Well, we are back and as stated on Friday, that ole' geezer showed up and today is giving a lot of us a late winter storm. Oh well, I did my part in making him upset cause his presence didn't effect my weekend. Saturday was as predicted. I got an early start by firing up the airbrush and finishing all the paint on the two BNSF Heritage units. Trucks, fuel tanks and hand rails were, cleaned, primed, painted and given a flat coat before going back on their respective mechanisms. Next up were two of Brian last covered hoppers. These final two are 2-rail O brass. One he wants as a weathered Bloomer line and the second will be a CB&Q. Both were prepped and painted including the trucks. I was able to get a lot done in the shop but like always, not 100% of goal, more like 90%. I then took Jess and went to my "not so local hobby" shop to pick up my last Tam Valley turnout machine before coming home and relaxing for the night. Sunday I had to adjust to the time change a bit. I know most people hate it, but I LOVE it. We now get that hour of extra light after work. That helps out in my shop immensely. Once re-aligned to normal time I set out to work on the module that gave us fits at the last operations meet. The first turnout was affixed to the 2-inch foam that is used as the sub terrain. this servo did not attach well and as a result never really threw the switch. I hacked away at the foam until it was flush with plywood sub road bed under the module, then built a 1/4 inch ply plate in which to mount the servo to. This in turn was installed on to the sub roadbed. With the angle adjusted the servo was mounted and now we have a nice smooth switch to either route. The last turnout control was installed then the low point that was causing some headaches was carefully raised until the problem went away. Finally I filed the switch point a bit to help with alignment, tested and was pleased with the results. No work on the Butler building or my Inglenook as I ran out of time but nonetheless, I was pleased by my accomplishments. So how about you? Were you pleased with your accomplishments? Let us know. I didn't post any images because nothing I performed and completed was particularly flashy, but don't let that stop you from posting an image or two. We'll assemble once again on Friday the 17th, St. Patty's Day, to start the process all over again. Until then have a great week, stay warm and as always... High Greens!
Managed to get one of the bridges installed and wired in. Its amazing how bridgework can slow down progress. I have one more major bridge to build and then I'm "in the short rows" as it were.
I managed to wrangle a 2ish hour switching session on Bernie Kempenski's Port of Los Angeles HO layout Friday night. It wa sthe end of a tough business trip to DC, and a needed relaxation before heading home. Bernie did a great job setting the layout up, and if you want a fun modern switching pike that doesn't need a ton of rolling stock, its a good one to consider. The build is detailed in his new book for Kalmbach, and on his blog HERE.
Got the main 2x8 section of the new benchwork built and installed, and the right hand wing 4X4 built and installed. I also managed to DCC two locomotives and got a good start on remotoring an old SW1500 Athearn loco that I've had for at least 25 years. Funny how everything always takes longer than you expected - I had thought I'd have the benchwork done on Saturday, but I wound up not even getting the wood and foam until Saturday afternoon. Note to self - when buying from Home Depot, pick out exactly what you want online and tag it to pick up at the store. Don't even BOTHER going to the store thinking they'll know what it is and where to find it. :-( Oh .. and I eBayed way too much - spent about $300 this weekend. Kind of like the Class 1's - buying new locos and having to stable good running older ones to make room.
Ballasted the track inside the tunnel. Now I can attach the tunnel liner with zip ties and start some of the scenery up top.
A little late for a Monday thread, but I finally got the rest of my DCC converted engines logged into JMRI and ensured that all info matched (like engine/DCC numbers) and tested them out. All but the 4-6-4 Hudson from BLI were converted by me. Budd RDC2 #B31(831) Shay, 3 truck #2(222) Aerotrain #GM-T1 (031) SW-1200 #138 GP-9 #370 RS-3 #485 RS-3 #862 EMC Gas Electric #1000 2-8-0 Consolidation #1254 2-8-2 Mikado #1817 2-10-0 Russian Deca. #2461 4-6-4 Hudson #5343
