Wow, GREAT work, everyone! I spent most of the week re-fitting some old open-frame motors with rare earth magnets and the difference in performance is astounding! Here's an old PFM Rio Grande L-131 2-8-8-2 that just had the new magnets installed, and fresh out of the shops for some heavy-duty freight assignments. What was once a 'coffee-grinder' is now a quiet, smooth articulated that crawls and HAULS! Tom
I got some old Hornby British style structures for the outdoor layout. They are OO scale. some came with prepainted stonework. I'm adding blue and white paint to everything to tie them all together in one scene. I doubt they'll ever look like super high grade models, but they are going on the outdoor layout. They are definitely just background filler stuff for roundy roundy running.
Got to do a little running time this weekend, with no modeling work, which was a lot of fun. Took these new photos of the activity around the newly reopened river road Here, we see the CA Zephyr, pulled by WP ABB #801/B/C, crossing on the upper tracks, while the nose of Santa Fe #300 is poking under the highway bridge, leading an ABBA consist pulling the El Capitan, heading into Laurel Gulch WP #801, posing for its close up And the CA Zephyr, exiting a High Sierra tunnel and crossing a trestle
MC Fujiwara: Beautiful Alameda warehouse scene. Really nice. I found these old prototype pics; flat car bridge in Kirby, Texas. UP has probably removed it. A real, functioning SW1 Wisconsin Central SD45s in Dolores Yard, Alameda, California. CSX accelerates...
Thanks for all the complements on the Alameda-Belt-in-a-Box layout. It's been fun to work with my daughter and to include some history that's not usually modeled. Flash: thanks for posting those picts. I always forget about those re-purposed flatcar bridges, & would love to model one at some point. Another project done this weekend is the building of a12VDC static grass applicator, which I call "The Banananator": Tested it out on my test diorama and, being used to the little fly-swatter applicator, ended up flocking the fuzz outta the area: Will be fun to try out longer-than-WS static grasses, like 4mm & 6mm blends. Going to need a lot on the Free-moN module I started yesterday Happy long weekend, everyone!