Good Morning from cloudy, warm and rainy Northeast Ohio!
Nothing finished this week but, some new stuff I acquired or am working on!
I know Tangent has released the PRR X58 in RTR but I acquired a couple of Rail Yard Models Kits, that I intend to build, here are all the parts, pieces and decals for the car I am building, a Lehigh Valley RBL that was built by the Pennsy for the LV.
I recently acquired a Six Car BLI Wabash Blue Bird set of Passenger Cars, will have a complete picture when our club layout is back in operation.
An older picture of my DT&I GP38-2’s, this time with a train of coil cars on the Strongsville Club Layout.
Those BLI Wabash cars look pretty sharp. I’m an addict for passenger stuff but I just don’t have any room for more! I want them all [:D] !
As I mentioned in a previous post, I really can’t get the hang of some of the resin kits. Yours look fantastic! Actually, just a few hours ago I worked on some resin F&C electric “tractors”. The steering wheels looked awful, I substituted Walthers valve wheels in their place [Y] Someday I’ll revisit my F22s and milk cars [:-^]
And from the “other side of town” in NE Ohio (it is Sunny over here!) I have a few photos to share:
I finally installed some “blue-flag” protection for the car shop! The “boys” will be happy about that. The signs are designed to swing flat for rail movements.
And for the ongoing Post Office front I nearly finished the “ramp” from the passenger platforms that the mail trucks will use to transfer the bags & bundles.
I actually cut the benchwork out so the ramp looks like it goes below grade.
Being that it is only wide enough for one-way traffic I might have a working traffic signal so the drivers can only enter on green. Might make a neat animation?
Rick … Thank you for starting Weekend Photo Fun. … The Wabash colors look great on the BLI California Zephyr cars. ENjoy assembling the PRR boxcar. … I like your DT&I GP38-2’s.
(Edit) … Ed … I did not see your post as I wrote mine… I like the ramp for baggage handling… Blue flags are a realistic addition.
Below are some F-units hauling an eastbound freight train through Hinterland.
Rick, Love the look of the X58, modern, but not too modern.
Ed, The PO is turning into a fantastic scene. The tunnel fakery is a great idea.
GARRY, Those blue skies are a lot like today is shaping up to be in this first week of spring.
Nothing real phtogenic here, as I mostly spent time working on maintenance with several ops sessions coming up culminating in the annual Lincoln Square Train Show on Sat, April 1 and Sun, April 2. Look for the NMRA table and say hi. There will also be a open house that evening (6:30 to 8:30pm) with my layout and another big layout open by an invite you can pick up at the show on Saturday.
Parts have continued arriving for my RC Shay project. Looks like things will even fit.
You can see the 1300 mAh LiPo battery fastened down with a Velcro starp next to the yellow weight in the tank. In front are most of the needed parts: a XT60 connector harness; power switch; the RC receiver; and the Pololu Simple Motor Controller. The “umbilical with a board” that’s attached to Shay is the loco’s now modified wiring harness. After hacking it to suit the needs of battery/RC power, the Shay actually ran its first few inches on the test track, so that’s good as I start the final install.
Back to HO scale. I modified my DL-531 so that in addition to 12-wheel drive, it now has 12-wheel pick-up. It always ran pretty well, but could stutter a bit sometimes across dual-gauge switches, etc. Now its even more awesome and runs like a top.
The mod is just a piece of Tichy 0.010" phosphor-bronze wire bent to touch all three wheels, mounted by soldering to tiny blocks of PCB tie materiakl expozied to the brass truck frame. The truck in stock form picks up on one rail on one side and goes back to the other rail on the opposite side on the other truck. Now both trucks pick up on both sides.
Wow Rick, those BLI cars look beautiful! A 6 car set! I want one! [:'(] Ed, your project looks great, I love that ramp. Gary, I always love looking at your trains, and the way your scenes blend into the backround.
I found some dusty Round House tank car kits, while digging through some stuff, I assembled, scrubbed of the lettering, one was a Sunoco, a BN, and a Sante Fe, painted, applied decals, weathered a little, and took them for a test run.
Also got out a couple of old coil cars.
Have a great weekend!
Mike.
EDIT: Mike, you slid in while I was typing! Nice stuff!
WIP of Bruceton station on the former PWV. Scratchbuilt from styrene. It’s was torn down in 2015, so all the dimensions are from arial maps and photos.
Rick: Thanks for starting! The X58 kit will be much more rewarding that RTR. Nice passenger car set! The GP-38-2s look good.
Ed: Are the work signs sprung or do you lower them manually? Do you have to adjust the coupler pins to clear them?
Garry: Nice consist! Fs are my favourites.
Mike L: Shay is looking good! Nice job on the power pickups.
Mike (mbinsewi): Nice tankers and gons.
Grampy: Great scene! All your scenes are great!!
JaBear: Have fun at the train show! We are going to a show in early April and I get to haul the portable layout trailer.
Chris: Nice weathering!
I have started work on an electric critter which will haul work carts between the roundhouse, machine shop and wheel shop. I started with a Bachmann 4-4-0 with the motor in the tender. I have cut away the extra bits, which is just about everything, and now I am starting on the critter body. It will be 1/16" brass to add some weight:
Here is the sacrificial lamb:
Here is what’s left after removing the unwanted bits:
Next step will be to start to build up the body. The tender also has to be disguised as a gondola or maybe a flat car with a load. Then I have to build a couple of flat cars. Stay tuned.
This is the same mechanism that I used in my previous critters:
Rick, Thanks for opening the WPF. 8 or 80, always a joy opening a new model kit and spreading out the pieces.
Ed, Men at Work, wasn’t that an 80s Australian rock band? But seriously, having hung and pulled my share of blue tags I can extra appreciate your railroad blue flags.
Since my excellent Cardiology team bought me some more time decided to spend some of it finishing up a DTD model.
I like to keep a little “plausibility” in a scene. Of course most of the bulk mail gets loaded/unloaded from the cars under the PO but the ramp provides access to the electric trucks that bring the “hot” mail to and from the RPO cars through the Union Station platforms.
Mike, you sure like to keep busy! A couple weeks ago it was all about the drone and cameras, now it’s RC large scale and HO narrow gauge mods! Neat stuff!
Thanks, too, Mike in S.E. WI [Y]
Bear, Your shot rekindles memories of those fantastic O. Winston Link night shots! Nice!
Yeah, I’ve seen lots of depots like that through the seventies and eighties, Jimmy. Forgotten and boarded up. Looks bad… and that’s GOOD!
Nice work on the silver CNR Reefer, Chris. Did you modify the door or was it a single plug door, rather than the more common double doors?
Now you’re ready for a silver, Rio Grande “Cookie Box” boxcar!
Hi, Mike. The sign posts have a kind of bayonet pin and all you do is lift them then lay them flat in the same cradle that holds the sign upright. It lays pretty flat. I have some blue-blinking LEDs. A future project is to try to use fiber-optic to bring a tiny blue twinkle lantern somewhere near the sign.
Coupler pins? You mean those things I find in the carpet after I cut them off with Xuron nippers? I had an epiphany one night and decided that I would never need trip pins. So I do a trippinectomy on every car and engine I have. Don’t miss 'em.
This week, our Boothbay signals guru got the layout Central Dispatch Panel installed. It will provide central control of all main line turnouts with the option of switching to local control for switching
Hi all,great to see the “Fun” everyone’s been up to.
I haven’t done much lately,but I did get a couple of lift-out sections built at the right of this picture.The front one still needs some “tucking in”,but the rear section,with the yard office on it,blends in pretty well.This is the about the only view where you can make out the line running up to the switch stand and behind the office
