Heavy Motive Power

Last week our local On30 group had a get together/operations session at Mike's B&H On30 layout. I wanted to bring something to show and have had this loco sitting around 85% complete for quite a while. So, I finished it off and snapped some shots.

My Arroyo lighting is fairly bad for side shots but I think one can get the idea. The locomotive is a Bachmann On30 2-8-0, the one based on the M de M 30-inch line in Mexico. (Hey an actual 30-inch gauge prototype, of course no one models that!) A great locomotive with a tender. I have one that has been supped up to meet the prototype but when I saw the Backwoods Miniatures side tank build kit for the locomotive, I really wanted one. Backwoods no longer is in business but I picked my kit up, well, let's just say a long time ago.

I initially intended to re-gauge the loco to On3, which I did and it ran great! However, once I removed the tender, I just couldn't get the locomotive's electrical pickups to suffice for a 2-8-2T. So, I re-gauged it back to On3 with significant electrical pickup improvement.

The loco has a Soundtrax mini Tsumani with a current keeper and speaker in the cab and coal bunker. She runs very well and looks totally cool. The only problem is those steps are WIDE! My Arroyo module has some tight clearances, and the steps hit some of my turnout throws (Ooops! My bad). She's too big for the Arroyo anyway.

So, I took her down to Mike's for a test run. The last time I had her down there, the pony truck would short out on the cylinders on his 18-inch radius curves. So, I increased it's length by a tiny bit and wanted to see her turn the drivers on a longer run!

She ran quite well as expected but did have a couple of problems. Mike's turnout throws are based on HO clearances and her steps wouldn't clear them (sound familiar?). They also hit scenery on his 18-inch radius curves. I did get her to run well over a large portion of the back section of his layout but. I think she'll need 20-22-inch radius curves and a layout with proper On30 clearance's for scenery and turnouts. She's 98% complete, needs a little touch up painting and a little weathering.

She's looking for a good home.................

Arroyo Scenery

With the snow and rain this weekend, I managed to get some scenery done this on the On30 Arroyo Mines layout. My Arizona Rock and Mineral order arrived along with some eBay purchased trees.

 I'd say the greenery adds quite a bit to the layout. Fun placing the trees and some other small scenery items. My son thought it made a world of difference. I'm liking the results. Trees may look small but pictures of the Gilpin Tram show bare hills and small trees coming back up. They must have cleared the hills early for fuel.

The Benson Mine now has the upper roof on and the first coat of paint. Not pleased with the new paint I am using and will finish it up with remaining Floquil stock.

The whiting mine has made great progress. Just needs a roof! Working on it, the roof is a little more difficult due to the angle of the roof to back of the layout or someday, the backdrop.

The foreground cribbing is where the Grand Central gold mine will go. I purchased a kit for that one. Taking a brake from scratch building.  I have an interior from Wisemann Model Services and am looking forward to getting the kit built; however, I would like to get the Whiting Mine done first.

Whiting Mine on the Arroyo

Started the Whiting Mine, from the Gilpin Tram this weekend. Card stock, wood and something new, balsa foam. The rocks are a test from a cutoff, what is pictured is about 10-15 minutes of test carving. This stuff is amazing. I've held off using it for lack of need and skepticism. Well, its great! Should have the Whiting mine up and running soon. Of course, its kind of a 1/3 or less of the structure.......

Sometimes You Just Don't Know................

Sometimes you just don't know what's going on around you. Local modelers may exist in your area and you just don't know it. I stumbled onto an O scale display layout in Pulaski, VA today. Pulaski is about 40 minutes down the road. The Raymond F. Ratliff Transportation Museum  http://www.theratcliffemuseum.com/ contains the Milton Brockmeyer Train Diorama. Milton lived in  Pulaski and built an O scale, two-rail layout with the entire town, all the buildings in the town that existed in the late 1920's. Cool. They even scratch built a N&W 611 that used a sewing machine motor! The locomotive was very well built. Worth a stop.

During the last week and this weekend, I made some progress on the Arroyo Tram, On30 module. I kept passing it to work on other things and the "white" just bothered me. So......

From this......

 

To.........

To..............

I had to take a break as I ran out of Arizona Rock and Mineral scenery supplies. A quick search turned up their website, which is no longer working. However, they still have an eBay store, so off with some $$

On the Albion module, On2, I managed to get all the shingles on the Albion potato house, whew, no shingles for a while......

Last Post for 2017!

Well, managed to get a little time with the hobby over the last week or so. Here's some updates:
The Albion module was moved and the backdrop installed and partially painted.

Next, some switching operations with Alexander at the helm. Its been a while since anything ran on the Albion modules. Yes, the shingling on the potato house has begun!

Then some operations on the Deer Creek and Laurel, more fun for Alexander to watch trains run and do a little switching as compared to a lot of switching and a little running..

This weekend, I finally started the Albion station. Quite a bit of progress for the short time period. Happy with the results so far. Had to modify the windows a bit but they look close enough for my efforts! On to the new year! Let's see if I can't get Albion completed by September 2018, two years since starting the project only one year longer than anticipated. See you in 2018!

Back to the Sandy River and Rangely Lakes On2

Over Christmas break I had the chance to return to Al's On2 Sandy River and Rangely Lakes layout. He kindly invited dad and I over to operate the layout. Al uses NCE for control, which I also use, so I thought it would be a cinch.  However, he uses active braking on TCS WOW decoders, which I have tried but it had been a while..after pushing a few wrong buttons, I was ready to go! Al put a switchlist together on the fly for me and I grabbed number 15 in Farmington and off to make up the train.

 

I quickly goofed by pushing #8 instead of #7 on the controller for braking and  somehow cancelled the manual braking on the system. With the momentum on the loco and the lack of braking, I quickly called for help. Within seconds, Al had me off and running again with engine #19.

 

 

After making up the train, we headed North towards Strong. 

 

Stopped along the way for some some switching.

 

Pulled into Strong for some more switching. A couple of difficult moves, a few drop offs and a few pick ups and we were off again!

Switching the International Mill just south of Philips

Made it into Philips, more complicated moves. Hard to believe that Philips only had a two track run around given the traffic that passes through. While the line heads north, we were out of time. Had to head home. What a great opportunity!

A few observations:

This was by far the largest and most complete O scale layout that I have ever had the chance to operate. It was a BLAST! Took me about 3 hours, with talking, etc. to get from Farmington to Philips with a 10 car train, more or less. The ability to run longer trains and  rod engines was really fun.

I also liked using the momentum and braking functions. I think using these would be very difficult for new operators (I made a few wrong button pushes) but really adds to operation. I think I might set my WW&F up this way for a while and see how it goes.

Larger/Less better?
While switching in Farmington, a thought that I've had before re-occurred to me.  When you don't have enough room to model the whole, maybe a small part fully, could be more? For example, my layout space is only 21 feet long and 9-1/2 feet wide. No way to model the WW&F in O scale in its entirety. However, one could just model one yard, close to full scale or maybe two?  Al's Farmington really demonstrated how this could work. The yard is not all of 30 feet in length but close. Switching the train to get ready to pull out towards Strong was quite fun and took quite a while. I'd never had the opportunity to see this concept in action. It really worked well. Of course the passing sidings are closer to actual length rather than compressed for space, really fun just making up a train. Just an idea...........

November Post

Work, life and biking have kept me out of the basement for the last month or so. Little progress to report, although I have located a "permanent" location for the Albion module, developed a plan for an extension (partial of Weeks Mills) and started the backdrop.

Over the Thanksgiving break I had the opportunity to visit Al Churella's wonderful On2 Sandy River and Rangely Lakes RR. Al was a wonderful host, allowing us to stop by during the holiday. His layout is a fantastic representation of the prototype. I had the opportunity to run a train over the layout, which ran very well. The experience also allowed me to cover the entire layout, and to get a feel of what operations would be like. Definitely a narrow gauge layout designed for some fun operations. I would love to get down someday to get a chance to participate in an operations session.

While working on the Albion module I have grown to like to the idea of focusing on a specific prototype. It allows you to really focus on the subject matter and to remove some distraction that freelancing allows (oh, I could add that, and that, and that). Al's layout helps reinforce how fun and challenging focusing on the prototype can be. Enjoy the photo's below!