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BandO Boy
Engine Wiper
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 Posted - 01/23/2013 : 2:23:22 PM
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Ooooops, my bad... that's what I get for wandering out of my area of geographic expertise!... sorry about that.
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Best regards -
Jim Fawcett
Scotch Plains, NJ
http://oldmainline.blogspot.com |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 156 |
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Ensign
Engineer
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Posted - 04/19/2013 : 5:54:43 PM
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Hello! Is anyone here quietly working? Hello!
Chuck,it's been so long since you have given any updates.
Greg Shinnie
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Country: Canada
| Posts: 9161 |
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wvrr
Fireman
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 3:35:33 PM
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Wow. I forgot I started this thread on my layout. I only rediscovered it when I was looking at my subscriptions.
I've finished a few projects in the three years I last posted anything. Not many projects, mind you, but a few. So, I thought I would get this thread up to date.
The first one was a project from a forum challenge in 2014. It is the Magnuson Water Dept. I am using it as the power house/boiler house for my Stegmaier Brewery. It shares some of the characteristics of the prototype, which is why I chose the model.
Here is the thread on the build:
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=41762
And, here are photos of the completed model:
The second is another Magnuson kit, the Union Avenue Freight Terminal. I started it 10 years ago and stopped. And, when Jim Fawcett stopped by for a visit in the fall of 2014, he asked when I was going to finish it. That was all it took for me to get back on the project. So, again, here are the thread and photos.
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11040
And, the most current project I've been working on is changing the trackplan for West Coalton on the layout. It all started when I really didn't like the ladder of turnouts leading to the coal mine. Plus, I wanted to build trackwork for the NMRA Achievement Program. I built turnouts and a crossover. But, I needed a third track element. And, a scale track came to mind for use at the mine. That meant a change to the trackplan was needed. I detailed some of that in my Anthracite Mine thread.
http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7293
Here is the revised trackwork. The gap in the track is where the scale track wwas installed.
Here is the scale track.
And, here is a new photo with the fascia. I still need to install LEDs for the track diagram, which are controlled by two rotaries. The rotaries control the routes for the turnouts.
The two green lights indicate the position of the scale track, which are manually controlled with Blue Point machines. I wanted the control of the scale track to be more "hands on". Green means it is aligned for the through track, red means they are aligned for the scale track.
The other light is for the scale operation. Red means that weighing is in process while green means that no weighing is occurring.
I'm not sure if I missed anything. I probably did. But, I think these have been the major projects. I think 2016 will be a better year, completing more projects that I have planned.
Chuck
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George D
Moderator
Premium Member
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 4:41:42 PM
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Those buildings are beautiful. Thanks for the update, Chuck. I'm looking forward to following your progress in 2016.
George
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| Fly Army |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 16946 |
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Dutchman
Administrator
Premium Member
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 5:05:16 PM
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Chuck, it is good to see this old thread revived. Now the challenge is to keep it going!
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| Bruce |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 33524 |
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wvrr
Fireman
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 5:09:13 PM
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I know, Bruce. I can't believe I completely forgot about it. You might also want to show Bonnie that last photo. When Bonnie and you were last here, she had a look of shock when she saw the results of the de-construction of this area. She should feel better seeing it back together. 
Chuck
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| Posts: 6666 |
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TRAINS1941
Engineer
Premium Member
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 5:42:06 PM
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Chuck that sure is looking good now. Looking forward to seeing it again.
Keep us updated in 2016.
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Jerry
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." A. Lincoln |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 13390 |
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Michael Hohn
Fireman
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 11:30:44 PM
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Thanks for bringing these projects together in one place. I have liked them all and missed the fact they were all by the same person.
For some reason I find following layout revisions interesting. Maybe because that's all I do on my own layout, or it seems that way.
Mike
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Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. James Baldwin |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7486 |
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MarkF
Engineer
Premium Member
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Posted - 12/30/2015 : 11:59:51 PM
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Wow Chuck, I forgot about this thread too. But its great to see it revived. I do recognize those structures and they need a home! So now you need to focus on the layout so you have a place to showcase your beautiful work.
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| Mark |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 13756 |
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wvrr
Fireman
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Posted - 12/31/2015 : 07:21:16 AM
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Thanks, guys. Mark, yes a lot more focus will be on the layout. I want to extend the layout along the other wall and incorporate a yard, finish the structures and scenery for West Coalton, the area in the photo above, and complete the fascia/skirting. So, there is a lot of work to do!
Last night I decided to test out the operations of all my coal trains and mine switching. For my operations, I use JMRI Operations. I used to use ShipIt until a year and a half ago. The version of ShipIt was old and I was tired of the work arounds that I had to build into it. Plus, I was seeing the same pattern of movement from one session to another. I saw a couple clinics on JMRI operations and decided to give that a try. Hey, it is free, so all it is costing me is my time. And, I was able to import all of my cars into it from ShipIt. So, no re-keying of equipment. It was just a matter of setting up the locations, trains, and routes.
I found I needed to tweak my coal operations a little bit after running it through a few cycles. Now, the hoppers seem to flow nicely through each cycle of switchlists. Prior to the adjustments, I had some trains that were hauling very few cars while others were hauling a lot more than I expected. Moving a few cars on the layout and tweaking the schedule a bit fixed all of that.
Oh, and switching the mine with the scale track really makes things more interesting. You can't run the engine on the scale. The engine can only run on the through track of the scale. So, you end up having to juggle cars around a little to get them all weighed. Plus, the timer I use to signal when weighing cars slows things down, also. It took me two hours to run three coal trains and switch the mine in between each train. It was a fun night.
Chuck
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Tabooma County Rwy
Fireman
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Posted - 12/31/2015 : 1:05:18 PM
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Your work is always inspiring, Chuck, both here and in the model press. Thanks for the update!
Al Carter
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Country: USA
| Posts: 4630 |
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wvrr
Fireman
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Posted - 01/02/2016 : 10:43:33 AM
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Most times, I operate my layout by myself. It isn't a large layout. Plus, the aisles are tight. So, at best, it would be a two-person operation, if multiple people did operate it.
So, I've always been fascinated with computer programs generating switchlists for me. Probably because of my 9 to 5 job. I used car cards back when I was a teenager. And, when I read Bruce Chubb's book on operations and saw he used a computer program for his operations, I was intrigued.
I discovered ShipIt and used that for many years. But, after working around the bugs and discovering that my operations from one session to another were similar, I decided to plunge into JMRI Operations to see if that would be more fun. It is a free program and it does take some initial setup work and understanding. I saw a couple clinics on how to use it, which really helped me. Now, I think I have a system that works pretty well.
And, recently, I added the scale track for my mining operation. And, I wanted it to be noted somehow on the switchlists when loaded hoppers are picked up at the mine. This morning, I figured out how to add "and weigh" to the switchlists for loaded hoppers. It isn't much, but I am pretty excited about it.
Below is a copy of one switchlist. Lunde is the name of the colliery and I have a switcher that moves cars between an interchange with the rest of my layout and the mine. So, it is moving empties from the interchange to the mine and picking up loads, weighing them, and dropping them off at the interchange. The next coal drag that appears at the interchange will drop its empties and pick up the loads.
Chuck
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Edited by - wvrr on 01/02/2016 10:46:04 AM |
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Orionvp17
Fireman
Premium Member
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Posted - 01/02/2016 : 10:57:28 AM
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Very, very nicely done, Chuck!
Suggestion: Invite Jim Fawcett over more often-- these images are eye candy! 
Pete
in Michigan
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Country: USA
| Posts: 7584 |
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Mike Hamer
Engineer
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MarkF
Engineer
Premium Member
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Posted - 01/02/2016 : 11:52:40 PM
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Its funny you should post this information about switchlists and the JMRI program. Just tonight, SteamNut and I were on our way back from an op session and we got to talking about switch lists versus car cards. I've always used car cards but am interested in experimenting with switch lists. I really like the way your switch list prints out with instructions as well as pickups and set outs.
One question though; at the bottom of each section, it says 'Train departs...' and then says '219 feet'. What is that? The actual distance between towns? Length of the train?
Just curious.
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| Mark |
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Country: USA
| Posts: 13756 |
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