A busy Friday in Oakhurst. In addition to the normal Southern Pacific train from Fresno (far right 2-6-0 #522), we have a passenger excursion special pulled by Sierra Railroad 2-8-0 #24. That will require doubling the normal passenger train, as the excursion guests will be transferring to the shorty passenger cars pulled by Shay #7 (left) and Shay #2 (antlers) for the trip to Wawona over the steep, sharp, and rough track on the Oakhurst Railroad …
Nothing new from me this week. I have been busy studying for a couple FAA tests the last 2 weeks. I am currently in the process of doing an alco c-630 rebuild on a tyco shell. I bought an athearn frame and I am in the process of modifying it for the shell. I have stripped the shell and filled in all the mounting holes for the old power trucks. I plan on bending new handrails, adding fueling caps, air tanks, bell, horn, fill in the pilot and add kadee couplers. The shell has nice details I think for a cheap tyco train. I know I could have bought a stewart, or an IHC or a AHM but my parents were at an estate sale and bought it for me(completely ignoring the list I gave them for stuff to look for) so I thought I would put a little effort into making this looking good. It will be a dummy and I will have it in a shop scene or a deadline ready to be scrapped scene. Once I get to it I will take some pics of the project and post them.
Great job everyone on the pics posted so far. Gotta say the 55 chevy is my favorite pic!! Gotta love the shoebox chevies.
Hi Guys, Yet another week of great pics. Here’s my entry. Been wanting to do this for years but was aprehensive about doing a hand layed turnout. I found that the secret is getting the frog point exactly 4’ 81/2" on both sides of the stock rails and that’s were the end of the frog point goes Everything else fell into place with a track gauge and an NMRA gauge. I used a copper clad pc board from radio shack and cut out the throw bar. The ties are 3/32" basswood sanded to 9" x 7" HO scale, micro engineering 1/4" spikes, and the track is Atlas code 100 rail.This was so fun i’m gonna start another one tomorrow…chuck
I didn’t, that why I was Impressed! [:D] With the picture I like being real one, I now think it looks fake. [:-^]
When I saw The Real One, I was thinking it was the real one you where using on the layout, not a mock up that a lot of molders will uses as stand in. Anyway, still a good looking kit and you are on your way to a pretty sweet layout Micheal.
Thanks Ken, I hated to have to chop it. If it was just a wall picture it would have been fine, but when an SD70Ace looks like a Submarine I had to follow the suggestions here.
Dave, awesome aerial of the layout, it keeps getting better and better. Thanks for being my inspiration to start small, grow big!
Pike-62, wow, incredible coil cars.
Hamltnblue, that photo backdrop looks great since you cut it down, you still get the feel that youre across the water way from the downtown, but you dont have that tsunami feeling!
Everyone, great job this week! One of the best weeks so far for viewing layouts!
A couple of goodies from my trip west to Portland, Oregon this week…
First, I visited to Vic’s Hobby Supply on Broadway… Vic himself invited me down to see the O scale empire down in the basement. He’s been scratch building UP Passenger cars, among other things, with incredible detail.
Next, I hiked around Portland to take in some of the sights. Since it was April, I didn’t have to worry about … er… sun angle…
The MAX light rail. You can ride it for free to get around much of the downtown. I also rode it back and forth to the Airport for $2.30. Quite a bargain. Unlike here in the east, in Portland when the roads get clogged up, they don’t build more lanes, they build more rails… there’s a lesson in that somewhere.
Here’s one of the many commuter trains that run between the cities of the northwest. This one is actually going west across the river (that’s the pusher going backward). This bridge is neat because the lower deck can lift independently of the upper deck, so barge traffic can pass with minimal disruption to road and light rail traffic above.
and of course, Portland’s Union Station is magnificent temple of the railroader’s art!
Not much for me and my modeling but here are some train moments for me and my boys.
Here we are at Travel Town in Griffith Park sitting on an engine that clearly states not to (I remember when I was young we could climb all over these puppies. I’m pretty sure I was on the roof of a caboose once)
Here is Jak and Jared having the time of their lives playing trains: