west bound pusher.avi

Check out this video on YouTube:

/chris

Columbia and Western Overview 3 – Operational design

Check out this video on YouTube:

/chris

Columbia and Western Overview 2 – Mechanical design and construction of 4 deck layout

I’m watching this video series. Check out the construction of the layout and on particular the gates used to bridge across the aisles during operating sessions. Man do I ever want to build a layout!!

Check out this video on YouTube:

/chris

HO Model Railroad by Chris Gilbert

Check out this video on YouTube:

/chris

GO F40′s in freight service – Old Time Trains

This URL was mentioned on the Montrain email list this morning. As the photo caption indicates this is a shot of rented GO power hauling CP freight. Of all the shots of this occurrence I’ve seen this is perhaps the largest collection of power. Love that F40 in the lead position.

Another thought I had while looking at the photo was my wondering if CN ever used GO power on the weekends. All the shots I’ve seen are if GO units in CP service. Considering how GO was borrowing some CN power it’s funny the reverse never seems to have occurred. Thoughts?

http://www.trainweb.org/oldtimetrains/CPR_Trenton/GO_511.htm

/chris

Original 1909 Time Table Intercolonial Railway Prince Edward Island Rwy Canada

End time: 2012-02-26 11:27:00 PM AST

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Original 1909 Time Table Intercolonial Railway Prince Edward Island Rwy Canada

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Original 1909 Time Table Intercolonial Railway Prince Edward Island Rwy Canada

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/chris

3d modelling – a Birney from my own past

It’s hard to ignore how excited I am about the potential that I feel rapid prototyping really brings to the hobby of model railroading. I’m equally excited to start creating some models of my own. My software of choice is always my trusty old copy of AutoCAD 2005 and we’ve been through a lot together. Exporting to the rapid prototyper’s file of choice, the STL, is something that AutoCAD seems to be able to do using their STLOUT function.

I’ve designed some great case goods like this really neat little table for an architect friend of mine. That series was the first thing that I ever really used 3d drafting. In the case of the table I used 3d plus a lot of real sketching to help understand how to draw those table legs. The learning curve to leap from traditional 2d drafting to 3d was steep but really fun. Around that same time a little company called MakeMyModel.com had just entered the model railway scene and was not only offering their own product line but they were also interesting in “printing” other modellers work. The temptation was too great and I started working on my own model.

I chose a little Birney four-wheel trolley. Drafting for rapid prototype printing was just as steep a learning curve as 3d drafting had been and it was interesting to share emails back-and-forth with the folks at MakeMyModel.com regarding the tolerances their machines could work within. Here’s a photo of the Birney’s shell. I did finish that drawing but the technology wasn’t there and the more we tried to develop something worthwhile the limitations of the technology just became harder and harder to ignore. The biggest of which was the print resolution we would be working with. I had dreams of something that was at least on par with the resin kits I had built. Unfortunately it was looking like the print would likely be too “grainy” and the machine’s tolerances were starting to imply that most of the parts were going to wind up thick, especially since I was dreaming of doing this print for N scale.

Fast forwarding to today, we have companies like Shapeways and the incredible products being offered in Shapeways shops really speak to just how fast this technology is advancing. This morning I was reading on the Nn3 list about the latest cars Roy Stevens is now offering. These little Colorado and Southern gondolas are real charmers and I’m tempted to order some regardless of whether or not I ever, ever get back into playing around in Nn3. Check them out here…

Now that things with the impending house purchase are sort of leveling I hope to have a few more minutes to get back into modelmaking and it’ll be fun to think more about designing some TTn3 things to print out.

True Line Trains 250003 Atlas Master HO GP40 GO Transit 725 DCC QSI sound RARE!

Rare and reasonably priced. This is a neat find.
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End time: 2012-03-10 3:19:34 PM AST

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True Line Trains 250003 Atlas Master HO GP40 GO Transit 725 DCC QSI sound RARE!

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/chris

VIA yard ops and the wisdom of friends

I’ve been picking away at this blog for a couple of years now. I feel so lucky to have made some great friendships and to have been able to use the blog as a common place to think about ideas online. I love railroading and I’m especcially fond of things like urban railroading, everything GO Transit and of course the Prince Edward Island Railway. Recently I posted some musings about VIA yard ops. Tonight Eric Gagnon left a really excellent comment on that VIA post. His insight was just too great to leave buried in the comments reel. I think it’s worth a post of it’s own so everyone can see it.

Chris, I would say that early in my railfanning era there was definitely a role for switchers in VIA passenger operations. Locomotives were locomotives and cars were cars. Locomotives went to the roundhouse. Cars went to the coach yard.

Once the LRC came online, the VIA maintenance centres were specifically built to handle entire consists/trainsets. Trainsets travelled from stations to the maintenance centres. Having said that, sometimes they were coupled together with each other, other locomotives, or single cars – some variation.

As Steve has noted, this pattern has pervaded VIA, with routes using trainsets. Switchers may be used to remove bad order cars, re-position cars to other tracks at the maintenance centres etc. As Jason Shron has mentioned, at Toronto a fleet of S-13′s were kept busy assembling/disassembling consist at Spadina, and variations of this happened elsewhere. A steam generator-equipped GMD-1 was used during the pre-HEP era to switch passenger cars and consists.

In fact, you might be interested in the car cycles of the Canadian starting November 1981 when it was running on the Kingston Sub, comparing the westbound consist with the eastbound one returning a few days later, as one example.

Eric

Eric, if you’d rather this stayed as a comment let me know and I’ll take this down immediately.

Now about the comment itself. Just think about that great scene. Strings of great early VIA coaches, yup a sea of VIA blue and old Tempo cars (fingers crossed on that detail…ha!) being pushed around by classic Canadian switchers. I could build a layout around that. I probably won’t but it sure is fun to research and think about. I tell you what I am going to do – I’m going to dig out Eric’s book and start mapping out some of those consists.

Thanks Eric. Thanks for reminding me again how great this hobby is.

TRAIN VIDEO DVD “TORONTO HAMILTON & BUFFALO RAILWAY” TH&B

This is the DVD I just ordered. At under ten bucks it’ll be hard to go wrong.

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End time: 2012-02-13 7:05:28 PM AST

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TRAIN VIDEO DVD “TORONTO HAMILTON & BUFFALO RAILWAY” TH&B

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/chris