Hey, a Dutch 6400 series diesel! I have still two of them, from my former Dutch layout. Minitrix engines.
Here are a couple from my NKP layout. The first gives a good overview of the scale of steel mill structures to trains - a couple of SW9's switching ingots into the wire mill, while the blast furnace hovers in the background. The second is my "publicity photo" showing my model of the NKP Roundhouse at Bellevue with a selection of NKP steam power lined up, boilers out. It's 1957, and steam is still going strong on the NKP.
In keeping with the cold weather blanketing most of North America, a Faribanks-Morse pusher set helping a heavy train of Phoenix ore over Farron summit in Southern BC circa 1970. We just implemented pusher operations on the layout this year and it certainly adds a whole new aspect to operations: train handling! Plus the scheduling challenge of getting the light helpers down the hill to meet their trains... Photo by Tim Horton and H Liners and Caboose by Jeff Briggs. md
Thank you for the kind compliment. Any reply has to include the disclaimor that we are still very early in our pusher experience. What we have found so far is that the cars need to be properly weighted for a start and any equipment/track issues are certainly brought to the surface in a hurry. I have had to shelve quite a number of cars which are now waiting for remediation at some point in the future before they get back on the layout. We have also found that having the head end crew focus on keeping the train going slow and steady over the varying grades and curvatures is key and then the tail end pusher crew watches the coupler slack midway up the train. Oh...and the layout owner needs to be accepting that cars may go on the ground. The price you pay for the fun I guess! The layout uses large/medium flange wheels with truck-mounted couplers on code 55 flex track exclusively. It is DCC. Hope that is useful/interesting. What have been other people's experience with pusher operations? md
Nice shots, I was wondering if you could direct me to where you got those canvas covered wagons from the middle of the photos? I may need them to kit bash my self some australian wagons for my layout.
Sure thing! Minitrix makes these, Fleischmann makes a shorter version. Here's a link to some newer Fleischmann versions: http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh_detail.asp?ca=8&sc=N&stock=FL-837901 It seems like Minitrix is only selling theirs as part of sets, but you can find them offered singly on ebay.de quite often. Here's a new set: http://www.eurorailhobbies.com/erh_detail.asp?ca=8&sc=N&stock=T15277 Here's a single on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120607212588 Hey, a Dutch 6400 series diesel! I have still two of them, from my former Dutch layout. Minitrix engines. Hey Thieu! Yeah, I like these little guys! Of course, I'll take anything I can get for the OTHER "NS"! :tb-biggrin:
Ho-ly crap that is phenomenal! I refuse to believe that the last shot is N Scale. You went out into the city and took that from the street corner, and you're trying to dupe us! Seriously though, that is some incredible modeling and photography. My hat is off to you, sir.
I agree - that night scene is spectacular. One more from me since I was doing scenery last night on a couple of my modutrak modules:
Lashedup I don't know the area you are modelling, but if I didn't know any better, I would think you were standing on the side of a field of soya beans at the beginning of June in Mid-Western Ontario. Makes me wish I was back on the farm in the springtime!! GREAT WORK!
Thanks for the kind words everyone. That is actually modeled after an area between Franksville and Caledonia Wisconsin circa 1950's - Midwestern scenery. That is the Milwaukee Road Tower 68 in the background. Don Ross prototype photo: And my humble version: - jamie
I have found that using Atlas GPs mid train works nicely. If the lead unit stalls the Atlas just sucks up the gap until it stalls or the lead unit takes off again. Caution: Do not use where a derailment can send cars to the floor Keep in mind I have a fairly simple layout
I'll toss one in... atsf5078's Amtrak made a detour over Tehachapi yesterday. Just enough light left to catch it near "Cliff."
Thanks you guys are too nice. Couple more... Here are a couple more "for fun" photos. I need to sand down the road edges a bit, as I just had to touch them up again from all the people that come up at shows touching and rubbing them to see what they feel like. I tweaked saturation, removed the same two lens dust spots from the sky that I get all the time, added a slight vignette, reduced the size and sharpened these up a bit in Photoshop. Otherwise these are how they came out of the Nikon 300S with a standard 18-70mm kit lens. I used a light off to the side to create the low sunlight and that is just drywall in the background. -j
When you have to look twice & your still not sure if its real or not, you know know that's some outstanding modelling. Lashedup, I still can't tell.:thumbs_up::thumbs_up:
I new that the first picture had to be the layout, but the second (and third) picture fooled me: I thought that these were prototype examples... Now I know for sure that I have to buy a grassmaster.
