Hey Vince, I’m not usually one to go back on my choices lol, but I think you win this round! No more bra! Picked up a couple more bits of rolling stock...my dad worked for Boise cascade for over 30 years so I thought this purchase was appropriate Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
There you go looks more realistic Spike style peaks to me are more Euro stylish. Now your talking has that Dolly Parton look nice peaks lol Nice snag on the Idaho car
So I’m really looking for these boxcars but I might have to scratch build loads for some UP center beam cars using a cricket machine to make the decals. Anyone have the dimensions for a standard wood load in n scale for this?! [photos removed to comply with Trainboard retailer policy] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Metal will expand/contract with temperature changes. Wood and all wood products (paper, homosote, cork. etc.) will expand/contract with moisture (humidity). Sealing all wood with a good coat of sealer will help with the moisture. As for track do not solder track joints. As the temperature drops the track will contract. That contraction can be calculated by a formula as every metal has a co-efficient of expansion/contraction. How much depends on how much the temperature drops and how long the piece of metal (rail) is. For every degree of temperature change a 30 inch length of rail will expand 30 times as much as a 1 inch piece of rail. It will contract likewise. Your problem in going to an uncontrolled environment is with fluctuating temperature. The temperature will be low at night then increase during the day. So your rail will contract with the lower temps during the night and expand with the higher temps during the day. Assuming you installed the track at room temperature I doubt if expansion is your main worry. However, contraction is. If there is no provision provided for the rail to contract then you will notice that one or more rails on curves will be pulled out of the ties. Best way to deal with the expansion/contraction problem is to keep your track sections short, no longer than a piece of flex track and gap the rail between track sections. I gap at .015 inches which happens to be the thickness of a piece of brass angle. I once did the math and assuming the track was laid at room temperature of 70 degrees that would be sufficient distance for a piece of flex track to absorb expansion caused by a temperature increase of 80 degrees. That was well above any temperature I could reasonably expect.
Picked up a LPG car today but sad to say it’s too long for the tight up curves on my layout, looks like I’ll have to go with the shorter “older” versions. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thinking about instead of the ten foot long stretch I had originally designed...adding a turn and making it a more “compact” layout...thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If I added the turn it would give me some space to add a boat launch and a little park! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Vince, I have 3 full sheets of play wood I tactically acquired from work that I have big plans for! But I can only advance as fast as my wife will allow haha! Plus that would require full take over of the garage and I done think the wife would approve of that right before a Chicago winter haha Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Starting your own squad huh . Actually think your ganging upon the BLM Chief Officer. News hear says your due for severe cold a cartel powder from the clouds lol.