General Discussion (Model Railroader)

Why leave the ties? Easy: Rails have scrap value. Used crossties are worthless. I'm surprised they didn't take the signals - must have been pretty old ones.

Sawyer: I don't have any piles of busted ties (although I think I'll model that exact pile just because I can when work progresses to that part of the layout!), but I do have a drop-end gondola and a tool car traveling the system picking up used crossties from along the line. Here's the MOW crew loading some crossties at Enfield Transfer.

ns3010:

When Conrail tore up the Lackawanna Cutoff in 1984, they removed the rails, but left the wayside structures and equipment (such as signals) AND TIES (???) intact for the entire length. I could see maybe the signals and structures, but I want to know, why the ties???????????????? Makes ZERO sense to me....

Like Tyler said, rails have scrap value. Ties pretty much don't have any value (Unless they are in good shape, then you can sell them to lumber yards, or places like Home Depot), it was probably cheaper to just let them rot in place. Now why would they leave the signals there? I could see the signal masts, but the actual signals...

 Sweet tyler. great little indsutry.

Geezzzzz you guys...

Someone needs to post a link on the old thread to the new one! I've said this before! I thought there hadn't been a new thread started!

I can see your point, Alex, but this one is ahead of the old one...unless you scroll past it, you'll see it before you get several pages back to the old one!

Sorry Alex, my b....

I see you guy's points about the ties. I'm not sure about the condition of the ties back in 84 (10 years before my time), but I know that now they've just about rotted to bits. Even if they may have had some value back then, they surely don't now...
Truthfully, I'm not sure exactly how intact the signals are. I've seen one mast (there's probably more hidden along the line), but never paid attention to how complete it is.
The entire ROW is intact, which makes restoration by NJT a lot easier too... No houses to tear down, and only one grade crossing to rebuild. The bridge over the Delaware River will need tons of work, but that's far down the line (pun intended) in Phase II, since Phase I only reconstructs the line to Andover.

 I think the colors in the ANRR logo might look familiar. Story behind that: I have some model master reed paint I ain't used, and bought both model master white paint and thinner at Hobby Lobby yesterday, and red and white go together. Reason that black is included in the logo is having both letters white just looks like a blob.

Also got the outside rails of the finished track painted today, going to paint the inside Tuesday probably, then ballasting comes next.

here's a bigger pic of the logo:

Could you post a photo of the all-white lettering? My logo is all white on red, and it doesn't look like a blob...

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I'm finally working on my fascia panels - the mini-fascia ones we talked about several months back. I have the money for a full fascia (only $15 more for the whole layout!) but now time is my biggest problem and I figure I can build mini-fascia panels and add a full fascia if I need later.

So far I've got the Lebanon panel (7 bill box slots and a throttle port) all cut and drilled and ready for gluing, painting, final assembly, then mounting on the layout; Mascoma (two bill box slots and a throttle port) needs a hole drilled and milled out for the Digitrax UP5 throttle port next, as does West Canaan (two bill box slots and a throttle port). Enfield still needs its two panels cut for it, and the throttle port drilled out.

Speaking of wood, the Staging Yard Extension is giving me issues. The lift bridge is warping, so it doesn't drop into place anymore (you have to force it into position), and the tracks don't line up so well anymore so I've had to shim the layout side abutment. The staging yard itself is contracting because of the cold, and the flextrack doesn't contract with it, so now I've got a bunch of kinks I need to deal with...

But all in all, once I've got the fascia panels done, I can schedule the next operating session and do final tune-up before then!

 sure Tyler.

The reason it looks like a blob though is the letters share the same lines, basically. in fact, i had to redraw a leg of the A just to get it over the N. But anyways, here's all white lettering.

That does look like a blob; the letters overlap each other a lot more than on the WRS logo.

TrainManTy:

That does look like a blob; the letters overlap each other a lot more than on the WRS logo.

Yeah. I want them to look intertwined, hence one has to be a different color. and red makes a perfect background. I won't be putting the logo onto the locos though, and in other applications, the N will be red and there won't be a background. The WRS logo has them barely touching each other.

Well, I've got the GP35 and GP9 stripped. The polly scale paint is proving to be tough as heck to get off the rs1 and GP30 (the GP35 has a new shell, and the cab of it is easy to strip using one's fingernail). The rs-1 and GP30 will eventually be replaced with probably either a GP35, GP38, or GP40 and an rs3 or something (the second loco needs to be older, maybe even a GP7). But that's a worry in the future after the layout is presentable.

The first snowfall of 2009 is here! Yay winter...

 Sweet Alex.

Shot model master red paint today onto the locos. I'm gonna stick to polly scale after this though; the model master is stickier. Might just be I didn't add enough thinner; did it by eye this time. Only good thing is now I've got thinner that works with dullcoat. And also can get some ANRR locos

Railfan Alex:

The first snowfall of 2009 is here! Yay winter...

What!!!

Snow already?? And your just a few hours downstream from where I am! But that's okay, I like winter too. Guess I should get the shop crew working on that rotary plow

(It actually belongs in my scrap yard scene).

On a more serious note (you might have noticed already) I've finally started putting ground cover on my layout. Here's a couple of pics:

Just wanted to show some progress (the first in a while). Let me know if you see anything I'm doing wrong so I don't keep doing it.

Jamie

 Looks good Jamie.

Well, the locos are dry, so thoguht I'd take some pics. got a little drip under the masking on the walkways to fix, otherwise, they look good. the model master worked good, adding a bit in some palces would be good, but I'm going to go ahead and see if it will help the weathering. who knows? I'll be buying some clear acrylic matte medium this weekend in greenville (hopefully), and then I'll mask for the white stripe (I know, shoulda painted the white first, but no masking tape small enough for the stripe). Anyways, here's some loco pics, but first, a pic of my old SEC scheme. just replace the grey w/ red and yellow w/ white and make the lines straight, lol.

Now for the loco pics:

ANRR power as of now:

Also, weathered this hopper: