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Dwayne Registered 
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Life is a funny thing... Yesterday I gave notice at work after years of being away from home on a constant basis (life of a truck driver). Decided it was time for a change in order to sleep in my own bed every night and spend time with the wife unit. Begin the process of looking for a new job come Monday... Anyways, with that decion made I decided that maybe it was a good time to make a change to the previous garden railroad I had started a few years ago and simply had very little time to play with. It was intended to be a simple point-to-point layout. Nothing fancy, a place to run a simple four wheel, batter powered/RC critter pulling a few cars from one end of the line to the other. Repeat and rinse as desired. Time at home being in short supply I only managed to hand lay about 75 feet of track over the past few years. Never really operated the critter on it to any extent worthy of mention. Don't even have a single freight car to pull behind it. Did I mention that I was rarely home? Now that I will be home daily I decided to pull up all the track yesterday afternoon. A drastic change to say the least. Of course, prior to putting on the gloves and yanking up the track I gave some thought to the design and location of the new railroad. Aside from a handful of battery powered type lokies, I have two small Accucraft live steamers... a Ruby and an Ida. I've had them for years and have yet to every fire them up. They are nothing more at the moment than dust collectors on my bookshelf. With this in mind, I gave the backyard a glance and immediately settled on my plan for the new Backyard & Southern RR (B.S. RR - 1:13.7 scale two-footer)... a peanut shaped loop of about 100 feet for continuous running with the steam up location right next to my existing patio.  The patio is about 8 inches lower than the steam up location/passing siding laid out with paint. Where Maggie is sitting in the photo below there is a slight rise of about 8 inches. From there the yard flattens out. I'll add another run of blocks on top of the existing blocks then back fill this loop area in the foreground of the photo for a completely level layout.  So that's the story on the new layout. Simple to start with for continuous running of the live steamers and if I feel the desire to expand later I can install a spur or two as I have a half acre yard to play with. |
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pipopak Moderator 
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Make sure you ALWAYS put the dot between the B and S. World if full of people with sick minds.... Jose (one of them). |
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Dwayne Registered
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pipopak wrote:Make sure you ALWAYS put the dot between the B and S. World if full of people with sick minds.... Jose (one of them). As am I. The initials weren't an accident.  |
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pipopak Moderator
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Brother!!! |
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Dwayne Registered
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Worked on adding a short retaining wall yesterday along the loop closest to the driveway using chunks of concrete I had busted out from another yard project. Definitely not as eye catching as natural stone but it'll suffice. Added fill to the entire area bringing it up just short of the top of the concrete blocks I had added. As I began to add fill it occurred to me that I needed a bridge of some sort on this layout so I cut in a ravine to justify the need for a bridge.  Next up is to begin laying track. But I suppose tomorrow will be spent looking for a job. Gotta sorta prioritize on this I guess. |
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mabloodhound Registered 
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Dwayne, looks good and a lot of back breaking work. BUT, if you want to save that tree that you filled around, you need to remove the dirt around the trunk. That much dirt will suffocate and kill the tree. The roots need to breathe so at least a foot or more away from the trunk, all the way around. That may not be enough as sometimes covering up the root system like that can kill it. But, if you incorporate the ring around the tree into your ravine, it will look just fine. |
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Dwayne Registered
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One thing I've learned is that the silver maples in my area are hard to kill. They are like weeds and ex-wives. Hell, it's hard to kill anything in Oklahoma. I realize folks mean well but I've yet to kill one of these buggers by adding a bit of dirt above their roots. And if it dies, I've got a million seedlings to replace it with. |
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pipopak Moderator
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I noticed your 0-4-0T going around already... Jose. |
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Dwayne Registered
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pipopak wrote:I noticed your 0-4-0T going around already... Jose. One of two. Hope on the left, Maggie on the right. Both rescue dogs. Sisters from different mothers.  Last edited on Mon May 11th, 2015 01:58 am by Dwayne |
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chasv Registered 
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like like like |
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Dwayne Registered
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A trio of photos from an elevated vantage point with the BS route roughed in using Paint on the pc. The bridge across the ravine is highlighted in red in the lowest photo.   |
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Helmut Registered 
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@Dwayne Unless you want to call your Station "Achenbach" ( John Armstrong Style ) I recommend to have all access areas at a level some 12"..20" lower than the tracks. Your back will be grateful later on - it is no big use in having your layout at shoe-level. |
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chasv Registered
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good old marking pain good for marking every thing looks kike a fun project |
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Dwayne Registered
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Raising the line entirely doesn't appeal to me in the least. That's the point of indoor layouts on benchwork. Having the steam up area beside the patio elevated and the remainder of track at ground level was the intent. When I bought this house just shy of four years ago the backyard was a barren, desolate place. Aside from the trees, it was bleak and uninviting. Typical of what most USians want as their lives are spent indoors in front of televisions becoming fat and lazy. The previous owner pretty much smoked himself to near death and financial ruin with that approach. That's not for me. In less than four years the backyard has gone from this...  to this...  The front yard from this...  to this...  During the past four years I was lucky if I was home a total of 80 days per year because of my job. During those four years I've vastly improved the yard, excavated tons and tons of buried concrete, reshingled the roof of my home by myself, remodeled the bathroom and accomplished a million other things. My wife calls me a machine. A little bit of bending down isn't about to slow me down, even as I age. They say that only the good die young. Considering that, my current age of 50 is my infancy as I'll never die.  Last edited on Thu May 14th, 2015 01:51 pm by Dwayne |
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Herb Kephart Moderator 
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You can always sit like a Buddha on the patio paving for steaming duties and train one dog to bring water and fuel for the loco, the other dog to bring Caronas and Fireball for the engineer. Don't get them mixed up as the op session progresses, however--- Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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Herb... now I know why we're friends. We think alike. Being home now all the time is going to lead to greater intake of Fireball. I'm gonna need a really well paying job. |
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chasv Registered
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I am with you i got layed of /retired about3 years ago is still don't watch tv or smoke i have messed around with building bench work that didn't go far or train cars and kept the yard with a garden in the back |
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Dwayne Registered
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Surprising how much I can accomplish being an unemployed bum... Completed adding all the additional blocks along the patio, building the retaining wall and adding fill. Even added some Vinca (periwinkle) to the top of the small hill that sits in the middle of the south loop.   The ravine is about 18 inches deep and 24 inches wide at the opening and narrows to about six inches wide at it's head. Overall length is about eight feet. I placed my unfinished Bachmann Plymouth on a board about where the bridge will be located.  The south loop will have an approximate radius of 72 inches. The north loop which goes around a pecan tree will be greater as it isn't restricted by geographical features (the driveway and patio) that limits the south loop's radius.  Hopefully get started on the track soon. All handlaid of course.  |
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Dwayne Registered
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The wife unit goes up to Regina, Saskatchewan (Canuckada) to visit her daughter next week for five or six days. I might extend my "retirement" until she comes back which could mean I get some significant track put down. Ever heard of pecan oil? Essentially it is an oil extracted from pressed pecans. I have about half a dozen mature pecan trees in my backyard as well as a massive laurel oak, a few post oaks, a handful of silver maples, redbud trees of various sizes, a few red cedars and an old apple tree. Or I do until a tornado rips it all out deposits it between here and Kansas.  As I've been working on the layout I've been contemplating the "reason" for the BS (aside from my just liking model trains). Typically many modelers playing with narrow gauge trains are into some sort of mining operation. Being me... I desired something different. That's where pecan oil fits into the grand scheme of things. The BS's primary revenue source will be the Sciurus Carolinensis Pecan Company. It will be located at the foot of the pecan tree centered in the middle of the north loop of the BS. BTW, some research online shows that a liter of pecan oil runs about $25-$30USD. And I let the squirrels have it all each fall.    In my mind's eye, an short string of three or four small tank cars are shuttled in and out of SCPCo. during an operating session and brought down to the siding beside the patio (need to think of names for towns and geographical features). From there the product is unloaded to be shipped to the fictional big world beyond the land of BS to be used by fine culinary establishments the world over. Empty tank cars are returned to the SCPCo. to be refilled. An occasional boxcar could make the round as well bringing in supplies or machinery used to pick the pecans and extract the oil. The beauty of the idea is that tank cars look the same empty or full, unlike a skip or gondola filled with rocks. That's the preliminary basis of the BS existing. Subject to change of course. And improvement. Nothing fancy or convoluted like a mining operation. Last edited on Thu May 14th, 2015 10:31 pm by Dwayne |
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chasv Registered
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don't forget pecan pies |
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Dwayne Registered
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Love pecan pie with a good cup of coffee. Now I'm hungry... |
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chasv Registered
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my brothers and i go to Chickasha in March for the pre war auto swapmeet |
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Herb Kephart Moderator
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Plus two on the pie and java! What i find strange is the piece that you have had for years, and has been in quite a few pix, that no one has questioned. And these guys are supposed to be railroad orientated. Hmmmm--- Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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Started cutting ties this morning. Within a hour I had a couple of hundred. Each measures 3/8"x3/8"x4". Used treated fence panel boards from Home Depot. Cheap and plentiful. I secured the code 250 aluminum rail to the ties using 5/8" x 19 wire nails. I had used Micro Engineering spikes before but found out that as they backed out of the ties they often would rotate so that the head no longer held the base of the rail. I'm thinking that the current wire nails with their round heads won't do the same. And as they protrude through the bottom of the ties, I'm hoping that a coating of rust develops on the ends to keep them from backing out.  After three hours of spiking I managed to put down about 18 feet of track. I use a railbender Herb made for me a few years ago. Works like a charm.  Ties are spaced 2 scale feet apart. Posed my little live steamer Ida on the track.   |
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chasv Registered
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four moosies |
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Dwayne Registered
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Added two more six foot sections of track this morning after building a temporary bridge for the ravine.  |
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chasv Registered
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one more moosie for the bridge that makes 5 |
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Si. Moderator 
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 Hi Dwayne. Looks like a great spot to build a railroad. I layed some 1:24 track a while back... ...& used PECO IL-13 spikes... ...they have a SQUARE shank, & don't rotate. Not sure if they are big enough for 1/4" rail though ?? In the U.K they are £3.35p for a pack of 400. Cheers. Si. |
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Dwayne Registered
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Thanks guys. We had a pretty good thunderstorm last night (reports of tornadoes south of me a few miles) and the newly installed track came through well. Had some ponding going on where the trackwork was behaving like a damn. Some quick excavation of a shallow ditch by the sole track crew employee drained it away quickly towards the ravine before a track washout could occur. Have to take a break from putting together track today as the wife unit has a honey-do chore for me. |
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Bill M Registered
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Your track is looking GOOD, Dwayne. I'm not very far from you here in Norman. I think we should get together this summer. Not too many 7/8ths modelers in this area! Bill Martinsen |
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Dwayne Registered
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Thanks Bill. I'm located on the west city of OKC near the 1-40 & Rockwell area. Would enjoy getting together. Rainy weather dampened progress on track laying but the sole track gang employee of the BS managed to knock together another couple of six foot sections and get them down to extend the line on both sides towards what will be the north loop.   |
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Herb Kephart Moderator
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Progressing nicely, probably due to Hope and Maggie's uncredited help. Plans for when the grass starts to grow where the track is? You know someone who grinds up anything that fits under the lawnmower--but you are safe, in that he is in PA, and the 8 gallon mower tank limits his range. Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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The pups are no help unfortunately. No plans to allow grass of any kind to grow within the layout area. This applies to the rest of the yard as well as I've declared it a 'no grass' zone. Unfortunately Roundup is toxic and expensive so the process requires manual removal of grass followed by a layer of mulch. Flower beds, shrubs, trees... all superior to grass which is a hassle to mow when it gets knee high. |
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pipopak Moderator
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... get a goat... Jose (always so helpful!) |
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Dwayne Registered
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No goats because of city restrictions. |
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pipopak Moderator
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Get one without horns and pretend it is a dog. Jose. |
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Salada Registered 
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Herb Kephart wrote:
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Herb Kephart Moderator
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Correct, Mr M! Dwayne, send the good man the first cup of pecan oil! Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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Fellers, I've been working on the railroad. ♫ Began with a quick trip to the big box hardware store to pick up some lumber for tie material. After about an hour of running boards through my table saw I had a container fairly filled with ties.  As it was a sunny day for once (with all the rain we've had lately I'm beginning to feel like I live in the UK.... lol) I began putting some track together.   I also worked on improving the appearance of my temporary bridge. Added some sides to it to widen it out to just beyond the width of the ties. Nailed down a stringer along both sides on top of the ties and then after masking it, gave it a few coats of rattle can black paint to give the impression of a steel girder bridge. When the paint dried added ballast to finish it off.  Since I was up early yesterday to take the wife unit to the airport for her visit to Canuckada I only managed the one additional section of track and the bridge before calling it a day.  Rain moved in again this morning. Gives me a chance to put together some more track. |
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chasv Registered
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a lovely work of art I remember the switch stand from a looong ago post so didn't think of it |
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Dwayne Registered
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Not many notice the switch stand. I once had one that had the tall lamp extension that allowed for an Adlake lantern to be mounted at the top. Still have the lantern but not that particular switch stand.   Managed to put together another 3 six foot sections of track today. Oddly enough I hadn't really paid much attention to how long it takes to assemble a section so I timed it... 50 minutes total which includes making two rail joiners.   This being a long weekend and with the wife unit gone I might be able to complete the entire loop in a few days. |
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chasv Registered
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looking very good and great pictures too |
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Dwayne Registered
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In spite of a steady rainfall this afternoon, the BS trackgang of me pushed on with the laying of track. My persistence paid off when the final section was jockeyed into position and the last four rail joiners were slid into place completing the Backyard & Southern Railroads mainline loop. Eschewing the time honored tradition of hammering in a final "golden spike", a much more down to earth praxis was observed with a toast of recent vint of Fireball whiskey. Management, quite impressed by their sole employee's persistence of seventeen days of intense labor including scouting out a worthy location, surveying the area and prepping terra firma and installing approximately one-hundred 1:1 actual feet of 1:13.7 scale two-foot narrow gauge, graciously gave the entire bottle of Fireball to it's valued employee and the following day off to sleep it off if necessary.  Last edited on Mon May 25th, 2015 09:29 pm by Dwayne |
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Dwayne Registered
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A few more views of the completed mainline...   |
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chasv Registered
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well done by the track crew |
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Dwayne Registered
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Here's a short, poor quality video of my stripped down Davenport critter running along the rails of the BS. Temporary power comes from 4-AA batteries with a simple on/off switch. Still mulling over the technical aspect of the RailBoss radio control installation.  Click here to view video Last edited on Tue May 26th, 2015 04:33 pm by Dwayne |
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Dwayne Registered
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I got to wondering how long the 4 AA batteries would last so I let the critter do it's thing. After 45 minutes it was still going without much slow down. It takes the lokie about 3 minutes to make a complete circuit at what I would estimate would be a scale speed of 4-5mph. The RailBoss requires a minimum of 7v input. Looks like I'll have to make a run to the local RC shop to see what they have in the way of LiPo batteries. |
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SteveF Registered 
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I am truly impressed, Dwayne. Not everyone handlays outdoor track. Only the certifiable. Your original track plan indicated there will be a double ended siding. When can we expect that?   Last edited on Sun May 31st, 2015 02:21 pm by SteveF |
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SteveF Registered
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Dwayne wrote:I got to wondering how long the 4 AA batteries would last so I let the critter do it's thing. After 45 minutes it was still going without much slow down. It takes the lokie about 3 minutes to make a complete circuit at what I would estimate would be a scale speed of 4-5mph. Just a thought... You can buy a lot of 9 volt alkaline batteries for what you will spend on a 7.2 volt LiPo. And, you don't have to spend $80.00 USD for a "smart charger," either. I might go that route, especially if my only battery powered loco was your critter, and the rest, live steam. |
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chasv Registered
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nice video |
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Dwayne Registered
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Things will be slowing down now that I found a job. But at least there will be evenings and weekends. Since I already had an investment in the RailBoss system, it wasn't that much to buy a Li-Po and charger. Only problem I have is fitting it all under the hood of the stock hood of the Davenport. Not quite enough room but I'm working on a remedy that I think will make the lokie slightly different from all the others out there. |
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chasv Registered
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bummer about finding a job |
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Dwayne Registered
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I know... |
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Bill M Registered
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Dwayne - I'm also working on a Davenport project for 7/8n2 (sort of). I removed the stack of steel weights, used a belt sander to remove about 1/2 inch from the front of each one, then reinstalled them. This gives me enough room to put 6 AA NiMH batteries between the weights and the front of the hood. Bill M. Attachment: Battery pack and wiring-2.jpg (Downloaded 115 times) |
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Dwayne Registered
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Bill, nice looking critter you've got there. So far mine is coming along pretty good. New 7/8ths sized cab of course. Getting the Railboss in took some thought but I figured out a way to do it while allowing for easy removal and installation of the lipo battery. Hoping to get it all buttoned up and ready for painting this weekend. |
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Tony Walsham Registered 
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I left my Davenport demo loco in 1:20.3 scale. I managed to fit a 4s 1500 mah Li-Ion flat pack, Deltang based ALPHA-3v2 RX/ESC and MyLocosound all under the hood.  The battery is charged in situ via a regular servo lead cable. Endurance is well over two hours. |
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Dwayne Registered
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Been working on the Bachmann Davenport the past few days...  |
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Dwayne Registered
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Before upsizing to 7/8n2 and after...  |
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chasv Registered
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amazing a bunch of moosies |
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Ray Dunakin Registered
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Wow, that little Davenport really turned out nice! |
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Dwayne Registered
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Finally got around to installing the entire RailBoss radio control system. And since it works I must've done it correctly. Under the hood sans the 2S Li-po battery...  ... and with the battery in place...  |
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chasv Registered
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way to go 3 cheers |
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Herb Kephart Moderator
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Time to start hauling pecan oil! Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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Now that the lokie is RC operational, I'll have to get on to adding the turnout for the pecan oil industry as well as the passing siding where the steamup location will be located. And building some tank cars. New job made a serious dent in my free time... |
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chasv Registered
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too much work not enough fun |
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Dwayne Registered
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Ran the Davenport around the BS for a couple of hours. One change I'm in the process of making is to use velcro to attach the receiver to the cab ceiling instead of the fixed holder I originally intended to use. That option didn't allow for easy access for the connectors to the receiver pins. Anyways, that's the reason the receiver is sorta just hanging in the cab for the moment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIF1jYNW6j0 |
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chasv Registered
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an epic motion picture |
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Herb Kephart Moderator
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And all done while working the transmitter with one hand the I pad with the other--steady hands, buddy! Herb |
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Dwayne Registered
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I actually set the TX down. The Rail Boss even allows for turning off the TX and the lokie will continue running at a constant speed. I do like the momentum feature too. Actually shot this with my cheap ol' Android phone. After uploading it to YouTube I was queried by them if I wanted to edit for the shakiness which I did. |
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avel Registered
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For the Davenport did you just use what you had on hand? Did you have a plan or just went with what looked appealing to the eye? It looks really nice! Also like the track. |
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Dwayne Registered
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avel wrote:For the Davenport did you just use what you had on hand? Did you have a plan or just went with what looked appealing to the eye? Yup, just used what I had on hand. The hood's cover is actually from a defunk laptop charger that I split apart. It's width was an exact match to the existing hood but provided about 1/2 inch more height than the stock, curved hood cover which helped with the appearance of upsizing the 1:20.3 base to 1:13.7. I tend to wing it with my ideas which I find more fun than trying to follow detailed plans. If it ain't fun it's not worth doing in my opinion. Unfortunately the RailBoss ESC has taken to shutting down suddenly if I'm running the loco in forward above 75% throttle. Works fine at full throttle going in reverse. Not happy with this and am working on an alternative solution at this time as I'm in discussions with another SE modeler on another forum who, like myself, only wants simple forward/reverse/variable speed control. The RailBoss allows for directional lighting, momentum, horns, sound and the ability to keep running while the TX is off... things I really don't need or even want that runs up the cost of the product. The track itself is still maintaining itself to the original alignment in spite of the fact that it was simply layed on the ground and covered with ballast. This works for my locale where frost heaving will never be an issue. I do occassionally use a small whisk broom to move dirt/sand from beside the track into the ballast itself which sort of acts like mortar. Other than when my two medium size dogs go to playfully chasing each other and kicking up ballast here and there, the track is fairly robust and doesn't move. Last edited on Mon Jul 13th, 2015 10:01 pm by Dwayne |
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Dwayne Registered
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Latest update: The RailBoss system developed a snag. Seems that when running at anything above 75-80% throttle going forward would cause the esc to shut down abruptly. I would have to back the throttle down to 0% and allow the esc to reboot before starting forward again. This problem didn't occur when running in reverse. An exchange of emails with the RailBoss' developer never rectified the problem although I have to give him kudos for attempting to resolve the issue. The last resort being to send the RailBoss to him to be tested for $25. I figured I'd save the money and put it towards another option... that being the purchase of a ProBoat ESC which has the simple forward/reverse feature I want. I picked one up for $42.  Temporarily stuffed the ESC into the hood of the Davenport...  Dropped in the LiPo...  And shot a video of the test run... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVy82WWpzuc |
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Dwayne Registered
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Spent the afternoon finalizing the positions of the ESC and the on/off switch. I used velcro to hold the ESC and the LiPo battery. Time will tell how well it holds up to the job. Positioned the on/off switch on the left side of the hood.  The only remaining component to position is the receiver seen here riding loosely in the cab.  So far I'm liking this setup. Since I have no interest in having sound or lighting on my engines, this was an easy, inexpensive way to go. |
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