Modeling topic
Inspiration for an interesting micro switching module
I was on a business trip to Newton, Iowa, recently and did a little exploring along the Iowa Interstate mainline which runs through the town. The railroad delivers bulkhead flat cars (with sheet steel) to a siding where a trackmobile switches them into the Trinity Structural Towers plant. The company makes wind turbine super structures.
The track configuration consists of just two turnouts: one off the IAIS siding, and one to split the track at the company for holding and receiving spurs. The whole scene makes for a very interesting, albeit simple, switching module.
Experiments with the Laser Cutter
So, my school has probably one of the best clubs ever. It is known as engineering club costs nothing but that is not the best part. It goes for 2 hours and you have access to the latest version of Autocad and other programs in that family, with these you can then use the LaserCutter or one of three 3d printers on site. My first project I am working on is a stone bridge and have already completed the side with stone file and done a test cut. It turned out great and I used many shortcuts such as Hatch and Array to speed up the process. Overall it took me just over and 1-1/2 hours.
Has anyone researched alternatives to extruded polystyrene or XPS
I am in the early phase of ultra light sectional layout construction, and was planning to use square aluminum tubing framing, extruded polystyrene (XPS) risers & sub-roadbed, cork roadbed, and Bragdon resin based scenery to support the roadbed.
Light weight layout sections are a must because of back issues.
After reading Joe Fugate's recent article in Sep MRH (pg 143), I am looking for alternatives to big box store XPS sheets.
Has anyone researched dimensionally stable foam sheets?
Thanks,
Getting on top of things
The older I get the more difficult it gets to rummage around under the layout, on the floor, trying to complete wiring, switch machine installation, etc. There are ways of easing this somewhat (e.g. using suitcase connectors for wiring) but I'm wondering how far some of you may have gone to address this. Since I tend to do all the work myself I'd be interested in any tricks/tips/hints you may have on ways to work from the top down instead of bottom up. Suggestions for switch machines, accessing wiring for maintenance, etc.
Your Most Interesting Piece Of Railroad Memoribilia
So I recently got a really impressive piece from a family member that used to work for EMD, it is a large wooden E8 a styling model used to try out paint schemes. This one is in the B&O herald minus words and shield. So what else do you have hiding in your collections? Let's see it here.
How to Paint Realistic Concrete
Auto title loans and model railroading...?
Recently, I've seen a few links (on Facebook) to a website with some model railroad information. The name of the site struck me as being a bit odd, but I thought no more of it until today, when I got a (supposedly) third party request to link to said site from my own model railroad page.
So I did a little research and found that the site belongs to a title loan company. Ummm... What does auto title loans have to do with model railroading? Also of note, all the links point to PDFs.
Installing Shinohara double slip switch
Need a little advise on the above wiring of these switches, seems they can be wired a couple of ways ?
What's the best way anyone for DCC using Tortise motors.
Raft River - A Town on the 8th Sub
The Raft River branch departs from the 8th Subdivision main at Cedar. It descends via a helix to Cedar Creek canyon, then disappears again under part of Milton to finally emerge as a narrow scene on a lower deck where the town proper is located. Previous blog entries describe other locales on the layout, so I'll limit the discussion here to the bottom deck portion of the branch.
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