I've been using JMRI switchlists for almost 10 years now, so I [and my guest operators] wouldn't have to carry around, and shuffle thru, thick stacks of car cards. I color-code my switchlists: On manifests I use green text for pick-ups, red text for set-outs; for yard switch lists red means incoming, green means outgoing.More SDL39 action on a yard transfer job at Hennepin Overland. We recently kickstarted switching operations using JMRI switch list. So far I am really enjoying this method over car cards. Very slick system!
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It's been a while. While I've been working on Nokomis District at the club, I've been pretty fizzled out on model railroading otherwise during the summer. That and tree issues at the cabin pretty much kept me away from running trains for a while.
Soooooo, I decided to run eight locos and 90 cars for fun.
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Some photo highlights from yesterday. NP #858, my Bowser RS3, also got a full LokSound & Scale Sound Systems install recently. The result is an RS3 model that sounds friggen awesome and draws a lot of attention.
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I've mostly used 858 as a switcher since the sound upgrade, so last night I enlisted it to help me shuffle some log cars between storage and the layout.
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The MRR bug bit me hard again (if you can't tell, since I am posting here again!) and that also means GETTING ALL THE PROJECTS OFF THE WORKBENCH. Included in that push is Hennepin Overland X10, a BlueBox rotary snowplow I saved from our "scratch & dent" sales pile. This model was a terribly overweathered GN rotary which I painted black, painted the blade yellow, and custom lettered for our RHS. I also cobbled together a coal tender out of random trucks and a really cheap body. The result is a big but lightweight pair with a lot of dead air inside. It has a 5-pole open frame motor to run the plow blade with a DH126 decoder, but otherwise I hope later on to throw a steam sound decoder at this set and really bring it to life.
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Also with us yesterday my friend Greg. He recently worked on his pair of MNS Fairbanks and brought them with to run some ops jobs.
Runs very well. Nice and smooth.That Bowser unit looks fantastic! How does it run?
Thanks KB. That was something I really wanted to do at the North Metro club, but I was never able to implement it. They wanted the fixed cars returned to exactly where they had come from. At the Hennepin Overland, we have a much smaller layout which we're trying to squeeze every available bit of Ops work from, so my idea was graciously accepted. It's not something I hear much about from other modelers.At roughly 6:30 in the video, you talk about your car repair process becoming part of the operations of the layout. Very clever. I like it!
Do you have a video of it running? How is the lighting and marker lights etc....?Runs very well. Nice and smooth.
Headlights and amber beacon only, no other lighting from the factory.Do you have a video of it running? How is the lighting and marker lights etc....?