Weekend Update 8/7/22

[Philip H]

Philip,
I'm curious as to the background of your PRR sign, "Church of St. Denis."
Charlie

St Dennis is a MARC stop really close to BWI that also has excellent CSX railfanning. Thus attendance there on a Saturday or Sunday has long been referred to as “going to church.”

[mu26aeh]

Slowly reworking and reconstructing the Hagerstown/Windsor/now possibly Lincoln St yard

[Ed Kapuscinski]

More pictures later. But it's continuing to be a busy weekend. [ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[nkalanaga]

aikorob:  100 mph would be nice, but, like you said, it would need a dedicated ROW.  Mixing speeds on curves is a problem, as every speed has a different ideal superelevation.

That dedicated ROW is the problem, as it would be very expensive, both in developed and mountainous regions, for various reasons.   A 75 mph average, with 100 on suitable portions, could be done on the existing ROW, needing only upgraded track and signals, as well as limiting grade crossings, especially in rural areas.   Since these improvements would also benefit the freight railway, the costs could be split multiple ways.

For corridor services, especially if there are parallel freight lines, true high speed rail would be practical.  Take Chicago to St Lewis, or Chicago to Minneapolis.  There wouldn't be any physical problem with combining freight railroads on one line, and upgrading the other to 200+ mph.  Or, if that wasn't desirable, building a new line on freeway or powerline ROW.  The distances are short enough that it could compete with airlines, especially considering how long it takes to get through, and in some cases to, the airports.

[amato1969]

Thunderstorms gave me some basement time today...  I got a pair of old MDC gal tank cars off the workbench; Gold Medal detail set, Atlas 100-ton trucks on lowered bolsters, with MT 1025 couplers :





  Frank

[Ed Kapuscinski]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[eja]

Thunderstorms gave me some basement time today...  I got a pair of old MDC gal tank cars off the workbench; Gold Medal detail set, Atlas 100-ton trucks on lowered bolsters, with MT 1025 couplers :



  Frank

Nice looking tank cars  !

[TiogaTracks]

Dang Ed, that scenery is looking NICE.  You picked a hard season to model, and you sure look like you’ve got it figured out!

I’m wondering how seasons will treat my scenery, since half of it is alive.  I added a bunch of moss and more artificial floral stuff to make some sections of forest/understory.  I’m going for an overgrown and uncared for look.  It certainly needs more tall trees, but at least the live evergreens will slowly grow.  Next step is figure out a durable way to add weeds to the tracks.



Despite heat and humidity, the grading work continues, including the first blocks placed for the herb garden / turnaround loop!  It took a while to level the first few bits of this cinder block benchwork, but it’s going faster and faster.  And I hope to have the operator walkway and the rest of the long tangent leveled and permanently installed this week.



I also did some loco maintenance tonight, swapping a truck on RS3 5260.  Sheesh Aristocraft, how many screws did you need to include on this design???  Oh well, got it fixed and she fired right up, running a lot smoother!

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

I don’t remember if I showed this weathered Berwind coal hopper here before.  It’s apparently from “Hudson Car Works” and I just gave it mild streaks and fading.


-Steven

[altohorn25]

Video update #6 of my Milwaukee Road Layout

/>
More info in the layout build thread:  https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=54378.0

[Cajonpassfan]

Being a lazy bum here... just running more trains. For testing and research purposes....
Otto

[Chris333]

I could share this. A HOn30 railbus with a Kato caboose truck up front. Just about all 3D printed.

[nkalanaga]

Steven:  Moss?  I read an article once on how to add moss to an outdoor garden.  I don't remember all of the details, but the basics are simple.

Find a patch of moss in your yard.  If you don't have any, because you don't have a damp, shaded area, it probably won't grow on your railroad either.  If you have moss, but it doesn't look "right", that's also a problem.  We in northeast Kentucky, and areas in  the Northwest that get enough rain (or irrigation), have some nice moss that actually looks like N scale wetland vegetation.  In your scale, it would pass for grass or short weeds.

Pick up a chunk.  It should just lift off the ground, or rock, or brick, or whatever it's growing on, with a little dirt under it.

Put a chunk of the moss in a blender, with some buttermilk.  Weird sounding, but that's what they recommended.  Blend it up.  The moss won't care.

They recommended spreading the goop on a brick, and putting it where it was wanted.  In your case, that would probably be on the ballast and ties.

Keep it damp, and it will grow.

[sirenwerks]

...painting anything in G&W colors is a crime as well 

I see this scheme 2 or 3 times a day, the PNWR line between Tualatin and Forest Grove is a few blocks from my house, and I would agree that paint scheme is a crime.  Paint schemes/corporate images should be relative to the locale and that scheme has nothing to do with Oregon.  Maybe if they slapped a Beaver on it, but it's a weaker shade of orange than OSU Beaver Orange?  The only thing it has going for it it it's a liability insurance company's wet dream, otherwise it's butt ugly.  Then again, I can't think of a modern railroad whose paint scheme I like.

[wazzou]

I don’t mind it since I sell the majority of G&W properties West of Kansas all of their trestle timbers.   

[bbunge]

Pretty much finished up the body of Chicago North Shore and Milwaukee car #154.  Shapeways body on a Tomytec TM-21 mech.  Need to add lights and perhaps an encoder at some point.  This is based on a photograph of 154 when it ran at the Ohio Railway Museum in Worthington, Oh in the 1970's.  Tamiya paints (NATO black for the roof), MTL Z couplers.  Need to trim off the air hoses.   Greeting card protective plastic for windows.  Spent many hours in this car.  Right off the south end of the Ohio State Rt 161 bridge, the motorman would kick it and in a few seconds it would be doing 50-60 mph.