The email notification for this post said "whiskey couplers". Sounded interesting, but I note it has been corrected.
I saw that, was tempted to leave it and see who caught it, but discretion got the better part of valor!
Tonight's session was more of the same, but definite progress. Doug was off tonight, having taken his bride to Garrison Keeler. I offered some witty anecdotes to change his mind but for some reason he declined. I'm crushed. In his absence I sat myself in front of the south wall and began adding detail scenery to his already great work. Here are those shots. Of course there is much more to do, but you get a sense of where we're going. Bob spent the evening stringing wire between the posts on the guardrail. That was finite work requiring a visor. The results are fantastic. Wain was back from vacation and he and Scott added some landform detail to the turntable area. The idea here is to convey the idea that the railroad cut into the existing hillside to put in the yard lead. Wain also got the ballast down on the yard lead. Ed continued wiring up the switches, which is no easy task given the size of the switch. Reynold was busy detailing a flatcar, repleat with moss. We'll get pics of that soon. Well that's a wrap from here, thanks for checking in. M
As we wrap up some of our recent projects, we turned our attention to what's next. As a result, Tuesday's work session was filled with a lot a dialogue on future projects. Wain and I spent a great deal of time contemplating the yard controls for Franklin and Stacy yards. Franklin has only 8 switches, so routing won't be that complex. Stacy on the other hand is a challenge. It has at least 25 switches and we came to the conclusion it needs two panels. Here are the notes from our discussions: Tough to read I'm sure being in pencil, but you get the idea of what's to consider; a tortoise at each turnout, lighting, push buttons, etc. In another part of the evening, Bob and I discussed the piping in the lumber yard. We need to run pipe from a couple of buildings to each of the woodchip loaders. It started with the "what do we want" conversation and then Bob drew the design as follows: Then using the Plastruct catalogue: He created a parts list: Which I ordered via phone today. Plastruct assured us of delivery by next Tuesday. Scott added more wash and rocks to the retaining wall: He also added more scenery to the railfan scene: Not a bad night all things considered. We also had a red letter fit of brilliance by Doug. But I need to get some pics before I give that up. More later. Thanks for checking in. M
Great progress on your layout. Sounds good to plan the next projects. Keep up the nice work. Regards,Chris
That time of week again where we summarize the previous night's work session. Lots to get to so here goes. Doug has been diligently working the SE corner getting in lots of trees. Here he is making one of our high end Moose Creek trees. Here are two shots of his work. This is all coming together. Doug is our tree guy and I come along behind and detail the underbrush. We got the Plastruct order in for our lumber mill piping. Bob got right to it, working on one of the cyclones. Yours truly with a big assist from Ed got the lighting installed in the Cedar River scene. Scott worked on the turntable area getting the barren areas covered with our earth tone paint. He also put a coat down on the landforms he installed last week. We also received our shipment of 24awg solid wire to continue our turnout connections so Ed was busy with that. Rey was working on a bnsf 89' flat which looked pretty cool by evening's end. That pretty much covers it for now, thanks for checking in. M
I have to paint a section of the back drop very soon. I'll try and video some of that and give you some of the tips that we use.
Your making me feel guilty I have not been near the layout this year mainly due to the hot weather but i will have to start again soon
Tonight we continued working on our scenery, electrical, piping and fleet projects. Ed made great strides on the Renton switch machines getting four wired and ready to go. Reynold put the finishing touches on an 89ft flatcar that went into service by night's end. Doug and I hit the scenery trail, putting in trees all over the layout. Here are two pics; first Doug's work on the east wall and second, my efforts on the north wall. Bob continued his great work in the lumber mill area, getting several feet of the piping in place and mocking up the balance of the piping system layout. I am thrilled with how this is looking and coming together. Bob is a craftsman and we are lucky to have him with us. More next week, thanks for checking in. M
Yeah they are, and the superintendent needs to get the Cedar River bridge done so we can actually do that!
Took my own words to heart during a day off and made progress on the Cedar River Bridge. Here is the kit: Modifying it from 128 ft to 115 ft means several calculations and it does affect a few column angles, which will be challenging. As you can see in upper left of the directions, about 60 rivet plates needed to be cut first. That was fun. Not! Then I cut the vertical columns, followed by sanding each end square. The Northwest Short Line True Sander works wonders for that. Once I measured and cut the upper and lower horizontal columns, it was assembly time. I marked the location of each vertical column with tape, then glued it in place. While truing it up with a square, I added one of the rivet plates. Once set, flipped it over and added the other side. Here I have one full side done, the other about to begin. More later. M
Two more bridge pics before I call it a night. First all the diagonal I-beams are now in place: Second, a quick test for fit above the river: More tomorrow. M
