The Very Last White River and Northern Railroad

[DKS]

I’d love to get my hands on two of these kits somehow...who made them again?

Showcase Miniatures. https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n_scale/n_scale_century_foundry_signals/554.html

[Cajonpassfan]

Thanks @ DKS. They make some nice stuff, a lot of which I have. Somehow, I missed the semaphores...
OttO

[DKS]

Today's project was unexpected: I hadn't planned on animating the enginehouse doors. I'd done this effect on the White River & Northern IV; that one required I animate four sets of doors. Thankfully, this time around it's just one. However, I was faced with the fact that the mechanism had to fit inside the enginehouse, under the roof no less, as there was no room underneath the structure. Fortunately I'd just completed the train order signals: the "micro-mechanism" I built for it gave me the confidence to attempt this bit of insanity. Still, the overarching directive was to make the doors move smoothly and naturally—if I couldn't do that, then I wouldn't bother.

A number of challenges loomed with this project. The mechanism had to fit within the existing roof rafters, without obscuring any of the interior lighting LEDs. Then, I had to drive two rotating objects, but only through 90-degree arcs, and in opposite directions, yet, there was no room for bell cranks or other such linkage; basically it had to operate by magic.

The first thing I tackled was the doors. I made tiny working hinges. Why? Because I'm a stickler for a natural visual effect, and pivoting the door within its dimension would produce odd-looking movement, similar to concealed cabinet door hinges. So I made my own hinges from brass flat stock, stainless steel capillary tube, and 0.010" brass wire.

   

I soldered bits of the flat stock to the capillary tube (above left), then ground away the excess metal with a Dremel, making sure to remove half of the tube at the end of each part. I slid two hinge parts onto 0.010" brass rod (below left), then bent and trimmed the wire around the hinge parts to lock them together (below right). Granted, the hinges are much too big for N Scale, but making them any smaller wasn't practical for me, and besides, they look fine at a normal viewing distance.

   

Then I had to make new doors, because the existing ones weren't the right size (they didn't close, so it didn't matter). I made the new ones just like the last ones: with individual boards. After attaching the hinges to the new doors, I glued them to a new door frame, then painted everything.

   

For the mechanism, I recycled the micro-drive (double-worm on a pager motor) I'd originally slated for the barber pole, but ultimately replaced because it was too noisy. Since this won't be running continuously, I wasn't as concerned by noise. The business end of the mechanism comprises a gear with two index pins, one each for the open and closed positions, that engage a microswitch to keep the motor running for a full cycle. One of the pins is actually tubing, into which a pair of 0.005" wires are inserted. As the gear rotates, it pushes and pulls the wires to move the doors.



One oddity is that the roof peak does not align with the middle of the doors, so the mechanism is actually off-center. This was both a problem and a happy accident. The problem was that the wires moved slightly different amounts, but had to be the same length, so one of them simply flexes when the door reaches its travel limit (indeed, this made the mechanism very robust: accidentally moving the open doors causes no harm). On the plus side, the doors do not move simultaneously, which looks more natural and less mechanical. See for yourself:

[seusscaboose]

I am continually amazed!
and getting spoiled watching all your cool videos!
thanks!

[davefoxx]

Awesome!!!  I love it!  Perhaps if you cut the hinges back so they don't overhang past the door casing, they'll look even smaller.  Just fantastic work.

DFF

[DKS]

Perhaps if you cut the hinges back so they don't overhang past the door casing, they'll look even smaller.  Just fantastic work.

I may try that, but the hinges are super-delicate, and I'm not sure about modifying them after installation without causing harm. I may instead enlarge the casing...

[Chris333]

The un-matched opening rates does look much better.

[CRL]

Fantastic... but thank goodness for a MUTE option.

[Cajonpassfan]

Showcase Miniatures. https://www.showcaseminiatures.net/n_scale/n_scale_century_foundry_signals/554.html

After a brief exchange of emails, Walter agreed to make the N scale semaphore frets available separately. They are now listed on their website, at $5. Cool stuff/nice people, too.
Otto

[nscalbitz]

Superb.
Just one small point- spelling mistake in caption- PAIT?
cheers dave2

[keeper]

I am continually amazed!
and getting spoiled watching all your cool videos!
thanks!

I'll second that!

[DKS]

A while back I built a turbine vent animation device to go in the printing company building. With its recent removal from the layout, I was left with a great animation device and no home for it. Then I suddenly noticed that it fit perfectly in the brewery building:





But this creates another problem. Breweries have very specific, unique styles of vents, and these aren't them. So, do I change the industry? If so, that affects the purpose of the railroad. So, do I change them both? I am in a quandary over this, especially as I really like the turbine vents in that structure.

My initial idea would be to make the brewery something like a furniture factory, rebuild the resort as active instead of abandoned, and make the railroad a tourist line to haul passengers up to it. But I'm not sold on that.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

[Point353]

My initial idea would be to make the brewery something like a furniture factory, rebuild the resort as active instead of abandoned, and make the railroad a tourist line to haul passengers up to it. But I'm not sold on that.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

Perhaps what would have been the brewery could be a shoe factory and the branch could serve a granite quarry?

[Philip H]

Modern micro breweries are shoehorned into all sorts of buildings.  One can safely assume a 1950's era local brewery did the same thing,making use of what was available. If you want to change the vent caps go for it, but I am sure Ed's Law applies.  JFRTM.

[Chris333]

I think 99.9% of the people won't be able to tell those aren't "brewery vents".