The Carolina Sandhills Lines in HO Scale

[tappertrainman]

That low angle turnout trackwork.   

[davefoxx]

It’s been a while since I’ve had an update, because I’ve been enjoying another hobby with the purchase of a 2000 Mazda Miata in April.  But, I’ve been looking for an excuse to get back into the train room.  The recent threads about LokSound decoders made me want to attempt once again to get the Seaboard Central 3.0 finally connected to JMRI.  I had been unsuccessful months ago connecting to my NCE command station, but, with a new USB to serial cable and lots of time, I finally have JMRI running.  As evidence, here’s No. 5030 on a makeshift programming track, while Decoder Pro is reading all sheets.



If this works, U36B No. 1776 (also with a LokSound decoder) will be next.

DFF

[peteski]

I love your end-of-track buffers! 

[davefoxx]

I love your end-of-track buffers! 

Yeah, I wanted to make sure that the locomotive didn't go screaming off of the end of the track while my attention was diverted.  I needed something that was insulated, and some clothespins from the SuperTrees drying line was the ticket.   

DFF

[davefoxx]

Although @wm3798 will not approve, I expect that @Ed Kapuscinski will!  This morning, I treated myself to the purchase of an HO scale Atlas C&O GP40-2.  Since I'm modeling the Seaboard System, which was a precursor of the CSX merger, B&O/C&O/WM units made an appearance on Seaboard rails from time to time as the roads began allowing their fleets to mix across the future system.  For me, a GP40-2 in Chessie System colors is what I grew up with, since I spent my youth within earshot of the B&O Philly Sub and my college years near the C&O in Richmond, Virginia.  So, I'm happy to add this GP40-2 to the fleet.

This locomotive has an ESU LokSound Select decoder, which is the brand of sound decoder that I'm switching the fleet over to.  I've already JMRI'd it up, to change the address, the horn, and the master volume.  Later, after, I'm finished breaking it in, I will speed match it to my fleet.  Atlas did a nice job on this GP40-2, e.g., it appears to have the correct horn, bell, slot in the battery cover, and a C&O rock pilot.  Nice.  I also need to install the sunshades, wind deflectors, and Sergent Engineering couplers.



I plan to put two or three locomotives up on eBay this weekend, I've decided that I would prefer to earn a few bucks off of them, rather than spend big bucks to convert them to ESU LokSound decoders.  Two of those locomotives are Atlas Seaboard System B30-7s, which look good but sound not-so-good (although I bought them new, they're probably between five and ten years old).  The Rapido B36-7s that have been announced will easily supplant these B30-7s.

DFF

[unittrain]

Love that Chessie unit 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

She looks good!

I'm actually working on one in N now. I'm waiting for some parts to arrive from Shapeways to get to work though.

[eric220]

I spent my youth within earshot of the B&O Philly Sub

Same here.  Thanks to the grade crossings on that line through the town I grew up in, a distant train horn wafting over the breeze will always be one of the most relaxing sounds to my ear.  CSX actually predates me, but not by so much that they got all the locos repainted before my earliest memories formed.  I always loved catching a glimpse of those brightly colored locomotives trundling through town when we were out and about.

Sorry @wm3798 

[PiperguyUMD]

Another NCE/Mac user!  I’ve been struggling with this too. Could you share a little more about that process and the setup you’re using?

[davefoxx]

Another NCE/Mac user!  I’ve been struggling with this too. Could you share a little more about that process and the setup you’re using?

When I get home tonight, I will try to remember to do this for you.  It won't hurt to document it on here, so we can all figure it out again later, if necessary.

DFF

[Blazeman]

, since I spent my youth within earshot of the B&O Philly Sub

I could see it from my bedroom window during B&O days using binoculars. Wouldn't happen now as the line was sunk when 95 came through Chester and the hospital got so large. House had enough elevation that during the winter, with no trees, I could even make out the corridor traffic 16 blocks away.

[davefoxx]

It's been a tough couple of weeks, not to mention that my trial schedule at work has been a real bear.  I've had mornings where I have been up at 4:30 a.m. to get into the office early to finish trial prep.  So, this morning, on my first day of a week-long vacation, of course I woke up at 4:05 a.m.  Since I was wide awake, I decided to knock out some errands around the house that wouldn't wake the others.  Then, I got inspired to finally work on the layout.

I had a rail joint on the inner mainline track fail in the worst possible location, and, as expected, it was out of reach without moving the layout.  I secured all of the rolling stock on the table, unlocked the casters, shimmed the casters where necessary (stupid out-of-level basement floor), and rolled the layout away from the wall.  I tore out an eight-foot piece of flextrack that had been soldered together and pulled up the cork roadbed, too.  I did a slight realignment project on this curved track, so that I have a little more clearance between the tracks- now 2-1/4" on center where the straight tracks are 2" on center. 

I discovered that out of the four rail joints in that eight-foot piece of track, one had failed miserably, causing a kink that derailed some rolling stock.  I also discovered a second bad joint this morning after I removed the track.  So, I laid the track on the floor, repaired the bad rail joints, and reinstalled the track, with a slight trimming in length due to the realignment.  Test runs of a freight train, a passenger train, and a six-axle locomotive were successful.  Not a bad way to start a vacation.

In the picture below, the inner mainline track and cork roadbed from just beyond the bridge at lower right all the way around to the turnout behind the caboose at upper left was replaced this morning:



DFF

[eric220]

Welcome back!

[peteski]

Dave, it sounds like  your vacation came just in time for a well deserved break.  You needed that!  Nice to see that you were also motivated enough to get back to the layout (and actually accomplished something without getting frustrated).  I hope that the rest of your vacation is very relaxing.

[Rich_S]

Dave,  Very nice work relaying the cork and track. I think that was a wise decision increasing the track spacing on those curves. Enjoy your vacation and don't forget to run some trains. Also don't forget to work on your daughters layout during your vacation. The time flies by before you know it. I still can't believe my daughter will be 35 this year. Just seems like yesterday she was starting Elementary school.