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oztrainz
Super Moderator
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Hi Lee,
I'm glad that Hopper #44 is now behaving itself.
Well done on the fault-finding and rectification.
You have to be happy when the "simple" fix works,
and you dodge the "harder fix" of turnout excavation and replacement.
____________________
Regards,
John Garaty
Unanderra in oz
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Lee B
Registered
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oztrainz wrote:
I'm glad that Hopper #44 is now behaving itself.
Well done on the fault-finding and rectification.
You have to be happy when the "simple" fix works,
and you dodge the "harder fix" of turnout excavation and replacement.
Oh, how so very true.
I was getting worried I was going to have to yank that turnout, which would be a nightmare.
The blue point underneath is wedged between two vertical supports with maybe a few millimeters each side.
There is NO room for error when placing something in there.
Si. wrote:
I like the finger/hand (thumb) photo ! 
I am always curious to REALLY see the 'scale' of the models. 
The classic 'soda can' shots are OK, but fingers ! ... 
... are better.
I can't quite recall the story, or if it's the RIGHT story ...
... but didn't you find a coal car that the 3D designer ...
... DIDN'T want to print in On30 ?
Yeah
There were two people offering or getting ready to make ET&WNC hoppers as 3D prints,
and one wouldn't even consider O scale.
A third had the scans done but never went into production.
The other one who had offered some stuff in O wasn't going that way either for the hoppers
(he has a ET&WNC boxcar and excursion car, but neither is in O yet)
then suddenly there it was.
So I jumped on one to see how it worked out.
It's the closest thing there is to a "RTR" ET&WNC freight car.
I just ordered two more which means when I'm done, I'll have eight of them
(5 of the laser kit ones from On30IMA).
As for the photo, the perspective makes my hands look much larger than they really are.
These hoppers are generally about the length and heights of a 50 foot boxcar in HO scale.
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
https://willysmb44.webs.com/modeltrains.htm
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
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Lee B
Registered
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Last night I finished what I think will be the last new hopper cars for the layout.
These are 3D-prints made by Western Rails.
I found that the plastic molded 'coal' loads for Bachmann gondolas will drop right into these cars,
if you break off the spacer tabs from underneath and cut notches into the underside of each end.
I then covered them with real scale-sized coal.
I already had five of these types of cars from laser kits from On30IMA,
and now I have eight of these cars, which were very common on the ET&WNC.
These are numbered 36, 43 and 1.
All numbers of hoppers that were running on the line, to the end of operations in 1950.
36, because that's the birth year for both of my parents.
43 because it's always 1943 on my layout.
And 1 because you hardly ever see any cars with that number, so I had to have it.
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
https://willysmb44.webs.com/modeltrains.htm
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
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Lee B
Registered
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A big surprise came in the mail today.
An ET&WNC spike recovered from work on the right of way,
just before you get to the first tunnel and covered deck bridge,
while heading toward Hampton from Elizabethton.
The man who sent it to me is with the crew,
clearing the old right of way to extend the hiking trail from Elizabethton.
(I assume with new bridges eventually)
That line never had standard gauge tracks on it,
so now I know for sure I have a 3-foot gauge spike from the ET&WNC !
I had bought a couple of badly-worn spikes a few years ago,
from when they ripped out the tracks in downtown Elizabethton,
and I was surprised to see those matched the one I just got.
Clearly they came from the same batch.
While I assumed the other two
(which I had cleaned up and painted)
were from the steam era, due to how badly pitted they were.
I know for sure this one is,
as it came from a spot that was nowhere near the dual gauge,
and was ripped up in 1951.
Front to back:
1. Spike recovered from the Doe River Gorge, from the 'Hillbilly World' tourist operation.
2. ET&WNC spike recovered from the right of way, between Valley Forge and tunnel one, heading toward Hampton.
3. ET&WNC spike from downtown Elizabethton.
4. Modern sample spike, chromed.
____________________
-Lee
Commanding Officer, 796th Railway Operating Battalion (in On30 gauge)
https://willysmb44.webs.com/modeltrains.htm
Photos of my layout: https://www.flickr.com/photos/53587910@N05/albums/72157668176638961
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Mooodern microchip technology huh ? 
