298 Posted January 3, 2012 Author Share Posted January 3, 2012 Whilst I had the camera out this evening, I thought I'd take a few photos of the "new" 298 in primer whilst out on test to Wiley City before returning the paint shop. The original handrails and cab front windows but with additional headlights and bell moved to the roof date it to the 1940's when in black with hand painted lettering. I hope to be able to run a bit of the earlier period for the final stint at the Nottingham Show in March.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 Just to show that progress has actually been made, here's 298 in black with lettering....: I'm in two minds regarding the lettering, after trying fonts on the home PC and Laptop, authentic Railroad ones off the web, and re-scanning the Woodland Scenics Roman black dry tansfer sheet, I eventually found a good B&W image and extracted and cleaned up the numbers and lettering using Photoshop elements. They were then printed on Crafty Computer Paper's white transfer sheet, and although they seem to sit flat enough, I'm in two minds whether to varnish them, mask the numbers, then respray black over the top to hide the white edges. The aternative is to leave them for a while until I've finished the artwork for all of the other locos (someone painted the lettering in a different style on each), then have some custom decals printed from my own artwork. And I can't fit the glazing and weather the loco until I've decided.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 I've just seen the "Coming next Month" on the Continental Modeller website, the cover looks interesting....(and very yellow). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave_long Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 I've just seen the "Coming next Month" on the Continental Modeller website, the cover looks interesting....(and very yellow). Just picked up my copy of CM, layout looks good in print Andy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 A couple of new photos, can anybody guess what's different....? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 Hand-painted back-scene added? Which is rather nice by the way! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 Hand-painted back-scene added? Which is rather nice by the way! That's right, to be honest I was putting off doing the backscene for far too long, but with combined inspiration from the book mentioned in post #20 and this layout http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28839, I took the plunge and decided to replace the "road falling off the edge of the earth" effect with something else. I knew it had to be subtle, as there's nothing worse than the eye dissecting individual components away from the overall scene (I'll probably ruin everybody's exhibition experience for the next few months but don't you find that instead of looking at a view and imagining the scenery dissapearing off into the distance, you think "Peco backscene...?"), so decided in this case painting something in situ would be better than inserting a photo. I did cheat slightly by editing one photo from the layout above to make the road the same width as mine, before printing it out and trying it in place to gauge the visual effect before committing to paint. I still think it needs some work, and could do with lightening some leaf colour as the ripe apples on the trees imply it's near harvest time so the leaves would be beginning to turn. It was also interesting having to be an artist in an otherwise fairly technical hobby, as apart from trying various visual effects, have been relatively bound by what was at the real location. If I starting from scratch again, I would taper the road to slightly force perspective towards the back of the layout, and add a larger radius between the backscene and the baseboard. Now to try some clouds.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 .....and lets be quite honest - you could hardly have picked a better internet example to work from! His backscens Vanish the roads superbly - probably what I'm going to have to do when I build mine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 In preparation for a rare outing to the Nottingham Show in a fortnights time (rare for the layout, I go every year...!!), I've been trying to prepare a "car card & waybill" system to add a basic but much needed paperwork trail to show the operators aren't just moving cars round in a random way. I looked at the car card w/pocket and four-cycle waybill, but decided that even with their own simplicity, they're too complicated for the layout, so after consulting various operations forums and Reefer specialists, came up with this: car card small.doc It's probably overly-simplified for the job (and lacks a date because I couldn't decide which one to use), but gives the basic details required and shows what the car is doing. It's two sided (the other side being the full details), so pairs will be laminated in a credit card sized pouch and either hung on a bulldog clip on the layot, or held by the traincrew. I would try to explain more but to be honest, really don't have a clue about operations myself- every time I've had to operate a layout with waybills or train orders, have either made silly mistakes or completely tied the job up in knots....!! You never know, it might just make the layout a little less boring to operate... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 3, 2012 Author Share Posted March 3, 2012 This is one side of the car card (to avoid you opening the text document in the above post): Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 What you have there is a sorta, kinda equivalent of a"waybill" because it combines car information and shipment information. In a traditional car card and waybill (CC&WB) system, the car cards are one item that only has information about the car and the waybills are a second item that just has information about the shipment. When you combine them, you have the equivalent of a prototype waybill The reason they are separate in CC&WB systems is to permit the same car to carry different shipments without having to reprint the paperwork again. With CC&WB systems there are lots of variations on how the cards and waybills are arranged, depending on how the user wants to control the operation. For example I use separate car cards and waybills in order to utilize the flexibility and recycleability of the CC&WB system. I print CC&WB once and use them over and over for years, swapping out the 'waybill' portion every trip or two. You can also vary the information on the CC&WB. I don't put the "from" location because it doesn't matter to me. Some people don't include the commodity information. I include different routing information than on the sample waybill, including a blocking code. Some people have very detailed destinations, down to station, industry, track and spot. I also use very rudimetary waybills for through traffic and some specialized waybills for specific conditions ("Hold car for local Agent loading"). The beauty of the CC&WB is it can be easily customized to the user's operation. Some people use CC&WB or waybills, then have handwritten switch lists to tell the crews what to do. Several people have an "agent" that handles the CC&WB or Waybills, then the agent makes up lists and all the train crews have to go on is the lists. Very prototypical, but a lot more work. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
westerner Posted March 19, 2012 Share Posted March 19, 2012 It was good speaking to you at Nottingham and I thought the layout looked even better in the flesh than on here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 It was good speaking to you at Nottingham and I thought the layout looked even better in the flesh than on here. Good to meet you too, hope you enjoyed the show. Here are a few photos from the weekend, unfortunately I didn't bring a proper camera along and relied on my Cameraphone for pics as I didn't think I'd have the time to enjoy other layouts, so here are a few photos from others at the show: Jon Grant: 4630: Chris Gilbert, the Trackmobile 296 made a brief swap with a Genset from CTU Alaska: Another interloper, Nick brought a sound-equipped CP along for a quick run: And Black 298 made a short appearance at the end of each day when the layout was backdated to the 1940's: And finally for now, I like this one from Phil Parker as the flagman seems to be shaking his fist at the camera: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Wiley City also collected the "Riverside Railway Society" Trophy, which is awarded for excellence in modelling overhead or third/fourth rail electrical power delivery installations and recognises the pioneering effort made by members of the previous society in progression of this field, in particular the layouts "High Gill" and "Carstairs", the latter being adopted by the NMRS when the Riverside RS closed. Now I don't really do competitions, but felt I had to enter as my previous layout "Selah (Fruit Row)" had won in the past and the only other competitor looked to be a very worthy and sure-fire winner. So I was a little surprised to have won, the reason given by the impartial judge being because the Pantographs on stock on the other layout were only briefly in contact with the wire. Had they been touching, there is no doubt that it would have won, so it's something of a bittersweet and reluctant victory for me. Whilst on the subject of overhead current collection, I was in truthful model all weekend and found that answering the most commonly asked question, "Do the models pick up from the overhead" with a "No" was met by a barrage of usually uninformed complaints that the individual would certainly do things differently if it was their own layout. Now, I've never seen reliable DCC overhead only pickup that doesn't have shiney wires and excessive spring pressure that lifts the wire, and prefer to go for the visual advantage of weathered overhead and operational flexibility. However, I will conceed that wiring the overhead to one of the rails and using the trolley poles in addition to the rails might be a way of appeasing the public and adding this value with a little loss in operational flexibility. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted March 20, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 20, 2012 So we can look forward to each of those other clever so-and-sos producing a model to rival yours - but with the benefit of working OLE? Hang on - there's a pig flying past. The sort of slow-speed running that street-railways demand means the model has to have absolutely reliable pick-ups. The prospect of that with a single pole in 3.5mm is limited, I suspect. Stick to what you know works, Andy! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 So we can look forward to each of those other clever so-and-sos producing a model to rival yours - but with the benefit of working OLE? Hang on - there's a pig flying past. The sort of slow-speed running that street-railways demand means the model has to have absolutely reliable pick-ups. The prospect of that with a single pole in 3.5mm is limited, I suspect. Stick to what you know works, Andy! I must admit a couple of discussions were with serious OHLE modellers who I have alot of respect for, but I think I convinced them of my decisions. Another reason is you still have to have a flexible and very free contact area at the bottom of the pole, either through the pole swivelling against the base, or it's leg sticking through into the body against which a wiper could touch (a bit like a pickup on a rail wheel)- which means something else that could add resistance or have to be kept clean. I was pleased with the way the stock generally ran, Black 298 was a bit sticky and Car 19 needed a bit of a warm-up run which seemed odd since it has a stay alive capacitor, but on the whole 297 and 298 crept about in no more than speed step 8 or 9 of 28, and could uncouple a reefer and back-pole up the layout to the crossing, which looked impressive but would be frowned upon in real life. I've also checked the items sold on the club sales stand and realised I sold both spare copies I had of the Carstens "Traction Handbook", so there are definitely some new traction modellers out there.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Wiley City has also recently been the new home of a Turkey Vulture, migrating from the Scottish Highlands... Something I never got round to doing was placing a Vulture on Selah, as it was a bit of a common theme from other OHLE layouts such as Deepcar (I have a photo of it somewhere)... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortliner Posted March 21, 2012 Share Posted March 21, 2012 I can almost read his mind - *Patience my a$$ - I'm gonna have to kill something!* Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stadman Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Nice work, reminds me of my few trips on the Hershey Railway Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 8, 2012 Author Share Posted June 8, 2012 Nice work, reminds me of my few trips on the Hershey Railway I am tempted to try something Cuban for the next project. Or maybe have a break from overhead wires altogether... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 If you fancied narrow gauge for a change, the Guaqui Railway in Bolivia is a fascinating prototype - trams and trains on the same tracks climbing steeply from La Paz. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 I finally got a copy of the March CM and how good is it?! Wiley City looks great, somehow printed pics alway look better than on screen and I hadn't realised how simPle the layout is, there seem to be plenty of different photo ops which gives the impression of a larger layout. This, Peter Norths layout and the article on Fontainivent station, which is my favourite on the MOB, combine to make a great issue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted June 9, 2012 Share Posted June 9, 2012 Double post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 If you fancied narrow gauge for a change, the Guaqui Railway in Bolivia is a fascinating prototype - trams and trains on the same tracks climbing steeply from La Paz. I had a good trawl through those when Neil (?) posted a link on here a while back. There's plenty of inspiration to do something different, but i doubt a field trip would be welcomed by the domestic authorities... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 9, 2012 Author Share Posted June 9, 2012 I finally got a copy of the March CM and how good is it?! Wiley City looks great, somehow printed pics alway look better than on screen and I hadn't realised how simPle the layout is, there seem to be plenty of different photo ops which gives the impression of a larger layout. This, Peter Norths layout and the article on Fontainivent station, which is my favourite on the MOB, combine to make a great issue. I'm still amazed it made the cover...!! My camera's lens isn't too capable so I had to choose the angles carefully and use CombineZP software to sort the images out, especially because I hadn't yet painted the backscene. The one used on the contents page that looked like it was illuminated by the setting sun was a pure fluke, and I still haven't worked out how I managed it, although I did try to replicate the tones to match a slide from that era in a few of the shots. For the record, I worked out the article and photos took 12-15 hours to produce. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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