Rick's House June 25, 2010

Thanks to all for your work and fellowship this past Friday!

Present were:

Packrat Paul
Concrete Keith
Steve-bay

and, a phone-in by Glue Bob who was still on the Cresent returning from New Orleans!

We spent the first part of the evening discussing the expansion track plan and after looking closely at the two plans it was plain that one plan allowed for better following of the trains by operators. I then showed the guys who to make a wire armature tree in the hopes that we could turn out a few before the night was over, but.......

the guys were anxious to put up a little drywall - so that's what we did. I had coved the two corners in the back of the alcove extension and we worked on the one wall.

Pauls is heading up the end on a piece of drywall that will go between the exisiting wall and a new section.

Checking the fit at the top where it meets the ceiling.

Keith checks the spacing at the top for the next filler piece

Paul handles the 1" screws into the studs. Since the studs were only 1" x 4"s we had to use the short screws.

Keith measures for the stud centers for mid panel screws.

Steve functioned as the measure man/ gopher / cleanup / grip for the guys and looks on here as more screws are added. In this picture you can see the coved (curved) hardboard corner in front of Paul

Keeping things straight for the screw line.

Here you can get a better view of alcove and the two coved corners. It was decided that the track and benchwork in the foreground will be detached, turned up on end and and hopefully walked out of the doorway to the right of Steve. Once the doorway is closed up, the alcove finished, new benchwork installed, and track added, then the removed benchwork and track can be reattached outside of the room to provide the temporary return loop.

After the drywall work we decided to solve the world's problems with having some drinks and munchies. It was a early night with everybody leaving around 10pm.

Keith's work session 6-18-10

Many thanks to Bob for taking all of these pictures. Tonight was more scenery work, and we divided into 2 man crews to "get-r-done" Summary: there was a bunch of us, and a number of visitors and we had a bunch of fun! Thanks, Keith for letting us play with your railroad!

Mark & Steve worked on the tunnel area forming the foam.

Bob couldn't resist taking some pictures of this wonderful layout

Father & Son team also working on foam scenery in a different area.

The gang discussing things, including sightings of the very rare Scott P.

One word - WOW!

Keith giving us his input and support.

Steve cuts & Mark glues.

Beautiful!

One of our guests - Bobs neighbor - the future of model railroading!

Steve making sure it's done right!

If looks could kill........

Ken & Rick doing plaster cloth work while mark gives helpful suggestions.

We all took some time to admire the layout, and even got to run some trains!

Friday Night 6/4/2010 at Paul's (and Bob's)

So, last night proved rather eventful...

I had been napping for a few minutes, getting ready for a productive night at Keith's, but Donna let me sleep until almost 6:30. So I rushed on out there, getting on the freeway around 20 to 7, at which time I realized I'd left my cell phone on the dresser. I got to Keith's around 10 minutes after 7, and it didn't look good - no cars in the driveway, the basement door was locked, and (insert face palm here) Keith had told us last Friday that he'd be in Flagstaff this week! With no cell phone to call around, I returned home, figuring someone would know something when I got there. And sure enough, Bob and Mark had called a couple times, and Donna had talked with them. I talked with Bob, and some of the guys had gone to his house to paint backdrops, but several were willing to trek down to Duluth to help me out. "Come ahead on," I told them. Bob, Mark, Steve, and Ken showed up around 8:20 or so, and we got right to work.

I had made a cardboard template for the next length of helix roadbed, and Bob, Ken, and Mark marked out where the template would be cut to transfer the lines to my last sheet of plywood. While they worked on that, Steve worked on installing a sliding drawer in the first corner of the lower deck benchwork to mount the Zephyr. And that's what we did. Mark and Bob concentrated on the plywood, and Ken and Steve worked on the slider. I had also installed another section of Masonite around the curved wall of the helix (I decided to call the thing the Roundhouse, because it feels like being in one now), and Bob and Mark trimmed the top edge to conform to the slope of the roadbed climbing up the helix. Steve left early, about 11:40, and Ken, Bob, and mark toughed it out until midnight.

For an impromptu session, we did great work and accomplished several important objectives. This morning, I wired in the Zephyr in its new location, and it works! Today will be clean-up, and next week I'll concentrate on wiring up the Loconet and mounting some UP-5s to plug throttles into, and powering my UR-91 for radio throttles so at least 3 people can operate trains simultaneously. I'll be able to stage a train on the helix (since it doesn't go anywhere, yet), and have trains in both loops and the passing siding.

Keith, thanks for swapping with me!

Paul

Friday night work session at Bob's - Click on pictures for larger views

Layout work session on ONR Ramore Sub - May 14, 2010

Another great group night on the Ramore Sub with thanks to Rick, Steve, Ken and Paul.
Prior to heading to the layout room the guys critiqued the six model and prototype photos I will be submitting at next weekend’s SER Convention photo contest in Bessemer. I appreciated the feedback from the guys highlighting some things that I did not even notice. These will help me improve my photo learning skills. One of the color model photos is of Rick’s L&N over his scratch built trestle with his beautifully sceniqued mountains in the background. Wouldn’t it be nice if it placed in the contest?

We then headed upstairs to the layout room. Steve migrated to Englehart yard and hand laid the frog assembly and points assembly to complete another turnout in the yard. With his fine tuning it ran very well! Good work Steve!
Paul also took to hand laying rail in another ladder of Englehart yard. His work was very precise because the roller gauges ran by themselves on the straight section.

Steve and Paul hand laying track in Englehart yard

Paul also soldered some of the gap joints of nickel silver rail and brass screws solder assemblies for my future layout dismantling feature.
So Paul, are you going to hand lay some track on your layout now? How about doing a turnout next time? I have 5 more turnouts to go and I am all done with track laying.

Steve’s #6 turnout completed

Scenery continues to progress, but it seems only when I have my NCI night. Thanks NCI!
My problem is deciding what scenery materials to use to obtain a desired affect and secondly learning the application techniques. Rick is very good at this and got us immediately on the right track.

We focused on continuing to add some detail along the SWA Junction main line & passing track. With Rick and Ken’s input and examining prototype site photos we were able to determine what to do.

First was grass using Rick’s home made “Grass-O-Matic Turbo 5000” static grass applicator. We used both the standard 2mm long Woodland Scenics static grass that I had and some of Rick’s Scenic Express 6 mm long wild static grass. The 6mm long grass makes such a difference combined with the short. I will get some.

Rick charging the grass with his home made Grass-0-Matic Turbo 5000.

Close-up of Rick’s Grass-0-Matic Turbo in action. The nail is the electrical ground.

After the grass was installed we made a variety small bushes with black polyester fiber fill, white glue and a mix of 3 parts medium green coarse turf and 1 part blended turf earth blend.

Sticky fingers Rick making the small bushes. Note the variety of colors.

Ken & Rick installing a low variety of bushes along the SWA Junction passing track

Here is the outcome of long and short grass and the variety of bushes. Nice!

Bob then got the scenery bug and with Ken’s help and ideas installed some rock outcroppings so we can finish the scenery up to the fascia.

Wow, a big bottle of glue and small rocks. That is happiness!

Ken and I then went to the Boston Creek mine site where the abandoned mine will be installed. Ken had a great perception as to where the road should be located and reminded me of the abandoned and partially buried track could be located. We drew this out and glued the mine pad and road extension in place.

Site of the abandoned Boston Creek mine and the ballast stock pile just behind it..

Here is a photo of the abandoned Boston Creek mine shaft that is still a “box of sticks kit”.

We missed Scott last night who was hoping to take some time to come over but when I opened my emails after everyone had left realized why he did not come. He completed an excellent 5 part Power Point presentation with voice, for next weekend’s SER convention in Bessemer.

Friday Night Work Session at Wade's Layout

This past Friday night was a special night as we were at Wade's home to work on his layout.
In attendance were:

Coalfinger Ken
Glue Bob
Band Camp Mark
Steve-bay
Packrat Paul
Concrete Keith
Popsicle Rick

Wade's work goals for the night included: running buss wires, putting down cork roadbed, and installing track.

Keith & Mark are installing turnouts and track while Wade is deciding on track location.


Ken, Paul & Wade are discussing all of the fine points of layout design.

Bob was a little out of his element (glue) as both the cork and track are being installed using track nails - no glue! Here he's figuring the radius on the curves, which had to be reduced from the desired 30" to 29" to fit the layout.

Steve couldn't figure out why he was having trouble drilling holes for the buss wiring until we told he that the sharp drill bit thingy was to go against the wood! ;-) Both Steve and Rick made short work of drilling two seperate holes ( one for buss, one for control) through each of the 2" x 4" boards and then stringing the buss wire.

And now let us pray............. acutally, Mark is thinking about the cork in a turnout area.

The Wade Brothers are confiring with Ken on some serious matter of some kind.

Paul took a turn with the rest of us in the VERY comfortable Crew Lounge enjoying refreshments and watching some interesting railroad videos. Comfortable settings, cookies, drinks & trains - now that's living!

It was wonderful being at Wades and seeing his layout & room. He's making great progress and perhaps will be the location for a near future operating session!

Playing with REAL train

Gentlemen,

Model railroading is great - but it's not the real thing. As most of you know, I'm a volunteer on the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad. As a Car Host I assist people on & off the train, make sure the safety rules are followed, and chat with the riders. It's a great time, and being on a real train really helps me enjoy model railroading even more. I'd suggest that all you guys try & ride a real train from time to time - it's a blast! Check out this little video of the ride.

God Bless,
Rick

Friday night at Keith's 4-16-10

It was scenery night at Keith's house: In attendance were:
Coalfinger Ken
Packrat Paul
Steve-bay
Popsicle Rick
Concrete Keith (of course)
and drop by guest Gator Perry

Here Paul & Ken scope out the job of installing foam board for the base of scenery.


Keith shows how it's done while Ken & Steve look on.


If you ever wondered what the top of Paul's head looked like...... He's doing the tough work of getting under the layout to mark the foam pieces for cutting. We had a good system going with Paul & Ken doing the measuring fitting while I did the cutting. My pocket knife came in very handy!

Safety first - never cut towards yourself (unless you just have to!)

Scott showed up briefly to say hi and chew the fat. Being a new Daddy is time consuming!

The whole gang is putting the moves on and making good progress.

The guys keep a close eye on things to make sure that they are being done correctly.

We took a nice long break to see Keith's improvements on his control software, look at a few engines, and take in some needed calories. It was a great time and we accomplished a good amount.