Modeling topic
St. Lawrence & Atlantic in N scale
Well, three years in and my layout is starting to look like something more than the plywood central! The layout isn't large: a 12 foot by 40 inch rectangle with a 4-foot staging yard tacked onto one end. One side is a massive paper mill inspired by the Cascade mill in Berlin, NH, and the other a pretty much freelanced town with a station model of the big station in St. Johnsbury, VT, a transload business, and a siding for a yet-to-be-determined business. Operationally two railroads rule the iron: the St.
Gravel Operations Questions
I have the "Life Like HO Operating Gravel Unloader #8204" and would like to know the best way to incorporate it into my layout.
I can picture delivering gravel from a quarry to this unloader, but what then? What is the "prototypical" way to then take that raw gravel and get it to a processing plant/cement plant, etc.
Thanks,
Grampy
IAIS's 4th Sub - Kitbashed Arrowhead gons joining the roster
While the majority of the switching on the 4th Sub will involve agriculture - covered hoppers and tank cars - there was also an interesting move related to 52' gondolas during my era that I'm looking forward to replicating. There's a large steel recycler on the UP in Council Bluffs, Alter Metals, that shipped shredded steel east on the IAIS in IAIS-controlled, but TR- and HS-marked, gons. These loads went to steel mills on the IC&E in Davenport, IA and on the NS in Elkhart, IN.
Bulkhead End Gondolas
I have alway thought that bulkhead end gondolas (with ends higher than sides) were very cool and added variety to a string of regular gondolas. I have over 400 HO freight cars on my roster but regretfully do not have any of these type cars. When did they start using these, were they in regular service or did they serve a single industry where a forward shifting heavy high load might be a regular problem? Did any model manufacturers make accurate HO models of these or do you just buy an add on casting to an existing model?
What's on Your Workbench - June 2021
The year is heating up as we move into June. Share your latest workbench and layout progress reports!
Eric
Eric Hansmann
Contributing Editor, Model Railroad Hobbyist
Follow along with my railroad modeling:
http://designbuildop.hansmanns.org/
Colorado Front Range Version 2.0
Four days of drawing, going over my list of what must be on the layout and what I could drop from the layout. Here is what I come up with so far. The layout will have freight and passenger service in 1959. the Joint line is South of Denver going to Palmer Lake. The Colorado and Southern is north of Denver to Longmont.
Pony Wheel Problem
Does anyone have a solution for MTH Berkshires and some 2-8-0's with the pony wheels jumping off the track at frogs or diamonds and causing derailments? It's driving me crazy. One minute thewy are sailing along smoothly at scale speed with a few cars and a cabin and the next trip around the layout they derail at every mainline switch and diamond.
I think it's the fact that there is not enough weight forward to keep them on the rails, but I'm at a loss as how to correct the problem if that is it. Any ideas that work? Thanks.
Proto 2000 FA1 and FB1 Soundtraxx DCC Install, Lighting and Detailing
I found a set of these Proto 2000 Alco FA-1 and FB-1 in CPR Maroon and Gray in like new condition at Central Hobbies from a collection. They’re still DC.
Covering more small layouts
We’ve all seen it ... “the hobby magazines don’t cover enough small layouts.”
Well, if we’re to be on the lookout for these smaller layouts, how would you define small? Doesn't it make sense that if we’re supposed to be covering this size of layout, we know what we’re after?
My one request is that you keep the definition broad enough we have a fighting chance. Make the definition too narrow and we’re sunk before we start.
My one sense is that it’s not so much “small” per se but more what I would call “achievable” layouts. If that’s so, then what’s an achievable layout, then?
>> Posts index
Navigation
Journals/Blogs
Recent Blog posts: