2021-2022 Fourteenth Annual International Winter Layout Party

All of the track and turnouts have now been installed in Carlin and this section is back in a vertical position to install the controls and wiring for the additional turnouts.




The deck is only 1/4" material so additional small 14" pads are glued into place to provide for secure mounting of the turnouts slide switches, and for terminal strips. These were then painted with the same paint that the bottom of the module was sealed with.

 

Nothing big on the progress front but progress none the less.

Found what I had left of my Gold Medal Models fencing and got it formed to fit around where the pump jack will go


Then test fit it.


Next up, I will be putting in some gravel around the pump jack and make a gravel drivr out to the road before actually securing the fence in place. After that I will make a couple of small storage tanks to go there as well.

On the outhouse front. First coat of blue paint applied


Like In2Tech said, there are so many comments that I could make here but I'll leave that alone for now. Anyway, next up will be painting the white tops for them.

Piddled around with some freight cars as well since the last update but no other real progress to speak of.

 

Looks like your preparing for another Woodstock.

 

Seeing all of the toilets reminds me of the north parking lot for the Indianapolis 500. They had about 50 of them in a row right after you go in the gate to track. There were more in the parking lot itself.

Joe

 

The week 3 update follows:

I finished laying out the third track and its connections.






In the final version the station building will be further away from the tracks.



I ran some test trains


I added the siding for the Northern Light and Power plant






I will be tweaking things to get longer storage tracks.

A video of the first coal delivery


Week 4: Roadbed? More sidings?

 

You tried to stay away from the jokes, but you failed Really, Piddled , And you didn't even know it did you?

 

I can sympatize with a couple of others here. I'm having the same issue in that I've gotten bogged down with the stuff that's got to be done before I can start building. I've appropriated a spare bedroom that even has an outside entry, got the bandsaw wired and set out to make a belt tightener for it. That's when I discovered that there's no power in the garage. It's been cold, damp or cold and damp ever since, and since the salamander won't work without power, I haven't even felt like troubleshooting the problem. Since I can't use the mill (located in the garage), the belt tightener is going to be a drillpress/disc grinder project. The other day I decided to move the drillpress in from the garage- never mind it was 22F with 40 MPH winds. Wound up wishing I hadn't been so determined. Anyway, now all I have to do is put a new switch on the drillpress, make up the belt tightener, clear all the stuff away and start slicing and dicing on the birch plywood leaning against the wall.

 

Why is it there's always a list of things to be done before you can get to the thing you really want to do?

I have a woodworking project I'd like to start on, but there's several chores to be done in the shop so I can get to it.

That's a sweeet old drill press! Probably ought to raise the motor a bit to align the pulleys and reduce belt wear/jumping off the pulleys (speaking of things to do before...)

For want of a nail...

 

Yeah, I was noticing the pulley alignment. It's not apparent close up. I need to check and see if that is just the camera angle or if I need to move the pulley. It's been that way since it got a new motor in the 80s and hasn't given me any trouble. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
The machine itself, a Craftsman, is sort of a family heirloom. I'm not sure which one of them bought it new back in the 30s, but it was passed back and forth between my dad and his brother. My dad had it when I was a kid and it then went back to my uncle. When my uncle passed ("You can have it when I'm done with it", he'd promised) I got it, so it's absolutely a keeper.
The bandsaw, on the other hand, also manufactered for Sears, probably in the 50s was a $35 flea market find. The stand was given to me by a friend and the motor was $50 off ebay. All in all, not bad.

 

Cool drillpress!! Does it have a stepped pulley on the other side also? I have one from the early 70's that has a double reduction pulley system with two sets of stepped pulleys. Haven't used it for probably 20 years since I bought the mill/drill and other mill but I can't ever get rid of a tool.



I also have a craftsman band saw from the early 70's (above) that might of been the next generation of the one you have or possibly I bought it from Montgomery Wards (can't remember). I tried to slow it down with another set of pulleys from a junked washing machine but that didn't work great. The idea was to use it for metal cutting. When that didn't work well bought the Harbor Freight bandsaw that I've cut a ton of stuff with, mainly aluminum. It works OK just can't push it. Most steel I cut with a cut-off saw or the plasma cutter although I use to use the cutting torch but haven't touched it in years.

I bought the smaller wood bandsaw shown at the top of the picture but it isn't a very good one. I also bought a 10" radial arm craftsman saw in the 70's that I use all the time. Used it the last couple days. Built 3 houses using it and my trading post commercial building. It works as well today as it did 50 years ago and I've never done a thing to it but change blades and with carbide ones haven't changed that many actually.

I love tools and still use tools my dad had and an uncle had from the '20's, 30's and 40's. Also us a half dozen tool boxes that they made back then. Maybe we need a thread on old tools we still use or maybe there was a thread about that a way back that we could resurrect in memory of the tools and the people we got them from.

Sumner

 

I'll have to say I believe the Layout Party has probably encouraged me to do more than I would of so thanks to the creators and TrainBoard.

I got the heater/furnace up into place (following images).



The transmission jack and the platform I threw together out of 1 x 2's made it easy to push a piece of plywood up against the ceiling and screw it to the bottom of the roof trusses.





I attached the aluminum brackets I'd made to the heater temporarily so I could build the mount made in the next picture.



The mount above will be screwed to the plywood on the ceiling with screws and also lag bolts through the aluminum brackets into the various layers of plywood.



The all-thread was used to stand the mount off from the heater and later the heater will be pushed up the all-thread and secured with the bottom of the heater 8 feet off the floor to meet code.



At almost 78 I don't carry something like the furnace up a ladder anymore. I tend to rarely use the car lift now for lifting cars but it sure comes in handy as a variable height work bench and to lift other things (I do need to change the oil today in one vehicle though).



I had a friend come over when I jacked the heater up just in case I needed another hand but that all went really well so would of been fine by myself but didn't want to see the thing down on the floor. Talking about falling the furnace came FedEx. I had a guy and a gal show up with it at the door and thought they were with FedEx as they sometimes have two on their truck here. Turned out that the FedEx guy was at a gas station about a block from the house and drove away with his cargo door open and the furnace fell out on the ground. The guy and gal yelled at him but he drove away. They looked at the address and brought it to my house. Ended up being OK except for one small dent. This another example of how living in a small community has its benefits

Hopefully this next week I can get the gas and electric lines in and remove the wood stove and run the vent pipe for the furnace up inside the old wood stove pipe.



I can't work all day anymore on big projects so have still gone back to the coal mine design when I'm not in the shop working or hanging out here.

Sumner

 

Yeah, I have an electronic variable speed drill press and wood lathe, but I'd much rather use a piece of family history. I have an old Craftsman metal lathe that my grandfather got "free" for rebuilding it's sister for the local high school shop back in the 50s (it was made in ~1939). Sure, it lacks many of the features of newer lathes, but to put my hands on the same wheels and levers he did is priceless.

 

Some time I'll get into my (varying degrees of vintage) collection of machine tools, but in short, yes, the drillpress does have two stepped pulleys. I still find a fair amount of use for it. A lot of times it's quick and easy.
Your bandsaw does look like a later version of mine. My drive setup is a work in progress. Eventually I may try to get a wider range of speeds, but right now I just want to get it running.

 

Probably an Atlas? It's a much better machine than the mini lathes you can buy now. I know the feeling as in addition to the drillpress, I have my dad's 9" South Bend.

 

Yes, it was manufactured by Atlas for Sears' Craftsman brand, right before they dedicated all production to war effort (defense contractors and training facilities) for several years starting in 1940, IIRC. I've seen a few pictures of large rooms full of them, making whatever was needed, each set up to do a separate step in an item's manufacture, with multiples as required for production rate.

Interesting tidbit... A fully equipped metal lathe is the only machine that can reproduce itself. Warships have been going to sea with them for a hundred years or more, so they don't have to carry as many spare parts (they can make/repair them as needed). Funny how everybody says a lathe must to be level to work right...

But South Bend's were in an entirely different (and better) class, quality- and capacity-wise. Sadly, South Bend today is just another label scarfed up and slapped on Chinese imports by Grizzly.

 

Yes indeed. I started working on the old stuff. But as I matured progressed into the CNC machines. Some where hug and complex. Then into the CNC measuring equipment. Such fun.
Now it's just these toys and trying to learn how to use a phone again.

 

Yep. passing the piece from one machine to the next was the recognized way to manufacture a lot of parts back then. The guy that first started teaching me machining had had 3 10" Logans doing a sequence of operations on thousands of crankcase bolts for Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines during the war.

You're right about the lathe being able to reproduce itself. I first heard that years ago.
Lathes built for marine use have an iteresting special leg on the tailstock end that allows the bed to stay straight no matter what kind of twist happens in the deck.

At this point in time, I don't know enough about the Grizzly South Bend to pass judgement on it. It might be a good option if you can't find a decent older machine, but I wouldn't give up my old SB 9" for a new one.

 

Being a machinist, I find it hard to believe a lathe could produce all parts necessary to build one.