Modeling topic
Size of materials
Not being a carpenter, cabinet maker, or structural engineer, I need some help.
The common wisdom for big layouts in recent years has been a top layer of 3/4" five- to seven-ply board, with a supporting structure of 1x4 equivalents.
My question: We're doing HO. For a shelf layout with spans of no more than 8' in length and 16" in depth, how far can I scale back those material sizes? Will a well-designed 1/4" supporting layer be sufficient? How deep does it need to be? Would a 3/8" top layer be rigid?
Western Railway GP28M-2: a GP20 Rebuild Project
The Western Railway is a fictional road created by a good friend of mine who passed away a little over a year ago. I am continuing his legacy by having a place for his railroad on my layout where it transfers with my SPSF Railway and also has their own customers to switch. My friend's layout was highly mainline running without a lot of local work. I was able to get some SW1500s and GP38-2s from his estate, nearly his entire low-horsepower 4-axle roster. It is a great feeling to be running equipment that he spent time detailing, painting, and decaling himself.&nbs
Unusual trackwork
This pic was posted on the Yahoo PRR Fax group and I never seen trackwork like it and thought it was interesting enough to post here. It has 5 rails with the 5th rail on the outside of the inner rail for the blind drivers to sit on. This photo is from www.bellwoodantis.net and it says "Horseshoe Curve" but its not the famous one on the main line. I might model it on one of my tight curves on the layout...
Using Euro block terminal connectors with various wire sizes
I am planning the wiring for a layout and have looked at the specs for Euro connectors which list wire ranges from 12 to 26 gauge.
Are there any issues with mixing 12 gauge bus wires with 22 or finer gauge feeder wires?
Model Railroading on the Road??
I took a new job this past summer and it has me on the road at least one week a month. With my time on the road it makes it so that time at home will have little time for model railroading. I have decided that instead of wasting time watching TV or loafing around online I could take the opportunity to get some modeling done.
Building an Arduino Withrottle controller?
Hi all,
I currently have a laptop set up under my layout, which acts as a withrottle base station via a SPROG3 connection to my layout.
While the engine driver app on my phone works with this, I don't like the touch-screen interface. I prefer to have tactile buttons and control levers.
Johnstown and Gerryville Operations
This is a great video for step by step way to operate and run a railroad. Enjoy very clear and good video.
Milestones
Well, it has been a series of milestones passed this week.
1. I sold my last 2 big DC power packs, leaving me with the small one for Merit Badge Academy's test track
2. I finished rewieghting the LAST of my rolling stock to NMRA or above weight standards (that may not sound like much, until you realize that I am talking about 223 units, and all weighting is hidden inside.)
3. All rolling stock has metal wheelsets, except a couple that can't due to power pick up issues. All units have Kadees or equivalent.
A big Project: A working high lift rotary coal dumper in Nscale
[ ADMIN NOTE: The images in this post are no longer avaialble because of changes in the Photo Bucket hosting service. You can see the photos in a slide show on Photo Bucket ]
I acquired the plan of a High lift rotary coal dumper, nearly the same which is still in use at Sandusky.
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