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A Day With The Des Moines "Tramp" Journals/Blogs
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Frequent poster 589 posts jfmcnab Frequent poster 589 posts
jfmcnab

Follow Train NTSW-29, affectionately known as the "Tramp", as it delivers a carload to Beisser Lumber on my IAIS Grimes Line layout.

James
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ratled Frequent poster 926 posts
ratled

VERY NICE!

You should be very happy with the way it all turned out (both the layout and the video).   Very nice indeed. 

Steve

http://klamathline.blogspot.com/

 
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Joe Atkinson IAISfan Super User 3,775 posts
Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Good work!

Nice job James!  That looks like a prototype I could really get behind. 

Joe Atkinson
Modeling Iowa Interstate's 4th Sub, May 2005
https://m.facebook.com/groups/iowainterstate4thsub

https://www.iaisrailfans.org/gallery/4thSub

My MRH blog index

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pldvdk Super User 2,563 posts
pldvdk

Trees

James!

Really impressed with your scenery! Looked like the real deal! How did you make your trees?  One thing I liked about them was that they seemed in right proportion to the trains. So often I see layouts where the "trees" look more like shrubs compared to the trains, than actual trees. I've got a layout where I will need a lot of trees, and I hope/want them to look every bit as good as yours! Great job!

Paul

Paul Krentz

Free-lancing a portion of the N&W Pocahontas "Pokey" District

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jfmcnab Frequent poster 589 posts
jfmcnab

Scenery Techniques

Thank you gentlemen. Joe I figured my choice of prototype would meet your approval.

Paul, the trees are Scenic Express SuperTrees. What I'll say is that the secret to any believable scenery is variety, variety and variety.

An article detailing my scenic methods is forthcoming in Model Railroader.

James
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DaminKeenan Regular poster 145 posts
DaminKeenan

Excellent Videography!

I like the subtle camera movements at the beginning of each shot as the camera "finds" the train.

Your layout is coming along very nicely as well!

Damin.
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Joe Atkinson IAISfan Super User 3,775 posts
Joe Atkinson IAISfan

Congrats!

Congratulations on the upcoming article James!  Any idea when it'll be out?

Joe Atkinson
Modeling Iowa Interstate's 4th Sub, May 2005
https://m.facebook.com/groups/iowainterstate4thsub

https://www.iaisrailfans.org/gallery/4thSub

My MRH blog index

https://instagram.com/iaisfan
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jfmcnab Frequent poster 589 posts
jfmcnab

Article

Hard to tell. Kalmbach operates 6 months out and even then the wait can be longer. I've heard stories of authors waiting 18 months from submission to publication.

My best guess would be early spring 2013 but it will probably be later.

James
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caboose14 Frequent poster 647 posts
caboose14

Very Neat Clip

Nicely done. Really shows off your smooth running equipment and very convincing scenery James. One thing I did notice though.........no horn at the grade crossing?

Kevin Klettke CEO, Washington Northern Railroad
ogosmall.jpg 
wnrr@comcast.net
http://wnrr.net
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jfmcnab Frequent poster 589 posts
jfmcnab

Grade Crossings

I was waiting for someone to comment on that. 

It's difficult to run a camera and a throttle at the same time. Rest assured that the IAIS blows the horn (and rings the bell) at all grade crossings.

James
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slow.track Regular poster 275 posts
slow.track

Great looking scenery! As for

Great looking scenery! As for the horn... must be a quiet zone lol 

-Travis

Prairie Scale Model Railroaders
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johnybgood18 Regular poster 212 posts
johnybgood18

Very nice James!

I especially noticed the smoothness of the slow speed operation of the loco which very good.

Hopefully, we will see more videos like that!

Cheers,

Christian

You can visit my layout Facebook page: Freelanced Perkins subdivision
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CSXFanatic Active Member 34 posts
CSXFanatic

Sweet!Loved the

Sweet!Loved the video...actually all of your videos.
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pschmidt700 Prolific poster 2,584 posts
pschmidt700

Loved it!

Thanks for posting that, James. Don't let the FRA know that the crew failed to whistle for the crossings! Meredith Xing was fun to watch. You've got the timing just about right for when the crossing begins to recover after the last car/locomotive clears the island circuit. At the risk of sounding like a pedant, is there any way to slow the gate descent time? Just as a matter of reference, gates typically begin their descent 3 seconds after the crossing activates, and descent time is FRA-mandated to no less than 10 and no more than 15 seconds. We adjust a simple linear rheostat in the older gate mechs to set the descent time. On the new Safetrans gate mechs, we select the time via a set of buttons. Paul Schmidt
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jfmcnab Frequent poster 589 posts
jfmcnab

Logic Rail Grade Crossing Pro

Wow... talk about the ultimate post bump.

That video is from two years ago, so I've been able to make some changes since then. Most notably my ability to run a camera and whistle for a crossing at the same time

I did adjust the gate speed since then, but let me put a stopwatch on them and see what I come up with.

James
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DaminKeenan Regular poster 145 posts
DaminKeenan

re: Don't let the FRA know that

Quote:

Don't let the FRA know that the crew failed to whistle for the crossings!

Just post a "No Train Horn" sign and you're golden 

- Damin.
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redP Frequent poster 570 posts
redP

Nice

Good Video, good modeling as well

 Modeling Penn Central and early Amtrak in the summer of 1972

 
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