What did you do on your layout today?

@chris a posted:

I keep all my scraps from work, many of which are already thin strips of wood in different species so I have an endless supply of oak, mahogany, pine, poplar etc.

I do the same thing Chris - waste not, want not

@ScoutingDad posted:

I've posted on this problem before.  The Z4000 has a potentiometer for each handle which needs to be at zero when the transformer is turned on. If not, the fault light will show and there will be no output track power. The "pot" has a small gear on it which is supposed to make contact with a larger gear associated with the handle. The gear mesh is rather sloppy, so if anything slips, the pot will not return to zero voltage - viola nothing works.  There is a screw adjustment which helps tighten things up, but even with that its too sloppy IMO,  The screw may have loosened up, I'll have to take the cover off to check.

Off topic, I know, but you might want to look at the pictures about half-way down as a reference for when you open it up ....

MTH Z 4000 ISSUE ???? | O Gauge Railroading On Line Forum (ogaugerr.com)

Chris, The crates and desks look great!  I'll have to rely on the bag of sticks like John posted to make the whole crate since I have never even used a table saw, much less own one. 

Dave, the guard rail looks great!

John, the plateau looks great!

I lost DC power to my AIU ports today.  After discovering the wall wart had no output, I pulled another out of the spare box, spliced on banana plugs from the bad one, and plugged it back in.  All was well again.  Isn't that the way it goes?  Go to run trains and spend most the time troubleshooting and repairing. 

@chris a posted:

Dallas,  I probably worked like 4 hours, to cut all the stock and assemble the 12 crates & 3 desks, but I cut about 5 times the amount of stock I'll need.   I am going to chop up some of the extra 036" stock to make fencing.   This morning now that I have everything set up,  I made 4 more crates in about 1.5  hours.   I bought a NW Chopper, that little tool is great for this kind of project as I can set the stop, and feed like 4 to 6 boards in at once and chop them to the correct lengths.

Yesterday I was thinking I was "nuts", but by the end of the night, I realized it was good practice working on these and the skills will be useful on other scratch-build and kit-bash projects.

That's pretty impressive Chris.   Do you wear regular 'cheater' glasses during that much time spent with these little art projects ?

Actually bought these magnifiers 2 years ago, best investment I've made yet.   I was working on the 11 Block/ 22 signal head ABS signal system soldering LED's and the human hair wire that NJI used on the brass O scale B&O CPL signals...  Here's a link to the magnifier headset with LED head lamp built in, I highly recommend it, when the reading glasses aren't enough. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod...s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

@Lionelski posted:

I do the same thing Chris - waste not, want not

Useful for everything and free! I like it for duct work on building tops.

@Richie C. I think the post was referring to not being able to get zero voltage and then having a jump to 10 volts. The solution was to put a small load on the transformer to get the voltage output to behave (as in a lamp).  I've had the cover off of my z4000 before due to a slip in the gears. Supposedly the transformer has an internal safety feature which prevents it from providing power if the handles are not at a zero voltage position. I am pretty sure its the same issue again.

I did hook up a Z750 through a controller to  run my Milwaukee Road F3s and a short Hiawatha passenger consist. Eventually the Z threw the breaker. I know this draws close to 5 amps so it may be pushing the load limit on the Z.  I have got to get the Z4000 up and running again. I keep doing other tasks on the rr and they eat up time. I will say the bump is gone, but i saw another spot which needs a wee bit of shimming.

@ChrisNice work on the crates.
@Peter Look forward to the freight house project.

@John the updated plateau looks great!

Andy

Here we go!

The floor......the floor has two sides. You can choose a concrete floor or a wooden floor (scribed). I chose the concert floor.

Here it is with the supports and you can easily see the scribing in case you chose wooden floor....

Done....

Next is the roof which just needs painting.....

Next, the base coat to the concrete floor.....and weathering....stay tuned....

Peter

Chris - very nice crates !  Also like your relay panel - did you wire that up? 

Morning guys, so much great information here! Thank you all!

@chris a Chris thanks for the information and photos! Looks easy enough and I will remember to keep my fingers clear!

@Putnam Division Peter great looking building and it looks like you have a nice start! Please keep posting!

@luvindemtrains Dave looks outstanding! What are you making them out of and what is your spacing for the post if you dont mind me asking?

@Lionelski John wonderful looking layout! Looks like alot of fun!

@Mark Boyce Mark sorry it took away time away from running trains, but I sure am glad it was an easy fix!

@ScoutingDad Jeff, sorry to here it's still not working, but I have a feeling you will figure it out!

Nothing new from me from yesterday, maybe I will get some time to work on some train stuff today! I hope you all have a great day and find time to have fun with your layout and trains!

Chris the crates look great. I really like the variety you put in them.

Peter nice progress on the building. Looking forward to seeing updates.

I'm always collecting and saving this and that. When my wife states "what's that for?" and I reply the layout. I just get the eyeroll

I'm hoping to get back to my bridge build on Saturday.

Thanks Mark and Mike,

Here are two additional pics of the plateau.

The new section is under the cross track known as "T-bone Crossing".

The 2nd pic shows where trolly passengers transfer to and from passenger trains.

@RJ Shier posted:

Chris the crates look great. I really like the variety you put in them.

Peter nice progress on the building. Looking forward to seeing updates.

I'm always collecting and saving this and that. When my wife states "what's that for?" and I reply the layout. I just get the eyeroll

I'm hoping to get back to my bridge build on Saturday.

I used to throw everything out. Now I look at it from a modeling perspective and usually keep it. I knew I was in trouble when I saved the mesh from a bag of oranges. Made a good chain link fence though.

I get the same eye rolls too.......

Bob

@Bill Sherry -  Yes, I wired it all up .  OGR member Stan2004 was kind enough to come up with a design that turned out to be very prototypical in terms of the signal system monitoring block occupancy  2 blocks ahead in the direction of travel.  When I started researching the B&O  CPL signal system turns out the "looking ahead" 2 blocks is pretty much how that system was designed.....  If the next immediate block is occupied, I get a RED signal, if the second block ahead is occupied,  the YELLOW aspect stays lit till it clears.  There are no "timers" changing aspects.   It uses 3PDT relays and required quite a bit more wiring, but was totally worth the effort.  As I had purchased over 28 signals/signal heads in total, I figured I would protect the 11 block main line in both directions.

@Mark Boyce posted:

I lost DC power to my AIU ports today.  After discovering the wall wart had no output, I pulled another out of the spare box, spliced on banana plugs from the bad one, and plugged it back in.  All was well again.  Isn't that the way it goes?  Go to run trains and spend most the time troubleshooting and repairing. 

Today I was looking at the layout while working on a steamer and thinking of how much needed done on the track and other items.   " TROUBLESHOOTING  AND  REPAIRING "

Mark , I thought to myself , this is just like a real railroad .......railroads have many people keeping it running.......  .........  Why aren't all those little O scale people helping out 

Spotted on a certain online auction:

And it ain't even mine.  What have I unleashed upon the world? 😧

Mitch

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Spotted on a certain online auction:

And it ain't even mine.  What have I unleashed upon the world? 😧

Mitch

Gi-raffes.......😂😂😂😂😀

@RSJB18 posted:

Gi-raffes.......😂😂😂😂😀

I was just thinking how nicely that shell would convert into a transport car with room for TWO Gi-raffes! Even got the square holes outlined for cutting on the roof!

George

Had a good partial day, painting 55 gallon drums and filled the warehouse with freight.  Got to build some down spouts to drain the water off the roof and then move on to the next project.   While I had the new to me camera out that my son gave me for Christmas I figured I'd take another photo.... 

Thanks to all of you for the kind words and positive feedback on the crate building project.

@Putnam Division:  Nice work on the Rock Island Freight Warehouse.  That's a wonderful kit.

Peter, you’re off to a good start, nice kit.

Nice pictures John, lots of interesting details.

I like your fencing Bob 👍🏻

Wow Chris, you move right along, very nice.

Andy

@M. Mitchell Marmel posted:

Spotted on a certain online auction:

And it ain't even mine.  What have I unleashed upon the world? 😧

Mitch

Fess up, Mitch… how much did you bid for it???

@RSJB18 posted:

Gi-raffes.......😂😂😂😂😀

Don’t encourage him, Bob

Got some more work done the night before and today. Added a few more news paper “buns” to the tunnel and started plastering. Today, I worked on the mountain facing the coal mine. This was a tricky spot to form, but was able to get behind it and build it up that way. I will probably continue work on this section until I get the time to cut hatches behind the mountain. Thanks for reading!

@RSJB18 posted:

Gi-raffes.......😂😂😂😂😀

@Apples55 posted:

Don’t encourage him, Bob

@GeoPeg posted:

I was just thinking how nicely that shell would convert into a transport car with room for TWO Gi-raffes! Even got the square holes outlined for cutting on the roof!

Panto-gi-raffs? 

@Apples55 posted:

Fess up, Mitch… how much did you bid for it???

(innocent look)  Haven't.   

Yet... 

Mitch

Weathering the concrete floor......Next time (I think) I will use a lighter gray as the base coat.....the recommended Rustoleum charcoal gray seems a little too dark.

I may do some more "lightening".

Peter

Peter,  year's ago I asked Norm Charbonneau about how he does "concrete" he told me he always starts with the Camouflage Khaki as the base coat.    It's worked really good for me.   Then I have go back with blotches of diluted Craft Khaki and Pewter Gray.   That what I used to do all the concrete work in the freight depot I am finishing up.  First photo below is the Midwest Cork road bed painted with just the Camo Khaki base then I airbrushed the weathering.  I'd have to go back to my "formula" folder and figure out what's in the mix,  I still had some already mixed and left over and just used it. 

@chris a, does your layout model a particular place or geographic area?

Outstanding Chris, good looking aged concrete.

Andy

Getting my layout ready for a video, lots of cleaning up so you can actually see the layout 😉. It will give folks a better idea of what the entire layout looks like. I’ll post the video soon.

Bob, here’s my S-2 #455. Delivered in black from Alco. It would soon go to the shops and get the Long Island paint scheme with orange ends as seen below.
I think Lionel is coming out with C-Liner in the Goodfellow gray paint scheme.
Can’t wait.

Andy

Started weathering the crane tender car, still figuring out extra details to add.

As with all of your accomplishments Chris; you are an artist.

@Steamfan77 posted:

Getting my layout ready for a video, lots of cleaning up so you can actually see the layout 😉. It will give folks a better idea of what the entire layout looks like. I’ll post the video soon.

Bob, here’s my S-1. #455. Delivered in black from Alco. It would go to the shops and get the Long Island paint scheme with the orange ends.
I think Lionel is coming out with C-Liner in the Goodfellow gray paint scheme.
Can’t wait.

Andy

Those are nice Andy. An S1 or S2 is still on my list.

Bob

I’m with you Bob, I’d like to see one myself.

Andy

@chris a posted:

Peter,  year's ago I asked Norm Charbonneau about how he does "concrete" he told me he always starts with the Camouflage Khaki as the base coat.    It's worked really good for me.   Then I have go back with blotches of diluted Craft Khaki and Pewter Gray.   That what I used to do all the concrete work in the freight depot I am finishing up.  First photo below is the Midwest Cork road bed painted with just the Camo Khaki base then I airbrushed the weathering.  I'd have to go back to my "formula" folder and figure out what's in the mix,  I still had some already mixed and left over and just used it.

Your roads do look great.......

I'm going to try and lighten it a bit........it's also going to be inside the building.....I'm not sure how much will be seen......but, I suspect that a little lighter will be better....

Peter

I started dissecting my SF F3's last night for a ERR AC Commander upgrade. I plan to add LED lights for headlights, markers, and classification. I'm going to attempt a tether between the A units for coil-couplers and directional lighting also.

Bob

Please keep us posted with your progress. Photos always help.

Thought I’d share this

@Windy City posted:

Please keep us posted with your progress. Photos always help.

I will. I have a separate thread I started for the BEEP I did last year.

https://ogrforum.com/...c/err-upgrade-newbie