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Topics - bparrish

#1
Layout Tours / Small scenes tell a story
February 01, 2022, 04:32:34 PM
I'm starting a new thing that has to do with small scenes and the stories that go with them.  With that thinking........  I am starting here with a photo series that will show some street scenes around the railroad and tell a story.  Some tell themselves and I will comment on others as to how I got some stuff done.


My railroad is small enough that I cannot create any illusion of distance for my operators.  In trade for that, I have chosen to give them lots to look at while driving the trains. 



I am going to show many of these in the next days that seem to have multiple vantage points of the same subject as it is the only way to really show what is going on and tell the story.


To start with then..............

Here is a look at a drive shaft repair on a Shay locomotive.   It is a static Keystone model that got pressed into service.  There is a mix of people sitting and visiting and others who look like they are doing something that can be identified. 


These are a mix of Preiser, Weston and Woodland Scenics people.







#2
Scratchbuilding / School house build
December 13, 2021, 02:49:56 PM
So I'm at it again.    When my grand daughter was here last summer she pointed out that I had no school house on the railroad.  I promised her I would do something when they got here for Christmas.   That's when I noticed last week that I was down to about 10 days............

five alarm stupid ! ! !

So here is the start and I'll put up more in the next days.    I'm doing it with a removable roof so if I have time I'll put an interior in it.  But for now.

Here is the layout.  I do this horizontally so I can get the windows on the same clap board level and just get a notion of how it will look.  The kit manufacturers do this for you, but it's not tough.







Then here is the roof layout.  Again, I'm doing this to be removable so I cannot just build it into the wall structure.   I do stuff like this with the sticky side up and it goes really easily.   I do the rafters on 2 foot centers.  The pencil lines are just a guide to keep things square to the sheathing.
Anything hanging out later will be nipped off to fit.



Once placed on the walls I clean off the eaves to the length I want.  The nipper is a xuron that is pretty sharp but even then I swell up the crush with alcohol to get the ends back to size.





More later.

see ya

Bob
#3
Scratchbuilding / The house I grew up in
November 03, 2021, 02:49:34 PM
Gents.....
I was prompted to this today as Matt put up a great series of photos about his Ellicott structure using this brick material.


Some months ago, the editor of the NMRA magazine ran a series of stories about women in the hobby.  One lady in particular got my attention. She was scratch building the various houses that she had lived in.  it got me started on my thinking about this.  I then later discovered some brick sheet from Monster Model Works of Colorado.

I ordered some and it is just great. It's pretty fragile but I have found ways to resist cracking and breaking along the grain.

The first photo is a Google Earth photo of the house on the west side of Chicago.  Our family held this building from 1921 to 1969.


So here is the structure framed up. I used several sizes of styrene for the window sills and the windows will be Tichy Train Group material that I found pretty good matches for.  They had to be adjusted for masonry use rather than the wide facings that most of their castings use.

I am just now starting on the painting of the brick so that is an adventure.
I'll put up a photo in a day or two.
For now.....




#4
Scratchbuilding / Track cleaner
June 07, 2021, 01:14:05 PM
In preparation for my regular operators to come back and get a HUGE amount of freight delivered that has been sitting on sidings for nearly a year.......... I had to start some serious track cleaning.

I have been a part of dozens of conversations about track cleaning and methods...... some work and some don't.  I have found that the humidity in your area has a significant part in how effective some ideas really are. 


The humidity here in downtown Idaho today is 34%........ and that is high for this time of year as we had a front of coastal air blow through yesterday that shoved it up.  It will be back down in the 20's by tomorrow and should stay there until about September.

We get a lot of statics here and I had to ground my DCC system with a specific method prescribed by the manufacturer in a direct phone call some years ago.

So with all of that............ I am scratching a motor driven track cleaner that will be shoved or pulled around as regular traffic on trains and just to sweeping up sorts of stuff.  A liquid can be added to this easily.

I am using a felt pad that is available from big box stores that is a stick on that is normally used on chair legs for wood floor protection.  After that............ Its a big motor running through a NWSL gear case.  I tried a direct drive can motor facing down but the friction was too high and would overload the motor in a short time.   I can run this as a separate DCC address and just kick start it and then switch away from it and it will keep running.

So here are some of the early photos of the invention.  I made a small frame to hold the gear case and a primitive floor to hold it all.  The trucks are some traction motor trucks that I had laying around and there are wipers to each wheel so that it tries to see all wheel pickup. It is not self driven..... the motor only drives the rotary scrubber.  A loco can push or pull it around hidden in a scheduled train somewhere as a M O W car.   I am starting on a box car cover for it.










#5
Scratchbuilding / 1851 Lowell Locomotive Works build
December 10, 2020, 10:09:55 PM
So I am starting another brass locomotive build project.

It is an 1851 4-4-0 steamer built by the Lowell Locomotive Works in Massachusetts.

Here is an elevation of the loco from the period.  I'll put up more later.

see ya

Bob


#6
So I'm going after a new build as I am chained to the work bench..... What bad luck! ! ! !

I'm going to build a batch of wood box cars that fit my time era, 1897-1914, and walk you through some steps and trick shots of keeping stuff straight and square.

I got all the wood parts from Northeastern Wood Products and the plastic detail stuff and grab irons are from Tichy.  Both companies are great for turn around times on orders.

I have built so many Labelle and Central Valley cars that this  is not a big new adventure that I need comprehensive drawings.  Also I am not building this for AP judging so I am going to leave out some under floor details.

Here is a photo of the basic box that all cars start from.  The order of construction is important however.  The end scribed wood must go on first.  The sides go on later and lap over the ends as does the roof sheathing so the end is also covered.



Below is a shot of the ends being glued up to the boxes.  Nothing scientific.  I make sure that the bottom edge of the scribed panel is flush with the floor.  This assures that the scribed lines are straight up on the ends.



Here are the six raw car bodies with the ends glued on and waiting for trimming.



More later
Bob
#7
Scratchbuilding / Operating Barber Pole
May 22, 2020, 01:36:38 PM
I've had a lot of time at the bench since all of this sequestering.  I long ago had this idea of making up a barber pole.   I grew up when these things were everywhere.  We walked past them and gave little thought.

When you model 1900 era stuff there is not much opportunity to create animations on your railroad.  This project became a classic example of mission creep.  "let's see...... can I make this thing operate?"

The turning sleeve took three versions before I had one that I liked and the motor drive took on two before I got it controlled down to speed and got the motor noise out of it.

So here are some photos of the completed street scene.  I'll put up how I got there over the next days.

see ya
Bob






#8
Kit Building / 2020 build challenge Scrap yard
March 26, 2020, 10:25:24 PM
So better late than never.............

I've had a coupla threads over the winter about building various stuff, vehicles and the paper interiors but I have not gotten on officially with the 2020 build.

I found a Bar Mills Shack pack so I am building them into a scrap yard.


I started by scratching a bunch of fence in an area near the engine house and on the edge of Nampa.





Then of course mission creep sets in and I have to build an access road and a bunch of grade crossings.





More tomorrow
#9
Scratchbuilding / Paper Interiors
February 15, 2020, 01:53:41 PM
I got on a lighting and interior kick some weeks ago.  I made up a bunch of brass parts and clear plastic tubing to make street lights look like old gas lamps.  Recall that I model 1897 to 1913.

I then got carried away on interior lighting and detail stuff.  Below are photos of interiors that are small mat board cubes with paper wall details taken from the internet and Photo shopped down to size.  All of the lights are Miniatronics.  There are some counter and stool details that are built up from styrene.  The windows are microscope slide glass.  Nothing looks like glass except glass.

I've got four structures done and another on the way.  I'll take photos of the inner structure as I go along with that one.  These are very forgiving as they are really little and when  placed on your railroad the viewer cannot get real close to see that much is two dimensional. 


Here is Ritter Drugs.  This structure came off of my Oakley Street diorama when I built it for the Prototype Photo category for the NMRA achievement stuff.  Put Oakley in the home page search on this forum and it will come up.




Next is the bank.  This is done in two layers as the back wall is the vault and there is a closer paper print of the teller windows with cutouts so the vault behind can be seen.  There are two ceiling lights so that the vault print is more visible.  The camera is being held lower than the viewer would see so the light is not so noticeable when standing.




#10
Scratchbuilding / Overhead Trolley Work Motor Project
February 15, 2019, 01:44:09 AM
OK  Gents.............. I'm at it again.

Last fall I put up a photo of a sand car that I wanted to build and will in fact finish it.

But I got way-layed with this.   It is from a series of photos in 1909-10 taken on the Idaho Traction Company line here in Boise.  I cannot leave this alone.  The photos aren't the best but I'm headed back to the state archive to get photographic copies from the glass negatives rather then just photo copies of a questionable print.
This car is a overhead wire and pole car.  The cab area is narrowed at the base on each side so as to carry full length overhead wire poles.  I hesitate to call them telephone poles for obvious reasons... They aren't ! ! !

So with that ... Here are a few of the source photos of which there are four more available.





Then on to a fresh page for the initial work.
see ya
Bob
#11
Scratchbuilding / Trolley sand motor
September 11, 2018, 05:56:24 PM
Well gents..........


It's the first cool day here in downtown Idaho so it is time for a new fall / winter project.


The NMRA national is in Salt Lake this next year as it is 150 years since the completion of the trans con RR.


As with any project..... if you are going to build something for judging and contest, that decision has to be made at the outset.  It cannot be dolled up later and compete well.


I found these photos of a sand motor in a Chicago Surface Lines book and decided that I can do this ! ! !

Curiously..... there are only two photos of these cars, motor R 201 and motor R 202 and they are both taken of the same side of the car.  So I have to rather guess what the other side looks like.

The motors were built by the Chicago City Railway in 1911 and re-lettered for the Chicago Surface Lines in 1914.  Both were retired at the same time, June 18, 1953.  The winter of 1952-53 was the last winter for the trolleys.  Almost all street rail equipment was retired by 1954.   The sub frames and motors were taken from withdrawn from service equipment.  Chicago did not use four wheeled cars for passenger service for very long as it brought too many complaints from passengers as too rough riding.


The motors carried 10 cubic yards and the sand was distributed by a small fleet of these types of motors to the various car barns around the city.  The sand was used by the passenger and maintenance equipment when the rails became icy.  Like a sand blaster today, the tank was pressurized and the sand was blown into the sand bins at the various barns.  There is no record of what pressure it required but it is evident that each motor had an electric driven compressor.




I've gathered up what parts I already have in hand and started on the two motorman's shacks.  I'm building them with styrene as I have never done much with that medium.  It cuts easily and I use Tennax for a liquid glue.  It goes off really fast and does not stink up the place.



I will be using an old Tenshodo power truck that they called a Spud.  There will be space in the sand tank for a decoder.  I will be making this up to run of two rail power source so the pole will be kept down.

The side frames are really old Red Ball castings that will need to be modified.



I built the tank some years ago and I'm not sure I like it enough to use so I may build a new one that is closer to the photos.  I've had a lot of practice of using brass since I built the Falk locomotive three years ago.

Here is a close up of the start of the motormen's shacks.



More later
see ya
Bob






#12
Scratchbuilding / Remotor-ing a good friend
September 07, 2018, 01:55:56 AM
I couldn't stand it any longer. 


I scratch built this trolley box motor about 12 years ago and put a Bachmann 44 ton sub frame under it.    It was from the early version with the twin motor, three pole, mechanism.  It had the problem that if one motor woke up first it would walk the other truck off the rails.  Also it was noisy.

Version 2........... I found a later Bachmann 44 ton loco with a single motor and both end drive.  It worked better but it was SUPER growly ! ! ! !  Just take a guess of what I think of Bachmann now ? ? ? ?

Version 3 is shown below.   I modified a Bowser trolley frame down to fit the shell.

The shell was kit-bashed ....... scratch built from a Labelle baggage car.  Actually I built two of these and gave one to a trolley modeler friend.  He has since died and it was passed along to another trolley modeler here in downtown Idaho.  I think I will now need to modify his also.

I called Rick Steele at Labelle and asked for just the side base panels and a clerestory roof.  He is used to me calling for only parts of his kits.  All the rest....... ends..... are scratch built.  He is terrific and will work with anyone who might call directly.  No I don't work for the company ! ! !  About half of my rolling stock is from Labelle over a period of time that goes back to 1961.


Here is a photo of the three different power units I have used over the years.





Here is a better shot of the Bowser modification.   I put 1.5 ounces of car wheel balance weights in the roof and a quarter ounce directly on the gear case.  It will pull 12 cars on a flat with only a single truck drive.  The loco is used for shunting service in my Nampa yard and never gets very far out onto the main line.




Here are two shots of the car going through some road testing.







Below is a capture from Ricks page at Labelle Woodworking of the side panels I started with.





All of this is to offer support to anyone who wants to re-motor something for better operation.

The box motor is headed tomorrow to the paint shop.

see ya
Bob
#13
I'm on another building gig.

My wife is all over me, and has been for years to get lights into structures. I have street lights, and many structures are already lighted.

But I found a really easy way to light structures and keep the costs down.  For the quantity I need incandescent bulbs start to add up.  It's really not about the cost because I am not going to the poor house any time soon.

I talked to the lighting guru at the Columbia Gorge Railroad last June at the Northwest regional meet.  He put me on to mini LED strings that are readily available and super cheap.

So I will first identify the products used.

The light strings are available in the garden section of many large chain stores.  In the north west we have a place called Fred Meyer........ It is owned by Kroger for you boys in the east.   There are 60 soft white LEDs on each string for about 9 bux a string.   They run on a little battery pack provided but I wasted no time to snip that thing off.

They operate on 3 volts so I had an idea for such a voltage source.  I purchased a batch of voltage regulators from All Electronics long ago that have been sitting on the shelf for just this occasion.  Although the ones I am using and shown here are not on the page............  Here is a link for a suitable replacement. 

https://www.allelectronics.com/item/dcc-3/special-purchase-price-reduced-step-down-regulator/1.html


It takes 4 -40 volts input and the output is 1.21 - 37 volts at 1.2 amps continuous. Price 7.50.

https://www.allelectronics.com/item/dcc-3/special-purchase-price-reduced-step-down-regulator/1.html


Next is the data on the light strings.   They are strings of 60 LEDs that can be cut down to one or a few more depending on how many lights you want in a given structure.  It comes with a battery pack that I will not use for this discussion.  They come either with green lacquer insulation or a semi clear.  I chose the green as I can see where I have been and what has been cleared off for soldering.

Here is all of the labeling.
https://www.fredmeyer.com/p/hd-designs-outdoors-20-foot-led-light-string-with-timer/0004122691183




More in a while




#14
So I might have come up with something here.


As you all know...  I run a lot of old small brass locos. None have a lot of weight and although my track work is pretty good.... pilot trucks are a real frustration when switching and operating.  They can run all day when no one else is around; but just put a bunch of operators on a session and gravity really ramps up towards the ties.


Most manufacturers simply put some weight out there and call it good.  A few, like Fujiama, actually put a down loading spring wire on some of their locos.  The problem is that we are pushing these things and they really don't want to go there so they are looking for some alternative and none of them are good.So I've been experimenting with a spring device that it essentially neutral side to side but will load the wheels down.  It does tend to pull back to center but it doesn't have much strength in that direction, only down.



Further, I made it adjustable from the rear as each locomotive will need to be individually set for best tension.The whole thing still needs to be cleaned up but....

What makes this work is the location of the pull wire on the pilot truck mounting.  Coming off the side near the center line of the mounting screw renders it neutral. 

The springs are from Cal Scale trolley poles. I've got a ton of them sitting around doing nothing so that was the starting point.


Another cool thing with this is that the wires look from the side like brake rigging.

In just pushing the frame through my more troublesome turnouts, it seems to want to stay on. But then again there is now crowd witnessing this.


If this works I have about five more locos that will need this.  The first one took about two hours and three different tries on the wire on the pilot for best shape.


Waddaya think ? ? ?see ya

Bob



#15
So I have run out of everything else to do.  The trolley projects are all done and aside from a gauging deal in the Nampa yard.......... most stuff is running pretty well.

I finished my MMR about seven years ago and have added motive power to the original seven certificates about three years ago.

So I'm on to another.  The category is prototype modeling and it is an interesting one as you are recreating a scene that has some distinct criteria.  I have a few "friends" here in downtown Idaho who think that one MMR is enough but they obviously have not heard of oak leaf clusters and like that in the military when you do something stupid more than once and get decorated for it a second or third time.  For example, I have four Viet Nam campaign stars for the one year I was there for my all expense paid vacation on the PBR boats.

So here is what I am building.  Not every photo out there is suitable but this one is and it is fun as I lived within about two miles of where this photo was taken in 1893. No I was not there when they took the photo however! !

It is at Oakley Street on the Lake Street Elevated Railroad looking north about the time of the opening of service to California Street.  Additional service was opened within a few weeks.



The loco is one of about a dozen that they originally ordered from the Rhode Island loco works the year before.  The steamers were only in service for about four years before the entire line was put to third rail 600 volts.

I am starting with a Forney loco that was imported in the mid 1960's to Chicago to resemble these pots.  It's close but needs a bunch of detail stuff.



The passenger car is a Labelle narrow gauge car that I have started by cutting it down from fourteen windows to twelve as shown.  Also there are no steps as they used platforms at all stops.  I am in the process of redoing the end sills and railings now and will put up photos of that in a short while.



So here is the starting point.  My goal is to have it ready in the spring for the local division meet and then take it to the PNR meet in Portland in June.

Wish me luck ! ! ! !

se ya
Bob
#16
Scratchbuilding / Portable Trolley Railroad
September 22, 2017, 03:51:41 PM
Afternoon all..

Recall about two weeks ago I told you of the passing of Bruce McCosh here in downtown Idaho.  About two years ago he and I built a portable trolley module in a period of about six weeks. 

About a month before Bruce died he told me that he had enough fun with it and that it was now mine.  I am getting it ready for our 3rd Division fall meet which it to be held a week from now.

The local library hosts model railroads in the conference rooms on two consecutive weekends during the winter.  We built this for that event which is held annually.

The track plan is from a Model Railroader magazine article in 1954.  We changed the plan only a small amount.  There are two modules that are each about 24" x 30" and bolted together with wing nuts. 

We built and entire Easy DCC system with radio receiver into a plastic tool box so that the power supply was equally portable.

They system runs off of the wire with common rail for ground.  The trolleys are Bowser with later drives and had to be rewired to run off of the pole.  Below is a start of what we did.









#17
Scratchbuilding / New/ Old project. NYC 4-4-0
August 19, 2017, 05:54:11 PM
So I'm setting out to reconnect myself to a project I started nearly forty years ago and set it aside as it required brass handling steps that I wasn't up to speed with at the time.  The Falk build of three years ago made all that apprehension old news.  So I'm starting again.  Originally I only got into the frame and promptly got stuck.

I put up a few photos of the pilot last week and Thom told me I should do this as a thread so as to show what it takes to scratch build something.  No telling how long this will take. 

Here is the objective.



This loco set the land speed record in 1899 and then later had smaller drivers put on it that were a bit more practical.  I'm do it as original.  This loco lasted in service for nearly 50 years and is housed today in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.  My home town so another reason for interest in this project.

When I started on this I had already committed to small steam and truss rods.  This is a very tall loco and thus has a very distinctive appearance.

With that............. here we go.

see ya
Bob
#18
Forum Contests / Model T delevery - Challenge build 2016
September 15, 2016, 01:36:43 AM
So I'm in here.........

This is a two part kit to make one vehicle.  It starts with a Jordan models 1925 Model T flat bed truck #238.

With that is the Rail And Tie company Delivery Truck Conversion kit.  It is currently off of Darryl's web page but I'm pretty convinced that it is due to the unavailability of the Jordan vehicle.  If you have a truck and contact him I'm sure he would fill the order.

So here are the two kits spread out.  The Jordan photo shows the parts with the cab parts set aside as they are replaced with the conversion kit.

The second is the Rail and Tie kit with the parts spread out and some painted as I started on it before Dan came along with the challenge idea.........

So here we go........

see ya
Bob



#19
Kit Building / Truck bodies
July 06, 2016, 02:11:14 PM
I'm starting this because of several conversations, both here on the forum and elsewhere, over the last weeks.

I met Darryl of Interaction Enterprises, BC Canada, at the PNR convention last month in Salmon Arm BC.  I had discovered his truck box modifications among other things recently.  Darryl shows up on this forum as Rail and Tie.............. I think...

Some days ago Darryl put up a question here about Cab Over Engine (COE) trucks and what might be out there that could be put into production.  There were several replies.

I purchased two of his radio tower kit and one of the hardware wagon.  The radio kit is designed to fit a Jordan company Packard C cab truck and the hardware kit is to fit a Jordon company 1925 Model T flat bed truck #238. 

Unfortunately after 50+ years Jordan is going away.  My hopes are that Tichy or Dave Rygmyer at NWSL considers picking up this line but as yet the jury is still out.

I did have a model T kit but I didn't have Packards.  Sooooooooooo  I decided to see what else might work.

From a thread elsewhere on this forum I noted that the frame rails of prototype trucks have been relatively standardized for a very long time. That is, what ever utility box a company might want to put on a truck is not a big thing and in fact the major truck manufacturers have long marketed trucks with bare frame rails and are routinely sold as that for what the buyer might want to do with the truck.

Shown below is a 1933 Mack truck cab and frame rails.  It's heading to the paint shop this afternoon.  I'm not sure who the manufacturer of the kit is as I got it in a plastic zip lock baggie and no instructions. 

I know that Walker kits are now offered by Wiseman Models and those trucks can be easily modified to receive one of Darryl's body kits. 

I'm sure also that the Sylvan model trucks could be used.

With that.... Let's see where this thread might go.

see ya
Bob



#20
Scratchbuilding / Trolley Projects
May 06, 2016, 06:20:25 PM
So I'm starting this thread because I have gotten caught up in making old trolley models run again.  Most of the trolleys offered in the 1950's and early 60's had pretty cool superstructures but the drive mechanisms were boarder line junk.  Most had 3 pole motors that only ran at the speeds we recall with the Athearn Hustlers; about 300 scale miles an hour.

I'll start with a project that I began yesterday and then go back and put up some photos of other trolleys that have been saved.  I'll add some discussion about drive options available today and after that ........... who knows.

For now....

Below is a base plate that will fit a current production Labelle Sacramento Northern combine.  It's rather generic and I'm going to modify it to be closer to a Chicago Aurora and Elgin car.  The trucks are what make this a bit interesting.  Labelle offers a drive unit and side frames but I found the trucks shown below in a local modeler's junk box. I could not walk away from them.  I have no idea the manufacturer but is sure isn't Suydam.

The sub frame is brass stock and the step up at one end is to allow for the worm drive in the one truck.  The powered wheels are driven by a clock work gear train down one side of the truck frame. I converted the old brass wheels to current production Precision Scale wheels and all are insulated.  This is necessary because I run some of my trolleys on a common rail and pole power supply.  It is really tough to insulate the poles from the body so I run the body connected to the pole and the wheels completely isolated.  It works pretty well.

I'm part way into the wooden superstructure so that will come along in a time.

The motor shown is a NWSL motor and it will be cradled in on an angle so the U-joint shaft is straight from the motor to the worm shaft on the truck.

see ya
Bob







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