Here's a video of Sunset's Q4b. I changed the white balance of the camera between the two clips.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Laying Track on the Cheat River Grade
In the blog entry "To The West" (Nov. 2009) I showed the construction of the benchwork for the beginning of the Cheat River Grade. From Oct. 2009 to Feb. 2010 I laid the track on this section of benchwork. Why did it take so long to accomplish this task? Between October and February you have: Hunting Season (It comes but once a year!); Thanksgiving (and a field trip to Rowlesburg, WV to study the real railroad); Christmas (my order for flex track arrived towards the end of the vacation period) and, finally, the Springfield Train Show.
In addition, as I started this bit of work I got the bright idea to record my progress as a video tutorial on track laying. That meant that instead of being able to just go downstairs and do one or two operations on the next section of track, I had to wait until I had time to video my progress in more or less logical order. I did complete the outer track of the two-track grade during Christmas shutdown; but I was making the video of the inner track in the foreground and progress on that was paced by the recording.
Be that as it may, here is the result for you to see. Because it was recorded over five months, there are some continuity errors, mostly in the form of some repetition and one segment that had to be repositioned to show the proper sequence of operations.
For best results, click on the "Play" icon then click the "Pause" icon that replaces it and let the video buffer somewhat before returning to "Play". Yes, I know that it's a pain; but this is a 50+ minute tutorial that you didn't have to buy on DVD.
I started this video using my point-and-shoot still camera and had to finish the shooting using it. I now have an HD camcorder that I used at Springfield and I will use it for future documentaries of my railroad.
In addition, as I started this bit of work I got the bright idea to record my progress as a video tutorial on track laying. That meant that instead of being able to just go downstairs and do one or two operations on the next section of track, I had to wait until I had time to video my progress in more or less logical order. I did complete the outer track of the two-track grade during Christmas shutdown; but I was making the video of the inner track in the foreground and progress on that was paced by the recording.
Be that as it may, here is the result for you to see. Because it was recorded over five months, there are some continuity errors, mostly in the form of some repetition and one segment that had to be repositioned to show the proper sequence of operations.
For best results, click on the "Play" icon then click the "Pause" icon that replaces it and let the video buffer somewhat before returning to "Play". Yes, I know that it's a pain; but this is a 50+ minute tutorial that you didn't have to buy on DVD.
I started this video using my point-and-shoot still camera and had to finish the shooting using it. I now have an HD camcorder that I used at Springfield and I will use it for future documentaries of my railroad.
'O' Scale at the Springfield Show
The Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show, known throughout the Northeast as the "Springfield Show" was held Jan. 30-31, 2010 at the Eastern States Exposition (The Big 'E') in Springfield, Mass. Traditionally the show has been held in 3 large buildings and, over the last couple of years, has been expanded into a fourth large building. If you have never been to this show, you're missing a real treat. I know of no larger train show anywhere.
This is not an O Scale, 2-rail show; it's dominated by HO, Lionel, N and "G" in approximately that order; but everything from wooden push trains to live steam, historical societies and real railroads are represented. I still find it worthwhile to attend even after I moved from Connecticut to Virginia. There are scenery items, tools, books, videos, DCC and miscellany aplenty to browse through. I took me over five hours - non stop - the first day to walk through the entire show.
This year I brought along a brand-spanking new video camera to record the O Scale at the show. Unfortunately, a couple of the O Scale layouts that have traditionally been there were missing. Here are my results for you to enjoy. Please excuse some awkward panning and zooming, I'm still getting used to this, my first real camcorder (all of the other videos on this site were taken with a point-and-shoot still camera).
This first video is standard definition (reduced from the high-definition master copy) and should be able to be played by everyone. For all of the videos, click the play icon, then immedaitely click the pause icon. Let the video buffer fully before resuming play for the best playback. Try full screen mode with these videos, use the icon that appears in the lower right when your cursor hovers over the screen. With this standard definition video, click the scaling button (upper right) to make the picture fill your screen when in full screen mode.
The next pair of videos is the same material recorded in high definition, compressed to 6000 bps and then split into two parts to meet the maximum file size requirements of my video hosting service. Try as I might, I could not get hi-def video to play smoothly in Internet Explorer 7, even when I compressed it so much that it looked worse than the standard definition video. However, this video played well in the Firefox browser, version 3.0.17, with the Adobe Flash Player 10 plug-in. My recommendation for playing any of the hi-def videos is to get Firefox (it's free). It should play well with Firefox 3.6 which is the current version; if not, you can get 3.0.17 from download sites like filehippo.com.
The final pair of videos is compressed to 8000 bps and that bit rate is well above the recommendation of my video hosting service for displaying smooth video. This one will not play well with IE 7 either. If your computer did not play the other hi-def videos well, it will not play this one any better. However it plays OK on my laptop which has a dual core processor and an NVIDIA graphics card - again I used Firefox 3.0.17/Flash Player 10. If your computer and monitor is up to the task of displaying this video, you will be rewarded with the extra video quality.
This is not an O Scale, 2-rail show; it's dominated by HO, Lionel, N and "G" in approximately that order; but everything from wooden push trains to live steam, historical societies and real railroads are represented. I still find it worthwhile to attend even after I moved from Connecticut to Virginia. There are scenery items, tools, books, videos, DCC and miscellany aplenty to browse through. I took me over five hours - non stop - the first day to walk through the entire show.
This year I brought along a brand-spanking new video camera to record the O Scale at the show. Unfortunately, a couple of the O Scale layouts that have traditionally been there were missing. Here are my results for you to enjoy. Please excuse some awkward panning and zooming, I'm still getting used to this, my first real camcorder (all of the other videos on this site were taken with a point-and-shoot still camera).
This first video is standard definition (reduced from the high-definition master copy) and should be able to be played by everyone. For all of the videos, click the play icon, then immedaitely click the pause icon. Let the video buffer fully before resuming play for the best playback. Try full screen mode with these videos, use the icon that appears in the lower right when your cursor hovers over the screen. With this standard definition video, click the scaling button (upper right) to make the picture fill your screen when in full screen mode.
The next pair of videos is the same material recorded in high definition, compressed to 6000 bps and then split into two parts to meet the maximum file size requirements of my video hosting service. Try as I might, I could not get hi-def video to play smoothly in Internet Explorer 7, even when I compressed it so much that it looked worse than the standard definition video. However, this video played well in the Firefox browser, version 3.0.17, with the Adobe Flash Player 10 plug-in. My recommendation for playing any of the hi-def videos is to get Firefox (it's free). It should play well with Firefox 3.6 which is the current version; if not, you can get 3.0.17 from download sites like filehippo.com.
The final pair of videos is compressed to 8000 bps and that bit rate is well above the recommendation of my video hosting service for displaying smooth video. This one will not play well with IE 7 either. If your computer did not play the other hi-def videos well, it will not play this one any better. However it plays OK on my laptop which has a dual core processor and an NVIDIA graphics card - again I used Firefox 3.0.17/Flash Player 10. If your computer and monitor is up to the task of displaying this video, you will be rewarded with the extra video quality.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
More Progress Photos
Here are some pictures of the Cheat River bridge and some in-process pix.
Until I enlarged this photo preparatory to uploading it, I had not noticed that the guard rails on the westbound (left) track at the far end of the bridge are quite crooked. You cannot see this when looking from above. I'm finding that the camera is an excellent tool to check your work.
The Cheat River Bridge - still unfinished!!
The Cheat River Bridge looking 'west'
The Cheat River Bridge looking 'east'
Looking west at bridge level
Looking east at bridge level.
Until I enlarged this photo preparatory to uploading it, I had not noticed that the guard rails on the westbound (left) track at the far end of the bridge are quite crooked. You cannot see this when looking from above. I'm finding that the camera is an excellent tool to check your work.
Roadbed laid for the outer track west of the bridge on the Cheat River grade.
Double roadbed construction, cork over foam
Smooth curves on the outer track, not easy to do with Micro Engineering so-called 'flexible' track
The outer track is progressing
Further on down the line
Sunset's B&O Q4b Arrives
My Sunset/3rd Rail's B&O Q4b, first announced in 2005, finally arrived this weekend (1/15/2010); a little over 4 years after I ordered it in Nov. 2005.
Here are some photos:
Here are some photos:
Sorry about the flash being used for the cab/backhead shot, very inartful. I'll try to take a better shot later.
Enjoy.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Just for fun video
Here's a video of a loco running on the layout. No good reason for filming this. Currently, this loco is being repainted for the B&O.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
To The West!
Now was the time to build to the west (by the B&O timetable) out of M&K Junction, through the town of Rowlesburg, WV and up the Cheat River grade. This section of the basement is in front of the water heater and well tank; the lower left hand side of the track plan (see Jul. 24, 2009 posting). It will also pass by my workbench.
Here's what it looks like leaving the Cheat River Bridge - what a lot of clutter!
More benchwork sections had to be built as can be seen here:
First is the view towards the water heater and next is the view towards the workbench:
The section beside the water heater will be filled in as well to support either a coal prep plant or the Alpha Portland Cement plant that is across the Cheat River in Manheim, WV on the M&K sub of the B&O. These sections of benchwork can be seen next to the water heater in this photo:
These sections are designed to be removed in the eventuality of the water heater needing replacement, therefore they have no main track on them. If the water heater goes these sections will be removed, the water heater can then be tilted over and laid down to the floor and rolled out from under the main benchwork.
This last photo shows the subroadbed cut to match the curve of the track in this location. Ordinarily I would cut a similar curve in the outer edge of the subroadbed, but this location will have the town of Rowlesburg, WV on it so I have left it square.
Here's what it looks like leaving the Cheat River Bridge - what a lot of clutter!
More benchwork sections had to be built as can be seen here:
First is the view towards the water heater and next is the view towards the workbench:
The section beside the water heater will be filled in as well to support either a coal prep plant or the Alpha Portland Cement plant that is across the Cheat River in Manheim, WV on the M&K sub of the B&O. These sections of benchwork can be seen next to the water heater in this photo:
These sections are designed to be removed in the eventuality of the water heater needing replacement, therefore they have no main track on them. If the water heater goes these sections will be removed, the water heater can then be tilted over and laid down to the floor and rolled out from under the main benchwork.
This last photo shows the subroadbed cut to match the curve of the track in this location. Ordinarily I would cut a similar curve in the outer edge of the subroadbed, but this location will have the town of Rowlesburg, WV on it so I have left it square.
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