Rainbows in the Lehigh Valley Gorge

[TMo]

Thanks Charlie! Famous spot to take photos there with Bethlehem Steel in the background.

[TMo]

Starting to work on the industrial end of Hazleton PA.  It's stuck in a little corner of my layout, and I'm going to rely heavily on some paper models I'm getting from Clever Models.  I also have to find a good way of hiding the entry to my storage area.  Right now it's a cutout in the backdrop, which you can see in the photo behind the C424.  I was going to try to hide it around some buildings, but I'm not having much luck finding the right combination. Still early.

   

[UP SD40-2]

Those card stock buildings really do look great, Todd  . You'll have that area in shape in no time

[tompm]

I agree with Deano. I am really liking those buildings.

[TMo]

Closeup shots really look great, but they can often show glaring problems - got cobwebs on the front of that locomotive!

[Charlie B]

Closeup shots really look great, but they can often show glaring problems - got cobwebs on the front of that locomotive!

Todd, it is amazing that no matter how great a scene looks there is always some little thing that shows in a photo. Before digital these "cobwebs" etc. cost us good money for the film and processing.  
Charlie

[TMo]

Yeah, never thought about that! Buying film, having it developed, discarding about half of the photos because they were crappy. I have a couple large file boxes full of family photos no one will ever see before they get pitched.

USB cable to computer and you can edit the photos on the same machine and post them within minutes. We are spoiled! Speaking of digital cameras, I think I'm going to ask for an upgrade for Christmas. My Nikon Coolpix is an easy point and shoot, but I need to play around with something a lot better.

[TMo]

I finally got around to redoing the layout (Track view) video.  Now that I have my string of super-bright LEDs on the storage level you can actually see what's down there!  Progress has been slow this year, but we're getting into the time of the year where I can't be outside after work.  The hope would be a replacement video sometime this winter showing some major progress on the Mud Run turn and the river crossing at White Haven.

The video starts from the exit from the storage area, runs up through the Black Creek Branch from Hazleton to Penn Haven Junction, through Rockport Tunnel, out to Mud Run Curve, up to White Haven and then under I-80, over the Lehigh River on the LVRR bridge there, back down to Penn Haven Junction, and then a switch in the tunnel runs you down to the storage level again.

Revised video is HERE - https://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rai...collection

[TMo]

I'd taken the shells off of my two SD45's to do some weathering - a few photos of them since have appeared on Big Blue. I'd been running them together for the past week or so without a problem when.... my Erie Lackawanna unit decided it didn't want to turn its motor. The Reading unit attached to it was grunting pretty good to even move trains at all.

Pulled the Erie unit off the rails and doublechecked my CV's for consist. Everything looked good. Took the unit out of consist and tried running it as a single. Light worked, directional lighting worked, no motor op. Based on the troubleshooting I knew I had power to the encoder, and except for motor function, all was good.

Time to take the shell off again. Checked the DCC plug, made sure the encoder was still secured and was not touching any other components. Everything hunky dory. This particular encoder has a short connecting wire harness from the plug to the encoder and there are several spare wires that go nowhere.... (anyone seeing where this is going?)

Found the problem as I traced all of the extra lengths of spare wires. The spare purple wire for accessory functions got trapped between the shell and the cast frame. I guess it wore enough after a week of running that a sneak circuit was created. Clipped off the portion with the bare wire and secured that little rascal before putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. Just goes to show that even wires you're not using may become a problem....

[TMo]

I've been promising photos of progress on the Mud Run/Lehigh River build.  After a good bit of forethought, I've decided to work developing all of the "underwater" scenery in this area of the layout since I'll need to apply my Realistic Water under the bridge and need some space to work free of trees, shrubs, etc.  Mud Run emerges from under the bridge and runs right into a big curve in the Lehigh River.  I've decided to incorporate a good portion of the curve of the river and the banks on the east side.  I'll probably only show the east half of the river before the fascia.  If any of you have used Realistic Water, it helps to have a non-porous surface to pour the stuff on to dry.  Sculptamold on plaster cloth can be problematic and messy without a supporting surface.  So, pulled out my stock of 1/4" plywood and started fitting it together to support the river.  Once finished, the river will parallel the tracks for most of the turn.  More photos to come!

   

[tompm]

Very interested in seeing your progress with this.

[TMo]

So, here's the prototype.  Black and white and resolution stinks, but I think the idea is there.  The railroad (LV main line) runs around the curve at about 15-20 feet above the surface of the river, and the roadbed isn't far from the water's edge - steep banks up to the roadbed, and I'm guessing material was pulled off the hills above the track to build the roadbed.  Fortunately, it's pattern made for a layout with very little room to work these features in.  Right in the center of the photo is the Mud Run bridge, and Mud Run comes down from the hills to the east, turns almost 90 degrees, and empties into the Lehigh River proper.  I need to incorporate the water features of Mud Run and the Lehigh in this section of the layout.  The tracks on the west side of the river are the old Jersey Central tracks that ran up to Wilkes Barre.

   

[TMo]

Forgot to tie it in, but there is a blog entry on my webpage devoted to the construction (so far) of Mud Run and finishing the scenery in the gorge below the White Haven Railroad Bridge. It can be found.... here - https://morristhemoosetm.wixsite.com/rai...cape-begin

[doctorwayne]

Your link revealed some very nicely-done "stonework", along with some well-done background foliage, too.
I'm looking forward to watching more scenery as it develops.

Wayne

[TMo]

Thanks for the kudos, Wayne. That blog entry is a perfect example of improvement with age! The old bridge abutments were something I wanted to redo for quite some time, and while I was at it, I decided to build the Mud Run bridge, which turned out really well.

The styrofoam treatments have been something I've been playing around with for many years. Trial.... and.... Error! Hopefully, you guys can benefit from some of those techniques. The great thing about that stuff is that it's cheap and you can cut and shape it with just about anything. Sealing it though.... until I found the spackling technique I was going through a lot of aggravation as it slurped up paint and waited for more.

With Nicole coming in on Friday I think I'll have some opportunities to jump back on construction of Mud Run. Tonight, I got busy with my snowplow and never even turned the lights on back there.