You were correct Dale, no motor in the one SD40-2. It has caused me to do some online searching/shopping. Haha
Hey Colt, we need to get together. I have some new motor mounts, and I need to get you the drive shafts and what other gears you need. I will look in my parts drawer, I may have a motor stashed in there. It should have the brass flywheels as well. they ought to look pretty good in SKOL black and yellow. I will send you a link to the place that has the SKOL decals as well. you have to admit though, it was pretty easy to take them apart for stripping and paint. We ought to get together on road numbers so we can consist them up sometime. Had fun today, glad you could join us. We will be seeing you soon on the POCR!
While searching for reference pics I came across this picture. Might have some HO scale excursion trips turning at the POCR! Thanks for the invite, always fun to attend an operating session.
Out bound road crossing from BKEP, this will link up with the entrance to Gavilon East and the scale building. This section will be concrete.I will build up ballast to simulate a gravel shoulder and add a guard rail to the outside. Then I can finish the grass and move on down the side to the life out bridge. Progress being made slowly.
Really? I can see them just fine here. I can describe it, it looks way less cluttered than a few das ago!
My daughter and I had the chance to take a locomotive for a trip on the layout last night moving some cars around. Dale and his family have built a fun pressure free layout. As a mainline and yard modeler, it was hard to fight my hurry up and drill cars because the next train is coming tendencies and slow down for a switching layout. During the drive home my head was thinking should I have switched this way or that, what would've been better. Thanks again Dale, I look forward for a chance to try again and see if I can do better next time.
There is nothing more motivating than having a Rail Meet scheduled and being one of the operating layouts. I had been contemplating how I was going to cover the slopes along the BNSF Interchange and around the western bank of the navigation channel. I suddenly decided to try watered-down acrylic paint as a bond coat and sift on ground foam. I did small sections at a time and made sure the paint stayed wet during the process. I used about a 60/40 paint to water to bond with. Here are the results. It certainly covers that painted foam look and will bond decently. I also painted in a rock cut just north of the Bird Creek bridges. I painted a layer of cap stone under the track then added a layer of shale beneath that. Finished out with limestone with brown patches in it. The Meet is the 2020 Layout Design and Operations weekend coming up in March. We will operate 3 times over the weekend and have an open house one afternoon. All my slots are full. Looking forward to it! Dale
Well, LDOP has bit the dust like so many other planned events out there. I see out of caution many shows and meets are being postponed or cancelled. So I guess we be looking forward to when things calm down. It did push me to work on some things I wanted to accomplish on the RR. It has also pushed me into trying some new things. you will remember I added some interest detail to Word Industries in way of leds to simulate welding. I wanted to figure out a way of making them go on and off at odd intervals. So I am now learning Arduinos and what I can do with them on the layout. I have now figured a way to make the welding start and stop at not so random intervals. The things that can be done with these little guys is amazing, lighting effects, crossing lights, timers just to name a few. The cost is pretty amazing as well. I have found UNO clones for well under 20 dollars and the programming software is a free download. The amount of information out there in the way of video tutorials is also astounding. If you are looking for an interesting challenge, dip your toe in the water if you haven’t, it will certainly hold your interest. some projects I want to tackle, timing for the welding at Word Industries, install a timer to run the horse-head oil pump on the pennensula, build a second grade crossing for Hwy 167 where the SKOL crosses it. I’m sure as time goes on, I will find more projects to add. Thanks for stopping by, I’m doing vacation this week and I hope I can get some projects done and post up some pictures. Dale
Some quick shots of Word Industries. The Arduino is programmed and installed. I have also added an interior photo for depth. It’s a bit off but shows ok.