Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Getting ready for 2nd Ops this Saturday

Finalizing a couple of things for the session on Saturday, assuming that the hurricane doesn't get us.

Still working on waybills. I had no idea there was so much paperwork to be done just to make operating easier.

I finished up the last bit of industrial trackage in the yard and got benchwork installed and ready for track on the last industrial spot off the mainline. Not sure if track will get done before the session or not.

Pictures will be forthcoming in the next day or so.

Did figure out that I need more power from the correct era - I've got 1 train powered by a F7A/B consist and 1 train that is going to be powered by an E6. Sigh.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Getting Ready for the next Operating Session

Been putting lots of work into the railroad, so I've let the updates slide.

Some of the backdrops have been installed; probably around 30% of what will be needed, but it is a start and does really seem to make a couple of spots brighter.

Finished putting all the RTR car onto the layout and getting car cards made for everything. Now to start on the kits that I've got that don't need any painting. Found a couple of duplicate car numbers, so the dupes have been put aside until I get my hands on an airbrush. I've entertained the idea of hiring somebody to paint the undec engines I have, but I'm not sure that's worth the $ spent when I know I'll have more airbrush based tasks in the future.

Built a couple of car card boxes; installed others.

Created paperwork (car spot diagrams and spotting instructions) for one section of railroad; I need to finish up the next couple of pieces; probably do that this weekend while we have downtime.

Finally figured out signals; it helps to 1. Actually RTFM 2. Only signal blocks from the SE8c and do turnout direction via the switches on the tortoises; this saves you time and $.

A couple of pictures for your enjoyment..

Backdrops in the yard area


Car card box; built of styrene by hand and a try square. Not bad for a second time.


Reverse (Looking North) of Acca yard. This is after I put a train in staging and moved 2 A/D tracks into the class tracks, then parked the power.


CTC Signals showing Red to enter the next block. Very neat stuff!