Patience Scott. He has yet to run the strands of twinkling Christmas lights along the eaves of Cherry Poppin’s. It’ll be more festive then.
I just received the loco from Walt 2 days ago, and was working on it this morning. It had a running hiccup due to the truck sideframes sitting too low, and Walt sent it to me to see if I could figure it out. It's all brass, and the updated shell will use the reliable Showcase Miniatures Power Truck mechanism. Cherry Poppins is not G rated, but that structure fits the spot I put it just fine, and my Grandkids will be none the wiser this year. Anyways, it's on a magnetic base, and I can build another one with the same footprint and make it into anything I want, a general store, post office, or a bed and breakfast that's close to the train station. The beauty of Laser Cut, is once the drawings are done, it can be mass produced and mirror imaged instantly. D:
I get so excited when I see you have an update, and you never disappoint! Beautiful in every detail, but yeah, what's the story with that Shay, it's gorgeous!
Testing out one of the Walter Smith (Shell) and Rudy Valle (Drive Chassis) Z Scale 2 truck Shay locomotives. This is one based on the Rokuhan Shorty drive, but I understand the updated version will use Showcase Miniatures drive for even better slow speed performance. This test is on my "Under Construction" Christmas Tree layout using the very inexpensive PWM controllers from Amazon. So Walter sent it to me, and he had said it has a few hickups in the drive. What i found was that the truck sideframes were just a bit low, so anything at rail height like turnouts or scenery just outside the rails could cause the loco to stall. I cut the sideframes off, and re-glued them on a bit higher, and ran the loco for a couple hours today without incident. As far as the layout goes, I planted more trees today, but I will probably setup the tree for Christmas running tomorrow, and continue with by designing structures and adding them during the holidays.
Rob, Fantastic! That loco fits in real well with the Christmas layout. I looked for those 20s cars on Walter's Shapeways page and didn't see them. If the cylinders moved, I can stare at that loco all day. Scott
Too cool! The layout looks fantastic! But truly enjoy your choice of locomotives! I always wondered how those shays ran.
Great, now I'm dreaming of a logging railroad, thanks a lot! I gotta' have one of those Shays, it's awesome!
Very impressive to see in person! Excellent job on making a unique Christmas tree stand! The Shay ran flawlessly for two hours while I visited with you! Always stepping up your modeling to the next level!
I reached a pause in construction until after the holidays. I need the tree up for the holiday season, and I still need to design and build structures to complete the layout, For now it's Christmas Time Running: Running trains under the tree:
So, Christmas is over and so is 2022, the tree was taken down and everything stored. A New Year has started and the tree layout project has resumed. I decided to remove Cherrie Poppin's Playhouse from right next to the train station, and needed something for that spot, so I decided to make a Railroad Hotel to fit that spot. Maybe more appropriate for a Christmas Tree layout, but so are colored lights, so I added a room that the lights turn red sometimes. Hey, it's a 'Railroad Hotel'. Here is the operation video:
For sure the fans look really good! And only a few will recognize the red light Besides red is a Christmas color!
That red light is REALLY bold! I donno what they looked like then, but am guessing it was a bit more subdued?
