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Mark Boyce posted:

Mike, The panel looks really sharp!  Looks like you did good at the show.  That crane is impressive!!  The molds are nice too!  

Thanks Mark, the train show was kind of a bust. Not as many vendors or tables as before! But it was a good time, got a chance to meet P51 Lee! What a nice guy we chatted for a little while! 

Today l worked on (dunno if you call this scratch-building, if using plans from an almost completed logging bunkhouse kit to build a matching cook house) the cookhouse.  Exterior walls with windows and doors cut, as is floor.  Building the subframe under the floor that sits on two skid logs.  Wonder how loggers skidded these...with crawler tractors, locomotives along side the track, or "20 mule teams" before crawlers?  These are about twice as wide as a flatcar.  Can't picture these on a flatcar, when the car itself might be too wide to more than barely get over some of the logging roads in photos 

Lou1985 posted:

Installed an ERR AC Commander in a 69 year old 2343 Santa Fe F3. An ABBA  set with a Railsounds II B unit from 1997 leads El Capitan from a signal stop. Runs pretty well for 69 years old if you ask me. 

 

That's a good looking set of F3s.  Is it restored or original ?

Leapin Larry,  Great photos,  those Santa Fe F3's pulling the El Capitan make one beautiful train.   

Al,   Thanks for sharing the photos of the removable roof electrical.   It would be a shame to permanently mount a roof on that piece of work.   Just incredible attention to detail, an amazing well done build.   

Mark -  Congratulations, you're on the way .   I know it's been a long time since the design started, and then the re-design to incorporate the expansion , so it must feel really good to be assembling benchwork.   

For me another 6 hours of wiring, and making improvements to some early wiring today, but I finally got the trains running again around 9:30 tonight.   At least now all (4)  180 watt power districts are wired in, and the 24  individual sidings, spurs and mains have all their 10 to 15 amp switches wired.     

Dan Padova posted:
Lou1985 posted:

Installed an ERR AC Commander in a 69 year old 2343 Santa Fe F3. An ABBA  set with a Railsounds II B unit from 1997 leads El Capitan from a signal stop. Runs pretty well for 69 years old if you ask me. 

 

That's a good looking set of F3s.  Is it restored or original ?

The A (one powered, one dummy) units are 1950 2343 chassis that I repainted. I never cared for black pilot shields and black rear steps so I painted them silver. The shells on the A units are replacement shells Lionel issued for the conventional classics F3s. The Railsounds II F3B (6-18136) is from 1997, the other dummy F3B is from 1994 (6-18115).

Corner Field Model RR Museum posted:

HMM, any Clive Cussler there, LOL.

 

Yanno, Dirk Pitt Sr.'s hangar would make a nifty scene to model...  Private railcar,  Me-262 and more classic cars than one can shake a stick at!    

In other news,  here's James' first day at work at the Museum pulling the Hogwarts Express...  

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Apologies for the cellphone image,  but my camera was out of batteries.   

Mitch 

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Orderly Chaos:  It's 3:00 A.M. and I am calling it a night.  Finishing the Lionel Challenger Dining Car is taking more time than usual.  I painted the interior a few days ago.  Now I am painting more people to put in the car.

Tomorrow I will hopefully finish the car.  There is a lot of grinding and careful cutting to place these figures in a realistic pose in such confined areas.  I feel like a Civil War surgeon with a pile of limbs, all legs, in the trash can.

I also get to dig out from all the snow that is continuing to fall here in Cleveland, Ohio.  It is NOT HOT in Cleveland.  Burrrr.

Sincerely, John Rowlen

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mike g. posted:
Mark Boyce posted:

Mike, The panel looks really sharp!  Looks like you did good at the show.  That crane is impressive!!  The molds are nice too!  

Thanks Mark, the train show was kind of a bust. Not as many vendors or tables as before! But it was a good time, got a chance to meet P51 Lee! What a nice guy we chatted for a little while! 

I agree with every point you made. Not nearly as many vendors, but worth the trip as I also enjoyed our discussion.

Afterward, I ran into several other friends in the hobby. I also encountered two guys from my WW2 living history group who I had no idea were model railroaders as well!

Also had a good BBQ lunch at Famous Dave's after the show.

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CSX Al posted:
TedW posted:

Al, I’d be interested in some technical info on your lighting.

I used 27 pico and Nano LED's. I got them from Evans Design. They are warm white. They have a resistor wired on them. These ones are rated for up to 12v DC. I wired them all together and are hooked to a DC transformer running less than 12v.

Thanks so much.  They do look great.  I’ll look for them on the Evans site.  

Well we got only about 6” of snow so far. Ice pellets are really beating the house now. Time to head down to the layout.  I’ll use the US ARMY 44 Ton diesel with the old winged plow.  Need to add extra sand. Storm should end by 5PM. I heard a Train go by Jones’ at 7AM when I was out with the dog. Not sure if it was a freight or Passenger train between Maine & Boston.

GO PATRIOTS!

Chris, I am glad you got the wiring done under the table! I bet it really feels good to have the trains running again!

Elliot, right now it runs on 4 AA Batteries. I hope to get some work on that and my control panel today as long as nothing comes up!

John, the car looks great! I am so sorry you had to stay up till 3AM to get where you are, but it does take a while to cut legs off! LOL

Lee, it was really nice to meet you! Sounds like you had a more productive time then I did. Nice that you were able to meet others there that you know. I should have got some Dave's before I left, but I was ready to go! I sure hope its better next year~!

Lou1985 posted:

Installed an ERR AC Commander in a 69 year old 2343 Santa Fe F3. An ABBA  set with a Railsounds II B unit from 1997 leads El Capitan from a signal stop. Runs pretty well for 69 years old if you ask me. 

 

What a gorgeous set. As a kid, that's the exact set I used to dream about, except back then, we had only battery operated sound! And yours I stunning! Nicely done, Lou!

George

mike g. posted:

Larry, what a great train to run on such a wonderful layout! Looks Great!

Lee the transformers turned out very nice! Great Job!

Al, thanks for sharing the information on the lighting! We can all use that information!

Tonight after the train show I worked on my control panel, I hope to do more tomorrow! Here is a picture of the control panel and the rock molds I picked up at the train show. Also a crane I picked up on the way home at a garage sale for $10. Something for the grandkids to play with in the train room. Now all I have to do is figure out how to switch it from batteries to ac power!20190119_173814

I see great cranes..., I mean brains, think alike! Gotta keep those kids entertained! True kid empathy if ever I saw it!

George

JerryG posted:

CSX AL, your build is completely awesome.  Beyond belief.

What is newest to me is your engineering of the electrical.   You've given me a few ideas that are completely new.  Where did you get bronze sheeting, and what type of lamps have you included?

I remain, completely envious of your obvious talent for this thing of ours.  (haha, La Cosa Nostra)

Jerry

Jerry, You can buy the bronze sheeting from McMaster Carr

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GeoPeg posted:
mike g. posted:

Larry, what a great train to run on such a wonderful layout! Looks Great!

Lee the transformers turned out very nice! Great Job!

Al, thanks for sharing the information on the lighting! We can all use that information!

Tonight after the train show I worked on my control panel, I hope to do more tomorrow! Here is a picture of the control panel and the rock molds I picked up at the train show. Also a crane I picked up on the way home at a garage sale for $10. Something for the grandkids to play with in the train room. Now all I have to do is figure out how to switch it from batteries to ac power!20190119_173814

I see great cranes..., I mean brains, think alike! Gotta keep those kids entertained! True kid empathy if ever I saw it!

George

Hey I have a crane similar to that sitting on the roof of my race car in a building out back next to my camper!  I think it has wheels on it.  Thats a mountain for army men and some toys from my childhood.   : )

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Jim 

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Anthony K posted:

Last weekend I got the last of the track in place for the west end of my yard.  This weekend I wired and tested; so far, so good.  I also started to place dwarf and mast signals for the running tracks.

Here's the west end with mains 1 and 2 to the left.

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Here's a view from the east end.

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Do you have a youtube channel?  

Jim 

mike g. posted:

Larry, what a great train to run on such a wonderful layout! Looks Great!

Lee the transformers turned out very nice! Great Job!

Al, thanks for sharing the information on the lighting! We can all use that information!

Tonight after the train show I worked on my control panel, I hope to do more tomorrow! Here is a picture of the control panel and the rock molds I picked up at the train show. Also a crane I picked up on the way home at a garage sale for $10. Something for the grandkids to play with in the train room. Now all I have to do is figure out how to switch it from batteries to ac power!20190119_19291620190119_17374820190119_17375720190119_173814

Mike the control panel looks great.

Anthony K posted:

Last weekend I got the last of the track in place for the west end of my yard.  This weekend I wired and tested; so far, so good.  I also started to place dwarf and mast signals for the running tracks.

Here's the west end with mains 1 and 2 to the left.

IMG_4861

IMG_4863

 

Here's a view from the east end.

IMG_4864

 

 

Nice Anthony, I love pull through yards very realistic. Is your whole layout a parameter and or around the room? How many main lines?

Lou, The Santa Fe F3 sounds and runs as great as it looks!!

Mike, I'm glad you met Lee at the show!

Chris, Thank you on the congratulations!!  I'm looking forward to making some progress, finally!

Mitch, Dirk Pitt's toys would make for some good modeling.  My favorite character is Isaac Bell, his would fit the stean era!  James is doing an admirable job handling the Hogwarts Express!

John, And the beat goes on!  How many more cars are you going to populate?

Anthony, the yard tracks and dwarf signals look great!  Looks like you plan for a lot more railroading than I realized!!

I don't know if I will get to the Mianne benchwork today.  I was out twice, cleaned off and defrosted the car and van and shoveled the walk.  The second trip was to snow blow the driveway, with my little blower.  I still have to go out and snow blow my mother-in-law's driveway even though she doesn't have a car.  (Where is my deadbeat brother-in-law when you need him?  He has a truck and monster blower!)  Then I'll be off to my dad's house to check the heat in the pump house.  At least I don't shovel there, just trudge in and out.  

Anthony, now that is a yard to impress most! Your work looks great!

Lou, very nice! Good job on the engine!

Jim, dig that stuff out! I bet it would look great on your layout! LOL

Dave, Thank you Sir!

Ok Mark, your spose to be taking it easy! All that snow work is not good for the train body! If you don't have to go anywhere just wait till it melts and work on the bench! LOL Really please take it easy today, don't over do it!

CSX Al posted:

Nice work everyone.

I have all the lights installed in the mill. One thing I wanted was being able to remove roofs etc. without having to unplug lighting. So I use some phosphorous bronze sheeting and also some Kadee coupler springs soldered onto bronze plates to make connections.

Here is the bottom of main roof section with leds installed on bottom of rafters.

Here are the 2 spring contacts on the bottom of the roof

Here are the two contacts on top of saw floor wall that contact with springs above

Here are the 2 contacts on the peak of the saw filers wall that is at the very top of mill

Here is the underside of the filers roof with LED's and you can see the 2 spring contacts in the foreground

The side office section that goes over trestle/track is a seperate piece that can be lifted off trestle.

I wired these two contacts to the side of the main roof of mill

and here is the side of the office that goes up against mill

And here are some photos with the mill put back together

Now I have to glue down boards in saw tables, put some figures in and install control levers on saw floor and put the details up in the saw filers room. Got give him something to do. Oh yea, add some saw dust

 

Masterful!

Mark, just amazing! Love the winter look!

Dave, are you sure your not a landscaper! Looks great!

Mark, I am glad you made it back safe! 

Carl, I feel you! Do it, then do it again! that's how my body work turns out! LOL

So today I went out and worked on the control panel and a little bit on the crane! Not to much and not worthy of pictures.

On a side note I hope I don't offend anyone, but I am asking for prayers for me 15 month old granddaughter as she was taken to Seattle's Children's Hospital with Pneumonia her little right lung is in bad shape right now!

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