Mark Boyce posted:That pilot looks great, Dave!
Thanks Mark. It was a scary project. It's a big step to start hacking away on an expensive engine but I am pleased with the way it turned out.
Cheers, Dave
Noodling about with my AF prewar 3012 this weekend. Replaced sketchy internal solid wires with modern Lionel flex wire. Also did a bit of experimenting indicating that gi-raffe ramps will, in a pinch, activate the mechanical reverse. More on this as things develop...
Mitch
darlander posted:Mark Boyce posted:That pilot looks great, Dave!
Thanks Mark. It was a scary project. It's a big step to start hacking away on an expensive engine but I am pleased with the way it turned out.
Cheers, Dave
I would find it scary too, but looks like you can rest easy now!
M. Mitchell Marmel posted:Noodling about with my AF prewar 3012 this weekend. Replaced sketchy internal solid wires with modern Lionel flex wire. Also did a bit of experimenting indicating that gi-raffe ramps will, in a pinch, activate the mechanical reverse. More on this as things develop...
Mitch
Had to see the Gi-raffe Laboratory is hard at work developing the latest brainchild!! Instead of Igor, you have Norma Bates Kitteh as an assistant!
Dave, the modified pilot looks really good, nice work. Can't say I have ever seen a pilot design like that very unique. Glad I am not a cow.
Mike G: The photos of your layout are showing major progress, thanks for posting them. I like the change with the siding to provide more building real estate. Nice work diagnosing the power problem with the switch. The Seahawks need to get it in gear.
I finished my 2nd BAR boxcar, and then started extending another yard track from under the new coal tower to the turntable... It used to be the coal, sand and ash pit spur, but the new tower has a chute over it, so it's going to become the arrival, and secondary departure track.
chris a posted:Johan, What a great scene, simple but so full of realistic details and weathering.. I love the old wooden crossbuck , seeing the light coming through the vertical boards in the shed building.... and backdrop that just draws you in. Yes I agree I have always thought these were some of the best looking boxcar paint schemes.
Ray, (SIDEHACK), not sure you will have the same issue(s), but I installed GRJ's TMCC signal booster on my layout with both Legacy and TMCC base units, and ran into some "issues" that seem to happen to some users of both systems. The fixes below worked well for me.
1. Had to plug my Legacy base directly into the duplex by itself, not through the rather expensive surge protecting power strip I purchased to plug everything else into, including the TMCC base unit.
2. Had to move my TMCC base unit down near the floor, I did have it on a shelf under the table top next to the Legacy base unit, looked great but had communication issues. The symptom was flashing red signal light on the TMCC flashing.... Wrote to Gunrunnerjohn, and he explained that I needed some physical separation between the base units.
Anyway, you may not experience any issues, but if you do, hopefully these hints will help.
Thanks for the info Chris, kind of makes sense I'll keep these in mind as I go through this process.
mike g. posted:Hi guys, I know its been awhile from my last post on here about my layout. But I did get out to the layout this morning after having a nice talk on the phone with Chris A. He gave me some great advice on a problem I was having that some of you may have read about.
Anyways I broke up my track sections near my lift bridge do to the fact I had a runaway train last week and it ran into the back of my Amtrak train. The good thing is there was no damage to either train. But anyways the problem I was having was my engine would come to a switch and stop then start up, I could not move it again till I shut off the power and turn it back on again. It was acting like it was missing the watchdog signal.
Well come to find out the little section right before the frog for the center rail was not getting any power. Makes since do to the fact if the train was going fast it would roll right over it! I soldered the little center rail to the frog that had power and problem fixed.
I took every engine I had and ran it over that area and no problem. Here are a couple pictures of my new sidings in there new locations!
Chris A. Thanks again you truly ROCK!
I hope you all have a great weekend and Go SEAHAWKS!
P.S. Great work on the Maine cars Chris!
Johan wonderful scene as usual!You all are doing great work and I just love seeing what your all doing! Please keep up the great work!
Mike. Thank you Sir. 🤝
Johan
Mark Boyce posted:It looks like a BAR day! Nce work Bob and Johan.
Also, the shelves look great, Bob and Don.
Mike, I see a lot of silver there in those photographs! Very sharp looking! I'm glad you got back to it on the layout a bit.
I had planned to post photographs of my adaptation to the upper level of my under construction layout into a Christmas diorama. I didn't get the simple project done until the day after Christmas. I still haven't fanangled my way under the shelves to get the Polar Express out. (Recovery from Knee replacement is going very well, but it takes time.) So I substituted a Western Maryland engine and a couple of cars that were at easy reach. Surprise.
Now the bad part. I bought my wife a storage device for her zillions of photographs for Christmas. I tested it out before Christmas by copying the 47 photographs on my phone to it. It worked like a champ. However, now that I took a few photographs to the layout, I can't attach the ones I just took because the program thinks they are on 'the cloud'. It must be something with the goofy app, and I haven't had time to dig in with Christmas visiting including 3 trips to the nursing homes. Conclusion is, I will probably be posting the Christmas photographs in July!
Lew, I know; none of the above ever happened!!!
Have a great evening everyone!
Mark. Thank you. 🤝
Johan
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BAR GP7 #63 posted:
Realism is your strength. Like the BAR!
Brought a little of my tinplate onto the pike for a bit of exercise...
Inspired by: https://ogrforum.com/...ains-have-a-caboose?
Mitch
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Johan, wonderful scene! Are those kit buildings in the background or is it just a backdrop? Either way it so real looking!
Mitch very cool with the tiplate!
Brian, very cool pictures for a Monday morning!
I plan on going out to clean more track today and maybe build that track cleaning car that I have been putting off! If I get it built I will share some photos!
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
One of my favorite movies is Trading Places. There is a scenario near the end of the movie that shows a New Year Eve party on a train. With that in mind, I put together a fictional Party train leaving Maine/ New Hampshire today for 2 nights in Boston to bring in 2020 and continuing on to NY City for 2 nights and returning home on Sunday 1/5/2020. The train consists of a PanAm Railways F-7 pulling a group Heavyweight pool Pullman cars, SF Baggage, (2) sleepers, a Dining car & an Observation car. A great way to visit to Northeast cities - ride on a train, eat on a train , party on a train, sleep on a train and sight see in the cities. Thanks to a couple OGR members for their help in letting me acquire the pool cars. My Pan AM is a little power house.
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Hand drilling 2,200 holes to install the Nut, Bolt & Washer castings to hold my drift timbers in place. I have 500 NBW castings installed. I'm waiting for the 1,700 NBW castings that are on backorder from Grandt Line. 
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decoynh posted:BAR GP7 #63 posted:
Realism is your strength. Like the BAR!
Matt. Thank you very much. Love the BAR.🤝
Johan
mike g. posted:Johan, wonderful scene! Are those kit buildings in the background or is it just a backdrop? Either way it so real looking!
Mitch very cool with the tiplate!
Brian, very cool pictures for a Monday morning!
I plan on going out to clean more track today and maybe build that track cleaning car that I have been putting off! If I get it built I will share some photos!
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
Mike. Thank you. Those buildings are just backdrop buildings, expect that red brick buildind is a 3D printet. 🤝
Johan
Good Afternoon Everyone,
Today I finished up with three tenement apartment flats that will go on my "wrong side of the tracks" section on the layout. I built two of the kits(the two on the right) and weathered all three. Because the instructions were a bit sketchy I had to use the one that was built up for me, to figure most things out. I told myself that whenever I build a kit I would do something to alter the out of the box look, even if the alteration isn't major. The apartments with the slanted roofs still need chimneys and smoke stacks. The one that came with the kit is very difficult to cut so I gave up as I do like having ALL of my fingers.
I will show the apartments on the layout at a later time, with lighting and built up scenery.
Dave
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Trestleman1 posted:Hand drilling 2,200 holes to install the Nut, Bolt & Washer castings to hold my drift timbers in place. I have 500 NBW castings installed. I'm waiting for the 1,700 NBW castings that are on backorder from Grandt Line.
That is dedication to modeling! WOW! 
Beautiful bridge too!
Dave, outstanding work on the tenement flats... the clapboard siding, the porch rails/posts/spindles, and weathering details are awesome.
Matt (DecoyNY): thanks for making and sharing the videos, the layout is looking great and I enjoyed the "narrative"....
Much appreciated Chris!
luvindemtrains posted:Good Afternoon Everyone,
Today I finished up with three tenement apartment flats that will go on my "wrong side of the tracks" section on the layout. I built two of the kits(the two on the right) and weathered all three. Because the instructions were a bit sketchy I had to use the one that was built up for me, to figure most things out. I told myself that whenever I build a kit I would do something to alter the out of the box look, even if the alteration isn't major. The apartments with the slanted roofs still need chimneys and smoke stacks. The one that came with the kit is very difficult to cut so I gave up as I do like having ALL of my fingers.
I will show the apartments on the layout at a later time, with lighting and built up scenery.
Dave
Dave. Excellent work. 👏
Johan.
BAR GP7 #63 posted:luvindemtrains posted:Good Afternoon Everyone,
Today I finished up with three tenement apartment flats that will go on my "wrong side of the tracks" section on the layout. I built two of the kits(the two on the right) and weathered all three. Because the instructions were a bit sketchy I had to use the one that was built up for me, to figure most things out. I told myself that whenever I build a kit I would do something to alter the out of the box look, even if the alteration isn't major. The apartments with the slanted roofs still need chimneys and smoke stacks. The one that came with the kit is very difficult to cut so I gave up as I do like having ALL of my fingers.
I will show the apartments on the layout at a later time, with lighting and built up scenery.
Dave
Dave. Excellent work. 👏
Johan.
Johan,
I appreciate any positive feedback I get from anyone but coming from you that means a lot.
Thanks,
Dave
That is going to look great on the "wrong side of the tracks"
mike g. posted:Johan, wonderful scene! Are those kit buildings in the background or is it just a backdrop? Either way it so real looking!
Mitch very cool with the tiplate!
Brian, very cool pictures for a Monday morning!
I plan on going out to clean more track today and maybe build that track cleaning car that I have been putting off! If I get it built I will share some photos!
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
Mike, I just drilled a big old hole in the deck and fed the flat cable through it and under the benchwork. Easy to do because there was no controller with this crane when I bought it so I just use toggle switches.
Trestleman, wow that's a lot of holes to drill! But you sure have a great looking layout! It really shows dedication!
Dave, wonderful job on the kits! The people on the wrong side of the track should be happy to live there!
geysergazer posted:mike g. posted:Johan, wonderful scene! Are those kit buildings in the background or is it just a backdrop? Either way it so real looking!
Mitch very cool with the tiplate!
Brian, very cool pictures for a Monday morning!
I plan on going out to clean more track today and maybe build that track cleaning car that I have been putting off! If I get it built I will share some photos!
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
Mike, I just drilled a big old hole in the deck and fed the flat cable through it and under the benchwork. Easy to do because there was no controller with this crane when I bought it so I just use toggle switches.
Lew, you wouldn't happen to have any close ups of the toggle switches you used would you! also how it come up from under the table?
My new shelf space has given me a chance to finally unpack a loco I bought over a year ago. MTH did a great job with this one. It's a conventional runner but still very nice. For BL-2 fans this is a must have! 
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awesome Bob nice engine !! HMMMM....
Wait......did I find one that you don't have????? 
I am putting up more shelves... 
briansilvermustang posted:
I am putting up more shelves...
mike g. posted:geysergazer posted:mike g. posted:
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
Mike, I just drilled a big old hole in the deck and fed the flat cable through it and under the benchwork. Easy to do because there was no controller with this crane when I bought it so I just use toggle switches.
Lew, you wouldn't happen to have any close ups of the toggle switches you used would you! also how it come up from under the table?
Mike, I'll get some pics in the morning.
geysergazer posted:mike g. posted:geysergazer posted:mike g. posted:
Lew, Just wondering how you hide the control cable that goes to your crane?
Mike, I just drilled a big old hole in the deck and fed the flat cable through it and under the benchwork. Easy to do because there was no controller with this crane when I bought it so I just use toggle switches.
Lew, you wouldn't happen to have any close ups of the toggle switches you used would you! also how it come up from under the table?
Mike, I'll get some pics in the morning.
Thanks guys, I'm following this too.. I have a N&W Gantry Crane which has no magnetic pickup.. I'm going to add one to mine, So I'm also interested in how you set up the controls!!
Trestleman, you certainly picked the right name. The trestle is fantastic, and with that detail I’m sure it is incredible in person.
Dave, the tenaments look great! Perfect for wrong side of the track!
Bob, I remember the demonstrator BL2! That is a fantastic paint scheme for sure!!
Another compliment for that gorgeous trestle. Really great work
So it turns out my graduated section is either too steep or my loco isn’t strong enough/too old. It won’t pull up the tender, milk, cattle, and lumber cars plus a caboose. I took off the milk and cattle cars and it will make it. The in-laws come into town tomorrow so hopefully I get some time to work on it the next few days
sidehack posted:That is going to look great on the "wrong side of the tracks"
LOL, thanks Ray!
Finally found out why I was having problems running Legacy with TMCC, seems I need to install a bridge (which is ordered) because I am running Powermasters. I could run engines and lashups but couldn't address, shut down or activate separate tracks with Legacy or even use the panic shut down which is not good. This should take care of all that.
Also cleaned half of my track today with alcohol and will finish the rest tomorrow. Then run the track cleaning car for a while.
And removed everything but track from one half the layout to ready it for some changes like adding a bridge and increasing some curves. WHEW!
Ray, your layout looks great right now. Can't wait to see the improvements you make.
