Teen Model Railroad Place June 2009

Want to borrow my rotary plow, Alex? Actually I think pilot plows can handle that little bit.

I started working on powering GP35 2507 already today, I already  have an NCE DA-SR set aside to install. I soldered wires to the motor and got the LEDs ready to be installed. When I began to install the power pick-up wires I didn't a good way to run a wire to the frame. Soldering to the trucks and the frame didn't work. I haven't tried scraping off some of Athearn's blackening stuff and soldering it to the metal plate there, I'm going to try that in a bit. If that doesn't work, I'll have to wait until I can get the stuff to drill and tap a 2-56 hole in the frame for the pick-up wire.

Anyone here know what size or type of lightbulbs or LED will fit into the headlight area like how Athearn RTR does them, where that have 2 microbulbs in each light cluster? Having a few of those would help with doing beacons and on that aforementioned GP35.

You call that SNOW? I don't think we need a rotary for that... Up here we don't even use a seperate plow until we get 3 or 4 feet! You should see it when the locos hit snow drifts on crossings!

I was out at a crossing on the Worcester to Ayer line a couple years ago (without a camera) when there was a ton of snow. The drifts piled up at the crossing by both the wind (it's a big open area under the powerlines, and the wind really gets blowing there!) and the snowplows, were somewhere around 5 feet, taller than me back then.

So we drove up, and heard a train, so we pulled into a small lot next to the tracks, cleared for power company service trucks. I got out, stood next to the tracks and waited for the train. I don't know the speed limit on that line, but I suspect the train may have been doing at least 40, trying to get up enough speed to get through those drifts going uphill. The lead SD40-2 hit the drift, which exploded everywhere... We had to dig the car out with shovels, and I still have no idea where my hat went...

Now THAT was a lot of snow! We get a storm like that every couple years... Last time I was stuck overnight in the Portland, Maine, airport overnight... If Amtrak had a rotary plow I might've been able to get home on the Downeaster that night, but they didn't even have a standard plow...

Oh, and catching up from the last TMRP... Joe, make sure you check out Bapou and RailfanAlex's posts!

I'd personally stay away from Digitrax decoders. While they're cheap (but not that much cheaper than Lenz!), their quality-control standards are pretty poor.

I purchased two DH123 decoders, and another Digitrax decoder (I forget the type though) back in the winter at the Springfield, MA, train show, and both of the DH123s are faulty. This is a pretty common problem with Digitrax decoders, and I'm not going to buy any more. I'm sticking with Lenz, NCE, and TCS from now on...

Bapou, Alex, and Tyler: Thanks for the decoder help! Now I guess I'll go with the NCE D13SR now. It looks pretty good, and the instructions even explain how to add ditch lights (although I will probably wait to install them). I'd probably get the four pack, just so I have a few.

Also, NCE sells a replacement for the Bachman DCC On-Board decoders. Is it exactly the same, or a better version of the one already inside (which sucks!).

 Sweet GG, snow down here would melt quick' last time i checked, it was 94 farenhiet outside.

ok, so, pics of my stripped locos:

all three in consist:

H-15-44:

GP35:

GP30 (this was the most difficult and still has some model master paint remaining, but nothing a coat of primer won't fix):

Alex: You might want to cheat electronically and kill the green saturation in that photo... That green tree in the background doesn't look right for winter...

While we're on the topic of snow, I don't really miss it... Except for skiing. Railfanning isn't much fun in really cold weather, but the photos turn out pretty cool. Check out the snowdrift in the mirror behind that blue car!

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1434769

I miss snow since I never get any.... Guess that does explain why I got that rotarty plow for about 50% off.

Ty, I've only had one bad Digitrax decoder out of like 20 or so. 0 NCEs and Lenzs were bad, but 2 of the 3 TCS ones I got were bad... At least TCS will replace them free, and the one that works is great.

Joe, just stay away from MRC's decoders and you should be okay.

Alex (De Lery) and Joe:

Actually the digitrax equivalent to the D13SR (new version) would be a DH143 decoder, there is no such thing. The equivalent of a DH163 would be a D15SR (new version).

My LHS is Tony's so I don't have a problem with decoders :).

 I think y'all are gonna kill me.

 Riding to my little bro's baseball game with my mom, I learned from her that I can now build somethign other than my 4x8 in my next bedroom. and today I doodled out a sketch of a trackplan for an SCRail branch that would have the main power be an Alco C420 (plausible excuse to use any 4 axle roadswitcher though, b/c of how cars are delivered to the major yard in Florence, SC (this is the Marion-Mullins branch of the former Columbia & Pee Dee River Railway, which is one of the lines that formed SCRail). This fits in perfectly with the space I would potentially have. Since I already have some code 55 track, and am focused on getting my rail fleet painted up and in service, I won't build this layout until the fall. For now, I'm going to build a small continous running (no ops, period (thank you diorama layout) layout this summer (ptracticing the scenery techniques for my CPDR layout), and then get the switches and track for the two towns for my birthday this year, and the track for Florence yard for christmas. I have enough locmotive power to improvise on the line, but wil eventually need to get a C420 to fulfil the history.

I've made up my mind (I hope!), and I'll go with the D13SR. I'll also get a D13SRJ for my F40, which has an eight-pin plug. Tony's has the four pack for $59, so I'll order from there (once I get money, birthday's coming up soon).

Tyler: I really like that shot in the mirror, with the train in the mirror and the backround. Pretty cool!

The biggest snow "drifts" we get here are without a doubt after they plow the parking lot at the mall. They're a good twenty feet high. Although, Netcong on Monday morning, after a large (1-2 feet) storm must be pretty cool. Since there's no traffic on weekends, there's plenty of time for it to build up. You gotta see that place when it rains- if you're within 20 feet of the tracks even during a moderate rain, you'll be soaked! (It floods A LOT, especially between the rails).

Sawyer: I THINK I get what you're saying...

I was looking at my layout before, and I think I'm going to make a few changes to my plan also. The tracks at the Bakery are currently unused, so I parked some "stored" locos there for the time being (Dummy F7 and the 1300, and some other thing of which I can't currently remember what it is). Well, it looked pretty good, so I'm going to make that the new site of the yard. I'll add a few more tracks, and it'll be set. On one of the extentions (where Watchinson Yard was going to be and where the NJT station will be), I'll put the bakery, and maybe another industry if there's still room. I'll try to make some kind of track plan because it is hard to imagine this.

Nice prep work Tyler! Can't wait to see more progress!

Hey, now I'm RP famous! Look right to the left behind the head of the guy with the white shirt and stroller!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=285959&nseq=0

The leg interests me more!

Who's the weird kid in the hat?

More Pictures of the GP40-2Ls

Alex... I need a GP40-2LW... Actually I need three... I can sell off my two U23Bs and my SDP35 and buy three GP40s with the money... When are they coming out?

Alex, what's so special about a leg??? Unlike model trains a leg can be lethal...

Jordan, you were checking out that WC SD45, weren't you? Wonder what's up with that BN U30C they have?

ns3010

Sawyer: I THINK I get what you're saying...

I was looking at my layout before, and I think I'm going to make a few changes to my plan also. The tracks at the Bakery are currently unused, so I parked some "stored" locos there for the time being (Dummy F7 and the 1300, and some other thing of which I can't currently remember what it is). Well, it looked pretty good, so I'm going to make that the new site of the yard. I'll add a few more tracks, and it'll be set. On one of the extentions (where Watchinson Yard was going to be and where the NJT station will be), I'll put the bakery, and maybe another industry if there's still room. I'll try to make some kind of track plan because it is hard to imagine this.

Sorta. Essentially, what I was doing was condensing my layout to fit on a 4x8, and I sorta had it where it would work, but now, I am abandoning a 4x8 table, and going with a different design (I have 8' 2" to be the two ends of a rectangle, length is however long I need (up to 15', probably gonna need about 12' or so though). The Florence yard will be facing the bedroom, with the town of Marion next to the wall on the opposite side, then the town of Mullins in a corner, then a mainline run through swamps (maybe!) that would be the continuous run connection. I may just make a removable section. I would get the track for the towns for my birthday, and at least the switches for Christmas. Will this happen, who knows. I'm working on the plans though.

your plan sounds good Joe!

Nice pic Jordan, lol.

Packer

Alex, what's so special about a leg??? Unlike model trains a leg can be lethal...

Jordan, you were checking out that WC SD45, weren't you? Wonder what's up with that BN U30C they have?

Its a female leg!

Tyler, they haven't made any announcements for the GP40-2LWs which just saw the light of day, nor the GS21Bs which they had a pre-production sample of at Springfield. I'd expect a little over a year before they arrive, but maybe less.

 Well, I now have my enxt layout plan drawn out on graph paper. I'm HORRIBLE at graph paper drawings though, so on to RTS will the plan go, then into waiting to be built.

OK, so here's a few pix. First is the shell with the patch applied. I like printing my own patches because the numbering and lettering is crisp and sticks to the shell using only some double sided tape and a glue stick (and they're removable, so they're easy to replace.) BTW, the first two pix are from my phone, so they suck. 


Next is the inside of the loco, with it's simple wiring (two wires from the right side pickup and two from the left side go into the headlight leads and the motor.


And one more of my three TSRy locos in a consist. Please excuse the crap under the table

I'll try and post those track plans later.

Alex, Okay, so you have a point there. However it still is only a leg.

Not much doing today. I weathered a few cars yesterday and sealed them before I left for class and hit them again afterwards. It's raining at the moment so I can't go over and look since I have towalk like 50 feet in it to get to the carport that I sprayed them in.

Joe, do those NCE decoders you were mentioning earlier have something for quit motor drive. If so, that'd be great since I could use them for those C424s by replacing the Kato lightboard with the Atlas DC one with the 8-pin plug.

I purchased another RS3. Lehigh Valley. When it arrives I'll keep and repaint it if its a Classic, or sell it to a friend if its Yellow Box.

I've also been looking into 44 Tonners to paint into Claremont Concord. CCRR interchanges with WRS in Lebanon, and is responsible for pulling cuts of cars from Lebanon Yard across the river to interchange with QNE at Claremont Junction. While the S4 can handle it, a pair of 44 tonners would also be fun to have, and could possibily free up another WRS loco.

Packer

Joe, do those NCE decoders you were mentioning earlier have something for quit motor drive. If so, that'd be great since I could use them for those C424s by replacing the Kato lightboard with the Atlas DC one with the 8-pin plug.

WHAT?!?!?!? Sorry, I have NO CLUE what you just said. I know nothing about DCC, so maybe someone else can answer this for you.

I put the patched reporting marks on 2201 before, but I really don't feel like going downstars right now (one of THOSE days), so maybe I'll get pictures tomorrow or something.

Translated: The NCE decoders you mentioned earlier have a feature that runs the motor quieter than other decoders.

It stopped raining before I left for class again (I't in it now) so I checked on my units. I don't think the dullcote sealed right, and I'm kind of lost on how to get as good of a seal as I have on other cars (mainly the PC and UP hoppers, and a caboose; they sealed really well). I've been searching around a bit and came up with some ideas, so I'll be experimenting over the next few days. All else fails, I might bite the bullet and buy those adhesive weathering powders.

Alex, If it's a yellow box you could try getting one of the shells from the Classic RS3s and putting it on the older chassis like I'm doing with my C424s. There may be a few smaller mounting tabs that may have to be cut off (on mine there were about 4 or so) and a coupler mounting pad may need to be made (I'm doing mine with styrene). for my 3 units, it'll cost me about 45 bucks or so, or about 15 per unit. (at the 10 bucks I got mine for, it's probably not that bad in the end for about 25-35 bucks a unit)

Joe, Sorry 'bout that, I meant Baqou....

 Hey guys, I've gotten my parents to agree to an 8x12 layout, I've got the plan down on paper (took me three or four tries), and will get it drawn out in RTS sometime in the near future. I'm debating whether to backdate the layout to the 1970s (would look a bit more palusible, and everything I want to run was built in the 1970s), when SCRail was first started (at least, in my world), but continue the SCRail story as if it's in modern day (basically, model it in the 1970s, and talk like it's in modern times).

Yes, the D13 decoders are silent running.

P.S. you got the p in my name backwards. 

Bapou

P.S. you got the p in my name backwards. 

That's twice I screwed that up....

At least I can get a 4-pack of NCE D13SRJs and a few harnesses.

Anyways, here are some newely weathered cars:

This gon I experimented a little bit. I drybrushed it grimy black then hit it with pastes and dullcote.

I did the same with the trucks and wheelsets on it. Personally I think they came out great.





Here's the trio of boxcars I weathered. Just pastels. I spent a while trying to figure out how to make the dullcote seal really good but I nailed it on all 3 cars. When I moved the UP box inside from the other carport it started raining and some got on the roof and left some shiny spots. I figure I'd leave it since it looks like parts of the roof got patched over.

Here's a tanker car I did, I have another one that I'm working on at the moment.

Here's some flats I got recently. A few of them are missing bridge plates, container shoes, and hitches; so I'll probably get some from Athearn. I'll also need to get trailers to go on them.

I set these engines up as a consit and have them sitting on a display shelf. I'll have to weather them someday, but I haven't done an engine with pastels before.

Vincent: Nice job on those cars!

Here's the (mostly) finished 2201. Again, the picture sucks cause it's from my phone:

Just for laughs, here's what we did in Spanish today. Bob Esponja! Now we have to write two paragraphs on "F.U.N." and "Club Spongebob" (Club de Bob Esponja).

 Looking good Joe and Vincent.

I'm going to start construction of a full-size lift bridge mockup tomorrow. Then I can start building the real thing! I'll keep you updated.