Christmas was good to us this year! Got a case of steel wheels for building 7/8 scale rolling stock, and a pair of Bachmann On30 hoppers. They are quite nice, and fit well with my scratchbuilt stuff. I beleive I want a couple more to represent a class of cars outsourced to Pressed Steel Car Company. The first steel hopper that I scratch built I have decided will become a 'rebuilt' A frame car, retaining that numbering series and using the same trucks as the Aframes. I have embarked on constructing a new 'production' steel hopper, this one too may be reguarded as a prototype if I find I need to make a few design changes along the way. The EBT car is basically complete and needs only paint and couplers applied. I definately have a few changes I want to make on the next one of those I do.
At some point this week I need to do a thourough cleaning of The Shop so I can transfer some On30 construction out there while the grandkids are home for New Years. Also I will be able to smoke out there if its cold during New Years Eve. Indeed it will prolly become the defacto Smoke Shack. Cleaning up the work area on the back porch is also in the cards and stowing the tools and material there under better cover for the rest of the winter.
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
11:48
Didn't get anything done last night. Did get the webpages updated, but didn't get round to uploading them. Going to make a few changes on that front witht he first update of the new year. Changing the company colors, and as such the colors on the page and logo, dropping some older galleries and stuff that no longer applies to my current vision, and generally ddoing some cleaning up of the space. I think instead of posting disconnected pics of projects under construction in the Construction Logs, I'll fill them in article style under The Shops content, that part of the site hasn't been active in quite a while, and I think it will be easier to keep track of thisngs that way.
Pondered a bit on a 7/8 scale steel EBT boxcar this moring. I think I wiull build a luan sub structure, and clad it with .040 styrene for the actual attaching of the zee shapes. I already have a 24 foot boxcar cut out and I think that I can modify the precut parts a bit to allow clearances. Working on a construction supplies list for a Big Ol order to be placed after the first. 2006 is gonna be a good year to be a railroader.
Wholsaletrains.com apparently lost my order for trucks in their shipping department and now are out of stock on them. No matter, just cancelled the order entirely, and will get theem from Ridge Road Station where they are a dollar cheaper anyways. Also will order me another set of Bachmann hoppers to enhance the fleet.
14:11
The hopper fleet is heavier by two Bmann hoppers. Placed an order with St Aubins once again. Still no source for bare trucks as of yet. I think the Bmann cars now are going to be an intermediate order (Type 6) from PSC prior to WWII and with Wartime commitments were unable to fullfill any more so the WV&K Shops produced the Type 7 hopper in its own Shops to replace the elderly A frames and augment the rest of the steel car fleet. There are a couple of ground throws that I need to move out a little ways so the hopper bottoms of the Bmann cars dont hit them.
On an operational note, I've been looking at using a Matrix style of car generator, using an article in Model Railroad Planning and a posting made by Kevin Strong using similar methods. Will report more on that as things come together. Painted the O scale EBT boxcar while at lunch. I think that 1/4" will be the appropriate shapes I need for the 7/8 scale project.
14:48
Sometimes its the little victories that count. I have 5 sets of On30 Archbar Trucks on the way from Ridge Road station. Pretty much all they had! But that will outfiit the 6 hoppers I plan to build.
17:39
I have a basic switching matrix compiled on a Microsoft Word table. Its based on each car moving once a day. I did designate car numbers, but this is not entirely necessary. I didn't delve into what each car carried either, cause this is not of real importance to the train crews. I'll use this matrix as a basis of fillling out a switch list for the mixed trains that run daily. As business picks up and I get more cars and industries online I can break up the operations and run more trains in each session. The matrix is based on days of the week, so the moves will be spread over 7 operating sessions. That way things don't appear too repetative.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
11:33
So far it doesnl;t look as if anything noteworthy is gonna occur this weekend. Cleaned up and organized The Shop yesterday. Have designated O scale and 7/8 scale work areas. I had forgotten how comfortable it is to go out thre and forget the rest of the world. I need to work it back into my stress management program.
