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Weekend Photo Fun 11-11-11-??

John KorlingJohn KorlingOGR Forum Member
Great pics everyone.

Jim, Any particular reason you decided to "balloon" the curves going around your mountain with both tracks? From what it looks like it results in a rather abrupt and unnecessary S curve in the track which can make running longer engines look a bit awkward going through it like the Trainmaster you have in the S curve shows. Wouldn't it have been operationally better just to have straightaways going right to the curves? You certainly have enough interesting variations in the surrounding scenery that would offset any thoughts of monotony with a standard straight-to-curve transition with the track. At most maybe gradually having the straightaways transcend into the curves if you want a little more variety in the way the track is laid? Or at least have the "S" more gradual?
Jim PolicastroJim PolicastroOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
quote:
Originally posted by John Korling:
Great pics everyone.

Jim, Any particular reason you decided to "balloon" the curves going around your mountain with both tracks?



A couple reasons, John.

First, to get around a few scenic "obstacles" yet to come in that area. Just one more visual cue that that the scenery was there first, and the engineers had to do their best within budget to find a route. The area has been called Pinnacle Peak for a reason - geologic forces are still in progress in that area. Big Grin

Second, to give a reason why the trains using that line will be short and the motive power small. Plus, the S-curves will call for speed restrictions. You can't call it a true mountain line without an S-curve or two.

The old trainmaster won't be using that line much. It was mainly being used to check clearances, just in case.

The key to this area will be to use additional scenic features to divide up the big expanses of cliffs into smaller, more interesting scenes. As is, all those mountainsides could be a little boring, but, hopefully, that will be changing when the rock castings and unique styrofoam features are added.

I had thought about a huge timber trestle for the end curves, but that has been used on too many layouts (and I have one in a different area). I wanted to try some different, less predictable mountain scenes. We'll see how well they work. Smile

Jim
Jim PolicastroJim PolicastroOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER
Russ,

The best thing that documenting my projects for OGR has done for me is to force me to clean up more often for photos. Big Grin

Structolite is neater also because the long setting time means you can take your time and not have to rush to beat the short setting time of Hydrocal.

But, now that I've started rock casting, the neatness factor has just gone downhill! About 1/4 of an extra soupy batch of plaster of Paris just got away from me on its way to a mold! Big Grin

Jim
ChiloquinRussChiloquinRussOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
Jim, I am sooooo sorry I jinked ya'! I was just havin' some fun wit' ya'! Yep I use a lot more structolite than I do hydrocal or anything else. I still use a lot of plaster cloth and I am old school with alum window screen sub base. Anyhow back to the mess ooops the mountain, can't wait to see the next batch of cleaned up photos! Smile Smile Smile Russ
S spifffOGR Forum Member
Here are Spifff's pics (posted by his glorious but sick wife who feels guilty that he missed seeing you today):










hey all don't post on weekend photo fun too much even though i look forward to it every week.
some pics of the unfinished christmas layout for this year.
the first car delivered this year was for Owen Frown
then comes my $39.00 including shipping 2029 this thing is great oiled it and that was it need to find away to fix the broken marker. more to come soon wife says she'll give me pic posting class Smile
Dave.
AGHRMattAGHRMattOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERMEMORIAL SUPPORTER
We've been nearing completion of the upper level. The upper staging/turn-around is finished, nand the last segment is coming together. However, we discovered a miscalculation on the spacing of the track support piers that placed them rather close to the mainline tracks. Even though (so far) we haven't had any clearance problems, we decided that another bridge was in order.

It's nearing completion. I have to clean it up and add some surface detail before painting. This particular bridge is 1/3 longer than the first one I built a little more than a year ago.


The whole album is here.
Last edited by AGHRMatt
GG1 4877GG1 4877OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
How I spent my day yesterday Smile

Williams Field Road near the county line at 60 mph or so.






Rounding the "027" curve at 13th Street west of Mill in Tempe:





It's all about the drivers!







Dead weight just to show off (and to meet federal regs Smile ):



And here comes the mob!



30 minute stop in Tempe:





Is Jack in the cab somewhere?



Who says people don't care about trains anymore?



It's all in the details:





Old meets new:





Heading for Phoenix for the next few days across "Tempe Town Lake":













Bringing up the markers:





Can't think of a better way to spend a November day in Phoenix!!
GG1 4877GG1 4877OGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBERDIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
quote:
Originally posted by PRRMiddleDivision:
Nice shots Jonathan! Looks like the same kind of railfan friendly spirit shown around here by Norfolk Southern!


Thank you! It was surprising how well the event was coordinated by the UP. Tempe police and "Metra" employees were on site for crowd control but everyone was respectful and before the train moved the crowd was kept at a safe distance, which in this case was only a matter of about 5 feet from the edge of the tracks. You can see how the two sets of tracks are so close in Tempe so everyone on the east side was squeezed between the edge of the ballast and the edge of the concrete for the light rail. Really quite an event. My mom and dad are coming down from N. AZ tomorrow so we can go see the train in Phoenix. It is on display all day today and tomorrow.

To balance this, the SF 3751 is coming to town in May to pull excursions on BNSF for a day. These are all part of the Arizona centennial celebrations which officially happens Feb 14, 2012.

Wish I had chased it more, but it was rolling pretty good and there are no highways that parallel it out in the open once it cuts towards Phoenix. As it was I was into the "criminal speeding" limit of AZ trying to catch it twice!

We don't see active steam here much. The last time a steam locomotive was on this line was the Freedom Train! I don't think the 3985 can make the curves that bring the train west in Mesa and again to the north in Tempe. In the old days when Amtrak still came here, even the Superliner coaches squealed their wheels through those curves.
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