What did you do on your layout today?

Because my tracks were nice and clean(91% alcohol) I decided to do an experiment that I have thought about. Dug out a small tube of dielectric grease and spread a thin film on the center rail of loop #2 and #4 to see how well it worked. Trains ran fine now to see if the rail stays cleaner. Actually I think the engines ran a bit smoother, especially the steamer. #2 loop has the GG1, #4 loop has a 2056 steam engine. Later will try a fw different engines on the two tracks.

...You DO realize that when you finally fire up this puppy, yer gonna brownout most of the Midwest, yes? 

 

Oh, well.  Here's a real mutt of a WIP:

 

This chassis was originally intended for my Lionel NH EF-4 shell, but it turned out not to fit very well, so the NH is riding on the Poor Man's Rectifier's Williams chassis...

 

So!  70's chassis from eBay, running gear and fuel tank from the GP-20 I got offa Serge, light sockets from Radio Shack (with a nice hot iron, soldering to the screw brackets IS possible!), K-Line diesel horn card bolted to the chassis and modified Williams shell.  I THINK I got most of the major players covered here...

 

Only disappointment:  I ordered two of the K-Line horn cards from Lionel, and neither works (have an email in for an RMA)...

 

Mitch

Aahh Mitch, it's not that bad. A Tortoise draws about .004A at 12V max (when they're moving) and less when they're stalled. I can throw all 124 of them at the same time for .5A. The relay coils are also pretty low draw. Electric company won't get rich off that.

 

Now let's talk about those Pullmor motors of yours.

After walking and talking with various contractors yesterday, I did manage to get up to the trainroom and install turnouts between the red line and purple line.  Now, I can direct traffic from the inside main to the (incomplete) engine facilities/ TT / pass train staging.  I will be glad when all of the storm damage is corrected and cleaned up.  Has been a way too long of a process, but I know they are all very busy in this area, still, since May 6th.

  Oh yes, my two RR kitties, Katman and Abby, are always with me when I do go the trainroom and do what they can to assist... between pet-pets and naps.

Elliot; that wiring is just amazing. I'd be lost for sure.

Elliot, Why are you using relays instead of DPDT Switches? 

Spence, it's really not as complicated as it looks. Do one then repeat 101 times.

 

Pat, CMR/I is just a bunch of SPST switches controlled by a computer. By using the relay, the SPST action is converted to DPDT for polarity reversal. I think there's a way to have CMR/I control the Tortoise directly, but I'm not an electronics wizard, so I went this route because I know I can make it work, and because I have all the parts. Going this route also allows me to work in phases without any major rewiring.

Yard switches controlled by single button diode matrix.

 

 

Elliot,

I now understand your use of relays. Thanks. At my club, I wanted to control a 4-way switch (3 tortoise motors) using a rotary switch. I used DPDT Relays. I used 3/4 of this module I got from the bay for $20. It was a lot cheaper than buying individual relays and sockets but a little harder on the eyes. 

 

 

I need to make one of those for my hump yard. Are you using twin coil machines? If so do you also have a capacitor discharge unit?

 

My max number of throws with a single push will be 3, as the ladder is compound.

turbo2, nice looking rock work.

I did a test run of a loco bash which when finished will hopefully resemble CNR #47.

 

Worked a bit more on my waterfall, got rid of the columns holding up the bridge and added these decorative scrolls called corbels I found at my local home depot.....not sure about them yet.....any thoughts or advice?

 

Well, I've never seen a real railroad use anything like that, but when has that ever stopped a 3 railer?

Hi Pete. In my opinion I like the supports. They fit the whimsical / mystical type setting that you have created , as well as compliment the nearby church. You have truly proven that this great hobby can be anything that you wish it to be, and construct your layout as you see fit. We all can only hope to have as much fun as you and Mitch Marmel appear to be having. Sometimes we need to step back and take a deep breath, instead of counting the rivets as many of us do. Pay no attention to the naysayers and keep up the good work, my friend!!!!
Mike

They say there is a prototype for everything !!  If it works for you, it works for me. Just pray that you don't have a derailment.

Speaking as a fellow funster (Thanks, Mike!) , I say:  May as well finish the job and have a couple cherubim holding up the center. 

 

Mitch

That's a great idea Mitch! Why not go all the way , Pete !!!!
Mike

Hello everyone. Well I had an appointment to see the lady who adjusts my Insulin pump. Then I made my stop at Menards and I picked up 2 sheets  of this MDF board. Well I had to buy some Bungie cords since I can't find the 6 that I put on top of my Cubcadet mower last week.   Well as you can see  I am making progress  2 months ago there was no progress.

Glad to see your progress , Scott !

Oh and Pete. You could call this waterfall area, Angel's Gorge.
Mike

This is true......Guess Father Carmine made out well at last Sunday's collection or his true ancestry is on the Greek side......hmmm...maybe a few Marathon runners running over the bridge.........or hmmmm...searching ebay for  o scale cherubin! 

-Pete

Looks like a structurally sound implementation to me. You might seek the counsel of a local engineer just to be on the safe side. Perhaps he/she is a member of your church and would be willing to donate their time freely to help you avoid additional cost.

Well, it was a little cooler this evening compared to Tuesday, so I put the fascia boards on the last module. Pretty busy this weekend, but I'm going to try to get the material for the scenery base and see if I can get one or two of them done next week.

 

 

Also received some lumber loads I picked up off eBay. Plan to do some work on a one of the Center Beam Flats I have lying around. Going to relocate the trucks to the right place and install Kadees. Trying to decide how I want to set up the loads as I've seen them done all three ways.

 

Much better 

 

 

I like the idea of adding a little more ornate masonry too.

A small doll's face for the cherub?   

Toy figure faces from some toy monsters might yield a gargoyle or two 

 

Federal Wildlife Officer Marshall Willenholley might want to measure that fish while on his routine expeditions.

From his blow up raft?

 

Groom Lake? Hey,..I.. I.. I.. think that's a "Blinky fish" Yum, 50% more eyes.

Amazing what a few worms, some fresh heavy water, and a plutonium supplement can do to keep a fish healthier than it has a right to be.

 

 

 Between the trees on the hill, near the Groom lake sign...

 What is the small red thing? 

 

 

  I've been "playing blocks" with scrap wood as I try different "building" and break wind walls for the tunnel formed by elevating the 175 rocket pad & gantry.

---

 

 The gantry rails legs; they just hung out into space.

A column under each "leg" of the extensions ties, would have interfered with loco overhang. It had to be wider.

So I built a dock-like, bridge support for the "off base" part of the rails. "The extension" if you will...

 If the floating bridge "got you", this would've made your head pop

 

 Now: Two slender columns are at one end only. Then the "dock" on those, and over to the elevated track for supporting the opposite side.

 The extended rails "tie & legs, rests on the bridge. 

  

 Thanks Adriatic, the more I look at it, the more I start to like it.....as said in the above post by Mike it kinda goes with the whimsical theme of my layout which as you know from me and Keith's prior posts, also has Area 51 undertones.  Plus, It doesnt overly block the waterfall scene and cosmetically enhances the bridge structure.......inother words I am plum out of ideas......I think its gonna stay! BTW, thankyou for the idea, it needed something, and for now, Father Carmine and the St. Lionel Congregation are happy!

 

As for that little red dot between the trees, I forgot about them, they are some n scale campers I put on it awhile back for scale...good eye...forgot to take them off.  Also, I think you were the only one to spot the shark attack by the two great whites in the lake.......hey its my layout and Great whites hangout there too!

 

-Pete

 

I thought it looked like a person! But I didn't see any gnome sized mushroom houses.

 

I guess they would be Genomes at Groom Lake!

 

I just offered a boost, then you turned around, and hurdled the fence instead.

 That masonry is all yours Pete

 

 

 

 

......I think its gonna stay.......

 

 

 

I thought you said you were out of ideas? That sounds like a good one right there

On my personal layout, I just did some rewiring. I also went to the club to run more trains on the layout there.(Southwest Michigan Modular Train Club) Some videos from yesterday and last week and a pic where I rewired. I don't know why it posted one of the videos twice. I really hate computers, but a necessary evil. Besides my son would go into coma if I got rid of the internet and the computers.

OK, I made a minor mistake when I counted the number of relays I needed to throw the turnouts. I was off by two.

 

It was a rather sneaky situation involving this double slip which forms a crossover between 3 tracks. I simply assumed that it was two crossovers, one from track A to B and the other from B to C.

 

The problem with that logic is it doesn't account for the crossover from A to C. There are 4 possible positions for the double slip, and the flawed logic only accounted for 3 of them. The solution is just to give each Tortoise its own relay.

 

Fortunately I caught this early enough in the process, so making the change was really easy. I just updated my spreadsheet by slipping the new allocations into the correct position and sliding everything else down.

 

Then I went back to work on this panel. There are 20 per row, and with the addition of the two this panel will have 56. I'm just going to leave the 4 spares in case, but I doubt I will ever need them.

 

At long last, today I actually ran an engine around my 3 loops of track.  I discovered 2 problems:

 

1.  I mistakenly used 2 different pieces of track for making a block near each other.  So, I had an extra 3 foot block with no power feed.

2.  I had about 2 feet of dead track on another loop because the center tabs between 2 pieces of Fastrack were not making contact.

 

The extra block has been eliminated, and I bent the center tabs to ensure good contact between the 2 pieces of Fastrack.

 

I stumbled for awhile getting 2 TIU's added to the layout and configured for Super TIU mode.  I brought up Barry's book on the computer in the train room and followed his instructions.   I am sometimes getting Out of Range messages on the DCS remote when the remote is only 3 feet from the TIU's.  Tomorrow I'll have to check the batteries in the remote.  And, tomorrow will be the first running of a Legacy engine on the layout. Now, which Legacy engine should go first?

 

(looks at the two 1122 and one 1022 O27 switches on his layout) 

 

(decides he's doing just fine there, thanks kindly) 

 

Mitch

Mitch, I'm glad to see that you have picked up the ball that Lee Willis dropped when he bailed on us. Ahh, the simple things in life. I guess I've never discovered them.

Heh.  I was influenced by the late Phil Harris at an early age... 

 

Mitch

 

Oh no, a lost gosling..

 

Keith, FYI there is a forum section called "real trains" where this "belongs" to avoid a bunch of honking, and getting ponded on by others.

That can happen even during wabbit season.

 

 

(My dead pan is amazing ..ly like the walking deadpanG'd mornin' ) 

 

 

Well I finally did it I wasn't going to but I gave in I added dcs to my all legacy layout I have been holding out for Lionel to make a legacy version of the Hiawatha but I found a mth one it was a good price I had it for a wile only test ran it when I hooked up dcs I found out why it was a good deal it looks great but wow this was ran a lot but it sounds and runs like new so good for me

well it's been awhile after dropping the station I really didn't want to touch the layout much My heart was broken well I have for the past 2 days worked on many thing one being fixing the station. the other I didn't like one area on the layout well a few areas my underground siding a wasn't long enough and tough to reach so I removed it . another siding in the back also on the underground area I just had a whole train sitting there since I built it and it also was inconvenient so it is also gone.  then one the main level there was one area where the track plan used up to much real estate and left me with no way to put a building or anything in the small areas between tracks so I switched it around a little and like the results much better no pics of it but I do have pics of the station the way it sits now still have some fixing to do but it's getting there.in the Track plan the purple area is what changed then there is the other 2 levels the elevated I am still kicking around making it 072 just not sure about the 2 duck unders needed to do that.

 

I know how you feel J . and take heart. In my HO days I put a lot of time in assembling a Quality Craft wooden covered hopper kit, sanding sealer and all. I was in the process of painting it only to have it fall into a fan that I had running nearby.Needless to say, the outcome wasn't pretty ! We all have mishaps , but have to pick up and start over again. The station is coming around and will be a true work of art when
finished ,repairs and all.
Mike

Didn't do much with trains, but I did repair a 1984 vintage boombox (replaced speaker plugs and jacks): 

 

However, there WAS O27 track on the workbench, so that counts, I suppose. 

 

Mitch

You going to use it for giraffe sounds? GG-1's don't make much noise.

Hee!  No, but with the RCA sound inputs, I can use it to amplify my digital trolley bell... 

 

Mitch