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| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| AVRR-PA |
Posted - 08/02/2008 : 11:57:33 PM
Hi, everyone --
This is the third (and last) spinoff from the thread I did on building a "FreeMo Module to Display Craftsman Kits."
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11232&whichpage=26
In this thread, I'll continue to chronicle the triumphs and trials of the Module Maniacs of the Keystone Division.
Just a brief callback to the earlier thread. At the last show, over half the modules were new because we are growing rapidly. We had a lot of electrical and derailment problems, plus motive power and rolling stock problems. We decided we definitely needed a non-public get-together to sorts things out.
At the moment, we are in the midst of this debugging and operating session. Once again, we are set up in Holy Family Social Hall. We started setting up Friday afternoon and evening. Den the DeBugger (not to be confused with Vlad the Impaler ) started checking the modules out electrically before anyone was allowed to connect up or insert connecting rails. That went pretty smoothly. The biggest problem was with mis-connected Cinch-Jones connectors.
Different people were able to make it at different times, so you will never see the whole crew in one photograph. Let's do introductions.
On Friday night, we had, from left to right:
Bob Meier, Chairman of the FreeMo project, and builder of a large yard module.
Den Lippert, DCC and wiring guru.
(Bob and Den together built a new loop module which is lighter and easier to transport. The first loop wound up as part of Bob's home layout.)
Patrick Altdorfer, who is building the brewery module
Vagel Keller, who now has three modules nearly completed, including a dual-gauge module.
and me, behind the camera.
Bud Brock dropped off the wye but couldn't stay.
Here's Patrick, under the layout:
We discovered that someone (me) had suffered temporary brain death and made some of the module legs too long so I took them back to the shop (not far) and quickly them by an inch. Not quite as easy as it sounds since I didn't want to waste the adjusters expoxied in on the bottoms of the legs so I reworked the tops, which involved the table saw, the band saw, a back saw, and a drill.
On Saturday, we added Jerry Kyslinger's module - a corner without which we couldn't connect Bob's yard. After a few more checks, we started plugging in the Cinch-Jones connectors and adding connecting rails, with Den checking things out as we went along. The DCC system was connected and turned on and did not go up in smoke, as it did at the train show. We spent the rest of Saturday just running trains - looking for problems with locomotives shorting out in turnouts, rolling stock with Kadee "air hoses" set too low, etc, etc. We were also checking out coupler heights on a test track provided by Bob.
I spent most of the day working on the track on my module. We found and fixed the short that caused problems last time, but we still have problems with the power-routing turnouts on the narrow gauge portion. I'm afeared I'm going to have to switch to power-routing ground throws or something of that sort. (Groan.  ) I also glued in the rest of the ties on the narrow gauge section and did a lot of individual tie painting and weathering. I have a bit of touch-up painting of rail to do and then I can ballast, which I'll do this coming week.
Here are some pictures from Saturday. I should explain that the two steel mills were separately de-bugged (Den made house calls, I guess) and aren't set up this weekend. So the setup is relatively small, although still pretty substantial.
In the following pictures, I turned the camera over to Jerry and got myself into the picture.
Tonight, Vagel is making up switchlists. Sunday, we'll try our hand at operating using Scenario Cards.
I'll post more pictures Sunday evening.
Don |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| NGPhil |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 4:02:38 PM
I'm fairly certain A.B. Charles is for sale or was for sale. I saw what seemed to fit the description of AB on a site that deals with buying and selling established businesses. I haven't been there in about a year. Isn't worth the drive. Cranberry is a bit of a haul for me too. Oh well. One of these days I'll go to a real show. Maybe the next Midwest NG show. |
| wvrr |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 2:53:13 PM
Nice looking modules, Don. The tower is great looking and I like the look of your three bridges. I learned a little bit about Free-mo at the NJD/Philly joint NMRA meet, this past weekend. I really like the concept.
Chuck |
| AVRR-PA |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 2:00:43 PM
quote:
Originally posted by NGPhil
Speaking of scratch building supplies, where do you guys find stuff in the burgh? I've been to A.B. Charles and they have a decent supply of strip wood and K&S metals etc. but they're a bit out of my way. Any other good hobby shops around?
sorry if this is off topic.
A.B. Charles isn't much fun any more. They look like they're having a going-out-of-business sale but won't admit it. They're the only local source for detail parts.
Esther's in Millvale has a good stock of scenery material and lots of N-gauge plastic structures, rolling stock, etc., but they're pretty thin on HO. They carry some styrene and metal but nothing for those of us who insist on using wood.
There are a couple of shops in Cranberry but that's too far away for me.
I make one big stripwood purchase a year, at the Midwest NG Show.
Don |
| Orionvp17 |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 10:06:57 AM
quote:
Originally posted by AVRR-PA
Hi, Pete --
There is some non-zero probability that I will attend the Springfield show. But the idea of going someplace in January that has even worse weather than Pittsburgh - bleargh!
Are you and your modular group going to set up there?
Don
Don,
No, we won't be setting up at the Springfield show -- too much, too far.
As for the weather, well, it's New England. I've seen snow, light snow, severe clear, really, really cold, and temps in the forties with sunshine over the course of the last twenty-five years or so that I've been going. If you go, dress for the weather, take a budget, a sturdy shopping bag and good walking shoes -- the floors are concrete. Admission lines can be long (they draw around 20,000 folks over a weekend), so early is better.
We often have a "Forum gathering" at Scotty Mason's booth during the show, but so far he hasn't floated the invitation. [note to Scott: Float the invitation. -ed]
One more observation: If it's your first show, it can be overwhelming. With eight acres to play in, they have something for everyone there, from Vagel's favorite "Trunk-o-Junk" (love that term!) to the latest, coolest, most expensive brass stuff the hobby can produce. But underneath it all, it's just a big family reunion to which the public is invited.
Enjoy!
Pete
in Michigan
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| Dutchman |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 07:45:03 AM
All the hours of prepping the modules looks like it payed off. Don, that little tower scene is really neat.
How was attendance at the show? |
| NGPhil |
Posted - 11/15/2011 : 06:18:28 AM
I know what you mean as far as the show is really more of a flea market. Seems like every year there is more and more non-mrr related wares there. There was one guy with some narrow gauge stuff and it was all modern stuff and very limited at that.
It was great when you guys had the carpeted area in the back. I recall a giant O scale layout and a few other layouts back there. Plus it opened up more room for everyone to spread out.
That's a shame someone made off with one of your structures! Jeez. I would've never thought someone would have the nerve. What's the world coming to?
Speaking of scratch building supplies, where do you guys find stuff in the burgh? I've been to A.B. Charles and they have a decent supply of strip wood and K&S metals etc. but they're a bit out of my way. Any other good hobby shops around?
Last year a hobbytown opened near me and I was excited because they had a great selection of scratch building supplies. Very little MRR stuff but tons of supplies. They were open for about 6 months and then suddenly disappeared. Now my options are jo-anns fabrics and michaels. I've resorted to buying online for the most part.
sorry if this is off topic. |
| AVRR-PA |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 8:12:32 PM
Hi, Pete --
There is some non-zero probability that I will attend the Springfield show. But the idea of going someplace in January that has even worse weather than Pittsburgh - bleargh!
Are you and your modular group going to set up there?
Don |
| Vagel Keller |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 8:11:38 PM
quote:
Originally posted by AVRR-PA
I expect we'll be getting pictures from John Polyak to add to the thread - he had his SLR with him.
Here are some of the best from John's camera. First, a bird's eye view from the Mezzanine. I've got to find out how to get up there!
Counter-clockwise from lower left, Den Lippert's bulk transfer facility and warehouse module; the Wye; Fred Abrew's corner module with coal tipple; Don's "three bridges;" a MiniMo built by Den to host the electronics that divide the set up into two power districts; Patrick Altdorfer's brewery module; Jerry Kyslinger's corner; Dave Maynard's HO/HOn30 trestle module; and the return loop/staging module.
In the scene below, John caught me in the act of committing a hate crime against the pink foam on Den's power district. The color is Glidden "New Fawn," which is Latin for "Baby Poop."
This is Jerry interacting with a couple of visitors ... either that, or a stink bug has just landed out of sight of the camera.
There were a LOT of fathers-and-sons and a few grandfathers and grandsons at this show, which is a good thing!
That's it for this show. There's another one coming in February, I believe, so we might have some more to post then.
Vagel |
| Orionvp17 |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 6:30:32 PM
Don,
Are we going to see you in Springfield (MA) in January? You want cool stuff, there will be over eight acres of cool stuff!
Pete
in Michigan |
| AVRR-PA |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 2:38:40 PM
Yes, the down-sizing of the show happened because Oxford Development wanted to charge a large fortune for the use of the second, carpeted room.
The amount of space we are being given is pretty discouraging. Unfortunately, I don't know of any other local venue where we could set up all of our modules in public with reasonably good security. (Reasonably good but not perfect - I had one small structure stolen from my module at the show just ended.)
The show itself is getting less and less interesting to me - there's almost nothing there for a scratchbuilder or non-plastic structure builder. The stripwood vendors and The Tool Guy have quit coming. Nobody sells detail parts.
Don
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| Vagel Keller |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 11:34:15 AM
quote:
Originally posted by NGPhil
Curious why they don't setup in the back hall anymore? Cost? I was also a little disappointed that a few regular vendors weren't there.
Glad you were able to see the set up, Phil; sorry I missed you. Cost certainly seems to be the reason they decided to abandon the back hall -- it's been this way for the past one or two shows. It's not good for us, because it means we don't have room for all of our modules -- sort of defeats the purpose of a FreeMo layout.
As to vendors, I learned from one who was there that there were at least two other shows in the northeastrn US on the same weekend, and, quite frankly, the Pittsburgh variant of the Greenbergs show is less and less a scale model railroad show and more and more a toys'R'us flea market leavened with "trunks'o'junk"  which is probably why a locally based, nationally known vendor like Scenic Express has chosen to go elsewhere for the last two shows.
Vagel |
| NGPhil |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 09:37:52 AM
Hey guys. We made it down on Saturday and checked out your layout. Very cool. Great job on the wye and the module with the hon30 loop was very cool. My littlest one was pretty cranky so we didn't hang around very long.
Curious why they don't setup in the back hall anymore? Cost? I was also a little disappointed that a few regular vendors weren't there. Maybe it wasn't the Greenberg show I was at a few years ago but one show there had all the layouts in that back hall along with scenic express back in the corner. I was hoping to buy some stuff from scenic express and another small tool supplier and neither were there. Had to order online. |
| AVRR-PA |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 07:20:57 AM
I added the B&O inspired trestle that you can see in Vagel's final photograph just before the show and didn't have time to test run anything over it. Bad idea.... It turns out my beloved NBW's on top of the guard timbers stick up above the railhead and were snagging plows and causing truck side frame to bump along. Oh, well, it's back home and I'll rework it.
Between the opening of the Holiday Show at the MR club (www.wpmrm.org) and the Greenberg Show and having a friend in ICU, it was a long, tiring but productive weekend.
Thanks for posting pictures, Vagel. I expect we'll be getting pictures from John Polyak to add to the thread - he had his SLR with him.
Don |
| Vagel Keller |
Posted - 11/14/2011 : 12:43:43 AM
quote:
Originally posted by SDB
I noticed in the first photo that there is some type of trestle module on the right ... shows off the odd kind of things you can do with Free-mo.
This is Dave's module, Stuart.
I'll appologize now for the poor focus on some of the images that follow; I didn't have my SLR camera with me today and had to depend on my iPhone3 for pics. Dave has both HO standard gauge running through the module from end to end and an HOn30 figure-8 that includes dual-gauge crossing his trestle. As you can see, scenery is a work in progress.
Here's another "scenery work in progress" module, by Den Lippert (at left):
Finally, a couple parting shots of Don's "three bridges" module:
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| SDB |
Posted - 11/13/2011 : 07:10:22 AM
Awesome work, guys! The up-close photos show some really nice modeling work. It's good to see your Free-mo group progressing along.
I noticed in the first photo that there is some type of trestle module on the right. The module front seems to drop down to show off the trestle. Did you get any photos of that one? It shows off the odd kind of things you can do with Free-mo.
Stuart
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