lee

You know, when I saw that I was thinking - how realistic that is with a burned out light - because there's at least one out somewhere (Ed's Law application) . Also, Murphy's Law will dictate your fix - if you made it easy it will be a broken connection, if you made it hard , then the LED will be out!

[wm3798]

I was in Cumberland just last week! I stayed at the Ramada. It wasn't a restful night.

Lee, this is nitpicky, and I'm only bringing it up because I'd like to also know the answer.
Do we know what the proper font for highway signs is?

Yes.  It's a font I would have had to pay for when I made the sign.  My favorite color is free, and my favorite level of proto-fidelity is "good enough".

But thanks for asking!

Lee

[Point353]

It's a font I would have had to pay for when I made the sign.  My favorite color is free, and my favorite level of proto-fidelity is "good enough".

You could take a screenshot from google street view.

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[wm3798]

To answer Josh's question more succinctly, and less snarkily, I had my valet, Mr. Google, bring me this article from the vault.

https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2016/01/official-united-states-highway-sign-font-clearview/427068/

I'm glad Clearview is out.  I thought the lower case "L" with the little dongle looks stupid.  So good old Highway Gothic it is!  I'll have to see if there's a free download next...  Stand by. 

Oh Google!  Come fetch me a pen and paper... I wish to make an inquiry!

[wm3798]

Good boy, Google!  That was fast!

https://www.dafont.com/highway-gothic.font

[Point353]

Is one of those establishments going to be dubbed the Railwire saloon?

[mu26aeh]

Get a maintenance crew with a ladder, cones, caution tape and they're changing out a bulb 

[wm3798]

Those are both grand ideas! The corner diner with the turret is crying out for just such a purpose.

And I can have my maintenance crew holding an actual LED... I like It!

Another example of the brilliant collaboration of The Railwire's hive mind...

Lee

[DKS]

I can make one of these for you...

[DKS]

Get a maintenance crew with a ladder, cones, caution tape and they're changing out a bulb 

Vaguely reminds me of this Railwire-esque scene I modeled in Z Scale. Left to right: Tom, Lee, and Ed.

[wm3798]

I can make one of these for you...

I'll look forward to taking delivery in 2 weeks!

[freedj]

I'll have to go back through my construction photos to see how I installed that...

How detailed are your construction photos and how do you catalog them?  Are they for this exact purpose?

[wm3798]

I like to take progress pictures of any semi major project.  Even with the long hiatus in building the station (about six years elapsed before the Late Lord Zox helped me solve the window riddle), I kept a photographic journal pretty much of every step of the project.  Sadly the canopy was not recorded with any level of detail...  The journal goes from this...



To this...



To this...



I confess, when a project gets tantalizingly close to completion, my tendency is to work feverishly toward that end without much regard for posterity...

Lee