Hi guys!
I have started to lay down some Micro Engineering track. I use latex caulk and I like it a lot. I also like the fact that the ME track stays in shape after I have bent it. I use a 100w weller soldering gun to solder my rail joiners, fast and easy. Today is a big day in my layout room. The very first train is running up the 2.5% grade at Big Ten Curve. I used my new ZIMO MX31ZL to run it. I will soon update my website with more pictures.
I’ve got to say, it has been just amazing to watch your layout come together. Congrats on the inaugural run!
Nice DCC system! Care to post a review about it?
David B
Electrolove,
Your smile reminds me of a kid on Christmas morning! Congratulations on the 1st run. The Big Ten Curve looks great.
Don Z.
So THAT’S what you look like. [:)] Once again, beautiful work, Electro! [^][tup] I can’t wait to see how things are going turn out once you start putting in scenery. And I love the shot of the coal drag ascending the grade.
Electro, put me down as a another vote for a review of the Zimo, along with David. And be sure to say what you like and don’t like about it.
Keep up the good work and updates.
Tom
Congratulations! It’s always a great satisfaction to see that first train run.
Tom
you’ve put in lots of time (years I know) and energy on this thing… and it’s looking like you’ve wound up with very high quality work. Good job!
Those pictures show just how big your layout is! Those coal cars look tiny! Keep the pictures comming.
Congrats electrolove!
It’s a great feeling when the first train moves along the track, even if there’s no scenery yet. It inspires you to keep on building and it’s great that you have pictures of the happy event, too.
electrolove:
Big Ten, Rio Grande–what more can I say? That looks absolutely TERRIFIC!! If I ever get to Sweden, I’m going to invite myself and my L-131 2-8-8-2 over just so I can experience it.
Tom [bow][bow][bow][bow]
Great progress there, EL. It must be a very gratifying time for you to have achieved this milestone. And, to have the DCC system work and you smiling…what more could a person ask?
-Crandell
Congrats on your first run. [:D] Nice to see that helper on the rear in your fourth photo, too: certainly not out of place on such a nice long hill. I sometimes use pushers, too, although I run mine on straight DC. [swg]
Wayne
Love it! None of that silly scenery with all those trees and structures blocking the view of the trains!(jk) Got any pics of the trains heading down the grade?
Bravo! Very encouraging, Electrolove. What a thrill and sense of accomplishment, eh? I am doing several Free-mo modules to take to shows/setups but I have been seriously considering doing a spline curve at one end of a long narrow room (8’x28’) with Free-mo endplates, and a couple of modules on each end, to be able to run trains at home. After watching your progress, and seeing Joe Fugate’s, and Charlie Comstock’s work, I will give it a go! Much appreciation of your work! jc5729 John Colley, Port Townsend, WA
Congrats and keep up the good work!
Nick
So right there where the helper locomotive is pictured is where the hopper car wind break is going to be located?
Call me nervous Nicholas, but I hope you don’t make operating trains, expecially with rear or mid-train helpers, a frequent practice until you install some basic scenery. I’d hate for you to end up with a gravitational disaster. I wince every time I see those photos.
Mark
Your benchwork looks like a work of art! And you managed to get a string of the “great steel fleet” Walthers 100-ton Bethlehem quads too! Those are sold out aren’t they?
I have to admit, seeing a long train without safety net makes me extremely nervous too! My last basement layout had either space on the sides so a derailed train car would not just fall off, or in sections intended to be hidden, I provided a card board “back stop” of minimal height to fence in any errand derailed cars! Be careful, thats Rio Grande trains you have there!
Keep up the good work!
Jim F in Syracuse
Nervous Nick,
I was kidding a little. A down grade shot is still sought after. I wanna feel the heat coming from the dynamic braking through the screen.
Really great stuff! Don’t about you, but the first time I ran a train up my nearly 60 foot 3.5% branch-line I was holding my breath…and I never felt comfortable until I had some basic equipment catcher in place (scenery). Thankfully not one derailment of consequence while I was testing. And, oh boy DCC makes all the difference - still get that smile evey time I run a train.
Keep up the good work!