Weekend Update 7/4/2010

[conrail98]

As promises, here is the 2nd wall, all 17' 2" of it, up and anchored.


Hoping to measure and cut the 3rd and final wall this afternoon, but we'll see,

Phil

[DKS]

An overview I took of the new storage tracks... mostly for the reference of the track plan draftsman...

Duly noted.

[BCRail_FSJ]

Hi Tim..

I am using Tamiya model putty.  It smells a bit nasty but dries nice and fast.    This boxcar kitbashing is quite an adventure.  It's not the quickest way to build a freight car fleet but I have plenty of old Roundhouse shells, paint and decals to work with.   I figure if I spend enough time kitbashing a fleet of these prototypes, someone will then eventually issue them as kits for RTR.  Murphy's law....

Your NSC Woodchip gondola shells are on the list of upcoming projects

Andy

[inkaneer]

Have you determined a minimum radius for those cars?  I ask because in the second photo it appears there is not much space for the truck to turn before the wheel hits the center sill.

Very observant.  Actually it is not the centre sill which was of concern to me in this regard, but rather the coupler box which is significantly wider and is fairly close to the wheels.  Fortunately the cars negotiate the 16" radius in my helix without any issues, and that will be the sharpest curve on my layout.  I do not think that they would negotiate anything sharper than a 15" radius, however as the wheels would likely rub against the coupler box.  The arrangement of the draft gear and end sills on these cars presented quite a challenge during engineering of the kit, and I can see that it was tricky to arrive at an arrangement which was functional from a model perspective yet still prototypical in appearance.


Andy:  Looking fine!  Which brand of filler are you using?


Tim

A 16 inch radius is not bad at all. Perhaps if N gauge wasn't married to a 9.75 inch radius we would have had body mount couplers long ago.  By the way, what kind of coupler are you using?

[bbussey]

N scale isn't married to 9-3/4.  With the wide variety of radii to choose from, it's totally in the hands of the modeler to decide what to use.  Fortunately the manufacturers at-large are moving toward more prototypical models in regard to body-mounted couplers and scale height over the rails, and hopefully in due time the 9-3/4 issue will be relegated to N scale history.

[BCR 570]

A 16 inch radius is not bad at all. Perhaps if N gauge wasn't married to a 9.75 inch radius we would have had body mount couplers long ago.  By the way, what kind of coupler are you using?

The kit calls for a #1023 (001 02 009) Universal Mount Coupler and that is what I am using.  The kit includes an etched coupler holder whichfolds around the coupler and pins into the underside of the carbody.  It is a challenging mount because on the prototype the coupler is well out past the end of the car.


Tim

[asciibaron]

made a bit of progress - took advantage of the afternoon shade in the backyard to break out the sabre saw and cut out some subroadbed.  need to borrow my brother-in-law's mitre saw and start cutting risers.  i had a eureka moment and decided to add a second bit of hidden staging to the line.  it extends off to the right along the top wall.  access with be a PITA, but it will be worth it to have trains come and go in both directions.

plan in picking up a few sheets of foam for the scenery base.

[brokemoto]

[DKS]

plan in picking up a few sheets of foam for the scenery base.

[asciibaron]

i have no idea what i'm doing - i'm mixing all sorts of benchwork methods.

open grid, cookie cutter, foam, homasote, and who knows what else.

many mistakes are being made.

[DKS]

many mistakes are being made.

...which is a good thing. Difficult to learn without 'em.

[wm3798]

Go Steve, GO!

[asciibaron]

Go Steve, GO!

well, i came up with a slick method for turning my open grid into a composite L girder - i simply affixed two 1x2's to the open grid to create beams to screw into for the cantilevers and risers.  i have the left lobe roughed in right now and decided to go buy a saw at Sears tomorrow - i know i'll get my $100 out of it

[SirTainly]

At last, something to report on the weekend update! We caught some of the "famous" Ponderosa Northern boxcars heading out of Dawson Creek for Vancouver with a lumber load which will no doubt be heading for foreign parts. Let's hope it's going to make layout benchwork rather than futons! There were 6 cars in this consist 2030, 2031, 2037, 2038, 2047 and 2048, over 25% of the PN 50' fleet.

You can see the end of the train had a rather neat BCOL caboose, beats a FRED anyday!



The second to last car was the often spotted 2047 car which is a favourite with railfans because it's a bit unusual. Following an accident in the yard, 2047 sports three panels in a slightly different green; looks like the paint shop tried their best to get a match but at least it stops the rust for a little longer!

We managed to overtake the train and set up ahead to photograph it as it crossed the East Pine River bridge. We managed to get this shot with all of the cars in view:



Zoomed in you can see the power for this trip was BCOL 613 and 581, obviously there's something heavy to pull on the way back.




Thanks to Tim (BCR 570) for staging these shots on his layout and taking the photos. He has helped create the only moment where 6 of the 7 cars that I've made will ever be in the same place at the same time!

We also ran my camera car around the layout, which was great, and hopefully with what we learned today by doing this, we'll be able to iron out the few snags and produce a good quality video shortly. In the meantime here's a shot of the camera train:

[James Costello]

In between a wedding and a birthday party, I managed to get the work bench cleared from all the train related pickups from our recent trip to Japan.

Apart from that, I laid the groundwork with the missus for a railfanning trip to Tehachapi etc next April....