Have begun working on the 10-inch-wide extension down the left side of my layout that will be yard-staging on the north end and a switching/industrial area ending in a car float on the south end. Building benchwork is an enjoyable activity for me - very rewarding to do it right.
Joe, I will have a Strumpets. We will see who shows up this evening.
MrB, I know too well about the areas that you will never reach again. Can't wait to see your yards full of junk. Your cluttered areas always look great.
Thanks to you, we are working on interiors for some of the buildings in our town. We purchased some lighting kits from Ngineering. Larry is working on the Standard Gas Station. We decided to make our buildings before doing the actual placement. Goals change as you proceed.
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
'Evening, Sue. Joe, a Kirin for me and a refill for anyone needful.
Well, spring has sprung. The daily highs have been going up and down like a yo-yo, nudging 80 one day, barely touching 60 the next. Makes for some interesting working conditions.
Permanent installations continue. Today it was what will become the main 120VAC feed to the entire layout - a GFI outlet, the master switch for all rail and accessory power and the first of what will probably be a dozen or more special purpose outlets. Still to come is the, "Kill all power to the rails," circuit - I did buy the box it will be built in. That switch and reset will go at the site of the CTC board, at the opposite end of the north peninsula from the main power switch. For fairly obvious reasons, the main switch is close to the entrance door.
Working with #14 and #12 wire on the main power system (and the common rail and common switch machine return busses) is a lot different from running #22 and #24 communications wire. #24 is fine for indicator lamp circuits, #22 is my standard for relatively short rail and switch machine feeders. DCC might not be happy with them, but I'm still running analog DC.
Mister B, I don't envy you your sloping ceiling. Had one in a semi-finished attic room I used for a while in Tennessee. Only time I got into the habit of wearing a hard hat to work on a layout.
Well, tomorrow will get here whether or not I'm ready for it, so I guess I'll toddle off to bed. See ya...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - if I ever get out of the netherworld)
Hey, Joe, just coffee this morning.
Chuck, I am glad to hear that someone is getting 80 degree weather. We have to settle for the low 60's. If it is not raining, I guess that we consider that nice. Sounds like you are really going to town. How soon until you are up and running. When we switched to DCC, it seemed to make more sense to me. Have fun.
Evening, all. I'll have a Strumpet IPA, if you please, Joe. As they say, nothing goes down like a Strumpet.
I made a lot of progress yesterday. I cleaned off the clutter from the benchwork, and did some foam cutting to extend the base all the way to the far wall. Then I cut the roadbed sheets to fit. I've been using WS foam roadbed all along, and since I'm doing a long staging yard, it made sense to use the foam sheets for this as well. By the end of the day, I had the Hudson chuffing down to the end of the line, to boldly go where no train has gone before, through the staging yard ladder at the end and everything. As I played, I ran some other trains. And then, the proverbial wheels came off the proverbial bus.
OK, it wasn't a bus, it was a trolley, and it was only one wheel. I had my old Bowser PCC car looping down in the subways when I heard a clunk and the short indicator shut down the system. I lifted up a lift-off cover, and there was the trolley with its rear end skewed off the side of the track, in a place were derailments were uncommon unless I forget to set the turnout correctly. It was pretty easy to see that there was a wheel missing when I lifted up the trolley. Not a big deal, since these are metal wheels which push into a plastic tube axle. So, easy to fix, right? Well, if you can find the parts...
This was last night, and I can't locate the wheel. I've pulled all 7 liftoff sections, including one which has been in place for years, and I can't find the wheel. I powered up the train-cam and ran it through the tunnels. Nothing. This loop is 20, maybe 25 linear feet of track. And I've lost a wheel as if it had been teleported across the 5th dimension. Where is Buckaroo Banzai now that we really need him?
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Lunch time, Joe. I'll have a Singha.
Mister Beasley, some day when man has vanished from the pink foam earth, some alien will beam down from his flying saucer, note an anomaly on his artifact detector, point his selective tractor at the Moose Bay Subway's long-abandoned tunnel and extract a funny-looking disc with a flange and a stub axle. It will probably confuse the ??? out of yx.
I did mention that I sometimes amuse myself by writing science fiction, didn't I. Incidentally, YX is an all-purpose pronoun used when the writer is unsure of sex, or the critter has hermaphroditic or 'third sex' attributes. (Sexless critters are 'it.')
Of course, the wheel would have to be non-ferrous. It would be too simple if a magnet could attract it out of its lair...
Somewhere in my layout space there is a shouldered screw that once held a Kadee #6 coupler to the underside of a four-wheeled gon. It, too, is non-ferrous - and it, too, has vanished from the ken of man. Even careful examination of the contents of the Shop-Vac have failed to reveal it - but I did recover quite a few spikes, several rail joiners and some other useful odd ends.
I've temporarily paused in my electrical work to attack the next bit of trackwork with something short of great gusto. It's the UP entrance to hidden passenger staging - four equal-radius curves that form a 90 degree scissors crossover (yes, there is a diamond crossing with both routes through it curved...) Only one of the turnouts will be powered, the others being spring switches. Of course, that one powered switch will be at the one place where getting at it for maintenance will be a bear - which is why I will be building it on a small drop-out section.
SWMBO has decreed an expedition to the local AFB, to deal with various items of business, and she wants to leave NOW. See ya.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
SWMBO? Well, a beer for you too, Mr. Rumpole.
Of course, the wheel in question is brass. Perhaps this is the impetus I need to work on a long-overdue project, improving the wiring to 2 of my liftoffs by adding plug connectors. They are the two "downtown" sections. One forms the roof of the Penny Lane subway station, so it's got subway station lighting in addition to the the separate structure and streetlight bus lines, and the special-purpose line for the neon-like Pizza signs. The other's got buildings, streetlights, a different line for the flashing HOTEL sign, and a whole bunch of wires for the traffic lights.
But, I've got a mess of track to lay first. So many projects, so little time....
Coffee and a sugar-free donut for me, Joe. Thanks...
Mister B, I've had good results using miniature D connectors to attach wiring (including train propulsion and twin-coil switch machine power) to my removable yard throats. They are relatively inexpensive (especially when priced on a cents per wire basis,) hold well and can have their anchor screws engaged for a really permanent - but readily separable - connection. Cutting up computer cables can get $$$, but soldering discrete wires to D connectors is reasonably straightforward and not overly time consuming.
Why sugar-free? My doctor finally discovered the underlying problem behind a lot of my health issues. If you guessed type 2 diabetes, you got it in one. That's my reward for helping out with that Ranch Hand C-123 that landed in (base name deleted) reeking of Agent Orange.
Speaking of which, I'm off to see the local VA clinic. Seems there's a program to help people in my condition...
See ya.
Good grief, Charlie Brown, where is everybody?
Just posted a heads-up about a possible probable MR Mag subscription scam. Be on the lookout for anything originating with an outfit called National Magazine Services.
At the moment I have a forlorn little memory of a layout past sitting next to my keyboard. It's a 5 x 7 black plastic 'project box,' once a control panel for the (approximately) 2 x 7 shelf that provided a destination for the trains leaving my 'end of the railroad' module, then bearing the name of the serious former girlfriend who introduced me to my wife. Small as it is, it had a fully-labeled track diagram (10 turnouts, 3 master blocks and a regular MZL power selector (rotary) switch. The rotary switch, several pushbuttons, four DPDT mini-slide switches and sixteen stud, nut and washer terminals have been removed, but the track schematic (seven spurs and a double-track passing siding) remains - including the station name, Castro.
Why Castro, on an unapologetically Japanese prototype model railroad?
It was a Fidel yard...
See ya (over his shoulder as he runs for cover)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with several fiddle cassettes)
tomikawaTT It was a Fidel yard...
Caramba!
One of my Ghosts of Layouts Past is a trio of Plasticville shops. I converted the market into a ski shop named after the one my brother-in-law owns (Jack Frost at Sunday River). Another is still being worked on, albeit slowly. Half is vacant, but the other is Fidel's Cuban Cigars, based on the premise that the old guy chose a different way to be revolting:
It did give me an excuse to add a cigar-store Indian to my layout.
And no, I haven't found that trolley wheel yet. I've been working on a section of the layout that will be very hard to reach once it's installed. I've got a 2x4 foot section of pink foam that contains 7 turnouts and forms the ladder at one end of the staging yard, plus the throat for the car float yard. It tucks in under the 45-degree roofline, so I've been working on those small fillers for the gap between the tracks and wall.
Hmmm, I'm replying to myself. Is this something I need to talk to someone about? Or should I just talk to myself about it? Anyway, a Strumpet IPA and some ribs, if you please, Joe.
We've got a new rib place in town, called Firebox. It's appropriate for us railroad types, don'tcha think? The ribs are great, and the portions are big enough that even I can take some home. It's close to 10 PM here, but I'm eating leftover ribs from a couple of nights ago. Yummmm.
I had some good luck on eBay a while back. I'd been looking for Type 21 tank cars to run when I'm in a steamy frame of mind. I just happened to check, and there were 3 of them, different road numbers, that someone claimed to by selling from an estate. Anyway, they were buy-it-now at $17 a piece, so I took the bunch. Walthers has just announced a re-run of these, at $35 each, so I felt I got a good deal. And, they're in perfect shape and run beautifully.
I'm getting a bigger-than-expected tax refund, so I decided to get something I've loved since it was announced - an H10-44 Fairbanks-Morse switcher in Milwaukee colors. Walthers never discounted these, so I didn't get the chance to get one through my LHS, but Trainworld had the closeouts and I picked one up. With standard Trainworld efficiency, I ordered it Wednesday and had it Thursday, using the lowest possible shipping rate. Sweet li'l thing, sound and all. To add to that, I got a PSX-4 quad circuit breaker module from Tony's Trains. I'm finally wiring up my layout right, with multiple zones for power management.
One of the power zones is allocated to the future Phase 3 line, but I'm making progress on Phase 2 right now. I hope to round the corner at the far end this weekend, so I can see how the crossed tracks to two industries turn out. Then, it will be back through the curved turnout and passing siding to connect up once again with the Phase 1 loop, and I can run trains.
FYI, SWMBO is in FLA this week, visiting her parents, so I get train time!
Good morning, Joe. I will have a coffee and save the Strumpets for later.
I attended an operating session with the local MR group. It was so fun that I am looking at ops possibilities for our layout. Poor Larry didn't make it home so I went without him.
MrB, That sounds like a good use of a tax refund. We used ours to pay some of the property taxes. Every time you turn around, you get taxed for something. Sales tax here is getting closer to 10% every day.
Later, Sue
'Evening, everybody. Joe, Anchor Steam for me.
Well, that little plastic box I described last time has begun its new life as a, "Super wall wart." At present it's home to a 12.6vac 3 amp center-tapped filament transformer - adequate power for the twin-coil machines and indicator lamps of the Nonomura zone. Still to be installed, the 1.25amp mini power pack needed to hostle trains in the two NN staging yards (including the cassette dock.)
Hard to believe the weather here in Sunny Southern Nevada. Today the temperature peaked at 61 degrees, then retreated to the '50s. Had to wear a sweatsuit to be comfortable in the layout space. Yesterday it was shorts and a T shirt. Tomorrow, possibly swim trunks, possibly a parka...
I wonder if it was that solar-powered fountain my wife just installed in the garden - seated Buddha, but way smaller than the ones at Kamakura and Nara. Doesn't look out of place among the greenery (it's the greenery that looks out of place in the Dessicated Desert...)
Sue, you have to watch that operation. It can be VERY addictive - and there is no Operations Freak Anonymous (as I know, to my continuing joy.)
Well, the Spring Sumo tournament is over, so maybe I can catch up on my sleep. (The action was broadcast live between midnight and 2 AM PST) Yokozuna (Grand Champion) Hakuho went undefeated for the 15 days. Second place was won by Aran, a middle-ranking Maegashira, and third place went to new Ozeki (Champion) Baruto. The best a Japanese-born rikishi could do was the fourth-place mob scene. Hakuho is Mongolian, Aran is Russian and Baruto is Estonian! (Aran is unusual in that his competetion name is the same as his given name - Alan Gabaraev - or as close as can be pronounced in a language with no "L" sound. It's still written on the scoreboard in Kanji.)
Ozeki Kaio went 9-6, but that ninth win was his 1000th in a long career. It wasn't a pushover. He defeated the big Bulgarian Ozeki, Kotooshu, in the next to last bout of the tournament.
So now it's off to Nagoya in July for the Summer Bassho, and off to bed for me.
See ya,
Coffee for everyone who shows up this morning, Joe. It is too early for anything else.
Chuck, I know, we spent a bunch of time yesterday looking for a way to stage trains for an op session. There are some promising ideas. I will have to compromise my climbing wall with some holes, but it will still be usable.
Back to my errands. I have a day off and it finally quit raining so I will be mowing most of the afternoon.
Coffee for anyone who shows up this morning, Joe.
No OFA meetings? I can hardly wait for the weekend.
Has it warmed up a little, Chuck?
MrB, Did those cars show up?
Good morning. Thanks for the coffee, Sue. Hawaiian Kona, please, black, one sugar. Thanks. I like coffee so much better in a ceramic mug than in some paper cup. My coffee cup at home is a big one with a picture of one of the original 2-foot narrow gauge engines that used to run on the Bedford and Billerica Railroad, about a quarter mile from my home.
Yes, the tank cars arrived. They are, as advertised, in perfect condition, 3 different road numbers. I'd be spending more time running them if I weren't in the middle of all this layout construction. I loosely laid track all the way down to the end of the 19-foot wall, but now I have to go back and put scenery along the back before I make anything permanent.
While The Cat's Away Department: (MAD Magazine used have "departments" like that, remember?") Wife Penny has been in Florida visiting her parents, so I took the opportunity to order toys like the H10-44, the tank cars, some All Electronics stuff and a PSX-4 quad circuit breaker module from Tony's Trains. I spent last weekend re-doing the bus wiring, so I've now got 4 separate sections, plus two on auto-reversers which also have their own circuit breaker protection. (One of the sections is the proposed Phase 3 along the other wall.)
That whole 19 feet is under the 45-degree roofline. I did a short section a couple of weeks ago, because it is hard to reach. I'm putting low scenery in the back, to disguise the overhanging ceiling. That section came out very well, so now I'm extending it. I keep coming up with more mini-scenes, and each one takes some time. Every now and then, I have to remind myself that it's not a race. The past few days I've been putting together a short run of Walthers chain-link fence for a pipe company along the back wall. It's not going to be rail-served, just lineside scenery. The fence, though, is very time-consuming to assemble. I've actually got the foam board lifted up and away from the wall, because it's just easier to work on that way.
It sure warmed up here. We had two days in the 90s. 60s today, but we'll be back in the 80s for what should be a fine holiday weekend. Hmmm, I've noticed that the "oldies" radio stations I listen to hardly ever do much 60's anymore. My preferred music and my preferred temperature are both in short supply.
Good afternoon, Joe. I am sure that it is about time for MrB to crack a Strumpets. I am back from town and I am starting to think about it.
My current project is the Cornerstone vintage fire escape. I should dress up my scatch built background building. Larry is pressuring me to finish the details so we can ground goop that section and move on to another.
This past weekend we did the brainstorming on a staging yard so we can to operating sessions. It will attack part of my climbing wall and go in behind it. Hmmm, that could be interesting.
Oh, my timer just buzzed so I should check my rice.
Howdy, folks. Joe, a Singha for me and refills for those in need.
There's a joker named Steve Ramey who'se hit the Trains Magazine forums with a couple of dreamland ideas... I think he's associated with one of those, 'Make everything safe and 'Green' for everybody, whether they want it or not,' outfits. His first brainstorm was that locomotives should be fitted with air bags to eliminate squashed pedestrians. Then he came out in favor of some cockamamie scheme to provide rapid transit with four-seat vehicles that would be routed all over a metropolitan area at the riders' whims... Where do these people come from? The bad part is that they are just convincing enough that some Congresscritter might tack funding for their 'studies' to a bill to mandate the prevention of offshore oil spills (equally preposterous, but almost guaranteed to pass) or something similar.
Sue, I knew from the git-go that I was going to need extensive staging (and invisible thoroughfares) to simulate my prototype's operations, even though I'm only modeling a short length of mostly single track for the JNR. The hidden main will actually be a lot longer than the visible main - it consists of the turnback curves and the 'other side' of a folded dogbone - and there are a half-dozen staging areas of various types and capacities planned or already built along it. Just about the entire visible surface of the layout will have staging of some kind underneath it. Problem is, most (if not all) of that staging has to be built before I can put the next layer on the cake - the one with visible track and scenery on it.
Speaking of a rice timer, I just got a call from my wife (who'se at her favorite casino, the one that gives her money for coming in...) to go push the start button on the rice steamer. If I want to eat maguro-sashimi (raw tuna with wasabi on rice) tonight I'd better get at it.
Chuck (Modeling the netherworld of Central Japan in September, 1964)
Joe, I think that an Irish Coffee will be my choice. I will buy for anyone else who shows up.
Chuck, Speak of staging. Larry and I moved my climbing wall this weekend so we can add a 2 foot by 13 1/2 foot staging. That make a 25 foot run along one wall. I will get some photos if we get done.
Good morning, all. Coffee again. Seems I'm just not around here anytime past beer-thirty. Thanks, Joe.
A few weeks back, I finished up that section that would be tough to reach after the rest of the layout is in place. I started on the next run, about 2 1/2 feet by 7. It too has the 45-degree roofline, so I quickly realized that the first step would be to install the stuff at the back. I was really happy with the first section I did like this, so I tried the same thing. To fit the foam sheets in, I used a foam cutter to slice a 45-degree angle off the back. That scrap, then, gets glued to the top, extending the angle. I used the foam cutter again to make a wavy, undulating background on the scrap, though. I also added a rock wall, a plank wall with some old movie posters, and a small business, Precision Pipe Distributers. Last night I got the whole thing covered with ground foam and flocking. It needs a few touches, but it's basically done. I put in a ditch, which I've got to fill with Envirotex, but it should be ready for installation by next weekend.
Are we all working on staging? This section will be 4 parallel tracks, which can be used as through tracks, a double-ended yard or staging. They're not hidden, but much of the track will be behind tall buildings, which I've found is a good way to make the run seem longer as the trains disappear for a time. Of course, with sound you always know where they are.
'Morning, Joe. Good morning, Mister Beasley. Fill my Yosemite Sugar Pine Railway cup with STRONG coffee! I'm going to need it.
I'm in the middle of working on staging - but not the way I'd like to be. My daughter, grandson and unmarried granddaughter are here, so every gremlin in Clark County has decided to make a temporary home in the yard throat at Mikasa. Right at the moment it's inverted on the support benchwork while I chase down a short between the rails. Before that, it was a diode matrix problem.
First, the diodes. I'd arbitrarily decided that reversing a set of points would be done with a half-wave pulse of negative power, then wired two switch machines to the same stud. Well, the power source couldn't provide the necessary current and the lamps in parallel with those machines dimmed (all nine of them.) So I bit the bullet, tossed the 'rule' and reversed the diodes on the power feed to switch machine MKT1. Now each machine is being powered by a different half of the full wave. Problem solved.
Then I tried to apply rail power through panel wiring to get a train out of staging - and the overload light came on. Since the train is powered by a Spectrum 0-6-0T... Hence the search for the short, which I suspect is in the contacts feeding frog power at one of the five RIX switch machines.
Thanks for the coffee, Joe. Time to grab my multimeter and go short-hunting. See ya.
Joe, I will have a Strumpets, please.
Looks like we were all busy this weekend. In spite of sore muscles, we even got things cleaned up. Now it is time to order some MR stuff.
Wishes to all veterans on this past Memorial Day weekend.
MisterBeasley Good morning. Thanks for the coffee, Sue. Hawaiian Kona, please, black, one sugar. .
Good morning. Thanks for the coffee, Sue. Hawaiian Kona, please, black, one sugar. .
Ah, a man after my own heart. Love Hawaiian Kona coffee, have even since we went to Hawaii in 2005, and hope to go back in another 3 years. and we order it regularly from Hawaii. If you need a source shoot me a PM here and I will share!
AS for now, since i'm not driving or going anywhere, even though its a little early and I have had my Kona coffee alread y many many hours ago, I will take a glass of white Zinfandel with my lunch of Orange chicken From Lean Cuisine, please.
I don;t stop in here often I am usualy in the diner.
Have a great day everybody!
Bar tender set up a round of ONE drink per for all who are here now on me!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
Good morning, Joe. Coffee please.
After tearing down the climbing wall and moving it, and doing the benchwork for the staging yard last week, this weekend we managed to tear up 2 pieces of the flex track. I also ripped out the mountain and salvaged the incline pieces. I picked up some flextrack while I was in Portland on Thursday. Now we wait for turnouts.
We have been cleaning up the mess as we go. There is an idea.
Back to the layout.
Strumpets for all on this D-Day anniversary. It also happens to be my wife's birthday, so we're celebrating with a "surf and turf" dinner. A couple of our guests are not lobster afficianados, so I'll be both grilling and boiling up a storm.
I've finally made some visible progress. I finished up the scenery at the back of the long run, and put it all in place. I had one part I just wasn't happy with, so I cut into the foam and added a few sections of stone wall. That was all it needed. I put in a couple of layers of Envirotex to add a ditch by the side of the tracks, and the last step was the tall tufts of field grass along its banks.
I cut in the electromagnet uncoupler opening, too. I test-wired it, and decided that I probably don't have enough power to run this from the wall-wart that drives the other one. The new one is an under-the-track model, so I'm not surprised. But, it's wired and the magnet does activate, so I can proceed with the track above it. I've got to order one other power supply anyway, so I'll just add this to the list.
Glad to see the rest of you are making progress, too.
I'll have what ever is cold in a green bottle and comes from Holland. Round for every one. Rat killing has given me a good thirst today. A toast to the chemists who are always improving rat poison.
Hungry, too. Any chance of a dozen wings? The spicier, the better but hold the blue cheese. Reminds me of rodents.
Thanks for the beer. I'll eat all the blue cheese - love it.
I suppose D-Day is an appropriate time to rid the world of yet another invading pest, eh? Great thread. As others have said, the most entertaining in months. The worst I get is the occasional insect, mostly deceased. I'm pretty good about keeping everyone's food cleaned up in the family room, including my own, so there's nothing to draw vermin to the room, be they 4, 6 or 8-legged varieties.
Good morning, All.
I am getting ready to place an order for some turnouts, including a double crossover. $$$$$$. We are in the process of deciding destinations. We are trying to be somewhat prototypical. The hard part will be the turntable and roundhouse. There were not very many in our area. The TT and RH that we have originally modelled are still in use by a timber company, but it doesn't work well as a central point. Too much noodling. HaHa.
Good morning. Truck stop coffee for me, Joe, in a big thick cup. The winner, and still champion.
Today, I am a "real" model railroader. I've installed my first Tortoise. With Phase 2, I was able to design a lot of the layout without needing the tight turns of Atlas snap-switches, so I've got a half-dozen Walthers turnouts. I'm one of those "foamer" types, so I took some 1/4-inch plywood and cut 3-inch squares from it. I glued the first one on to the underside of the layout with latex caulk. So far, the Tortoise hasn't fallen off. This morning I tried a second one with white glue. I stuck a 1/4-inch carriage bolt down through the throw wire hole and put a wing nut below to hold the plywood square firmly in place for a few hours while the glue set.
Unfortunately, this will bring me to an even dozen turnouts in Phase 2 with their control wires hanging under the layout. The Atlas ones in the staging yard can be operated manually, but I've really got to build a control panel next for the Tortoise machines. This weekend is ideal for layout work, though. It's raining on and off, with temperatures in the 60's, so I can can open the windows to vent any glue or foam-cutter vapors.
OK, I've got work to do. I'll check back during the Celtics game. (I'm not a basketball fan, and with work tomorrow, these games are on way past my bedtime anyway.) Our family room is also the trainroom, and it's become the "sports bar" for Annie and her friends, who are still teenagers. We're happy to have them. First, we know they're safe, and we know they're not drinking. Second, we're really glad that they are happy and comfortable here.
Good evening, Joe. I will have a strumpets, and please serve anyone who shows up.
My order of turnouts came today. A Walthers double crossover, and 6 Peco #5s. This should let us start the staging area. We have lots to do before we start.
Can't wait to see what you are doing MrB.