Wisconsin Central - Heritage Division

[Pomperaugrr]

Wow.  I always enjoy seeing your progress!

What type of lighting are you trying out?  I am in the process of swapping out flourescent shop lights and will probably be going with LED tube lights.  Those Shop lights really heat up the room in summer.

Eric

[w neal]

LED shop tubes are on my upper level. That is, as the old tubes fail, they get replaced with LED tubes. They work great! There is no room for tubes that large on the lower level, so I'm using LED strips. The colour temps don't quite match but its close. Perhaps a bit of contrast will be a good thing maybe.

[w neal]

This project is long overdue. I'm adding some piping detail to my Presto Products scene. Supposedly they make plastic packaging for supermarkets and the food industry. This is only step one. There is a place not ridiculously far from my house that receives plastic pellet cars and has similar silos and piping. This is only a first step. I'll add some kind of supports for these pipes, although the afore mentioned industry does not seem to have a lot of piping supports. Anyway, its progress. The real question is what does it look like on the inside of this place where they unload such hoppers? I imagine black hoses that attach to the bottom of the hoppers, and an air system that pushes the pellets into, and perhaps out of, the storage hoppers. More work to come.

[conrailthomas519]

Moving Forward! Looking Good there W.Neal

[packers#1]

Good start; I actually work in extrusion now at a power cable plant that also receives some compound in hopper cars. The systems actually run off vacuum suction. You have small storage silos for the lines and dryers, as well as blenders and hoppers. The hopper cars that come in are unloaded with hoses at the bottom by the dump gates, where the compounds are sucked into the large storage hoppers. That then is fed into the plant system as needed. Typically there’s piping in the ceiling for the main runs, with hoses only used for the final connections. Trucks deliver the same way as rail cars, and some compound is used out of what are called, I kid you not, gaylords, which are quadruple wall boxes with the compound inside a plastic bag inside. It’s all rather interesting, and there are plenty of photos online of extruders and such. Such great industries to model!

[w neal]

As the Python's used to say; "Its just a bit of fun". Here is another fun reason to model the WC. The taconite trains used to bring some foreign visitors like this. WC SD45s used to roam Colorado and, as seen here, vice versa. This is a scene in north Neenah, just before the mainline curved west toward Stevens Point. Strange bedfellows indeed, but all part of the fun when railfanning it back in the day...




Viva D&RGW!!

Egads! Time to paint that sunshade eh?

[sd45elect2000]

The early 90s were a good time to work for WC. Off the top of my head I can recall:
DMIR SD-7 SD-9 in the winter
IC SD70M GP40
BN SD40-SD60
SOO SD60-SD-40
CP SD40
CSX SD40-SD60- C40-8 C30-7
LS&I U30C C30-7
NS SD40-C30-7
GTW GP 38
SP C44=9, MK5000-SD45-2
UP C40-8
CCP GP18
CNW SD60-SD40-C40-8
DW&P GP38

Probably missed a bunch...

[conrailthomas519]

I Love the Rio Grande units! Growing up in Denver I use to see those all the time.

[wm3798]

Agreed.  I always liked that paint scheme, and the scrappy railroad that wore it.  I think my three favorites from that era were the Western Maryland, the Rio Grande, and the Western Pacific.  All three made a good living sticking it in the eye of their big competitors, and all three ended up getting absorbed because the Borg wanted them dead.  Classic underdogs, all.

Lee

[w neal]

Nice to hear from another former WC employee. Viva variety!!!

In other news, "I'm going back to a better class of loser." I started this layout with NCE. It worked reliably for years while I worked on scenery on the upper level. Last year I bought an ESU system. It seems to work well, but with time, I found it gave me a few troubles. One, the ESU system began taking mutiple attempts at turning the system on. Repeated attempts at pushing the "on" button would yield no result. Perhaps it is the third party circuit breaker boards and reverse loop boards on my configuration that gave it trouble. I'm really not sure, but I reached a point where I began not to care. Two, the charge in the ESU controller appeared to not last very long. Granted, it would sometimes be several days between uses. While the system did remember all of its locomotives and settings, I was not pleased having to charge my controller EVERY time I wanted to use it. Third, I found the on-screen icons almost too tiny for my fat fingers. They can probably be enlarged, however, I found myself wanting a stylus. Fourth, programming using the ESU starter system seemed unreliable. Kind of a hit and miss affair. I'm sure its much better with their separate decoder programmer, but thats even more money to find out.

Anyhow, if you put all this in a bag, I found myself missing the simplicity and ease of use of the NCE system. All I can say is you turn it on and it works. Less time spent adjusting it versus just using it. Its perhaps more simple, but for me, its less frustrating. Perhaps I'm just a simpleton. I know that ESU is the superior system. I know that its likely better designed and much more in tune with the latest technology and trends. German - designed products are always well designed. It would be nice for my operators to be able to download an app and be able to run trains using their phones. Being able to download software updates over the internet would also be nice, rather than having to send my system somwhere. While its wonderful to have ALL decoder function keys available on one screen, eh, I found in N scale I don't need much more than speed, direction, horn, headlight, and maybe the bell. In short, NCE had a button ready to go for all the basic functions I need during an operating session. These advantages aside, I still missed my old system. Funny, like an occasional use of a "good 'ole" DC power pack layout or loop of track, sometimes less is more. Simplicity can be beautiful. I know I'll be missing out by a step backwards, but it feels right to me. Judge me how you will. I'm happy.

[amato1969]

No judging here @w neal, I love my NCE system!

  Frank

[TLOC]

I am torn about my ESU system. Contemplating going back to RailPro and power on board. I switched because of the desire to use the ProtoThrottles which do not interface with Railpro.

All of Bill’s issues I agree with, very frustrating.

TomO

[Steveruger45]

I also love my nce system and got the TCS UWT100 throttle, which gave me the desired wireless walk around and looks and feels so similar to the power cab to use.  I considered the esu cabcontrol but decided against it as I like buttons and have big fingers.

[w neal]

With the long holiday, one would think I got a lot done. Well, if you include the 45 minute ride, there and back, to the local train store included in an outing with my bride for Saturday afternoon, I rekon you'd be closer to the truth. Besides wiring up several UTP panels for yard crews, and installing overhead repeaters in the layout room, I built and installed a couple of seperate programming track shelves using a hunk of unitrak- "lie kiss" (as they say in Arkansas):




I could have incorporated an isolated track on the layout itself. I think I'm going to find that I prefer a seperate track. One for the main layout room (for emergency programming during operation). The other in the staging room for JMRI programming via computer.

Keen observers will note placement on the upper level. Easier accessibility, or so I think.

[TLOC]

On page 50 you show Dale, Wi on your layout. From a FB posting photo by Kim Kafura of Dale, Wisconsin this week. It is now a pellet supply store.

TomO
[ Guests cannot view attachments ]