sorry but end of the line.

[Anonymous]

magicman710 - the trick is to flood the room with light, and turn the camera's flash off.

I have been having the same problem with my camera, until I found out how to turn the flash off!!!

Reggie, I'm not talking about your pics. I'm talking about all digital pics in general.

The problem is taking pictures indoors with Digital cameras.  The reason being Digital Cameras are setup to default to ISO 400, the most commonly used camera film from the days of film. To take good indoor pics you need either ISO 800 or even better ISO 1600.  Back in the day most people simply used ISO 400 because it can be used indoors and outdoors with decent results (you need a VERY good flash and lens filters for really good indoor pics).  Outdoors, on sunny days you want ISO 100 film.  The number indicates exposure times.  The higher then number the faster the exposure time.  So... if your camera support manual settings, typically represented by an 'M' on the dial you should be able to adjust your ISO setting.  Now if you really want to get serious you need to investigate and play with the White Filter, Arpeture, and Focal Length (this you may not be able to adjust without a good Digital SLR/Lens combination).

Other than that, you need to flood the room with light to replicate a Sunny Day.

[daan]

Very clean and tidy! Good work, will save a lot of time if problems show up, because the wiring is easy to track down.. I'm wondering how you'll hide the big blue tabs between the tracks however. Paint?

[magicman710]

magicman710 - the trick is to flood the room with light, and turn the camera's flash off.

I have been having the same problem with my camera, until I found out how to turn the flash off!!!

Reggie, I'm not talking about your pics. I'm talking about all digital pics in general.

[alexweiihman]

Keep us posted!

[thatboy37]

i have used 2 and a 1/2 cases of gargraves flex track so far and need at least 20 more pieces to complete the 5th and final loop of track. so i would say all in all 3 cases of track plus the switches.

[mickey4479]

That is a large layout!  How many feet of track do you think you will have when completed?

[lionel2986]

Nice work Reggie. I always like seeing update photos. It looks like you've accomplished much this past weekend.

[thatboy37]

well after all day saturday and sunday maybe 8 hours total time. i have all the feeder wires dropped, all the buss wires ran, and the 2 connected together ready to be connected to the transformers. i'm that much closer to getting my trains up and running. do not have the switches wired yet as that is the next step to do. i have pics of the feeders connected to the tracks and the wires under the train layout. the push in spade connectors worked great, and were alot cheaper than the gargraves push in connectors. instead of soldering i used tap splices to connect the feeder wires to the buss wires. it kept down on the mess as i am not good at soldering. hope you like.

[fifedog]

magicman710 - the trick is to flood the room with light, and turn the camera's flash off.

Reggie - thanks for sharing.

[thatboy37]

more new work above for you guys to see.

[magicman710]

What is with digital cameras and bad pictures? It seems all the digital images I see are very low quality. Maybe its the closeness? Nice pics Reggie.

[thatboy37]

well got some more work done on the layout. 2 nights in a row man i love my wife.

1st - i finished dropping the rest of the wires to the yard, the spur off the intermodal yard, the spurs off the yard, and round house .

2nd - i put in all the bumpers for the roundhouse, the test track, intermodal spur, and three extra spurs.

3rd - took down the old wires that were still hanging from the first layout that i had done.

here are a few pics that i took of the little bit of work that i done. hope you like.

 

these are pics of the 3 spurs with newly placed bumpers

these are of the test track

these are of the roundhouse with newly placed bumpers

these are of the consist i have running now. it consist of a: k-line csx sd60, 1 set of the atlas gundersun twin stacks, 2 lionel husky stacks, 4 lionel 50 ton die cast hoppers, 2 lionel 4 bay cylindrical hoppers, and 1 mth csx caboose it smokes and lights up.

this is all for now. well i should say tomorrow.

 

 

[ChiefEagles]

WOW Reggie.  Had not had time to look at your thread in a while.  Great job.  You are going to have a great layout [already do for operating] when finished.

[fifedog]

Once in awhile, our local Dollar store will get a small shipment of those Thomas Kincaid lighted houses, that are used in floral centerpieces.  They are spot-on perfect for S-scale, and I use them as background pieces on my O-gauge RR.

[dbaker48]

Good job!  Your really coming along with the layout.  You gotta watch that $1 Store, you will end up having to expand the layout.  I find my self doing the same thing, walking around lookin at stuff in the store wondering how I can use it on the layout. 

Congradulations on the Falcons!  Keep On Truckin 

[Brutus]

Looking good Reg!

[magicman710]

Nice pics Reggie. Intermodel crane looks nice. 

[thatboy37]

well i have had a little time on my hand to do a little work on the layout. its not much but drop more of the feeders for my wirng and i still have more to do. good thing is all i have left to drop is wires for the yard and round house.i did decide to go ahead and put the 5th mainline up. no work done on it yet.i also put the last remaining switch i had in and i have a few pics of that to show. plus i got a few items for the layout to. well here goes, and hope you like.

got this at the dollar tree for 1 dollar. i'm going to experiment with this on the layout

this is for the mainline somewhere

got these at the dollar tree to for 1 dollar. little bird houses but i plan to use these for windmills. i saw some on the interstate in pa going west on one of the interstates. well they dont quite look like them but this is close enough. for what i want to model after 

this where i will place them on the curve coming into the room.

these are some sail boats i'm going to place in the lake that i put on there somewhere. also 1 dolar at dollar tree.

this is the light house i got to place somewhere by the boats in the water. also 1 dollar at you know it dollar tree.

this is where i put the last switch in at. just have not connected the spur track coming off of the switch yet.

 

[trainmasterz]

Reggie,

 Your layout looks great.  It is coming along nicely.  I remember back last year when you worked through the night the first couple days.  Congrats on the baby by the way.  I hope all is well.  Also good luck this season.  I hope you keep us posted.

 The thing about Reggie's layout is its so big that you never can see the whole thing in any one picture.

 

[Buckeye Riveter]

Reggie, it looks good.  Do you have room for a big trestle type structure?  If your travels take you to San Diego, make sure you go see the museum layouts.  Some of my best ideas have been copied from museum layouts.

Love those photos!!  Keep them coming. 

Congrats, too!!!

[lionel2986]

I always like seeing your progress, and especially enjoy all the pictures. You have a huge layout, and are progressing much quicker than I am. I don't know how you do it. My layout is only a fraction of the size of yours. I can't wait to see how your layout will look completed. I really like the modern day trains and buildings. Most layouts are modeled after the past. Oh yeah... I'm looking forward to reading about your layout in future CTT magazines ;)

[dwiemer]

? hey dwiemer could you elaborate on the part about the wire going under/over the tracks and if you have any pics you can post that would be great. about this topic see below. 

Reggie, I have not forgotten about you.  I have had issues with a scanner and have not been able to copy the information to send.  I do have the articles and will send as soon as I am operational again.

Dennis

[thatboy37]

 

 

here's a few pics for you guys of the k-line sd70 pulling 2 double stacks, 2 die cast 2 bay hoppers, & 1 csx caboose. i actually ran the train on mainline 4 as i had 2 sets of feeders to hook up a trans former. so i got my 1st action on line 4 and it made a complete loop up and down. i got a video but dont know how to post it. now seeing this train run all that track. i'm thinking about adding back mainline five. i have not taken down the setup for it yet as i just envisioned a train running on line 5 in the opposite direction. i need 1 rh & 2lh hand ross 11 degree switch with dz2500switch box, and 20 pieces of gargraves track maybe 30. hope you like. 

 

 

 

[thatboy37]

getting alot of wiring done. no pics yet. i also ended up going with a feeder wire every 8 to 10 feet, and using the push in spade connectors looks great so far. plus this is alot cheaper to. i would say i am about 1 and a 1/2 week away from running the first train.  

? i have the dz2500 switch machines and i know i have to wire each separate, but once i have power to my tracks do i have to wire the switch rails for power or can they run off the power from the tracks. another way to say it will my engine stall/get power if i dont run a hot&common wire to the rails of the switch, or do i need to run a hot&common wire to the rails of the switch to prevent this problem.

? hey dwiemer could you elaborate on the part about the wire going under/over the tracks and if you have any pics you can post that would be great. about this topic see below. 

 

 

Hey Reggie,

     You may want to wire the outside rails both for Common/ground.  Then wire the center rail for power/positive.  The reason for wire to both outside rails is for the TMCC signal strength.  If you do end up having accessories that require activation by outside rail, just isolate that section.  One thing to keep in mind, if you are using any metal bridges or have any points where the elevations cross over or run next to lower rails, you should set up a ground to earth wire at these points and connected to any metal structures the tracks go over/through.  Again, this is a signal issue, and you can just have the one earth ground wire that completely goes through the whole layout.  This ground is NOT connected to the same as the common from the TMCC or the transformer.  Instead, you can either wire it to a metal plumbing fixture if you have access, or to the ground/common of a separate outlet ( the third "rounded" plug in the wall outlet).

Good Luck,

Dennis

[fifedog]

Hey, Reggie, great display shelves.  Almost like walking into a well-stocked hobby shop.  Cool pigskin memorabilia too.

Let those other studs pull up to the practice facility in their H2s and H3s.  You'll be big man on campus if you drive up in your 80000 lb 370hp Detroit FREIGHTLINER.  Throw a set of spinners on them wheels. Impressive!

[Anonymous]

wow incredible reggie.

[Brutus]

Cool, did you get picked up?!  That's great, Reg!  Will you be changing your name from 37?

[thatboy37]

The layout looks great!  Nice to see all the trains displayed!

SO... How did minicamp go with the Falcons????

Kurt

 

how did you know bout that. i didnt think anybody knew i had a tryout. it went great looking forward to the season.

[thatboy37]

here's the work i done this week. which includes finishing the small section of track that have 3 spurs, the control panel, stand for power supplies, shelves on the wall for trains, and dressing up the walls with a few of my jersey's and autographed balls, helmets, and jersey's of former teammates. this is what you guys will have to look forward to when you come and visit. tell me what you think. now its on to wiring of the layout will post when i get that done. hope you like, if not hope the next batch of pics work for you.

 

 

 

[lionelsoni]

I use full-size toggle switches, just because they're easier to operate than the little bitty ones.  But anything rated 10 amperes or more at 24 or more volts AC is plenty good, including 120-volt light switches.  Those do take up a lot of room, however, and need a cover plate to look neat.