Mike Boucher

Uncle Pete posted this. They're using CNC to make new bolts for the crosshead guides. https://www.up.com/aboutup/community/inside_track/steam-update-05-07-2018.htm And, If I read between the lines correctly, looks like they're pushing to having it ready for the 150th anniversary of the "Golden Spike" next year. (it seems pretty thinly veiled, but they don't say it outright)

I tried to upload one of my photos (which I haven't added to this thread yet, but its coming, taking things in chronological order). I thought the combination of subject and location would make the cut. It got rejected as "blurry". They have some VERY strict criteria to get a photo published on that site. I'm not convinced I even have the camera equipment required...

Next set of photos from Horseshoe curve.... 5 units pulling a stack train upgrade. What a rumble... Horseshoe curve is a 3 track mainline. The center track can be used in either direction. As the stack train was passing, another westbound came upgrade, slowly overtaking the stack train. Once again, a completely new train-watching experience for me. A little later, this eastbound came downhill, with a UP loco in the consist. And one more westbound I have uploaded a few videos of trains on the curve on you tube...

Next layout from the show. "Nether Upton and Upper Leaside". This is a joint-effort by Dave Knight, who built Nether Upton, and Mark Stapleton, who built Upper Leaside. They joined their two layouts togeher using a 3' radius 90 degree corner to form an L shaped layout. Built to 4mm scale, P4 track. I loved this layout. I'll confess that it got my vote in the layout competition. I liked the track plans, the scenery was very well done, the 4mm models were great. I liked the "theme", small branch lines pre-WWII with small locomotives doing their daily tasks. I don't think there was anything about it I didn't like. (and hopefully none of the other exhibitors are offended ) Here's some scenes on "Upper Leaside" Note the "Platelayers" Private Owner wagon. This little Southern engine was built from an etched brass kit. Unfortunately, I don't remember the manufacturer. I think Mark did a wonderful job building and painting it. And a panoramic of the entire scene (click to zoom in, its about 6000 x 800 pixels) And "Nether Upton" And a short video of some of the operation

There's nothing as big as Springfield (assuming you're talking about Springfield, MA) But, the "100% British content" is why I drove from Boston to Toronto for the show. It was worth the all-day drive. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of your layout, but I liked what you've done. Hoping to see it again in a couple years.

I have a question about this signal. What's the point of the lower signals? It looks to me like the yellow/black signal arms are fixed to the post, and a lantern next to them. I'm trying to wrap my brain around a rationale for a signal arm which is stationary, never mind two. Can you explain this one to me?

I just uploaded a video of the Herzog train to you tube. I'm looking "out" the horseshoe, so its an uncommon view of the curve. You can really see the height differential between the two curves entering the curves. https://youtu.be/tefFRRx8Cdw Note that the there's almost a mile of track between when you first see it to when it disappears from sight...

Thanx. I just ordered all issues, plus the track plan book. I suspect I'll have the printer busy tomorrow at work.

I had never been, and I'm planning on going back next summer to bring my 13 year old Its an amazing place to watch trains.

No. The live steamers weren't running. I'm a live steamer myself, so it would have been nice to see them and chat. One thing I found amusing/interesting was that they have a lead from the live steam track up to the turntable pit, but no track on the turntable itself.

Quick return to Roweham. I uploaded a short video of trains operating. Focus isn't great, still learning the new camera. But I think what I did take captures some of the operation.

There's no easy way to get from Toronto to Horseshoe curve. But I didn't care. I drove from Toronto on Sunday night for several hours (including a 2 hour stop at Niagara Falls), and stayed at a hotel near the NY/PA border due south of Buffalo. The next morning I got up and drove for a little over 3 hours (with a couple short stops) through small rural towns on twisty-turney roads at about 45-50 mph. Not as fast as a highway, but quite a pleasant drive through beautiful countryside. Even found a few restored stations and a "mini golf" course with a RR theme and a bunch of cabooses and passenger around the property. That place also had a microbrewery set up in a converted Pennsylvania railroad express baggage car, with tables in a D&H caboose. Most people approach Horseshoe Curve coming up from Altoona, to the east. So they see it in front of them as they come up the valley. My route took me there from Gallitzin, from the west, so I came down the mountain, went thru the tunnel, and BAM, it was right in front of me. I think I prefer my route... They have an old PRR GP-7 on display. The K-4 pacific used to be here, but then they "restored" her, they replaced her with this engine. The K-4 is now in pieces, most of it is stored in a museum in Altoona. The first train was an eastbound down the hill. Shortly after, you could hear this westbound coming up the hill about 2-3 minutes before you could actually see it. Its a unit ballast train from Herzog. Quite an interesting train.. Note the cars themselves. Yes, those are solar panels on each car. I was pretty confused when I saw them, so I googled this train. I figured it was just a normal "unit train", but no, this was a lot more... These cars are made to dump the ballast remotely, controlled by Herzog employees via computer, riding in the locomotives. Each car has a GPS device and an computer controlled system to control how far to open the hopper bays. The solar panels are to maintain the charge on the batteries which provide power to that equipment. The crew can program each car to dump its load at a specific location, determined by the GPS. This puts the ballast exactly where its needed. The ballast can be reliably dumped at speeds in the 10-12 mph range (usually), but they claim it can be done at much higher speeds. And the train had a couple pushers at the end. This was the first train I had ever seen with pushers. In the end, while it was dumb luck I was there on the right day and the right time, I'm REALLY glad I got to see this train. (still need to get a video up on you tube...) More to come...

Next set of photos. As you know, Rapido was the sponsor, and BRM magazine joined in with a Micro layout built by Phil Parker to offer as a raffle prize. (yes, I bought 3 tickets, no, I didn't win) Phil's layout, Didsbury Green, looked fantastic. Well thought out, well executed, and oozed "British atmosphere" everywhere. To add to the British atmosphere, they drew attention to themselves with this storage facility. Rumor had it that it was larger on the inside, so it could hold a lot of stuff. Rapido was showing off some of its latest projects... "The Pendolino" in N scale... A few North American prototypes, the "Turbo Train" in N and a "Royal Hudson" in HO, as well as cars for the Pendolino. A GER/LNER J70 tram engine in OO. The LNER dynamometer car in OO. You can also see the top of the the GNR Stirling Single in OO. What a magnificent little model, tempted to get one as a "shelf queen" (or dare to let my 13 year old son play with it on his HO "Youth in Model Railroading" modular layout at various model train shows in and around Massachusetts) They also showed OO Gunpowder vans in development, but my photos came out "unpublishable". As for Phil's contribution... Hard to put it in words other than "inspiring" and "damn, I really wish that had come home with me". It looked both larger than it was, but not "squished together" at the same time, and the level of modelling is superb. With a lot of modelers here in the US thinking they need a basement size layout with towering scenery, seeing a layout such as this really gives a different perspective. I'm not a BRM subscriber, but I'm sorely tempted to give them a ring and purchase the issues where this construction of this layout is described. Well done, Phil. It was nice to meet you and chat for a bit.

Hi there, Just discovering this thread, and I like what I see. But, I have one comment about this track plan. The section around 2-5 seems "forced" to have interesting trackwork. The diamond formed by the 3 switches and the crossing just looks weird to me. (although I'm sure you can find several prototypes for it) I think what I would do is remove one of the tracks to the staging yard, the one on "the top". That would climinate one switch, and the track from 5 could still cross the track to 3. Something like this... Maybe play with the angle of #5 so its not as curved... Thoughts?

Hi John, I enjoyed Roweham. Nice layout, and looked like it was fun to operate. I loved the station building, great little structure. So, here's a few photos I took of that layout. I had taken some closer-up photos, but I literally purchased the camera a week before the show, so I'm still getting used to it. The depth of field isn't as good as I had hoped in "auto" mode, so I'll have to remember my tripod and use a small F-Stop when taking photos at shows. I remember talking to you folks about my Jinty, just not sure which person you were. Roweham was also my first time seeing a Minerva Pannier "in the flesh", and now I'm really looking forward to mine arriving (a 57xx riveted in "Great Western", should be shipping imminently.) And be careful, once you start playing with O scale, the gravitational force pulling you towards it can get quite strong!

Hi folks, I decided to do a bit of a road trip. I went Boston->Brampton, ON->Horseshoe Curve->Rockville Bridge->Steamtown in Scranton->Boston. Brampton was for the "Great British Train Show", which I'll cover in a different thread. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/133869-my-great-british-train-show-brampton-on-visit/ This one is for the prototype stuff... While up on Brampton, I went into Toronto for Saturday late afternoon. I wanted to see the old CN roundhouse which is preserved downtown and the exhibits around it, see Toronto's Union Station, and go up the CN tower. The roundhouse area has several preserved locomotives, rolling stock, and buildings. Here's a few "Rogers Center" in the background is where the Toronto Blue Jays play professional baseball. its a 50000 seat park. Not many major league stadiums have a steam engine sitting outside. There's also this nice diesel And a few caboose Over to Union Station, I saw the special "40th anniversary" Via Genesis unit leading a westbound out of the station. This interesting 2 car train is a shuttle between the train station and the airport After the station visit, it was over to the CN tower. The CN tower is a 1800+ foot tower right in downtown. It was originally built by the Canadian National railway in 1976. There is an observation deck at about 1100 feet up, and a higher one at 1465 feet up. I went to the observation deck level. Here's the tower itself. View of the roundhouse area from the tower View of Union Station from the tower. Next stop: Horseshoe Curve

Hi folks, As seen in a different thread on this forum, every 2 years, the folks in the "Platelayers society" in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, host the "Great British Train Show". I'm a member of the Gauge O Guild, and there's a small group of members from the Northeast US/Canada known as "USGONE". On member, Glen, has built a 7mm layout to display. I had heard from my fellow members that it was worth attending. With it being held this year, and Glen bringing his layout, this year I decided to make a bit of a road trip. Boston->Toronto->Horseshoe Curve->Boston. In this thread, I'll talk about the show. I'll eventually get another thread for the 12" = 1' scale stuff... Overall, the show was smaller than I expected (it fit in a hockey rink, 200' x 85'). Not a lot of O scale for sale but more layouts than I expected, and no N either for sale on on exhibit. Lots of HO/OO. The quality of the layouts on exhibit was fantastic, and I'm glad I made the trip. I took quite a few photos, and I'll share some here. And I know I didn't get photos of everything. Here's a panoramic of the entire show... As for layouts we'll start with the layout I came to "play with". Sorven Town. We had electrical issues, so operating was severely limited. But, we were switching around wagons with an Ixion Hudswell Clarke. Here's a view of the layout A view down the layout showing the track plan The station end... Switching in action... I've been working on a Connoisseur "Jinty", and I got it to a state were I felt I could display it. (This was actually the first time I attached the body to the chassis.) There's no motor/gearbox/pickups yet, but its close to looking like a Jinty. And, a shameless plug for my workbench thread If you want to follow along with the build, here's where it started: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/18405-bouchs-workbench-7mm-jinty/?p=2634050 More to come...

Might be this? https://www.nbcdfw.com/traffic/stories/Derailed-Freight-Train-Closes-Major-Fort-Worth-Street-481469971.html http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/05/02/train-derailment-north-fort-worth-clean-up/

Thanks for the info. I suspect I'm towards the end of the list, as my initial order was for DC, but about a month ago I "upgraded" the order to DCC/Sound. I'm more than willing to wait.

Cool. What is the estimate for when the DCC/Sound locos are ready to ship? Mike

B&O railroad + curved arch bridge strongly suggests it was taken on the Thomas Viaduct. Claimed to be one of the oldest railroad bridges still in use, completed in 1835. After a little google digging, I found this page: http://thomas-viaduct-relay-maryland.blogspot.com/ And if you scroll most of the way down, You'll see both the original image, and another shot of the same trains from a different angle.

Weird. When I follow the link, I get a 404. When I copy the link text and paste into my browser, I see it. But, just to be safe, I screen cap-ed the image:

I have built two 2'x2' modules (actually 30" deep, but 2' long, but its the right ballpark) Not much room for anything other than a diorama. The purpose was that my club had two members who had built modular layouts, and we wanted to combine them. Problem was that one had 3.5" track centers, the other had 4" track centers. This 2' was to convert between the track centers. There were two, one for each end, and we made a 4' straight module for the opposite side of the layout. (The modular layout was an oval) and presto, we could combine them and make the layout 4' longer. This is a simple diamond junction. The structures are removed, but there's a tower (a.k.a. - signal box) closest to the diamond, the other two are a speeder shed (closest to the track) and another storage building This is a gas station diorama. The building looks like the "40's service station" seen here: http://www.crusaderrail.com/bv-s.html (but mine is the "Flying A" version, not Mobil) It has a full interior. In O scale, 4 square feet is much better done as 4' x 1', IMHO.

Your "waiting for a good clean up" looks cleaner than mine do after I'm finished cleaning...

Is a "Signal Cabin" different than a "Signal Box" in some way, or are the two terms interchangeable?