Jas...
Follow the construction of the JLandT Railroad, a HO single deck, proto-freelanced layout set in the 70s to 80s, based on the Reading Lines and Conrail merger era...
Favourite Photos...
Reading Lines GP35 #3647
Middletown, Pa
Tuesday, 15 March 2016
Sunday, 13 March 2016
Finishing off a little wiring...
So to complete the track work for the locomotive servicing facility, the Rutherford Yard industries including the wood chip mill I needed to install the extra track feeds to the track work.
The locomotive servicing facility was the most intensive due the amount of switches and sidings within the complex. To ensure that the number of sound equipped locomotives in the area didn't continuously keep tripping out the remainder of the layout I installed a PSX for the area.
The two extra industries will add a little variety to the operations of the Rutherford Yard area and allow crews operating the yard switches to take a break and do something a little different. The first area is at the north end of Rutherford Yard and is a wood chip paper mill that will supply the York Haven - Pulp & Paper Mill.
There will be another storage siding added to the right of the existing siding (with the three hoppers) to increase the overall capacity. My Walthers - Saw Mill kit along with the Saw Mill Outbuildings kit will be used in this along with some scratch built structures for the loading of the wood chips.
The second industry is still undecided as to what it will ultimately be, I am thinking along the way of a MOW depot with a small industry that supports and works well with it, say a cable manufacturer or something similar.
The best part of the two extra industries is the fact they are located on the ends of the yard and can be switched without interfering with the operations of the yard/layout.
I also had a chance to finish off the remaining section of fascia for the Rutherford Yard extension too, all that is left is to add the drop curtains and paint.
Jas...
The locomotive servicing facility was the most intensive due the amount of switches and sidings within the complex. To ensure that the number of sound equipped locomotives in the area didn't continuously keep tripping out the remainder of the layout I installed a PSX for the area.
The two extra industries will add a little variety to the operations of the Rutherford Yard area and allow crews operating the yard switches to take a break and do something a little different. The first area is at the north end of Rutherford Yard and is a wood chip paper mill that will supply the York Haven - Pulp & Paper Mill.
There will be another storage siding added to the right of the existing siding (with the three hoppers) to increase the overall capacity. My Walthers - Saw Mill kit along with the Saw Mill Outbuildings kit will be used in this along with some scratch built structures for the loading of the wood chips.
The second industry is still undecided as to what it will ultimately be, I am thinking along the way of a MOW depot with a small industry that supports and works well with it, say a cable manufacturer or something similar.
The best part of the two extra industries is the fact they are located on the ends of the yard and can be switched without interfering with the operations of the yard/layout.
I also had a chance to finish off the remaining section of fascia for the Rutherford Yard extension too, all that is left is to add the drop curtains and paint.
Jas...
Wednesday, 2 March 2016
TCS - WOW 101 Diesel Sound Decoder Install...
Ok now I know why TCS put the WOW at the start of their new diesel decoders...
They are that good thats all you can say... WOW!
The last two days I have been installing the first of the WOW Diesel decoders into a Athearn SW1500 switcher. The switcher was previously owned by Matt Fisher and was weathered & detailed for Matt by Tom Adair.
The switcher is the typical Ready To Run model from quite a few years ago, these are generally great slow speed runners but do need a little work to make them more reliable. If all wires are soldered to the board & truck tabs these become great runners.
For this installation I'm installing the TCS - WOW 101 Diesel Decoder.
The decoder has the 9 pin JST connection to it connects directly to the Athearn OEM board. There is actually a fair bit of room within the shell to fit the decoder and the wiring, it does come with a capacitor which needs to be fitted into the cab inbetween the electrical cabinets.
The only alterations required to the whole switcher was to trim off some plastic at the bottom of the cab to get the capacitor through, and to trim down the LHS electrical cabinet. I also used to opportunity to fit a Kato - Scale Engineer.
The speaker is a Soundtraxx - Small Oval Speaker (part no 810112) this fits in perfectly inside the shell and above the front truck with plenty of spare space. I would normally place the speaker in a baffled case but the shell not being opened through the vent top works well.
At a later stage I may make one to see if there is any improvement.
The install for such a small switcher went really well, I may in the future replace the standard Athearn bulbs in the lights with LED's but they are all working so no need. The rest of the RDG SW1500 will be getting this treatment as soon as the funds become available.
And I can honestly say that there will be no more Soundtraxx Tsunami's in our fleet! These things straight out of the packet, with virtually plug & play capability (I needed to solder the speaker to the wires) and the features are astounding. The sound needs to be heard in real life to full appreciate the CD Quality as stated.
Below is a short video showing the motor, horns, bell and manual notching sounds that are produced from the decoder. Once I've had a chance to get used to all of the functions I post another video of the switcher under load using the manual notching and switching Reading...
Jas...
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