Tyler, excellent photos!
hey joe, I sent you a friend request on facebook.
well guys, I’m stuck at the beach and I’d rather be home getting cranking on that shelf layout. shouldn’t cost me anything for the benchwork (use some old wood we have), and wiring will hopefully cost me less than $20. The main thing is I don’t have the shelf measurements and I really want to get started on the trackplan.
Hopefully they’ll run together with Trainman GP38-2s…there’s always CV adjustment, I guess.
If I’m already installing something over the foam, I’m actually going to go with a full fascia. Half the cost and effort goes into the joists to support the fascia, and if I’m putting them in, I’d rather spend a couple extra bucks and go the whole nine yards.
Thanks for the kind words on the photos. I’m still going to take more at a higher ISO at a longer exposure now that I know how to lock the mirror open in my camera. At 30 seconds, even that can shake the camera enough to blur the numberboards on an HO scale loco!
A big thumbs up to CSX for making our train 20 minutes late today! I don’t know what went wrong, but we had a speed restriction and the dispatcher made us wait for all but one train we passed! That, and we were held just outside of Framingham station for no reason I could see, except maybe for a switch crew in the yard… Ah, the priority CSX gives to commuter trains! [:-,]
How do you think I feel commuting to your house!
You better get that fascia done soon, because the Widecabs will be here by Christmas! Or you can ask for the Sound Equipped one for Christmas! [:P]
For us, there’s always one of two things we can blame it on: A train stuck in the North River Tunnels, or Portal getting stuck open (yes, this does happen on a regular basis). At least they’re working on getting it replaced…
Now I’m stuck. I had decided on what I could do with a hundred bucks. I could get a Blue Box SW1500 from Atlas, an airbrush, Walther’s 2010 catalog, and some paints. But now Atlas announced the Gensets, which I would have to preorder by the end of the month. I’m leaning towards the Genset, but it would sit in primer gray for a while. I already have money set aside for whatever I want, but I don’t want to spend more and more. I’ll probably go for the Genset, though.
I think the MBTA is cutting back on repair to the Red Line fleet… So far this past two weeks there have been four disabled trains! One last Wednesday (got out and walked from Kendall), one this Wednesday (also walked from Kendall), one this morning (again, got off in Kendall, but this time walked to Copley Square and visited the Boston Library (which has an excellent book on the B&M and another on the B&A) before riding the Green Line back.
Then this afternoon I hung around to chat with some other volunteers, left for Kendall (the Green Line had almost nothing running for some reason) with plenty of time, and got on the train. We ran out onto the Longfellow Bridge and stopped. Then we stayed stopped…for half an hour!
I got out at the next station (Charles/MGH) and, since I could no longer make it to South Station before the train left, I sprinted clear across the city to Back Bay Station. I got down to track level to watch the lights of my train receed into the tunnel…
I hate disabled trains…
Joe, if it’s gonna be in primer, sjut get what you had wanted and pick up a genset when you have the money. they mgiht go on sale later on, and you can get a roadname that didn’t sell and paint it up. no biggie
Better than the “repair” that the MMC does. Hey, at least you weren’t caught in this situation a few months ago…
[quote]
About New York Arrival/Departure Delays of Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct service
NJ TRANSIT apologizes for the significant delay and inconvenience many of you experienced this morning.
At approximately 6 a.m., Morris & Essex Lines Midtown Direct train 6606 became disabled near Morristown Station due to a mechanical problem. Although the train was able to regain power, it continued to experience mechanical difficulties and was canceled at Newark Broad Street Station as a precaution. Train 6606’s passengers were transferred to following train 6610.
At approximately 7:10 a.m., train 6610 became mechanically disabled at Kearny Junction, where the Morris & Essex Lines connect to the Northeast Corridor. Train 6610 was able to regain power and continue to Secaucus Junction, where it was also canceled as a precautionary measure, with passengers transferred to trains 3550 and 3918. Resulting congestion caused delays of 15-20 minutes to Northeast Corridor, North Jersey Coast Line and Midtown Direct trains.
Unfortunately, at approximately 8 a.m., Northeast Corridor train 3918 became disabled in the South Tube due to a mechanical problem. An Amtrak rescue locomotive was dispatched to tow the train back into the station, and the train was cleared from the tunnel at approximately 9:10 a.m.
However, until the disabled train could be moved, all NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak trains in both directions were forced to share the single-track North Tube for service in and out of New York Penn Station. This caused significant delays to all trains ranging from 30-60 minutes throughout the morning peak period. In addition, som
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Here’s a small update on my current kitbashing project. The most recent thing I’ve done was cutting off the steam pipes from the cylinders so I can make new ones as the original ones don’t come up far enough on the boiler. The new rear truck is actually a pilot truck from some other engine that was in somebody else’s (s)crapbox. Now that I have a torch, I have started to bend my piping for the FWH system. It is 1000x easier after you’ve annealed it. After I’ve made new steam pipes I will attach some new pilot steps and running boards above the cylinders.
I got some new acquisitions this week:
A BLI NW2 with sound and DCC.
Some cars that came with it.
I’m not changing roads or eras, I just happened to get a good deal on the NW2. I may end up repainting it for BN if I can’t find a BN to swap it for it.
This is what I did today:
I finished most of the FWH piping on the engineer’s side. The green stuff is the lagging on the larger pipe which is a thin strip of masking tape wound around the pipe and secured with CA. It’s not perfect but for my first time ever doing something like that and my first ever project period, I am quite happy with it.
Quick video from about 5 min ago lol
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x285/dal3294/?action=view¤t=MVI_2801.flv
Nice video! The operations and sound are spot on, and the speed looks like a nice healthy 40 mph, and CSX runs faster on several routes, so it’s a good speed.
The only things that could be improved are:
So as some of you know, a few weeks ago I biked the Northern Rail Trail near Lebanon, NH, which I model as if it had never been abandoned. I took a lot of photos, and I have a video in the works showing the differences between the prototype and my model, but for now, here’s a teaser. Yeah, yeah, I know, if it’s actually abandoned, there would be no sign… Hurray for Photoshop!
Modeled after the signs CSX mounts at every railroad crossing (and actually photoshopped from a photo of one of those signs!)
What happens if I call 1-800-555-0144? That better not be one of those 18+ hotlines. Actually it better be!
Funny you should say that! I actually Googled it a few hours ago to see if it was an actual “1-800” number! Didn’t come up with anything though. [:P]
That’s what the 555 is for…it’s a code set aside by the phone companies for movies, TV shows, ads, etc, because before that code came along, they would just make up some random number to put in their movie and people would watch the movie and then call the number to find out whose it is. They got so many complaints from people whose numbers got randomly made up and put in a movie that the phone companies set aside all the 555 numbers for that use. Nobody can actually have a phone number with a 1-XXX-555-XXXX number in it.
The rest of the digits were not made up, they just came from the phone number CSX lists at the crossing (and on that very sign before I photoshopped their lettering off and added my own) for that same reason, except they have a real phone number! 1-800-232-0144!
Wow…page 8! Where is everybody?
Here’s what I’ve been working on recently…the FIRST ever narrated video tour of the White River Southern Railroad! This includes never-before seen areas of the layout as well as photo and video comparisons between real scenes along the Northern Division and how they are modeled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up_8u-x671o
Enjoy!
I hope everyone is still alive out there…
Nice video Tyler.
My Athearn F/FP45s should be coming in soon, I can’t wait.
No Jordan, I died, sorry…
No modeling, but here’s a link to a railfanning story.
I’m still here, but for only 8 days…