Do I feel a a warm breeze in the air? Is old geezer winter finally kicking the bucket? Hows that bucket list of train items going? Yup, its time for Weekend Modeling Accomplishments! Friday was a great day for me. I got a lot done on my GP38's. The fan grills, cut levers and frame detail is done on one and both have grab irons in place. The Optivisor made it easy and fast, although, those cut levers are still a bit of a challenge! Friday was a great day as I had the house to myself, nice and quiet and my podcast had a topic of nearby Decatur and its haunted past and present. Seems there is also tales of a ghost train - Bonus! Saturday was work than some R and R with some friends. Sunday was a change of pace. Even though I'm behind on my Galesburg modules, the weather was WARM. 50 degrees in fact, so I fueled up Jess my railfan Wrangler, grabbed my sweetheart and took a short day trip to nearby western Illinois to do some ghost hunting of my own. My ghost for the day was the old Illinois Terminal and the hunting was successful! Not far from Decatur, a once IT station in good shape had been converted to a antique dealer and parked in front? An Illinois Terminal Interurban! As if luck couldn't have gotten any better, a NS train going westbound found its way into my camera's view finder. It was a great way to usher in the spring. With this weekend behind me, I now have to concentrate on my modules. The jury is still out if my club plans to set up T-Trak and NTrak at the upcoming Lincoln Square show. If not, since I took time off from work, I may actually try to set up my Galesburg modules. By the way, for those of you who are into social media, I have produced a small page about the Galesburg modules, head on over to https://www.facebook.com/NScaleGalesburg and like us. I post updates to the page and maybe will do some video as time allows. So how about you? Was your weekend productive or did warm weather distract you? Its ok, it has been a long winter. Let us know! We'll come back here on Friday the 13th and do it all over again. Until then, have a great week and... High Greens!
My son spent the week at his grand parents house, so I was free to work on the layout all day Thursday and Friday while my wife was at work. The long, uninterrupted weekend allowed me to accomplish the following: *Complete installation of all Buss. *Complete installation of all feeders. *Complete installation of all Track. *Install stub-end staging with temporary connection track. *Trouble shoot DCC and trackwork with actual moving trains. *Clean off layout and photograph
I now think that the new phototransistors should be OK for the grade crossing project, but they will have to be positioned pretty carefully to make it work. NJ International got back to me on the failed linkages for the crossing gates, and their solution was the same as mine. Instead of trying to repair it, I've drilled a small hole in each counterweight and I'll run a stiffer wire through it. This will also give me a longer lever arm, so the gate motion should be smoother and slower, as I can use more of the Tortoise's range of motion. I'm also looking at the turntable for the far end of Phase 3, the new construction. I was going to use an old Atlas that I've had since I was a boy, and that's still my fall-back position, but I picked up a used N-scale turntable at a show for $5, complete with motor and a slip-ring for power. It's only 9 inches across, but that's all I need to turn the short engines that will venture down that way. I've removed the N-scale track, and with some warmer weather coming up I will be able to spray paint the model outside.
I was able to put this building together, I like the way it turned out. The weathering on the walls and roof was done by the manufacturer, I don't know how: They didn't really show where all the stuff from the blue sprue went, so I ended up with some spare parts The fire extinguishers are really cool. Also, they included the rain gutter and down spout. This Kit only cost 5.95 and 6,00 for shipping on ebay. It is going by my engine shed and fueling depot, although I think it was designed for the Tank Farm. Also painted this 36" x 11' section of backdrop for an area on the layout that was lacking: Even made it to the Gym and got a walk in, as well as Church. I guess it was a busy weekend.
I installed a few more track feeders, although there's one I'm pretty unhappy with so I may end up re-doing it. Also worked on my Walton & Sons Lumber Co building: Yesterday I checked out the show in Cedarburg and bought a few cars.
