Image above captured on the upper deck of the layout where scenery has progressed to some extent...
Shot with Olympus C-750

Welcome to the SP Oregon Division!

An N Scale RR depicting the good old days along "The Friendly".

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Cascade Sub Ops Sess Changes, and Update

   No Ops on the RR since last.... June.  Wow, didn't realize it took that long to get the new business location up and running.  Last time I even had time to work on the RR was when John and Chip came over to help around xmas.  Now that our shop is open for business, I am able to resume work on many things around the house, including the RR.  As preparations were being made for our first ops sess of the year, news came that our signalling / communications engineer had been hospitalized.  We are all trying to remain optimistic on a speedy and thorough recovery.   Intent is to start ops on a regular bi-montly schedule (on the same day of month), from a revolving call list order so that I have less coordination to deal with, and crews can either sign up ahead, or wait for a harassing call during the interim.
   Issues with sound decoder stability, and a rare intermittent false overload issue (since rewiring some of the power distribution sections), were mostly resolved due to a mis-wiring issue in the staging yard, as well as the installation of a new 8 amp power supply... Time will tell, but preliminary testing appears quite optimistic.
   I have installed all the remaining sections of curtain, except for a few that still need a bit of finish trim work.  To complete the look from layout height down thru the floor, I am finally filling in the remaining cushioned floor tile sections that were 45 degree angle cuts and partial sections.  This just seals the overall black finish look, which Im having a hard time getting pics of due to the black colors lacking any detail.... it looks pretty sweet (IMHO).
edit- phone pic added

   Eagerly awaiting the release on Wheels of time Flats, Bulkead Flats, and their most recent announcement, the Evergreen PC&F Evergreen boxes (woo hoo).  The MT SW1500 should be out any time now, and looking forward to doing a tug-o-war with one of those and our modified tungsten LL SW1200 yard goat.
     Looking out the back door of our shop, is a bit of mainline action, and bagged this phone pic of the Oakland one afternoon:

Thats the shop down below in the right corner.  That shot made me do a double-take with that kids face on the container behind the power...  Regular traffic passing by with a step out the back door, is currently down to the daily Rock train (with three sets of distributed power throughout), the Oakland, Saugus Local, and boring parade of commuters.  Hopefully traffic picks up again soon.
   Back to work on the SP Oregon Division.   :)