Weekend Update 7/14/24

[Sumner]

Finished the software for the SpeedTrap N scale speedometer and been testing it...
 

... does all I wanted it to do so very happy with the results.  I'll try and get the print files up soon and it doesn't cost much to build and the wiring isn't very difficult.  I'll make a straight version next.  I need this one for the 12.5" radius track on the test track where I do my decoder testing and speed matching the loco to the throttle speed steps.

Tested using the HandCab throttle and love using it more and more.

https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/DCC/HandCab-Index.html

More info on the SpeedTrap here...

https://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/DCC/page-30.html


Sumner

[John]

A little north

[Sokramiketes]

A little north

I was impressed on our ride from Talketna to Denali last year.  Clean properties, stations (and bathrooms!), friendly station agents, smooth ROW, new equipment, and great scenery.  What's better than an open observation on a heavyweight business car?  A second story open platform!

[Dave V]

I've been very busy with work and no time for modeling. But I did get some JFRTM time in yesterday:



...before Patricia and I headed down to Old Colorado City to meet up with @Philip H and his phamily at Colorado Mountain Brewing in the original 1889 Colorado Midland roundhouse:



The back brace is evidence of my most recent (31 May) spinal surgery...

[Sokramiketes]

Finishing up a scene from the Modutrak thread.

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[R L Smith]

And for something a little different. We learned of a company called Finger Lakes Railriders, who operate pedal-powered machines on a 2.5 mile stretch of unused rail line that they lease from the Finger Lakes Railway. This is a couple miles north of Penn Yan, NY.  We had good weather and this was a lot of fun. The "bicycles" are like a recumbent, and the low gearing made for easy pedaling.









The ride goes through some beautiful farmland - very peaceful.


At each end of the line is a "turntable" made by local Mennonites. One person can turn the bikes around for the return trip.



The lady in the hat, spining the bike, is the business owner. The young lady watching was on her first day of work, and ended up spinning the rest of the bikes.






The "crew" made this a very enjoyable Friday morning "riding the rails".  If I lived there, I would hire on as part - time help!

Ron

[bnsfdash8]

The other weekend I spent some time detailing the NP W-3.

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I need to order a decoder for it so until then I went back to the basics and pulled out a SD70ACe to convert to a SD70M-2. It'll be NS 2725.

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Since the Trainworx conversion kit comes with great etched vents it's a good opportunity to cut away some of the mech to make things see through. I plan on adding the traction motor blower that can be seen on the prototypes.

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[wazzou]

The other weekend I spent some time detailing the NP W-3.

(Attachment Link)

Cool…you want to do mine?   
It’s not even on the back burner yet.  Still in the freezer. 

[chuck geiger]

Glue dots for grass and more work on diorama:

[bnsfdash8]

Cool…you want to do mine?   
It’s not even on the back burner yet.  Still in the freezer. 

Might be awhile, I feel like I have projects that have spilled over into the cryogenic freezer. 

[packers#1]

Weathered up an Athearn Combo door boxcar; started last weekend, finished this weekend. I used a lot of different prototype cars to arrive at the weathering job you see here.

The primary side. Pretty happy overall, wish the rust over the reporting marks was a bit lighter but otherwise I’m reasonably pleased with his this came out.



The “B” side. Overall it wound up coming out decent, but I definitely experimented here before going over to the other side; in particular in the black wash because I tried oil paints and mineral spirits instead of iso alcohol and India ink. I ultimately found the right balance but it took a few panels. I may add some graffiti at some point but I haven’t built up a ton of sets yet so I’m being a bit more stingy right now.



And here are my two weathered boxcars so far coupled together at the paper plant; they’ll be loaded with scrap corrugate and the cuts of the sides of the sheet from the corrugator to take back to the paper mill to be recycled. Fun fact: paper is theoretically infinitely recyclable, but the tree fibers will wear out so most recycled paper is only ~85% recycled fibers, with 15% virgin fibers added in for strength.

[R L Smith]

There is a small storage cabinet built into a corner of the train room, and the shelves are the right size for storing rolling stock or the empty jewel cases.  But there was unused vertical space within it, so I added a shelf to create a desk for the Agent (me) to prepare car cards and/or switch lists.










In the photo above, the boxes along the bottom are the familiar Micro-Mark boxes that contains the cards for industrial spots. The clear pocket protectors above hold the cards for cars that are currently spotted at industries.  The red and green die determine how many pickups and setouts will occur for each local freight.

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Played around with the 3D printer some more last night. Now Jager lumber is starting to take some deliveries.

[Sumner]

Lumberyard is looking good.  Wondering if those are my lumber stacks that are up on thingiverse and Cults?  Also like the color you have on them and interested in how the coloring was done?

Thanks,

Sumner

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Lumberyard is looking good.  Wondering if those are my lumber stacks that are up on thingiverse and Cults?  Also like the color you have on them and interested in how the coloring was done?

Thanks,

Sumner

Thanks! That's your handy work isn't it? The prints came out pretty good considering I'm still in my infancy in the whole 3D printing world. I'd start playing with layer thickness and the such if I start running my layout with a magnifying glass. For the color, I printed in gray, hit them with a coat of Dulcote the hand painted with some cheap acrylic from Michales.