North Coast Railroad

[Dave Buchholz]

"Little things" projects today. Finishing up on pier pilings

[friscomike]

Howdy Dave,

The pier is taking shape and looks great.  The stone and pilings complement the wharf.

Have fun,
mike

[Dave Buchholz]

By way of teasing about an OSHA visit gives segue to tonight's photos.

I'm working on lighting up the mill/silo and Marine Leg complex with stuff from "We Honest" , an eBay company.

It took a grade deal of negotiations between the Port Authority directors and the Chief Financial Officer. She said "Don't go spending all the mortgage money on that crap!" Luckily she didn't know I've been collecting that "crap" for years.

WE HONEST had quite a wide variety of lighting and powered circuit boards to work with. They have built in current limiters. And multiple ways of connecting things.

One on my favorite pieces collects five pair of wires into one. I find it handy to gather up to five lights to one connector INSIDE the structure. The take one heavier secured wire out of the building.

The other photos show some of the hair thin wires that need to be soldered to the two pin connectors. The problem is the two pin units will not pass through the nut that secures the lamp to the side of the structure

So you have to decide to split the two pins in single connectors that get soldered BEFORE they pass through the nut individually it's easier to hold the pin a voice or tweezers in that scenario.. Or find a way to secure the unmodified pins AFTER they get mounted in the building. It kind of depends on how much room you have to play with.

I did it both ways on this particular build. The last photo  shows the mock up the top of the mill. They are unsecured until the connectors are soldered to the loose wires.

OSHA demands guard rails around the perimeter of the roof walkway areas. They are in the works, bring made of .032 brass rod . More on that in the future.

[Philip]

Nice stash! The stonework is wonderful!

[Pennman]

Dave,

Nice updates on this project. You make wiring look easy, but I haven't a clue how to do it
or what to buy. So, I don't bother with lighting my structures. I used to put in interior details
but without the interior lights you won't see them, even though the buildings have removable
roofs.

Your other tall structures on the back walls like the beer factory look great as well.
Keep up the good work.

Rich

[Dave Buchholz]

OH LOOK! A SQUIRREL!

That's me alright. Tough to stay in one project. Thoughts go everywhere else.

A discussion came up with a forum friend about the B F Clyde cider mill in Mystic CN and a  kit that had made of it.

 The short story....Since the North Coast Railroad is in the greatest apple orchard country of the Lake Ontario plains, it seems reasonable take advantage to honor that industry.

Rich (Pennman) was kind enough to forward kit plans to me. From those, I cobbled up some heavy cardstock to see if the structure of the Clyde mill would fit in near the canal scene.
It is actually a little bigger than I imagined it to be. But it works reasonably well.

[Mark Dalrymple]

Looking good, Dave.

I'm wondering whether those two structures could have lower story(ies) and the land fall away from the rail lines towards the river?  Think SRM Martin's Machine and Delabarre Tap and Die.

Cheers, Mark

[Dave Buchholz]

Great Idea Mark.
It just so happens that the North Coast was visited by Rich Wolfanger's scratch built "Martins Machine" shop a few years ago.

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to hide Rich's body till garbage pick up day. Otherwise his superbly crafted diorama would have stayed as a featured forefront model, and we would have one less contributor on this forum.

Yes, I agree the site should be sloped towards the canal for several scenic reasons rather than be left on a  flat surface. Both buildings should be part of that slope

[Pennman]

OH LOOK! A SQUIRREL!

That's me alright. Tough to stay in one project. Thoughts go everywhere else.

A discussion came up with a forum friend about the B F Clyde cider mill in Mystic CN and a  kit that had made of it.

 The short story....Since the North Coast Railroad is in the greatest apple orchard country of the Lake Ontario plains, it seems reasonable take advantage to honor that industry.

Rich (Pennman) was kind enough to forward kit plans to me. From those, I cobbled up some heavy cardstock to see if the structure of the Clyde mill would fit in near the canal scene.
It is actually a little bigger than I imagined it to be. But it works reasonably well.

Great Dave, The cider mill looks to be completed! Now I won't have to build you one!

Rich

[Pennman]

Great Idea Mark.
It just so happens that the North Coast was visited by Rich Wolfanger's scratch built "Martins Machine" shop a few years ago.

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to hide Rich's body till garbage pick up day. Otherwise his superbly crafted diorama would have stayed as a featured forefront model, and we would have one less contributor on this forum.

Yes, I agree the site should be sloped towards the canal for several scenic reasons rather than be left on a  flat surface. Both buildings should be part of that slope

Dave,

Where did you get such a nice looking Martin's Machine??  I should have looked the other way when you grabbed it up and it would still be sitting there.. Hindsight is best in those types of conditions.. Oh, and I have a SRMW Tap & Die kit. You can scratchbuild that one!..
Rich

[Dave Buchholz]

A very good friend of mine was kind enough to allow a "photo op"

Weird that my actual post disappeared. But you were able to pull a quote from it. Musta glitched during the original saving.

[Pennman]

A very good friend of mine was kind enough to allow a "photo op"

Weird that my actual post disappeared. But you were able to pull a quote from it. Musta glitched during the original saving.

Your original post didn't disappear, it's # 172, above.

Rich

[Dave Buchholz]

Moving along this week on the silo complex, this is the "head house" on top of the silos.

The three triangular "collectors" funnel grain from the bucket lift mechanism at the back  of the Marine Leg Tower.  As the tower moves along from hold to hold, it directs the grain to the nearest funnel.  Understandably the scene is selectively compressed. Basically it's all gravity feed at that point in the grain handling system

Still need details to finish up.  Some safety railing around the perimeter. Also a few pigeons, maybe a nest, and loads of guano.  Life goes on.

If I was smarter when I started this project, it would been a mill for making Honey Nut Cheerios instead of beer.

Fifth Dave to the right

[Larry C]

Looking very good Dave and nice weathering all around. Keep'er going.

[Dave Buchholz]

My jig for safety rails is shown below. Simple scale lumber spaced with the intended wire size. 0.032 in this case.
I found it much  easier to hold a long vertical piece of  wire in alignment than it was to keep tiny pieces in place to solder them.

Via trial and mostly error,  I discovered that paste flux worked better than liquid flux, as the liquid  simply got absorbed into the wood of the jig. Best results came from "tining" the wire vertical post first. That way, there was solder already there when connecting to the horizontal bars.

As each vertical piece was soldered, I used the Dremel with a cutoff wheel.Then moved on to the next post.  Absolute identical length was not important as is was going to stick it into holes drilled through the platform anyway. It went relatively fast, and I could create any length rail I wanted beyond the jig length, simply by picking up what was soldered and moving it over a few notches.
.