Recent content by kenw

Almost 30 years ago I built my 1st (and only so far) Ambroid kit, a pair of bulkhead flats modified from the original plans for pulpwood flats. While one of them has carried a load most of that time, the other has been unloaded and feeling a bit unloved. So recently I build a pipeline load after...

Sandpaper as asphalt As I mentioned previously, this is wet/dry sandpaper. Altho HO, it should work in any scale; a finer grit may be better for smaller scales.

yes, quite a bit. it helps to know what you are doing. If you are a bone-headed brute-force track scrubber, well, almost anything will cause problems. A sporadic and very light bright boy won't hurt a thing.

Well, 40 years in engineering taught me that, but for model railroad purposes it's close enough..... note the word "typically'......

That paint looks great. Be sure and post some pics after you try it. I always used a bit of Grimey Black to vary the surface of my sandpaper asphalt roads, and it really destroys the brush!

The problem I had with the tape on sandpaper was the tape sat up too much and appeared to float on the surface.

well, it's been doing fine in use for over 20 years. I believe the fears are overstated.

an easy way to convert the deck to one more appropriate for a typical bulkhead (as opposed to a sloped one for pulpwood) is to use Evergreen styrene sheet that has the 'wood' boards molded in. Cut to fit, paint and viola! Wood decking. This is the other Ambroid flat, this one with drill pipe...

I used a similar design using a Bright Boy pad. I beveled the ends to allow it to ride up and over, and mounted it so that it would float up and down on some screws (counterbored the pad to recess the heads). then a post on the bright boy up into the boxcar where weight rests to press it down...

what are the power requirements (usually stated in mW on the label) of the UTPs? a 1 amp power supply = 1000 mw typically, but longer wire runs may decrease that a little depending on the wire size you use.

Ambroid bulkheads These were originally pulpwood flats (Ambroid) but I modified the build to make them simple bulkheads which were more practical for my layout. I eliminated the center bulkhead and replaced the screen flooring with decking. Just this past weekend I added a pipe load.

I have purchased the Athearns as replacement for several P2K units and they work very very well. Some early replacements from Walthers cracked later, telling me they hadn't fixed the problem at that point. From what I can tell, it's not a matter of if they crack, it's when. I just keep a 6-pack...

Kadee PS2 2 bay covered hopper, ATSF. On my home layout

Well, it was in the shade when it was parked.....

Now all we need is a crew...