Weekend Update 4/14/24

[up1950s]

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-former-grand-trunk-western-2-8-2-no.html

https://midwestrailway.org/projects/4070-steam-engine/

https://www.asme.org/wwwasmeorg/media/resourcefiles/aboutasme/who%20we%20are/engineering%20history/landmarks/147-baltimore-ohio-4500-freight-usra-2-8-2a.pdf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USRA_Light_Mikado_diagram.jpg

https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesofjames/3992950066

https://salepeaket.live/product_details/59278857.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=yWBwGd85-NY

[Lemosteam]

Ballasted all but the turnouts on the west side. Bought some Milliput epoxy putty to create the road apron slopes up to the track crossings. So far so good. We’ll see how well it hardened in the morning. Once I lay the gravel and sand roads over the pencil markings, I can move the layout back to its moorings (pun intended) where I can start working on the east side of the channel. Thinking about adding the Formica fascia before the move back, but I can always move it again later.

[btrain]

Been working on my Lake Shore Central Free-moN switching layout. The thing that I'm most happy with this week is the weedy track look I've given the interchange. I applied a small streak of Mod Podge with a paintbrush in the middle of the gauge. I then lightly sifted some Woodland Scenic's earth-colored and dark green foam and after that, I sprinkled some Silflor 2mm static grass and vacuumed it up. While the glue was still wet, I grabbed a toothpick to clean the web of the rail of any errant grass or glue. When everything was set I came back with a nose hair trimmer to see that nothing was above the rail head.

After running my locomotive several times over this section, I haven't seen any grass attaching itself to the engine's trucks or finding its way onto the gears.

[BCR 570]

CN 3202 emerged from the paint shop this week and now awaits digital work.  Thanks to friends Jeff Briggs for the paint work and Philippe Whyte for the custom decals.  This was the original paint scheme on these engines and by 1977 had weathered considerably.  This engine was on lease to the BCR from April to October 1977 and turns up in a photograph taken on the Marine Drive overpass I am modelling for my diorama.










And pictured with my earlier effort in the later paint scheme - CN 3218:




Tim

[EJN]

2 kitbashing projects using the N scale Walthers Vulcan Mfg. kit.

First is what I call Little Vulcan, I made it only 1 story tall so it wouldn't be too dominating on a small layout.

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Second is a small office building to go with Little Vulcan. Tarpaper roof is made from strips cut from masking tape.
Window glass will be installed after weathering.

Together they will be GERD Industries, makers of the world's finest reflux.

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[ATSF_Ron]

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally got the spare room to the point where I could buy another 20" deep pine shelf to get my other leg of the "L" shape going.  Hopefully the panorama shot comes out ok and isn't rotated!  One of the bigger challenges (at least in my area) has been finding leveling bolts.  No one in the big box stores seems to know what these are.  My local Ace Hardware is usually helpful but didn't have anything in stock.  A 30 second search on good 'ol Amazon turned up these babies.  Clever design, sturdy, easy to install, and about $16 for a set of 4.

Leveling was a snap and took less than 5 minutes.  Both sections are now leveled, firmly screwed together, and ready for track.  The new section will be 4 inches shy of 10 ft. long.  With only a 20" wide shelf, I'll need to carefully plan track placement.  I need a small yard (visible staging), MAYBE another industry (more citrus), and hopefully space for a loco service facility.  I'm thinking I can pull out a bit farther than 20" on the far right end where I envision the loco service.  That would make the shape more like a capital "J" with the curved part of the J squared off.  With the way the room is now, I could conceivably make the loco service its own module as a 20" x 48" piece.

[Lemosteam]

Using the milliput, I made a slab of road for between the businesses representing the road from the concrete jungle. Of course I could not resist adding a huge burnout on the pavement from first and second gear…

The concrete transitions to gravel just past the elevated trusses and takes one to the Old Crow Speed shop, across the bridge over the channel, and off to other points east…

[robert3985]

I had a great time this Friday evening runnin' trains with two of my closest friends on Nate's old layout in its new home! 

I wanted to see if my ST Standard Turbines would pull a 30 car train (30 cars & a caboose) since that's the maximum train size on my layout.  Since I had read so many horror stories about how bad that locomotive is when pulling a train, I had my worries.

Since I have only two very small, short grades on Echo Curve on my layout (to simulate the prototype's track height difference on UP's double-track mainline at that location) I only needed to see if I could get a 30 car train to move when being pulled by my ST Standard Turbines, of which I have five.

No need to worry!  My #55 easily pulled a 30 car mixed freight with a caboose with nary a hint of slippage!  I could have put more on to see how many more cars it will pull, but that was enough for Friday's session. Man, it is one smooth running engine!

Here's the link to see it for yourself and count cars.... 

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That's my friend Kent's SP passenger train meeting at Riverside Station on the layout section I built for Nate several years ago.  Happy that section's found a good home!

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[bbussey]

Finally added the silver personnel bus, a 1947 Ford 794T school bus, to my list of completed RBB&B payloads.  This one had languished for years because I couldn't find any drawings of the prototype.  I recently discovered that the bus used the same front end as the F1 pickup, and that the design was unchanged during the war years.  There is documentation of the F1, as well as existing models.  I was able to use that data to complete the 3D bus model and complete it.

The chocks remain to be added to the flatcar.

[Sumner]

Worked more on the sawmill. Here are a few pictures here but more info and pictures over in the 3D Printer section ( HERE )













 Sumner
 

[craigolio1]

Worked more on the sawmill. Here are a few pictures here but more info and pictures over in the 3D Printer section ( HERE )













 Sumner

I find your sawmill build to be fascinating. My father’s and mother’s entire families worked in the logging and milling industries on Vancouver Island, so there have been many trips down memory lane about cleaning out bee hive burners and working the green chain etc. I’m looking forward to seeing this progress.

Craig.

[randgust]

Last two custom built CF7's out of my kit and for now, "Cleburne" is officially closed since production started in 2012



Link:  http://www.randgust.com/CF7FRSX7103.jpg

[Jesse6669]

My focus this past week was creating some better looking T-scale track.  Not sure my solution is practical, but it does look better.  The "rail" is silver flat wire 0.050" wide, 0.004" thick, fitted into slotted 3D printed roadbed and secured with ACC.  You can see some kinks appearing due to flexing of the roadbed.  It also isn't magnetic, which is one feature of the regular flex-track that holds the tiny models down.  Not sure how I would electrically connect lengths of track (tiny rail joiners?  a contact system under the ends?) 



For comparison, here's a dime, the regular T-scale flex track, and the "proTo-track".   

[wm3798]

Precious little work on the layout, but the Crew Lounge continues to blossom.


I used a faux stainless paint to convert the $15 dishwasher from white.  It's remarkably effective stuff.  The butcher block countertop is stained, and the cabinetry is set.  I just have to put the finish on the countertop and screw it down, color correct the white receptacles, and make the plumbing connections, then it's Martini Time!

I did run some trains across the room while I was tinkering... just to keep the update on topic...




Lee

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Making some progress on the New Windsor St.

https://conrail1285.com/over-the-top-ground-cover-has-come-to-windsor-st/