Well I have spent that afternoonplacing cars on the layout. Started with the USCG/NUMA dock and replaced all the NUMA vehicles, the turquoise ones. Then I added more vehicle all along the dock and up to in front of the Coast Guard station. added three trailers also and moved the crane around to the loading dock. There are more cars hidden behind the NUMA buildings and beside the siding there. 000_1365-8 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2019 at 7:19 PM Also added cars to the train station parking and throughout the brewery complex. 000_1366-9 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2019 at 7:20 PM Added cars to one of the streets in the business section of the village and more cars up by the feed mill at the end of the street. 000_1367-10 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2019 at 7:20 PM In all I added an entire pack of 50 autos and about 30 more vehicles to the layout and still need more. I have got 8 left and will have to order some more.
Starting off the new year by peopling my layout which has about ten folks on it up until now. Starting out by giving my ships some crews. So far I have done four vessels, Started out using hobby Tac but was disgusted with its performance so threw it away and started using Same Stuff and ACC with better results. 000_1369-11 by John Moore posted Dec 31, 2019 at 9:23 PM
Well I brought in the New Year sitting safely at my work bench installing crew on my vessels and before I turned in I had managed to do 8 vessels. Both ferry boats had crew member installed at the time of the build. The vessels are starting at the left and going to the top, the sardine carrier which in my world acts as the mother ship to the fishing fleet. Next in line on the left is a TomyTec tug boat and the final two are TomyTec fishing boats. On the bottom right is one of my builds a fishing trawler and the next one is a crab and lobster boat. The crab and lobster cages are formed from fine mesh wire. The next one is a Japanese Tuna boat and the last at the right top is one of my tramp intercoastal steamers. 000_1370-1 by John Moore posted Jan 1, 2020 at 9:30 AM I had two packs of fishing port workers and some are on the vessels while the remaining ones will be used for the cannery and the fish market. Next up is to populate the Coast Guard buoy tender and then both train stations with sitting people. Fortunately I purchased a lot of packs of people stating over 30 years ago. I wisely started collecting parts and figures which at todays cost have paid off.
And starting to get life in the mini scenes. A busy day at the fish market as a trawler just in ahead of the storm has scored two Blue Whales a local delicacy. One is already on its way into the market on a conveyor while the other is still being off loaded. 000_1372-2 by John Moore posted Jan 1, 2020 at 2:00 PM Meanwhile behind the cannery some of the cannery workers are handling supplies that were just delivered. The white objects are two 14 foot refrigerated containers. 000_1373-3 by John Moore posted Jan 1, 2020 at 2:00 PM And here is a shot of the refrigerated containers. The containers are Kato 14 footers and the car is a Bandai container flat. Also in the shot is my refrigerated delivery truck. The cab was scratch built by me and mounted on a commercial chassis. The refrigerated box is from a commercial N scale Ice truck from Classic Model works that was painted over. 000_1374-4 by John Moore posted Jan 1, 2020 at 2:15 PM Now it is time to clear the work bench again and start on the crew for the USCG buoy tender.
Well hoping to get my last track order today to finally finish the engine service area. Meanwhile I have finished making my USCG crew for the buoy tender. And I have mounted my Aveling Porter steam tractor on a short section of track ready to install in the park in front of main street in the village. It is the Turtle Creek Central's first locomotive on the island. 000_1375-1 by John Moore posted Jan 2, 2020 at 8:49 AM
The Coast Guard buoy tender is now crewed. That is the marine research vessel Sandecker across the pier from it. 000_1378-2 by John Moore posted Jan 2, 2020 at 10:07 AM Two fast patrol craft are docked the other side of the Coast Guard station and in front of the Sandecker.
Well finally and hopefully the long wait is over with the arrival of a couple of short rad turnouts that I have been frustrated in getting. 000_1379-5 by John Moore posted Jan 2, 2020 at 8:40 PM And in this order is also my Kato power pack and another feeder track and some short track. So tomorrow while it is raining outside I will be in the man cave nice and dry hopefully completing the engine house leads and finally hooking up the permanent power.
Well I rigged electrical to the layout and then plugged in the power pack. Every thing runs fine in the port area but up on the mainline issues were I am getting several shorts. So will be gong back to my power feeds in that area and may be just have to change the orientation of the feed track.Kato's plug in wiring only fits one way so the track orientation may be the issue. Needless to say thought it will be few days work lifting track and changing the direction the feeds go.
And just that quick I solved the problem it is feeder track orientation. Not much can go wrong with Kato's plug and play system but I managed to find the only thing that could. Now sitting a listening to the satisfying humm of a little 44 tonner clickity clacking across the rail jionts. This is with three power feeds. And that is top speed for a little 44 tonner.
I have it way slowed down now running at about 1/3 throttle with three 44 tonners puling a track cleaning car. It has been running steady for the last 3 hours with no heat up of anything. Been fighting for the last three hours making the track connection the the engine house, and finally ended up pulling out another Peco ST 6 and a few pieces of Atlas track and a unitrack transition piece. And a Video of my passeger power just two units this time. Bandai B train all cars powered, My mini RDCs. And my Kato 2-6-4T with 3 Bandai cars the fourth and end one kept wanting to tip over on the back run so it is just the three cars.
Yup I am enjoying the slow crawl of locos running around the track the hum of the little motors and the click clack across rail joints. Was alot of work but my trains are running smoother than they ever have. I decided to stay with Kato on everything including their plug and play wiring and because it is so simple I was able to solve my short problem in a matter of minutes.
When I first set up my Unitrack in THERR Rv I ran trains. The track plan back then was nowhere near what the finally setup turned out to be. But...hearing and seeing trains run was the greatest thing.
My only running was via a 9 volt battery as a test. That was because I did not want to cut off any of the plugs on the end of the track feeder wires.Instead I waited until I could just plug it all together and then plug it into the power pack. Discovered that all of Kato's turnouts come set for power routing but if you want straight running then it is simple to turn it over and change the setting as things are clearly marked. One I discovered how to make some limited flex out of straight pieces of unitrack I dared to try it on curved pieces and it works great. All that became necessary because I was trying to stay within a layout right of way that was already built instead of laying it on an empty layout. Because Kato makes a transition piece to be able to fit to Atlas turnouts and flex track I was able to use it to get into some tight spurs. I was able to use a few of my Peco short rad turnouts by trimming the Peco turnout ties to fit the untrack transition pieces. I even made a piece of transition track into a flex piece. The only areas this was done in were the car float apron. The ore dock is still the original Atlas flex The stockyards spur is another Peco and Atlas flex. The front part of the brewery is all Kato unitrack where the back two tracks are an Atlas number 6 turnout and and Atlas flex. The mine spur is entirely Kato unitrack. The stone works is entirely unitrack. One more Peco turnout was used in the engine service area. So the layout is now about 95% unitrack. Kato makes 6 inch, 7 inch, and 8.5 inch rad tracks and all are on on my layout. Number 6 turnouts were used on the mainline. Their short rad turnouts are the 20-240 and 20-241 with 6 inch rad. My mainline curvature changed from 8 inch to 8.5 inch. Remember folks I am running a shortline railroad with a narrow gauge flavor and strictly using small power like the 44 and 70 tonners, small drivered steam all which were tested on those tight curvatures. Cars are limited to the 40 footers and the passenger equipment is 30 footers. It has been pure joy working with the unitrack not slicing up or impaling fingers on those danged rail joiners. Best of all no danged ballast between the rails. So far the power pack has handled 4 locos at once without a hiccup or signs of over heating. I used track spikes, very few, to hold the unitrack in place while a bead of Elmers glue set or scenic material set up locking the track in place. Best of all performance has never been better. A shot of the first operating freight operating behind my new 2-6-4T Kato loco. 000_1384-1 by John Moore posted Jan 4, 2020 at 9:09 AM A shot of my Bandai B train passenger taht can be expanded to a four car consist and behind it the park where I installed my Aveling Porter steam tractor. 000_1385-2 by John Moore posted Jan 4, 2020 at 9:09 AM And I finally worked out the track for the engine service and engine house. Today I lift out the whole thing and apply some plaster to level it out after ripping out some stuff to accommodate the new track. That section behind Wicked Wanda's has all been converted to flex so I can route it clear of the structure later. One the plaster dries later today I will be able to set the structure in place with the track and start gluing it in place and restoring the scenic accents. 000_1386-3 by John Moore posted Jan 4, 2020 at 9:09 AM I have to replace the water tank, sand, water, and oil columns, diesel service rack, the yard office, and the Friday Harbor water tank and pump house. I will be another week or two still repairing scenic work and then cleaning spur tracks with my new track cleaning set by Woodland Scenics and of course peopling my layout. A set of Bandai steeple cabs will be in assigned service to the mine to shuttle ore cars back and forth. A pair of 44 tonners will handle to port,and a lashup of a pair of 70 tonners or a lashup of two 70 tonners and 1 44 tonner will handle the main line. Passenger equipment will be sitting at the port train station spur. Once in awhile the small steam and the Shays will be broke out of storage to run a steam night. Either today or Monday my order for a tunnels portal and retaining walls will arrive so I can create my highway tunnel through the cliffs to the other side of the Island at the back of the layout. This is my last layout and it has gone through three major revisions to get to this point. And I am glad I built it on three kitchen cabinet base units and kept all track within a maximum 30 inch reach. The only wiring under the layout is the untrack power feeds,virtually trouble free. The turnouts are all manual throw. For the most part I can operate the layout by rolling my swivel chair up to the layout and mounted on the base cabinet units the layout is almost eye level. I am partially disabled due to a stroke several years ago and plagued by arthritis and being in my 70s this layout is ideal for me. A 3.5 inch fascia board is around the layout which give me about an inch and a quarter safety lip. Some areas the track runs within 1 inch of the front edge. Once I figured out the ins and outs of Unitrack I have come to the opinion that it is the best thing since sliced bread.
While the plaster fill sets and dries I have got the engine house and track on the work bench to clean up from some soldering.You can see the cuts made in the short pieces of 8 inch rad track to be able to flex it around Wicked Wanda's and align it along side the engine house and the fuel tanks. 000_1387-4 by John Moore posted Jan 4, 2020 at 12:30 PM
