RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 21, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 21, 2013 Looking back through the photos, I noticed that your B23-7 set is always seen short-hood first, which is not the typical Southern use. The front of the loco is the long hood - the Atlas locos even have the little 'F' on the side below the walkway that indicates the front. It's the little things... Adrian You're quite right, Adrian - although since the photos of the B23-7s were taken I've gone back through redoing all my consists and set things up the "right" way for all the locos, using photos as a reference, so the B23-7s are now set up correctly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 You're quite right, Adrian - although since the photos of the B23-7s were taken I've gone back through redoing all my consists and set things up the "right" way for all the locos, using photos as a reference, so the B23-7s are now set up correctly. Of course even the railroads weren't consistent all the time... And some GEs just look wrong running long hood forward (the radiator flares may be part of it). With luck I will have my B23-7 modified in the next day or two (horn clusters and bells), so I'll post a photo when I'm done. Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Here is my B23-7, now with Miniatures by Eric NH15 horns at both ends and a NB14 bell on the nose. The horn clusters look like the one on a photo of 3971 that I have. They don't match the horns on 4011 but the only photos that I have of it are in NS livery, I'm calling Rule 1 on it (and the 3' rule). Adrian 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefr2 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Nothing new here but quite liked this tight shot of an FT unit:Fantastic piccie Al, really atmospheric!! k 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Just went through the entire topic. A truly inspiring layout. I've always wanted to do an American layout but all my stock is British! I must resist the urge. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted March 25, 2013 Share Posted March 25, 2013 Just went through the entire topic. A truly inspiring layout. I've always wanted to do an American layout but all my stock is British! I must resist the urge. I know the feeling.... Wish I could model all sorts of other prototypes.... In fact, I wish I could spend all my time modelling! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 25, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 25, 2013 I know the feeling.... Wish I could model all sorts of other prototypes.... In fact, I wish I could spend all my time modelling! You must choose between rock and roll and modelling, Marc - it's a hard choice but it must be done. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc smith Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 You must choose between rock and roll and modelling, Marc - it's a hard choice but it must be done. I can't choose, I can't, I just can't 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 27, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 27, 2013 I can't choose, I can't, I just can't It's the jet-set lifestyle, the easy access to groupies and hard drugs ... on the other hand, rock and roll has its attractions too. 10 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Mikkel Posted March 28, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hi Al, well in alll my narrowmindedness it seems to have taken three years before I came across this thread. I know very little about the prototype, and yet it's so obvious that this layout looks "right" as others have also commented. You have an amazing eye for capturing the look and feel of places - and very different places too, given the settings of your layouts. I liked those gators :-) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 28, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 28, 2013 Hi Al, well in alll my narrowmindedness it seems to have taken three years before I came across this thread. I know very little about the prototype, and yet it's so obvious that this layout looks "right" as others have also commented. You have an amazing eye for capturing the look and feel of places - and very different places too, given the settings of your layouts. I liked those gators :-) Thanks Mikkel - I'm not sure there's any great inspiration behind the look of the layout other than "keep it green" and avoid anything that looks "wild west". In fact if I were starting now, I would try and come up with a design that allowed for a flatter sort of geography. But, I'm happy enough with it and it is giving me a great deal of fun tempered with the odd bit of frustration! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodmayes Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 You must choose between rock and roll and modelling, Marc - it's a hard choice but it must be done. Oh I don't know. . . . . Ted 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 29, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 29, 2013 Two quickie shots showing recent progress, nothing very dramatic really, just a bit of ballasting and some greenery: Cheers! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
5050 Posted March 30, 2013 Share Posted March 30, 2013 Just had a very enjoyable 30mins or so reading through this thread. Very nice, at first I also thought it was HO until I read it wasn't! It has inspired me to write a piece about my HO layout which is a very similar size to yours. I must admit I am jealous of your ability to run long trains! Well, a lot longer than mine anyway. A layout big enough to run 100+ coal hoppers with mid train and tail end helpers is a pipe dream of mine! I like the wooded hillsides, must get on with mine! It can't really look like West Virginia without. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted March 30, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted March 30, 2013 Hi 5050 - thanks! The longest trains I can run are about 25 cars, but only if they're all 40 footers. Each of my storage roads is shorter than the last, though, so the shortest trains are about 10 cars long. Being greedy, I would also love a layout large enough to justify mid-train and helper operations. The Southern had the steepest mainline grade anywhere in the US, too - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saluda_Grade - some of the photos of freights coming down off it look like they've been Photoshopped! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Bit of a bump - if only to ask another question if I may? Regarding switching , do you use magnetic uncouplers or do so manually? I've been reading up online about this , and there seems to be variable opinions on the subject - I'd like to be abel to have "hands free" magnetic as with HO scale , but just how reliable or otherwise is this? Thanks in advance for any guidance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 (edited) A good question - I'm in HO and I have gone back to "poking it with a stick" because I seem to be unable to get couplers to behave as advertised. in a reliable manner! Edited July 4, 2013 by shortliner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted July 4, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 4, 2013 I would agree with Shortliner that the reliability just isn't "there" for 100% hands free uncoupling, especially in N. It does get better if you stick with one brand of uncoupler (I am standardising on Micro-Trains) but even then they don't always work reliably out of the box and sometimes it is very mysterious as to why one coupler behaves OK and another gives problems. Another issue is that I do need to be able to uncouple on the main occasionally, and I found that a permanent magnet gave too many problems. There are workarounds to that but in the end I accepted that some of my uncoupling would need to be done manually. All my industrial sidings, though, have magnets and when they work well ... they work well. I ordered some Rix uncoupling tools and made plastic pockets for them around the fascia: 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted July 4, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 4, 2013 It's funny, isn't it - after doing a bit of ballasting on this layout, I thought I would also do a bit on the 4mm one while I was in the right frame of mind. And four months later I've only just begun to come back to the American layout this week, after a blitz of progress on the 4mm one! For some reason when I'm in 4mm mode I sort of lose interest in N, and vice versa. Last week I revisited part of the creek scene to rejuvenate some of the scenery which had begun to look a bit tired, and then of course I had to run a few trains... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 4, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 4, 2013 On California Coast they worked fairly well but 99 percent of the stock was fitted with Microtrains couplers. When we fitted these to our Czech TT to exactly the same height they hardly work at all. Santa Barbara doesn't have any switching so there are now quite a few cars with other makes of coupling. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supaned Posted July 4, 2013 Share Posted July 4, 2013 Thanks for the replies chaps - I guess it's going to be a case of trial and error - whilst switching isn't the primary function of the layout plan, I would like to include a few spurs , if only to keep some interest from an otherwise roundy-roundy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted July 5, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2013 This was covered in Model Railroader a while back, in that the majority of US modellers swear by Kadees and MTL couplers but very few of them actually use the magnetic action as intended. One thing I do, incidentally, is drop a dab of paint on the underside of a car if it seems to be working well. It helps me diagnose which car is probably at fault if a pair don't uncouple properly later on. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold roundhouse Posted July 5, 2013 RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2013 This was covered in Model Railroader a while back, in that the majority of US modellers swear by Kadees and MTL couplers but very few of them actually use the magnetic action as intended. One thing I do, incidentally, is drop a dab of paint on the underside of a car if it seems to be working well. It helps me diagnose which car is probably at fault if a pair don't uncouple properly later on. Thats a good idea. I did set up a spreadsheet to do similar but its just too cumbersome to keep doing the amendments during a show. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanielB Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 If they don't use them as intended then how DO they use them? Would be nice to know as I'm thinking of converting to them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted July 5, 2013 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted July 5, 2013 They just treat them as a very reliable knuckle coupler, basically. If they need to uncouple, they do it on the spot using a small tool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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