Ray I would like to see the engine closer too, but since that isn't one of the options, I would crop out about 2/3 of the blue sky on the top left and just above the weed on top the wall on the bottom left. My reasoning is your eye gets sucked up to that blue sky then down into the foreground track. Do not make it a square picture or the engine will be in the center.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
#3 Ray.
the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Ray:
Have you considered turning the locomotive around and just showing the front portion of the locomotive as it heads away from you and proceeds under the bridge and into the tunnel? I'm suggesting just showing enough of the locomotive so that you can see the smoke stack and the cylinders, and maybe a bit of the valve gear. Getting everything in focus might be a challenge. Adding some steam from the cylinders and some smoke as well as blurring the valve gear might suggest some action.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Good morning .. . .... Coffee and a hot cross bun, please
Steven ... You mentioned your model railroad. I'd be interested in hearing more about it. I think I once heard you are doing an old time era.
Dave........ you have a good suggestion for Ray.
My gandy dancer project keeps getting interrupted ..... Voices saying "You are retired. You are not doing anything. Help me do my stuff." ..
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Afternoon, Folks!
I have cooled off sufficiently to come in and sit a spell at the RC. Things are more than rough at this end - some of you have received an email from me explaining the situation Petra and I face here.
Ray - there is something wrong with all of the pictures. The guy who shot the photo must have been over 10ft tall or standing on something of that height. I wonder how he managed to escape from being overrun by the train when it came closer. Seriously, the pictures would improve dramatically if you could get the lens closer to the ground.
A friend of mine from Switzerland sent a surprise gift, which was in todays mail.
It´s a 1960´s Saurer bus operated by the Swiss PTT, a highly detailed metal diecast HO scale model. Quite an expensive gift at about $ 50! He didn´t like my "wrong" Daimler-Benz bus, as the Swiss PTT never owned and operated one of those. The top half of that bus comes off, so I´ll be able to populate it with a driver and a few passengers.
Looks nice!
My friend Lothar will be coming over to our place tomorrow to enjoy a slice of Petra´s Easter cake and to help me install the backdrop. This will be the last big item to get done on the layout for a while, as I have to feed the piggy bank with any extra change befor I can buy the stuff I need for the catenary.
Nice bus, Ulrich. And welcome back!
Whew, these nights out listening to music are tiring. I was out listening to music last Saturday, and didn't get home until 1 AM. Tuesday was both that dental work and then hockey at night. (I've had stitches on hockey day before, but not before the game.) Last night was music again, fortunately not so late, and I'm going to see bands I like the next two nights. Besides that, I need to go to the gym for a workout every day. With this medication, if I don't get a workout I don't feel very good the next day.
And I've got to do laundry, too.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Heartland Division CB&Q Steven ... You mentioned your model railroad. I'd be interested in hearing more about it. I think I once heard you are doing an old time era.
I'm modeling the Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern, a narrow-gauge short line in southwestern Ohio that was bought out by the Pennsylvania RR shortly after it was converted to standard gauge. I'm modeling it in 1906, a few years after the purchase and merger of the Middletown & Cincinnati, but might backdate it to 1903 to model the road at the peak of passenger traffic before competition from the interurbans cut into business. I'm modeling it in HO scale. You can see bits of it in the various Layout Progress Tour videos we've posted over the years, but I haven't done much on it lately because my modeling energies are all occupied at work.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
When I was in my early teens, I sold my Lionels and went shopping for some HO trains. For whatever reason, I bought an Athearn train set with a Milwaukee Road GP9 with rubber-band drive. I have been with the Milwaukee ever since. There wasn't a lot of selection at the LHS. I liked the colors and the look of a GP9, so that was basically my decision-making process.
That engine now runs as a sound dummy on my layout, paired with a GP9m. I numbered it so that the old engine was the one they re-built as the new engine.
Mornin' everyone!
Zoe, I'll have a bowl of Vanilla Almond Crunch Cereal and a large pot of Marrakesh Express Dark Roast coffee to keep my R&GV RR Mug filled for the rest of the morning... Please and Thank You Ma'am!
Ulrich, good to have you back! You know we all worry about you!
Thanks for the comments on the photos gents! Some good ideas for me (and a few that just can't be done...) I will do another round of shots pulling the 2-6-6-2 Mallét up close to the bridge. The photos started out as just some documentation for the Girder Bridge to be used for the evaluation for a Merit Award towards my Structures Certificate in the NMRA Acheivement Program. That will happen some time this Summer, I hope. I seems now to have taken on a life of it's own.
Dave, if I turn the loco around and have it proceeding under the bridge, there will be no place to put the camera.... This is shot with my Canon Digital Rebel SXi using an 18/135 lense and Aperature Priority mode, allowing me to do a 25sec exposure getting an f22 aperature (pin hole) on it. This gives a great depth of field. Realise the lense is only about 3/4" from the closest track shown. I also can't use any "Photoshopping" (except for normal Dark Room work that can be done) on the photo, so smoke and steam are out for this to be entered. If you look at the photo below, the camera lens sits right next to the stone wall in the bottom left corner. The camera body just fits slightly propped up on the tracks just beyond that. There is no room to move the camera at all. From the front of the photo to the Tunnel is over 3' I'll try to get a shot of the set up with my old Digital Rebel to show the problem... (I hopefully still works. Haven't used it in a couple years now.) For me too actually see the shot I am taking I have to use a hand held mirror... A lot of guessing and a lot of photos to just get one that is reasonable.
Ulrich, evidentally the scale sized photographer is standing on the hillside in the curve that starts right at the back of the EOS Camera.... LOL There is no way to lower the shot without tearing out about a foot of the layout at that spot.... And that ain't gonna happen!!! LOL You are right, I wish i could lower the camera about half an inch to get a better angle for it. Not possible. You are the first in two forums I frequent to actually notice that though (you went up another several points in my estimation!).
Thanks for all the comments folks. I do appreciate them!
73
Ray
Ray Seneca Lake, Ontario, and Western R.R. (S.L.O.&W.) in HO
We'll get there sooner or later!
Ray - I hope you are not offended by my rather undiplomatic statement about your pictures. I know how difficult it is to get realistic looking shots on a layout. Even larger layouts usually have only a couple of places where that is possible - unless one has one of those spy cameras that you can place on the track.
Pouring gas into the fire - I don´t think the pictures do justice to the excellent job you did in scratchbuilding the bridge. Is there a different way of capturing this scene?
Well afternoon all. My old tablet decided to die last night, so I decided to take the plunge and buy an ipad mini- I LOVE IT! I also purchased ink during that trip for my printer, so I have printed out a set of decals for a Wheeling and Lake Erie car project, and am waiting on the test decal to dry to see how the print turned out. It's warm here, so as soon as my iPad downloads a game, I'm going to go wash my car and get "winter" off my car. Hope you all have a good day.
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
Sir Madog Ray - I hope you are not offended by my rather undiplomatic statement about your pictures. I know how difficult it is to get realistic looking shots on a layout. Even larger layouts usually have only a couple of places where that is possible - unless one has one of those spy cameras that you can place on the track. Pouring gas into the fire - I don´t think the pictures do justice to the excellent job you did in scratchbuilding the bridge. Is there a different way of capturing this scene?
No offense taken at all, my friend! I welcome your thoughts on this... Once the second bridge and a lot more scenery is done, there should be several different angles that should indeed capture the bridge itself better. Those photos may be ready by next years convention, but not even close to being doable now. Trouble with the "Spy" cameras is generally the lack of control of f/Stop, ISO, and other items for good photos. I have no use for cell phone pictures done on my layout. My son from chicago did a bunch. He thought they were great! I ended up just deleting the whole batch. He is very bright, but is not at all trained in photography. I only talk on my cell phone. I don't talk on my camera.... Cell phone cameras are great for some things, but not for what I want to do with photography.....
As I mentioned earlier, this started out just being an attempt to document a view that can't be seen from the layout (there is no way you can get your head down in there to see the inside of the stonework...) for the Merit Award. I liked what I ended up with and decided it might make a good photo to enter in the contest.
Will play more with later today or tomorrow after my babysitting duties are over...
Thanks.
Ulrich .... I like that bus. I bet JohnBoy will like it too.
Steven OtteAdd Quote to your Post
Steven ..... Thanks for the explanation of your layout. . I would be interested in see the layout progress videos. .... I did model the 1900 era for a few years, but the layout did not survive several moves. It was a freelance railroad and a bit on the whimsical side. It served the towns of Hither, Thither, and Yon. If I can dig up old photos I will post them ......... I do have family connections which include Cincinnati and Lebanon.
Evening diners!
My internet is back! Yeehaw!
Everyone - Thank you very much for your input about the whys and wherefores of your railroads. I really appreciate the effort. I see a lot of studying in my future.
Howmus - If I may be so bold... Why don't you try it the other way around? Polish that handheld mirror so that it doesn't have any fingerprints or fluff on it. Put it on the tracks in place of the camera. Now you use a tripod to aim the camera from the top into the mirror and get a way lower angle. Frame the image correctly so you don't get the mirror's edges and ta-da! Low angle shot in a tight spot.
Lucas.
I found a file containing that typical Swiss three-tone horn the buses sound when rounding a sharp curve on a mountain road:
Three-tone Horn
I bet it´ll drive Petra crazy when I have that sound installed on my layout!
Hey all, it is ME GALAXY. NOTE THE MONIKER CHANGE IN NAME!!!!
I am PO'D at this site now....
I HAD to create a NEW screenname...WHY, you Ask>?
BECAUSE, MY EMAIL WAS LOST IN THE TRANSLATION TO THE NEW PASSWORD RESETTING THINGY!!!
I will PROBABLY get "Suspended" for this little rant as new "on probation" client!!!
I went to sign in, it said the info was "INVALID"... I dutiully changed my password when our estemed MR> OTTE said to. I LOOKED IT UP where I wrote it down and I HAD IT CORRECT,
BUT WHEN I ASKED IT TO "REMIND" ME OF MY PASSWORD {JUST IN CSE I WROTE IT DOWN WRONG}> and I entered my EMAIL address, IT SAID INVALID EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONFUSED< I WENT TO THAT PARTICULAR BLOODY EMAIL, AND SHURE 'NUFF< they HAD JUST SENT ME A bloody "BUY OUR MAG NOW" email not a but a few minutes BEFORE< SO I KNOW MY EMAIL ADDY IS CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT "INVALID".....
SO< OUR esteemed MR> OTTE, WHEN I COOL DOWN,
WILL GET A NICE, but NOT-so-PLEASANT PM FROM ME!!
NOW< staring OVER< I HAVE LOST all my SAVED PMs!!!!
NOW< I HAVE TO START ALL OVER.
THEY LOST MY EMAIL!!!! BUT ARE STILL SENDING ME bloody "BUY ME" emails TO THAT EMAIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I AM PO"d OBVIOUSLY!
SHEESH!
I AM NOT SMILING!!
Evening Dinners
Flo, Beer please.
Been a busy last two days between Dr's apoinments and needed running.
Health Front Went to see my VA Dr and I May Have Early Sighns Of A Heart Problem. More that likely it is nothing, but rather safe than sorry. Get some what of a odd feeling in my left arm pit. Can not call it pain, but feels a little odd. No sweating, chest pains, hard time breathing or weakness. Will be going in for a stress test in the next few weeks. Boy I am looking forward to that!
YGW You have a PM. While I was at K-10 trains I did spot a box of Bowser 3 bay coal hoppers with data only, no road names. They are black and are $5.95 each if you are intrested.
Ray I got to ask, why is the engine headlight not on? I am with Ulrich about the photo would look better from a lower point of view.
Galaxy I hope you are just busy with the new house. Are you ever going to share any pictures?
Train Front They are running well. Time to get some more rolling stock off the RIP track.
Ken
I hate Rust
cudakenRay I got to ask, why is the engine headlight not on? Whistling I am with Ulrich about the photo would look better from a lower point of view.
Because in 1925 locos did not run in daytime under most rules with the headlight on....
Daytime headlights didn't become a rule until the early 1950's and seldom prior to that would a freight locomotive waste steam to generate electric power for a headlamp when they could see just fine without it... Not ony that lightbulbs didn't last long so the RRs would not be happy with some engineer being that wasteful! Night time was when they needed and used them.
Lucas, went down late this afternoon and gave your suggestion a try. In the right place, that would have worked great! I have to remember that trick.... Unfortunately that won't fit in there in any way I can use it for the photo... I only have one portable mirror here, The big trouble is that the lower track under the bridge is in a long cut going to the tunnel to staging.
I will just have to do what I can with the equipment I have. I took a couple more photos with the 2-6-6-2 up near the bridge, and I think when I go back down and put some boxcars behind the old girl I will have very good photo to enter... The coal drag doesn't show up at all.
Thanks!
Evenin' folks!
Janie, a cup of decaf would hit the spot right now, it would!
I went over to the body shop after lunch today and the owner got his shop foreman to come right out and take a look at it.... He gave me the estimate while I waited. I was right, the bumper is all of $240. But.... there is the painting, and all the odds and ends parts that go with it. The estimate came to $1,000. So I drove right around the corner and stopped at my insurance company and talked to the lady there who handles my account. She made a copy of the estimate, asked about a dozen or questions for the claim, assured me this is not enough to make a difference on my insurance costs, and said I should have a go ahead tomorro...... Opps, they are closed tomorrow for Good Friday. I should hear on Monday. The Body Shop said they will order the bumper as soon as I let them know, and they should have it ready to install within a couple weeks. The installation can be done in just a couple hours. They will give me a ride home and will come back and pick me up when it is done.
Well.... I think I finally have the photo I want to enter in the Model Railroad Photo contest in the Convention Contest room... I think this one will work!
Have a great night everyone!
I think you have a winner.
Does anybody have any idea what Ken Patterson (professional model railroader writer, photographer, videographer for a different publication) is doing when he takes a pic for an Athearn ad and with the camera on a tripod, takes multiple shots while changing the focus. I am ignorant of photo shop but he talks about depth of field, so there must be some process to intergrate mulitple pictures with different things in and out of focus.
I believe he is using a stacking software... Helicon Focus is the one I hear most about...
Good morning .... Coffee and a hot cross bun, please.
Ray ... That software is the way to go to improve depth of field. However, I have never tried it. The learning curve is probably too steep for my little brain. ... LOL
Where is everybody ? ..... Wake up ! it is morning.
Have a nice Good Friday.
Heartland Division CB&QWhere is everybody ? ..... Wake up ! it is morning.
Yeah, but it's a cold dreary morning. One of those "Is the sun really up?" mornings.
I had a good time listening to the band at the bar and sitting with the "groupies" who comprise much of the audience. These bands aren't in it for the money. At least last night there were more people in the audience than in the band. The band is a keyboard player, a guitar player, a guy who switches from guitar to mandolin to violin repeatedly and a stand-up string bass player. 3 of them are accomplished vocalists as well. Everyone had a great time. They're all in their sixties, or close to it.
Galaxy... try logging in with your old name and your OLD password. Before you changed it. Turns out they were able to grandfather in the old passwords, but the file they used for that was exported before a lot of people changed theirs. (Me included.) So you can probably log into your old account with your previous password. Once you've done that, it will be a lot easier for you to investigate the e-mail discrepancy.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Good Afternoon!
We are enjoying our typical Easter holdays weather, i.e. lots of wind and ra*n. No signs of improvement in sight - yuck!
My friend Lothar came over for a sip of coffee and a taste of Petra´s Easter holiday cake. We used the time to install the curved backdrop, which took only, say, 15 minutes, plus 5 minutes to find out why the trains wouldn´t pass througfh it and another 2 minutes to get the saw out and enlarge the opening a bit. It sure was one of those "Duh!" moments for me
I don´t know yet whether I like the backdrop - yet. Due to the curvature, the upper ends are bending outward slightly, which looks terrible, even if it´s only 1/2" off the vertical on each side. Tomorrow, I´ll get some lumber to reinforce the edges, mount lugs and pull the upper ends inside fish a stretch of fishing line. When that´s done, I will post a picture here to collect your or on the job!
I am also pondering to go for a picture backdrop instead of the rather bland blue sky.
Time will tell!
Have a good one!
Afternoon Diners,
I called Trainworx this morning to see if I get some PD 3000 covered hoppers in Conrail lettering.
Write later leaving now.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
Steven Otte Galaxy... try logging in with your old name and your OLD password. Before you changed it. Turns out they were able to grandfather in the old passwords, but the file they used for that was exported before a lot of people changed theirs. (Me included.) So you can probably log into your old account with your previous password. Once you've done that, it will be a lot easier for you to investigate the e-mail discrepancy.
GRR....THAT WORKED!
Thanks Mr. Otte, sorry for the hot headed responses on galaxy1-but I KNEW someone would read it and pass it on, I MAY delete that one AFTER I change the password here. I KNEW my email was NOT invalid, BUT..I have A Q: if the OLD password worked with the OLD email, WHY did it tell me my EMAIL {NOT password} was invalid when I asked it to send a password reminder?????
TO bring others up to speed, it auto-logged me out, and when I tried to log in with new password, it wouldn't. WHen I asked for a password reminder, It Said MY EMAIL was invalid,yet I knew MR had that email as i had gotten a sales email that very day a few hours ahead of trying to log back in. SO I knoew it was correct.
I signed on under a new name,and sent my first post FUMMING.
The reason I was so fuming was the SAME THING happened with my mortgage account the SAME day! STIll waiting for them to fix it as I am locked out of my mortgage account!
SO I WAS doubly er ah shall we say angry?
GRR
Went flower shopping, and bought a real live actual will produce for drinking....LEMON tree...very pretty, and the lemon flower is so sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is a treat to eat...it is more of a bush than a tree now but has buds and little lomon budlets forming!!! Among some african violets, a new red croton {to go with my multicolored red/green/yellow croton {my favorite}, an orchid cactus...and sooe potting soil. I got anew pot for my bonzai tree if it ever grows....have herb sees planted too, and an apple tree im growing...I be plantin' soon.
well, nap time...
-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.
Afternoon folks!
Chloe, another cup of decaf would be great at the moment..... Spent most of the day so far babysitting my two favorite little girls, who were, of course, wonderful to sit for and play with....
Got home from that to find a message on my machine from my insurance company about the claim I filed yesterday. Only took me about 5 listens to get the information I needed to be able to call back and talk to the lady who is my claims adjuster... She had all the same questions and a few more that I was asked yesterday, and I had a good answer for each of them. About the biggest I didn't get asked yesterday was, "Is the car safe to drive?" I answered, Yep, took it to the dealers on Wednesday and they did a complete inmspection of the car and said all it needs is the new bumper. So She was going to call the Body Shop and give them the go ahead so they can order the parts and get this started. I did tell the lady that the last time I had a claim was over 40 years ago and this was a lot easier.
Garry, I haven't found any need to use a image program like that as the EOS Digital Rebel set on the highest f-Stop for the distance is basically a pin hole camera. The photo I put in here last night was a 30 sec. exposure.
Hmmm. why is the air in the back Blue???? Oh Galaxy had trouble with his login..... I never had to log out.... Wasn't asked for anything else so I guess I am good to go.
I'm busy doing a few final prints of the entries for the Region Contests. Catch you all later!