Have not quite mastered the art of the video yet but here is the answer to the Galloping Goose. The Waddling Moose. You may noticed that the layout is being populated with rail cars at last. I built this about 10 years ago from an HO railbus cut down and an Overton coach. I earlier decided to motorized the Blue Train and gave both cab cars mechanisms. On about the 19th test loop it hit the ties the highway and the M of W shed. Have not yet figured why it derailed but it was right after crossing the port turnout. 000_1417 by John Moore posted Jan 12, 2020 at 5:32 PM
They were made by Fine N Scale and are cast resin. They have a whole line of old pick-ups and sedans and trailers. A lot of the old pick-up trucks on my layout are them.
Well I decided to pull my DD-51s out of storage and try them on the layout. After some lubing and tweaking including completely rebuilding the trucks on one I got them purring at last. The engines are by Bandai from a kit. The couplers are Kato and the mechanism is Banda'is all wheel powered and all wheel pick-up. The consist is made up of reefers and a few boxcars. The caboose is a Japanese type by Kato with working lights on the rear that I added a cupola to to Americanize it. These little locos pulled a 17 car train up the 2% out of the port onto the main without a wimper and are good for 30 cars with single loco. For my breakin runs I kept the consist at 13 cars. And tonight I retired all of my rod steamers consigning them to storage, keeping out 4 Shays and 2 Heislers and the new 2-6-4T. Tired of messing with the finicky little SOBs. The layout now has 7 small diesels in service on the layout and 5 diesels still in the storage box in reserve.
Well I decided on a whim to try and give a short layout tour using the video function of my camera. Since the man cave has all brick walls that soak up light I tried to increase the light by rigging three additional lights and the result was so-so. I started with the Macie Moly Mine and then worked to my right to the stone works and then the village and the brewery. I also caught some of the resorts above the village on the cliffs. The I worked my way to the harbor and then back to part of the village,
I don't need sound with the whir and hum of my mini diesels and the clicking of the wheels on the rail joints and then add some smooth jazz in the background. I actually own one loco with sound. I found the tinny crap to be so annoying it went back in the box and has been there for years. I will most likely get around to ordering a a video cam when my credit card recovers from the unitrack purchases. One cannot get a feel for how much is on this layout just from photos. The Missus comes in the man cave every day and spends time just staring at the layout and each time seeing something new. And the Grandsons are fascinated with it. A little over 16 feet of layout with about 5.5 feet of it comprised of a very busy harbor.
Well today I got rid of about 50 cars that were not up top snuff and then trimmed trip pins, and repaired some trucks that had lost wheels somehow in storage. got my motive power for freight down the 9 units now with a few set aside in storage to be parts donors or replacements if a loco totally dies. Got my Plymouth MDTs today and right away had problems with the coupler on one, I ended up replacing it with a unimate since they will run as a pair. Right out of the box they have an extremely slow speed crawl taking about 5 minutes to crawl around 16 feet of track. They seem to be geared slow like the 44 tonners. Bachman calls them a MDT when really they are the 3 axle WDT. The MDT was 2 axles.They will become the main switching power of the port once broke in and some mods applied and patched and lettered for Turtle Creek.The little locos are heavy so should have good pulling power and later I will hook some tonnage on them to see what they will do. 000_1427-1 by John Moore posted Jan 13, 2020 at 6:40 PM A little dark and I sped them up a tad. Also got another batch of autos for the layout and some highway tape.
Well the little Plymouths are still running and the operation has gotten smoother. A single unit will take 14 40 foot cars through my 8.5 inch curves with no wheel slip as tested tonight. Would have shot a video but I broke my camera when I snagged the USB cord and it took a nose dive.
Playing with the new camera better, light but I am still learning it. Slow speed crawl nice and smooth on Kato unitrack and a Kato power pack. I have added sand domes and patched the roads initials and a number on both.I though about leaving those horns on the roof but the more I look at them the more I don't like them so both are getting some Kato multi chime horns. A number of small porters had sand domes on the top of the hood and I have modeled these this way using small steam loco domes that I trimmed the pops off of. 100_0027-2 by John Moore posted Jan 15, 2020 at 8:55 PM Today I slow crept into the brewery complex and switched out all the cars without a hitch. The more they run the smoother they get. A vast improvement over the earlier models of these. I ran across a small structure that had fish pens and thought that would be a good addition to my NUMA marine research facility. A little research turned up these were 3D printed model made in China and of questionable quality so why send money and wait a month to get something that may be very questionable. So the little shanty that was the watchman's house at the container pier was taken in hand and rebuilt. It was given new doors and windows and a tar paper roof and a vent installed on one side. Then it was mounted on a section of cut down pier. The fish holding pens are made from wood and painted concrete. A box was mounted on the pier for fish food. Walkways of metal grating will be installed in the fish tank area. The whole installation will go in the harbor below the research centers labs made out of containers. 100_0024-1 by John Moore posted Jan 15, 2020 at 8:55 PM A couple of scantily dressed young female marine biologists will be in attendance.
I noticed a strange effect thought that the old camera and the new camera both make the engine look faster than it actually is going. Maybe the cameras work a little different than a camcorder. Last night I removed those big honkin horns and replaced those with Kato horns from my parts box and much better looking. Also took the time the add a bell on the roof of each. 100_0028-1 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 8:55 AM I took a chance on these based entirely on Spookshows report He gives the newer model a grade of B I give it a grade of A. His grade is probably taking into account the shell which is still decades old. In the photo below they are compared with a 44 tonner the smallest loco I have and they are about 5 N scale feet shorter than those and pulling power for a single loco is 14 cars. Bachmann upgraded the motor in these and made them all three axle pick up rather than the two of earlier versions. The smallest radius on my layout are 6 inch and 7 inch and it has no problem with those. The single loco will pull 14 cars around my mainlines which have 8.5 inch rad. curves and may do better on 9.75. When they first went on the layout out of the box they sounded like coffee grinders but they quieted down shortly after about 20-30 laps. Where Bachmann got the MDT from I will never know because Porter labeled their 3 axle switchers starting with an W so they are WDTs of about the 40-50 ton class. Since the body shell is the same the only way to tell the old from the new is by the application of Bmanns knuckle coupler. 100_0030-3 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 9:10 AM It was between these or some more expensive 2 axle models I have never heard off from Japan which would have been even smaller and I have a few plastic frog Pecos here and there. I got these on sale for $25 each from Trainworld an advertiser here and used the same source for most of my unitrack supplies. Last night I also added part of the metal grate walkway to the fish pens. 100_0029-2 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 8:55 AM I also bit the bullet and finally ordered a camcorder that is designed for videos for YouTube last night so maybe shortly I can try that video tour again once I figure out how to use it.
Well the NUMA fish pens are done. 100_0032 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 3:24 PM 100_0033-2 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 3:23 PM And the mini scene is in place. 100_0034-6 by John Moore posted Jan 16, 2020 at 3:25 PM
Those little Plymouth switchers are cool. The yellow and green TCC scheme looks great on them. I had been looking at them and wondering how they ran. Seeing your video makes me very tempted to pick one up for a grain elevator switcher. The NUMA fish pen scene is also a very neat detail for the harbor. Nice job there.
Well John you sold one of those switchers. I was interested but then saw they were only DC but then found a decoder install on the internet... https://kennethsnscale.wordpress.com/projekt-bachmann-mdt-plymouth-industrial-switcher/ ... so ordered one from Train World on here and will change it over to DCC hopefully. Had to use Google's translate option but looks like an interesting install. Sumner
You have to be careful of which one you would get. The upgraded ones are in the clear box and have Bmanns knuckle coupler on them. The Color scheme was Bethlehem Steel that I just covered the lettering with yellow paint and did a patch job on. Bought used by the railroad and have not been through the shops to get a paint job. These are a heavy little switcher because of the all metal frame. The one and only light is the old fashioned bulb mounted in between the frame halve in the long hood section. I got 14 cars pulled by a single one of mine and that was through 8.5 inch radius Kato unitrack and with 15 cars was slipping on the curves. Wider curves it could probably handle more. However since you would be milling out the frame for a decoder I would lower the pulling power to 8 or 10 cars. I would suggest running it for awhile to break it in before installing a decoder.
This morning I created another small mini scene at the fish market for the 2nd scene there. The first was all the dockside activity plus the fishing boat. This time I went out into the front of the fish market and created an open air fish vendor with fish laid out for sale. the old man fish vendor sitting in a chair, his helper between the tables and some ladies and gentlemen purchasing dinner. The tables with fish on them was part of the kit for the fish market by TomyTec. The blue boxes are ice chests with clams, mussels, oysters, and crabs. 100_0038-2 by John Moore posted Jan 17, 2020 at 1:27 PM 100_0041=3 by John Moore posted Jan 17, 2020 at 1:27 PM
Got my new little video camera this evening and after some experimentation I shot a test video of a 28 car train behind my two WDTs. The 2nd loco is running about three quarters of the way back because with my curves it gets it around the track without derailing on the curves. And for the first time I caught the rear lighting on the caboose. The camera has a light but I am going to have to install a flood on it for this light absorbing room. And here is the old layout that was multi level with a Heisler and three Shays pulling a work train up the 8% grade to the next level. The steepest grade now on the layout is 1% from the port and at the entrance to the engine service.
