First Steam Engine Weathering Project

Posted Feb 28, 2019
Updated Oct 01, 2022

One of the ways in which I’m preparing for a future model railroad is by practicing weathering techniques, which is an aspect of modeling that I had always admired but never attempted. Over the past couple of years, I’ve purchased several low-price, old models to practice on. They’re copies of some of the models made in the 1970s that my dad had when I first became interested in model railroads. Depending on how they turn out, I might end up using some of them on a future layout, but since they’re models of locomotives built at from around 1915 through the late 60s, and my next layout will certainly model some time from the mid-30s to mid-40s, I certainly won’t use all of them. At the very least, the steam engines might be useful just sitting on the track somewhere as scenery, to help fill out a yard or engine house until I have enough higher-quality models to replace them with. Most importantly, they’re cheap models to practice on.

Practice Models:

The first …

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My First DCC System

Posted Feb 25, 2019
Updated Mar 04, 2019

I’ve never owned or used a DCC system before. From reading Model Railroader off and on since the 80s, Digitrax was a DCC brand name I was familiar with, and one that I’d most often notice on club layouts at train shows. So when I decided last November to look into DCC systems more closely, in order to get an idea of which brand’s system I’d want to eventually purchase, I first looked at the systems offered by Digitrax.

A starter set seemed the obvious choice, so I downloaded the user manual for their Evolution Advanced 5amp/8amp Duplex Starter Set and read the entire document to get a better understanding of how Digitrax, and DCC in general, works. The duplex version costs a couple hundred dollars more than the non-duplex version, which seemed a bit steep, especially considering I have the option of achieving wireless control via the Digitrax PR4 USB interface (sold separately) and JMRI. But after reading through the manual, I decided it’d be worth the extra $200 to have the option of going wireless while using the system’s main throttle. I also had a very good feeling about the Digitrax system, the additional circuits available for …

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Posted in: DCC

Overhauling 1970s Mantua Steam Engines

Posted Feb 21, 2019
Updated Oct 01, 2022

After obtaining my dad’s 70s-era Mantua steam engine from his B&O passenger train in the summer of 2017, I began watching eBay for others like it, to purchase for parts to make repairs to the engine, which has a cracked plastic cab, a broken tender step, and a broken coupler mount on the tender shell. Fixing the problems on the tender would require replacing its shell. Fixing the plastic cab would require replacing the cab.

I’ve since purchased two copies of this model, but both of them turned out to be two different shades of blue, neither of them matching the blue of my dad’s model, making them useless for those two replacement parts. So, I’ve decided to scrap the plan to replace those broken parts on my dad’s model. I had considered repainting it black before finally finding examples of prototype B&O Pacifics being painted blue, such as 5315 and 5309. Now that I have two more copies of this model, I’ve decided to keep dad’s model as-is and work on overhauling the two copies.

Overhauling will include the following:

  • Remove all paint (99% complete on one model as of 2/21/19)
  • File down the mold separation line visible on
…

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Building and Painting My First Structure Kit in 30 Years

Posted Jan 24, 2019
Updated Oct 01, 2022

At the Great Train Show in Puyallup last weekend, I picked up two small DPM kits for $15 each: Pam’s Pet Shop and Kelly’s Saloon. They’re both fairly small, two-story structures. I immediately started working on building and painting the pet shop kit, which I think I’ll make a cafe or restaurant out of.

As with most situations involving a user manual or instruction sheets, I first read the entire instructions, and then re-read parts of it more than once, to fully understand the manufacturer’s intentions before doing anything. But I modified the assembly procedure slightly, based on tips I’ve read in Model Railroader. For example, the instructions say to assemble and glue the entire model before painting, and it didn’t mention using a primer, but I followed MR’s advice by using a primer made for plastic (Montana Plastic Primer, as recommended by a clerk at my local Blick Art Supplies), and I airbrushed the window frames before gluing them to the walls. As I write this, the windows still aren’t attached (more on that later).

Again following advice from Kalmbach’s Basic Painting & Weathering for Model Railroaders, I painted the exterior walls a base …

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B&O Color Notes

Posted Jan 14, 2019
Updated Oct 01, 2022

From the Yahoo! B&O Group:

Here is a thumbnail B&O passenger car timeline:

  • In Civil War times into the 1880’s, mention is made of B&O passenger cars painted brown.  Photos suggest head end cars might be yellow. 
  • At some point, the olive coach green was adopted, it is close enough to Pullman Green for most modelers.
  • During 1900-1906 or so, passenger cars on the New York – Washington Royal Blue route were painted blue.  Discontinued due to durability problems.
  • B&O introduced the famous blue and gray with the new Capitol Limited train sets in 1937.  This scheme was restricted to name train matched sets and their substitute cars until 1953.   All other cars remained olive coach green until 1947, including head end cars.
  • In early 1947, B&O replaced olive coach green with Bando blue with an imitation gold stripe, for most cars including head end cars.   Wagontop express cars did not have the gold stripe, name train car sets remained blue and gray.
  • In early 1953 the blue and gray scheme was extended to most cars.  Exceptions were express cars, which remained blue.  There was a 1953 B&O memo that non-air conditioned cars would remain blue too, yet this was
…

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Simulating the Slight On/Off Fade of Incandescent Lights When Using LEDs

Posted Dec 23, 2018
Updated May 01, 2019

When LEDs turn on, they reach their full brightness more quickly than incandescent lights do, and when they turn off, they reach full darkness more quickly than incandescent lights. The effect is particularly noticeable when comparing flashing LEDs with flashing incandescent lights, such as the red lights on railroad crossing signals. The difference is slight, but it’s perceptible enough that they don’t look quite right on layouts depicting a time before LEDs were used in crossing signals. To look right, there should be a barely perceptible moment in time when you can see some amount of light in both lights at the same time. I’ve wanted to find a way to simulate that effect by making the LEDs in my signals fade on and off at a similar speed, instead of having them just alternate between on and off. Having recently discovered Arduinos, I’m excited that I can achieve this look on my future crossing signals (and other types of lights) by using an Arduino to control them.

I wrote code that creates a timer for alternating between two phases, and initiates fade-on and fade-off functions for both lights each time the phase changes, at a suitable rate for …

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