On our trip this winter, we spent a day in Galveston, TX. Galveston was seriously hurt by Hurricane Ike last fall. The railroad museum was flooded to the level of 12 feet or more (pictures in Trains, recently) and rolling stock was seriously damaged.
Galveston has a tourist "trolley" operation. There is a lot of in-street track and a car shed near the railroad museum. There is no overhead, so I suspect they run by gas. The pictures I saw looked a bit like the new red cars in New Orleans. I didn't go up to the shed and I didn't see any running.
So can anyone give and current details of how the system is making out?

Hey guys, i just finished off another structure this evening. I built it using 2 Walthers kits, a Red Wing Flour Mill kit and a Centennial Mills kit. I labeled this massive mill for Gold Medal Flour. The overall dimensions measure roughly 30" long 7-1/2" wide x 11" tall

Here is some pics of it:



















If anyone is interested in purchasing this structure, here is the link to it on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...0203732972


Comments, questions.... welcome

Is anyone here familiar with the workings of a tortoise switch machine coupled to a Wabbit stationary decoder?

I am batting out of my league here and need some serious help please.

I have wired ( as per wabbit instruction booklet) some electro frog turnouts to enable auto throw to work.
The frog is isolated and is powered by the tortoise using connections 4 & 5.
Everything seemed to be going according to plan until I acquired a new loco whose pickup wheels all fitted neatly in the isolated frog area as it went thru the turnout.
As it did so, it stalled.
After much I found that the voltage across the frog went from 15v - 16v to about 2v as the all wheels made contact, hence the stall.
The other locos etc obviously had pick up wheels longer than the isolated frog and so did not stall, however the frog's voltage still dropped to 2 v as each set of pickup wheels of the trains passed over.

What have I done to cause this problemo.

If it is any help ( and not adding more confusion ).... When the train is stalled on the turnout if I give the isolated trigger rail a shot of DCC current by "un-isolating".... it then away we go.

Confused ?

I would certainly improve my sanity if someone could take the time to think this thru and come up with an answer for me please.


Jack

Post all your scale model entries for this contest here. Remember, please show what scale your pictures are of.

Please post all your full-scale entries in this thread.

Yep, it's that time of the year again that folks are moving around, taking vacations and just going places that they wouldn't go to this past winter. Smart folks will take the train whether it be on an excursion trip or just to get where they're going. With that in mind, our new contest is going to be about passengers. We will have two contests and each person can enter either or both. They will both be about passenger trains. New trains, old trains, train depots, grand stations or just about anything to do with passenger service on the railroad. The first contest will be for the full-scale world, the second, naturally, is about the scale world.

Here are the meager rules, just to keep everyone on the same track:

1. The theme of these contest is passenger service on the railroad.
   
2. There are two categories, one for the full-scale world and one for the modeler's world. There are two threads started, one for each contest.
   
3. Each entrant can post up to five pictures in each category. These pictures can be of different views of the same subject or up to five different subjects.
   
4. Each person will be judged on their overall entries in each category.
   
5. We will have two voting polls at the end of the contest, one for each category. Certificates will be awarded for the winners.
   
6. Each picture must have been taken by the person entering it.
   
7. The model category can be from any layout, just as long as you are the one taking the picture.
   
8. In the model category, we do ask that we be told in the post, what the scale of the picture is, since this is a mixed scale contest.

Guys,

With the FT.Wayne connector schedule to start June first,is there any interest in a weekly report with some pictures?

If so,I will start a topic and use it as a continuing topic.

I have just read that Sylvan Scale Models has pushed a Great Lakes Ore Boat made exclusively for Walthers is due June 1st, 2009!! The boat measures 36" long (258' scale feet) and 6" wide!! It is designed for use with the Walthers Hulett Ore Unloader and Ore Dock kits. If a longer ship is desired, one can also purchase a add-on kit that includes a hull and deck section that can be added to the center of the ship to further lengthen the model. This kit is due June 15th, 2009.

The boat is not cheap, but man is it a BEAUTIFUL model!! Ill be ordering these when they come out to go with the steel series!!!

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/696-10501

Check it out!!!

Caught these pictures as CNR 1337 exited the tunnel and rolled along the northern Lake Superior shore at Jackfish Bay.

Bachmann Spectrum 10-wheeler, lettered as Canadian National Railways #1337
[album]1061[/album]

Flat with scratchbuilt lumber load
[album]1062[/album]

Stewart Hobbies 55-ton hopper with aquarium gravel "coal" load
[album]1063[/album]

Athearn flat with Walthers tractors
[album]1064[/album]

Proto2000 8,000 gallon tanker lettered for Shell Oil
[album]1065[/album]

Accurail outside braced box car
[album]1066[/album]

Reefer in CNR's 1933 experimental aluminum paint. Was supposed to keep things cooler than the standard paint scheme - it didn't, and the paint only lasted about a year or so.
[album]1067[/album]

Another outside braced box
[album]1068[/album]

An older Athearn (?) steel sided caboose. The CNR tilted wafer on green leaf is circa WW2, so a bit of a mismatch with the rest of the train, but I liked the marker lights so picked it up from the LHS bargain table anyway...
[album]1069[/album]

Jackfish Bay is a set of two modules taking a single main line through a tunnel and across cribbed infill on the shore of Lake Superior in northern Ontario. Modelled by Jeff Hill, the modules now belong to <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.hotrak.ca">www.hotrak.ca</a><!-- w -->

Andrew

While trying to decide on roofing material for my coalhouse trestle, I wanted to see what a shake roof would look like on it. I scaled down a roof picture, made multiple copies, and loosely put them in place. Looking at the results, I could see a wooden shingle roof would look pretty nice. After posting pics on my layout thread...a notion that I was not anticipating came up: Why not use the printed material?

Here are some pics of what I'm referring to:







I have my own opinion about using the print-outs...but I would like to hear yours.

Please cast your vote in the poll

Thank you