Rainier Great Western Const Update

RGW Feb 19, 2007

  1. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Looking good Mike! You guys have sure come a loooong way.
     
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  2. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    I'm N scaler. Only look sporadically in the H0 threads. But this report is definitely very interesting. Absolutely great. Am curious to know more. Great work.
     
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  3. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Always happy to answer any questions you might have. Thanks for checking in. M

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  4. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Fun times tonight as the goal was to run trains on every inch of track and document any areas that needed attention. Everyone was given a pad of paper, a pencil, green frog tape and a black sharpie. As they navigated the layout they marked the glitches and took notes.

    It became clear that our issues boil down to three basic things; one, high ballast; two, dirty track and three, low coupler pin heights. Here's Rey pulling an empty coal hopper, banished to the rip track for a low coupler pin.

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    We finally had Scott take up residence at the workbench and assume repair duty. Here he is fixing a coupler box on a Kato Dash 9.

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    This picture is emblematic of the evening, Rey directing a consist over Molzahn Bridge, with a brite-boy and box cutter at the ready. Turns out the lead loco was repeatedly picking the center rail road crossing, so it was removed. You can actually see it just left of the consist. We'll thin it down and replace it later.

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    We were able to get a lot done over the course of the evening. I spent most of my time troubleshooting the marked items. Most were quick fixes, some took a bit longer, including a pesky solder joint that had come loose under the layout. All in all, a good night for progress.

    Thanks for checking in.



    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2022
  5. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    The joys of maintaining a large layout! Hang in there guys!
     
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  6. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    This will be a brief update for Tuesday's work party. While Ed and Rey worked on track issues; Doug, Scott and I made a major component change on the layout controls shelf.

    We took out the 3 NCE EB3 block detectors and replaced them with 8 EB1's.

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    NCE advised us via email that they had discontinued the EB3's due to known issues with sound decoders. The EB3's would no longer seek to restart the block once a short tripped the system. This meant we had to turn off the entire railroad to get things moving again. This became a sore subject during operations. It made the call to change an easy one.

    Here is how it looked before tonight:

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    You can see the EB1's eat up more space, require far more wires and prompted us to use J clips and wire routing to make it all work. You might also notice we swapped out the turnout power supplies. The Pyramid's were excellent, but the TRC's have variable power output, run much cooler and take up less space.

    I'm pleased with the results and happy to say everything fired right up and trains were moving again by the end of the evening. Thanks for checking in!



    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2022
  7. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Short and sweet update for tonight's work session. We all continued to whittle away at our track gremlins. Here is an example of what that entails.

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    In this pic we have a Kato Dash-9 crossing a Woodland Scenics steel plate road crossing (item 1148). In this pic you can see there is more than sufficient clearance between the plate and the coupler to pin.

    That was accomplished by pulling up the plate. Double stick taping it to a 1-2-3 block, taking it out to the garage and holding it against a spinning sanding station. With light, even pressure the sandpaper easily removes the plastic until you are satisfied the plate will no longer stand proud of the rails. You can see how that turned out in this picture.

    We also cleaned track and wheels. We completed all but one item tonight, but since one of the team started on it last week, we're leaving it for him to finish next week.

    Until then, thanks for checking in.



    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2022
  8. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    New project for yours truly, finishing the Wesco Supply Building with an interior at the loading dock.

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    The first step was building the interior structure. It's basically a 3 sided box that will be attached to the inside of the building. We're limited on depth, so we'll only be making it 1-1/2 inches deep.

    This is a storage warehouse so it will need industrial open grate shelving units. Here was my inspiration.

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    After searching for what I had in mind and finding ho scale shelving sorely lacking, I decided to scratch build them. That started with the chopper and a whole lot of styrene.

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    Then the build started.

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    The final assembly...

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    Here's a look at what I'm going for.


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    The open grate comes from a slightly modified Walther's fence system. A little trimming so they fit was the next step.

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    The main structure is orange and the cross members are black.

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    Using Aleen's Tacky Glue, the grates were added to the shelving units.

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    Setting it all aside for the night to let the glue set and I'll get back to this scene tomorrow during our work session. Thanks for checking in. M

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 6, 2022
  9. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The weathering on that concrete platform is excellent!
     
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  10. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Ken.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  11. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Interesting evening thanks to a surprise visitor. Larry Sloan visited the RGW tonight on behalf of the Pacific Northwest Region of the NMRA. He called this weekend to invite us to put the layout on their schedule for next May's annual convention. I told him I would discuss it with the fellas and asked him to come by.

    The visit was his 2nd to the RGW, his first was over 8 years ago, so the differences were substantive. We discussed our progress, he took photos and we all agreed to be a part of the convention.

    As for progress, Scott pulled out our three remaining wireless handheld controllers and set them up on the system. NCE requires each to have a unique address. Doug spent time replacing trees we've pulled off the layout while performing maintenance and Ed returned to the car scale to tweak it's performance. He did bring his own "foreign" power, a Pennsy SW9, very cool.

    As for me, with a visitor diverting my attention, I didn't have a lot of time at the desk, but I was able to get a set of Tichy crates built by evening's end.

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    Many more to build and then paint, but here you get an idea how it might look.

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    That's about it. Look to get more done next week. Thanks for checking in.


    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2022
  12. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Not a lot to post for tonight, but here's a little update. As everyone settled into their routine, I finished the second set of Tichy crates, then headed out to the garage to use the airbrush. I gave the crates a couple of coats of Tamiya buff. I'm on the fence about adding more color with a dry brush or wash, perhaps some combination of both.

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    While those dried I measured the openings in the building, transferred them to the interior shell, then glued the racks in their respective locations. After they dried, I started applying lighting to the interior.

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    I'm framing the Woodland Scenics nano lights with Ngineering aluminum lamp shades, item N70058. They may add little to nothing other than aethestics, we'll see after we fire them up.

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    I want the glue to thoroughly dry, so no more activity on the scene until this weekend.

    That's it for tonight, thanks for checking in!





    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 14, 2022
  13. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Great evening at the RGW tonight. We were joined by old friend Bob Leatha. Bob did great work during the two years he was part of our crew including all of the scenery, most of the layout and all of the piping at the Edwards and Bradford Lumber mill. Needless to say much of the evening was spent talking to Bob about his life in Oregon and his 1940's GN layout.

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    I completed the interior of the Wesco Building and put it in place.

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    Next will be addition of exterior lights and the main Wesco sign.

    The big news of the night was the establishment of connection to our old Lenz DIN plug system. Rey spent some time last week testing connectivity and mapping out wire connections. Tonight Scott soldered the system according to Rey's plan.

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    It worked! We then tested every din plug in the system with great results. Literally no issues. Locomotives responded to throttle inputs as expected. This event made Rey very popular! Side note, it's very beneficial to have a set of Boeing engineers on your layout crew.

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    Two other items from tonight. I set up a location for our uncoupling tools. We have 6 of the micromark units that light up with battery power and multiple Rix magnetic tools.

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    Lasrly, about two weeks ago we pulled out my Roco dcc crane and tried operating it with the NCE. It proved a bit of a challenge, but this weekend Scott found some instructions online and tonight he was able to make it work beautifully.

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    The swivel, the boom and the hook were definitely on display as we closed the evening. Very fun night. Thanks for checking in.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 21, 2022
  14. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I really like what you created to keep those uncoupling tools. Very cool idea! (y)
     
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  15. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Lotta progress there Mike! I’m liking your updates!
     
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  16. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Dale, I enjoy doing them.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  17. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Quick update for Tuesday the 27th, I was able to finish the lighting on the Wesco Building. I temporarily hooked it up to the Woodland Scenics just plug system and tested it out.

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    I'm very happy with it so far. The figure set is from Model Tech Studios. They make a wide assortment of figures.

    Rey and Scott circumnavigated the layout tonight using a consist of a BNSF SD70 Mac in Executive livery and an MRL SD70ACe followed by 20 coal hoppers. Here is the train exiting the top level of our 6 turn helix.

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    Once they finally made it back to Seattle Yard it was all smiles. We were also happy to welcome back our former Chief Engineer, Wain, who picked the perfect time to be here instead of Florida.

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    Well that's it for now, thanks for checking in!!

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2022
  18. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Thats a great update Mike. Great to your crew together. As info that BN MAC needs the HE handrails installed, or it needs caution tape all over the front, and in trail. :D:D
     
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  19. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Understood Tom, it's being relocated back to the RIP shed as we speak!

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Sep 28, 2022
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  20. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    The Wesco Building looks fabulous!
     
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