The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[Van Horne]

In a more general vein, trains 1 - dishwasher 0.

Dave

[DKS]

Today was more rockwork and stonework.

[Chris333]

So how old were you when you built the White River & Northern I ?

[DKS]

So how old were you when you built the White River & Northern I ?

I started it when I was 16, a year after I met Rick Spano. I was inspired by this article in the June 1966 issue of Model Railroader:

[davefoxx]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't MR also have a circular table plan in the magazine in the 1980s with a rotating table, so the locomotive could stay in the same place while the table rotated under it?  Great for panned shots, I guess.

DFF

[ednadolski]

I started it when I was 16, a year after I met Rick Spano. I was inspired by this article in the June 1966 issue of Model Railroader:

Would be cool to put a staging helix into that.... Williams Loop, anyone...?   

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Would be cool to put a staging helix into that.... Williams Loop, anyone...?   

Ed

Say Helix again...

[DKS]

These window fans from the hardware store on the Mountain Vista got recycled for the enginehouse.



I had to lengthen the gear train so the fans could sit higher.



A piece of styrene angle serves as a retainer to keep the blades in place in the cowl.



I made new blades from thin slices of styrene rod attached to 1:700 airplane props.



The fans were tested after painting and before installation.



The fans were installed in a former double window.

[ednadolski]

Say Helix again...

[DKS]

The oscillating desk fan from the law office on the Mountain Vista got recycled for this layout's yard office.



First, I chopped down the base of the law office to a minimal piece of the former desk. This was necessary because the fan and desk were pretty much inseparable.



Next, I hacked an opening into the bottom of the yard office.



After I got the fan to fit properly, I added a white LED to illuminate it; otherwise the fan would go unnoticed.



It's noisier than I'd prefer, but at least it still works.

[CRL]

How’d you get it to sound like a drum track?

You could fire up the sound units on some locomotives in the yard to drown out the sound. 

Excellent as usual.

[DKS]

Today I built the control panel. As per usual, I rendered the panel art in CorelDraw, and printed it on self-adhesive stock that I laminate with plastic for durability.



Although I used the same technique, this time I used different materials than I normally do. I discovered a stash of label supplies that included matte finish transparent. I printed the art on the clear label, then applied it to self-adhesive sheet vinyl, and instead of plain white, I used an off-white color that gave the panel an attractive, vaguely antique-ish quality. Then I applied clear laminating film over that for a very robust, durable and attractive panel face. Meanwhile I assembled a control panel box out of scrap lumber (below left and right).

   

The panel itself is a piece of ⅛"-thick black sheet styrene measuring 4 by 10 inches. After drilling all of the switch holes, I applied the artwork, finished assembling the control panel, and attached it to the wooden box, which also contains the power supply (batteries).

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Hand laid track and battery powered.

@DKS , you bring a unique perspective to this hobby! I love it.

[wm3798]

Clearly a hangover from his days holed up in the mobile trailer.  9v batteries are indispensable for the model railroader surviving "off the grid".

I recall, before I had finished building out the WMRY using a 9v to run some trains during a power outage during Hurricane Isabel (2003?)  It was quite soothing!

Lee

[DKS]

Actually it predates my off-grid days. When I built the Trenton Transportation Company micro-layout, I wanted to forego a traditional power supply and control panel. So I built a battery pack into the large industrial building, and incorporated the controls into its smaller companion.







The tank is the throttle, the roof access next to it is the direction control, and the array of roof vents are pushbuttons to operate the turnouts. It worked so well that I've never gone back to traditional power supplies for portable layouts.