I stuck with the old Gauge for a long time. Guess I don't like change. But now it's finally changed enough that my discomfort exceeds my addiction.

So... I'm back.

Here are some awesome pix of the CNR Northern that was recently moved to the John Street Roundhouse aka Toronto Railway Heritage Centre.

It sure looks good sitting on the turntable!

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Hi All,

Join in the fun here with an N scale structure combining two kits that have been in the box for too long .... i went for WS Baxters Hardware (Corner turret building) & Kitt Transfer (Gripps luggage Mfg) to combine a retail outlet with the warehouse adjoining it the basic walls are up but making decisions on its final look.

I started wiring my layout with cab control to facilitate two trains running simultaneously. I have two controllers (DC) and all the track sections are supplied with dpdt switches, so I could isolate the sections on both sides and wire them with two wires running from each dpdt switch to the track but somewhere I remember reading, that it is enough to isolate only one track which would be connected to the dpdt switch while the other track (in all sections) would be connected to a common wire running back to the controllers. Apparently this would still work with two trains, but I figure it might have some problems which would make the fully separated sections preferable. Does anyone with experience with cab control have any opinions on this subject?

Hopefully this wasn't too confusing...

I decided that my layout could work better with a transfer table as a staging area. While there are some resources available regarding the construction of these, there still are a few things seeming a bit problematic.

The first one is powering the table or rather only the active track (in case I want to use the table for engine storage; if the table is only going to be used for cars it could as well be always fully powered which probably simplifies things). Anyways, which is a good way of getting power to the traverser? I even thought of using a piece of mrr track which could both work as the roller (instead of using a drawer slide mechanism) as well as a power source (wire the track on which the transfer table runs as if it were a part of the layout), but whether it would work adequately is the question.

The second one is whether it might be necessary to hold cars in place on the transfer table (imagining that very smoothly rolling cars might start moving while manipulating the table (currently only considering a manually moved table, not sure how difficult or necessary it would be to power the table.) Or is it enough to make sure the layout is level (which is probably a very good thing in any case.)

Attached is a sketch of the traverser - at the far end of the table there is a track which holds one engine so that it can be moved to the other end of the train for when the train is returning to the layout. Although I'm going to run steam engines, I didn't include a turntable here.

   

How many different forms of transportation can you spot?

Before i get ahead of myself and start building another electric locomotive, I should probably have the infrastructure. This means Catenary. I will try to build the standard PRR catenary i know and love.

Some of you may say "wait one moment GEC, didn't you already have catenary?" that was just an experiment, and it was the only one fully built. I've never seen anyone model a wire cross span, and there was question of its ability to hold up. I personally believe that a wire cross span can be as sturdy but also more flexible, and they are quite common in the areas i model, it is not always 100% K-braced. As we can see in the picture, a wire cross span works.

However, this was just a mock up. Notice how it doesn't have any of the insulators or other important details, and the solder joints are pretty ugly. I plan to use thinner wire and more concealed solder joints, but i think i can make something that looks good. I think Tichy Trains makes PRR Style Catenary insulators that would be perfect for this.



For reference, a K-brace PRR catenary bridge looks like this.



So, here i have my wires, my jigs, and my tools. I have plenty of old rail that looks fine as a catenary bridge. These won't be super detailed amazing catenary structures (to do so would probably cost me as much as the Model Memories kits, not to mention the pieces are harder to find), but they will be sturdy and look good enough.

Its always the headlights!

Ok, basically, all i did was change CV 117 on my Athearn Genesis SD45-2 to 20, and my headlights don't turn on. even though i keep resetting the locomotive, the lights do not come back on. Whats the story?