Gibbon, Cozad & Western - "The 100th Meridian Line"

[Lemosteam]

@C855B , Just so you know, Ill just leave this here...

http://www.redrivermodels.com/SanBernardino_2018order.html

[C855B]

Fie on you! Fie, I say!

Gorgeous model. [sigh] Too bad I'm skipping over Berdoo on the layout, just no room. Maybe I ought to talk to them about Kelso and Caliente.

[Lemosteam]

Couldn't those be bashed from this?  I swear I thought it was the cad model you showed us.

[C855B]

Similar. The San Bernardino station is Santa Fe's interpretation of the mission revival style, designed to serve a populated area. What I have on the "next year" backburner is UP's gem in the middle of nowhere essentially built for employees only.

Kelso:



San Bernardino:

[Cajonpassfan]

Yes, the San B'dno depot model is gorgeous, but note it is very substantially foreshortened as shown; the prototype colonnade is 29 arches long. Also, the 1920's Harvey House east addition is absent, even in the full size rendition (per the original 1917 construction documents). I'm not being critical here, not at all, as I fully understand the rationale for the compression and their website is very clear about it. They also seem to be willing to produce a full size model, for a price.
Certainly an eye-catcher!
Otto K.

[C855B]

Followers of this thread will recall this picture from the first post:



It is half of the second story of a moderately-sized (16,000 sq.ft.) downtown building, the space offered to me as a spot for the layout. As well-documented here, we were concerned about investing in a large layout in a building not ours, the bane of club layouts everywhere. Welllllllll...

...the owner, a friend, is 93 and is winding down his life in an orderly manner while he is still cogent (very much so, BTW). Accordingly, he is making preparations to leave the building to the local history museum as his legacy. I'm president of the museum. So here we are six years later, the building for all intents will be under my control anyway. Is that wacky, or what?

Seriously, it is a fantastic gift. While the property itself is not worth much due to a depressed market here, there is a successful tenant in the recently-improved first floor space, and the museum would then benefit from the rent minus upkeep costs. Once the deal is consummated I have half a mind to talk to the local HO'ers and let them know if they want space in the "museum annex" for a club layout they are welcome to it. Provided they clean it up.

[C855B]

PLENTY has been happening with the layout project in the past three weeks... just not layout construction. We have been preparing for and executing a research trip to the primary areas being modeled, and returned just this evening. All told I took about 600 pictures, mostly scenery references and panoramas for backdrop painting, plus detail photos on two stations I hope to model as important LDEs, Kelso and Caliente, and other reference shots around Daggett including structures and possible backdrops.

Discussed in the thread previously were the "smoke trees" around Daggett. They are decidedly different as trees go. We stumbled on a particularly good example near Siberia (on the BNSF west of Amboy). Robyn is checking colors against her Pantone swatch book, the railroad deeming it an opportune time to run something:



Important feature of the layout is Afton Canyon. The bridges over the river/wash at the west entrance to the canyon were produced in brass by BLMA:



This panorama of Kelso is obviously reduced for posting, the stitched pano is 22,000 pixels wide. You can just make out the depot at the far right of the image:



UP graced us with a train while we were there. Train action was hard to find on both RRs during our trip as they were giving lots of track time to MOW crews:



It is quite surprising the Caliente depot still exists, now serving as city hall and a museum. Lousy shady-side picture, but it and the rest of the shots taken here will be good references for modeling.



Very productive trip, especially the scenery shots in the Meadow Valley Wash (the canyons between Moapa and Caliente). It was surprising how deep the canyon was in some locations - it's going to be fun and challenging to capture the flavor in the modeling.

[freedj]

If you are using great stuff in any real quantity, I HIGHLY recommend getting the great stuff pro gun.  I got one to do a house insulation project and OH MY,  you have so much more control with the gun.  It is easy to lay down a 1/4" bead of foam! You can also keep a can active for 30 days without issue.  The actual foam costs about the same, so your investing $40? in the extra control and the ability to re-use the can for a lot longer.

[C855B]

If you are using great stuff in any real quantity, I HIGHLY recommend getting the great stuff pro gun. ...

Already on the shopping list for when things get serious. The local stores started to stock them right after I was done with that phase of the main construction, of course.

Virtual Panels

One of the layout design objectives was to use JMRI's web server feature for "local" control panels instead of wiring up a bunch of toggles, buttons and indicator lights. I did a small proof-of-concept a couple of years ago with an iPad 2. Of course, the biggest thing in the way of the idea was the cost of tablets. No more. Refurbished 10" Android WiFi-only tablets can be had for less than $40. Less than the cost of a wired physical panel! The plan is angled brackets on the fascia with Velcro hold-downs for the tablets.

In under an hour I created a panel in Layout Editor that runs "a tower", and looks somewhat like a conventional model RR panel:



It works just as expected although I had to pinch-zoom and finger-scroll to perfect the appearance. As long as the operator simply touches the device icons and doesn't drag his or her finger across the screen which would scroll the view, it does the job. I decided against the US&S panel simulator I was working on earlier this year since it would require too much training for visiting operators. A familiar model-RR-style panel makes a lot more sense in a group operating session.

So this idea is a go. I'm wrestling with the decision to buy a batch of these while they're being surplussed for cheap, or wait until more of the layout is developed.

There are a number of issues to figure-out. First is "locking" a page and view in Chrome, or building the panel so that the browser defaults to the correct view, and without tabs and other browser header stuff. IOW, defaulting to a full-screen like shown above. The panel icon set seemed to work well as-is, but it could be cleaned up. First on my list is "improving" the indicator lights. I suspect some of this is probably going to come with more time learning Panel Editor and what tools are available for the web server.

[learmoia]

I was looking into a similar thing for work, I think Chrome has Kiosk view that would fit the bill..  You should be able to open Chrome into Kiosk mode to the page..

Each panel would need it's own url/page (I think ).. and the panels sized to the screen resolution..

~Ian   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I was looking into a similar thing for work, I think Chrome has Kiosk view that would fit the bill..  You should be able to open Chrome into Kiosk mode to the page..

Each panel would need it's own url/page (I think ).. and the panels sized to the screen resolution..

~Ian   

I would not be surprised if there was some sort of app that let you do that specifically.

And if not, it might be fairly easy: https://codewithchris.com/make-an-app-from-website/#webviewapp

[lajmdlr]

C855B
What you're calling the Caliente depot is actually the Kelso (CA) depot. Caliente is on the old SP Tehachapi line.

[wcfn100]

C855B
What you're calling the Caliente depot is actually the Kelso (CA) depot. Caliente is on the old SP Tehachapi line.

Caliente, Nevada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliente_Railroad_Depot

Jason

[C855B]

Caliente, Nevada. ...

Speaking of Caliente, same name, two different reasons. The Tehachapi town is because, is, well... if you've spent any time there at all in the summer you learn exactly why. Back in friendlier days, we'd frequently hang-out in the shade of the big live oak next to the tracks between the tunnel and Cal-Bodfish Road.

Caliente, NV is named for the hot springs there. It's of course in the desert, but it doesn't get quite as hot as the California version due to the altitude. Oddly, on our trip we discovered the hot springs are distributed like a utility! The van was quite dusty from the trip into and through the valley, so we inquired about a car wash and were directed to a one-stall DIY wash on the north end of town - fed by the hot springs. If we weren't on a tight schedule we could have stayed at the Hot Springs Motel, an old but very charming resort/spa also on the hot springs "system".

Andy, the others know this - I am an actual Mojave native. A very very rare thing these days since they closed the hospital there in the late '50s. The winds only just happened to have blown me to Illinois.

[C855B]

I was looking into a similar thing for work, I think Chrome has Kiosk view that would fit the bill..  You should be able to open Chrome into Kiosk mode to the page..

Each panel would need it's own url/page (I think ).. and the panels sized to the screen resolution.

Oooooo! Kiosk mode! I shall explore that. It would also help with a non-trains project on the list. Thanks! Yes, JMRI already has the panels as separate URLs, and pre-sizing for the tablet screens was what I had figured.

Forgot to mention that I also put together a dedicated WiFi router for the layout, and chose one of the non-default frequencies to keep traffic clear of the "house" WiFi. The router is not connected to the internet, which should keep Google's snooping to a minimum. I'll have to relent intermittently to update things, but by and large the isolated intranet should keep us out of trouble and network performance as good as it can be.