Target Signals for the Sand Springs Railway After 5 straight days of operating sessions, today I decided to do some maintenance on the layout. The signals with two lights have taken a beating from snagging on shirt sleeves, over the 4 or 5 years we have been operating on the layout. Hoping for a quick and inexpensive solution I began construction on target signals. I will report later on their endurance. Construction was fast and inexpensive, two of the most beloved words in modeling. The lights look good on the N Scale layout. They are 13 feet high at the light, a measurement I used from The Compendium of Signals by Roger F. R. Karl. For now I have the light pole as pictured, without a platform or ladder. The materials are less than $2 per signal, the most expensive being the red/green LED at 39 cents from Tanner electronics in Dallas. I have attached 2 Photos of the Signals and construction hints. rich c see more layout photos of the Sand Springs Railway in Trainboard Albums
Another 30 Minute Load I made a quick tarp load today using more scraps and a square bit of a plastic bag. Glue your scraps into any desired shape to be covered: Then, simply spray it with Super 77 and cover with the bag! It's really that easy! Make sure to press the bag into all the nooks and crannys to get simulate scale draping. I also traced the bottom of the load with CA glue to prevent the bag from peeling away as it is handled down the road. Here's the final load painted with Testors enamel. You could probably also use colored bags just as well. And there you have it!
Hopper repaint I took this (Ex BN) Intermountain Hopper & matched as close as I could to the Reefer Orange used by the D&RGW - masked off the patch & am now waiting for it to dry so I can hit it with a gloss finish for decalling. No idea how this will turn out but I'm hoping the weathering will tie the whole thing together.....so long as I'm having fun right?? PS. I know the Rio Grande owned 4 bay hoppers - I just had this 3 bay handy & excess to needs
I don't have much hope for endurance. I put them in a class with telegraph poles along the right-of-way. I have considered using dwarf signals even if just for block polarity. Still, it is an excellent model idea and a great way to create them. Very nice construction idea.
Flash, I made my telephone poles out of brass, haven't lost any to date, they have been in for about 18 months. I could not keep that elastic line on them though. They would stretch and not return. I put the target signals on the rear sections of the layout a few months back (no problems) it is only the lights that people frequently come in contact with that has been a problem. The layout was built for operation, not for just watching trains run, some damage it inevitable. I believe you posted pictures of your club modules or layout the other day, I sure would like to see more of those. "NICE WORK" rich C Sand Springs Railway Take care and keep them running.
Hi Art, I'm using Micro Scale 60-55 Assorted freight cars - the set includes MP / C&O / SP&S boxcar decals as well as my D&RGW Centre Flow Hopper decals - would have rathered another 3 x sets of D&RGW decals but what are you gonna do eh?? Steve
I've had the weathering chalks out on my workbench for some time now. Here's a review the cars I've completed weathering. I used pastel chalk, sealed with a coat of workable fixative, a product I use to protect charcoal drawings from being messed up by an accidental wipe or smear, but allows for easy adjustments even after sealed. Here is my first attempt at weathering a Mikado: Though satisfied, after a few days it began to look too dirty, so I decided to tone it down. All that was necessary was to dab at it for a while with a dry brush. I am much more satisfied with the results now.
And my last update shows how even the lightest of weathering can increase the look of a model 10 times over. Before: Overly saturated, Truck detail lost After: Realistically toned, truck detail pops.
GHQ Depressed Center Flat car I am assembling the GHQ depressed center flat car. here is a photo: The couplers are MT 1025s. I think I can get the car lower by using the MT 2004 for newer Kato diesels. The 2004 has an offset shank that puts the coupler higher. This will also necessitate low profile wheels. There are two cars in a package. I haven't decided what color/road to paint it.
Flash - I think you need to bend that car a little to straighten it somewhat. Pewter tends to bend very easily and it appears that the left end of the car in the photo droops a little.
Right now, I have some Atlas N scale power poles that I'm going to rework, paint Tie Brown, remove the bases, and plant them on my layout. Not sure if I want to paint the conductors or not, but if I do, I'll dab a little bit of green on 'em. Next to the poles is a Rix Products Guthrie Grain kit. It's a nice one, but for what I need, it's too short. I may also need a few more for my poultry feed mill, which is a weathered Walthers Sunrise Feed Mill (I replaced the ADM Grain Elevator kit I had in its place, but the more I look at it, I see some kitbashing possibilities). Not on the workbench, but in a shelf in my plastic modular shelf units are a score of freight cars awaiting new trucks and M-T couplers.
I just finished a unique piece of equipment from the Lackawanna. This is my model of X600 which was a coupler conversion car used to allow a drawbar equipped FTSB to couple to a train when one of the A units in an ABA set was unavailable. It was in service for a short time in the mid 50s with an FT AB set as helpers out of Scranton, Pa. There are only two pictures of it that I could find, so I used a little modelers license. The chassis is from a Bachmann light mountain tender. This gave me power pickup for the backup light, which works in reverse using fiber optics to the light housing. The body is a shortened tender from the old Berkshire, (MRC??) with the shrouds added. It's painted with Polyscale D&H gray and decaled with Microscale and PND decals. There was no X in the size for the rear number so I used two halves of the 'K' in Lackawanna. I always found this an interesting car, crossing over from the steam era to service with the diesels and it's the car that gave me my screen name !! It should be cause for some good conversations when I run it at shows coupled to a set of FTs.
If I want you to know what's on my workbench I'd start a new thread. None of your beeswax but thanks for asking.
