What did you do on your layout today?

@Trainmaster04 posted:

Good evening everyone!
I decided to come back to project that I took a break from. About a month ago I decided to convert my  2 rail Hattons LNER A3 to run on 3 rails. When I left the locomotive, I was able to rewire the tender to handle a pickup roller I took off a Lionel postwar tender.
This locomotive was originally equipped to be DCC ready and have a speaker added. I took out the DCC equipment but kept it in usable condition. I wired the locomotive and tender together so that the wheels will be the ground and the new pickup roller be the hot.
Here is a video of the end result:

Now I have something to run for the Flying Scotsman’s 100th anniversary on the 24th. Thanks for reading!

Seems to go through the switch very reliably - are those the original 2-rail wheel flanges?

@Mallard4468 posted:

Seems to go through the switch very reliably - are those the original 2-rail wheel flanges?

They are, and the curves/switches are O72. The trailing truck (or rear pony truck) binds a bit through the curves but handles it just fine.

Second layer of gravel applied. Some clean up and I'll do the other load insert. I will probably give them a wash of some dark brown paint to knock down the shininess and then a shot of matte clear.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Second layer of gravel applied. Some clean up and I'll do the other load insert. I will probably give them a wash of some dark brown paint to knock down the shininess and then a shot of matte clear.

Bob

Looks great so far Bob! I have a pack of those ore cars currently enroute from Menards. I’m definitely going to do what you’re doing. Thanks for sharing!

I have a west side village pedestrian walkway that runs parallel to the tracks, with a line of trees separating the walkway from the tracks. Recently, I pulled up all the trees along the walkway and replaced 14 of them with taller, 12" winter pine trees spaced closer together. The shorter ones were re-installed on the curve end.

This required installing the trees onto a thin, white wood strip, then placing the snow as evenly as possible around all of them to hide the wood strip. I'm pleased with the results, because now there is a tighter tree barrier between the pedestrians and the trains. You know, Safety first.

And just like that, track weathering the entire main table is complete! I will film a new YouTube video soon that will highlight the work done and a tutorial on how I went about painting the track.

- Jason

@Yellowstone Special posted:

I have a west side village pedestrian walkway that runs parallel to the tracks, with a line of trees separating the walkway from the tracks. Recently, I pulled up all the trees along the walkway and replaced 14 of them with taller, 12" winter pine trees spaced closer together. The shorter ones were re-installed on the curve end.

This required installing the trees onto a thin, white wood strip, then placing the snow as evenly as possible around all of them to hide the wood strip. I'm pleased with the results, because now there is a tighter tree barrier between the pedestrians and the trains. You know, Safety first.

Apparently you gave no consideration to the railfans who used the path to snap their pics and then post them on the OGR forum and now cannot see or get past the tree screen !

@Farmall-Joe posted:

Apparently you gave no consideration to the railfans who used the path to snap their pics and then post them on the OGR forum and now cannot see or get past the tree screen !

Maybe he's modeling pretty much anywhere in the South

@jdstucks posted:

I will film a new YouTube video soon that will highlight the work done and a tutorial on how I went about painting the track.

Jason,

I'm very eager to see how you did your track - it's excellent!

Bob

@Farmall-Joe posted:

Apparently you gave no consideration to the railfans who used the path to snap their pics and then post them on the OGR forum and now cannot see or get past the tree screen !

Oh no! I guess I never thought of that. 🤔 We'll see how this goes. The new trees could always be re-done again, too. 😉

JD, the track look great. Color is dead on. The shiny top of rail really sets it off.

@Richizzle07 posted:

Looks great so far Bob! I have a pack of those ore cars currently enroute from Menards. I’m definitely going to do what you’re doing. Thanks for sharing!

That is looking good. I just got done doing 44 of my ore cars with loads. Used this product. Painted the fake plastic loads, sprinkled, on my product and later used a flat clear coat to seal. I am going to leave the other 35 as empties.

@Papa Dave posted:

P51, Love your attention to detail.  It looks great!

Thank you very much.

Someone recently noted my middle initial is "D" and that he said that must stand for Detail. I really liked that.

I've been a historical re-enactor for almost all of my life and I was always about the details then. So, I carried that over to my modeling. With something like this which wasn't based off an actual prototype, I seriously looked into tanks similar to this and built what I think is a very plausible one.

It took about 15 years of scrounging and building, but I finally completed my goal of a 12-car train of kit-built ATSF 50' reefers, and gave them a ride around the layout...

These are mostly from Ambroid's O-8 kit, but a few are from Gloor's later versions of the same kit.

Closer view of one of the cars...

Each of the 12 cars bears its own car number, per data from ATSF reference book on refrigerator cars.  Weaver trucks/couplers, underbody gear enhancements, other improvements.  Cars were built and painted in various groups as kits were accumulated over about 15 years.  Older kits often needed replacement decals, due to age/deterioration.  You can readily see variations in 'weathering' as the builds transpired.

It was one of those 'bucket list' things that got a bit out of hand, I suppose.  Anyhow, it's quite a train...and rather difficult to take a still photo of the entire magilla!

All part of the fun, though!

KD

@chris a posted:

Hey Bob,  Yes 3.0 VDC is exactly what I am feeding the cars.   Here's 2 photos.   My inexpensive buck converter is DC/DC.   I have 9.2 VDC on the supply side.   The black paired wires running up through the table are the factory wire tethers from Menards, I removed the plugs.     

It's always difficult to take digital photos like this, I had the ambient light slightly dimmed, but the camera is always trying to correct for too little light..   Anyway, I am pretty pleased at 3VDC, looks reasonably realistic for a cheap vehicle with LED's that are definitely not the "warm 3K - 3.5K " temperature.

Chris

Hey Chris,

Tell us about what you are doing with your crossing gate here. I like this configuration but have only seen this set up custom made.

Dave

I’ve been ignoring my layout; I hope it’s not like a cat that will retaliate. I’ve spent the last several days in my garage attic removing my empty boxes from storage boxes and putting them on the shelves I had used to store the trains in the garage when I moved in 8 years ago.

My carpenter buddy built this walkway between the attic and the loft so I don’t have to climb the ladder.

Hey Chris,

Tell us about what you are doing with your crossing gate here. I like this configuration but have only seen this set up custom made.

Dave

Hi Dave, Like everyone else, yes it's pretty custom....  I purchased one of the DZ infra-red train detectors, discovered it was wired backwards internally...  Once that got fixed,  I added a DPDT relay to activate the MTH cantilever signal as well as a Tortoise switch machine to raise and lower the NJ International Brass crossing gate.   If I can put my hands on my wiring diagram, I'll post it as well as photo looking up from the bottom sometime later today.   Started cleaning up my two work bench areas, late yesterday afternoon/evening -  Ugh!!!   Now I am not sure I can find anything..

I would have liked to use an insulated rail signal to activate the crossing, but my 11 block complicated B & O  CPL signal system, signal protected in both directions,  discouraged me from going that route.  I would have had to figure out how to create a block within an established block with an and/or gate.   I know it's possible but it took a very long time to wire up those 22 x  3PDT relays and didn't want to mess with "something that's working trouble free".   

@pennsyfan posted:

I’ve been ignoring my layout; I hope it’s not like a cat that will retaliate. I’ve spent the last several days in my garage attic removing my empty boxes from storage boxes and putting them on the shelves I had used to store the trains in the garage when I moved in 8 years ago.

My carpenter buddy built this walkway between the attic and the loft so I don’t have to climb the ladder.

Looks like you gotta be pretty skinny to fit through that door.......I'm out! 

Nice job of organizing the boxes Bob. I'd kill for that kind of storage space.

Bob

@RSJB18 posted:

Looks like you gotta be pretty skinny to fit through that door.......I'm out! 

Nice job of organizing the boxes Bob. I'd kill for that kind of storage space.

Bob

Thanks Bob. I think most people have to go through on an angle;  it’s 20”. He replaced the hatch that was there.

Hi guys great projects all!

@RSJB18 Bob I am with Chris on the Buck converters! They work great and are easy to set up and then you just diel them into whatever you like for looks! Nice work on the new loads for your ore cars!

@Trainmaster04 Wonderful job on the 2R conversation!

@Yellowstone Special Vern, sure are some nice looking trees, I get the same ones from Walmart after Christmas for 75% off But for me I think it is to much tree as you block a fair amount of the town behind them.

@jdstucks Jason outstanding weathering of your tracks! Also can you tell me where you got your NS track inspection truck?

@dkdkrd Kd Now that there is some true dedication to get the train you wanted, You sure did a wonderful job and congratulations!

@pennsyfan Wow nice to have a walkway instead of having to climb a ladder, I sure wouldn't want to be the one who falls off of it! But I love the idea!

@chris a I too love the crossing gate, but agree if its not broken don't mess with it! LOL

Well as for me guys not a lot, went out to the train room tried to figure out some building placement, I still have to add a few fill in sections on the main bench work mostly by where the bridges come down, before I can think about building a filler section that I can take in and out!

I hope you all have a great week and don't work to hard!

@RSJB18 posted:

I haven't yet.....Chris' post and Tamyia paint are my next steps.

Gotcha.

As it happens, today I visited the local hobby shop and picked up a bottle of Tamiya X-26 clear orange acrylic paint, and dabbed it on the overbright headlights of my Menards vintage vehicles. It's still drying, but already I like it! I'll post pics later, once everything is dry. Hope your results are as satisfactory.

Oh, and I noticed the headlights on the '48 Ford van are out -- I suspect a loose wire, since they're *both* out, assuming each light has its own LED. *sigh* 🙄

@mike g. posted:

@Yellowstone Special Vern, sure are some nice looking trees, I get the same ones from Walmart after Christmas for 75% off But for me I think it is to much tree as you block a fair amount of the town behind them.

A fair point, Mike. You and others already have me rethinking this landscaping decision. Thanks for your input. 😉

@Steve Tyler posted:

Gotcha.

As it happens, today I visited the local hobby shop and picked up a bottle of Tamiya X-26 clear orange acrylic paint, and dabbed it on the overbright headlights of my Menards vintage vehicles. It's still drying, but already I like it! I'll post pics later, once everything is dry. Hope your results are as satisfactory.

Oh, and I noticed the headlights on the '48 Ford van are out -- I suspect a loose wire, since they're *both* out, assuming each light has its own LED. *sigh* 🙄

The car has 2 front and 2 rear.

Rich was here yesterday and we worked on the three right side tunnels, cut the last one out of shaper sheet, and painted its interior. After that we cut the right rear level 2 corner in a proper arc that met the approval of the scenic director.

Rich also mounted the painted transfer table and turntable remote holders on the fascia.  Everything fit properly.

Today Paula and I painted Scenic Express Pennsy retaining walls, cut the ends to fit, and glued two pieces together to make 10.25” high sections.

So we are ready to assemble the tunnels, add the tunnel faces, add retaining walls, and touch up/clean up after which my responsibilities cease. Any volunteers to help with scenery, please contact Rich or Paula.

Photos to follow when the work is accomplished.

@Bill Webb posted:

Rich was here yesterday and we worked on the three right side tunnels, cut the last one out of shaper sheet, and painted its interior. After that we cut the right rear level 2 corner in a proper arc that met the approval of the scenic director.

Rich also mounted the painted transfer table and turntable remote holders on the fascia.  Everything fit properly.

Today Paula and I painted Scenic Express Pennsy retaining walls, cut the ends to fit, and glued two pieces together to make 10.25” sections.

So we are ready to assemble the tunnels, add the tunnel faces, add retaining walls, and touch up/clean up after which my responsibilities cease. Any volunteers to help with scenery, please contact Rich or Paula.

Photos to follow when the work is accomplished.

Bill, I really enjoy following your progress. You have outstanding and talented people helping. And, your Scenic Director is second to none. Perhaps Paula should have a shirt that has the title Scenic Director emblazoned.

Jay

Another great update Bill. You 3 are a great team.

I like how you get to step away from the heavy scenery work too.  😄

Bob

Jd stucks .painting  the track is so important . Some don't like it but I do. Man paint it before you put it down . I made that mistake  and now painting it is a real task. Once you  take that shine out of the rail you've done more to you're layout than anything you can do . Great job.

Got a lot done today. Sandy Acres control panel has been numbered and the legend is in place. Wired the front half of the industrial park to the switches. The road crew is not making much headway. The loggers are hard at work while the hobos play checkers and warm up their soup over the fire. The track gang is working hard, they are expecting completion of the spur in a few months. The townsfolk are enjoying a game of mini-golf.

Chris A. great to see you posting again.

Excellent work all around guys, wow!

Andy

@RSJB18 posted:

The car has 2 front and 2 rear.

Thanks -- it's good to see the disassembly will be relatively simple!

Any thoughts on what may be wrong? Since I reduced the input voltage with the resistors, I doubt I managed to burn out both headlights while still leaving the tail lights working, but OTOH I can't recall anything that would have dislodged the headlight wiring without disturbing the tail lights also. *sigh* One more for the to-do list . . .

Just a thought:  Make sure you didn't accidentally reverse the polarity on the headlights, if reversed, they're diodes, and won't illuminate ? 

@chris a posted:

Just a thought:  Make sure you didn't accidentally reverse the polarity on the headlights, if reversed, they're diodes, and won't illuminate ?

Well, thanks, but the short answer is that I didn't touch a thing -- it had always worked, from the first time I plugged it in, through the experiments to reduce the voltage and final installation on the layout, until I went to check the color after I bought the Tamiya paint and discovered the lights were out. Moreover, the tail light LEDs are still lit, so it's likely not a power supply polarity issue either.

I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm hoping it's just an obvious wiring issue. If not, though -- any suggestions on where to source compatible replacement LEDs?

@Steve Tyler posted:

Well, thanks, but the short answer is that I didn't touch a thing -- it had always worked, from the first time I plugged it in, through the experiments to reduce the voltage and final installation on the layout, until I went to check the color after I bought the Tamiya paint and discovered the lights were out. Moreover, the tail light LEDs are still lit, so it's likely not a power supply polarity issue either.

I haven't opened it up yet, but I'm hoping it's just an obvious wiring issue. If not, though -- any suggestions on where to source compatible replacement LEDs?

Hi Steve, I am not a electrical Wizkid, LOL On the other hand I am a electrical dummy! But I was thinking out loud to myself as I normally do and was wondering what if you tried power to each end separately. Maybe the resistor is to much of a power cut for all 4 leds to work.

If I am out of line I am sorry, just throwing ideas out there!

Hi guys I hope your all doing well and are ready for the snowstorm and windstorms coming your way! We here where I live in Washington state just got a dusting overnight. Nothing really big!

Any who back to the train stuff! LOL

@Bill Webb Bill it is great that you're getting close to the point where you are maybe able to step away and let Paula and Rich take over the scenery. But I do have to ask, after all you 3 have done as a team, do you really think you're going to be able to stand on the sidelines! LOL

@DrSteveDC Steve your control panel looks great and what a wonderful idea to post a legend, I would have just tried to remember! LOL

Well guys as for me I am going to try and get some cleaning done and some switch motors placed and wired. Not sure how much I will get done but that is what is on my hope to do list! LOL

I hope you all have a great week and find time for fun with your layouts and trains!

@mike g. posted:

Hi Steve, I am not a electrical Wizkid, LOL On the other hand I am a electrical dummy! But I was thinking out loud to myself as I normally do and was wondering what if you tried power to each end separately. Maybe the resistor is to much of a power cut for all 4 leds to work.

If I am out of line I am sorry, just throwing ideas out there!

Oh, no problem -- I've been known to do a bit of spitballin' myself!

No, I haven't opened the van up yet (the pic showing the inside was posted by someone else) or even taken it off the layout, and both on and off the layout, it had always worked fine with my added resistors in place, until it didn't.

Your suggestion is a good one, though -- after adjusting the voltage for the Menards pieces, I attempted a similar reduction for a group of ten overly-bright street lights, and found that they each had their own reaction to any reduction -- in the end acceptable, but some seemed to dim more than other, seemingly identical, lights. Someone else's suggestion in a different thread to use inexpensive buck converters at need is looking better and better . . .

@Steve Tyler posted:

Thanks -- it's good to see the disassembly will be relatively simple!

Any thoughts on what may be wrong? Since I reduced the input voltage with the resistors, I doubt I managed to burn out both headlights while still leaving the tail lights working, but OTOH I can't recall anything that would have dislodged the headlight wiring without disturbing the tail lights also. *sigh* One more for the to-do list . . .

I have 5 menards light up trucks and 4 of the 5 have burnt out. What happened to you sounds like what happened to me. Some trucks were sudden but most went out one light at a time. I use the menards power supply, the only adjustment I made was to cut the wires to get them through the table and I also extend some of the wires using 20 guage wire. I guess that was enough to overload the car lights somehow and burn them out.

I have moved on and I'm replacing them all one by one with Woodland scenics cars.

@mike g. posted:

Hi Steve, I am not a electrical Wizkid, LOL On the other hand I am a electrical dummy! But I was thinking out loud to myself as I normally do and was wondering what if you tried power to each end separately. Maybe the resistor is to much of a power cut for all 4 leds to work.

If I am out of line I am sorry, just throwing ideas out there!

@mike g., @Steve Tyler

Mike and Steve:

Mike's theory is correct if the LEDs are wired in series where each LED sees 1/4th of the total voltage traveling through the circuit. However, if the LEDs are wired in parallel, all 4 LEDs will be fed the same amounts of voltage equal to the total voltage of the circuit. Still, a revisit of the amount of resistance that was added to the circuit via resistors is warranted.

@Steve Tyler posted:

Thanks -- it's good to see the disassembly will be relatively simple!

Any thoughts on what may be wrong? Since I reduced the input voltage with the resistors, I doubt I managed to burn out both headlights while still leaving the tail lights working, but OTOH I can't recall anything that would have dislodged the headlight wiring without disturbing the tail lights also. *sigh* One more for the to-do list . . .

Steve- my car had no insulation on the wiring. I suspect that the supply wires were touching when I tested it and it went POOF!

I used standard 3mm LED's to replace the one's in the Ford. I have an assortment (W,R,B,G,Y) that I bought for just such an occasion. Just make sure you get warm white, not cool. Anything from 470 ohm up to 1K would be fine for the power side. The factory resistors were really small compared to the 1/4 watt that I used. My guess it that the resistor fried.
Before you pull the LED's- test them with a new power source.

Bob

LEDs are notorious for burning out instantly whenever they have input voltages which exceed their input design. You may never see the flash.  Just in case, check polarity, I get this messed up all the time. I assume you confirmed you have dc and the correct voltage input.

I used this DC dimmer for 12 volt "roll" LEDs I put into my buildings. I use these to brighten or dim my building lights. I'll typically set this up to control the upper and lower floors of groups of buildings.

For the cars I would consider a separate circuit to feed my fleet and adjust all at the same time or split head and tail lights. This dimmer may not work very well with a 5 volt feed. I would not feed this with 12v and dim down. Too easy to slip up and blow all the LEDs at once. 

@ScoutingDad posted:

LEDs are notorious for burning out instantly whenever they have input voltages which exceed their input design. You may never see the flash.  Just in case, check polarity, I get this messed up all the time. I assume you confirmed you have dc and the correct voltage input.

I used this DC dimmer for 12 volt "roll" LEDs I put into my buildings. I use these to brighten or dim my building lights. I'll typically set this up to control the upper and lower floors of groups of buildings.

For the cars I would consider a separate circuit to feed my fleet and adjust all at the same time or split head and tail lights. This dimmer may not work very well with a 5 volt feed. I would not feed this with 12v and dim down. Too easy to slip up and blow all the LEDs at once.

Thanks for the reply. Well, I don't think there's much chance I've had an over-voltage event. First, the recycled power supply I used was rated at 5 volts, just a scootch over the 4.5 volt rating of the 'official' Menards wall wart, and perhaps understandably the two devices I was powering seemed a bit overbright when directly powered. So, after some fiddlin' I added four parallel 10 ohm resistors in series with the devices (2.5 ohms in aggregate), and that seemed to bring them down to a more appropriate brightness. So, at most I'd fed them a half volt or so over the spec voltage, and AFAIK it all worked fine until yesterday, when I noticed the headlights were out. I haven't had a chance yet to open the van up, but went ahead and ordered a bundle of 3mm LEDs, just in case -- I have plenty of projects in mind to use them for in any event.

As to the voltage conversion, yeah, I'm giving serious consideration to using a cheap buck converter (coincidentally, costing about a buck each from overseas!) to adjust the supply voltage down to 3 volts or so, especially after hearing the bad experience others have had with the Menards pieces! *sigh*