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MarkF
Engineer
Premium Member
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Posted - 05/21/2018 : 6:42:47 PM
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Nice looking shot James! All the details combine to make a great scene.
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| Mark |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 13756 |
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 06/05/2018 : 10:00:01 PM
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Thank you, Mike, Pete, Mark. I've been working on/around the layout, but nothing really photogenic:
1. Installed cellular blinds w/cords in the south-end windows. I chose a bluish color not too far from my backdrop's sky color. It is less noticeable, but also blocks more light than the plain white ones I've used elsewhere in the house. My goal is less heat transfer (either way) and less UV.
2. Cleaned up the whole attic floor, then vacuumed & cleaned the track for visitors from CA. They'd found me via the NMRA Layout Directory, which I would recommend to anyone else who likes the occasional visitor (if nothing else, the prospect of showing the layout is an incentive to get off my duff).
3. Got serious about my "What have I learned from contest judging" checklist for the Structures AP. The last burst of activity had been gas & electric meters, this time it's doorknobs and stink pipes. And detailing High St. across the bridge. Then I'll put together a folder on each structure (or maybe make an HTML page with links to plans, prototype photos, build photos etc.).
Apropos of that, has anyone ever seen an HO scale casting for a roof drain? In warmer clients, they connect downspouts to scuppers at the parapet, but in Northern New England it's more common to put a domed cast iron grating over a drainpipe that runs down inside the heated interior of the building. Usually 4" to 8" diameter on the bottom.
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James
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6906 |
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 08/26/2018 : 10:44:25 PM
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Well, 2 1/2 months, time for an update. I went to Thailand and rode trains. I went to Kansas City and rode trolleys on the way, in K.C and on the way back. In between, I harvested hay, wheat & rye, started learning to operate a Pettibone Speed Swing (12"/foot) and made a lot of progress on 5 Strong St. I also shot a photographic layout tour which I'm slowly uploading to Flickr. And tonight I started putting Rowley and Rowley River back in the layout. They will be getting some touch-up for Rowley's 30th birthday next spring. But prep for the NER Mahwah convention (erielimited.org) takes precedence - two clinics and one contest entry.
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James
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6906 |
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Frank Palmer
Fireman
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 Posted - 08/27/2018 : 09:36:30 AM
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You're a busy man. 
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6163 |
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Mike Hamer
Engineer
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 08/30/2018 : 9:35:20 PM
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Bumped this by adding one of my build threads to my index on page 1. Also saw an old post with a turnout count, which can be a rough estimate of layout complexity. As of February, when I finished the Downtown Newburyport track, the Eastern Route's turnouts were:
74 fully operational (9 commercial, 56 hand laid, 9 came with the piece of the old MIT club layout),
2 hand laid awaiting mechanisms (inside GE River Works),
10 not begun (5 in GE River Works, 5 on the future Oil Spur peninsula),
86 total.
In May 2010, I had 31 working of an expected total of 80. GE and Downtown Newburyport both got more complicated as I finalized their designs.
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James
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Edited by - jbvb on 08/30/2018 9:36:02 PM |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6906 |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 08/30/2018 : 9:40:07 PM
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And here I thought I was making progress by "completing" a couple of hand-laid turnouts and drilling the holes for the Tortoise actuating rods for the throw bars....  
Nicely done, James! Nicely done!
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7575 |
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James Cubie
New Hire
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Posted - 09/20/2018 : 08:25:24 AM
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Grew up in East Lynn, remember those wooden 3 deckers well. Now model the Central Vermont (my other home area)
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Country: USA
| Posts: 5 |
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/21/2018 : 10:23:14 PM
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Thank you, Pete and James. One of the things I'm looking for is color photos of Lynn, Malden, Medford, Somerville from before maybe 1975 (when many started getting re-sided with aluminum or vinyl). I need them for my backdrop in the urban part of the layout. Do you have any neighborhood shots?
After I got back from Mahwah, I sat down to fix a problem with Bexley Yard that bedeviled some of my operators:
I'd built Bexley with a block boundary in the middle (purple line across the body of the yard above), so switching could be done from both ends simultaneously. When I installed power districts, this became a district boundary too. But operators didn't have a reflex for their loco stopping in the middle, particularly when it made the PSX-1s at each end of the yard feep simultaneously.
Here I've added new gaps at the fouling points and independent feeders to each body track. So locos can run the whole length of each track, and only get feeped at by one PSX when a turnout hasn't been lined.
And finally, I had an arty inspiration:
I stopped at Jake's on my way home from second shift at Towle, but I didn't stay long. When I got to Strong St. the 'Theater Train' was sitting in the station. I set my camera on the roof of a parked car and tried a few time exposures - this one came out OK.
The home signal was 'three red', but there was nothing inbound from Portsmouth at this hour of the night. I asked around the next day and found out the draw was stuck.
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James
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6906 |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/22/2018 : 09:57:08 AM
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Good call on the tracks, James! Your operators will no doubt be pleased.
As to the photo... Cool! Very cool! Like!
I need to get things to where I can photograph something and be pleased with what I have.... Yes, I could begin to see "The Vision" come alive in my head when the guys were over the other night, but that's al in "my head" and no one else can really see it....
Just be careful wandering around in that area at night. I hear there are some folks who aren't what you'd call "outstanding citizens" lurking around up there....
Nice pic!
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7575 |
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 09/22/2018 : 10:19:12 AM
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James,
Your photo is almost abstract in its contrast and simplicity. Very nice.
I wish I could have been in Mahwah; I considered attending but had a conflict.
Mike
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_________________________________________________
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7483 |
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deemery
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/22/2018 : 10:28:35 AM
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That sounds like a really effective fix in Bexley Yard.
dave
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| Modeling 1890s (because the voices in my head told me to) |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 8977 |
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jbvb
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/22/2018 : 10:58:42 AM
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Thanks, Pete, Mike & Dave. The same shot in 'daylight' isn't pretty - unfinished scenery, the ceiling looming over, fluorescent tubes in the background, so I'm pleased with my inspiration. And Pete, at that hour of the night, most of the 'not so outstanding citizens' in that neighborhood were either in Jake's, or the Flying Yankee next to the station (24 Winter St., 3rd or 4th down on the scratchbuilding list).
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James
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Edited by - jbvb on 09/22/2018 10:59:52 AM |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6906 |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 09/23/2018 : 8:42:04 PM
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OK, I'm cool with that. As long as you stay safe down there!
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7575 |
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quartergauger48
Fireman
Premium Member
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 Posted - 09/24/2018 : 1:45:53 PM
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 That is a nice shot, JBVB'...
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Ted |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 6204 |
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