Weekend Update 12/1/13

[John]

I've been doing some backgrounds .. based on some videos I found on youtube

[Puddington]

Nicely done John !

[skytop35]

During my college years, I worked summers in a paint factory along the Belt Railway of Chicago. I remember watching Milwaukee Road transfer freights going by the building where I worked, Usually with beat up old F-units but sometimes with a pair of GP-9's. I had a great vantage point on one of the upper floors but never brought a camera to work with me. (don't think I had a decent camera until after I graduated) In any case, this photo stirs old memories for me. 98C still looks good after years in passenger service. However, she won't be seeing any Hiawatha like speeds working these transfer runs!

[conrail98]

Nothing photo worthy but I cleaned up the train and workshop space and did my first operating session as a yardmaster on one of our local layouts last night. I didn't screw up it up too badly but probably could've been more efficient with some of my moves,

Phil

[eric220]

With my father in town for Thanksgiving, I got a start on a subproject that I've been planning about for a long time.  Nothing to show just yet, but I have almost everything I need, so the goal is to have it ready to show off in the next couple of weeks.

[Puddington]

Outstanding work on that scene and especially the Armor Yellow Milwaukee Road F unit Bill ,

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

No modeling Pic's yet for me this week, but I did just get home from the CP Holladay train stop in Hamilton. There was well over 5000 people there as there was also a concert in the park across from the track. Head liners were Great Big See. Peter Mansbridge was the host of the event.









Sorry for the bad Pic's. My camera is no good at night.

[MRLX1020]

Not sure how noteworthy or record-breaking our little stuNt was today - but at the Collinsville, IL Great Train Expo on the Mississippi Valley N Scale layout, we operated successfully a 98 car Kato Passenger Train with 2 E units.  A friend has video, and the train took about 2:45 to roll past.

Kato ATSF E8M A/B, Santa Fe Budd cars, 12 car ATSF Hi-Level set, 4 Kato Ph 1 Amtrak cars, 10 Car Kato Amtrak Hi Level set, 4 Penn Central cars, another ATSF Hi-Level Set, another Amtrak Hi-Level set, some Amtrak Superliners, and a Super Chief set.  It was quite an impressive consist, taking up 4 yard tracks, and totalling about 50' in length.  These E units were recently acquired from a friend, and hadn't been run in some 12 years!  They limbered up quickly!

I am curious what the longest passenger train on record has been at any of the national conventions?  This was certainly noteworthy for a 24' x 16' N-Trak layout. 

[seusscaboose]

some pics from the layout.






EP

[chuck geiger]

No modeling Pic's yet for me this week, but I did just get home from the CP Holladay train stop in Hamilton. There was well over 5000 people there as there was also a concert in the park across from the track. Head liners were Great Big See. Peter Mansbridge was the host of the event.









Sorry for the bad Pic's. My camera is no good at night.

RUSH or TRIUMPH in concert

[C855B]

Not sure how noteworthy or record-breaking our little stuNt was today - but at the Collinsville, IL Great Train Expo on the Mississippi Valley N Scale layout, we operated successfully a 98 car Kato Passenger Train with 2 E units.  A friend has video, and the train took about 2:45 to roll past. ...

Hmm. I'm sorry I wasn't there today to supervise you guys and prevent this kind of nonsense.   

What's especially fun when you do this is the kids... and kids-at-heart... who stand there counting cars. I'm glad the layout ran well enough to do this. I might actually try to bring something to run tomorrow. After my triple disaster at Belleville, I'm a little gun-shy not having the opportunity for bench time to fix all the stuff that broke.

[nkalanaga]

Mark Dance:  I also like your scenery.  It definitely looks like the Northwest mountains I remember. 

As for the bridge, the deck probably should be wider, but I also have one (a deck girder) on a curve, and the rails are just as far off center.  The outer rail is directly over the girder, which is not acceptable, but at least it's not OUTSIDE the girder, which would probably result in the bridge turning over.  Yours also looks to be stable, if not well engineered, and as long as it doesn't show from normal angles, visitors aren't likely to notice it.  If they do, and they have any manners, they won't say anything!  It is a nice bridge, and they'll probably be too busy looking at it to notice the track.

[delamaize]

didn't get too much train stuff done this weekend, mostly worked on my GHQ W-3 kit, almost done with the fireman's side. I'm addind alot more piping than what comes with the kit...Might get some pictures on monday....

[BCR 570]

I usually devote December to finishing up outstanding projects.  I built a trio of GHQ logging trucks for my mills a while ago and they are now painted:




Here is one loaded with one of the log loads offered by Dave Mackinnon (Details N Scale) for these trucks, and is seen with the log loader, also from GHQ:




Following my complex build of cook-diner BCOL 6508, I was in the mood for something simpler.  BCOL 4908 was the stores car for the Provincial Museum Train (formerly CP Express box 4908).  The Intermountain boxcar is close; with the Des Plaines rectangular panel roof it is even closer:




Tool Wash Car BCOL 6506 and Cook-Diner BCOL 6508 are now in primer and ready for rivet decals, as are my three Provincial Museum coaches.  I also have a custom decal sheet en route to me which will enable some painted models to be decaled and finished off.  I have a marathon decal session ahead of me in December.  Finally, I have made a start on what will likely be my last two projects for 2013 - cable car BCOL 6504 and panel track car BCOL 6510.  I hope to post photos of progress on those next week.


Re Mark's bridge - this is a common challenge with a curved deck span as we are using much tighter radii in the model world.  I faced the same challenge with my Highway 97 overpass which is on an 18" radius.  The deck had to be widened to accommodate the curve and not have it too close to the edge of the deck.  My span is on the lower deck so it is a little more challenging to conceal the sharpness of the curve on the deck, but from a normal photo angle the problem is far less apparent:




Tim

[tom mann]

I started building the EdK SSS: