Video of NYC "Harmonyards" K Line Hudson, Lionel Legacy Mohawk and some great views of the Layout

Another awesome video Chris.

Bob

Chris, that's a very nice video your son shot.  The Hudson Pat upgraded for you really is nice.  You have a number of really nice steam engines, and I saw some areas of your layout I don't remember seeing before.  Everything looks great!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Chris, that's a very nice video your son shot.  The Hudson Pat upgraded for you really is nice.  You have a number of really nice steam engines, and I saw some areas of your layout I don't remember seeing before.  Everything looks great!

Mark and Bob,  Thanks for the kind words.   It's a blessing to have professional photographer/videographer visiting several times a year. 

Yes when I found this video,  this morning, and went back and watched it, I realized that besides following some steamers up close while running, he did a great job of panning out and shooting the scenery.   

When I tried to follow running engines with the camera in my hand, you'd think there was an earth quake happening !!!!

Just out of curiosity, Mark, do you know if have one of those 50mm Fatboy speakers in your upgraded K Line Hudson ?  Although several "experts" here on the forum (and I don't say that sarcastically) said it wouldn't make much of an improvement over the stock ERR speaker, I personally found it made a huge difference in both sound quality and volume.

Chris, yes Pat replaced the speaker.  The sound quality is very good.  I have to admit, I don't recall what it sounded like before the upgrade, but I can't think that it was this good.

Nice Video. What’s really impressive is I believe some of those PULLMAN’s are brass. I have a couple and they are true heavyweights. Quite an improvement over the factory K-Line.

Great video!

Peter

Chris, agree with all, this is a very nice video.  I really liked how he panned the locomotives.  And the heavyweights are really nice, albeit brass.  I am waiting to see if Lionel finally does scale length heavyweights in their January announcement of cars to go with the Hudson.  Not sure if I would get them if not.

@Dave_C posted:

Nice Video. What’s really impressive is I believe some of those PULLMAN’s are brass. I have a couple and they are true heavyweights. Quite an improvement over the factory K-Line.

Dave,  Yes of the 7 Pullman Heavyweights in that train, 3 are Sunset 21 inch Brass 12-1 sleepers,  the 2 Santa Fe cars, 21 inch, Diner and Observation, I believe are Aluminum, and the other sleeper and US Post Office Railway Express car is Golden Gate Depot plastic.   I agree, a huge improvement over the K-Line cars.  I have opened up and upgraded the interior details of 2 of the brass cars, upgraded them to Kadee couplers etc. 

I tried to do a bunch of research before I purchased the Santa Fe cars, seems like Sunset/3rd Rail did some runs of these cars crafted out of sheet aluminum, not brass.   They are definitely not Plastic....   The interior details on these metal (aluminum) cars are actually far better than the older brass cars.  In any event, I really like them and got a sweet deal on the pair.   

They'll get Kadee 805's at some point in the future, and I need to clean up some after the fact wiring that was done in the observation car

Hi Chris Great video I think your son could do this kind of work full time for himself and make a bank load! I really love the heavy weight passenger cars and need to get some down the road to go behind my UP 4-8-4!

I do have a question for you thought, it just happen to catch my eye and since I will be putting in a TT. On your layout I am guessing you have to use the inside main line to switch from to get to your TT?

@mike g. posted:

Hi Chris Great video I think your son could do this kind of work full time for himself and make a bank load! I really love the heavy weight passenger cars and need to get some down the road to go behind my UP 4-8-4!

I do have a question for you thought, it just happen to catch my eye and since I will be putting in a TT. On your layout I am guessing you have to use the inside main line to switch from to get to your TT?

Hey @mike g.    Thanks for the positive feedback.   So my son, opened his own Photography and Videography LLC on the side couple of years ago.   He's a full time engineer at Naval Undersea Warfare Center NUWC in Newport, RI.   It's kind of the best of both worlds. 

The layout is designed as a "Single Main Line" in a "folded over dogbone" configuration.  So even though it appears to be a double main line at several points on the layout, it's actually just one very long, 240+ foot main line. 

I do have two "crossovers" between the main line when it "appears" that it's a double main line, one on the upper level just to the right of the entrance to the Steam Engine Service facility and one pretty much right in front of that one on the lower level that is a "double crossover" resembling a "diamond".   

The upper crossover was placed there so that I could get to and from the end of the 2 Arrival/Departure tracks which are on the far side of the main line from the Engine Service yard.  The thought was an Arriving Train's locomotive could uncouple and get to the turntable without having to travel all the way around the main line, and vice versa a locomotive could be dispatched to pick up a Departing train via the same short route.   It would cause the need to shut down continuous running trains on the main, but only for a short time.   

Yes I know a "ton of words"......  some photos or a video of an engine change would make much clearer.  Maybe in January 2025

The initial layout design was for two independent loops one on the upper level, and the other 8 inches below on the lower level.   That changed when I had built out the modules up to the last section, and decided to expand into the open area.   

I am really glad I decided on the expansion, and at that point built the long grade to connect the two levels and more than double the length of what evolved into One Single Main line.   I much prefer running 3 long trains on one main line that is now much longer and the trains follow each other running over both levels.   At normal operating speeds it takes almost 5 minutes to get all the way around and it doesn't feel like the trains are going around and around over the same shorter stretch of track.   

Hi Chris, thanks for all the information, I too plan on connecting both my main level and upper level. My TT will be on the main level as you know, just figuring things out!