I realized that was exactly what I was doing when I stepped back and saw the Saucier Central as a big picture when I was about halfway through. I was told years ago that artists create from their experience. OK, I'm getting carried away calling myself an artist, but still....
Anybody who takes the time to either paint and detail a loco or car, or build a full layout, or modular sections, is in my mind an artist. Obviously there are different levels and skill and talent but an artist never the less. Yesterdays dentist visit will end up eventually costing me more than $1550 on top of the more than $700 I have already shelled out. I can buy a lot of new Shays for that price when they come out. And I have yet two or three more visits where the surgeon will plant a railroad spike in my jawbone after suitable blasting and excavation. Isn't over yet then because when I heal I go back to my regular dentist who will plant the million dollar tooth. Did manage yesterday to come back and apply more fog and mist to the left side after my Missus decided I needed some in one area. I also applied shrubbery behind the pines at the upper level main to hide a backdrop seam there better. Sitting now before the PM senior nap time deciding on how I want to put signage on the station. And this morning there was trauma in the train room. On cool mornings I normally open a window in the room which immediately draws a plethora of Felines to watch boidies and bugs. When the temp starts to rise I close the window and this morning Deekus the Cat was sitting in the window like she usually does and totally unperturbed by my window closing staying for the sunshine. Only this AM when I closed the inner window I got her tail. Now Deekus can be loud and this AM she was. Which immediately brought Callie off the closet top shelf and the rest of the pride to the room door all glaring at me. Deekus was at the bottom of the stairs glaring at me while the rest seemed to be saying you mess with the Duchess Deekus the Cat and you mess with all of us. I had visions of one attached to each limb, and my ample posterior, shredding off pieces accompanied by much blood loss and pain in copious amounts. Callie is back on the closet shelf, Deekus is back in the window, and the rest are scattered throughout the house napping and plotting revenge I know.
UH-oh! You hurt her highness??!!! Vengeance will arrive in a distinctly feline manner! Sorry to hear about the teeth. After spending too much trying to save the wifes rotten teeth, finally spent a bundle on dentures from an old school, make them myself, dentist in Billings. Way better idea for her. No more painful trips to dentist. just a few to get the dentures adjusted til all set. Yay! Keep one eye open while yer napping there!
Well at least it wasn't Queen Cleopatra. That would have been an instant off with his head. Later that afternoon Deekus and I shared some peanuts and kettle cooked potato chips so I think I am back in her good graces. This AM I started installing the cat whisker car retaining system up at the mine. Since they taper off at the ends if I got the section a little too thick it is a simple matter to trim them off and plant them again using the thinner section. When the glue is set I will trim them down to just brushing the truck axles. 100_4619-2 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 11:06 AM As noted earlier I leaned up the vehicle assortment around the station reducing the numbers. Only the REA truck was left at the station rear. And last night I created the station sign and installed it this AM. 100_4620 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 11:06 AM 100_4627-3 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 11:06 AM Also did a little India Ink application to the track centers and applied it a little more heavier to the service area.
I understand how the whiskers keep the cars from drifting back out the mine, but how do you get the cars into the mine initially without five-finger intervention?
The cat whiskers allow the cars to roll over them yet have just enough resistance to hold them in place. That is why I may need to adjust them by trimming them off and using the finer tapered ends. So when I cut these down I will save the ends cut off just incase the section remaining is too stiff. May need several adjustments until just right.
Trimmed the cat whiskers and took a MT 50 foot double door boxcar that is much heavier than the little ore cars that I will be using up there. So far the operation is a success in that it rolled over the whisker stub with no issues and the car is holding nicely in place. I will test again with a string of ore cars later once I dig them out of storage. I am going to install a short red or orange colored post along side of the track at each whisker point mainly to keep from destroying them when I clean track up there. 100_4628-5 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 11:41 AM
An excellent solution to a problem that many have experienced for years. I believe even John Allen mentioned this problem occurring on the Gorre & Dephetid years ago. Obviously he was not a cat person.
I have the option of using whatever portion of the cat whisker that does the job as far as allowing cars over the whisker and having just enough resistance to keep the string from rolling down onto the trestle. Remember these things taper and are much more flexible at the end.
Other than having some issues in keeping the truck pins in place the ore cars did nicely being backed into the mine spur sidings. Both empty and full cars had no issues on either mine track. First revenue run was made today as the empties were pulled up and the first loaded cars picked up. The mine and the RR are both generating revenue. First consist of loaded cars down the incline. 100_4630-9 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 3:09 PM Having successfully navigated the steep 5% and sometimes 7% grade and sharp curvature old number 13 a 44 tonner pulls in Hog Wallow Junction with a consist of five heavy refined Moly ore cars trailed by a four wheel bobber caboose of the Turtle Creek Central RR. A more modern TTC caboose sets at the station that is used in mainline service. The bobbers are only used on the incline route. Shortly after a quick service and some time for the brakes to cool she will head up for another cut of loaded cars, pull them out and then shove the waiting empties from the 2nd track under the loader. Old #13 is usually double headed with #12, also a 44 tonner, but #12 is in the shop today in Friday Harbor. 100_4632-10 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 3:16 PM The ore cars are some early Atlas models that were painted a primer gray. Decals were made on a Inkjet Printer and the data is from a MS data sheet. Minimal data on the cars. It has been so long since I created the ore loads that I seriously don't know what I used except that the ore, colored a light blue to an off white is glued onto pieces of styrene designed to fit the cars. May have been plaster talus that I ground a little finer and then colored. I have a few more in the storage box and most likely will acquire some more. Those will be left in whatever road name they come in as unless I happen to have some more decals tucked away in my decal box. 100_4633-12 by John Moore posted Aug 12, 2015 at 3:46 PM
Very impressive, John. When I saw the first photo and was reading the text, I was worried the cars might pass the engine on the way down. But the engineer obviously did a fine job of feathering engine and train air so the couplers remained slack enough to balance forces and not derail the engine. Well done.
Here in the east we called that stuff "Reddog". Up into the 70s they surfaced highways and driveways with it, especially in Fayette and Somerset counties. Seeing the pictures on my computer for the first time after Tapatalk let me down, gotta say, I really like the backdrops, they add a ton of immersion to the layout.
I keep going back at looking at your Hog Waller Junction depot. I like the board and batten styling. That would make a nice laser kit.
Messing with my locos and cars on this I am slowly eliminating some. Tried out the Bmann 2-8-0 on the layout and for some reason it did not like the Peco turnouts. The Bmann S-4 also doesn't play well on the incline and has some derailment issues. Not ready to give up on either yet so I will be checking wheel gauging later and the front truck may need some tweaking on the 2-8-0 in the way of a little extra weight or springing to hold it down. So far the little 44 tonners are the stars of the show followed by the Shays so I may become more dependent on them than any other locos for my power. I am going to start testing my Class A Climaxes more and the 70 tonner mech. is under them. So far in the earlier running they have done well. Found out why I kept loosing trucks on my ore cars. The bolster pin holes have some cracks in them allowing the pins to loosen up. So besides taking them all in hand to darken down the MT trip pins and adjust a few I will deal with that also. Essentially the layout is completed except for installing the Lexan or Plexiglass front and doing some more cleaning up, especially the mill pond. So other than continuing to clean track and check gauging here and there I am done. There probably will be an addition here and there as time goes by. Still want to try a seaplane in the air over the layout. Show coming up in about a week so I may decide to go and see if the dealer that I have bought from before is there again. May just acquire a couple more 44 tonners and maybe a 70 tonner or two.
Received permission this AM to order two more 44 tonners that are on sale at my local pusher of things trains. The price is low enough that the gal at the Greenberg's show in Chantilly probably won't be able to come nowhere near that, and I may tack on a few more ore cars in the order. Spent some time cleaning track further this AM and cleaned the surface of the mill pond and stream. Used a liquid cleaner on the track this time and got rid of some more crud from construction. Locos were running good before and now even better. While I was cleaning the mill pond I could not remember if I had posted a picture of the Beavers after installing them. 100_4635-2 by John Moore posted Aug 13, 2015 at 1:03 PM It is Fall and a lot of leaves are in the pond from the trees around it. First Beaver is right below the lodge 2nd is at the log in the water.
I don't recall previously seeing this view. All of these Fall scenes are helping me feel cooler during these dog days of summer. Ugh.
John, thank you for keeping us mere mortals entertained. It has been a delightful experience. I wish you lots of rewards and honors at the upcoming show, you definitely deserve them. I'm curious why you're having tracking problems on Peco turnouts with your Bachmann 2-8-0. Mine, a Spectrum, has no problems with both Peco Long and Medium Electrofrog turnouts. I'm using Peco Flex in and out of all turnouts, which may or may not make a difference??????
Just a plain old Greenberg's show no contests or anything and I am not going to be showing anything there. Just going to maybe do some shopping for a few items if there are reasonable prices. See if anyone has any smaller N scale track cleaning cars since my favorite pusher doesn't have any in stock and some I hope cheap ore cars, and if not they will still be there gathering dust when I leave. If my favorite vender lady of things Bmann is there I will check her prices on a 70 tonner and make a decision whether to buy from her or order whichever is cheaper. I have to find them at $79 or under to make it worth my while to buy there. As far as the 2-8-0 problem with hitting the ballast upon entering a Peco turnout out, and that is running straight through and not diverging, I don't know yet. My old time 2-8-0 cruises right through it with no issues and so does the other small steam. Could be the trip pin on the pilot coupler but I haven't taken the time to look good at it yet. Meanwhile two new unlettered 44 tonners are ordered and should be here by Monday and the current 44 tonners need a coupler change out. MT list the 2004 as the coupler with some coupler box filing, but I may see if I can put a Z scale in there, which according to several source one can and I have a stock of them. Anything will beat that big honking dummy coupler on them since mine are the first run addition. The later ones had the working version although still oversized.
Went about trying to change out the 44 tonner couplers this AM but decided in the long run it was just too much hassle for these old eyes. I did find the automatic couplers I had removed from the Bmann 70 tonners when I used them to power the Class As so I decided to install them but not without a struggle. And I am just not hung up on whether they are a little bigger or not at this point. The dummies are off and working couplers are on and I did not have to struggle and modify a thing because using either the 2004 or the Z scale would require filing, and clipping things. Path of least resistance and I am happy. Short video of the double headed 44 tonners running with 8 cars. And another with 11 cars counting the caboose with a 44 tonner running as a mid train helper which seems to be working out flawlessly. Been running about forty minutes now without a hiccup. And that is a little faster than I will run normally. Was looking over the layout today and noticed a Feral Hog missing. During cleaning yesterday I had found it loose and had laid it beside the track forgetting to re-glue it down. Found it later out in the hallway. Deeekus!! Any way it is now in the middle of the track right where the caboose string starts on the end of the video, challenging any and everything to move it.
