Today I was able to do some needed cleaning and organizing and then finished in these windows. Just some painting left to do around them. Then I got busy tearing into another MP Mikado. It has been bugging me for a while, so I jumped in. It will become a faux CNW 2300 J-class unit. Will do the most noticeable detail changes to make it look right. Gotta put in firebox flicker fiber optic. Cab needs work and a Kato tender. First time I have tried one of these, it is very light weight and will require a lot of new weight added.
And then I ran some trains with track cleaning cabeese on in front of them. Have WS dust-bunnies under them, which seem to work pretty well.
So I took the plunge and removed the cast on sand dome, Then cut out a sand dome from an old Atlas shell, and got busy removing material and filling cuts. More sanding and filling to do. It looks way more correct to me now.
Made a little free time today, while warming up by the woodstove after working out in the cold for too long, and changed out the delta truck for a cole type. And then built a speaker box for this new type speaker to me. There is a bit of soft foam sandwiched behind it and it sounds ok. Had to take the coal load off and secure the speaker sides with some Goo. And finished sanding the base of the sand dome to shape and goo'd it to the boiler in it's place. And then ran some trains and planned out some more of the scenery. I think I will have room for that LOOONNG bridge I planned for. It will need 4 of the Central Valley 1820's for the span and a couple of girders leading into it. Just figuring out the details so I can fit a decent background on the wall first!
Worked on the new CNW Mike all day. Lots of fun getting it to what I want to see. First built a backup light for the tender, Then installed a lit brakeman's shanty, which was not common on CNW, but this is bitter cold service out in this territory! Tucked in the LED resistors and sound module Routed the fiber optics under the firebox, Installed the firebox LED after drilling holes in the frame for the fiber optics, Mounted the boiler back on the frame, And am now pondering the front coupler mount. I wanr a functional Z scale coupler up there, but not much room for it with the truck so close.....
And I spent time listening to two trains chase each other around most of the day. Then got to pondring the scenery around the long bridge. It looks like it will end up a scale 700 foot or so. About 5 feet. This video shows the area. The lower line will cut from behind a bluff, skirt the river bank, cross Cedar creek and cut back behind another bluff.
Have been told that I might be crazy?! But they do look so much better running at these speeds. I have two area's marked on the benchwork where I can time them and determine there speeds. I used the speed chart from the Ntrak Steam books. And in this video, I had the freight going faster than normal so the K4s wouldn't run into the caboose!
Here's my prototype inspiration for the bridge. This is a 5 span with lead in spans that crosses the Yellowstone for the Glendive-Sidney/Circle branch lines. Took these this morning, and maybe I will do a winter scene for this part of the layout. I have already planned to have a winter section, with most of it in early to mid spring. It would just be neat to do an ice covered river section.
The cold blast we are enjoying highlighted some track issues. Mind you, the temp varies in there some due to the woodstove being primary heat, with a couple of electrics for backup. And some of the issues were due to sloppy trackwork, hurry up and get trains rolling! Thankfully, nothing hit the floor due to these issues! This let me use my new gandy dancer's cart. It was a freebie some renter left behind in a unit I cleaned out and repaired. People throw away the neatest things sometimes! So after fixing that all up and some other little issues here and there, I did get a bit done on the CNW Mike, The 6 pin connector is a TCS item and there will be one free wire betwixt the cab-tender for the firebox light.
What with Christmas time with family and cooking and such, not much train time for the NPBH. Did get the cab installed on the Mike, cleaned off the old 'Snot' from the 2-8-8-2 tires and applied a couple of new coats, drove trains and figured out the cv's a little on the IM cab forward. It was sure nice to turn it down! I like the sounds, but have mine turned down to a quieter volume. I also have figured out to build a new pilot truck. The factory is just about a scale foot too long to look right. The shorter one there is too short. So, on to my first foray at building a pilot truck. Did get a few new boxcars for myself for Christmas!
Woohoo! CNW 2362 works! Now to make it pretty! I did get to spend a bit of time over Christmas playing with the railroad, drove trains and worked on this loco. Here's the cab end, a little finishing work to do and attaching th fiber optics to the LED. Had to cut a bit of the coal deck away for the plug to work. Going to have to hide this behind some foil cab curtains. And weight! More weight!
Started weekend projects with setting up the firebox optics and CV's, And setting up the lighting control in the brakemans shanty, Then, out of necessity, finished the repairs and final fit of 1-ttrack in the main yard, And then went to work reinstalling the siding switches on the old upper level. I used some of the ties provided by Fasttrax and also laid in ties from Clover House. I did notice that the PC board ties I have from them are a bit thinner than the ties on the ME55 track, which necessitated the bits of white plastic I used to support them during soldering time. The clover house come in various shades, which is really nice. Ans 2017 is coming in with a snow storm here, SWEET!! I am one of them nuts that likes snow, YAY!
Amidst the snow, plowing snow, and scooping snow, I was able to find some train time this evening! First to do was the speaker, took out the square thing and put in the TCS 1/2" round one. So now I have a pack of 9 square ones left over... Then the track laying bug hit for staging. I have a few ME55 switches to use up, and here went in 4 of them. Got called away to work on a furnace for a bit, so only got a start on this one.
It has been a hectic busy time since my last update, what with snow, freezing weather and demanding customers wanting dug out or un-frozen....but that's all the fun stuff that pays for trains! (And rent, food, etc....) So, when I was able to spend a few minutes playing, I managed to get some feeders dropped from the tracks on the 'west' end of my railroad and attached to the buss. That was not trouble free tho. I was careful to note which colors went to the outside and inside rails first, and did my connections accordingly. WHAT! Shorted! Off to thaw out some water lines and plow some snow. Come back and look at it all a couple of times. Huh! So, start where the power wart connects, and notice that I made the main a figure eight, so the outside rail on the east end is the inside rail on the west! Oooops! So, after putting everything back together and resoldering it all, I pulled up some switches and cut some wires while troubleshooting, here's the triumphant run of two freights! Notice that the MP Mike is pulling 20 cars and caboose up a 2.35% grade that tops with an elongated 'S' curve, which is where it slips a tad. And just so you can see all the fun I have been having, a pic of my pickup stuck, today. Have a customer out in the boonies. I babysit the house while they are gone and today was the day. Then the front tire picked the edge of the dropoff, and.... ...tried shoveling out. Got more stuck. Called a neighbor down, who gracefully pulled me back up on the road. Has been 7 years since I got that stuck!
The right front tire picked the edge of the bank just as I hit the top of the driveway, and sloosh! Down the edge she went! This is the customers house, and her drifted up drive I almost got away from! f
Ha ha ha he he he...... Maybe you need to think about a plow for that truck... Or maybe stop eating frozen doughnuts while you drive.. lol... Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
Now the CNW has a representative Mike on board that actually looks like one. Well, mostly! This is good since the CNW and NP are partners in this enterprise. Firstly, the wires got tied up betixt the tender n cab, Then the pilot truck got a new mount built to shorten it some, made out of lead sheet, which significantly improved it's tracking. Mounted the bell and stack, Built new window mullions for the forward windows on the cab sides, A new roof, A steam accesories dome with whistle and generator, And a couple overall views, And here she sits with her NP sister ready for decals and final details. As is the NP 1823, NPBH 501, ....
And made time last night to decal the CNW mike. The motivation was there so did up the NP mike also. Only have the teensy-weensy front number boards left to do. Also buit up a foam base for a coal load for the NP mike and loaded it with coal.
