Ben, thanks! as for the yard, I cut styrene even with the top of the ties and fit in on the outside of the track. I than used a heavy spackling compound inside the rails and over the outside ties, even with the styrene. I made a tool of styrene the width of the inside of the track to drag through and smooth it down. It took 2 coast as it would sink down in the ties as it dried. It was good because it was easy to shave down high spots and rail area. The drawback is it is tough to keep paint on it as you clean with brite boys, you have to turn it on end and do one rail at a time. I have tried A LOT of methods, this has been by far the easiest and most effective for me. my best, Jan
Thanks for the photos Jan - looks like a great set-up. I don't know much about One-track (in fact, nothing). How is the group organized? Do members coordinate to make different scenes within a "master plan" or do you just take what you get? This set of modules seems to be pretty cohesive. Thanks also to you and Sundowner for the prototype info. I'm surprised to hear about the truck-only access to the terminal. Is this out of necessity or preference? Cheers, Gary P.S. Speaking of TOFC traffic, I've seen some monster northbound TOFC up this way - up to ~140 cars. They're especially popular with the motorists at grade crossings - at least this one.
Jan, Fantastic work. One question, how did you get the backdrop of trailers and containers in the intermodal terminal? Rich
Hey Gary, Both Port Everglades and port of Miami have a rail line into them but the track in both cases has been unmaintained and fallen out of service. The tour I was on indicated that the port of Miami maintains (or in this case is SUPPOSED to maintain its track and does not) that track and has let the bridge fall out of service. It is a long trafficky ride from port to yard. Port everglades is across the street from the FEC yard so it is a very quick jump. I think the port grew up without thoughts of incorporating the track. There is talk of re-tracking the port but no action. The port of West Palm is where the loading ramp goes right up to the ships. The one-trak group is all interested parties who join up to do modules. Usually the person would have an idea what module they want to do (usually something near where they live) and propose it to the leaders who figure 1) whether it fits, 2) how it would fit and 3) talk about how to design it. There is a module standard to follow. There is no master plan. For example, as a 2nd module I proposed to our president that I do either West Palm intermodal yard or Medley aggregate. We talked about which fit better and how they would work into the ops plan. We decided Medley was more important and should be done in 8' we than worked out a trackplan and hit it. We have a president and his assistant, everyone else is a member. One-trak is set-up so that each end of a module is a single 4" set-back rail. Some modules are 4', 2' or 8' (in which case only the ends of the modules are single-tracked). We have uniform construction standards such as height, set-back, and curves. I believe that Bernard Kempinski originated the concept? Its a great time, and a great bunch of guys! as for TOFC, those FEC 89' flats you see everywhere? We saw a large number at Hialeah yard repainted for the AOK where many were just sold to. my best, Jan
Hi Rich, here is how I did that: I first took some pictures of the actual scene I was modeling (the real Ft. Lauderdale yard), the smokestacks, the Kenworth dealer etc. I printed those pictures, shrank them at Kinkos to approximate size. I cut them out, and lightly taped them to a blue backdrop. I took the blue backdrop to my patio where I have a concrete floor. I put it up with my appropriate n scale trailers and containers and trucks and cars (and a building) spaced at different spaces in relation to the backdrop, grabbed a camera and shot that (lots of different ones to get the entire 8'). I then printed those and if necessary shrank or enlarged them at Kinkos. I than cut them as close as I could, contact cement glued them to my permanant blue backdrop (Masonite) and painted the blue right up to the photos to blend them. Thats it. thanks and my best, Jan
more fecNtrak module views Our ntrak group is composed of very dedicated(and talented) modelers and is always a large part of our annual convention.fecNtrak standards were created by our ntrak director Gregg. He took the Ntrak standard and tweaked it just a bit and it works for us! this year,we were had near 200' (actual) of mainline track! Heres a few views of my entry this year,New River bridge.Heres another shot of Ft. Lauderdale yard,Jans wonderful module. Max McLeieer
and still more of fecNtrak This set of pics is Tom L.'s Bonaventure module. A large "bumpout" module with a lot of spur trackage. It was the winner this year for the Members Choice module. Max M.
fecNtrak City Point module This set of shots is Bob A.'s City Point module. It is a large and complex module which has a panel for a baloon track. This tied with my New River module for second place this year. Max McLeieer
a few more Heres a few shots of other modules,Medley(Jans entry),Titusville,and Ojus.Our group has a wide range of enthusiasts,some older,and some very young! Max McLeieer
great to see you here Max!! Nice photos!! Max builds great modules, his modules include Hollywood, Dania, Taft Street, and Ft. Lauderdale New River bridge. He incorporates lots of lighting and scratchbuilt buildings. Hollywood was last year's winner for best module. The only correction is that Fec N-Trak is actually a One-trak group. This is a prototype group, we module the real FEC and real locations, all are in milepoint order other than Medley which should be west of Hialeah but can't be in our set-up. That loco in Max's pictures is the red and yellow special painted "2000" a model of th ereal unit and a real beauty. All of our locos are painted in the scheme the prototype carries, the 714 for instance has a conductor's side front door on the SD40-2 that is all yellow, thats on our loco. That unit also has a former noselight removed, that has also been modeled. And, thats my son in that photo, one hell of a driver!! my best, Jan
Hi there Jan! Im starting to get over our annual "post convention hangover". Have sooo many pics to go through,but this is a start! Your quite correct,our modules are actually OneTrak styled,not Ntrak. However,Hollywood didnt win last year,it was Ojus-Snake Creek(the one with the highway bridge).Hollywood -Taft St. was my first entry into this addicting hobby! By the way,I think your son took to that throttle like a duck to water.I expect some day he will join us! Thank you for the kind words on my models,it means even more coming from my fellow modelers in fecNtrak since they are darn good at what they do! The pics arent that hard with a 8 woo woo woo camera teamed up with photoshiop for tweaking.I have yet to match your modeling skills in cars and locomotives,but we all learn and glean from each other,thats why our group succeeds! Max M.
Nice stuff guys - thanks for posting these shots. It definitely looks like Florida to me. :thumbs_up: I'll have to look into one-track some more, it sounds great if you get the right group together. -Gary
If it was not 360 miles from the house I might have come down and tried to give my SD-70' a run on the layout. Great work guys. Bob.
Well Bob, good news, next September (last weekend in September always) the FEC convention is in Jacksonville. We will be setting up the layout again and they are already working on some tours of Bowden yard and hopefully the NS and CSX interchange yards. It would be fantastic to run your SD70 on the layout! Our north end modules are few and far between until you get to Titusville but we have the Bowden "balloon" and Airport road and halifax paving in Ormond Beach represented in module form. I know that some of the guys are thinking of putting together a module of the set-out track in St. Augustine, and we have anothe rmember looking at the possibility of the Tomoka creek bridge so maybe more norrth end action for you by than. It'd be great to have you join us! my best, Jan
Here are a couple more photos to show a better view of the backdrop for the folks who were interested,
Hi Gary, You requested,I deliver. Hers a few more I have to share.Medley,Ft. Lauderdale,Medley and a few more.Enjoy! Max McLeieer , fecNtrak modeler . Just out of curiosity, I've always wondered where most of the north-south container traffic along the eastern seaboard originates. Is the ship traffic in & out of Miami mostly from Central & South America or trans-Atlantic? I would guess the former. Please post some more module shots if you're able to. Cheers, Gary[/quote]
And a few more! Heres a few more. In the last post the pictures were Hypoluxo,Fellesmere,Jupiter,medley,and Titusville. This is another round of pics. Max McLeieer, fecNtrak modeler :tb-biggrin:
