Another weekend is done, I hope you accomplished all that you set out to do. Yes, that is right, same as last weekend and the weekend before that. With the exception of a little bit of rail archeology of the former Peoria & Eastern RR and some preliminary work for next weekend's Galesburg project, I did nothing model railroad related. Starting this Friday however, that will all change as I'm taking a "Mental Health" day and going railfanning in Jess the Railfan Jeep all day followed by working on my Galesburg project the entire weekend. So how about you? Did you get to work on anything RR related? If you did, let us know with a picture or two if you like. We'll all get back again on Friday the 25th and do it all over again. Until then, have a great week and... ​High Greens!
I drove into Houston yesterday to visit one of the local train stores. Ran into two different folks who I had not seen in a while. I picked up an RU-91 for the club Digitrax system so we can run wireless throttles during the upcoming layout tour. So, spent the evening hooking it up and trying it out.
Not much to look at, but, as they say, the devil is in the details. Recovering from a cold, I spent the afternoons in the trainroom, doing some detail work on the tannery structures. I added interior floors to two of the buildings, and got the interior walls and lighting in one of them, plus some doors that I'd left off during construction so I could cut them open to see into the buildings. Sunday night, it was nice to finally see some lights in the long-dark section of the layout.
I managed to get the bus wires hooked up to the small switching yard I inherited from Lee Weldon's now deceased WM layout which was already wired. Still took about 20 minutes to do the necessary soldering, etc. But she runs. I also got started on the bridges that need to sit under the yard lead tracks. Gotta get the bridge decks and pilings done and in so I can actually mount the track.
The train pervert strikes again... I visited the OVAR flea market in Ottawa on Sunday and came back with a bag full of new toys. A Kato SD40 (CN 5003). A Proto GP7 (CN 4347). A Proto FB2 dummy (CN 9409) A Proto C-Liner (CN 8710) A Bachmann GP40 (CP) An Athearn FP45 dummy (undecorated) Two freight cars. And a partridge in a pear tree... A bit of maintenance was required on the GP7 - a test run and it went kerchunk-kerchunk-kerchunk... lo and behold, four cracked axles. Well, luck has it that the FB2 dummy has four intact axles, and I have noted that unpowered locos do just fine with cracked axles, since there's nothing to mesh with them. Axles swapped, and the GP7 runs like a charm. Problem - it doesn't have dynamic brakes and it's decorated for CN... I'll change the number to a fictitious one (from 4347 to 4847) and the deed is done. Call it a what-if. The SD40 has a Digitrax DH82 decoder in it and it doesn't appreciate DC too well - its operation is erratic, sometimes it turns on the lights but just sits there. The lighting system has also been modified, and the leads to the rear bulb were too short to reassemble the shell easily, so I lengthened them. A little research and I find it's a decoder that's been off the market since 1994! I'm planning on de-decodering this engine, using another Kato SD40 as the model to put it back in its natural state. If anyone is wondering, I don't do DCC. It would cost me a couple of grand to upgrade everything. And a lot of cussing for the modifications. The icing on the cake was the GP40 and FP45. I've been hunting for some victims - er... raw materials... yes, that's it... for kitbashing a GP40FH-2, the NJT units built by M-K using GP40s and cowls from ex-BN F45s. I've even had the pleasure of seeing one in person up here - the local transit authority leased some from NJT for a few years. They're among the coolest 1:1 kitbashes ever. To find both at reasonable prices ($10 and $5 respectively) makes me less squeamish at the prospect of cutting them up (hence the term "victims"). And on the same day, no less... Nice birthday present. Now I'll get into some serious studying of prototype photos before any of my diabolical plans get into gear. And I can use the GP40 handrails to finish my SW1200RM (SW1200-GP9 kitbash). And I finished my SW1200RS. Sweet.
Well I got one more structure built and the foam cut for my mine area. So now there is a 4" rise from the rest of the layout to the mine area. Now to finish some more structures and add a backdrop section for the mine since it is on a peninsula. All this to be done in the next three days.
A little late in reporting in.... I started on some DPM buildings. Was able to put together 11 out 12 of the ones needed. Was able to get the walls filed and sanded- then assembled. I'll assemble the 12th one as well as the Fire station tonight. Then the real fun begins.....painting them all. Thanks, Wolf
