Weekend Update 1/28/24

[up1950s]

https://www.trains.com/trn/railroads/locomotives/emd-f2-a-diesel-locomotive-hiding-in-plain-sight/  Oddly Model Power who made the F2 didn't do one for the B&O , and the B&O never had a F2 , so it must have been a repaint and decal job for no prototype reason . Go figure .

https://paroute6.com/historic-railroad-landmarks/

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/news-photos-rgs-20-arrives-at-cumbres-toltec/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ja6nEgEor5U

https://builtbykids.com/kids-build-an-amazing-train-loop/

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/big-salami-railroad-sandwich-12940340

https://www.newmexicomagazine.org/blog/post/history-of-albuquerque-rail-yards/

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/charlestown-navy-yard-railroad-tracks.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=bDT2N2PyuIQ

/>
http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7543

https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/crane-re-railing-train-tank-cars-video-photo-71403

[dem34]

Weathered Some Railcars before bringing them along for the Amherst show.

[mu26aeh]

The sounds of CF7s roaming west York will soon come to fruition

[BCR 570]

Apologies in advance for the mega post here, but a lot happened today!  Earlier in the week, I made further progress on preparing the Pine River bridge for installation.  The final step was to add my scratchbuilt refuge bays which I had built several years ago:




Today, RS-18 607 returned to the layout after an absence of several years during which it was serving on friend Michael Batten's E&N layout.  It had an important assignment, which was the first run of my completed Prince George Auxiliary on the layout.  Here Work Extra 607 pulls into Chetwynd after the run from Prince George:




At the depot, the train stops to complete a clearance for the Dawson Creek Subdivision:




The train is seen rounding the curve into Sundance after departing Chetwynd:

At Sundance, the two coaches are set out in the siding and the train is re-marshalled with the crane out front:




The train crosses Highway 97 en route to the Pine River bridge:




As the last train on the temporary span, the crews work to prepare the bridge for lifting out:




Impassable track!  After sliding the rail joiners off and detaching the feeder wires, the bridge is lifted out:




The new span was lowered into place, and the abutments and piers were shimmed to level the bridge:




After sliding the rail joiners over and connecting the feeder wires, the bridge track was tested for power:




And finally, for the first time since the summer of 2009, the permanent span for the Pine River bridge is back in place, this time with track painted, weathered and glued down:




Work Extra 607 was the first train to run across the bridge once in place:

A good start to the 2024 modelling year!

Tim

[Dwight in Toronto]

Wow Tim, that looks great.  And what an epic, historical event after so many years in the making.  Congrats!

[Jbub]

Tim, you don't need to apologize for post such wonderful work. You know we all over this stuff.

[craigolio1]

@BCR 570

Tim that looks amazing. From one guy who has a thing for bridges to another, you crushed this!

Craig

[Scott1984]

Very Nice work Tim!!! That looks amazing.

[BCR751]

Apologies in advance for the mega post here, but a lot happened today!  Earlier in the week, I made further progress on preparing the Pine River bridge for installation.  The final step was to add my scratchbuilt refuge bays which I had built several years ago:

Congrats, Tim.  After seeing that bridge languishing on shelves in your various layout rooms over the years, it's nice to finally see it in place looking as it should.

Doug

[Van Horne]

Finally I can stop bugging you about the "when" of that bridge! Looks fabulous and I look forward to seeing it in person!

Dave

[gi-depp]

more lights on the railhead





and still working on the NRE 3GS21B

[NtheBasement]

Added SMD LED footlights to the rotary dumper so I could actually see where any derails occur. The usual cause is due to my use of five different types of rotary couplers causing variable spacing between cars and leading to the pusher arm catching on the following car's brake wheel. Picture is with room lights off but I don't do night ops.

I've run two unit trains thru it since and of course no derails. However, I did manage to forget to screw the coal jar back on under the layout... again.

The first lights I bought taught me what not to do. They had short leads and needed resistors. My fat fingers made frustrating work of soldering the wire harness. In addition, the lights were bluish, lending a supernatural effect to the whole thing. I bought "warm white" ones with longer leads. What really closed the deal was that the description on Amazon said no resistors needed if using 3 volts, so I also bought a 3 volt wall wart. Presumable the four million gage wire leads have enough resistance to make it work. I did not test that theory by shortening a lead and seeing if they fry. Anyway, these are so much easier to use that I recommend them highly. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MWGL85B  Update: They fried.  see below.

[rickb773]

The bulk of the club is up in Amherst with a significant roster of N-Trak, T-Trak, and Free-Mo modules.
Our club still had to cover the local Strasburg MRC Brooklawn American Legion show which we did with a small group of t-trak modules and the display layout I build for the club.
The T-Trak Mine Junction module also originated in my dirty garage.

I am sure most clubs have some "glue members" that hold everything together and can troubleshoot almost anything.
The NJ Southern club has Ed (Jones), Erik (Seidelmann), and Jason (Sawyer) without whom many disasters would not have been avoided.
Hats off to club super heros!

[craigolio1]

Added SMD LED footlights to the rotary dumper so I could actually see where any derails occur. The usual cause is due to my use of five different types of rotary couplers causing variable spacing between cars and leading to the pusher arm catching on the following car's brake wheel. Picture is with room lights off but I don't do night ops.

I've run two unit trains thru it since and of course no derails. However, I did manage to forget to screw the coal jar back on under the layout... again.

The first lights I bought taught me what not to do. They had short leads and needed resistors. My fat fingers made frustrating work of soldering the wire harness. In addition, the lights were bluish, lending a supernatural effect to the whole thing. I bought "warm white" ones with longer leads. What really closed the deal was that the description on Amazon said no resistors needed if using 3 volts, so I also bought a 3 volt wall wart. Presumable the four million gage wire leads have enough resistance to make it work. I did not test that theory by shortening a lead and seeing if they fry. Anyway, these are so much easier to use that I recommend them highly. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MWGL85B

You’ve made an operating N scale rotary dumper?! Where can I see more of this?

Craig

[NtheBasement]

You’ve made an operating N scale rotary dumper?! Where can I see more of this?

Craig

The dumper is featured in the "new way" video in my sig.  There is another video that explains how it works on the channel.