Does anyone have any experience using stall motor switch machines? I am looking specifically at the "Switch Tenders" from Micro-Mark.

http://www.micromark.com/SWITCH-TENDER-SWITCH-MACHINE,8394.html

If I read this correctly, an old trainset power pack should be able to handle 10 of these without a problem....correct?

I'm sick of the "snap" type machines, and I like the idea of these stall motors holding tension on the points.

Any opinions?

Sid

I have been in a state of layoutlessness (spell check that one if ya dare....lol) for almost a year now. The move to the new house is coming in less than a month and I've been planning all winter.

A few of you here have seen this, and the description, in the past few weeks, but I thought I would throw it up for everyone to have a bash at.

Layout room is 11.5 feet by 22.5 feet, and to the right (east) of the diagram, in an adjacent room that measures 11.5 feet by 16.5 feet, will be my studio.

The layout room has the main entrance in the lower right corner, with another doorway roughly midway along the lower (south) wall. This "extra" door is going to be handy in providing access.

The sawmill is located on the northeast peninsula. There will be a drop down leaf running south to mate up with the narrowish shelf along the south side (I missed drawing it on the plan). Logs will be dumped in the pond from an unloading ramp set between the loops.

Once on the south side, the engineer can decide whether to continue along the main into town, or take the switch and start a roughly 3.2% climb through a tunnel and up to the summit. Up here will be the main logging area. The sidings are for log cars and one for the camp train. A short branchline splits off and climbs up to another small town and past to a mine at the extreme south-east corner.

The logging loop can haul loaded cars back to the mill from either direction, although the line running north to the yards is less of a grade. It only needs to be about 2.7% to gain the same 5 inches between railheads. So it would make sense that the empties come out of the mill and take the steeper route back up, then run a gentler grade on the downhill, once loaded. I assume a prototypical railroad would use the two different routes similarily. (Assuming they had the luxury of 2 routes).

Along the route are 3 small towns, possibly a fourth once I get building. These and a whistle stop would give an excuse to run a short passenger train using Roundhouse's 34 foot Overton set, in CPR colors. Also gives a reason to have the 4-6-0 low driver loco on the layout. The yard is more than ample to hold freight cars as well as a string of log cars if needed. I still could use an MOW, RIP and 'boose track, but will fit those in as construction progresses. I'm still undecided if the turntable is going to stay or not.

As it is, the table will turn my Shay and Climax locos with no problems, and will hold a Mantua 2-6-6-2T. The tenderized version of the 2-6-6-2 will not fit the Atlas table, so the Mallet house has both bays accessibly with a straight through pass on the turntable. The Mallets can be turned on the loop around the mill.

My 2 Climax locos will "live" on the south shelf only. Their primary duty will be shuttling loads out/empties in at the mine. The parallel tracks in the southwest serve as the interchange for the ore cars. I may mount a small A frame turntable on the Atlas mechanism and move it to the Climax engine area, then replace the turntable in the yard with track and turnouts.

The town in the center will allow switching and a variety of structures. The double mainline running SE to NW will allow almost a sixteen foot run and should make any train look good.

There will be a hill covering the inner track in the northwest corner, and the outer track leading up to the logging area, will flow through a cut and be visible. The 5 inch height of the logging area also gives me room to run a staging loop so I can take a train off scene until it's scheduled return. If I don't put the staging area there, it will pass through the wall in the NE corner and connect into the adjacent room, which will be my studio.

I'm seeing roughly 50 foot mainline runs on either route. All mainline turnouts are #6, yards are #4 with the exception of the mine. I can use up my last couple of Atlas snap-switches there.

At bottom left is a second doorway into the layout room, and I have left 18 inches to get in there for maintenance. I think I could build two lift out sections of scenery for the access area, and not have the canyon effect. Access seems good for all of the turnouts with the exception of the one leading to the mine branch. I may have to move it further north.

This Atlas program does some nice things, but lacks the inventory of some of the other CAD programs. Once I start laying things out, I'm sure I can streamline the trackwork even more when I incorporate my various curved turnouts into the scheme.

I'm thinking of a fictional shortline using scenery like one would see on a trip between Edmonton and Hinton. Basically prairie to foothills. I would love to have the high mountain, narrow passes feel, but with that complexity, comes reliability issues. This plan should be a fairly easy build as far as benchwork goes. Wiring may be a different story.

I can see I will be needing probably 3 polarity reversing modules, and probably a fourth for the turntable.  I use an MRC PA Squared unit with a 3.5 amp power supply.

So many things to work out ahead of time. Hopefully I catch major points and the little points fall into place as I go....lol.

Anyhow...have a boo at the plan...let me know what you think.

Cheers

Sid

Here's a direct link to the track-plan image if you don't like the shrunken version.
http://members.shaw.ca/wbearart1/Models/GoldBarHills.jpg

I was impressed with Bill's videos of his G Scalers and just had to share these with you guys.

A buddy of mine works for CP up here......these were taken a week or so ago in the Rogers Pass area of CPR's mainline through the Rockies.

Enjoy!!

Sid

I just love stumbling across little jewels like this. The picture is taken a few miles outside of Edmonton. Obviously, the building isn't used as a mill any longer, but the tracks are still there....sort of....buried in the hay.



Enjoy!

Sid

Just thought I'd show you guys a quick vid of my summer's project. Got a lot of blood sweat and tears in this one.

Can y'all tell I'm havin' fun? wheeeeeeeeeeeee

http://members.shaw.ca/wbearart/firstpass.mpg

Sid

We now return to your regularily scheduled trains.

Just had to shout it out.....

My wife and I celebrated our Silver Anniversary today. It has been a wonderful 25 years.

Sid

Here's a fresh one to my layout. This is the City Classics Company House.

These are available singly or in a three pack. The rear porch can be attached to the rear or the sides, or left off totally. This is an early attempt at coloring structures with weathering powders. Other than a light dusting of gray primer, the majority of this is powder.

I masked all the windows and doors first, then had at it. The foundation is painted with cheapo craft acrylics and the roof is a dusting of black/grey primer with powders apllied over top. Everything is, of course, locked in place with a final coat of Testor's flat laquer.

I build on a thin piece of foam board....I find it gives me something to hang on to while building......and when it's done, I'll set the whole piece onto the layout and blend it in with some foam at the edges.

It seemed like a perfect place for the WS checker player set I received for Christmas. Add a tree and a few boxes....a shovel and a broom and voila!

Enjoy! Click the links above each shot for the full sized image.

Sid
http://members.shaw.ca/woundedbear2k/Companyhouse01.jpg


http://members.shaw.ca/woundedbear2k/Companyhouse02.jpg


http://members.shaw.ca/woundedbear2k/Companyhouse03.jpg

Here's an interesting read I stumbled across. Makes one think.......

http://www.ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/NuclearForRail.doc

Sid

One little habit I have, and I find it hard to break, is sharing favorite tunes.

This one is railroad themed, and a nice little tune, even if it is somewhat rough and unfinished. Click the link and either stream it or dload and play.

Anyone able to recognize the artist?

Enjoy....http://members.shaw.ca/wbearart/stop_rainin_lord.mp3

Sid

Here's a few new shots from around the layout.

First up....my first attempt at trestle construction. I still need to work out the design of the center bents.....I crossed the lower track at too shallow of an angle.




Here's a start on the Lucas Mill. I pre-stained all the stock before cutting anything. I will be adding ground cover before fixing the foundation to the base. The log carriage track is at the front/left....the log ramp at rear/left....a small workshop is attached at rear right.




And lastly....a start on the yard office......this is a JL Innovative design kit....a nice simple build, and the real metal corrugated roofing is a nice touch. The water tanker in the scene is a Woodland Scenics Diamond T kit.

Enjoy!

Sid

This is to The B-Mann or any of you other model railroad experts on here.

What is the maximum recommended grade I can run Bachmann HO Shays on? 2%? 4%? 6%?

Average load on one Shay would be 4 to 6 loaded Rivarossi log cars or a string of 8 to 10 empties, with a bobber 'boose on the tail.

I may be able to improve my layout, or not, depending on the answers here.

Thanks

Sid

Finally got a chance to get out from under the hood of our hotrods and do a little sight seeing.

Took a short trip to the Alberta Rail Museum just north of Edmonton, Alberta. Hope you enjoy the photos....sure was sunny

First up, and greeting visitors, is CN #9000.....all pretty and gleaming for the cameras. A model F3A, #9000 logged more than 2.5 million miles before being retired. She's a little under 51 feet long, stands 15 feet tall, and her 1500 HP V16 would push her to 65 MPH.

A special note of interest about 9000....she is actually the 2nd CN 9000.....the first was in service on the west coast of Canada during the war, and had been modified and camouflaged to look like a boxcar. 9000 #1 was scrapped after WWII and 9000 #2 was bought in 1948.









Next on the path, we come across some various MOW equipment. Motor cars, a small crane and tender, and a tie tamper.










NAR....or Northern Alberta Railway's old #73 has seen better days. She was rescued from the torch years ago, and actually ran, up until 1979. A regular freight/passenger loco, #73 was built in 1927, converted to oil in 1952 and retired in 1960.

My local hobby guy has been trying for a while now to order these from Walthers. Walthers shows no stock and no idea of an availability date.

Is there a problem in getting these? It seems my guy here was the only one who could ever get hold of them for me, and without Walthers, we're kinda cooked.

Being in Canada presents it's own set of challenges in obtaining things.

Anyone, or B'mann, know of a Canadian source for these?

Sid

This looks interesting enough to dload and play with for a while....

http://sketchup.google.com/index.html

I'll let y'all know what I think of it after I goof around with it some more....there are a series of video tuorials to watch, as well as a .pdf manual for dload. Grab the extra component libraries too.

Build on

Sid

What is the purpose or reason for what appears to be, a third rail in this photo?

There I was....hapilly running my HO Shay and Climax.......consisted on address 6 of my EZC.....everything running fine......3% grade and 6 cars......all looks good.

On a straight run the Shay quit. Lights out, fire box LED dead, everything. Climax still running on addy 6.

Re-address Climax back to 2....no trouble...hit 6....no response from Shay.....try default addy 3.....nada.

Hooked up DC power.....Shay has lights but doesn't move. This Shay BTW is less than a week old....mailed warranty card yesterday. Both units have Bachmann decoders that I installed, and up until this moment hadn't given me any trouble.

Any how.....Shay on DC doesn't move.....check Climax on DC......off she goes just fine.....put Shay back on track....light but no movement.....thought stuck brush.....gave her a flick on the side of the boiler with my finger and off she goes.

Ten minutes of running on DC and this thing is acting fine.......try DCC again....nada.

Tear open tender.....replace decoder with another Bachmann....off we go.....all is fine.

Did I blow a decoder or has it just lost it's "memory"? Is there any way to save it or is it trash? EZC doesn't seem to have a "reset to default" feature.

Sid

...........as I sit here putting a fresh band-aid on my thumb.....

1: .016" drill bits love the taste of human flesh....thumbs especially.

2: If you have the track nail jar open, you should have a large magnet handy as well. (That would be band-aid #2....lol)

3: A mountain made from Hydrocal and Sculptamold is no better than one made from Plaster-of-Paris and Poly-Filla......it just costs three times more.

Anyone else?

Sid

Good Day........

First post jitters and all else aside......allow me to introduce myself.

I am one of those who has recently returned to the HO hobby. I had the bug some 20 years ago as well, but got caught up in the world of automotive replicas for the past bunch of years. I built cars under the name WoundedBear as well, and some of my work can be seen in Detail Master's and Slixx's galleries. I'm in my late 40's, married with a 20 year old son.

Our family has been in the Tidewater area of Virginia for the past several years and have recently made the move back home to Alberta. With it being blizzard season here for 6 months or more outta the year, I am left with no where to paint. Laquer fumes, and the pilot lights in the furnace and water heater, aren't gonna like each other. A spray booth is impractical and would involve cutting through a brick wall.

So, I did what any reasonably sane maniac would do....I sold the whole lot off and unpacked two crates marked "TRAIN STUFF". Some of this stuff hasn't seen the light of day since 1990....lol.

Anyhow.....I purchased a Bachmann Climax and that led me to these forums. I have been lurking in the background for a few months now, reading and learning. Some of your threads are very helpful and informative. It's nice to see that a Bachmann rep actually reads through all this.

From what I've seen....there seem to be very few "smacktards" on the site. Most of the members seem to genuinely want to assist and enjoy each other's input....and output. (Always like to see pics of latest projects.) I'm not one to sign up on numerous message boards....I like to find a group and call that site"home". I think this may be the place for me.

Glad to be aboard and look forward to the ride.

Sid Deitch