| Amherst Show, West Springfield MA |
[30 Jan 2011|10:17pm] |
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20,400 people, so Sunday was slower than Saturday. I enjoyed it; after a bunch of time spent fixing track and organizing dinner on Saturday, Sunday was more relaxed; I ran some trains, operated our ball signal while being the Diamond operator and talked to a lot of people. Although there wasn't room for crowd-control ropes on my Rowley (MA) modules they didn't take any damage. Some kids had a lot of fun, both members who were operating and visitors to the show.
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| Bridging the Gap |
[15 May 2010|02:55am] |
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mood |
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Years ago, on the Central Iowa Railroad Club layout, some temporary scenery was put in place in a location that was eventually going to play host to a large bridge. The structure would be modeled after the C&NW's crossing of the Des Moines River just west of Boone, IA, though it would have to be scaled down quite a bit to fit on the layout. On Thursday, the bridge was ( temporarily placed in its future permanent home... (lots of pictures)Collapse )
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| I am so looking forward to April 1... |
[29 Mar 2010|09:47am] |
... even though I'm not at all sure how "healing tendon repair" will progress to exercising it. The knee immobilizer is uncomfortable enough that I really don't enjoy sitting on anything other than a bed or couch (long way) for more than 10 or 15 minutes. But this weekend that worked out well, as sitting in front of the computer or reading lost out to standing in the attic, leaning over my layout building track. Since mid-week I've gotten three of the staging yard tracks connected, with four switches laid and ready for wiring. I posted a couple of pictures on railroad-line: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20091&whichpage=6
Sunday afternoon my eldest came over and worked on the wood pile - I couldn't help with the chainsaw but the crutches have boosted my upper body strength, so I split a lot of green oak and felt fine afterward.
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| Penn Central E8 4300 |
[04 Feb 2010|11:28am] |
Thought I'd share my latest project.
This is a Proto 2000 E8 that is being modified to represent Penn Central's E8 #4300. 4300, originally PRR 5700, was one of only two E8s to have dual headlights. PRR was experimenting with oscillating headlights on their Es. Unfortunately, the only E8 I could get my hands on...was a New York Central unit, which had a single headlight. (Originally, I was going to build the unit as NYC, but with PC worms on the nose.)
Another E unit, an E7, was purchased at a yard sale. This gave up its nose door and the Mars light circuitry. Originally, the plan was, to drop the E8 body shell onto the E7 frame and be done with it. Unfortunately, that's impossible--the indents cut into the weights interfere with the side doors. Swapping the weights over was a pain. But, that was child's play compared to swapping over the running gear!
But, with that done, tested, and put back together, it was time to start the body work. Removing the nose doors was easy--a little gentle pressure freed the E7's door. But, getting the E8's operating door out was harder. There's a clip which has to be removed first. A little gentle filing had it fitting perfectly.
While I was at it, I removed all of the grab irons, handrails, and roof lift rings. These will be replaced with more durable wire parts. Also removed, were the rings around the portholes. The real 4300 had its portholes removed by PC time. It shouldn't be too hard to plug up the portholes with the original window 'glass' and some putty.
But, one thing that's staying, is the Mars light. The real 4300 didn't have it--instead, it was covered, and the lower headlight used instead.
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| Question about transformers |
[28 Dec 2009|11:53pm] |
I'm hoping someone may be able to help, (or may know some resources to learn more about this):
How does one figure out the strength of transformer(s) needed for a given length/loop of track?
Reason for asking: I'm beginning work on a secondary train project. I'm designing a way for an O-gauge train to safely run along the upper walls of my apartment. I'm working on accommodating a simple (if very long) level loop of track, no switches or accessories to start with; ideally for running an engine & tender with maybe 3-5 cars.
I'm still in the early design stages- though I am aiming to have this up and working by next summer, fall at the latest. Even more fun; I'm trying to come up with a design that is apartment friendly (i.e. = stable, fairly fire-safe, able to be removed easily, and doesn't actually involve anchoring anything much to the walls or ceiling of the place.) What can I say- I like a challenge.
If anyone reading has done or considered something like this - I'd enjoy hearing about or seeing photos of what you came up with?
Thanks & Happy New Year!
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| Quick question - Wiring Issue |
[21 Oct 2009|09:29am] |
As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'm slowly working on refurbishing my dad's 1948 Lionel Post-War Train Set.
I've started work on the Automatic Refrigerated Milk Car:
(like this one - http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=3462)
and upon disassembly for cleaning and relube,- I have found the wires are shot.
I've ran into a similar problem with the searchlight car (like this one:
(http://www.postwarlionel.com/cgi-bin/postwar?ITEM=6520) but mine has maroon housing and smooth gray finish on the light)
but in this cars case- the wire is just clean broken in two:
While I could just go out and buy another at a train show, that defeats the purpose of learning how to do this sort of re-wiring; and besides where's the fun of taking the easy way out? :)
I'm doing other research on this- but figured I'd also tap this group as a resource for information to see if anyone might have recommendations for what kind of available wire would be best to purchase for this usage?
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| State of the Eight |
[13 Oct 2009|09:34pm] |
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I decided to do the fiddlier bits of the E8's detail assembly/installation first, which basically meant starting with the fuel tank- there were several detail parts there that still either needed to be modified, made from scratch, or otherwise messed with, and an annoying number of them were barely bigger than 1mm in one or more dimensions. Then again, that's actually where the real work in building this model started anyway, so I guess it's fitting. But speaking of fitting, ( let's see how everything fits togetherCollapse )
This is the part I like about building a model... after all the cutting and removing and filling and sanding, when the new parts start going on, the model looks more and more like it will when it's done, and that's always a gratifying sight. Now I just have to finish the rest of it... There are still several fiddly bits to go, but most of those are on the nose, which is probably where I'm going to be working next.
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| Messing around at the club tonight... |
[15 Apr 2009|01:33am] |
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calm |
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I decided to test a train this evening, down at the club, one consisting mostly of passenger cars that have never been run before, nor in most cases, even taken out of the box before. I had some concerns about them running properly, but run properly they did, even before mechanical upgrades. ( Take a look at the (brief) video...Collapse )
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| SDP40F |
[26 Feb 2009|08:30am] |
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mood |
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 curious |
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Has anyone here had any experience with the Kaslo SDP40F kit? Or any other Kaslo locomotive shell kits, for that matter? Any thoughts about them? I've thought about getting one (or two or three...) but I'm a bit hesitant to get 'em sight-unseen...
The one close-up photo I've seen of one, possibly a preproduction sample, over here, gives the impression that the body is slightly bent- take a look between the second and third column of panels behind the cab door...
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