Username: Password: Save Password Register Forgot Password?
Home   Forums   Events Calendar   Sponsors   Support the RRLine   Guestbook   FAQ     Register Active Topics | Active Polls | Resources | Members | Online Users | Live Chat | Avatar Legend | Search | Statistics Photo Album | File Lister | File Library [ Active Members: 2 | Anonymous Members: 0 | Guests: 94 ]  [ Total: 96 ]  [ Newest Member: DanielR ]  All Forums  Model Railroad Forums  Mid Scale Model Railroad Forum  B&M Eastern Route progress Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply. To register, click here. Registration is FREE!  Posting Form Screensize: 640 x 480 800 x 600 1024 x 768 1280 x 1024 UserName: Password: Format Mode: Basic  Help  Prompt  Format: Font Andale Mono Arial Arial Black Book Antiqua Century Gothic Comic Sans MS Courier New Georgia Impact Lucida Console Script MT Bold Stencil Tahoma Times New Roman Trebuchet MS Verdana   Size 1 2 3 4 5 6   Color Black Red Yellow Pink Green Orange Purple Blue Beige Brown Teal Navy Maroon LimeGreen Callouts: Message Icon:                             Smilies [quote][i]Originally posted by jbvb[/i] [br]How to make trackwork photogenic? Run a train past it? At any rate, I've got the switches on the siding at Newburyport West about half done. You can see the first "fascia knob" control in the lower left (except that I haven't chosen a knob style yet). I've got to build more fascia before I can install controls for the new switches. [img]data/jbvb/20107292338_nbpt_w3.jpg[/img] I completed the main line on July 23, and I've spent a bit of time running trains since then. I'm happy with the way several design decisions came out: Grades: The ruling grade is around 1.2%, which happened to be westbound through staging. It turns out that my 8-coupled steam can just manage the longest freight that fits in staging, 28 or 29 cars. Mainline configuration: The main is mostly double track, with single track segments through Bexley Arch (stand-in for Salem Tunnel) and across the Merrimac River drawbridge. I can run two passenger trains in opposite directions without a lot of stress. It remains to be seen how well I've emulated the web of running tracks and leads the B&M used to let switchers work while the commuters streamed past. DC + DCC: What I use depends on what I want to run. I don't think I'll be mixing them much until things are complete enough for guest operators. DCC works best if I'm running two trains myself. DC lets me bring out the exotic (to me) equipment that hasn't gone to a Hub show in years. As might be expected, the track needed more shaking down for long freights. So did the cars; the freight shown is mostly older equipment that I pulled out of module service as I completed my 'Green Dot' exhibition fleet about 10 years ago. Several cars need a trip to the workbench, once I get the taps and dies put away. Wiring and panels have been (knock wood) fine, except that I need to spend another hour with the diode matrix one of these evenings. I've got some work ahead of me before I can just leave a train orbiting and railfan it, but it sure feels good to take a break from work and run something for a lap or two. Maybe I'll even finish some scenery this fall. [/quote]    -  HTML is OFF | Forum Code is ON    Insert a File     Check here to include your profile signature. Check here to subscribe to this topic.      T O P I C    R E V I E W jbvb Posted - 01/31/2008 : 8:10:46 PM I'm modeling the Boston & Maine's Eastern Route in HO standard gauge in my 207-year-old house's attic. The attic has its pluses and minuses - plenty of space, just up the stairs and finished, but the combination of the sloping ceiling and a 36" minimum radius meant I could only do an around-the-walls plan. Also, it can get a bit hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The layout incorporates my Rowley MA modules, presently the only finished scenery, in the rural northern half of the attic. The southeast corner is where I'm building my compressed version of West Lynn, MA including the General Electric River works and the West Lynn creamery. This photo shows the mainline curve passing the future creamery (spur under the file) and the Saugus Branch (long staging tracks) coming in from the left. I'm spiking rail on the branch, building the switch comes next. The flying plywood is actually pretty rigid with the flange below and the backdrop partially installed, it will get better when I bring the backdrop around to the left edge of the photo. 15   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First) Dutchman Posted - 02/23/2020 : 5:08:01 PM Nice soldering job, James. I have a few of those "4 in 1" rasps that I inherited from my father and uncle. From now on I'll refer to them as shoemaker's rasps. Orionvp17 Posted - 02/23/2020 : 10:10:35 AM Nicely done, James. Keep going! Pete in Michigan jbvb Posted - 02/23/2020 : 09:17:19 AM This past week was my stepson's winter school break, so we visited relatives in upstate NY. But yesterday evening I got back to work on the Bexley Depot area. I made a better jig and got the pedestrian overpass access to the point of test-fitting. Tonight I'll finish that up and maybe start the railing behind the depot. jbvb Posted - 02/14/2020 : 1:07:49 PM Thanks, Pete and Frank. Frank, 'shoemaker's rasp' is the name I was taught for a 4-in-1 file: one side flat, the other rounded, one end of each is coarse, the other has projecting teeth like a wood rasp. Convenient to have around the workbench if you're shaping objects at least a few inches square. Frank Palmer Posted - 02/14/2020 : 11:53:47 AM Clever idea for the railing, but what is a shoemaker's rasp. Orionvp17 Posted - 02/14/2020 : 10:32:30 AM Good catch, James! Nice little history lesson in there for the visitors, who probably won't notice until you explain things, but still.... Steps are looking good, too. Kep plugging! Pete in Michigan jbvb Posted - 02/13/2020 : 10:38:51 PM Thanks, Bruce & Pete. We got the driveways and mailbox cleared before it changed to rain, thinking of the hard freeze forecast for tomorrow. Then I got back to work. I had to make one more step layer for the left one. Filing them to fit went pretty fast with a shoemaker's rasp. I had been thinking I'd make wire '2-pipe' railings for all the tops of the retaining walls. But then I was placing a bus near the top of the ramp and thought of something that was common in the 1960s: As more, heavier vehicles blundered into RR property after WWII, a common solution was to sink worn out rail for posts. Then they would weld more rail onto it to make a cheap, substantial barrier. I haven't seen one in years; just W-section guardrail. They might have been too tough... At any rate, when jockeying buses wrecked the original fence, this Code 70 fabrication replaced it. Tomorrow I'll build 'two pipe' railings for the rest of the area. That should be black, but I hadn't thought of being out of Signal Yellow, so painting the rail barrier awaits shopping. Orionvp17 Posted - 02/12/2020 : 10:03:16 AM This looks like an interesting project, James. Keep going! Pete in Michigan Dutchman Posted - 02/12/2020 : 09:54:18 AM I look forward to seeing those stairs in place, James. jbvb Posted - 02/11/2020 : 10:13:16 PM Thanks, Pete, Mike, Jim. The scene needs a lot more work before I'd send a picture to a magazine, but I made a start: This shaky 2015 shot shows Bexley Depot when Mieke was still working on it. The mesh on the foam substrate is fiberglass window screen to hold the Wood Putty I later carved stonework into. I'd thought for a while about more access than just the ramp down from the square level. I settled on semi-circular stairs at the back corners. I had gotten 3/32" balsa a year or more ago and finally sat down with it today: Once the glue dries, this will get cut in half, then each part will be fitted to a corner, then I'll coat it in 'granite' glop and carve the mortar lines. Meanwhile, I've found I skimped on real-estate for my platforms, so I won't need 6 baggage wagons to make Bexley look 'populated'. These didn't get painted today, probably tomorrow or Thursday. BurleyJim Posted - 02/10/2020 : 08:45:59 AM James, Great looking scene with the tower interior lighting and the foreground shadow forcing your eyes to explore the entire frame. Excellent! Jim Michael Hohn Posted - 02/09/2020 : 9:54:28 PM Well worth the effort, James, because your night scenes always look so realistic and full of railroad drama. Mike Orionvp17 Posted - 02/09/2020 : 9:37:09 PM Very nice save, James! This looks really good! Like!! Pete in Michigan jbvb Posted - 02/09/2020 : 8:58:01 PM I've spent considerable time on the layout recently, but the work hasn't fitted into any of the 2020 Challenge's categories. Maybe next project. The layout certainly wants more scratchbuilt structures... I'd been thinking about how to light the Bexley platform shed for a while. The platform itself is removable and I wanted the shed to be removable from the platform. A little matter of not having installed station signs yet was foremost. Friday I sorted through materials on hand and decided I knew enough to start. The 3/32" square brass (K&S) shoe on the RH canopy support is the positive connection. I wired the 5 WeHonest 'R60GR Hanging lamp with gray shade' LED assemblies in series. I used styrene (mostly .060 C channel) to retain the wire. Now that it works, I will glue/paint it (one step if I can make it work) to the styrene canopy and 3D-printed supports. I had a few tense moments doing the wiring: the very fine stranded wire is impossible to splice mechanically, so I soldered by smashing a hot blob of solder on the iron down on my fireproof sheet. Then after starting on the 3rd lamp, found out the 2nd was bad (an excellent reason not to paint the connections as I went). I went back to it Saturday and got all the lamps working individually. But my variable power supply is decades out of date, so I couldn't measure both voltage and current. It took a tense half hour to discover that WeHonest's LEDs start to light at about 2.5 VDC. My signal LEDs gave first light at about 1.7 volts. Then some crawling around to confirm there was a power supply good for 15 VDC. I decided to check the resistor with the variable power supply, which led to me using a 1.5K where the calculated value would have been 220 ohms. The 1/8" hardboard platform lifts out, then the foam 'Depot Square' module can be removed and worked on out of place. Canopy supports fit into the 1/8" square brass sockets. All except the end sockets are crimped at the bottom so the supports don't fall through. The end sockets are wired as positive/negative feeds. More work, but maintaining a strict 'finish the back before starting the front' discipline would have stalled the layout completely a decade ago. Night lighting hides all manner of sins, but my wife noticed the unpainted wire before I did. I still like this photo. When the scene is complete there will be lit structures and street lighting in the background, so this simple composition will require extra switch controls to replicate. Orionvp17 Posted - 02/02/2020 : 5:33:27 PM quote: Originally posted by jbvb I found a 'Be Specific, Ship Union Pacific' 52/3 calendar, but no other RR stuff. I don't think I've ever seen a B&M freebie calendar, but here's a 1954 calendar with VGN Trainmasters: http://virginian.mdodd.com/calendar.html Thanks, James! This has some good data in it, including things like moon phases that would have been there and that I would not have considered. Nice save!! I'll have to finish up some scenery to "photo-ready" and see what kind of kluge I can come up with.... Pete in Michigan Railroad Line Forums © 2000-19 Railroad Line Co.
Steam was generated in 0.31 seconds. Powered By: Snitz Forums 2000