The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[davefoxx]

Now you need to catch up with this guy and do a layout visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/tmh57

There's no catching up with that guy.  His layout is really nice, he's an engineer for NS, and he does ProtoThrottle videos.  I can't touch that guy.

DFF

[jargonlet]

So does all this talk about putting birds on things make anyone else think of Portlandia?

[davefoxx]

This weekend, I didn’t get a lot completed on the layout, except for a teeny bit of scenery around the lake and correcting some coupler issues on my passenger car fleet.  I had a mix of different coupler mounts that ranged from truck mounted to body mounted and some cars had not yet been converted to Sergent Engineering couplers.  Fixed, and my train of full length Amfleet and Heritage cars are now reliable on trackage down to a 20” radius and a #5 crossover.

Pictured here in Aberdeen, North Carolina, this is Amtrak’s northbound Silver Star enroute to New York from Florida:





Oh, and I did a little decaling by applying the car name and road numbers to this 10-6 sleeper, Pacific Ocean:



DFF

[Philip H]

nice amtubes. did that run with a baggage car?

[davefoxx]

nice amtubes. did that run with a baggage car?

Very likely, yes.  I have a little more research to do on the Silver Star in the early 1980s, so there may be a purchase of another car or two.  I'm thinking a reasonable (i.e., selectively compressed) representation of the Silver Star would be two coaches, one lounge car or Amcafe, two sleepers, and a baggage car.  Stay tuned.

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Very cool. Reminds me of the DC Broadway that used to grace the NCR in my basement.

I think I know the answer, but does anyone make a Pooch in HO?

[C855B]

Overland did one. Brass, obviously.

[davefoxx]

Very cool. Reminds me of the DC Broadway that used to grace the NCR in my basement.

I think I know the answer, but does anyone make a Pooch in HO?

I'm not aware of a Pooch (P30CH) in HO, other than that brass model.  I know railroaders hated the Pooch, but I loved them.  I would love to have a model of the AutoTrain, but, damn, at more than ³/₄ mile in length, it wouldn't fit on my mainline!    That's why I'm modeling the Silver Star, which also did actually use the S-Line through Aberdeen (the AutoTrain uses the A-Line and avoids Aberdeen), and is more easily selectively compressed.

DFF

[Point353]

Very likely, yes.  I have a little more research to do on the Silver Star in the early 1980s, so there may be a purchase of another car or two.  I'm thinking a reasonable (i.e., selectively compressed) representation of the Silver Star would be two coaches, one lounge car or Amcafe, two sleepers, and a baggage car.  Stay tuned.

DFF

There's a post in this thread with 1980s consist info for the Silver Star: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3286555

[davefoxx]

There's a post in this thread with 1980s consist info for the Silver Star: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,3286555

Thanks for that link!  Wow, the Silver Star was a longer passenger train than I expected.  I'm definitely going to have to selectively compress it.  I also forgot about the train being split in Florida, so it could service Tampa and Miami, which lead to the interesting consist order.

DFF

[basementcalling]

Not a commentary on your modeling skills in any way, Dave, but man is your layout going to the birds.

[davefoxx]

Not a commentary on your modeling skills in any way, Dave, but man is your layout going to the birds.

Touché. 

DFF

[Steveruger45]

But the birds are brilliantly selectively compressed.

[davefoxx]

I just happen to have another Amtrak Heritage Fleet coach that I omitted from the train in the pictures yesterday.  However, the 1980s consist shows that this coach would be plausible on the rear of the Silver Star in the Carolinas.  So, I body-mounted couplers and added it to the train:



But, here's the dilemma.  What is barely visible in the photo is that this train (one F40PH, two Amfleet coaches, one Amfleet lounge, one Heritage Fleet sleeper, and one Heritage Fleet coach max out the length of the the tail of the wye, if I want to be able to run the train in both directions on my layout.  I would actually prefer another sleeper rather than the third coach, since the Silver Star is an overnight train.  But, since five cars is the max to stay within the tail track's wye, I need to figure out the best version of the Silver Star in a mere five cars.  Originally, I thought I would have two sleepers, which is why I left the last coach off yesterday.  Truthfully, no one that sees my layout on a regular basis would even notice the difference between a sleeper and a coach, so I could just call it done now.  I also did want to add a baggage car, but I've run out of train length.  Thoughts?

DFF

[nuno81291]

Looks like we are gonna need more layout