As per the weekend plans section.. I did get some photos of the trestle at the park. Here are a couple: Used to be able to walk across that a few years ago, but thats since ended, which is a shame.. it was a lot of fun (even though I'm afraid of heights) and the view is incredible. Not sure if trains still cross it, but I sure do remember that they did when people were allowed on it, which multiplied the scary factor by about 100. The rest of the pics of the park: http://dynomite.ath.cx:8080/gallery/album-letchworth-050705
Mark F: I like the darker color of the evergreen trees. Looks good! Todd: Great pics of the trestle! It does sound scary crossing it with the possibility of trains around. Fluid D: I don't know how you came into this scenery ability, but every hill you make looks like the SP coast line! It is a real talent and great scenery. Are you coing to model the Cuesta?
SNFF 5 8 05 Hi, all This week,played around with copying an existing prototype photograph. From Morning Sun's Santa Fe Vol. 3, Albuquerque - Los Angeles (my very dog-eared copy): This is the actual shot on upper right of page 57: Here is a approximation replica shot on my little Santa Fe layout. Just testing the beginnings of what would be required to really duplicate the original shot; getting the angle and lighting close to correct was fun: Here's a zoom-back of how the shot was taken, the camera sat on the left side on the Santa Fe book just off the left edge of the layout: Take care, all, have a good week.
That's not going to work, John. Your engine model is the wrong number. Heh, heh. (Rivet counters, unite!!)
Well Leann and I decided to make some trees following Paul's article in NSR. Here she is with the first tree. Here a couple of the trees she made. She made those while I was wiring the AD4MC accessory decoders to control my crossovers. I could not find the proper kind of rope to use, so I picked some up at Wal-Mart. But I am holding off till I get the right kind. Adios Wyatt
Not bad trees, though. Very nice, in fact. It gives a different type of tree, so a different type of rope would be good. I had not considered using different rope to get different types of trees. Good idea! Add that to the list. More TOFC. Atlas cars. ATSF: SP with Zacky Farms trailer. No deck hitch here. I used the standard Atlas tabs on the bottom of the rear bogies and the pony wheels to hold it to the car. A retrofit with MT trailer hitches is a good project. (I'll add that to the list; one project done and one project added. ) SP with PFE trailer: After one or two cars, I began making the side boards smaller. Otherwise, some of the trucks are too wide at the wheels to fit.
sapacific, #1) Great TOFC shots. #2) Regarding my 'proto photo - model approximation' - you're right! The prototype photo is indeed Santa Fe PA-1 number 66; while the model photo is a Kato Santa Fe PA-1 number 51. (Furthermore, the proto photo is on a hillside, not on a bridge; I don't have any other photo locations on the little layout that would have better approximated the prototype shot). I could see that after totaling up the time needed to setup and light the shot, take the shot, put it on the computer, crop,etc. (all that took about 1 hour) - I figured "close enough". The next logical steps towards accuracy, in addition togetting a loco numbered '66', would have been to build a diorama. Hmmm.... more time that won't fit into today - oh well. (smile)
I was wandering the trainroom on Thursday, mostly to see how my new D70 would act with a flash. I've made a bit of progress since I last photographed these spots so, flash or not, here are the snapshots. The new pier is coming along nicely. Those are helpers in the siding for the long grade into Downtown: You can railfan and shipwatch at the HoJo's. The back balconies are almost directly under the Old Warrior bridge (from Kalmbach's Big Warrior). Here's a wider view of the peninsula that holds the "Allston-Brighton" neighborhoods. We had to name it something: there's no particular spot modeled. Up a deck from "Downtown" is my research reactor, now with a little more scenery: On the top deck is the college town. That's it for a while. Once I get back to heavy lifting, I'm going to spend a day or two with lights and real scenes.
Thanks Flash. This section is really easy to carve because I'm just copying a topographic map, so the shapes of the foam slabs just match the countour lines on the map. The whole layout theme is to represent the a small section of the cuesta pass without compressing it too much. I got away with roughly a 25" minimum radius average on the latest curve, only half the actual prototypical radius! The great thing about this hobby is it allows us to concentrate on the parts of it that we love, and for me it's making scenery.
I finished this little project yesterday. It was a fun little bash and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The truck driver however is a little confused as to why they needed him to haul away just one pallet.
HemiAdda2d Cool shots! Benny Great job with the station! The truck isn’t half bad either. John W Nice photo! Paul Great shots! A great variety of paint schemes in there! Alan Nice pictures! Jon Great job on the weathering! Sten Great pictures! Chad Nice locomotive pictures! Red Rock Nice looking train! The truck looks great too! Flash Nice looking TOFC shots! Fluid Dynamics Great shots! The train on the trestle looks awesome! Fotheringill Your fast growing trees look great! Todd Wow! Those are some breath taking shots! John Sing That is a cool idea and picture! Wyatt The trees look great! Pete Great layout shots! Your layout is just incredible!
Tom: I love all your work. Those baggage cars are cool. It reminds me of my days in HO .... Stay cool and run steam.....
Still need to get numberboards on this sucker. Picked up a Bowser x31 boxcar lettered for the SAL. I plan to make this my first superdetailed car. (i.e. replace step ladders with metal ones) I broke the brake wheel trying to get it off the sprue so I'll need to round up another. Also I have been working on the ends, trying to modify them to match the prototype, I tried carving off excess, but it doesn't look good, yet.
2nd installment Those repainted Souther gondolas got their revenue loads of raw Mayterium (TM) bound for the US northeast. Here we see BN TM 1410 ready to move out with a freash batch... and on the move somehow the conductor forgot his lunchpail, so the had to make an emergency stop.... and this just showing what a busy day on the rails looks like
