Page 5...better fix that!
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I went downstairs last night and shot some night footage in West Canaan. It took me a while decide which angles to include...I will upload the other one I really liked someday! Here, a really REALLY long WJCD passes through West Canaan, then intermodal hotshot NAWJ rolls slowly through town. This is my first video produced with Cyberlink PowerDirector 8, which I really like so far except for the crashing. I need to get a less-really-slow graphics card...
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
What DCC system do you have, John?
Hello everyone its been a LONG TIME since i've posted here much less had a picture to show. There have been alot of things going on but im back now. I have been working on the layout actually have some scenery and for me thats a first! Here is a pic of my BN ore train climbing the hill.
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Welcome back! Your scenery looks good for your first -- a lot better than mine at least! That's a nice ore train.
Thanks Tyler. Ive done some patches here lately to get rid of the white spots from the plaster cloth. Now all i have to do is get scenery everywhere else on the layout.
Very nice scenery SD.
Also better than my first scenery, which literally was nothing but ground foam.Well, first scenery if you don't count the lake. Which was the best looking (read: only complete) part of the layout.
My Model Railroad: Tri State RailMy Photos on Flickr: FlickrMy Videos on Youtube: YoutubeMy Photos on RRPA: RR Picture Archives
No photos to post yet, but I finished my burned-out-barn project (just need to plant trees!) and have started installing the new 14 gauge bus wire which should fix the power problems I had during my last operating session. The main bus wire is in so I just need to cut the feeders off the old 18 gauge bus and solder them to the new one.
I've also started repairing an old cast-metal searchlight signal that I'm going to wire up to protect the reversing sections from idiots like myself who run trains onto it without checking which way it is set. In theory, it protects the rarely-used diamond for an old branch (the continuous run connection) and is required by a legal technicality. It will be constantly RED unless the lift bridge is down, the reversing segment is set to LAYOUT, and the request switch is set to REQUEST in which case it will turn GREEN. The request switch will keep it from showing a green block while there's a train approaching from staging behind the signal. Shutting off the request switch or flipping the reversing segment to STAGING will put it back to RED as the train is past the signal.
SD, very nice scenery and nice ore train.
well, the North Branch roads are pretty much poured and I'll hopefully have scenery going in the next few weeks hopefully.
Sawyer Berry
Clemson University c/o 2018
Building a protolanced industrial park layout
Not actually on the layout, but of a scene on the railroad nonetheless - the summit of the Mascoma Lake Grade, currently my avatar. Custom plate from hand-drawn artwork based off a photograph.
Uh, dunno why, but I have a feeling we're in need of a bump. Maybe the fact that we're on Page 8?
You guys are slacking!
I haven't been here cause of lax every day. Add massive computer problems to that, and I think you guys can understand my absence...
I have NOT been slacking! I rewired my entire layout with 14 gauge bus wire, built and then burnt a barn, had a train wreck with no wheels off the tracks, spent three hours today building cookie-cutter benchwork into my existing layout for the Mascoma River, and have started working on my paper mill! But I didn't take any photos of any of that until today.
Okay, first things first. Photos of wires are boring so I didn't take any. But here's my barn, built from an article in Model Railroader. That signal behind it that's missing the signal part will be built into my reversing section circuit and hopefully stop idiots like me from running onto it while set the wrong way.
I used a lighter and a spray bottle (filled with water) to perform a series of controlled burns to the building. It was built on a piece of cardboard and was on the driveway...I'm not about to set fires indoors!
I was running a train to test my new wiring today and had a train wreck with no derailments...the truck screw dropped out and the truck came off.
Time for the Mascoma River Crossing! Track is just laid in place and I hope to order the bridges this week.
Riverbed will be built with plaster cloth...this isn't an underground river.
Layout:
Prototype (but with train tracks and another bridge next to it!):
And finally, it's PAPAH MILL TIME! Foam foundation, Walthers Cornerstone Modulars walls. That corrugated metal structure is scratchbuilt from scraps leftover from my Pikestuff enginehouse and sheet styrene.
Sorry for killing your dial-up folks...and if I crashed Joe's computer again!
Sawyer, I saw your photos in the past few WPFs, and I thing I have an Idea for you. I noticed just recently that you have excess ground foam on your streets. On my layout, I ballast before I do scenery, and my scenery method involves paint, so to protect my ballast, I lay down paper towels just over the edge of the ballast, and then I wet the edges for a tight seal. This way, I only scenic where I want to, and no extra ends up anywhere else. Also, when the scenery is done, all I have to do is to wrap up the towels and throw them in the trash, as easy as 1/87.1 scale pie.
I also got something for you guys which might just save my DCC system. My hobby shop guru said whenever you call up a locomotive's address, it fills up a slot. Every few years, the slots have to be emptied and reset in order to call up another locomotive. Is shorting out a characteristic of full slots? If so, then how might I reset the slots, as poor grandpa forgot to include the manual. Joe! Forever kudos to you for reviving the thread.
John, good idea. I'll leave it alone though; it'll only take me about 30 seconds and a vacuum to clean it up.
speaking of the WPFs, just check them out for pics of the North Branch scenery.
Tyler, suh-weet paper mill! I love using leftover Pikestuff kit parts; I jacked the walls of the single-stall enginehouse I have for the warehouse wall for the insulation contractor; the door edgings were used for King Furniture.
Yes, Pikestuff kits come with so much extra awesomeness. I love them.
IVRWI also got something for you guys which might just save my DCC system. My hobby shop guru said whenever you call up a locomotive's address, it fills up a slot. Every few years, the slots have to be emptied and reset in order to call up another locomotive. Is shorting out a characteristic of full slots? If so, then how might I reset the slots, as poor grandpa forgot to include the manual.
I'm sorry to hear about your grandfather, John. I've had almost half a dozen friends get diagnosed with various forms of cancer (two of them my age) and all of them are now fine, physically if not psychologically...
What DCC system do you have? I have the Digitrax Zephyr and can walk you through the process of clearing the selected locos. BUT, this would not cause shorting so I doubt that's the problem. I'd connect your DCC system to a single piece of flextrack and see if it shorts with no loco, and then with a various selection of engines (to make sure it's not one engine that's the problem). If there's no short, it's your layout, rolling stock, or engines. If it's a short, it's the DCC system. Locate the problem before you try to fix it...
Went out to work on the layout and im having a block in creativity. Can somone give me an idea of what i can can do with the left side of the of my layout. I have scenery on the right, which is fine but i would like some industries and maybe a small yard. the area is about 2' wide and 8' long. Any help would be appreciated. Also here is a pic of the part of my layout im talking about.
-Kade
IVRWWow Sawyer, the progress is amazing!
Well i finally decided to get off my butt and start getting a idea what i can do with the 4 by 4 foot board. I got track set up but is not secured ( i am using a fabric like stuff for grass). I will put pictures up later. But as i was running a couple of my engines the derailed on the switches along with several cars, can anwone tell me how to fix that?
Chris
Hmm, it seems like there's finally some activity here...
Can't stay and look, but I'm not going to practice tomorrow, so I'll be home early, and I'll explain that and read posts and all that stuff then...
Packers#1Kade, do you have a trackplan showing where those rails are on the layout?
Well thats the problem. The only part of the layout that has rails that will stay is where the hill and river are. Every other part of the layout i havent a clue. The stretch is 2' wide and 8' feet long does that length have any possibility for a small yard and maybe a couple of industries in HO scale.
SD60MPackers#1Kade, do you have a trackplan showing where those rails are on the layout? Well thats the problem. The only part of the layout that has rails that will stay is where the hill and river are. Every other part of the layout i havent a clue. The stretch is 2' wide and 8' feet long does that length have any possibility for a small yard and maybe a couple of industries in HO scale.
Packers#1 I'll play around with that in RTS and see what I come up with.
Ah, I see. You guys certainly weren't slacking, you were just too busy doing actual modeling to post. Makes sense.
Watch out guys, Tyler's an arsonist! Seriously, nice barn. And that's a, uh, "interesting" derailment. Or i guess it's not really a derailment, just an equipment malfunction???And no, you didn't crash my computer again. In fact, it never crashed... It just burned out my power cord (for like the fourth time...), so I can't charge it, so I have to use a different computer for now...
John, sorry to hear about your grandfather As for the DCC system, who makes it? That might make things a little easier...
BigBlue, for some reason, Youtube doesn't work on this computer, so I can't watch it- sorry!
Kade, if you run the main down the center, you could get a small two (maybe three) track yard on one side of it. It could be stub ended with a crossover at the end. Then you could probably get at least two industries on the other side of the main.
Wow, Sawyer, North Branch is looking great!
Cdog, it could be what John said, or maybe the points weren't moved fully into the right position or something like taht.?
Well, nothing new from me, as always. Been overly busy with lacrosse, and now not being able to play because of bruised ribs and all kinds of fun stuff like that. But the season ends in less than two weeks, so things will be less busy then.
I also got some money from making my Confirmation, so maybe I'll be able to do something (finish benchwork maybe?) with the money left over from when I buy new shoes (sorry, but I REALLY need those- much higher on the priority list than trains!).
One idea I had was for you to slice away some of the width of your board and tack it on to the end for length, to give you an industrial branch line separating away from the main at the yard. If you take Sawyer's drawing, you can see that there are relatively few options. Option a) is to make a big yard closest to the finished section on the inside, while option b) is to put industries in the same area. It all depends on what you want more. Here is my suggestion: I would make a yard in the big area with engine facilities, and I would cut away all other wood not in use. I would then make that wood into another extension off in the direction of Sawyer's small yard. Here you could have a small industrial section. It must also be noted that the industrial area could be forgotten, it's board remain where it came from, and an industrial area could be there. I hope I helped. ~John