Sorry to say I'm going to take the rest of the day off, just now got caught up with chores and want to veg out for a while. Will pick it up tomorrow morning and try to complete today's work. Would like to pour water tomorrow afternoon. Joe
I spent part of the day working on the winches, counterbalances, additional structure on the lift towers and cables. Sadly our oldest dog Nina passed away this evening after a week long illness. She was asleep when it happened and was 18 years 2 months old. Had a long fun full life. Joe
In so sorry to hear about Nina. 18 years is a long time and it's like losing a family member. At least she didn't have to suffer. Remember the good times.
Thank you for your thoughts!!! We always love our pets like they are our children, more so since our daughter moved out several years ago. Nina is Gabby's mom. Gabby is a lot more active than Nina was and she was a dog with the mind of a cat. Stubborn and finicky. Wel laughed when she was in a mood and it's memories like that will keep us smiling. Gabby just turned 17 and is in great health. I forgot to tell you that they are Dachshunds. Joe
Today is Cynthia's birthday so I only worked on the layout for a couple of hours. I hung the counterbalances using #24 telephone wires painted brown to represent the lift cables and wrapped another wire around the winches. Still have to connect the other end to the main span. Next project was to install winch end plates to the building in the middle of the main span. Last job was removed some track from module 06 to add a turnout for the new coal trestle which is my next project to scratch build. Decided to make a new one because the one on the old module 05 would be too hard to remove. Joe
Love those winches! Looks great! One comment: the pier holding up the lift span looks a bit too small to hold such a large structure. The protection pier looks solid, but the one holding up the whole works looks a bit underbuilt, even though it seems to closely mirror the specs in a drawing you posted earlier. Either way, it looks great!
Hemi, Thank You for posting your thoughts, they are greatly appreciated. I agree with you about the peirs. Noticed that when I installed the bridge and thought about replacing all of them. That will be a project for a later time when I do touch up. Joe
I need to make new peirs and draw the bents for the coal trestle on module 06, the old trestle would be too hard to remove on the old module 05. Both projects can be done from my recliner and TV tray for a workbench, my legs are giving me a problem today. Hope to work on the winches and counterbalances later tonight. And if there is time install the turnout for the coal trestle on module 06. Joe
Today I made a new set of piers and got them painted, also drew the pattern for the coal trestle. Decided not to work in the hobby room because my legs are hurting. Hopefully I can work on the layout itself tomorrow evening. Sorry for the photos being so dark. Joe
We went to Top Shelf Hobbies in Owasso this morning and I bought some styrene packages one of which will be the cross braces on the coal trestle. Below are photos of the piers, pattern for the bents and a small jig with a stop to cut the piles. This time the photos are not dark like the ones in my previous post. Tonight I'm going to build the coal trestle instead of working on the layout, will get back to the layout tomorrow afternoon. Joe
Last night I only got one bent done, was interrupted when I went to a good friends house to visit for a couple of hours. It was late when I got home so I decided to call it good for the night. Today I'm working on some other pulleys for the bridge and will install the turnout for the coal trestle on module 06. Later tonight will go back to work on the trestle. Joe