The D&J Railroad -- From Scratch

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D&J RailRoad said:
I didn't even notice the earthmover. I had put it up there out of the way while I was working the wall plaster.
I'm looking at mini cams for these videos. The Samsung HMX-F90 is a bit to big for a flat car. It over hangs and makes the car kinda top heavy causing roll overs on occasion. I picked up a Cobra CDR 820 at Target this morning. A very small cam but the battery life is only in minutes.
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Ken,

I bought a "very cheap" "Micro Cam" that records at a resolution of 720 DPI with sound from a mob in China The entire Cam is no larger than an 1" square and can be attached to the front of a Steamer or Diesel it is so small - no "special" car needed to put it on.

I have it packed away but will drag it out and let you now exactly what it is. I think it cost me something like $15 ... perhaps that included shipping, can't remember. I figured for the price, if it doesn't work, haven't lost too much; however, if it does - then it will be perfect for Engineer View Videos.
 
I decided to take the Cobra back to Target and I ordered a min cam from B&H Video. It's a Sony, HDR AS20. Should fit on a flat car with no over hang and battery life is almost 3 hours. It also has WiFi of some fashion which may be interesting.
 
Nice buy Ken and a darn good price too. I have bought a lot of my electronics through B&H as well and have found them to be great to deal with.
 


I have done a lot of HD video work in the past and have bought thousands of dollars of video equipment and supplies from them.
 
Another thing that comes up looking at the last video -- a unit train on welded rail has a definite humming sound after the locos go by, although this may not be just due to a unit train -- I've heard the same hum on the White Pass & Yukon. I looked at the MR video covering the SoundTraxx SoundCar, and it has air brake sounds, clickety-clack, and so forth, but no modern train sounds like the hum you hear from a modern train without clickety clack. So the loco sounds on a video like yours are great, but somehow with a long train following, it would be great to have that prototypical hum after the power goes by.

I have a "detector" on my layout that gives a typical radio detector message as well.
 
Pacodutaco said:
Keep posting up the videos once you get the new camera. I love watching them as your layout continues to progress.
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I'm processing another one right now. The cam is in a passenger consist looking forward toward the locomotive. I will take a couple hours before I have it on YouTube.
 
Ok, here it is. A ride on the California Zepher through the D&J Railroad.

I'm thinking the next video will be a couple cars back from a steam loco so the smoke is visible and you can watch the track side signals change.

 
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Great video, again. Sure brings back memories for me riding in the North Coast Limited. After the dining car, the dome car was probably one of my favorite places on the train. I usually tried to get into the dome car closest to the front so I could see the signals change as the train passed them, just like in your video. Keep them coming.

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Have you figured out how long of a main line run you have ? Compared to your earlier videos, I see that you have got quite a bit of scenery completed. Can't wait to see some green to start showing up.

Well done, Again.
 
Great video Ken! That mountain is... well... a Mountain! Great work.

I like your idea for the next video, thanks for making them and for posting them, I always enjoy them.
 
montanan said:
Great video, again. Sure brings back memories for me riding in the North Coast Limited. After the dining car, the dome car was probably one of my favorite places on the train. I usually tried to get into the dome car closest to the front so I could see the signals change as the train passed them, just like in your video. Keep them coming.

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Have you figured out how long of a main line run you have ? Compared to your earlier videos, I see that you have got quite a bit of scenery completed. Can't wait to see some green to start showing up.

Well done, Again.
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The mainline is about 6.5 miles.
I'm working through the scenery shell now. Once that is completed, I'll start the detailing. Further down the road is painting a backdrop on the walls of the desert setting. I'm saving that for later after I learn how to do it then perfect my painting skills.
 
Thanks for the info on the main line. I sure wish I had the room you have. I attempted to expand into a family room in the basement years ago that would give an additional 24 x 14 feet but this move was voted down by the powers to be. Our kids were using it at the time. Now they're grown and out on their own, but the family room has turned into a place to store their "stuff" they don't have room for. I guess I could move it into one of the bedroom not in use, but then I would have to tear out a lot of the railroad to expand. I'll stick with what I have.

During our travels I visit a modeler in Missouri who belongs to a club that has a main line run that is somewhere over 12 scale miles long. I have joined in on operating sessions and I am guessing that running at scale speeds it takes almost 45 minutes to get back to the starting point. Amazing you have accomplished this on your own. Their operating sessions are top notch with a dispatcher, wireless communications and operating signal system. I'll have to give the dispatcher a lot of credit when over a dozen through trains are running as well as a number of local freights thrown into the mix. What a hoot!

Looking forward to the next video. Love the dome cars.
 
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I was looking at the first few pages of this thread, and I noted something I missed before:

"Minimum radii will be about 55" (110" circle)"

Boom. No wonder your trains look so good on the turns. This really puts things into perspective. I keep thinking about going below my self imposed minimum radius of 30" (60" circle), but after noting how good yours look, I will have to stick to 30 and live with the "not so great" looking results (I can not actually go much larger).

And again, your layout and videos are great. Thanks for sharing.
 
Like the video very much. Nice that you did it from the dome prespective for a change, rather than a cab ride. I thought your trackwork was very smooth, based upon how little the cars ahead jumped around. It will be interesting to see again, when you add more scenery.
 


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