Weekend Photo Fun 23,24,25

[railroadyoshi]

Guilford Guy

 Really great pictures so far this week!

 I've been finishing up a LONG project...

 

 

Alex, the 105 came out surprisingly well! Now just some numberplates and you'll be ready to go. And we'll be seeing a CC job down to Rockingham yard in the near future, eh?

[BRVRR]

Great stuff as usual everyone!

Grampy, You are a wonder.

A little something from the BRVRR today.

NYC Hudson #5335 rounds the curve behind the Farmer's Union Elevator on the BRVRR layout.

Keep up the good work guys. I always learn something in this thread.

Thanks to all.

[wctransfer]

Hey all, heres a few shots of my HLCX 6228 project. All it needs left is an MU receptical hose, and ditchlights. After those are added I will begin painting.

Alec

[tomkat-13]

Spent some time today making road signs for the layout. Feel free to copy & paste for your layout.

[lvanhen]

Toncat, great signs!!!   Thanks fro posting!!!

[Dave Vollmer]

Some before and after N scale action for me...

I started with an Atlas PS2 covered hopper lettered for P&LE.  The repaint date was 1964.  This is for my 1980 Conrail roster.

I sanded off the lettering a bit and added several layers of acrylic washes.

By 1980, the car would have been reweighed.  I did a patch and added some new dimensional data and COT stencils along with the obligatory "I-survived-the-70s" ACI label.

Also, last weekend I had House of Trains in Omaha install a TCS M1 decoder into my PRR L1s.  I'm usually a do-it-yerselfer when it comes to decoder installs, but the Kato frame has some tricks to it that I chose not to mess with.  $20 for labor, you can't beat it.  The valve gear, on the other hand, started binding after I got her home...  Long story.  But she works now even if I'll never get those 6 hours back!

I decided to give her a little facelift.  I re-sanded the parting seam on the tender some more, added some new paint, new decals, and a Z-scale coupler.  Here's the before:

I used diesel decals this time because I never cared for how the Deluxe Gold lettering shows up (or fails to).  This looks more like the buff they used toward the end of steam anyway.

And a parting "mood shot..."

[jacon12]

 I appreciate the reply, Grampy.  Now,hopefully I'll figure out the jig making, find the dowels and I'll be all set.  I have an area I've been needing something like this.

Jarrell

 

 

Grampys Trains

 Hi: Thanks Jarrell, jecorbett. Lots of great photos this week.  As to guard rails, I used 5/32 dowels I found at AC Moore. I cut the tops at a 45 deg. angle, and made a jig to drill the holes, to keep them at a uniform distance apart and from the top. Then, I glued them in place, painted them white, and weathered them with alcohol/ink wash. Then, I strung the wires through all the holes. Then I weathered the wire with a rust colored wash. Here's another shot of the guard rails.

 

 

 

 

 

[howmus]

WOW!  This weekend there has been some awesome modeling being shown.  But that isn't unusual.....

I have been working on more of the line poles.   These are about half of what I have made and installed.

They don't take very long and add one more thing "I" made for the layout. 

[wm3798]

This just in... Progress shot.

After working on the steam project, I got to thinking about how to improve power pick up for my yard switcher.  Adding power pick ups to the tender of the K-2 made a huge difference in how it ran, and I've been fighting a couple of old C-80 turnouts in my yard.

Well, it seems that back in the early 1960's, the Western Maryland was also looking for ways to improve the tractive effort of its yard switchers.  They took a couple of retired Alco switchers, and turned them into slugs, or as the WM referred to them, Diesel Trailing Units.



These were basically extra traction motors that were powered by the prime mover of a "Mother" locomotive.  This particular slug was originally mated to a Baldwin switcher, and later to #81, one of the WM's two BL-2's.  The extra power was good for moving heavy tonnages at low speed, perfect for switching long cuts of cars in Hagerstown Yard.

Obviously there's still some tweaking to do... Happily the handrail set from an Atlas C-630 fits like a glove... just need to figure out how to bend the far end down for the steps...  I'll also need to get some RS-3 end railings from the most recent run get the ends to look right.

Next will be to smooth out the top radius, looks a little wavey, and fix the errant stanchion mounting there in the middle.  Then I have to add the sand filler platforms at each end, and a headlight housing at the rear.  I'm going to wire in a TF-4 I have to get the headlight to reverse with the BL-2.  I'm going to hardwire the pickups together between the BL and the slug, then nip them in the middle and make a simple solder connection that will be easy to pop apart if the need arises.

Originally I was going to see if I could keep the drive powered, but the low profile hood prohibited that.  Again, being dragged around won't affect the capabilities of the BL-2 as it works my little yard.  

I took the idler gears out of the trucks, so they roll pretty freely, although not as freely as other Atlas trucks.  But alas, it's the lesser of the two VO drives that got sacrificed for this, so I'm not crying.  I'm going to test it in the yard to see how it tracks before I put additional weight in it.  There's the whole motor cavity I could fill up with bricks, and since it'll be mated to a split drive BL, I'm not worried about it affecting pulling power.  The main objective is solid track power pick up to get around a couple old c-80 turnouts that have been giving me fits.  I figure a little added weight will help maintain solid contact with the rails.

Lee

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

It's been a full weekend on this thread. Great work everybody!

Here's the Kansas City Zephyr stopped in my fictional town of Blackhawk

Happy Model Railroading!

[Geared Steam]

Great modeling this weekend guys, one of the best wpf I can remember. 

[nordique72]

Dave Vollmer

I started with an Atlas PS2 covered hopper lettered for P&LE.  The repaint date was 1964.  This is for my 1980 Conrail roster.

I sanded off the lettering a bit and added several layers of acrylic washes.

By 1980, the car would have been reweighed.  I did a patch and added some new dimensional data and COT stencils along with the obligatory "I-survived-the-70s" ACI label.

 Dave,

Your hopper car looks great so far- if it survived to the 80s you also need to slap a wheel inspection dot on the car too in addition to the ACI label. I guess you can choose whether the car gets a white dot or a yellow one!

[mikelhh]

 Tomkat - many many thanks for the great road signs!

 

 Mike

[New Haven I-5]

 I MORE HOUR OF WPF LEFT.

[Packers#1]

 Hey Dave, nice work on the steamer and hopper.

Everyone, great work this week!