We go back in time and look at the beginning, then over time the many changes of the Garfield Smelter.

Servo motors for turnouts are cheap, about $1.20 ea.  Arduino controllers are $5.00 and handle up to 12 servos.  They connect to a PC with a simple printer cable, Bluetooth or Wifi.  This blog includes how to install the motors in foam board; sources for Arduino controllers & command code, servo motors, WiFi & Bluetooth hardware; and sources for how to connect everything.   

I recently saw on YouTube an illuminated uncoupler (on Lawrie's Mechanical Marvels channel), but it is only available in the UK.

So I quickly found a cheap base to make my own stick: some LED chopsticks!

Details to be updated in subsequent posts. Click here for a live link to the registration form. Hope to see you online!

Chris Palermo, Publicist

I recently dug out this video of a 100+ car train my friend and I made on the Adirondack and Lake Champlain to celebrate 100 subscribers on YouTube. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/UhIJ7exM-Cw

Then to get involved with Arduino's and the like - they're very addictive and I love it!

The first time I discovered those little devils was when I read a post written by Geoff Bunza here in MRH. It was his SMA12 blog post (17 Channel Configurable Multifunction $5 DCC Decoder For Servos) and soon after his other posts were found, very interesting stuff altogether.

Here is an progress report on my 42 ton Shay that I am modeling in On3.

The title pretty much sums it up...

Here is a trio of M420 on a mixed train through my roughed in scenery on the Hudson Bay Railway.  I can't say this ever happened in reality but it is still entertaining listening to the bark of some Alco 251.

https://hudbayrailway.blogspot.com/2021/03/m420-mixed-train.html

Marc Simpson

Thought there might be some folks out there interested in an update from Alco-land. 

I know small and simple layouts aren't everyone's cup of tea, but it's how I enjoy our fun hobby...especially now that my current free time is VERY limited. Details and pics to follow below...