Our heartfelt condolonces go to the families and friends of the victims of the Roseburg, OR massacre!
[angel]
It´s been a rather pleasant day so far - at least in terms of our weather. It´s bright and sunny, temperatures are at 18°C during the day, the air is clean and fresh and the leaves are turning golden - a beautiful fall day!
Did I tell you that the bridge won´t fit the way I had planned it? Well, I had to competely redesign the layout to make it fit. It was a heck of job which kept me busy for about 8 hours today. I re-drew the bridge and the chapel, using the kit parts as a template, re-designed the catenary to be closer to the real thing and developed a new track plan, which is basically the same as before plus two lengths of straight track added in the middle of the curves. While I was doing this, I started negotiations with SWMBO on the acquisition of more real estate for the layout and was granted the right to go forward!
Here is the now hopefully final plan (not that the layout will follow this plan 100% [swg])
The difference to the “old” plan is hardly visible in these snapshots, but the track plan shows them:
The due to the changes, the layout has grown to a whopping 1.40m x 0.90m - still a mini layout!
How do you like the castle on top of the mountain?
G-Man - Colorado is a lovely location for this time of the year. The ride from Durango to Silverton must be a real treat with all those aspen trees turning golden! I took the ride back in July 1974. Unfortunately, all the slides I took got lost in one of our many moves.
Zoe, just need another pot of Marrakesh Express Dark Roast Coffee. The first almost woke me up, but not quite…
The City of geneva DPW was just here to find and mark where the water comes in… It was right where it was the last time I had stuff done. [(-D] Turns out both of the guys that were here love model railroads… I mentioned the water coming into the house in my Model railroad room down cellar and they both lit up.
'tis a bit chilly outside today. Currently 43°F outside with a high of 55° later this afternoon under cloudy skies. Sure hope they get the stoves going in the cabeese this weekend! We will have a new “restored” 1918 NYC caboose ijn the train. That one has a coal/wood potbelly stove in it that isn’t yet hooked up. I won’t be the car host on that one. Trees have started to turn and some are losing their leaves now.
[color=red]Ulrich[/color], I like the mock-up of your layout. That should be fun for you to finally get to run some trains. Yes, I like the castle!
I am waiting for one of my NMRA members to stop and drop off the projector he borrowed from me. he and some others are on their way to a weekend of operating trains in the Albany, NY area. Wish i was able to go with them, but just too much still to get done around here before I host a “old teachers of the Arts” get together in a few weeks here at my house. I should do this type of thing more offen and it would be a lot easier to clean up the place!
The guy who is developing the software promised to soon have a feature enabling you to run a train over your planned layout - who needs to actually build a layout then [:-^]
While nothing better to do, I did some further refinement of the plan:
There is another bridge connecting the castle with the outside world, so Wunifred the Raging does not have to rely on the local parson to keep the footpath past the chapel open for travel.
CN Charlie wrote - “YGW, here walls are often built with 2x6 so they can hold the insulation.” I can understand why they do that because of the much cooler ( freezing ! ) weather you all get. But here in order to get any thing close to an R38/39 the wall would have to be 10" thick. A 2x6 wall is at best 5.5 inches. Just curious. Wondering if there is some building tech. that I am not aware of.
Howmus - That is neat meeting two people that love modeling. Did you sign them up for the NMRA ?
Ulrich - Neat design love the castle. I have always been fascinated by castles. Could you add a spur in one of the curves ?
Vega - Have you been back home ? Is the forest still there or is it cut down ?
Galaxy - Weft ?? What a neat word ! Could I use it in “I weft upstairs” ? Or “he weft for heaven” ? Colorado !!! [swg] Oh man am I soooo excited I always wanted to go to Colorado !!!
Ken - Grats on the beer free BBQ. Dont sell the 2884 on Fleabay ! Give me a call I am a model train rescuer [:-^] I love taken broken things and making them like new !
Richard - Good news on the sawbones report. Yea watch the plywood picking up part that is tough on a fully healed body !
Not much happening on the MRR front. Recieved the NMRA Local yesterday and I am excited to see that there is an open house in a town withing a 1/2 hour of me. Gonnna check it out. Well gotta git in my 2884 N&W shaoed canoe fire up the ole boiler and steam across the pond that used to be dryland here in Northern Virginia ! Then I have to disembark and “weft” into some of my houses to check for leaks and make sure the pumps are running !
YGW, in reply to your question in regard to my home. The walls are 2x6 with r20 insulation batts in them, then the outside of the house over the sheating is a couple of layers of a product that was known back then as “Thermax”, It is a foam insulation with a foil on both sides of it and then an insulation board in behind the aluminun siding and brick. Anyway at the time I remember working it out with the contractor and it totalled R32.5 for the walls. I have seen where on some energy efficient houses they built an outside wall and an inside wall staggering the studs to get more room for insulation, however We decided not to go that route and saved some $$$ by just using the one 2x6 wall and the outside Thermax.
Well, I worked this morning but took the afternoon off as I have a funeral to go to. I am not a fan of funerals, but one must do the appropriate thing for the Families. I now have three days off and it is supposed to rain some so there may be a chance I’ll get to the train room for a while. Several projects that I have been waiting on the mail for, probably won’t come till the first of the week now.
Hope everyone escapes the wrath of Jonquin and that you all have an enjoyable week-end.
Nor am I. I am even less a fan of viewings. I told my wife, when I die, if she wants to have a viewing, prop me up in my favorite chair, turn on a ball game, and invite everyone over for a BBQ.
last mountain & eastern hogger wrote the following post 3 hours ago:
yougottawanta
CN Charlie wrote - “YGW, here walls are often built with 2x6 so they can hold the insulation.” I can understand why they do that because of the much cooler ( freezing ! ) weather you all get. But here in order to get any thing close to an R38/39 the wall would have to be 10" thick. A 2x6 wall is at best 5.5 inches. Just curious. Wondering if there is some building tech. that I am not aware of.
Hi Gang,
YGW, in reply to your question in regard to my home. The walls are 2x6 with r20 insulation batts in them, then the outside of the house over the sheating is a couple of layers of a product that was known back then as “Thermax”, It is a foam insulation with a foil on both sides of it and then an insulation board in behind the aluminun siding and brick. Anyway at the time I remember working it out with the contractor and it totalled R32.5 for the walls. I have seen where on some energy efficient houses they built an outside wall and an inside wall staggering the studs to get more room for insulation, however We decided not to go that route and saved some $$$ by just using the one 2x6 wall and the outside Thermax.
Well, I worked this morning but took the afternoon off as I have a funeral to go to. I am not a fan of funerals, but one must do the appropriate thing for the Families. I now have three days off and it is supposed to rain some so there may be a chance I’ll get to the train room for a while. Several projects that I have been waiting on the mail for, probably won’t come till the first of the week now.
Hope everyone escapes the wrath of Jonquin and that you all have an enjoyab
It’s October and I’m edging back into trains. I bought my first train-related stuff in months today - a few sticks of balsa wood and some trees at Michaels, the craft place. I’m putting together a few “company houses” from City Classics, and I like the balsa sticks for re-enforcing corner and roof joints.
The weather has turned, but I’m still trying to get outdoors for exercise before I have to start going to a gym until ski season. I picked up a thermal bicycle jacket and some leg warmers so that I can stay warm on my bike for a few more weeks.
Got a report on our Credit FICO scores used for the mortgage… 799 &760. Not bad. Now if they jsut approve us for financing…after they get the appraisal…No doubt about it we will be house poor…but loving it…and I can at least have a 4x8 for my HO layout!
later going back to bed…my shoulder{yes the one operated on} is absolutely killing me…
Have any of you had problems with the dinner site? Sometimes it takes for ever for the letters to apeair on the screen while I am typing?
YGW In that case the PCM UP Big Boy is like it just out of the box, it broken! [(-D] I may mess with it again, just giving it a little time to rest.
Just not getting a break lately. [sigh] One of the cars exhaust needs to be replaiced, it has ture duals so that going to cost $300.00 and last night I heard a small dripping sound from under the house again!
YGW There is a spray in place foam insulation, called 2 pound walltight that gives a R-value of 5.7 per inch. This is not do it yourself. You build a 2"x6" wall an inch out from the masonary wall and have it sprayed.
You do not need a vapour barrier over it, just drywall.
This knowledge comes from watching too many home inprovement shows.
It´s a public holiday here in Germany - celebrating the 25th anniversary of being united with the eastern part of Germany. After so many years, I don´t think we should have a public holiday to celebrate the occasion, but we should pay our respect to the victims of the communist terror regime. The appropriate date would be June 17th, the day of the uprising against communist rule in 1953.
No more of this - it could get political [:-^]
It has been quite a busy day for me. In the morning, I made a short video howing the various planning stages of my little layout, starting from the track plan all the way to the finished plan in 3D. Here it is:
I also took the plunge and assembled the bridge today. I am not particularly fond of resin kits and this Tilly Models kit kind of proved my prejudice. It took a rather vigorous sanding attack with a disk sander and an assortment of files to make the parts fit snugly. Still there are a few cracks and crevices begging to be filled with putty before painting and weathering the bridge. But that will have to wait until the benchwork is built and the track is up!
Here is a pic of today´s effort:
The chapel may follow tomorrow, depending on whether I can manage to handle the parts or have a friend build a jig for me.
Janie - just coffee for me, Petra has made a nice cheese cake I´d like to share with the chow hounds in here! Talking of chow hounds - wherre is Barry these days?
Sat. 87 Sun. 73 with a 80% chance of rain, we need the rain desperatly and it hasen’t been 73 in a long time.
On my new 98 Integra GS-R I could tell the motor was moving around too much so I took it to my mechanic. He called and said it would be $541, it needed 4 of the 5 mounts replaced and that included new rack and pinion boots it needed.
I like this car and plan to keep it a long time but now I wish I had asked if some of the mounts weren’t that bad and could have been reused, each mount parts price was $73.
I am still saddened by Andy Sperandeo´s passing. His articles and columns meant much to me. Incidentally, he joined the MR staff the same year I turned from a Marklin toy train modeler to a “real” model railroader.
Janie, I could use a huge pot of decaf to warm me up tonight!
WHAT A DAY! We knew it was going to be a busy day out at the R&GVRR Museum, but “Holy Mollie!” We had 3 cabeese in the train today pulled by LV 211. They figured the 80 tonner with only one working truck might not be up to the job if we got wet track, which we did… Good thing we had 3 cabeese!!! The total number of guests buying tickets today alone was 749 people! That doesn’t count the little kids that don’t have to have a ticket (3 and under). There was at least 50 of them! That is half again more than we had all weekend at Diesel Days. We ran two extra runs to be able to give everyone who came the train rides and some time to get pumpkins at the restoration building. I arrived back home at 7PM. The heat was not on today in the caboose and it was cold and drizzly… Tomorrow all crew and other volunteers will have to park way the heck down the track by the NYC Passenger cars back behind the gate. Today the entire parking lot was full on both sides of the main highway. We had cars parked along the road for several hundred feet as well. I guess we had a successful day! People seemd to be having a great time.
I also looked up and saw my Nephew and his family on their way down to the NYC Caboose. They saw me and insisted they wanted to ride in my car, the Erie Caboose. Haven’t seen them in about a year so I was very happy they came out.
Just read about Andy Sperandeo’s passing. Very sad. Great gentleman who has been a wonderful contributer to the hobby for a long, long time!
I will not be staying nup too late as I have to make crew call tomorrow before 9AM. It’s just under an hour’s drive from my house.
