Wordless Wednesday #173

On the Valley Line Today - Saybrook Special Northbound

At the risk of repetition, this is my busiest time of year at work so nothing much has been going on at The Valley Local. I missed the NEProtoMeet this weekend since I was working - and due to all the late nights, I even missed posting a Wordless Wednesday last week (first time ever, I think).

But today, my first and only day off in a while, I was able to get down to the RR crossing for a few minutes to record the June "Saybrook Special" And I even tried a little video editing for the first time, creating a title screen and cross-fading four different clips. I just wish I knew why the video quality itself was so poor. Guess I need a tripod...

In any event, I can see the light at the end of the tracks - and that's the End of Legislative Session and the Return to Normalcy. I've been chomping at the bit to get back to the basement and have the guys over again for Photo Library nights - and I'm looking forward to sharing my progress here again. Hope you're able to come along for the ride.

In the meantime, enjoy this little video - which could have been taken in 1948, but was shot just a little while ago . . .

And here's the southbound run (much better video quality, and unedited - maybe I shouldn't have YouTube perform "video enhancements")

Wordless Wednesday #172 - 100mph Steam

(thanks to Jim Lincoln for - perhaps unwittingly - providing me with this week's Wordless Wednesday. Especially appreciated this time of year. While not Old Saybrook - or even the USA - this is about how I imagine the Merchants Limited might've looked while standing on the Saybrook platform back in the day....)

Monday Musing: Ops Session Hosting - Pro/Con?

Given the time of year at work, there hasn't been much progress on the layout lately, but the long commute does give me lots of time to think. I won't regale bore you with all my mindful wanderings, but one topic I've been thinking about lately is hosting operating sessions for strangers folks previously unknown to me.

Now that I have an operating layout (though it is presently un-operable as some areas are under additional construction), I've been approached by folks who would like to participate in an operating session. Up until recently, these are folks I know or friends of friends and the resulting sessions have been fun - any stress being totally of my own making (wanting the layout to operate well, making sure guests have all they need and have a good time, etc.), and I'm sincerely flattered when everyone enjoys themselves and wants to come back.

Even so - still being relatively new to this ops session thing - it does sometimes occur to me that the session host is essentially inviting folks over to use his railroad, handle his locomotives and rolling stock, operate the electronics, etc. And that's the point - as a layout owner, one of the coolest experiences you can have is seeing your layout come to life, which only happens effectively during an operating session. And when you have a good crew of trusted friends over, it probably doesn't even occur to you that you're literally placing a lot of your valuable stuff their hands.

But what of the apparently increasing number of operating weekends, "ops til you drop" and such, when you're putting your layout in the pool for all and sundry to come over? Clearly, there are many good souls out there that are willing to do that - otherwise such events wouldn't be so popular. And these events certainly expose more folks to the joys of railroad simulation (aka model railroad operating sessions), even - or perhaps especially - folks that don't have a layout of their own with which they can reciprocate.

So I guess the questions is - what do you do? Have only friends or friends-of-friends operate on your layout? Open it up to anybody that wants to come? Do you use different equipment depending on who's coming over? Maybe have unknown folks paired with your regular operators?

I certainly hope that those who know me know that I'm generous with my time and what I've been blessed with (or at least try to be), but at the same time, I've put in a not-insignificant amount to time and money into this project. So I'm just trying to get a sense from the more experienced among you how you go about approaching this topic.

So please feel free to leave a comment - or you can contact me directly offline if you'd rather. Really interested in hearing the different perspectives and approaches.

(Bonus if you have any funny stories to share involving Bright Boys and/or peanut butter sandwiches . . .)

Wordless Wednesday #171 - On Thursday

(sorry 'bout the snafu with the pic for this week's Wordless Wednesday - tried posting from my phone and it looked like it worked, but apparently hadn't. So here it is... again-ish)

Weekend Progress - Staging Yard & Cab Bus Mods

Haven't been able to do much with the layout lately due to work (both office and yard), but I took advantage of a stormy Saturday afternoon to make some changes requested by some of my operators (well, mainly Tom, but I'm sure he speaks for a future many).

One of the recurring problems he was having in the Cedar Hill (West End) staging yard is that cars would occasionally, randomly derail as trains were leaving. Knowing how experienced an operator Tom is, I knew it had to have something to do with the track, but I just couldn't figure it out. Until it happened to me - then I realized that the center-over spring in the Micro-Engineering turnout right at the throat of the yard was a little too sensitive in one direction. That is to say, the points would lock in both directions, but sometimes as cars were rolling over the points, the points would snap back in the other direction.

I tried different ways to adjust the tension, but nothing worked as reliably as I wanted. And being installed right at the yard throat, I didn't want to rip everything out and replace the turnout (especially since it was fine in all other respects). The solution turned out to be surprisingly simple:

Just needed to widen the hole in the throwbar to .052" to accommodate the pin on a Caboose Industries ground throw. Problem solved.

I'd also received some complaints concerns with the fascia in this area being a bit too high - it was obstructing the view of the cars' wheels and preventing a good roll-by inspection of departing trains. Even more importantly, the 33-train schedule I run (using so few staging tracks) requires a lot of swapping of equipment - and I too discovered how difficult it is to rail a car or locomotive when you can't see where the wheels contact the rails.

Unfortunately, I don't have a good "before" photo, so the above will have to suffice. As you see, I'd already cut back the staging lid last month, but you can see where the masonite fascia meets the plywood sidewall there, which resulted in a 3" high wall/obstruction along the front track.

So, out came the saber saw and down came the wall - well, cut down anyway (you can see the original height on the left end). There's still enough of a "lip" on the fascia to keep anything from falling to the floor, but now you can easily see to (re)rail equipment in this area. Hopefully, Tom will agree :^)

I also took his suggestion to move the UTP (Universal Throttle Panel, a.k.a. cab bus plug-in) from the far-right end of the yard to the throat where the staging operator spends most of his time. No more unnecessary cord stretching. Note also the handy-dandy throttle holster and radio for the operator here.

Moving that UTP started me rethinking some of the locations of my other panels. Now that I have a bunch of ops sessions under my belt, more-convenient UTP locations have become apparent. Thus....

I'm installing one at the left end of the Mill Hollow module (on the Air Line) and at the end of a long aisle. This is an "end-of-run"/branch of the cab bus, so I can get by with an inexpensive phone jack here.

Eventually, I plan to branch the cab bus again to go to an NCE fast clock repeater at the Agent/Operator's desk. With the Shore Line ops becoming more prominent, knowing the precise time that the staging guys are seeing on their throttles becomes even more critical. So I installed another UTP at Deep River where the cab bus branch will begin and make its way to the desk.

Not bad for an afternoon's work. Now I just have to wait for the final UTP to be delivered and wire up the remaining jacks, and I think the cab bus will finally be really and truly done. I've certainly come a long way from being totally wireless (for good reason). While wireless is still my preferred ops method (no tethers to get in the way!), it sure is nice having some extra throttle security. Even better, the bus lets me rely on NCE's built-in fast clock - a feature which, as I mentioned earlier, has become critical with the Shore Line ops.

Speaking of ops, I can't wait for this busy time at work to be over so I can get back to regular, monthly ops sessions. I've made a few important physical improvements since the last session, and have really dialed-in the schedule through Saybrook, so I'm eager to see how everything works out - and what new punch list items Tom and the rest of the gang will come up with!

Wordless Wednesday #170 - Hartford Skyline Backdrop

(Busiest time of the year for me at work right now, so everything else has gone to the far back burner - but I haven't missed a Wordless Wednesday yet and didn't want to this time either. And I even managed a few words!)

So, I found this image on the internets (see WW#168) - which would be an ideal start for the backdrop north of Wethersfield. It's even the right era. But it's B&W.

Fortunately, my friend Bob's friend Al is very talented at colorizing old photos and very generously reworked the image into something I think I can use (despite it's being a postcard - hope it doesn't pixelate too much when enlarged...)