The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[DKS]

Random bits of progress...

If I thought what I was doing before was slow-going, I've begun an even slower process: cutting, soldering and bundling nearly 600 pieces of wire. I can only do a few bundles at a time before going a little nuts.



Meanwhile, I built the sound control unit. The sounds are all generated by cheap (only four bucks) MP3 players, which are housed within a separate enclosure that plugs into the layout through audio jacks in the control panel; the sound files are stored on micro-SD cards. I couldn't come up with a way to install the players within the layout while at the same time maintaining the necessary accessibility to them. All of the units are controlled and wired separately so I can pick and choose which sounds I want at any given time.





Playback is through a variety of different speakers. Foreground items, including the gas station, wedding party and jazz bar, have micro-speakers (0.5" x 0.75") installed in the buildings. The mill spillway and firefly field have 2" round speakers installed directly behind them, and the fireworks (if the effect works) will have a pair of 2" x 3.5" full-range TV replacement speakers underneath the mechanism.

Lastly, I've added a tail to the kite. It took quite a while to source a material that didn't look unnaturally stiff. Finally I found it: 0.6mm silver box chain for jewelry. Smaller chain is available—down to 0.45mm—but then it becomes exponentially more expensive. This chain was ten bucks.



The chain doesn't bounce or sway, but it does do two worthwhile things. One, it changes the behavior of the kite: adding mass reduces its tendency to jiggle. And two, it always hangs straight down, no matter the angle of the kite, which helps prevent it from looking stiff, as seen in the image below right. At a normal viewing distance and angle, it's actually quite effective.

   

[glakedylan]

DKS ... redefining intrinsicality  intricacy daily! (sorry, my now and again dyslexia making an appearance)
\using chain is such a fine choice
awesome

sincerely
Gary

[pjm20]

DKS that is most impressive, yet again! Now all you need to do is make a working fireman for Ed K's H3. 

[DKS]

Thank you, gents!

So, @martink and his Monbulk Creek layout ( https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50662.0 ) and canal lock animation ( https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50664.0 ) got me thinking, particularly his on-the-mark observations on T Gauge--

It takes a great deal of work to get any sort of reliable running in standard T, and even then there are far too many frustrating limitations.

Considering the effort I've put into my "kiddie ride" project so far, I felt the ROI getting it to run reliably wasn't going to be worth it, particularly when there was an off-the-shelf solution available. I'd forgotten all about Teeny Trains--I used to own one back when they were first introduced. At $38 their cheapest product ( https://www.teenytrains.com/product-page/ps-200d-5v ) was appealing, and it was also comparable in size to the original loop of track I'd made. That the magnetic track looked hokey was no issue at all—kiddie rides rarely look realistic. And so today I placed an order for their PS-200D. I had to move the brewery office back a fraction of an inch, but that was trivial.



Above, the loop of T Gauge track has been removed, the brewery office relocated, and the space to be occupied by the Teeny Train marked out.

[DKS]

Here's the Teeny Train set shopped into the above image.



I'll turn the vehicles into the kiddie train ride cars, apply a printed image of track for a slightly better look, and scenic the base.

[glakedylan]

wise choice...there are so many attractions in this railroad that are handmade
and manifesting your magic. this will free up some time to work on other things
while providing a smooth run added feature.


super!


sincerely
Gary

[Chris333]

I was really surprised how well the Teeny Trains system ran.

[DKS]

Started work on the big rock cut.



As well as a smaller cut at the other end of the layout.

[dem34]

Is that Welberg field material in the last picture there?

[DKS]

Is that Welberg field material in the last picture there?

Good eye, it is indeed. I used to make the field of fireflies:



http://davidksmith.com/modeling/layouts/LastWhiteRiver/wrn8z-8-2.htm

[dem34]

Ah so that's were that feature ended up, need to get my hands on some of that stuff one of these days.

[DKS]

Ah so that's were that feature ended up, need to get my hands on some of that stuff one of these days.

Scenic Express is your friend.

https://www.sceneryexpress.com/Martin-Welberg-Studios/departments/1379/

[DKS]

The Teeny Train set arrived on 19 October 2020. The whole thing is built on a single piece of thin PC board (below), which was perfect: all I had to do was create a relief on the layout for the components mounted to the bottom of the board. (The grey circles in the corners of the board are where foam rubber feet were attached, which I removed.)

   

Then I rendered artwork for better-looking track by drawing ties and rails over a gravel texture background. After printing the art on shipping label stock (which I chose because it has an opaque layer), I sprayed it with several coats of clear flat sealant, per @martink . Then I applied it to the PC board (below).



Installation took a few minutes. I just had to create a relief for the components and a slot for the power connector (below left). After that, the unit neatly dropped into place (below right) this morning.

   

The next challenge will be to turn the goofy-looking Teeny Trains taxis and/or buses (below) into the kiddie ride rolling stock.

[RAILCAT]

DKS, should there be pictures in your posting?
Nothing shows.

[DKS]

DKS, should there be pictures in your posting?
Nothing shows.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=50723.0