Weekend Update 8/19/12

[up1950s]

 
UP 819 progress
 

 

[mark dance]

Well, this week I finished installing the second snowshed and then decided to shoot a video of a westbound freight running all the way from Nelson yard to the end of the line.  The trouble is that this amounts to a 25 minute run at scale speeds and Windows MovieMaker running on my computer is choking on the size of it. 

In the mean time I cut a 6 minute chunk out of the middle of the bigger video of a meet at snowy Farron summit between the east and westbound wayfreights.  I hope the shots of all that snow helps to cool people down!

If there is interest, and I get the longer video of the full run across the line working, I will try and post it next weekend.

Meanwhile, have a great weekend everybody!

md

[Bsklarski]

I went and got the Atlas N scale Misslesex kit today. I cant want to see what I can do with it. I also grabbed a 1/35 MH-60G Pavehawk on clearance for $22. 
BTW they had only ONE code 55 curved turnout there today!!

[bc6]

Nothing really to show except how its been about three months since I converted to DCC.  So far Ive 7 dcc conversions under my belt, below are my conversions including the recently converted as of tonight my GG1.





I also painted up a  safety cage ladder for my fuel tank farm project, now to only finish the railings off.

[Bendtracker1]

....video of a meet at snowy Farron summit between the east and westbound wayfreights. 

Nice flick Mark!

One thing I noticed while watching it that made take a second look,  the slight unsteadiness of the cam gave the trees closest to the cam an ever so slight movement that it made it look as if there was brisk wind blowing through the canyon making the trees sway!

Thanks for posting.

Allen...
 

[ednadolski]

Not much to show, but I have been playing around with the DraftSight CAD program, to become more familiar with it.  I'm hoping to use it for some photo-etching projects.

That can be one counter-intuitive piece of code some times, but I can be a pretty obtuse learner too.

Ed

[ednadolski]

Oy yeah, I also got this really awesome Blue-Ray Tehachapi DVD.    A must for Tehachapi foamers!

Ed

[James Costello]

Oy yeah, I also got this really awesome Blue-Ray Tehachapi DVD.    A must for Tehachapi foamers!
Ed

If you have Blu-Ray, ALL of the 7idea Productions releases are a must.

[Iain]

Looks like I'll be doing SCA stuff all weekend.

[BCR 570]

Mark:

There is an irony in you working on the snow shed scene during our current heat wave . . .   

This was my last week of summer holidays before returning to work next week.    I was determined to get as much done as possible.  After laying and wiring the first section of track outside the helix last week, the next step was to re-install the temporary Pine River bridge, this time with branch bus wires feeding the track from each end:




In order to be able to make a permanent connection to the track bus wires below, yet still swap out the bridge at some point in the future, I installed terminal blocks behind the bridge supports:




Next up was laying and wiring the first section of track at the other end of the bridge.  I have installed short rail joiners at each end which can slide back to allow lift out of the bridge when the time comes:




I then ran the four sets of bus wires along the underside of the Pine River benchwork section.  With less than 24 inches of clearance underneath, this was much harder done than said!  Here you can see the four pairs of bus wires making their way along the underside of the benchwork:




At the other end the bus wires arrive at terminal blocks, from where they will continue underneath the next section of benchwork at a future date.  The use of terminal blocks is intended to enable the layout to be dismantled without severing any wiring:




The next section of track to be laid and wired was the connection from the top of the helix onto the upper deck.  Until now trains have had to stop at the power district boundary:




Finally, a moment I have been long waiting for as the first train to emerge from the top of the helix makes its way onto the upper deck for the first time:




And to top things off, this week I received my new T5000 wireless throttles from CVP.  They replace the T9000 units I have had for a few years.  The new throttles are a significant improvement with smaller size, internal antenna, continuous readout of loco number, speed, direction, throttle ID, and battery status, all in an enclosure not much bigger than an iPhone:




So, some new track on which to run trains, and some new throttles to run them with!  All in all, a good week.


Tim

[eric220]

Good grief, has it really been a month since my last update?

A couple of weeks ago I managed to get most of the hard to reach brewery tracks installed on the helix cap.  I also completed the turnaround loop and mains behind the brewery.



Last night I hoisted the sucker back up onto its supports and continued laying track.  The westbound track gang has pushed past the Idaho Springs crossover and is approaching the Idaho Springs team track.



The upper level is devilishly close to being operable as a dogbone.  Unfortunately, I do have to sleep, so it's off to bed for now.

[Dave V]

The new JC Blair & Co Keystone Stationery factory begins to take shape in this quick iPhone grab.

[chuck geiger]

DV - +2

[Alwyn Cutmore]

[quoteThe new JC Blair & Co Keystone Stationery factory begins to take shape in this quick iPhone grab.

][/quote]

Hi Dave,

As an interesting side note to the JC Blair factory at Huntingdon, PA. There is a person who has offices in that building who sells model train on eBay. I actually bought a item from the seller and was offered assistance as I want to model the station complex for my layout. I believe that Huntingdon is a great area to model for a show layout having the origional four tracks so that there can always be mainline movement on the layout for the public view and having it long enough would allow you to run sequential mirrored passenger consists both ways and have lots of general freight and coal traffic running both ways.

I do like the mods to your layout and it really does not interfere with the idea of running coal as through traffic only.

Regards

Al

[Scottl]

I have nothing to show.  Just back from three weeks in BC for a wedding, hiking and lake time.  Did a little railfanning on the CP Shuswap and Mountain subs, but only can report seeing maintenance vehicles...  Managed to see one train leave the canyon into Golden on the trip back so CP is redeemed.