Oh, Tyler, you're talking about coefficents. At least that's how I learned them. The coeffecent is the number next to x (like a or b), and the constant is c (no variable)... And the only coefficents (or constants, if you prefer) were 2, -4, and 10 (4, 3, and 2 were exponents). Ok, I get what you mean now... just a confusion of terms...
Oh, ok, Sawyer. The only thing I could take in 8th grade was Algebra 1, and then I had to take a placement test for Geometry (I also could have skipped Spanish 1, but I didn't).So this year I'm taking:Chem HBand (ew, I was forced to...)Theology 2 (required 4 years of Theo)Gym (Driver's Ed 1st quarter, Gym 2nd, Writing 2 3rd, and Gym 4th)English 2HAlgebra 2/Trig HUS History 1Spanish 2
As freshmen, we were required to take Biology, as well as Theo 1, English 1, Gym, Algebra 1 (although I tested out of it), any language, World History, and an elective
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
Pretty stiff schedule there. Gym is a year-round course for us, and it's either a year of gym or a year of NJROTC to graduate. I chose gym, lol.
Biology is actually my favorite class, and we haven't really gotten into any evolutionary stuff to boot (I think we all know who stands where on that subject, so let's not get the thread locked)
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Sorry (yeah, now watch it be a really obvious thing...), but what's NJROTC?
Bio was ok, I guess. I didn't find it all that interesting, since it was nothing but facts. The only part I really liked was the frog dissection... Actually, funny story about that... So one of the tasks for the lab was to take the eyeball out. Ok. So, I grab it with the tweezers (I did all the dirty work, since both of my partners were girls... but I didn't mind), and next thing I know, it's flying across the room... lmao!
I like Chem more, because it's fewer facts. I'm more of a "hands on" kinda guy (like how I like the modeling part of MRRing, not just watching the trains), and there's more labs, so that's pretty cool.
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
I spy new WRS units! They look good!
Nice John.
Tyler, looking forward to some pics!
In off topic news, I signed up for my classes today. Four honors classes, three CP.
Honors English3
Honors Algebra2
Honors Chem1
Honors World History (i think I could have taken AP European history, but I'll take that in 11th and then in 12th take AP US History)
CP Spanish3 (honors spanish3 is if you're continuing on in it and I'm dropping spanish after next year and taking German my 11th and 12th grade years)
CP Computer Aps
CP Art1-Drawing and Painting.
Thanks for the compliments guys,
Packers#1In off topic news
My schedule is a little different then most of yours:
1/HR- U.S. History
2- P.E. or Study Hall (they rotate daily)
3- English 11
4- Algebra 2 and Trig.
5- Study Hall
6- Lunch
7-10 Heavy Equipment Operations and Maintenance 1
The last one is probably what you noticed as unusual. Every afternoon I get on a bus and ride to another campus 45 Min. away. This campus is the county technical center. At the tech center I take a program in which students are taught how to operate and maintain heavy equipment (commercial trucks, construction equipment, ect.). I really enjoy it, and it's VERY hands on (ex. I operated a front end loader for 1.5 hours last Friday). Another benefit to this program is that it gives me my required science credit, so I don't have to take Chem.
As for my exams being next week, I don't know if I'd call that "Lucky". I'd rather have just got them over with
Thanks again for the complements,
Jamie
Cape Vincent Southern Railroad
HO scale Horseshoe Curve in 5’x10’
My YouTube
Alex, the WRS GP15-1s look less "brick-ish" than I was expecting. I'm sure the white lettering and logos will balance the unit out.
Well I'm done with exams, and since we're talking about classes next year...
I haven't officially signed up for classes, but it should be like this.
Alg 2 Extended
World/European History (Not sure what one I will take)
Expo/Brit Lit (Exposition writing first semester, British Literature second semester)
AP Chem
Physics
German 4
Band
Health/PE course (Health is required first semester, and I haven't chosen a PE course yet)
My Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/JR7582 My Flickr Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcfan/
I really should stop in here more often. I read the posts quite a bit, but with not having much time to do any model railroading in the last few months I've never really had anything worth posting about. I just finished up my month long Christmas Break though, and I got quite a bit accomplished on the layout in the way of building construction and starting to rough in some landforms for scenery. Also got backdrops installed (though not painted) on part of the layout.
And in proof that one can in fact do model railroading in a dorm room, I've assembled a depot kit, a number of freight cars, and I'm currently working on a Dominoes restaurant while down here at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. I'm hoping to do more building assembly this semester since I don't think my workload will be quite as bad. I airbrush parts at home on the weekends, and the bring them down here with me for final assembly. There's also a few locomotives and freight cars in the paint shop that need decaling. With the National Train show coming up in Milwaukee this summer, perhaps I'll finally be motivated to get my three MP15DCs through the paint shop.
Those WRS GP15s look slick! Like Jordan said, the white lettering should make them look even better yet.
Going back a couple of pages to a question I never saw answered, the Trainline GP15s (at least the ones I have) do have brass wheels, which is about their only draw back. The units run great until the wheels get dirty, which seems to happen all too quickly, I assume because of the brass wheels. Of course, I often run them quite a few hours in a row at train shows on the club layout, which is also probably why I get them dirty so fast.
Oh how I miss high school classes like those. AP US history is probably my favorite class of all time, though that was partly because I had a great teacher. College is a completely different story though I took a few AP classes in high school, and while we did a lot of work there too, it's nothing like what I've done here as far as workload goes. Last semester I had a chemistry class that darn near killed me. In addition to four hours of lecture and three hours of lab per week, I was doing about 15-20 hours of homework each week, and I'd study about 6-8 hours for tests for just that one class. The class averages for tests were in the 40-50% range on three of our five exams. Thankfully it was one semester, and if I never have to pick up a chemistry book again it will be too soon...
And math only becomes more "fun" when when you get to Calculus and start doing first derivatives, second derivatives, antiderivatives, integration by parts, optimization and more fun stuff that I don't really want to think about right now....
College is nice in so many other factors though!
GG- Somehow, I missed you post (probably cause you posted only a few minutes before mine, so I never noticed it...). They look great!
We sign up for classes in a few weeks. I'm likely taking:Precalc HGym/First Aid/PSAT Prep (Like this year with gym, driver's ed, and writing, you get one per quarter)Spanish 3English 3H (I'm ok in English [definately NOT my strongest class], and I know the regular Eng3 teacher and she's pretty chill, but doesn't do honors, so I'm still not sure. If I sign up for something but then change my mind, I'll still be able to do that for free until like July [after that, you have to pay to change classes])Physics HTheology 3 (required)US History 2 (Again, history is not my greatest subject, and I have like a 99 in non-honors, and I'd rather have that than take Honors and get a 90)Faith and Values In the Media (basically it's a class that discusses the media, and the things about it. I don't really know how to explain it... But it sounds like a REALLY fun class)
And my backup elective would be Web Design, and then probably Art Fundamentals (you need Art Fundamentals before any other art class, so I couldn't just skip to Art I or Art II if I wanted to). We don't even get an option to take study hall, though... Yet, my cousin (he was a senior in a different school last year) had two study periods...?
And then, just thinking way ahead, senior year, I don't want to take spanish or history, but I'm definatley taking some kind of math and science classes, since I want to go into engineering... And I know I need to take the required stuff like Theo 4 and gym, and since 4 years of english are required (meh), I might do AP.
Noah, if Rod Stewart could build HO city skyscrapers in a hotel room, then I'd say MRRing in a dorm room is possible!
Operating session today! I should be able to snap some photos while in the siding for a meet, and maybe I'll have a few more surprises up my sleeve too...
TrainManTyOperating session today! I should be able to snap some photos while in the siding for a meet, and maybe I'll have a few more surprises up my sleeve too...
I didn't break it!
Alex
Yes you did.
Sounds like an eventful operating session tyler, lol
When we decided to swap out the decoder in 8569 a half-hour before a session (open shell, unplug old decoder, plug in new decoder, put shell back on), we didn't expect it to start shorting...after Alex tore the entire locomotive down to the frame, he found out the problem was that one of the wheelsets had been pressed too tightly into the truck mechanism and was touching part of the other side. But several hours later the locomotive is reassembled and works fine (with both headlights working great!) although one rail only has pickup from one truck because somehow it has two left-hand trucks and jumper wires haven't been working too well.
I'll have photos up eventually, since I'm having some computer problems.
I did manage to fix it though! Stop having computer problems. You need to email me the pictures I requested!
A post about the operating session as well as photos of the WRS S4 and c.1984 commuter rail photos are up on the new WRS Blog!I also have a new map up on the website.
Sweet Tyler. Love those old pics of the WRS. sounds like a pretty successful ops session.
I have both a web page and blog, which I update sporadically.
I might make a video of switching out the town soon, even though the scenery is, well, absent, haha
Ok i am a teen and i want to built a ho scale layout should i use a certain type metal track? I want to make a small one for now on a 4 foot by 4 footboard. What type of board should i use?
Chris
Tyler, sounds like it went pretty smoothly, except for the mishaps with 8569
cdog! I see you found your way over here pretty easily.
What you do with your layout depends completely on the choices you make.A 4x4 isn't very big, and won't be able to have anything but a small loop. I'd reccomend building a 4x8 (that is, if you have the space), where you'd be able to get in a larger loop with several small sidings.Scale. I can't believe I'm actually going to say this, but... If you can only build a 4x4, then I'd go with N, because you could get far more track in than you would with HO.What track you use is completely up to you. It sounds like you've never built a layout before, so we can't tell you where to start. If you feel confident using flextrack and ballasting roadbed and whatnot, then the more power to ya. If not, then you may want to go with E-Z Track (or a similar brand).Era and location are also important. Not only does this affect the trains themselves, but also the surrounding scenery.Control. DC or DCC? This depends on how many trains you want to run. With DCC, you can operate more trains at one time, although it is more costly, but it is easier to expand.
The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on... And there's so many more things to think about. I'd say start with a few of those, and then you can go from there.
If you have anything in mind, that'll help too.
cdog565 Ok i am a teen and i want to built a ho scale layout should i use a certain type metal track? I want to make a small one for now on a 4 foot by 4 footboard. What type of board should i use?
Welcome Fellow Teen,
I'll keep it simple by just answering the questions you asked (I'm sure they'll be more to come).
Track Material: I think everyone here will agree in that Nickel-Silver track is the best choice as far as type of metal. It's a little more expensive than other types of track but stays cleaner MUCH longer, and dirty track = bad electrical connections = poor locomotive performance.
Track type: everyone's different here. I use sectional track without roadbed on most of my layout but also have some flextrack thrown in to fill some gaps. Both are fine, although flextrack allows you to create any shape curve you can imagine. Keep in mind that your loco's might not be able to navigate some tight or oddly shaped corners though. Like Joe said track with plastic roadbed is also an option for a first time layout builder.
Track Code: You may not be farmilar with this. Track code is the height of the rail in thousandths (1/1000) of an inch. This is important because it affects how locomotives and cars stay on the track. In HO scale two of the most common track codes are 83 and 100. Code 83 track is closer to scale size track, however if you process no tracklaying skills at all code 100 is reliable and good for a first layout. Others may disagree with me on this so be sure to look for other opinions as well.
Benchwork: As for this it can be as simple or complicated as you wish. I've seen small layouts built on a pair of sawhorses with a piece of plywood on top if you want to keep it really simple. You could also build a frame system out of 2x4's or even 2x3's an attach plywood or OSB (fiberboard) to the top. Some of us also put foam insulation sheets on our layouts. This allows us to easily build mountains, carve out water features, and many other types of landscaping.
Good luck, and feel free to ask more questions,
Hmm...seems I've been nominated!
I agree with what Joe said about a 4x4 layout. In N scale it might be possible to do something besides a circle (Sawyer?) but in HO you'd have a hard time even fitting a switch into your plan. I'd go for a 4x8 - almost all modelers start that way and some never build bigger either because of space/money or because they like that size. Check out a book of track plans or look in Model Railroader and find one you like.
For track I'd go with Atlas Code 100 nickel-silver flex or sectional track. While Code 83 is finer, it's a bit more expensive and tougher to work with, and I've been working with Code 100 for ten years now and nobody including me minds it. With ballast and weathering it blends right in and you look at other stuff like the trains.
A plywood table works well for a first layout, but if you're planning on doing some landscaping and undulating terrain, I'd put some 2" extruded foam on top that you can carve to make rivers, ponds, etc. It's used for building insulation and is sold at most hardware stores. While it's not all that cheap, it's a whole heck of a lot easier than cutting into plywood!
Hope this helps you out - feel free to ask more questions and we'll try to answer them the best we can.
--------------------------------------
Meanwhile over on the WRS, I put together some old clips from 8mm film I found in the attic. Here's one from a 1984 train chase of the RDC commuter run, including a meet with a WRS freight behind the S4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFBDOiKCdlI
Enjoy!
TrainManTyI agree with what Joe said about a 4x4 layout. In N scale it might be possible to do something besides a circle (Sawyer?) but in HO you'd have a hard time even fitting a switch into your plan. I'd go for a 4x8 - almost all modelers start that way and some never build bigger either because of space/money or because they like that size. Check out a book of track plans or look in Model Railroader and find one you like.
I'm Sawyer (the one Tyler's talking abt), and welcome to the forums! 4x4 in N scale is essentially having a space of 8x8 in HO scale; n scale is about half the size of HO. A pretty good looking layout can be had in 2x4 feet in n scale, and if you have 4x4 feet you've basically got yourself set up to have a nice layout. I can't speak much to anything right now as I'm a bit tired, but if you're thinking about n scale track, code 80 or code 55 are the most prevalent in n scale. if you go with code 80, painting it tones the size down a bit, and any piece of rolling stock will run on it. code 55 is smaller and older rolling stock won't work because their flanges are too deep. Peco code 55 is popular, but I use Atlas code 55; I really love Atlas products. In fact, i'd recomend picking up an atlas engine as your first n scale engine, or maybe a Kato. HO I can't speak of.
But anyways, back on the subject of n scale, this website has a LOT of good small trackplans; they would at least give you a starting point for your own n scale idea. And remember, you could be Horribly Oversized, or you could be Normal
Packers#1And remember, you could be Horribly Oversized, or you could be Normal
Thats exactly what I get from the N scale division of the OT&W club. So a few basics. First You could have Honerable Obligations to the hobby, or you could play with Nanno trains. . Okay, on the matter of layout planning, have at least 2 spots for expansion, so you are not always constrained to you first creation and can add to it. I personally think you would do very well if you had the book, available from Kalmbach, called "HO Railroad from start to finish." Trust me, buy it. It has everything you need to know to build your first RR. There is also another way to learn all that stuff, and it is also my chosen method: completely geek out on the subject buying every book Kalmbach has to offer, getting a magazine every time you go to a book store until you subscribe, and immerse yourself in the forums so completely that before you even start your first layout, you know more than a Master Model Railroader could ever hope to know.
Here is what I have to offer in scale:
Do you want to run trains? Do you want to simply create a little town? Can you not work too good with your hands? Do you want moderate operational aspects: HO Scale
Do you want plenty of operation? Do you want scenery that dwarfs trains? Do you work good with insanely small things: N scale
Do you want a locomotive so expensive you cant even afford a layout: 1:1 scale
Some simple translations so you don't get confused: HO and N are scales; the size of the trains and everything else in your world. In HO scale everything is 87 times smaller than the real thing, and N scale is about twice as small at 116 times smaller. Fine modeling is possible in both scales even if you're not a genius (or David K. Smith ) but is a bit easier in HO.
N scale gets you more "stuff" for your layout size than HO, but HO is easier to get running smoothly because the equipment weighs so much more and therefore tracks easier. And the momentum of the heavier equipment helps carry it across dead spots in the track.
And 1:1 scale is our way of talking about the real thing. 1:48 is O scale (Lionel trains), 1:87 is HO scale, 1:116 is N scale, and 1:220 is Z scale (now THAT is tough!).
You disappoint me Tyler... N is 1:160...
Guilford GuyYou disappoint me Tyler... N is 1:160...
Whoops! I knew it was 1:160, but somehow I typed 1:116...
TrainManTyGuilford GuyYou disappoint me Tyler... N is 1:160... Whoops! I knew it was 1:160, but somehow I typed 1:116...
So I made an operational breakthrough today! Before this, local LE-2 left at the very beginning of the session with cars the through freights dropped off the day before. If LE-2 had to wait until cars from both Concord and White River Jct. were dropped off to depart, it would still be switching a half-hour after the rest of the trains had finished their runs. Therefore I had the local run with cars from the previous day.
But, If I stage the cars from WRJ headed to Concord in Lebanon Yard before the session starts, as if the Claremont-Concord transfer dropped off the cars before the session, the local can depart as soon as CDWJ arrives in the yard to drop off local cars. CDWJ will still take WRJ-bound cars there, but it will return light engine to Lebanon Yard, pick up the Concord-bound cars from the CCRR transfer job and the previous day's local, and depart for Concord.
The total gain from all this is that I save the entire extra local consist (about 8 cars) that can then go into making the through freights longer, adding cars to the local, and providing more cars to pick up. Right now the through freights jumped from 5 to 7 cars...not a big gain but the visual effect is much better!