298 Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 5 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 7 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted April 27, 2019 Author Share Posted April 27, 2019 For reference, this was pretty much the final design as 5' x 18". The only change was to straighten the RH lead so the last 3" is parallel to the front edge and 6" from it so it could be joined to a 12" wide module, the LH side is on a 9" offset for the same reason. The angle of the road and buildings against the baseboard took alot of faffing about in Anyrail to suit the code 83 geometry and to keep the spurs as straight as possible (where a naturally artistic modeller would have just got on and laid the track), but basically it's 11.5 degrees or 1 in 4. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wendell1976 Posted April 29, 2019 Share Posted April 29, 2019 298, you have a nice, Pacific Northwest layout. Keep up the good work! Wendell Idaho, USA 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 Some finishing touches prior to the layout's public debut next Saturday in Armitage (Staffordshire)- a fence and gates, and a spare boxcar end (that sort of looks like it's hanging in place like Han Solo when he was encased in Carbonite....). 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
long island jack Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 looking good Andy, hoping to get down for the show 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickBrad Posted June 1, 2019 Share Posted June 1, 2019 This looks really great, kind of regretting my choice of going for a countryside/edge of town setting for my Inglenook after seeing this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 1, 2019 Author Share Posted June 1, 2019 4 hours ago, NickBrad said: This looks really great, kind of regretting my choice of going for a countryside/edge of town setting for my Inglenook after seeing this. I know what would be quicker to build. You could always develop it, as a real town would have grown. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 6, 2019 Author Share Posted June 6, 2019 Inspired by a photo from Lance about the use of Smartphones, I thought I'd post a few from the last night of switching before the layout is packed up tomorrow (and I finally get through the list of jobs) ready for exhibiting at the Small layout Showcase in Armitage on Saturday. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 (edited) Probably lit to the extreme but these are examples of Orange light Vs the more favoured theatrical Blue using the RGB strip. In other news Blue Heron is now in place in the Study area where Wiley City had been, the latter going into storage down in the Car-hole until it's fate is decided. Edited June 21, 2019 by 298 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Having jumped to the challenge of updating this thread, Blue Heron will be appearing at the Nottingham show on March 14th/15th, Didcot "Globalrail in May, and the NMRA convention in Derby in October. Minor details such as utility poles and wildlife(!) are slowly being added, along with a ridiculous number of lighting projects. It also has an unproven party trick, if you've never seen a layout intentionally change height. Here are a few tasters: Edited February 23, 2020 by 298 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 (edited) Two new locos have joined the roster since the update last year, a SW1200 as Washington Central 202 (P2k with a TCS WOWsound), and an Alco 660 as Port of Longview 770 (ex Walla Walla, Atlas/no sound). Both are easily visible on Google Earth (202 is Freckles, the Interbay shop switcher), and 770 is at Longview. The Pacer has been delivered to the wrong Vancouver, and is being transferred north.... Edited February 23, 2020 by 298 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 9 hours ago, 298 said: It also has an unproven party trick, if you've never seen a layout intentionally change height. Someone's been looking at those novelty office desks in Ikea. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 10 hours ago, 298 said: Even at the "wrong" scale, that pacer still looks quite small compared to the US stuff! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 56 minutes ago, F-UnitMad said: Someone's been looking at those novelty office desks in Ikea. I did consider one but wasn't sure how it could break down for transport, and I never found a secondhand one at a good price in my area. Then I saw these on eBay ( https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223009300245 ) with the advantage that it's on wheels, and much to my family's annoyance the layout kept appearing in random places on the ground floor of our house.... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted March 19, 2020 Author Share Posted March 19, 2020 The run up to the Nottingham show last weekend saw a number of improvements implemented, and the show itself went very well with lots of positive comments. Due to the current health outbreak I didn't really enforce making the public operate, but a few friends did and the layout still proved that operating a five car inglenook isn't always easy. The next planned show in Didcot in may has obviously been cancelled, so the next booked outing in 2020 is the NMRA convention in Derby in October. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted May 13, 2022 Author Share Posted May 13, 2022 (edited) I have had it confirmed that Blue Heron will be in the June edition of Continental Modeller, in support of it's appearance at the Globalrail show in Didcot on the 18th June. The magazine looks quite good for US content with a couple of On30 articles and Bob Phelps' obituary. I think I'm being a bit over optimistic in hoping the images will appear, so will upload some more in the next few days... Edited May 13, 2022 by 298 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted May 15, 2022 Author Share Posted May 15, 2022 7 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted May 15, 2022 Author Share Posted May 15, 2022 9 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted May 20, 2022 Author Share Posted May 20, 2022 Some photos of the silly side project to fit lights to the Sounder F59PHI that occasionally makes an appearance. This all got very out of hand and the current spec includes interior lighting in three Bombardier commuter cars, the miniature SIL plug/sockets proved difficult to connect so I'm currently trialling my own design of 3d printed magnetic couplings. 5 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allegheny1600 Posted May 20, 2022 Share Posted May 20, 2022 Wow! Neat, unobtrusive and nice looking couplings that look reminiscent of modern unit couplings AND current carrying! I wish you every success with them, personally and possibly commercially? Cheers, John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted April 13, 2023 Author Share Posted April 13, 2023 I've been carrying out a few repairs (& improvements) prior to Blue Heron's appearance at the Nottingham Model Railway Society's spring show in Hucknall this coming weekend. There is litter on the unloading spur, dates on the theater marquee that was looking a bit empty otherwise, a background soundtrack of rain and traffic, and a large hole in the roof of one of the warehouses for a basic smoke emitter to try to give a misty sky... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prof Klyzlr Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Dear "Oregon City"/"Blue Heron"/SW1500 fans, Geez, it's been a while since we've been around this honeypot ain't it? A question for those who are "UK exhibition minded" and get where such a weird question might come from. Given: - a Subaru Outback transport vehicle - Nominal 4' x 1' modules x3 (plus maybe some "return staging loop subterfuge backstage" - HO scale What say ye about the "scenic composition critical-ness" of the UP LA<>Seattle Mainline, running North/South along the Willamette River ledge above/behind the Blue Herron Papermill? I mean, it would be spacially easier to make Blue Heron as a "proto-nook" hard up against the rock face (the UP main "omitted", scenic space saved and backstage gubbins complexity avoided... ...all be it with no obvious way for the UP SW1500s to subsequently "get to Hito, then race home to Albina"...), but mockups look weird, against comparison with the excellent images by Kyle Wiseman-Yee, without the concrete rail overpass just outside the Papermill site.... (and the exhibition-key opportunity to integrate some "constant moving-scenery mainline/UP/BNSF/Sounder/AmTrak running" as an adjunct to the SW1500s switching the Mill'). Wisdom from the faithful (RIP Shortliner Jack) greatly appreciated! Happy Modelling, Aim to Improve, Prof Klyzlr 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted February 20 Author Share Posted February 20 @Prof Klyzlr asked me this earlier on my FB group, I've answered and have been mulling it over all day. Personally I like the idea of including the main and having it run automatically at a show whilst switching the mill, but that would require a large fiddle yard to support it. For further context, this is the mill looking west(ish) with the main line shown in blue and a rough representation of the mill track layout in red. The problem to faithfully replicating it is the sharp curves onto 4th St that will obviously require more depth than the foot wide boards (and more space means more buildings. Thinking about the aesthetics, I've seen plenty of freelanced layouts that look right, and plenty of ones that slavishly follow a prototype but somehow look wrong. I tried to do the former with my interpretation of Blue Heron because there were other elements I wanted to include, and in terms of the Prof's concept it is still possible to build just the mill and add the main later... 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
298 Posted April 6 Author Share Posted April 6 (edited) Day 1 of the South Notts show, TBH I wasn't exactly looking forward to it but the organisers remembered the brief and put the layout to the side of the stage in a darkens room. This seemed to make a massive difference to how the layout was perceived and there were lots of favourable comments and no failures that weren't caused by operator error on my part. Thanks to @doctor quinn for operating (and allowing me to go plane spotting) at lunch time, we'll be there tomorrow from 10 to 4. Edited April 6 by 298 8 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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