I had posted a couple of photos in the "Weekly Photo Fun" thread on the Model Railroad Hobbyist magazine's forum, and Jim Six came back with edits to the color as well as photoshopping in some smoke on the locomotive for one of them. He worked to bring out the green and also gave the sky a deeper blue gradient. I thought that I would share them here with my Frisco friends. I really need to up my photo editing game. These really look nice to my eye. Take Care All, -Bob T.
Photos look fantastic to me, Bob. The sky looks great the way two colors blend together, just like the real sky. I purchased two different shades of blue yesterday afternoon to do the same as you. Seeing your background confirms the process. Thank you for posting!!! Bravo Bravo. Joe
A few quick updates (Click Images for Larger Versions): In the NMRA-x video, I mentioned that the mine branch was separated at the time for electrical work. I have had discussions with several, including Tim Moran regarding approaches for circuit breakers in sectional layouts. As the mine branch is on an end segment, there is little adjustment needed for the wiring in order to accommodate the testing of a circuit breaker. Making sure that the rail ends are not touching at the interface between modules, a circuit breaker can just be patched into the main bus before the distribution of power to the feeders. I went with the NCE EB-1 circuit breaker as a test case. These NCE EB-1 breakers (DCC) which have adjustments for trip current levels, the ability to add an indicator LED off-board, and levels for startup currents for sound loco power draw. I found those nifty stand-offs on Amazon (STARVAST Game Console Motherboard Plastic Mounting Feet Pack of 50, L Type PCB Fixed Standoffs PCB Circuit Board Insulated Spacer with 100pcs Screws). These are an excellent find for all of these boards that are screwed onto the bottom of the layout. I have it mounted and it seems to work just fine at the lowest trip current. Forgive the shadows in the photo, as I had to snap it with the cell phone and could not get good light on the underside of the section. I have ordered a few more of these, and will be working on adjusting the main bus wiring to include some secondary bus lines. This will result in about 4 different areas each with separate breakers. Hopefully, this will improve operations for two crews when one runs a turnout or otherwise shorts. Each area will be set up with their own circuit breakers, and the ability to patch into the main for partial layout configurations that are common for my half-garage setup of portions of the layout. There were two new arrivals on the layout this past month. First was a water tower (with pump house) model, built by @Jim James for his "Zalma Branch" layout. I am going to add shingles to the pump house, which he had to 90% completion. In this photo, it is just placed out by the wye, but will eventually go in just north of the Weir City depot. The second arrival was a second Bachmann ten-wheeler. The other that I have is such a good runner, that I could not resist a second one when on sale at MB Klein for only $130 (with sound). The ATSF lettering and number will be removed and will take on a number from the Frisco roster. @Karl Brand, after some measurements, suggested 438-447 or 479-484 as road numbers. I have also ordered a new product through Kickstarter. The "Firebox" DCC command station is based upon the DCC++ project and includes the ability to connect to a JMRI computer or run an independent WiFi throttle. The system is a 5-Amp command station, scheduled for release in August (we'll see). For $60, I thought I would give it a shot. This might provide an under-layout mounted system that would be convenient for the portable Crawford and Cherokee. Read more at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wasatchscalemodels/firebox-a-tiny-dcc-train-controller OK, at the risk of duplicating posts from the Workshop Wednesday thread, I will leave it here. Take Care All, -Bob T.
Cynthia and I are going to a pulmonary doctor in a few minutes and will read Bob's article when we get home. Thank you Keith for posting. Joe
Howdy All, A solid 40-hour / 5 day teleconference is giving me the chance to listen to some science talks, and fiddle with some train stuff while on the call. After installing the new ballasted culvert/short bridge on the South Weir module (it is now ballasted, not shown): I was looking at the track arrangement and thinking about operations tight spots. Here is the area of interest on the layout: The area just at the depot includes a crossover that makes a run-around with the next turnout to the south. When operating, this is a bit short and the lead to the south parallel to the brickyard, added with that new module is disproportionately long compared to the run-around. I am planning to modify the track arrangement (with minimal track movement) to the following: This will provide a longer run-around, and an additional yard track that is somewhat prototypical. There are maps of Weir City that have three short yard tracks in that area south of the depot and house track. Edit: The yard track is also useful when operating the Weir-City half of the layout as a switching layout. Edit 2: I think my road and culvert are exchanged in order of actual construction. Just noticed this after more than a year. I think it is a good add...thoughts? Too much track? -Bob T.
Good Evening Frisco Friends, I hope all made the best of Thanksgiving. We stayed put and did not make our traditional trip up to SE Kansas. As a result, I had some vacation time to spend on the layout. I had hoped to build the new staging yard, but my Code 83 flex track is still on backorder. I did have some Code 70 track on the shelf, and that is what was needed for the South Weir modification shown above (post from September 2nd). I also had a couple of Code 70 turnouts from the previous layout still stashed with my never-throw-it-away collection. Other than needing one more Tortoise switch machine for the project, I made some good progress with the day off today. I started the day with the South Weir pair of modules cleared off and separated from the layout: Then, I soaked the ballast and scenery with some of my precious remaining 50%-70% isopropyl alcohol to remove portions needed for the modification. I filled in places where there were ditches with the pink that turns white plastic wood. Note that the small bridge was even salvaged, but one grade crossing will need to be reworked. I decided to make the yard/team track a little more straight than in the diagram above, and when the fill was dry, added some new roadbed: The idea here is that the run around is extended significantly to improve operations when switching the town and brickyard. The layout was built without the brickyard initially, and there was just barely enough room for the loco and 1-2 cars to be on the tail track. Even with the new brickyard section added, switching required the use of the existing run-around twice in some cases for a cut of cars. Much better now. This will be a nice change when setting up only the Weir side as a switching layout (half garage). Looks like the new yard/team track will hold three 40-ft cars comfortably: Well, hopefully more this weekend, but we will see. I might get the flex track down. Take Care All, -Bob T.
A quick Saturday update. Roughed in the flextrack and turnouts. Need to drill for switch machine throws and frog power. Tested the setup with some mystery road cars and all is rolling smoothly. If you look in the lower right, you can see a small tool from micromark that can be used to get the track spacing a constant 2 inches or so. The run around is pushing the bumper on the trestle, but I think it will do. Might get this glued down before the weekend ends, but will need to order a switch machine and maybe modify the DCC turnout controller with the addition of another turnout. Will be a Christmas holiday project to finish it up.... Take Care All, -Bob T.
Ditto. Looks great... I need to get back in the swing... (Dyi car repair, installed wainscotting in and painted the dining room delays.) It may be excuses or it may be that I have a life... I dunno...
Continued to work this update to the layout (above) over the past few days. As is great with a sectional layout, I flipped the South Weir City / Brickyard sections up on a couple of sawhorses. The new feeders and switch machines were installed (not shown) and managed to have the one additional connection for the added turnout control. I ordered one Tortoise from Midwest Model Railroad (the one missing piece). One of the things I learned was that Tortoise switch machines have changed their plug format. I could not use my snaps connector, but could use the old blue, edge connectors: After testing the track and getting all of the frog polarities correct, we taped off the track for airbrush painting (with garage door open): And then did a bit of tie weathering and rail rusting. Today, I finished up ballasting to 90% or so, and not looking too bad: I still need to fill back in some spaces with ground cover and static grass. You can see that I set up the South Cherokee section as a background (trees and hill) for some photos and a video shoot. I also got in the mail some track details (joint bars) from KV models. Going to try these on a couple of areas where I like to take photos. I posted this video elsewhere, but here it is for completeness. Trying different approaches to capture the great sound work by Keith. Take Care All, -Bob T.
Finished cleaning up the scenery that was displaced by the rearrangement of the South Weir City sections of the layout. Most recently, I fixed the grade crossing and filled in some areas of paving and ballast that were showing through the brown undercoat of the terrain. I am also adding a few trees and shrubs and plan to make another pass in terms of improving structures and associated details. Sorry for the lack of a background, but here is the restructured area as of today: I have also been looking at examples of track bumpers and wheel stops that might be appropriate for an early area. I scratch built a bumper for the end of the Weir City Branch Line. I used some shoe dye to stain up assorted heavy timbers and made a few details with styrene and brass wire. Maybe a little more ballast fill to hide the ties. I also made a few simple wheel stops for the various spur tracks. Here are some examples at the brickyard in Weir City. I am always nervous about running models of the ends of the modules. These are held in with some small track spikes and pins that are not easily seen (trimmed T-pins). Over the past week, a new TCS UWT-100 throttle was acquired for the Crawford and Cherokee (Universal Wi-Fi Throttle). This was an opportunity to build a new DCC system that would work with this throttle. Using a Raspberry Pi (3) and an Arduino board with a motor shield (and needed power supplies), the system is constructed and software is download and installed using a separate PC. This specific one is referred to as a DCC++ system, but there are variants out there. There are sources for 3D printable cases for the DCC++, and a friend was kind enough to 3D print one for me: I was surprised at how easy this was to get going and have a DCC base station with Wi-Fi throttle control for less than $100. An app on a cell phone can be used for the throttle, if one doesn't want to invest in something like the UWT-100. Anyhow, the system works, and can even control the turnouts. Here we are running a ten-wheeler on the layout using the new throttle. Take Care All, -Bob T.
Wish I was savvy enough with electronics to do this. This ole dinosaur is stuck paying for commercial DCC products.
Frisco Friends, The past couple of weeks, I spent some time working on a staging yard for the layout. It is designed to be used at least two configurations. One is a setup using one-half of the layout as the "Weir City Branch Line". The other is to use the same two-track staging yard connected to the southbound Afton Sub and wrap around parallel to the Lightning Creek Mine (still adjusting this design). The sections have been built up using the same "waffle" torsion box methods in the other parts of the layout, and are a pair of 12" X 40" sections that are connected semi-permanently (carriage bolts) and have removable legs on casters. The tracks each hold ~7 car trains (40-ft cars), a good number for this layout where there are 7 industries in Weir City and 7-car capacity at the brickyard. Here are a few photos of progress. You can see we have track down, the GapMasters at the section boundaries, and I painted the roadbed and sides black, and the top brown. Will likely give it some basic scenery and ballast. Now waiting on power. Still need to run feeders and power bus, but did not have any terminal strips (now on order). Maybe by next week it will be completely functional. Take Care All, -Bob T.
A February 2021 Update: I did not make too much progress on the layout this month, but was fortunate to see a Facebook Group emerge titled "WEIR CITY KANSAS HISTORY". Yes, just like that in ALL CAPS. Well this group has just been exactly what I needed for a history boost for Weir City scenes on the layout, and will probably result in some new structures. One of the first items that I found was this postcard with an image of the Weir City Depot in the 1950s. This is after the adjoining freight house had been torn down and as perhaps near the end of Frisco service to Weir. Those tracks look pretty forlorn. However, it does give a view of the depot from the north side. Also found on the Facebook group was an actual photo of the Weir City Brick Yard. I had only found Sanborn maps of the industry in the past, but sure enough someone had posted a photo: Wow. I did not get those rooflines from the Sanborn maps. Of course, I am an amateur. Another great find was a set of photos, taken from the Weir City Water tower, a large brick structure that still stands. This photo was titled as being from the 1940s, but I am not sure. Here you can see the grain elevator that appears as "James Bates Feed Mill and Elevator" in 1915, but I would guess changed hands during those times as did many of these businesses. The picture almost catches the depot and you can sort of make out where the track crosses Main Street. The long building to the right of the elevator was a movie theatre at one time and the structure to the right of it still stands. First two buildings on the right in the photo below. The old gas station still stands in Weir City and I did not realize it was so close to the tracks, having taken the place of the Long-Bell Lumber Co. at some point. Someone also posted a number of advertisements from the early 1900s. About a dozen pages of these that came with a cookbook. These should inspire several building names for the layout. Example: There is a "Cold Storage" on my Sanborn maps that might be the "Scranton-Murphy" company. The map shows a "Union Ice". Some are suitable to make signs for buildings, etc. Continued...
The "Long-Bell Lumber Co." is an industry for the layout that was near the tracks in Weir City. Long-Bell Lumber started in nearby Columbus, KS and was a common business around the region during the turn of the century. The company expanded as one of the first "Vertically-Integrated" large businesses in the U.S., eventually moving to K.C. I have found a few photos of Long-Bell Lumber sites, but not the one in Weir City on Main Street. Altus (OK)...probably simiar to the one in Weir City. Webbers-Falls (CA?) Advertisement: I made a stand in using the BEST Models "Aspen Lumber Company", showing the in-progress model earlier in this thread. This week, I made some progress on the model and added the KC's Workshop roofing material, some signs and a bit of weathering. Here it is, posed on a diorama. Not too bad. Maybe a light over the door, and a bit of a foundation and dirt ramp up to the door...... OK, enough for tonight. Take Care All! -Bob T.