An Athearn SD40 and a 70 ton GE switcher in Southern Pacific colours with various rolling stock. Most of the rolling stock is by Walthers, either Proto or mainline.
Originally this was meant to be up sometime around WE layout update 3 but I was already late with the next update video and didn’t want to delay that further, so if the layout looks like its gone back in time, that is why. When I recorded the running session, I ended up with a lot of shots of the SD40 going over the bridge, as I only had a single track running at the time, I decided to mix in some of the bridge shots to try make it look a little more interesting with multiple trains running. You may also spot the ‘Katy’ heritage unit sitting by the track in one of the shots, its by MTH and may feature in the next video.
No layout update this week, so here are some pictures and a video from the summer that I had forgotten to share, this is the first run of an Athearn Genesis Southern Pacific SDP45 road number 3200 with DCC Sound. The part number is ATHG63651. As you can see from the first pictures, sadly the trip from the US was not kind to the loco, the air tank had come off and the fuel tank screw was damaged. I suspect the blame for this falls onto the ebay global shipping program, who decided to re-pack the loco from its original box done by the seller and then didnt put sufficent packing in – it was loose in the box. I managed to get the air tank to push back on and the fuel tank I had to add some glue to the screw, quite disapointing when you have to repair a brand new loco.
The pictures of the loco in the green bridge were originally to check the clearance from the snow plough to the bridge walk ways, as I’d had some issues with a previous loco not making it through easily, however this turned out to be a track issue later, but the pictures look nice so there included here.
A bit late with this update as I had limited internet access, and this was actually posted while away in Canada, as I didn’t have enough time to upload it before leaving. This will be the last ‘Weekend Engineering’ (layout update) episode until I return in 3 months time. I will continue to provide videos while I am away, but they will be mostly running sessions I recorded just before I left.
In this update I cover the need to paint the MDF boards with MDF sealer, and this ofcourse meant I had to tidy up a lot, which has certainly made it look better and made it easier to work. I also cover some changes to the bench work – its now more sturdy and a little higher. I also fitted an extension socket to the front of the bench and had the wall socket moved up ready for adding in back boards later. I also splashed some grey paint around where the track will go just to make a background for when the ballast is done.
Demo and tests of Block Signaling using Lenz BM3 block modules. Here is how to make trains stop at red signals and to automate block control on your model railway. Also I include some other things you can do with it such as protection for lift up bridges or points.
My intention is to have the entire layout operating with block signals, and to get these to work with the points automatically. At this stage its mainly testing it and giving a demo. When I get in a more final setup I’ll make another post and video on it.
Layout Update
In episode 3 I talk about the results of the points testing and the incline tests as well some general progress on the layout. One of the ideas at this stage was around the edges of the 2 side boards – I was looking at doing a double track junction, with a route via the inside and the option to jump over the gap using some sort of lift up bridge. I have never built any sort of bridge like that before, so it might be a problem! As it happens, this layout is actually my first real attempt at woodworking, so its all a learning curve. I also mention a look at using the Lenz automatic braking sysmtem (ABC). This will be in a separate video.
Engine Update
Athearn Ready to roll EMD GP60 – originally a DC loco, I used a PCB and motor connectors from spares of DCC ready loco of the same type. The upper body hasn’t got a cutout for the DCC decoder, so for now the body sits up at an angle like in the video. Once I’m happy with the working of it, I will make the cut out in the body. It wont be seen as its under the removable panel, and newer models of the same have this area removed.
Lima/Hornby Class 156 – East Midlands Trains
Originally an ebay find, this was painted by someone else and had a hurst models detail kit fitted which sadly had mostly come off in shipping. Although I could glue them back on, there were some other issues – kadees had been fitted directly to the chassis, however these fouled the bogie and some of the under frame added detail. Although the underframe detail was nice, I decided to simply swap over the body onto a new Hornby (plastic) chassis. I may revisit the chassis and underframe at a later time, but for now this gives me a working model on a newer motor, with good wheels, all wheel pickups and no traction tires. The lights had been modified by a previous owner, apparently to make them more prototypical, however this seemed to have gone wrong or wasn’t complete – I forget the exact notes the seller gave me, so either way it needed work, I therefore decided to fit an Express models lighting kit to it insted. Some of the holes were wrong or too large, so I filled in the gaps with polyfiller using a pin to pack it in around the lights, I had the lights carefully pushed forward so they protruded about 5 mm, this allowed me to fill the gaps and then carefully paint (again with a pin) the now white parts of the filler. Once dry, I could then carefully push the lights back so they lined up just out from the front, like a light cover would. Ofcourse its not perfect like the real thing, but from a normal viewing distance, it looks good, and much better than it did before. I then added a loksound v4 decoder from Olivia’s trains, which I fitted myself, however its just sitting in the passenger area at the moment.
Athearn SD40
This is the loco that was running slow in DCC. Thanks to Robert for the comment about the CV5 max speed setting. The issue was indeed caused by the decoder and settings, it now runs just fine.
Trains Running 3
Trains Running on the main layout with a Bachmann RES Class 47 with Olivia’s Sound, an Athearn Southern Pacific GP60 and a Lima HST in Blue/Grey InterCity.
