2024 Amherst Large Scale Show

Video

Glenn's Freedom Train locomotive, April 2024.  Should be much better at 2025 show. Stay tuned.

Hello, Dolly!

Getting this ready for Amherst show. Movie theme song will be playing from tail car. 

Trucks on Laser Cutter

I got a great deal on about a dozen G boxcars on eBay a while back. They're all without trucks, so I came up with a pattern to make them. (I've got plenty of wheelsets picked up for cheap at shows.)  Here are three trucks coming off the cutter. They go together pretty quickly.

An actual train!

Spend yesterday afternoon at NHGRS member Ron Bart's home socializing with several club members, and of course playing trains.  We finally motivated to get a few pieces of equipment ready and tested, and ran an actual NH&GB train.  

I got this little 0-4-0 from a Craigslist ad a couple of years ago. We repainted it for the NH&GB, and I reworked the pilot and front coupler for better use as a switcher; the coupler needs to be cut back a bit, for sure. 

It has a homemade RC controller comprised of an inexpensive two-relay RC board, an Arduino Mini controller with code by yours truly, and an L298 motor driver board. I was particularly interested in how long the three 18650 cells would last.  It ran all afternoon, and was still going when we called it quits; Way better than hoped for.

Video evidence here: https://youtu.be/2ax2uxVBSCU

Let's Run Something!

 Absolutely PERFECT day, after a very hot summer.  So here's an actual (very small) train running around the turning loop east of North Hampton.

I have this little 0-4-0 (Craigslist buy a year or two ago) running with a homemade RC system I made using a cheapo RC relay board, an Arduino mini, and an L298N motor driver board.  You can see three 18650 cells sticking out the top of the tender.

Also, the boxcar is something I bought from eBay a while ago, lacking couplers and trucks.  I used the laser cutter to make bolsters for the couplers, and also used it to custom-make truck side frames (because they cost crazy much to buy); they still need bearing box covers and a coat of black paint.

Click Thumbnail for Video

HO Scale news:  Glenn's been working on a long-term project modeling the MBTA Green Line.  This building, 2001 Beacon Street, is prominent at Cleveland Circle.  The model, including our first significant use of laser-cut HO walls and windows, looks pretty cool!

Getting started on the (Big) Water Feature...

For the "Great Bay" part of the North Hampton & Great Bay, we'll have a fairly large water feature on the downhill side of the railroad, near the treeline in the back yard.  It will be three rectangles of varying sizes placed end-to-end, at decreasing elevations, with cascades between them.

This pic shows the materials we've got staged to begin construction.  Those are used hot tub covers leaning against the tree, and a whole bunch of pressure treated lumber, which will be the bottom and sides, respectively, of the water feature.

Good news:  The discarded tub covers were free from a local dealer that accepts them as trade-ins.

Bad news:  The nearly 400 feet of PT lumber was... ahem... NOT free!

Stay tuned for progress, hopefully soon!  --J&G