Just in case this hasn't made the national news, there's a fire on a truss bridge in Tempe, Arizona, about 20 miles from where we live and where I went to school. The bridge had about eight spans across the Salt River which is dammed up to form the Tempe Town Lake. From what I can see, one span over land has collapsed and there's about seven cars on the ground or hanging off the tracks including three or four tank cars. None of those are burning. Five of the spans over water are burning and two or three centerbeam cars with lumber are on fire and you can see the burning lumber falling from the cars. They are dealing with the collapsed span and one other that they can fight from the ground and are waiting on a helicopter to help fight the spans over the water. This bridge is around 100 years old and has seen it's last train for sure. So far no one has said if the bridge collapsed first, or if a car fire or derailment is what started this. It is spectacular to watch and that's all that's on the local news right now.

This is Don Day bringing you the latest news from the "Eye in the Sky", (a local station's catchphrase), more news at noon....

WPMA-17 picks up several hoppers from Agway.

Bruce

   

Looking for help with Decoder Pro, with Digitrax, via Mac/IOS.  I am unable to get the Decoder Pro to work with Digitrax even though it says it its there.  When I try to intact either through the program track or on the main I get a error message for a failed to get a response from the command station.

Mac - Mac Book Pro 13 running Sierra 10.12.6

I have the latest JMRI - ver 4.20

Digitrax - DSC50  through a USB Locobuffer II.  I have the latest LBII USB drivers as well

What I missing here or doing wrong?

ratled

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Waiting to be shopped for a 92 day inspection.      Charlie

Where can I buy a roll of thin, 1/32" wide, one-sided white tape suitable for road stripes on an HO layout?  I've struck out at all the usual craft and office supply store options, as well as eBay and Amazon.

...it's been some time since there has been any progress in Dunnville, although I did recently replace the Caboose Industries ground throws with finger-operated springs and positionable switchstands.

However, after removing a pair of turnouts, which formed a crossover for industrial switching, I wanted to extend the platforms at the passenger station, and have finally started on that job.

Here's an over-all view of the extended platform from the south (the station is off-layout for cleaning)...

   

...and a view from the north  end of the platform extension, with the stairway from the subway hall that runs from the station's two-storey concourse, and under the elevated mainlines...

   

...here's a closer look at the south end of the platform extension, with the freight elevator for express and mail loading/unloading.  It's accessed by a separate passageway from the express wing of the station, and also passes under the main line...

   

...and a close-up of the passenger stairs for access to the platform that's between the two tracks...

   

There's lots more work to be done on both the original mid-track platform and the new addition, but also about 30' of mainline and industrial sidings which need ballasting and adjacent groundcover. 

Once that's done, all that's left to "finish" Dunnville will be a severely-compressed residential neighbourhood.  Hopefully, it won't take another couple of decades to accomplish, as has been the case with this station.

Work here will continue, with updates and pictures as they become available.

Wayne

Post 1 – Prologue 

After quite a bit of thinking I have come to the conclusion it is time to remake the Ridley Keystone & Mountain layout. The unreliable trackwork, along the desire to add certain scenes is the driving force for this remaking. It will mean the destruction of about 80% of the current layout. This will be the third revision.

There was no plan when the current layout was begun. It was meant to house dioramas such as the Water Tower, Inland Cement Company, and the passenger station not for running. At the time I was more interested in taking photos than running trains. I never expected to be able to run them with any consistency. That changed when my son got involved. He and a friend got things running. Not long afterward I discovered videoing.

Then came to long time of no modeling. Things accumulated on the layout. The closet the rolling stock was stored in rusted at the bottom and collapsed. We had the water damage to the house and luckily no damage to the layout. It had to covered during the repairs.

A couple years later retirement comes and I again at the urging and prodding of the kids get involved in modeling. First, I have to reorganize and store the rolling stock. I get some storage bins and sort the cars. I also begin working on weathering and building more cars. I acquire some new locos at this time.

Again, I think I will never get the trains running again. Once more my son comes to rescue one night and gets things rolling. Him and I discuss the current layout, and both agree something needs to be done. After several conversations we decide the best course of action is pretty much starting over.

What I am hoping to accomplish is something that incorporates some of the dioramas from the current layout. Both my son and I want some type of urban scene. I would also like to add something representing South Jersey for the PRSL equipment. I want to make sure the anthracite region is represented.

From our brainstorming we have think a simple oval type design will work. There will be some double track sections. Of course, industrial sidings will be part of it. We will use backdrops to section off the scenes. There is room to lengthen the layout by at least other eight to ten feet so that will happen. We want either 22 inch or 24 inch curves on the “mainline.”

To get things started as you can see in the following photos the current chaos has to be cleared off. I will need to store the locomotives either in the boxes they came in or something else. Any with added detail parts will most likely need new storage boxes. The Proto 2000 and Stewart locomotives come with shell and body separate so they will need new boxes. There is some rolling stock that either do not fit in their boxes or never had any so they will need some.

Here is a short photo tour of the current mess.



The tunnel and hill be going.


Not sure about this tunnel portal. The hunting cabin will be saved in some way.


The grain elevator will be saved. The mountain will not.


The station will be saved. Not sure about the bridges or creek. I used Woodland Scenics water that you pour, and it has not held up well.




Inland Cement Company will be saved. This is where the layout can be extended to the right in the photo.


This is the corner from Hell. Everything seems to accumulate on this spot.


The Water Tower diorama will be part of the new layout. This diorama is the only one not permanently attached to the current layout.


The farmhouse and barn (buried under the boxes and felt) will be saved.


Each of the scenes other than the Water Tower will have to be cut out from the current layout. All the scenes need some tender loving care. Trees have fallen out, foliage is loose. Ballast needs to be replaced.

I hope to be starting the cleaning up stage next week. Wish me luck.

An employee of Oisin Sand has pushed several loaded cars into the clear for pickup by Conrail.

Bruce

   

was looking through some old MR's and got me to thinking what ever happened to all the wooden railroad items he carved ?

I've been on a bit of a freight car building blitz over the past month or so:



So far I've built a Tichy USRA hopper, A tichy Reefer and a Kaslo shops/Sylvan 1929 Canadian national single sheathed boxcar. I already built the same hopper and reefer and the boxcar project got away from me before I thought of posting a complete build on it. 
I'm also building a number of cars at the same time because they will all be painted in the same Freight car light brown 






As is typical with a Sylvan model, the side walls were considerably warped. I ended up epoxying athearn weights to the sides in an attempt to straighten them. I also used some industrial adhesive from work  to glue the walls and roof together. 
Speaking of that, I also found that the roof was about 1/16" too long so I had to shorten it to make it fit. 
   



I decided to slightly modernize the car By using steel doors and adding AB brakes.

 



Not perfect, but passable.