It's early morning as I write this, 1:30 local time as I prepare to drive through the states of NY, MA, VT and finally my home state of NH. I'm on my way to get some research on the small town of Potter Place NH and have some specific goals in mind. Walk the line from one end of town to the other. Photograph and take measurements of the freight depot Photograph and take measurements of the Passenger depot Solve the mystery of a unknown spur that shows up in a photograph of said town Ride as many miles of the ROW on my bike as it is now a rail trail Locate the foundations to a small building as well as signals that appear in photograph Hopefully talk to a few of the older residents in the historical society located in the depot I'm armed with my camera, note book and a bunch of books. I need to get this done since the next time I'm up that way, everything will have a healthy dose of snow on it. I'm also hopping to get a picture or two of the new PAR Heritage unit in the original B&M Minuteman scheme as well as maybe get some railfaning done in Walpole NH or any where else. An ambitious list but hopefully do able. So how about you? Do your plans include getting up at early hours to do something railroad related? Let us know what you have planned and as always, pictures are appreciated! We'll compare notes on Monday and see what was accomplished.
Company coming tomorrow, so I probably wont get much done until sunday night. I need to clean up the room, drill small holes and pull my feeders through, and weather the switch points for all 6 switches in the yard.
I have today and tomorrow to to finish up scenicking my clubs T-Trak corner module and wire up two signals on my modules for a show in Kingston, NY on Sunday the 23rd. I will be operating my clubs HO modular layout at the show. My clubs members will have five layouts set up there.
I'm sitting in front of my boxcab with a tiny LED and a drawer full of different sizes of fiber optics trying to decide whether it's worth it to light it up. The main issues are weight and space. Right now, there's enough space to install the LED and it's accompanying resistor/capacitor/bridge rectifier thing, but that would mean losing that space where I could put much-needed weight. All in all, I'd rather have a working locomotive than a lit one, but I'll give it a go and see what happens. So, I hope I can make some progress on this over the weekend. Otherwise, maybe some more work on the diorama, especially trees and grass installation.
Jim, you should have picture-perfect weather for you trip to New Hampshire. It will likely be in the high 50s with light clouds. We'll be heading up to Maine, ourselves, for "Friends and Family" weekend at our daughter's college. We're planning to come back Saturday night, so I'll spend some train-time on Sunday. I discovered a small vertical kink in some trackwork which has been causing long-wheel-base steamers to derail. I hope to get that taken care of. It may be as simple as adding a shim to the benchwork to boost the back corner up and level the track, but I'll have to see. I've got an unfinished corner that I've puzzled over for quite a while. I was ready to just put in a small hill and scenery, but then I got an idea that I think I'll go with. I was looking for something in the boxes of stuff beneath my layout when I came upon some scraps of stone wall castings. I decided to model a collapsed or burned-out building, overgrown with little left but the stone foundation. I went with the "Harbor Bicycle Shop" signs as one of the businesses on Merchants' Row. I put a light in that shop and put pictures of bike shop interiors on the walls, but when I lit it up, it looked very empty. So, I've ordered some bicycles. I should get them by this time next week, so I'll be able to put some inside the store and some outside to complete the detailing.
I'm going to try and get some weathering done-on a couple of cabooses. And install some more decoders. I have a troublesome turnout to deal with as well. Over and out, Wolf
I have to get on a plane this morning to fly up to Lewiston to work this weekend and will not get back home until Sunday evening. So I probably won't get to do much modeling this weekend.
Going up North this weekend. I'll throw the project box in the truck, maybe work on some vehicles or something from my stock of unbuilt freight car kits.
Family stuff aside, I hope to make a "big push" to finish up scenery and ballasting in my yard, and get the yard tower installed and lit (or at least wired). The project is part of a "layout party" on another forum, and I'd like to get as far on it as I can this weekend.
More trackwork for Esperanza, A dual gauge #8 and a standard gauge #6 are waiting to be built. Wolfgang
Reworking a turnout/flex track junction. My ore cars derail more than half the time in this one spot. Also, more Caspia trees. I bought three bunches at Micheal's this week, this should do me. Jim
Building a 1:1 retaining wall for the next stage on our garden railway. That will allow the fill to settle over the winter and means fewer (if any) corrections during and after construction of the road bed.
If I can get the final details put on my engine, I will be happy to have accomplished something this weekend.
Had to replace a fluorescent light over my yard today, so that is accomplished. I changed the orientation of the light, so now I may have to move/add another one that is adjacent to it. Layout-wise, I am at just about a standstill until I can get more flex track. Also laid out my service area off the end of my yard last night, so will have to finish that area up.