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akimmons
Fireman
USA
1354 Posts |
 Posted - 01/13/2009 : 5:58:31 PM
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Thanks Rick.
You might try using white glue. I'm experimenting with using it the same way you would to attach a paper sign to a building. No fumes and it seems to really fit snug. I am going to experiment with the tape though.
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Arnold Kimmons
General Manager
Royal & Edisto Railroad
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19182 |
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shark_jj
Engine Wiper
Canada
363 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2009 : 9:14:52 PM
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| I used the double sided tape for the photo backdrops on the Allegheny Division. Two years so far, no problems. |
John Johnston
PRR Allegheny Division |
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 05:06:56 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by shark_jj
I used the double sided tape for the photo backdrops on the Allegheny Division. Two years so far, no problems.
Now that's some good news, John....did you use the thinner Scotch tape brand? I had orginally considered carpet tape, which if memory serves, resembles masking tape in appearance and thickness, but in the end went with the thinner stuff.... |
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shark_jj
Engine Wiper
Canada
363 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 08:54:38 AM
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| At the time I was doing it I had a couple of excess rolls of double sided carpet tape lying around so that is what I used. It is about 1" wide. I know nothing about tape and whether there are different "stickiness" levels to different types of tape. I just know that this appears to be working. |
John Johnston
PRR Allegheny Division |
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 11:32:45 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by shark_jj
At the time I was doing it I had a couple of excess rolls of double sided carpet tape lying around so that is what I used. It is about 1" wide. I know nothing about tape and whether there are different "stickiness" levels to different types of tape. I just know that this appears to be working.
Yeah, I'm not a "tape guru" either, but at least now we have two different methods to compare for future reference.
Just a couple of extra thoughts: to me, the critical joint is the top of the photo; this is the one place that can not tolerate any runs, hits, or errors so to speak. Where the edge was fairly straight, putting the tape down was easy and simple; where the edge was curved or wavy, I placed shorter pieces of the tape half-on and half off the photo, then flipped the picture over and trimmed the excess with an X-acto knife to ensure that the edge was completely "sealed" against the backdrop.
Another suggestion would be to employ a small roller when putting the photo up, thus ensuring good paper-to-backdrop adhesion.
This method may not apply to everyone's situation; in my case, there will be several profile boards and/or numerous trees and shrubs located adjacent to or directly between the viewer and the photo, so disgusing any imperfections is a relatively easy fix. My personal opinion is that the viewer should be aware of the backdrop but not intently study it...I think that actually detracts from what I'm trying to accomplish. |
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MarkF
Engineer
USA
9272 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 1:42:11 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Harsco
Mark...I just realized that the chances of you getting back here anytime soon is rapidly approaching "slim to none" status; folks, the Northern Division is about to rise again, which means I gotta get used to not having all the help I've had for the past year.
Yes, the Northern Division WILL be back soon, but don't worry there pal, your not getting rid of me that easily! Your making great progress but Steam and I need to keep on top of you to make sure the motivation level remains high!  Besides, I now have an investment I'm hoping to get a return on... I'll need help on the Northern Division and with the talent your displaying here, I know I'm in for a treat with your efforts on the new layout! [:-eyebrows] |
Mark
See my homepage at http://home.comcast.net/~prrndiv/
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 3:15:52 PM
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Obviously someone got their Internet connection going...welcome back, Mark. Rumor has it that Mr Tape Measure himself paid a visit last evening to the new home of the Northern Division and is now giggling with barely supressed delight at the prospect of constructing yet ANOTHER layout. As far as talent is concerned, I suppose you will need someone to serve the canapes and drinks while the two of you feverishly measure, saw, screw, glue, wire, solder, and assemble the future, as-yet-undesigned PRR mainline to Northumberland...LOL.
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Diamond Bill
New Hire
USA
34 Posts |
Posted - 01/14/2009 : 4:27:11 PM
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| Hi All: This is a general comment on background mounting. Foam core is available with one side dry adhesive made by the Elmers glue people. If you use this, layout the back drop as you would like to see it on the adhesive cover sheet Rough mark the outline of the buildings as laid out. Trim off one inch of the adhesive cover sheet. Lay the paper buildings back in place with the bottom edge on the adhesive. Then slowly pull away the rest of the adhesive cover sheet and smooth out the paper as you go. Now trime the paper and foam core to the proper contour. Mount the foam core with your favorite glue to vertical supports as needed or double the thickness of the foam core for a two sided backdrop. You can also leave extra foam core at the bottom and screw it right to the table. All foam core will leave a white edge that should be painted with black water base paint. I have black foam core custom made with the adhesive on one side so that I get a black edge. The black hides a multitude of sins. Which I need. |
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 08:20:38 AM
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It hardly seems possible, but this thread is approaching it's first anniversary (1/27)....twelve short months ago, at Mark and Steam's urging, I made the first post and quite truthfully, never expected it to have much activity, much less almost 24,000 reads. I'm grateful for all of you who have followed this thread and posted your comments and suggestions; the information that's been exchanged has helped make the experience of turning what is essentially a big circle of track into an operating layout (albiet with still a long way to go).
Another ops session was held last evening with the usual suspects in attendance; in fact we had a couple more people than before, a fact that concerned me since I'm always concerned about having enough work to keep the operators busy and satisfied. Since bringing the BOF operation at Maclay into full swing last time, I suppose I shouldn't have worried since now we're shipping hot product all over the Harrisburg area, which tends to gum up the mainline even more than the "Seven Miles of Sheer Hell" route can handle!
Here's a shot of the Herr Street yard area doing what it does best: attract operators and challenge Steam to get things sorted out and moving, not an easy task. Here, Joe C and Steam figure out what's getting exchanged while Rich W, second Herr Street operator, looks on:
Just to make things interesting, our intrepid dispatcher (Mark F) wandered out from his desk in the workshop to offer advice as well as a short motivational speech about keeping the main clear for the parade of trains waiting to squeeze by. After reminding him of the delicate relationship that exists between Harsco (customer) and the PRR (seller), he was advised to go back to the workshop and have more garlic dip.
Here's an illustration of why Herr Steet is so important to the layout's function; as the main yard facility for an active steel mill, a lot of raw materials get exchanged between the PRR and Harsco during a typical session: two deliveries of ore (20 cars each), and coke, as well as dolomite (limestone), regular freight, and a lot of hot movements with both Maclay Street and on-line customers. Left to right: Steam, Rich W, PJ, and Bob exchange info on what they're planning to do.
The small Division Street yard was once again aptly handled by Diamond Bill; here he's sorting cars as PJ slides past with a slag run:
Joe H was introduced to the mysteries of operating Maclay Street, which can alternate between incredibly busy and boring, depending where we are in the schedule. The operator needs to have some knowledge of the BOF process in order to make sense of the movements, which I attempted to do while acting as the Harsco Supervisor and coordinating inter and intra-plant hot movements. Here, Joe's about to pull the BOF's slag cars and hand them off to PJ for dumping at Susquehanna Slag in Lucknow:
Hot movements can add a lot of operating interest, since each is usually time sensitive: ingots from Herr going to the Maclay Soaking Pits, slag from Herr and Maclay to the dump, molten iron from Herr to Maclay and customer foundaries, and finally, molten steel from Maclay to end users as well. Here, 100 ton bottle, 50 ton "open top" hot metal, and slag cars are being exchanged between the Harsco Maclay Street operator and a designated PRR 'Hot Crew" for movement over the main line:
I'd like to think the schedule Mark developed is paced well enough to keep the guys busy, yet not so much that they can't take a break: Here, Diamond Bill prepares for the next through freight exchange and switches the North Harrisburg industrial area while in the background, Joe H is delivering newly stripped ingots from Herr Street to the soaking pits:
Here's what I mean about the operational pace: Joe H holding forth in the workshop during a lull in his schedule while John R pretends to listen. Judging from the mass consumption of garlic dip, there was ample time for the crew to run trains AND snack - a very important factor in keeping everyone content!
Towards the end of the session, which lasted four and a half hours, I snapped this shot of John R working Commonswealth Coke:
Harco Power: when an AS-616 experienced some tractive problems pushing loads up the mineral ramp, an older HTRR switcher was called in by Steam to add a little "FM muscle":
Overall, the session went well, albiet with a few trackwork glitches caused by the weather. Commonwealth's as yet unballasted tracks had more than a few unplanned for bendds; below, Bill points out a balky turnout at Division Street to Mark which the forces of nature managed to buckle
We're still actively "tweaking' roles and procedures as problems arise; the Supervisor's position is becoming increasingly important so that one person is keeping track of the inter-related activities between two plants and the common carrier. Before starting the session, we discussed the need for cross-training crew members at specialized positions not only to add a little variety to their session but to ensure that enough "qualified" operators are available for future sessions.
Looking back at page 1 of this thread, the amount of progress that's been made in one year is really incredible to contemplate...a testimony to Mark and Steam as well as a bunch of well-seasoned operating veterans who helped me avoid some of the more awkward mis-steps that inevitably occur whenever a layout is coming "on line". Without their able assistance, I'd no doubt would still be trying to figure out how to get the main line around the water heater or trying to come up with a workable operating scheme. One last "section" remains to be built in what has essentially become a large industrial switching layout: the as-yet-undesigned or CFO (Mrs. Harsco) approved Market Street branch which will add even more switching opportunites for future sessions (as well as a need for more rolling stock inventory). In my dual roles of waiter and supervisor last night, I had a good opportunity to actually stand back and watch my layout really come to life, complete with blaring horns, rolling wheels, squealing flanges,and a bunch of non-stop, good natured chop busting between friends....take a bow, gentlemen!
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Edited by - Harsco on 01/24/2009 09:16:48 AM |
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LVRALPH
Fireman
5430 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 09:16:06 AM
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| Rick, looks like a good time was had by all. Maybe someday I can get over for a visit and see steel in action. Someone also has to watch over Hueber![:-angel] |
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 09:44:51 AM
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Ralph...I'm glad to hear and read you're hanging in there; a new position will be created with you in mind: Hueber Handler. In all seriousness, Joe did exceptionally well last evening in a job that's difficult to communicate, much less understand. You have to be something of a "steel nut" to run Maclay, since the moves are intuitive to BOF operation, something I tried explaining as Joe worked the area. Truth be told, it's not one of the more exciting jobs, but very essential to the process. Like most sessions, there were some very important lessons learned that will be incorporated in the future:
1) Make up a sequence list for Maclay Street
2) Cut bigger gaps in the track
2) Switch from garlic dip to something less.... intestinally "combustible". (the CO alarm went off at one point) |
Edited by - Harsco on 01/24/2009 09:46:53 AM |
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dnhman
Fireman
USA
1049 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 11:26:04 AM
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Rick, Indeed you have come along way. I totally enjoyed the session. I think overall things went very well. The extra operators were definately not an issue. I did not notice anyone lounging for too long near the "dip". I think your guidence to keep the disaptcher in his "seat" would have helped with the time. My only thought for an improvment would be of adding a HARSCO dispatcher to oversee the plant moves and cordinate with the PRR dispatcher.This postion would cut down the confusion by the PRR dispacther in cordinating crews and movements. That would leave the 2 plant crews to keep things moving along.
All the trains that I ran were (5/6 plus one hot move) were interesting and great runs esp P30. Thanks again for great night ...
Joe DNHman.... |
Cheers!, Joe |
Edited by - dnhman on 01/24/2009 11:28:34 AM |
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Harsco
Fireman
USA
1101 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 5:22:17 PM
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Joe....you're absolutely right: the operational weak link was me. Mark has been advocating a Harsco Supervisor for some time now but the need became painfully obvious last night. Next session, the plan is to expand this position so that the supervisor keeps an eye on what's happening at both yards, keeping both the operators and dispatcher appraised on what's going on and more importantly what's will be needed. We had hot crews running in both directions, essentially duplicating moves that didn't need to be duplicated. Although Mark would get a hot crew assigned, there was always some degree of confusion about who was going where when, something that can be easily corrected by having the crews report directly to the supervisor who requested them.
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Tim Kerkhoff
Fireman
USA
5869 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 6:23:43 PM
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Rick,
You have made wonderful progess and just to think the fun is just beginning. Seems like there always needs to be a supervisor around, if nothing else but to crack the whip.
I would of enjoyed hearing the voice calling Mark back to the dispacther room. I have that same problem at times. |
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Tim Kerkhoff
Fireman
USA
5869 Posts |
Posted - 01/24/2009 : 6:33:48 PM
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Rick,
I forgot to say that I started at the beginning of this thread today and have really enjoyed the documented progress that you have done. Wonderful workmanship.[:-thumbu] |
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Harrisburg Terminal Railroad (HTRR)
