Red Rock Northern HO scale layout

jasonboche Mar 3, 2016

  1. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Love the fact you include them in the process, the hobby needs young people
     
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  2. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    At the gym and I get this message. Love these kids.

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  3. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    Red Rock Northern model railroad update 7-16-17

    The blue paint used on the backdrop was only $9/gallon. One of the activities that the kids and I love to do is go have an adventure at the big box store. Every time we go we look in the paint section for "Oops Paint" which is deeply discounted. If we find a color we can use for the railroad, it goes in the cart. It sure beats choosing a custom color and having that paint created - much more expensive. Unfortunately we learned a tough lesson over the winter when we found out 3 gallons of our Oops Paint froze in the garage over the winter and is shot. Glad it happened with the Oops Paint and not custom color paint though!

     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2017
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  4. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    A few quick updates for Thursday evening.

    All 19 Tortoise switch machines are in, wired, and working. I still have about 10 extra machines left from my old layout so I will keep those for spares, a 2nd deck, or perhaps future layout. I had to do a little benchwork surgery to get two of the machines in as the throwbars rested directly on top of a joist. It wasn't easy modifying the benchwork but I got it done in one evening and it was easier than fooling around with over complicated linkage. I made an idiot move by running the 12 volt DC power bus under the turnouts instead of at the front of the fascia where the switches go. So a little extra bell wire wasted on most of the switches but I'm not going to sweat it.
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    Construction has started in a new Walters Prairie Co-Op kit to replace the Walthers grain elevator which is just too big for this layout. I'll have to sell it. If you are interested in it let me know otherwise it will go up on the auction site. [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Lastly, the first round of my auctions to thin out my collection all sold and were shipped out early this week. Several locomotives, rolling stock, and two Walthers ore docks.

    Busy weekend coming up so probably not a lot of progress will be made the next few days. I'll actually keep working on the new grain elevator as I want to get that in soon. I'll try to start painting it tomorrow.


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  5. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    Other than some weathering which I will follow up on, I got the Walthers Prairie Co-Op finished this weekend. Assembled and painted.

     

    Attached Files:

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  6. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Great Stuff! I am so glad to see your kids included in this kind of living modeling experience. MRR hobby has so many aspects to it that transfer to so many other factors in every day life. Engineering/building, practical skills like soldering and using hand tools are en-valuable for our techno-driven society. Kudos to you Sir for taking the time to do this, it will pay many dividends for them in the future.

    I kinda try to help the kids around here to keep their models running, and it confounds me how many of their parents cannot solder, or employ simple repair skills. It is actually kinda scary.

    Good job.
     
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  7. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    I picked up a newly assembled and weathered Medusa Cement from a reputable seller on the auction site this past week. He does good work and I was excited upon its arrival but upon opening the box I found the some of the delicate roof work was crushed. I spent a few hours on the repair work and placed it into its intended spot on the layout. Pictures below.

    As far as the layout, I've been working on it every night this week. I changed some of the track work that I wasn't liking and what I've got now I think is going to work. It more closely resembles the published track plan which I had deviated from in the first place. The deviations I had made early on just weren't that good and what I thought would be an improvement, turned out making the Granite Creek portion of the layout mundane and dull. More on that this weekend if I post a layout update. Suffice to say, there was some cutting out of track, moving of turnouts and corresponding tortoise machines. I lost two nights of progress but I consider the change progress and well worth it in the long wrong. It's a journey right?
     

    Attached Files:

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  8. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    7-30-17 Layout update video!

    Trackwork
    Oil loading platform kit completed and painted
    Engine house kit completed and painted
    Medusa Cement

     
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  9. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    My son Joshua picked out this Great Northern box car while we were at the monthly club meetings tonight. $4.00 and when we got home Put on metal wheels and a set of underset Kadees and it's working great.

    Last few days I've gotten sidetracked getting all of my locomotives lubed up and running well. All have been in storage since 2007 and some of them were pretty stiff. I'm also going through my collection and selling a lot of items. It takes a lot of time to get them up for auction, pack, ship, etc. thus far I've sold about 20 locos, 50 cars, and several buildings. The idea is to downsize the fleet appropriate for my space and use the proceeds for current layout needs like decoders, buildings, etc. I'm saving a lot of $ this way and at the same time solving my problem of drowning in "too much stuff". I don't know what I was thinking when I bought a lot of the locomotives and rolling stock that I did many years ago.


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  10. trainman-ho

    trainman-ho TrainBoard Member

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    You were probably thinking.......This is gonna be fun. while wringing your hands..LOL
    I'm pretty sure that's what I did!
    Jim
     
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  11. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    My Athearn replacement gears (Athearn part number 60024) showed up today for a few Life-Like Proto 2000 GP30s and GP20 that had split while in storage with significant temperature changes. I'm getting very efficient at replacing those. Turns out ALL of my GP30s have split gears so I ordered more. Fortunately none of my other older P2Ks have this issue. I'll keep my fingers crossed and I'll have a few extra on hand. I figure by the end of the week I should have all of my locos lubed, running well, and repaired as necessary so I can get back to starting scenery. The good news is that with all of the locos I've been running for hours around the track to re-break in, the track work and all routes are proving to be solid. No derailments, even for the 6 axle locos.
     
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  12. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Jason if you pre-drill those plastic axle gears with a #41 drill bit, you will have less "interference fit" issues.
     
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  13. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    I never really noticed how close CR blue was to GN blue...
     
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  14. friscobob

    friscobob Staff Member

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    You inadvertently helped me out with a problem- I have some cracked gears on a LL P2K GP18. I had heard somewhere that Athearn gears would work, but wasn't sure. Then lo and behold, I read your post about replacing cracked gears from a Proto engine with Athearn. I also appreciate you included the part number.

    Now all I need to do is check my Santa Fe and SP GP9s for the same problem- if they pass, I won't need to order as many.

    Thanks much! I enjoy reading the updates on your layout construction, as I am in the process of getting a spare bedroom ready for my new layout.
     
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  15. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    I've been working hard on the layout and a little work travel but updates on the layout are coming. For now... it's a beautiful Saturday morning for assembling blue box kits on the deck before we head down to the club this afternoon for an ops session.

    [​IMG]


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  16. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    Just deleted this post. I posted on completely the wrong thread. If someone could remove this, it would be fine.
     

    Attached Files:

    Last edited: Sep 10, 2017
  17. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    My road. I love it!


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  18. Mr. Trainiac

    Mr. Trainiac TrainBoard Member

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    I moved the same post over to this weekend's model thread in the "weekly and special threads section." I just thought I was in the workbench thread since I saw trains being built. Anything special in the Hot Limited Issue box?
     
  19. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    Life-Like 33" metal wheels. I bought them by the case many years ago. I have a case of 36" also. I had lots of rail cars to convert from plastic wheelsets.
     
  20. jasonboche

    jasonboche TrainBoard Member

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    All track painted. Scenery in full swing. Fascia this weekend.

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