Rainier Great Western Const Update

RGW Feb 19, 2007

  1. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Here's a recap from last night's work session. Doug was planting trees for most of the evening. We've adopted a processs of trimming commercial grade trees so we can get them as close to the backdrop as possible and to minimize the shadow. I'll try and get some shots of that for the next post.

    Ed was making adjustments to the scale. Turns out we needed a different sensor. The TrainBoss guys recommended a "rapid fire" sensor. By evening's end it was reading cars with much higher efficiency. A few more tweaks it should be good to go. I have a video of that in the works.

    Scott helped me out by cleaning up the pit of our Diamond Scale 134ft turntable. As with anything infrequently used on a large layout, it has become a repository of just about anything imaginable. Tools, track nails, excess wire, etc etc. While he did that, I started building the turntable deck. I've put off building the deck for about as long as I can. So here we go.

    After gluing the deck side frames to the provided end blocks, I set it aside to dry.

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    Later in the evening we added the center block to the main rotating post. I gently laid the frame in place for this shot.

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    Imagine that, a perfect fit. I set it aside to assure enough drying time for the glue. More on this next week.


    My other project for the evening was making progress on the Republic Services transfer station. The first stage was to cut styrene to fit the areas that become cement. Then gluing it to the foam with Aleen's.

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    Once dry it looks like this.

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    Once I was satisfied that everything set properly I put it in place until I can get more time to work on it.

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    I would have done more, but this is where Ed was set up fixing the scale. So I'll probably do more this weekend.

    Well, that's it for Tuesday the 4th. Cya next week. Thanks for checking in.


    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Oct 6, 2022
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  2. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Hi all, another work party in the books. Here's a recap. Ed put the finishing touches on the operating scale and we are all thrilled to bring that project to conclusion. The only thing remaining is to put the model structure and platform in place. We'll have more to say on that project once it is complete.

    Rey ran cars and locos in Black Diamond's Old Mine #11. He found all four turnouts needed refinement; including one tortoise that needed the fulcrum glued in place. Doug spent the evening adding more trees along the mainline.

    Scott and I worked on the next steps of the turntable build. I headed to the workbench to add details to the deck. In this case the rail wheel assemblies. One on each end of the deck.

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    Once these assemblies were complete I took the deck over to the turntable. Here it is in place. Scott had been busy gluing the ring rail in place with thick CA glue. He was able complete about 60% of the ring rail.

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    The key to the rail wheel assembly is that it runs directly over the ring rail. It has elongated openings where screws attach the assembly to the deck so that you can easily adjust to a good fit.

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    Very pleased with how this is coming together, but so much more to do. Did I mention this project was set aside in 2010 when we finished the turntable install? Yeah, literally nobody wanted this job, so it falls on me to get 'er done!

    Well that's it for this week. Thanks for checking in.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Oct 12, 2022
  3. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    Wow.. good job:)
     
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  4. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks, I just made a decent edit, you might want to read the post. Thanks for being so quick to reply!

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  5. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Here's a recap from Tuesday night. Scott was able to finish adding the ring rail to the turntable pit. He did a great job.

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    I brought over the deck to check the fit of the wheels to the ring rail. With a few minor adjustments we are all very pleased with the build.

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    Reynold found an issue with our EB1 block detectors and the Digitrak AR1 reverser. He and Scott tried to adjust CV settings on the EB1, but we called a halt to it just in case we accidentally reset everything on the railroad. There will be an email to NCE going out today.

    As I mentioned in prior posts, Doug has been scalping the backside of commercial trees in order to get them closer to the backdrop.

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    He shaves the back side of the tree with the Dremel and then puts it in place.

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    The fit eliminates any unwanted shadow a full tree would cast on the backdrop.

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    Here is a good illustration, the blue spruce has been shaved, the other three have not. The spruce casts almost no shadow, the other three all do.

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    This is a slow process, but well worth it. That's all there is for this week. More next time. Thanks for checking in!

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2022
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  6. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Good evening fellow modelers, here is tonight's recap of our Tuesday work party. Red letter day for Ed as he finished the weigh in motion scale.

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    It's hard to imagine how much longer this might have gone on had it not been for the revelation we needed a rapid fire sensor, not a standard sensor under the track. The platform acts as a light shield allowing the sensor to read each car and display imaginary results on the screen.

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    I'm happy for Ed, this went on for far too long. Now he can get on to something else he might like to do. Scott had nothing specific in mind when he arrived, so he decided to clean up and stage the eastern end of Renton Yard. He started with tree planting and general clean up of the UPS and Dairy Queen scene. He also detailed the VW van on the trailer.

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    Then he fiddled around with items in the yard itself, using a dump truck to make a mountain of excess ballast.

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    He finally restaged his Progress Rail electrical boom truck. Changing a light bulb requires how many model railroaders?

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    As for me, this project started this weekend and I completed another couple stages tonight. I'm building the turntable arch. Let me first say working with pot metal sucks. That said, I decided early on if something didn't work, the styrene supply was right near by.

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    You can see I replaced pot metal stantions with styrene. It became clear I was one bent stantion away from launching this project across the train room. So I switched to styrene. I need to finish the ladder and put in some work on the power connector that sits inside the brass tube.

    One last thing, the monthly Walther's mailer came out and low and behold they featured our golf course scene.

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    Kudos to Wain, since he did this scene. Thank you to Walther's for doing us proud. Much appreciated. Well, that's enough for one night. We'll see you next week. Thanks for checking in.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2022
  7. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    Thats some really cool stuff there Mike!
     
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  8. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Tom

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  9. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Hello and Merry Christmas. It's been a bizarre couple of months since my last post. Cruises, vacations, illness, you name it, the RGW crew has experienced it. I think we are close to being back to normal, but who knows.

    Scott and Rey spent the evening making modifications to our block detectors.

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    Rey had conversations with NEC and they gave him the process to customize the detectors. We can now set the amount of time the detectors cut power before they turn back on. For the most part ours are set to 3 seconds, some 5.

    I spent the evening building the walkway for the turntable. I chose to use 6x6 styrene for the deck support. We are using Micro Engineering bridge track versus the ties from the kit, so scratch building the walkway is required.

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    The 6x6 strips fit perfectly between the bridge ties with sufficient friction to hold them in place.

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    Next the deck planks and the railings. That's it for tonight. Thanks for checking in.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
  10. VinceP

    VinceP TrainBoard Member

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    Looking great
     
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  11. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    It’s been a crazy fall Michael! That is nice progress!

    Merry Christmas!
    Dale
     
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  12. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Dale, same to you. Merry Christmas.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  13. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Not much to discuss from last night, most of our team was at the Washington State history museum for Trainfest. They were docents for the Puget Sound Model Railroad Engineers layout on the 5th floor. You can check it out at psmre.org.

    Rey worked on fine tuning our EB1 block detectors. He looks to have them running very well. I got back to work on the turntable bridge. Spending the evening putting together the operator's shack. I honestly considered building this out of styrene, but opted to go with the pot metal parts provided. (Editors note, I absolutely hate pot metal). Anyway, I chose to paint it in RGW colors.

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    I fabricated a roof using left over corrugated material from my woodchip burner project. Later in the evening I cut the floor from 030 styrene, but ran out of time to paint it.

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    I'm waiting on my Evergreen Styrene order to finish the walkways. It may never arrive given the Midwest storms. But I'm in no hurry.

    Well that's it for now, thanks for checking in. Happy New Year to all

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  14. gjslsffan

    gjslsffan Staff Member

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    That turntable build is very impressive Mike!
     
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  15. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Thanks Tom.

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  16. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    Nice and exactly work. Happy New Year
     
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  17. RGW

    RGW TrainBoard Member

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    Tonight's update began with the mail delivery; surprising that it took this long, but the Evergreen order finally arrived. I purchased 2x4, 2x6 and 2x12 dimensional for the walkways. I started with the 2x6 top rail.

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    Once that was all in place I came back with 2x4 bottom rail. Then it was on to the walkways. These are 2x12's.

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    I'm really pleased with the results. As you can see, I staged the operator shack for the picture. With these items done I can fab the shack supports and then get to the real challenge, adding the center arch. Here's one last look at the process to date.

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    That's all for tonight. Thanks for checking in!

    RAINIER GREAT WESTERN RAILROAD
     
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  18. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    Once again it's a very clean job.
     
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  19. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Somehow my work with strip styrene never comes out as neatly as seen here. Very nice!
     
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  20. Dogwood

    Dogwood TrainBoard Member

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    I feel the same way. Everything looks super straight compliant here. Great.
     
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