It has been a while since the last update, not much progress this time around as I have been too busy with work and repairing the building the layout is in. Sorry for the muffled sound, I used a new microphone for this episode but it appears it didn’t work right, I tried to correct most of it in software but still a bit off. Music: Jon Luc Hefferman – Upbeat Licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, CC 4.0. freemusicarchive.org
Winter running session, with a class BR 58 / ‘Bone’ and a GP60 in SP livery. Not much work done over the winter period but you maybe able to spot some of the progress. I will record a layout update some time later.
In this update I talk about activity over the summer including building a Metcalf Station building, the retaining walls behind the station area, and the tunnels.
While on the road trip we did come across the occiasional railroad and here are some short videos taken on the spare of the moment.
Two short clips of the MBTA Commuter Rail going through a crossing in Framingham, Massachusetts on 19 Nov & 17 Dec 2015. I had hoped to get a good video while I was here but due to various reasons we didn’t have time to go rail fanning. Sharing this mainly for the sound of the horn which I felt was worth it.
20th Dec 2015 in Nova Scotia, somewhere on the way to Halifax.
EMD SD75I CN5688 leads with GE C44-9W CN2650 and another EMD SD75I CN5660.
Sorry about the wind noise, it was very windy and very open area.
Canadian National Intermodal Freight heading into Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on December 21st 2015.
Featuring CN GE ES44AC locomotives 2831, 2888, 2891 & 2821.
Note that due to the loud background chatter during the first part of the video I had to cut out some of the containers passing, but all the locomotives are shown. For the second part of the video I was able to get closer to the track, but unfortunatly all the locomotives had already passed at this point (I had hoped for more power mid train or at the rear but sadly not).
First run on the inner loop, the loco was sent half way around light engine to test the power to track all way around and it got further than expected right up to the freight cars which were parked on the previously working part of the inner track which I was using as a siding. I therefore hooked up the cars and reversed the engine to pull the train round, totally forgetting that the dual stack well cars will derail on the first corner after the lift up section because the curve is far too tight. These would never normally be sent round this loop and so its not really an issue. I realised this and started to run for the controller, but was too late and for some reason they managed the curve without derailing and only making the squeeling noise you can hear in the video. I then reached for the camera and filmed the next runs which they made without derailing. I have no idea why they managed to work these short number of times, but here it is, probably a one off! Sorry for the loco still having its packing foam on and facing the wrong way, it wasn’t expecting to be filmed! Also, the TTX well cars only have containers in ‘single’ stack due to the tunnel clearance on the inner loop. There is a freight bypass track under construction around the back of the station which is built to dual stack height and this connects to the outer loop.
This is sort of a ‘preview’ of the layout progress, I will be making a proper update soon with details of the latest work.
