The wife's HO Atlas layout...

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Bruette said:
You have to have a place for the mail person to put the model railroad supplies!

Looks great to me Tony!
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Hmm - good point Louis, something for me to work on then :)

montanan said:
Geeze Tony, putting the mailboxes up there will make the mail carrier have to get out of their vehicle and climb a few stairs and probably cause them to whine.

Looks real fine.
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Yeah - sucks don't it! :rolleyes:

Thanks guys, so now I think it is time to (I feel sick) start the wiring for these three buildings and get them connected to a "secondary main accessories bus".

Why oh why do I do this to myself ??????????
 
Looks as though Montanan was right ... USPS has "complained" to the Town Authority about their mail man having to leave the comforts of his vehicle and do his job.

Last night, a Town work order was issued authorizing the "Tootsville Department of Roads and Transport" to commence excavations at RMB 1024, Tootsville, for the purpose of creating an off road parking facility for the property's at the a fore mentioned address. The work order sited "Safety Reasons" for the issuance of the order, despite the property's in question having been in their location for the past 75 plus years.

Excavation of the area began this afternoon; however, came to an abrupt stop when workers uncovered what appears to be a fairly major "sink hole". As of this report, work has (funnily enough) ceased on the excavations pending a Town Council Meeting into the problem.

This has effectively "Closed" the main road from Tootsville and has (ironically) caused a major "Safety Hazard".

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Just in ... the Town of Tootsville Administration has declared the area to be "Imminently Dangerous" but has denied any responsibility for the hazard, claiming that it was "unfortunate situation that could not possibly have been for seen."

Rumor has it that, as a result of the Town Administrations attitude to the problem created by their Work Order, the cost of filling and securing the "Sink Hole" will be at the expense of the 3 property owners at the address. Sources within the Town Administration stated that the financial burden of repairs is on the property owners due to the sink hole being, in part, beneath those properties.

One of the Property owners, and a major land owner within Tootsville, stated that the "...current Administration would be well advised to seek other employment immediately..." No response has been received, or known off, from the Town Administration at this time.
 


Yu gotta luv em mate, even in a fictional world. The good thing is that I can sack em any time I want, and I don't have to pay em termination pay, benefits, health care or any other thing - just show em the door and hope it hits em fair an square in the arse as they leave :).
 
USPS regulations specify the placement of mailboxes along side a roadway with respect to height and set back from the roadway. Looks like those folks will be picking their mail up at the local office until they comply with the regulations.

My grandmother lived in an area similar to what you have depicted. Her mailbox was mounted to an old steel wagon wheel with a vertical axle. She would put mail in the box and spin the wheel so the box was at the roadside for the mailman. After his delivery, she would go to the wheel, spin it and remove her mail. The box was only about a foot off the ground when she was putting/taking mail in/out. When turned to the roadside it was at regulation height. It would make an interesting model and all three mailboxes could be put on the same wheel.
 
Bob,

Your Grand Mother had a great idea and it would make an interesting model. That being said, USPS, like all government bodies, make these regulations to make it easier on them - not the consumer so to speak. Like most government employees, they want to do the absolute minimum to get the the absolute maximum in return.

Anyway, this thread isn't about rules and regulations and the real world travesties of governments. This is a "fantasy" layout where real world rules and regulations DO NOT exist. This world is actually a livable one :)
 
Gator,

Thanks mate, I like creating the occasional story line, especially if I can get in a dig at something that actually erks me in the real world, while keeping it light and (hopefully) humorous for this world, which by the way, I think IS the real world :)

I'm kind of looking forward to the Administrators response to the Major Land Owners remarks about his (and others) future career plans :)
 
I understand the Tootsville town council has been flooded with complaints from parents in town. Seems the parents were already concerned about the structural integrity of old man Wombat's house on the hill that has been vacant and deteriorating since he disappeared thirty years ago. The children have been exploring and daring each other to enter the old "Haunted" house for years. Now the kids have started the rumor that Mrs Wombat went after old man Wombat with an iron skillet and his body was buried where the sink hole is. The local sheriff has chased off the curious kids more than once when they got too close to the edge of the sink hole. The parents are concerned that one of the kids will fall in, and they want the town to fill the hole immediately.
 


Not to mention the newly formed cliff that is a safety hazard for the local children.

The begruntled town council member, threatened by Mr. Wombat, is bringing OSHA in to slap a huge fine on the employer of the excavation company and every party involved.
 
Recent comments have been met with some degree of humor by the residents of Tootsville, not the least the action being taken by the Town Administrator.

"...bringing OSHA in to slap a huge fine on the employer of the excavation company and every party involved..."
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As the work that was carried out, was carried out by the Tootsville Roads and Transport Department, it appears the Administrator is bringing action against his own Administration as well as himself, with himself being the primary respondent as a result of his position as the Administrator and the one who authorized and signed the work order in the first place.

As a result of the Administrators intentions, and in an attempt to show good faith to the Towns People of Tootsville, the remaining Administration Members voted unanimously to have the work at RMB 1024 resumed and completed as quickly as possible at the Towns expense. An expense, some members (who wished to remain unnamed) said was the Towns responsibility from the very beginning.

When the Administrator was asked about his intentions, and reminded of the above facts, he refused to comment other than to say "...I am a busy man..."

Ironically, all other members of the Administration have divorced themselves from the comments and opinions of the Administrator. An extra ordinary meeting of the Town Administration is also planned during which, they will seek a vote of No Confidence in the Administrator. Under the circumstances, it is more than likely that the vote will be successful which will result in the Administrators immediate termination under Town Rules pertaining to Conduct of Town Administrators.

The complaints lodged by "a few" of the towns people, regarding the old Wombat House, were address earlier this evening by the Police Commissioner. The Commissioner reminded the residence that,

"...The Wombat House is private property and, as such, (under law) any person found to be on or interfering with the property is able to be arrested for trespass, vandalism and criminal damage if applicable...I would also warn parents that should their children be hurt as a result of being unlawfully on the property, they will have no recourse of any kind..."

Mr. Wombat (Jnr) declined to make a comment regarding the ludicrous situation the town Administrator has placed himself, and the Town Administration, in. All he did was "smile and shrug his shoulders".

It does appear as though Mr Wombat Jnr's advice to the Town Administrator, earlier this week, was good advice and should have been taken.
 
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The Lighting has Begun.

Just started doing the lighting for the houses on the hill. Got two of them done, and connected to independent on/off switches when my drill died in the butt. The third, and other lighting, will have to wait till tomorrow:

https://vimeo.com/117650578

Obviously it is a low quality video and I need to learn how to do night/low light videoing, but it will/does give you an idea of what is going on.

What this does show though, is the need to paint the interior of the structures to stop the light bleeding through. I actually thought the exterior primer would have done that; however, that too will be done over the next few days.
 
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I read the above with great interest, but noticed that no mention was made of the environmental study on erosion due to water runoff from the steep slope surrounding the parking area. The Commissioner of Planning has expressed concern that the sink hole may have been caused by water run off, stating, "if the erosion problem is not addressed we may be seeing the sink hole reappear in the future and it could swallow up the junior Wombat's Corvette as surely as the sink hole under that Corvette museum down south last year". Further, the Planning Commissioner pointed out that if the sink hole becomes a recurring problem, and causes the road to fail, it will cut off the western access to the town which will require increased dependence on rail service to the town. Up until now, rail service has been not been as consistent as hoped due to ongoing construction and maintenance to the right of way.
 
Darn it Jim, just let things be will yu! lol

Okay, so I am now going to have address this issue - actually, it isn't me who needs to worry about them, the environmental studies that is - its the Town Administration ... so guess we'll have to wait and see what they say. Either them OR the more than likely NEW Town Administrator :)

On the side and seriously though, the sink hole that opened up beneath the Corvette Museum was a travesty. In all seriousness, and considering what was discovered afterwards, I can't understand why that hole, along with the others that are also suppose to be in the area, were not identified years ago.

I honestly cannot believe that who ever built and/or commissioned the building of the Corvette Museum didn't do, or have done, a geological survey of the area considering the purpose of the Museum. All I know is that it cost the Museum dearly and not just financially either.
 
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Jim,

Yes, all of my buildings will be lit eventually.

Need to do some "blacking out" of the buildings to stop the light bleeding through the plastic though. Knew that had to be done before I hooked those two buildings up, just forgot till I saw them lit.

Most buildings will have 2 lights in them, the ones in the (crappy) video only have the one self adhesive regular bulb Model Power lights. The 3rd will be the same. All of the others will LED lit and have 2 lights per building at least.

Each light will be connected to a terminal strip and to an On/Off Toggle switch so I can turn each light on and off as I want.

The street lights will be connected so they all turn on together. Any accessory lights (ie: in front of house light pole) will be connected to one of the house lights so the outside light comes on with the main house light.

As it stands at the moment, I will have:

15 street and accessory lights, and
25 lit buildings

When you consider that each building will have (a minimum of) 2 lights with each light running to an On/Off Switch - the lighting wiring is going to be fairly large, although not complicated. I will need another 24 or (at least) 12 Post Terminal Board though.

I estimate that the building wiring alone will add up to around 200' of wiring. That doesn't sound a lot, but when you are talking about that amount of wire in (roughly) 30" X 24" space, it is a lot. Organisation of that wiring is going to be imperative should there be any issues down the track. That wiring doesn't include the Bus and Feeder Wiring for the track either, or the wiring for the signals.

The biggest headache in doing this, is getting the wires through the bench work, everything else is easy and very repetitive so once you get one done, it is a matter of simply replicating that wiring over and over again.

I know I have said that I hate wiring, but this type of wiring isn't too bad, just time consuming and a little frustrating when things don't go quite as planned.

Anyway, that is the Wiring Plan in a nutshell. By the time I get it all in and, if I wanted to, have every light on at once, there will be enough light to make the layout self illuminating :)
 
RBMNfan,

By a "common return", do you mean a single Ground (-) wire with each structure connected to it but individual power wires?

I am wiring each separately.
 


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