Hi everyone,
I have had some time to start my new layout, the bench work is almost complete. The layout is an island type, on wheels so it can be moved out of the way when not in use. The track plan I will be using can be seen on another thread.
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/158171.aspx?PageIndex=4
The bench work is built out of 1x2's and 1x3's. The "skateboard" is built out of 2x4's and 1x4's I had laying around the garage. The shelves were also built out of spare lumber I had lying around. This week I plan on purchasing the plywood for the sub road bed and installing some additional bracing. The legs, shelves and bracing are attached with bolts and T-nuts for easy removal, so the layout can travel. I still need to devise a way to level and keep the layout in place when it is in operation.
Sean
I didn't go there, and I didn't take the picture. But, a friend at work noticed this LHS on a recent vacation to St. Petersburg. No, not the one in Florida, the one in northern Russia.
The web site is real and my virus checker didn't flag it, but I don't read Russian so all I could do was browse it a bit and look at a few pictures.
Since many people in Russia still live 3 or 4 families to what we would call a "cozy" apartment in the US, it made us wonder where people would put their layouts.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Great Western Railway Fan, the person standing is their dad, and he is a hogger on the same railway. The fellow at the throttle on this timetabled train is his brother. Dad took them along to wave to Uncle Bob as he roars past.
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
-Crandell
Last week there were a lot of then/now layout progress photos, and as usual I was not ready. I was surprised to find I had no early 2009 photos, so here are some here & now 2010 photos.
A panoramic view of Greenvale Junction. Most of the town is done on the east (left) side, but a couple of buildings still need signs and interiors. On the west side, New River Machine and Foundry is very much a work in progress, a large kitbash with New River Mining as a donor kit. There is also an open area between the factory and town that may have a movie theater or bowling alley.
I recently started the North end of Sheepscot; the Shamrock Hotel and the un-named tile front building still need some work. Reilly Meat Packing is almost done, I have a fence painted and ready to install as soon as I complete the retaining wall and install a tunnel liner.
An overal view of Sheepscot to near the end of the benchwork. Sheepscot Transfer and Storage is complete except for some fencing and a few additional details. My recent track realignment (mentioned a couple of weeks ago) has resulted in a change in my plans for this area. The thru street behind Sheepscot Transfer and Storage has been mostly eliminated, replaced by a dead end street / alley. There will be backs of buildings that face to Main St (the backdrop).
Finaly, there are a couple of photos of vehicles and rolling stock I have painted and detailed last year (the bus is factory paint, but I added figures and a driver)
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Alantrains Chuck, Bob Pease from National Semiconductor did a circuit using a LM334 low drop out regulator that I use to drive a LED, It turns the LED on at about 0.65 volts above whatever the LED needs. So you should be able to get a white LED to light up as your loco starts to move. You need to be a bit of an electronics junkie to work out the component values for your circuit. I used the circuit in figure 2. and set it up to provide 20ma to the LED (ZL in the figure) http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/what-s-all-this-current-limiter-stuff-anyhow-4703.aspx cheers
Chuck,
Bob Pease from National Semiconductor did a circuit using a LM334 low drop out regulator that I use to drive a LED, It turns the LED on at about 0.65 volts above whatever the LED needs. So you should be able to get a white LED to light up as your loco starts to move.
You need to be a bit of an electronics junkie to work out the component values for your circuit. I used the circuit in figure 2. and set it up to provide 20ma to the LED (ZL in the figure)
http://electronicdesign.com/article/analog-and-mixed-signal/what-s-all-this-current-limiter-stuff-anyhow-4703.aspx
cheers
Alan,
Thanks, this gives me another one to play with - GOT to find my breadboard.
Chuck
Grand River & Monongah Railroad and subsidiary Monongah Railway
selector I believe those are called "Black Widows"...is that correct? Very nice to both contributors. Nice image, DJ, as always. Back in September, RR Cannuck favoured me by adding a stormy sky and some smoke to the original of the image shown here. Recently he was playing with Photo Shop and found that he could make a classic poster effect. He kindly sent this to me. I quite like it, and would like to publicly thank him for his efforts on this photo, and for all the improvements he has made to my images over the past two years. -Crandell
I believe those are called "Black Widows"...is that correct? Very nice to both contributors. Nice image, DJ, as always.
Back in September, RR Cannuck favoured me by adding a stormy sky and some smoke to the original of the image shown here. Recently he was playing with Photo Shop and found that he could make a classic poster effect. He kindly sent this to me. I quite like it, and would like to publicly thank him for his efforts on this photo, and for all the improvements he has made to my images over the past two years.
Nice PS effects, But aren't those Children Tresspassing?
I've been working on extending the mainline another 27' .
Before:
After:
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Chris
Lancaster, CA
Check out my railroad at: Buffalo and Southwestern
Photos at:Flicker account
YouTube:StellarMRR YouTube account
Lou,
Thanks for the link. I guess I'd better dig out the old circuit breadboard and junk box of parts and do some testing before I get carried away with trying to stuff a bunch of parts into the cab of that 0-6-0T. Not a whole lot of room in there. Incidently, since I have a drill press, I elected to bore a hole in the boiler weight from front to back, for the headlight wires. Another option would be to route a shallow groove along the top of the weight, deep enough for the wires. Will post my final results for the headlight when finished.
DrilineTrainManTyDriline Soo Line U30 C phase II by Atlas coming round the bend....*snip* Please pretty please tell me that hillside and the trees on and behind it were added to the scene in Photoshop! Once that SOO locomotive is weathered from its spotless white, it'll be impossible to tell whether that scene is a model or the real thing! Better?*snip*No. Photoshop was not used. That is my actual background. And it goes all around my layout. This is not just a module. How do you like my painting skills?
TrainManTyDriline Soo Line U30 C phase II by Atlas coming round the bend....*snip* Please pretty please tell me that hillside and the trees on and behind it were added to the scene in Photoshop! Once that SOO locomotive is weathered from its spotless white, it'll be impossible to tell whether that scene is a model or the real thing!
Driline Soo Line U30 C phase II by Atlas coming round the bend....*snip*
Soo Line U30 C phase II by Atlas coming round the bend....
*snip*
Please pretty please tell me that hillside and the trees on and behind it were added to the scene in Photoshop! Once that SOO locomotive is weathered from its spotless white, it'll be impossible to tell whether that scene is a model or the real thing!
Better?
No. Photoshop was not used. That is my actual background. And it goes all around my layout. This is not just a module. How do you like my painting skills?
Is it a 3d part of your layout or a photo backdrop? Either way, impressive! You had me fooled!
Hi folks. This will probably be my last posting for a while - off to Asia again in a week. This week I revived a vintage Atlas loco - I'm guessing circa 1970 or so - made in Austria if that helps peg its age. Anyway, after extensive servicing she runs pretty well now. But, since I don't model Santa Fe, I decided to break out the airbrush and see if I could find it a home on my CN / CP layout. I haven't airbrushed in ages, so it took a while to get back into the swing of things. Anyway, here's the before and after - presto chango. I think this is an SD18 - CN didn't have any of these, but its affiliates did. Next step - weathering.
And Crandell, thanks for the kind words. Cheers.
BEFORE....
AFTER...
This site www.awrr.com/ConstantLighting.html has a circuit using LED's but no capacitor. That would be a good addition. I have seen the poop sheet on the LM317 solid state VR and I think it'll go down to about 3 volts with the right combination of resistors. Woud that work? Radio Shack sells the regulator for about 3 bucks I think. Another way might be to add a resistor across the motor terminals to raise it's starting voltage a little and give the light some head start.
Lou
Wikious, how did you build that centerbeam flat? I need a fleet of them for my furniture factory. Send me a PM though please, so as not to clog up this thread.
It's a couple weeks after Christmas and last night I managed to go through and take pics of all the new additions to the fleet. Also got a package from a fellow on another forum that had two boxcars in it (both 60')
Just a basic 50' FGE insulated boxcar. Reporting marks are PPU. Will be weathered and maybe patched.
Another FGE 50' boxcar. Love the paint job on this one, so it will be lightly weathered.
This boxcar is going to be one heck of a project. Plans include fading the paint, lotta rust, lotta grime, and a patchout
These 53' Evans plug-doors are also going to be weathered. The BCRail will be lightly weathered, while the other three will recieve varying degrees of weathering.
And finally the 60 footers. The NS will be weathered, while I will leave the Atlas car untouched, as it is my favorite company and it would be a shame to ruin it as it commemorates their 50th anniversary.
not much work going to be done on the layout this weekend, as I have to memorize a monologue for English class.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
Fresh out of the paint shop, RS11 number 363
What's that you say? The Monon never actually owned any RS11's? Well, it should have, so by golly, now it does!
Jim
"I am lapidary but not eristic when I use big words." - William F. Buckley
I haven't been sleeping. I'm afraid I'll dream I'm in a coma and then wake up unconscious. -Stephen Wright
I was originally thinking about using the circuit that uses a 5 volt regulator but this little brute creeps along at just 2.5 to 3 volts (which is great) but that means I'm not going to see any headlights at that speed. I saw another circuit without a regulator but requires a diode/capacitor network to keep the LEDs from flickering due to momentary voltage cuts at the wheels and rail junction. Kind of at a loss for the moment. Anyone have a good LED headlight circuit they'd like to share?
I finished painting the centerbeam flat I built and started making some loads for it. Only one side is done right now. I'm making them out of 1/4" x 1/2" balsa wood, 0.015" styrene, and 1/32" printer's tape.
Messy, messy messy!
Plaster patching
An experimental fluid made of alcohol, baby powder, scale gravel and tan paint used to represent crushed stone for the new road.
Lewis and Clark Park by the new road. Where did Lewis and Clark go?
Yay they are found!
It turns out they had to vacate the park due to plastering.
Ill try and clean up the mess
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Hey Chuck,
So, that's how old my 0-6-0 is! I've got one just like it, not quite as far along. It pulls like a mule but it hasn't run as well since before it was painted. I'm still working on that puzzle. I was going to build a constant intensity headlight for it using a LED and a solid state voltage regulator but recently I saw an article on the web where the author suggested using LED's instead of low voltage incandescents in the old diode lighting scheme (a la John Allen and others). Is that your intent? If that's the case, I'd like to know how it turns out, because the simplicity of that idea appeals to my inner Mongo. Anyway, nicely done loco. You and all the other regular posters of this forum are a constant inspiration. No matter what the skill level shown, I always admire the sincerely done work of any devoted hobbyist.
A GP18 out in the country on a summer day...
Tyler, it's a great poster!!
RR Canuck also made this one up for me, in the same style as yours, but using another image.
Nice work, all. Finally got back to and finished (almost) the 20+ year old Roundhouse 0-6-0T kit. Still need to install the LED headlights; just realized that I ordered all the parts except the darned diodes! Anyway, the engine creeps along at a crawl - a bit noisy but hopefully will quiet down as it breaks in. Also finished decalling and weathering another 50 ton Athearn hopper.
Crandall, you inspired me to go up to my attic and dig out this old poster I picked up back in 1987 when it was new!
Looks like another GREAT WPF!!!
I will add to the NS pictures.
Its just a little dirty, dusty, and some "chipped" paint (on the front).
"Rust, whats not to love?"
Here are a few cars of mine:
This is an Athearn Car Kit, where I added a Cal-Scale Cushion Underframe and painted and decaled the car using Herald King Decals.
Model Die Casting Kit, Painted and decaled using Herald King Decals, this was the original as delivered paint scheme.
Same car but decaled with WP's new Stylized Feather River Route Herald. Herald King Decals.
Regards
Rick
Rule 1: This is my railroad.
Rule 2: I make the rules.
Rule 3: Illuminating discussion of prototype history, equipment and operating practices is always welcome, but in the event of visitor-perceived anacronisms, detail descrepancies or operating errors, consult RULE 1!
I put the finishing touches on my Prince Brothers Store
Using this photo as a guide
Also made some signs using this 1970 photo as a guide
At the time it was known as Monks Super Mkt
TerryinTexas
See my Web Site Here
http://conewriversubdivision.yolasite.com/