Mike Boucher

Is it just me, a "glitch" of the video, or is that tunnel mouth asymmetric?

Looks great, but did you paint over the headlights?

Danbury, CT. https://goo.gl/maps/fpwZ61Y8Pn12 There's a reversing loop, TWO stations ("vintage" and "working" for Metro North trains to NYC), a turntable inside the reversing loop, storage tracks for Metro North trains, and a railroad museum... A whole bunch of "not prototype" stuff packed into an area you could model on a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

Not the US, but here's a photo I took of a DMU leaving Bath station. Taken early July 1993.

Nope. The Mythbusters have tried it, several times... http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/mythbusters-the-search/mythbusters-the-search-myth-database/myth-database-painting-a-room-with-explosives/ If you look online, I'm sure you can find videos of the entire episode. One of their "test cases" has slow motion video of a cloud of multi-colored paint, which is quite spectacular...

I have to admit, I thought that one of the things you could do with L girder was use "warped" wood to construct the L's. You can't use complete crap wood, but reasonably clear wood, even if there's a warp to it, can work fine. Unless the lumber is truly shaped like a pretzel, putting the two pieces together to form the L **carefully** would effectively eliminate any warping in both, giving you a straight L piece. And that L piece is also resistant to sagging between supports. (L girder is pretty common over here in the States, developed by Linn Wescott over 50 years ago). I agree that the 90 is important, a friend bought a small jointer, specifically to make sure the edges were flat and 90 degrees to the face, when he built the benchwork on his large N scale layout (the mainline is 140 feet long...)

FYI - Rich Yoder made a very nice 44 tonner in 2 rail O scale brass. Not exactly the easiest model to find for sale, but they are out there. He also made a 70 tonner which is equally nice.

True that. Conway Sceinic's "Crawford Notch" route is about 2%, so its not uncommon. But, it would explain the apparent overpowering of the train.

Fair enough. I didn't check out the prototype location.

5 days left, and already has 30 bids. Up to $310. I'm not in S scale, but I'm tempted to watch this just to see how high it goes...

My comments on this layout plan... You seem to have most of the turnouts facing the same direction. That is, you pull the train into the first switching area, and all the switches are backing moves. Once you get past the runaround, there's one facing point switch, and then another backing move. Seems to me that it would be more of a switching challenge if you put another facing point switch in there somewhere. You would either need to runaround or do the switching for those industries on the return trip. It'll also make the trackwork look less "symmetrical". I'm thinking something like these changes: - the track marked "A" would come off the line at the beginning of the curve (after the river in the "sceniced" diagram), so its a facing point. This, however, would make a relatively sharp curve to get to the industry, but that might make things interesting by limiting the size of the cars that the industry can take. I don't recall your minimum radius... - Also if you switched B and C, you would break up the "symmetricalness" of all trailing points in there. - Edit to add: The one siding at the "bottom" of the run around (just below and to the left of B) could also be turned around to a facing point. Second, you don't have a runaround at the end of the line, and that'll mean a LONG backing move to return to your runaround in the larger switching area. Could make things interesting, but also could be frustrating depending on how long of a train you're running to the end. Just a few other things for you to ponder.

This description might help explain the the power overload: "The short train hauled up the 2.2 percent grade " still overpowered, though...

On the drive back from Altoona/Harrisburg, I stopped into Steamtown in Scranton. Ate lunch, and took a few photos of the engines... Big Boy #4012 is looking like its time for some new paint. The other engines out have been painted more recently... While there, this Delaware Lacawanna freight came off the CP mainline, stopped briefly in the yard, and then continued up the track towards Moscow. An hour or so up the highway, I stopped at Port Jervis, NY. They have a restored turntable with a E unit displayed on it. There was also an RS3 and some passenger equipment parked near the turntable, for a tourist railroad which never got off the ground. And that's it. Quite a trip, 1550+ miles over 5 days and about 1100 photos. (and you should be glad I didn't post them all! ) I'm glad I got a check mark next to "Visit Horseshoe Curve" on my bucket list. Hope everyone enjoyed the photos!

Last of my photos. This time, some of the static displays. The Gauge 1 Model Railway Association was there, displaying some of their 1.75" gauge equipment. (http://www.g1mra.com/) There were a few demonstrators doing work on models. One gentleman (who's name I've lost) was demonstrating building etched brass kits. He was working on an OO scale GE passenger car from a D&S models kit. I talked to him a bit, showing him my 7mm D&S models GE horsebox, talking about building the models and trying to paint varnished teak. Here is one of the completed models he had on display. This 7 1/2" gauge live steam engine was on display. It didn't appear to be finished, as the backhead was completely unplumbed, but it looks nice. at the Platelayers table was this "OO" scale Rowland Emmett train. Yes, it has a powered chassis, and the owner ran it back and forth on a small section of track. I would love to see the loading gauge for this one And that's it for me. I closing, I would like to thank everyone involved with this show. The Platelayers did a great job organizing the show, everything seemed to run smoothly. The quality of exhibitors was fantastic. I had never seen any of the layouts (except the one I was helping with) and they were all worth seeing. Rapido and Phil from BRM deserve thanks for their sponsorship. Met a lot of new people, and have connected with a few of them here on RMWeb. This trip has given me a bit of a "modellers push", my head is filled with ideas and inspiration for projects to be done. Well done to all. Hope to see everyone in 2 years.

Next installment are photos of the last few, smaller layouts on display that I got photos of. I missed getting photos of several. Apologies to the exhibitors of those layouts. First is "Cardmore Halt", by Mike Pearson and Phil West. An OO layout based on 50-60s GWR. I'll admit when I hear "halt", I think of a small rural station, but this is quite urban. "Marmadale Wharf", by Derek Uttley. An OO layout in post-war to Modern. And the last layout I got photos of, "Crowsnest Tramway", by Craig Parry. The most "finished" display I think I've ever seen. I have furniture that isn't finished as well as this display case. Simple track plan, but exquisite workmanship. Craig also had quite a display of narrow gauge models. I found particular interest in the Neil Sayer Baldwin gas mechanical models, as I have the 7mm version in my "to do" pile. Craig had two of the 16mm versions on display. Finally (for layouts), Witzend Sidings, by Peter Hughes. An OO "inglenook" switching puzzle he would let people try. There were 8 wagons on the layout. He would shuffle cards, and pull 5. You can see the 5 cards sitting on top of the backdrop. You would then have to switch the wagons around so those 5 were on the "main" track, in the right order. I didn't get a chance to play, but it looked like great fun.

Here's another contribution from someone who isn't good enough to get their photos accepted to Railpictures... Rockville Bridge, just north of Harrisburg, PA. 3800+ feet long.

This came across the wire yesterday. http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/05/10-new-effort-will-focus-on-restoration-of-famed-pennsylvania-railroad-k4s-no-1361 This engine has been the source of a LOT of controversy, so I'm not exactly going to be waiting with baited breath, but the people involved are pretty significant people in equipment preservation here in the US. We'll see what happens. (note: I posted this link in my "Toronto/PA trip" thread, but I decided to give it its own...)

I spent the night in Harrisburg, PA, 2-3 hours east of Altoona. Just north of Harrisburg, PA is another iconic Pennsylvania Railroad structure, the Rockville Bridge. Buit in 1902, they cai its the longest stone arch railroad bridge in the world, at over 3800 feet long across the Susquehanna River. It has 48 arches! Originally built a 4 track, it now holds 2. At either end is a wye. The next morning I got there about 8:15AM, just as an eastbound crossed the track. But, the parking is on the north side of the bridge, so its a lousy photo location as you're looking at the shadow side of the trains. The best view is just south of the bridge, which right now is a railroad themed bed-and-breakfast. If you're not staying there, don't even thing about trying to take photos from the property, there are a LOT of no trespassing signs. I walked down the road about 1/4 mile further to a clear spot just off the road. This wasn't the first train I saw, but its the best "representative photo" of the bridge... The first westbound I saw turned out to be a highlight. In 2012, Norfolk Southern has painted a series of 20 locomotives in "Heritage Paint Schemes". That is, one each in a vintage paint scheme from each of the "fallen flags" which now make up NS. http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/the-norfolk-southern-story/heritage-locomotives.html They're are incredibly popular amongst railfans. There's even a web site for spotters to track where they are, what train they're on, etc, to help other railfans. That site also tracks other unique paint schemes or interesting locomotives for other railroads as well, such as the Office Car Special set of F units from my previous post, Union Pacific has some Heritage Units as well, and NS's "Operation Lifesaver" paint schemes. https://heritageunits.com/ To my luck, the first Westbound had the "Lehigh Valley" heritage unit on the lead of a stack train. Got me a new check in my spotters guide I stayed at the bridge for a few hours, catching some interesting trains. This work train came out onto the bridge, stopped, and then reversed back into the yard on the east side of the bridge. Don't know why, but there was interesting MOW equipment... I put a video up on you tube of this movement. Not the greatest video, as I didn't zoom in... An eastbound catches the morning sun. And a manifest freight starts crossing the bridge from the northern wye track. I left the bridge at about 11AM, and did a quick drive down to Enola yard a large yard with a small engine repair facility, just south of the bridge. There, I saw another Special NS paint scheme, one of the "Operation Lifesaver" units. Next report will be the last, a few quick stops on the drive home through PA and NY state

I'm the guy fiddling with the 3 link couplers on "Sorven Town" at about the 9:15 timestamp I'm FAMOUS!!! I also make a quick cameo at about 17:55, exiting the show in a green "USGONE" shirt. USGONE stands for 'US Gauge O North East", the eastern US group of Gauge O Guild members.

And, just as I were saying "Who knows if 1361 will ever get restored", this comes across the wire: http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/05/10-new-effort-will-focus-on-restoration-of-famed-pennsylvania-railroad-k4s-no-1361

After leaving the Curve, I went to the top of the grade, Gallitzin, PA. There, the PRR bored two tunnels through the top of the mountain, about 3000 feet long each. These have been enlarged to handle double stacks. One tunnel is used for eastbounds, and isn't terribly visible without trespassing on the ROW. The other tunnel is used for track 2 and 3, so you can see trains heading either direction. There is a small park next to that bore, and this nicely restored caboose is on display Just west of the tunnel, a road bridge crosses the tracks. They've nicely cut holes, about 1' high by 3' long, in the chain-link fence so railfans can take photos through the fence, so you can get some nice "head on" shots. I waited there to see a westbound exiting the tunnel. Before that happened, I saw an eastbound, so 2 trains at Gallitzin A video of the westbound train is up on you tube. You can see some of the hole in the fence in the video. After that, I went down into Altoona to visit the Railroaders Memorial Museum, and to see Juniata shops (from the public road) The museum is about life in Altoona for the railroaders themselves, rather than about the railroad. Well done museum. They have a small yard with some equipment, like a caboose, some passenger stock, some of which you can see above. They also have a very interesting, depressed center, heavy duty flat car converted to a stage. 16 axles over 4 trucks. Quite a piece of rolling stock. They also have a 5 stall roundhose (modern, as far as I could tell) with more equipment around it. Inside then have two iconic PRR locomotives. A GG1 (which admittedly needs some restoration, but its inside and safe from the elements And the K4 #1361. This is the K4 which used to sit at Horseshoe curve, and one of 2 preserved K4s (the other in Strasburg at the Railroad Museum of PA). They have the boiler and tender inside. The chassis and other parts are stored elsewhere out of public view. If/When it ever runs again is really anyone's guess. Then, over to Altoona Works (AKA - Juniata shops) At one point, this was the largest railroad shops in the world, over 200 acres and 16000 workers. The current NS shops still employ 1100 workers. There's a "fan site" out at http://www.altoonaworks.info/ if you want to know more about this place. And, I was fortunate to spot this: This is Norfolk Southern's power for their office car special. The A units are F9s, the Bs are F7s. Would love to see that train operating. It usually pulls around 12-15 passenger cars for executive trips. At this point, I needed to start heading east, so I left Altoona. "Tomorrow" is the drive home, with a couple of interesting stops...

There were quite a few people who seemed to just be picnicking. There were a few people sitting at the tables, and when a train when past they simply looked up and kept eating their lunches. I'm already thinking that I'm going to bring my 13 year old son down some weekend next summer for a camping/train watching trip. He was originally going to be with me on this trip, but events conspired and it didn't happen.

Next up, a couple reasonably large loop layouts. Ardleigh Bitton is an OO gauge layout based on BR in the 50s. "presented by William Bickley & Friends". 10' x 18' Somehow, almost all the photos I took that actually showed trains runnig thru the scenes came out with awful depth-of-field, but these should give you the idea of the quality of the layout. One corner of this layout was this lovely little arched bridge over a canal. The British Model Railway Club of Montreal brought "Allingham". A 21 1/2' x 14' OO layout, named after the last surviving WW I British veteran. Not the greatest photo, but you get a feel for the large shed area on this layout and tucked into a short siding off the turntable you see a young man peeking over a fence at an engine which needs a little TLC I originally took this photo because of the signal. Not until I got home did I notice that one track has Southern outside 3rd rail. Looking at other photos, you can also see it on one of the tracks around the entire layout. Interesting detail that I didn't notice originally (and when I watched, I didn't see any Southern electrics running).

Hi folks, I have a 3 year old N scale Bachmann LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T. I'm starting to convert my fleet to DCC, and this is high on the list to convert. I've done some google searches, but the search seems to ignore that "N", and everything I find is applicable to the HO/OO version of the same loco. (and I did a search this forum and didn't get any hits, apologies if its been covered before) I'm looking for recommendations for decoders which I can put in this engine. I haven't had it apart yet, but upon close inspection, it looks like there's a simple 6 pin "DC chip" in the cab. According to this Hattons link, there is a 6 pin in there. http://www.hattons.co.uk/95584/Graham_Farish_372_750_LN_Class_4MT_Fairburn_2_6_4_tank_2691_in_LMS_black_Pre_owned_Like_new/StockDetail.aspx I'm figuring any basic 6 pin decoder will be fine, but I'm wodering if anyone has experience with a specific decoder in this loco. Any help would be appreciated! Thanx! Mike

I'll be honest, I hadn't noticed there wasn't any greenery on any of the other photos. Everything else was catching my attention. I may be teaching granny to suck eggs here, but... (look it up if you're not familiar with that colloquialism ) The way I hold down Woodland Scenics turf like the same way I attach ballast. 1) take whatever latex paint you used to paint the "scenic base" and give it a coat 2) While still wet, sprinkle on the ground cover. Just let it sit there until everythings dry. 3) Mix up a 50:50 mix of water and "Matte Medium". 4) Take a "pump water bottle". Fill it with "wet water". That is, water out of the tap with just a drop of cheap dishwashing liquid. (this helps break surface tension). From at least a foot away, spray down onto the turf, getting it nice and wet. 5) With an eyedropper, put drops of the diluted matte medium onto the turf. It'll appear milky white as you apply it. 6) Let dry. It'll dry clear. That holds it pretty well in place, and it doesn't smell up the layout room. You may want to vaccuum up any excess, take a old pair of nylon hose, stretch it over the nozzle, and vaccuum. The hose will prevent the turf from going into the canister, so when you turn off the vac, you can save the stuff that didn't get glued down. Over here in the US, it seems like static grass application is a rarity, so I can't tell you how they'll compare. Edit to add: The other day I made a small display case for a model of mine. I used the above technique to attach the ground foam. I can hold it upside down and whack the underside with my hand, and the ground foam stays on. Here's the post describing the display: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18405-bouchs-workbench-7mm-jinty/?p=3157617