Weekend Photo Fun, 17-19 Aug

[wm3798]

WOW! That's amazing, Lee! When I looked, I thought it was HO! That'll teach anyone who thinks N isn't realistic!

You can tell it's not HO because the trains are smaller than the scenery...you know, like in the real world!!

As always, thanks for the compliments. 

Lee 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

KCS 27

250 ton crane

250 ton crane - side view

KCS 4108 - GP30

J & M patched reefer

KCS 4030 - side view

KCS 4030

GWWR 4099

GWWR 4099

GWWR 4099

GWWR 4099

[GAPPLEG]

Gappleg - I have never seen a model railroad where the railroad takes a background to the industrial development, like it does it real life. Great layout, post more.

Thanks for the compliment , I love your layout too. SP of course rules !  I like the scenery I've seen of your layout , really nice. I enjoy the building of a town as much as the railroad . So much for the mutual admiration society.

[Chuck Geiger]

Gappleg - I have never seen a model railroad where the railroad takes a background to the industrial development, like it does it real life. Great layout, post more.

[Hoople]

Brunton,

 

You control panel is very neat. Being I live in the Seattle area, (Renton,WA) I am  thinking of modeling the Pacific Northwest. Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Spokane, Seattle and Portland, Chicago, Burlington,  and Quincey.

or I free lance based off prototypes from up here in the Seattle area. 

Be sure to hit the train show at Puyallup this fall.

My husband and I model NP, GN, and S, P, & S.  What era are you planning on modeling.?

MrB,  Love the bicyclists.

Sue

 

Sue, You're going also? I always come to that one. The vendors, the layouts... Always fewer people than the extremely overcrowed Science Center show. Hardly anyone it seemed was there last time.

[oleirish]

Mark

Great work on your pannel,I'am worlking on my pannel for my "N" scale also,no pictures yet

But hope to have some soon.

! running DC at the present,I'am useing two color leds,red and green(only have to use one hole in the pannel) my switches I'am use an DPDT wired with reverseing green open red closed,when I change the switch they reverse.blocks are red-closed green open.Now my queston is what thickness and what kind of plastic do you use for your pannel? LEXEN or plaxagrass? and what type of drill bit do you use to keep it from cracking? OH! what thickness?You pannel is one of the finest I've ever seen!!

Thanks

JIM

[Anonymous]

WOW! That's amazing, Lee! When I looked, I thought it was HO! That'll teach anyone who thinks N isn't realistic!

Brunton, about the missing track numbers; That's what sharpies are for!

[jeffrey-wimberly]

[wm3798]

[

BTW, any good fishin' in that river?

It's not so bad considering that the water's only 1/32" deep and made out of acrylic gloss medium...  At least it's easy to walk from one shore to the other....  (and thanks for the kind words... it's much more rewarding to troll for compliments!

Lee 

[CMLewis]

This is supposed to be a toy train forum.  Please stop posting photos of the real world.  BTW, any good fishin' in that river?

Nice work all.

Chris

[jacon12]

Thanks Jim! 

Jarrell

 

Jarrell

Outstanding work you have done so far

Jim

[railroadyoshi]

Lee, I've seen a few of your angles multiple times, and yet everytime it still seems to blow me away. Keep hitting that nail on the head, both on your model and on your approach to our weekend home for the trolls.

[Don Z]

Anyone care to guess where I was last Monday??? This was our steed for the day.

Don Z.

[wm3798]

Mmmm.  Toylike.  Indeed.  I see some great shots of layouts of just about every stripe.  Here's a couple from my toybox...

 

FAQ:

Yes, it's N scale.  Atlas c55 flex track. 

I love it when someone drops in to troll.  I look at it as a challenge for me to really look at my own work, and realize that I really have fun working stretching the boundaries of my abilities with this hobby.

And I also enjoy seeing how everyone else enjoys their trains, whether their approach is my cup of tea or not. 

And Jeff, some of those low angle shots blow me away for their realism and detail.  I love the abandoned steamer.  I've got a couple in the junk box, but no real estate for that scene yet..

I've also seen old engines rigged up to look like stationary boiler for an engine house.

All the work this week may not be museum quality, but it's all fun to watch!

Lee 

[Pruitt]

I like the neat control panel posted by Mark B.

You said it! That looks like the neatest thing since sliced bread!

Thanks, guys! 

I've run the layout for a few hours with it and have already discovered a few things:

1. The blue "track selected" LEDs are a huge help! BUT...

2. I SHOULD have put track numbers next to each blue LED location. Then I could tell even easier which track is selected, by the number. (I'm NOT going back and rebuild this thing again, however!)

3. The occupancy detectors installed work great, but it would be nice to have a bit more ability, like turning from green to yellow when the detector is reached, then going to red at the fouling point of the turnout (that's a whole new level of functionality, including another emitter-detector set for each location. Maybe someone will build one like that some day. Meanwhile, if I'm ever not sure I stopped short of the fouling point (I won't be able to see once scenery is in place - which was the whole reason for the detectors anyway), I'll just reverse slowly until the LED blinks from red to green, then advance again until the red just flicks back on).

4. It looks really cool when the room is darkened! (even if I do say so myself)

[GAPPLEG]

Just a quick shot of my layout room, the time I've used lately was the floor. I tiled it this week. I still have to finish around the sump pump.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I like the neat control panel posted by Mark B.

You said it! That looks like the neatest thing since sliced bread!

[Heartland Division CB&Q]

I like the neat control panel posted by Mark B.

[jbinkley60]

 

No pictures this weekend but I did update my Decoder Adpater design to version 2.  If anyone has used the original schematic, I highly suggest the modifications on the new version.  Version 2 allows the decoder direction to be in either direction in order to control the layout lighting outputs.  The new version gets rid of the delay between increasing the DCC throttle setting and the layout lights getting brighter.  Lastly, version 2 provides much better isolation between the DCC decoder and the Decoder Adapter circuitry. 

The good news is that while this sounds like a lot of changes, I made the modifications to my unit in less than 30 minutes. 

http://www.thebinks.com/trains/decoder_adapter.html

 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

As for things that make a statement.

A house with reflective windows?

Some taggers had a little fun with one of my boxcars.

And they had a LOT of fun with my new covered hopper!

[Pruitt]

Here's the completion of my latest project - rebuilding my control panel to add staging yard occupancy indicators and turnout routing:

Great control panel, Brunton. How did you do it? Chartpack tape on a white background or some digital graphics program? What system are you using for occupancy detection?

Thanks for the kind words, George!

The panel graphics were made by taking a bitmap file of my track plan (from CadRail) and modifying it using Photoshop Elements and MS Paint. All the lettering was added with Photoshop. I printed two copies on a color copier (the panel is 11X17), then used one copy as a template to drill the plastic face of the panel.

The panel is actually a sandwich of two pieces of clear plastic with the second copy of the graphics sandwiched between (the first gets pretty chewed up during drilling. That's why I make two).

The detectors are Micromark IRDOTs (the ones with a five-second delay on the clearing signal - the LEDs don't flicker from red to green to red as the spaces between cars pass the IRDOT sensor). They're about $25 a pop, but I prefered to spend the cash rather than build my own detectors - too much else to do on the layout!

[gear-jammer]

Brunton,

 

You control panel is very neat. Being I live in the Seattle area, (Renton,WA) I am  thinking of modeling the Pacific Northwest. Northern Pacific, Great Northern, Spokane, Seattle and Portland, Chicago, Burlington,  and Quincey.

or I free lance based off prototypes from up here in the Seattle area. 

Be sure to hit the train show at Puyallup this fall.

My husband and I model NP, GN, and S, P, & S.  What era are you planning on modeling.?

MrB,  Love the bicyclists.

Sue

[simon1966]

Jeffrey, you win the prize for the most prolific WPF poster this week!  I really like some of those last shots with lots going on in the background.

Crandell, let me add my congratulations on your fine opening photo, it really is a great example of the fantastic vistas that are possible on your layout.

Mark, I have been following the progress of the panel on the RR-line and it has come out really well.  It must have significantly eased the operation in the staging area?

I kind of cheated on WPF this week and started a thread to announce the completion of my Picorelli ice cream.  So if you want to see what I have been up to, go and look at it.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1195875/ShowPost.aspx

 

[railroadyoshi]

Fiat, that MP15DC is looking nice! Love the MRL scheme. I've got a Union RR MP15 for decaling into B&M arriving on Tuesday (my first sound locomotive, woot!). How have your experiences with it been? 

Yoshi, I've only run it for about 5 minutes, getting it into position for the photo.  It runs like any other Atlas - smooth, slow, quiet!  I can't answer about sound or DCC.  Mine is DC.

The paint scheme is a little deceptive.  The engine is lettered SRY Rail Link.  Both the SRY and MRL are owned by a conglomerate listed as The Washington Companies.  SRY stands for Southern Railway of British Columbia. 

Tom 

Whoops! Nonetheless, a beauty.

Brunton, as others have said before, your control panel is very professional

Mr. B, looking good as always. The back stories definitely add to the charm. 

[MisterBeasley]

MisterBeasley-Where did you get that metal guard rail from in the first pic?

It's from Pikestuff.  One package is about 7 inches of guardrail.  Each package comes with end pieces as well.  I cut the vertical supports in half, so I could place them twice as close.  They're way too tall, anyway.  I glue the whole thing together and then spray it glossy silver with hardware store paint.  Then it gets a blast of Dul-Coat to tone it down.  It's very flexible and goes around curves beautifully.

Two really serious puns in there, too.  Anyone get them?

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

For those who like my old rusted steamer so much, I got some good sharp pics just for you.

[loathar]

MisterBeasley-Where did you get that metal guard rail from in the first pic?

This week is shaping up to be better than last weeks!

[lvanhen]

Carl, here's a photo of a Bessemer & Lake Erie small engine service facility.

I see that a wash rack is not on their list of engine facility items!!

[fiatfan]

Fiat, that MP15DC is looking nice! Love the MRL scheme. I've got a Union RR MP15 for decaling into B&M arriving on Tuesday (my first sound locomotive, woot!). How have your experiences with it been? 

Yoshi, I've only run it for about 5 minutes, getting it into position for the photo.  It runs like any other Atlas - smooth, slow, quiet!  I can't answer about sound or DCC.  Mine is DC.

The paint scheme is a little deceptive.  The engine is lettered SRY Rail Link.  Both the SRY and MRL are owned by a conglomerate listed as The Washington Companies.  SRY stands for Southern Railway of British Columbia. 

Tom