Weekend Update 6/16/24

[Dave V]

Extra 454 at lofty 10,250-foot Lizard Head Pass on the Rio Grande Southern.

[chuck geiger]

Close to the tree line.

What elevation do trees stop growing in Colorado?
Get Wild: What determines tree line? | SummitDaily.com
around 11,500 feet
Alpine tree lines vary greatly across the world, especially in areas north of 30 degrees north or south of 20 degrees south in latitude. In Colorado, tree line is around 11,500 feet.Nov 4, 2021

[Dave V]

Yep, it's 11,500 pretty much all over the state, with exceptions made for prevailing winds (rime ice loading or mountain sheltering). A common tactic here is to camp at 11,000 to summit a 14-er and be back below timberline before noon.

[Lemosteam]

Bryan, you know I have been following your build on FB. These locomotives are truly a work of art and design. Really well done.

My meager contribution as compared to many already posted:

Well the LIRR IS is now mounted back on the drawer slides atop the wall cabinets. It is not seated against the wall yet as some lighting wires were damaged during re-installation so they need to be repaired. I am really happy with all of my progress since making the mental decision to toss my fears and get off my a$$ to work on it. Still have so many things to do, such as vehicles, yard equipment, aggregate piles, rusty waterfront dirt, vehicles paint remnants on the scrap piles, and painting & cabling the crane, paint and assemble the barges & tugboat, and of course a backdrop.
 






I also repainted all of the Monroe Models junk pile castings with thinned Testors rust as they were very lightly painted.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Getting 603 ready for the convention with some light weathering. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

Which was interrupted by keeping an eye on our temporary foster, Mr. Murray.

https://magsr.org/maleadopt.htm#Murray-MAGSR-2024

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[packers#1]

Not nearly as neat or impressive as Bryan’s work, but I did finish up my decoder install in my Athearn GP38-2. I needed to add the proper resistors to the lights and also wanted to be able to remove the shell, so I wired in some microconnectors for the lights.

First, wiring in the connector and resistor to the leads in the shell (not pictured, adding the other end to the decoder)


Everything plugged up. This also shows the speaker and keep alive located on the cut down weight. The unit still pulls the 4-6 cars I’m moving at a time so no complaints; if needed I can always add some weight to the top of the shell around the light wires.


Overall this was really enjoyable and firmly cemented for me why I moved to HO scale. Next time I would definitely shorten up the wires for the speaker and keep alive, as well as potentially go with the KA4 instead of the KA3, but overall everything went well and I really enjoyed it! I also overcame my hesitancy to solder around on a decoder and feel like that skill got sharpened a good bit while doing this project.

[spr1955]

River Bridge progress, now that lots of basic layer is in, progress will move a lot faster.... inspiration photos on the right, this the the yough in PA . Gray shadows on the right because of late afternoon sun.....

[dangerboy81]

I was thinking about scratch building the station at Hawk Junction on the Algoma Central, but I found on a Canadian Nscale Facebook group someone had 3d printed it. I had to have it! I have painted it and other than station signs, I think it is ready to be planted on the layout. I am not modelling Hawk Junction or the ACR...not really...but I needed a station and I didn't want a generic station.
I'm not crazy about the oversized lamps I made on the outside, I may replace them with something from the hobby store.

[Bendtracker1]

It's been a productive weekend for me.
Made a good amount of progress on the scenery base between Ruston and Winnfield.

https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=23915.msg799146;topicseen#msg799146

[Rasputen]

Dangerboy, try painting those outside lamps a lot darker and see if that is acceptable.

[dangerboy81]

Dangerboy, try painting those outside lamps a lot darker and see if that is acceptable.

Thats a good idea. Maybe I'll hit them with some dark weathering powder.

[craigolio1]

I was thinking about scratch building the station at Hawk Junction on the Algoma Central, but I found on a Canadian Nscale Facebook group someone had 3d printed it. I had to have it! I have painted it and other than station signs, I think it is ready to be planted on the layout. I am not modelling Hawk Junction or the ACR...not really...but I needed a station and I didn't want a generic station.
I'm not crazy about the oversized lamps I made on the outside, I may replace them with something from the hobby store.

Awesome find!!!  I have plans for a station from Vancouver Island that I’d love to do but CAD has been a slow learning process for me.

It looks awesome!!

Craig

[mu26aeh]

I'm not crazy about the oversized lamps I made on the outside, I may replace them with something from the hobby store.

Woodland Scenics makes a nice gooseneck wall mount light in their Just Plug system

[vermonter_railfan]

Like many, some final prep with my Free-MoN modules for the convention this week.

[dangerboy81]

Woodland Scenics makes a nice gooseneck wall mount light in their Just Plug system

Those are what I have in mind. I'm goin to weather the lamps a bit, see if I can improve them, but I'll probably just get the Just Lite it lamps.