Foto fun Friday 1st June


Alco look's like you had fun, i liked the bench's made from axle's and the drag line bucket

Paul i am useing fish tank gravel of all things, a local garden store was having a clear out sale of stuff that was not selling, i got 12 tub's of the stuff from light grey, dark grey and black (scale power plant size). The weight is an issue, with 12 ballast wagons full you have a scale 1000 tons behind the loco but this is not an issue on my flat track, throw in an incline and it would be a differant story, as for unloading, it's the good old "hand of god approach".

I am going to give the loader a good workout and if after washing the ballast i still get it jaming up the sliding mechanism i may consider building an auger instead, there was one in MR a few years ago powered by a window wiper motor onto a wood drilling auger housed in a piece of PVC pipe, maybe this is the way to go

The coal loader is a very impressive structure, a working one would be brilliant.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
:D Yeah it was great...I am hoping to plan another trip again...this time I will be taking my Foam cruiser it goes where no other goes...:D

Harvey was great to hang with. Having someone who knows the subs and systems because he works for "them" but needs to remain in the secret society...LOL No really it is nice to have that added knowledge of the RR system in that area plus having Harvey's radio was awesome. I brought my scanner but dang if I didnt check it the night before for the recorded entries. For some reasons my memory banks cleared out on it and lost all the frequencies and I even had fresh batteries but maybe my little back up battery was dead that retains memory of the frquencies? There were some areas we would have liked to have gone but when you are in a small econo car you are limited a little bit as far as where you can go, but the positive is the gas miles are great. Sometimes depending on what you plan for the trip you can plan according for various sight see locations etc...

I think we will go again and there will be 2 open seats if anyone else wants join us. My Foamer mobile will have all the special accomodations. :D
 
Here is a photo of the third version of the sliding gate I used in my coal loader.
frame.jpg

I have a screw type switch machine under the benchwork. A wire in a tube goes up the channel of the leg to a bell crank. You can see the gate itself on the right side of the photo. It is made out of .020" plastic to try to avoid the clogging issue. Not shown is a funnel that sits with its opening on top of the plate in the photo. I haven't used it a whole lot, maybe loaded a dozen cars or so, but it only jammed once and that was an electrical issue.
http://members.trainorders.com/pmack/loadout/spill.htm is the result and cleanup.
 
Just like the pile i had when i loaded the hopper without first closing the gate, you live and learn
 
Oh shoot, I went to one of the LHS's today to see what they had gotten in the way of new trains... I had to walk out to avoid spending money I didn't have! Alone I noticed the following that I'd like to buy:
2x Athearn Genesis Auto-Max
Walthers Gold Line Tri-level auto rack
5x two packs of Athearn RTR 53' container chassis (UP, SP, BNSF, BN and some other one)
Athearn RTR BNSF H1 Dash 9
Athearn RTR UP Flag dash 9
Athearn RTR F59PHI, Metrolink
Walthers built-ups traffic lights
Walthers cornerstone details (steel coil loads, city details...)
And last but not least, all 7 other BNSF locomotives I was trying to decide between for my anniversary gift, are still there.

They've also added stock in the way of 20+ train sets!
 
Wow, working coal loaders. Who'd a thunk it? Nice work! :cool:

Josh, You made it out of the LHS without spending any $$$? You sir, are a man of extreme! :D

We've been doing some RR work today. This Stewart F unit has a long history. I bought it from a friend and it turned out that the motor was bad. It got a new Kato HM5, Soundtraxx electronics, some CalScale details and a weathering job. The details and weathering were done today.


IMG_2381.JPG


IMG_2385.JPG
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Ive gone and done it !!

Steve, great videos, I think video takes you there batter than a picture.

Josh, I didn't make it out of the LHS. I have been on several forums this week seeking advice about DCC. I went to the LHS armed with my new found knowledge.

I had decide that the only way to decide was to have a dabble. Rather than spending a fortune on a system (like a lenz) I wanted to get a feel. I ended up buying a Bachmann EZ. and four decoders. (2 Bachmann 2 Lenz Silver)
First up class 57 Bachmann, fitted bachmann chip no problems, second up Vitrains class 57 Lens chip no problem runs better than bachmann, crawl is outstanding. Better factory set CV settings too. Then the controller went funny and all the lights came on. Back to LHS swapped for a new one running okay now, LHS thinks the unit has a loose connection inside.
Next up Britannia steamer, 2 hours later got the chip in !!! Couldnt get the body back on very little room inside the hornby shell, also found out in the last 20 mins of fit, that the tender pick up wires have to go in a particular slot or the shell fowls :rolleyes: Now working fine with its lenz chip.

So I have 3 chipped locos, and have the indoor layout running DCC.:D Now planning how to wire the control up with a four core trailing cable for the garden layout, thinking of using telephone sockets and plugs to plug into outside.

Im DCC hooked !!!

John
RJR
 
Great job Grandeman! Sounds like you're having fun there too John...

It took allot of work, but I figure if I wait, I can buy more!
 
Hello everyone.
As of late, the only thing I have to offer this thread is some "attaboys". I see that lots of you are making progress and the photos are great.

Steve, I love the ballast loader.

Grande Man... I'm impressed as always.

I did actually get the first few 1x4's attached to the wall for my upper level. I hope to get the framing done tomorrow. Once the upper level framing is in place I can start some much anticapated scenery work. I have looked at plywood long enough! Again, nice work everyone. Dave
 
Steve, great videos, I think video takes you there batter than a picture.

Josh, I didn't make it out of the LHS. I have been on several forums this week seeking advice about DCC. I went to the LHS armed with my new found knowledge.

I had decide that the only way to decide was to have a dabble. Rather than spending a fortune on a system (like a lenz) I wanted to get a feel. I ended up buying a Bachmann EZ. and four decoders. (2 Bachmann 2 Lenz Silver)
First up class 57 Bachmann, fitted bachmann chip no problems, second up Vitrains class 57 Lens chip no problem runs better than bachmann, crawl is outstanding. Better factory set CV settings too. Then the controller went funny and all the lights came on. Back to LHS swapped for a new one running okay now, LHS thinks the unit has a loose connection inside.
Next up Britannia steamer, 2 hours later got the chip in !!! Couldnt get the body back on very little room inside the hornby shell, also found out in the last 20 mins of fit, that the tender pick up wires have to go in a particular slot or the shell fowls :rolleyes: Now working fine with its lenz chip.

So I have 3 chipped locos, and have the indoor layout running DCC.:D Now planning how to wire the control up with a four core trailing cable for the garden layout, thinking of using telephone sockets and plugs to plug into outside.

Im DCC hooked !!!

John
RJR

John the Bachmann system is made by Lenz, I read somewhere that you maybe able to expand the EZ system with Lenz components, they make a cool radio system using a cordless phone.

Just a thought, Ken.
 
Steve, love that loader! Animation certainly puts life into a layout. What do you guys use for parts? R/C type motors/linkage/hardware/etc.?
 
KJD That was really cool gate there. Josh nice looking little Bobcat there. Eric always loved the Burlington ! And it is hard to walk through the Hobby Sop without buying . Takes lots of fortitude !!!
 
Steve, love that loader! Animation certainly puts life into a layout. What do you guys use for parts? R/C type motors/linkage/hardware/etc.?

I use parts I have laying around. For the loadout, I bought the switch machine but everything else is scratchbuilt. On my rotary dumper it uses parts from an old VCR, discarded Burger King display, switches from an old car stereo, gears from an EKG readout and scraps of plexiglas from work. The rest is Evergreen. When approaching a project, I can tell a motor needs to turn something so I put a motor there. Basically, make it do what you can see it needs to do, if that makes sense.
 
Rex much the same here, an old RC servo with the potentiometer ripped out, two sizes of u section, 1 brass and 1 alloy ( they were the only one's that fit together purfect) everything else is scrap stuff
 
Thanks Paul/Steve for that info. I always wondered where to get parts for such a project, but I see that I need to think outside the box:D . As a little kid and in the early 50's, animated objects were real big on the commercial layouts I would see at Christmas. I have always remembered them and have a desire to do something like you guys. Good work to both of you!;) :)
 
For my two cents worth this week I offer,some road and rail competion on my N scale photo diorama between CSX and my new Athearn Mack Model R and Roadway tamdem pups.

newtruc3.jpg


and my newest building kitbash temporairily setting in the middle of the road (the lighting is really good there) for photo purposes.The building will be a furniture store and is bashed from two DPM Hilltowne Hotel kits minus two floors. As you can see it is not quite finished yet.

storef.jpg
 
Here are some pictures of my SD70MAC. I still have to touch up a couple places but it looks pretty good so far.
img6168ur1.jpg

img6167lx2.jpg

-Smoke
 
Last edited by a moderator:



Back
Top