Rainier Great Western Const Update

RGW Feb 19, 2007

  1. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    I never weathered my N railroads. Just the big Lionel that was setup outside for a couple years. There the "weathering" was natural. :)

    Of course it also became it's downfall. :oops:
     
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  2. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Just a follow up to last week. We spent more time checking clearance and cleaning track. One major issue was a rock wall that encroached into the right-of-way and needed to be moved back. It's been remedied and passes the clearance test.

    Scott brought in a figure we purchased from Miniprints. The owner of Miniprints is a 3d designer/printer. Check out his site. Scott took the figure home and painted it up. Here's the look:

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    Here are other close-ups from the logging scene:

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    Love how this is developing.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
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  3. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Tonight was a mixed bag, making sure our route and switching panels could handle traffic, tweaking some of our electronic gadgets and running some trains.

    Here's a few pics of our trains in action. BNSF 7309 leads a short manifest train through Franklin and past the interlocking tower.

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    CNW 8626 has passed Black Diamond with its manifest and is headed toward Henrys way point, on it's way to Renton.


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    RGW #44 shoves a cut of empty coal hoppers up the grade to Black Diamond over the High Bridge.

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    We had fun. Thanks for checking in.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
  4. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Spent a lot of time last evening clearing out the removable section of the railroad.

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    The section was designed to be removable so access could always be provided to the building's electrical panel. It's held in place with two screws and the electrical connections to the rest of the layout are alligator clips. Here is that section as it sits this morning.

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    Why does it have to come out you ask? Well, after 16 years of continuous service the heat exchanger needs replacement.

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    Tomorrow we say goodbye to the old girl once and for all.

    As for running trains around the RGW last night, SW1200 #4 was sorting cars at the Edwards and Bradford lumber mill. Here it's pulling a loaded center beam to Palmer Junction before heading back to Black Diamond light power..

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    Since much of our "history" involves acquisition of track and equipment from the Milwaukee, it seemed only natural that we would model #4 after Milwaukee #605 shown here.

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    In other action, RSC-2 #44 is doing a light power move from Renton to Black Diamond to sort loaded and empty coal cars at Old Mine #11. Normally a job for #4, but as you can see it's a little busy.

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    We are working on the plan for our first ops session, but first on the docket is the installation of DCC++ and JMRI. I'm just going to use these for setting speed curves and speed matching for now. We'll show that set-up once it's up and running.

    Well, that's all for now. Thanks for checking in!



    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2021
  5. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Cool Michael! I can’t wait to hear about the first session! Maybe you guys could broadcast live on YouTube!
     
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  6. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    So we can once again heat and cool the train room on command. The new heat exchanger was installed yesterday.

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    It's run by wifi using the ecobee thermostat and you can manage it on your phone with their mobile app.

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    Hopefully this lasts as long as its predecessor. HONEY, where's that warranty paperwork......

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
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  7. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Slow but productive night on the ol' RGW this past Tuesday. Ed is still trying to get the scale to read cars properly. He's getting frustrated as it works perfectly once, then not three or more times in a row, then it works again. I'm thinking bad sensor.

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    While Rey and I cleaned track, Wain spent the evening testing and debugging our yard turnout panels.

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    We had a few sticky turnouts that will be addressed next week. Meanwhile Scott was busy deweathering an SD70 I bought online. The person went overboard with white paint all through both sides of the center of the locomotive, for what reason I have no idea. Scott is doing a masterful job having removed about 90% of it. He'll add some paint back and reweather it in the next couple of sessions.

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    Doug picked up where he left off, building our dead trees. Quite a forest he's got going.

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    That's all for now. Thanks for checking in.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
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  8. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Progress as promised!
     
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  9. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Last night was going along just great until one of our own (I won't say their name as it would be impolite) had an issue and we had to call 911. Fortunately he was rebounding as they got there and having spoken to him today he is fine. Turns out eating and drinking is essential for good health, pretty sure his wife won't let him come over next time without a meal.

    In layout news, Scott is nearly done with the reweathering of the SD70M. The cab is about all that's left to go. You'd never know the center section was literally slathered with white paint. I think the seller I bought it from was going for this look:

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    I didn't like it one bit. But Scott has done a masterful job, getting the white off and putting back some color and weathering; giving her a well used look.

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    Doug installed 9 new throttle pockets around the pike. We ordered 12, but they were on sale so the LHS asked if we could settle for 9 in this box. I said sure.

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    I started the evening masking the 737s. I wanted to assure the white stripe remained visible as is the case with the prototype. I used detailers pinstripe tape, 1/16th inch. Then covered the balance of the plane.

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    A clear coat to seal the edges ended my night.

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    Here's how it looks a day later, after two coats of Tamiya flat yellow.

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    As you can see the pinstripe tape left a nice clean line.

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    In other action, RGW #44 hauls a short train of empties up to Franklin. Meanwhile, BNSF #7309 shunts some coal empties at the Rainier Anthracite mine.

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    Well that pretty much sums up last night. We're super relieved our crew member is fine. Everything else is irrelevant. Thanks for checking in.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
    Last edited: Aug 19, 2021
  10. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Glad everything turned out alright Michael! Its nice to see your various projects moving forward.

    Dale
     
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  11. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Getting close to the goal line on the 737s. Still have some detailing to do, including the fuselage number decal, but it's fun to see these take shape.

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    Really tried to add small details to the fuselage to add realism.

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    Again, more detail work to go.

    Uh oh, clean up on Aisle 3....

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    Those are window masks.

    Thanks for checking in.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
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  12. BNSF FAN

    BNSF FAN TrainBoard Supporter

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    Those 737's are coming together nicely Michael. Excellent work! (y)(y)(y)
     
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  13. logging loco

    logging loco TrainBoard Supporter

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    Very nice!
    Beautiful paint work on your models.
    Did you cut all this window masks by hand?
    Are the arches on the prototype flats a clearance gauge or load restraint?
     
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  14. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks guys. The icebreaker, as you might expect, was to perform as intended in any tunnels encountered on the trip. There is almost always an idler car trailing the fuselage flat as well, for clearance.

    As for the window masks, those are from Vintage Flyer decals. I contacted them and gave them the model I was masking and they sent me the mask sheet. A little tedious to apply and remove, but they work fantastic.

    M

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2021
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  15. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    So pleased to be able to introduce you to the all new RGWRAIL.COM. We have been working on this for a while now and we went live this weekend. It's an all new look, combining our old site with new tech and content. We have intro videos to discuss the evolution of the layout. We discuss the thought process on the layout design. We have a photo tour of the prototype and we have both model and prototype picture carousels.

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    I hope you'll enjoy it. M
     
    Last edited: Aug 23, 2021
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  16. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Bravo! Well done Michael!
     
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  17. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Dale. Hope you enjoy it. M

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
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  18. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    I certainly did! You better buy a striped hat for that engineer!
     
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  19. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Last night's work party included Scott completing the weathering on the SD70M.

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    Looks fantastic!

    Meanwhile our special guest, Mike Petty, worldclass armored modeler, and a pretty great father-in-law, joined us. He's fresh off a "Best US" contest winner at the South Bend AMPS National meet. Not a surprise if you've seen his work.

    The crew set out to fill the yards and sidings with strings of cars. I'm sure you'll understand where that's leading us.

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    We even moved cuts into and around the yards with several of our switchers. Fun time had by all.

    Thanks for checking in.

    The Rainier Great Western HO Scale Railroad
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2021
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  20. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    I smell an Operations Session brewing!
     
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