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@charliestrains
10.9.19
Yeah, itās been a while. Someone asked bout the train so I thought I should post something - Itās been a nutso summer/fall but back at it a little bit anyway. Pretty much done all I can on renoās weāre undertaking in the house. Flooring, chimney rebuild and fireplace install are being done āprofessionallyā so Iām off the hook if things go wrong š¤Ŗ Hope to post some new pics before the end of the month.
Cheers
5.18.19
Gotta love, or hate customs more the latter. Three days so far customs has been holding it. Now I know why people have USA postal boxes.... You listening customs? Errrrrrrr
5.16.19
No pictures to post yet. Lots of prep work again though. The track I ordered has arrived in Canada. Currently in customs. Supplier ships by snail mail so hopefully it will be here by the end of next week and I can get it up.
All for now.
5.3.2019
Well, itās been a long week. Lots of progress as evidenced in this video. Time for a break, that time of year lots of yard work to be done. Likely be a month or so before anything new gets posted unles it rains - doh - wait a minute thats the norm these days. One day of quasi decent weather followed by six days of rain and then repeat. Says something for the islands - Aruba in particular - most sunny days in a year of all the islands!!!!!!
4.25.19
Thought Iād better post something befor the month of May arrives.!!!!!
Itās been a busy few months but Iām finally back at the train.
This is where I left off Christmas Eve
The last week or so has been pretty productive.
Finally ordered the parts I need to get my 675 locomotive running and they shipped from the supplier Wednesday. Hope to see them by the end of next week. Iām excited for that.
Lots of bell hangers installed and 6 or 7 track (copper and acrylic) hangers up. Supposed to be a rainy day tomorrow so hope to get enough track hangers up that Iām done over top of the pool table and can take my scaffolding down.
Sheriās a tad anxious about my spread LOL so Iād like to get some stuff finished and cleaned up a bit.
Jenn and her hoodlum pool team will be here in a few weeks so I have the goal of being done in the pool table area by then.
Some pics of this weeks progress.
All for now. Hopefully more at the end of the weekend.
Cheers,
Chief Engineer
3.22.19
Well, itās been a while. Tied up up with a couple family situations that are now past and my spring golf course work., They say springing is coming, and Iāve seen some signs but itās a bit away yet me thinks.
Golf course stuff is pretty much done should be a hundred percent done by 3.27.19 so back at it FINALLY
Anyway, nothing much visually to show but I have sourced some command control stuff and got that up and running tonight with a conventional locomotive. Good enough for now, or so I say time will tell. I also got some cool command locomotives so Iām anxious to try them but would prefer to do that on at least a completed loop if not a more complicated track.
So hope to get back at track this weekend.
Cheers
1.20.19
Nothing obvious accomplished this week. I did however get lots of rod shaped to the curves and installed. One more piece to install and a few screws to put in to hold the track in place and Iāll be able start expanding the track.
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
1.20.19 Bending success!!!
So we tried bending acrylic rod today. We did a simple one, only bends one way, not an āSā. Takes a while - 30 minutes - to heat the rod up in the oven at 225F in convection mode. From what Iāve read, you dont want to heat it at higher temperatures or you run the risk of the acrylic blistering and/or discolouring.
Iām an accident waiting to happen in the kitchen so Sheri ran the oven for me.
Great success!!! So now that we know that we can do several at a time. Plan is to use a curve track section as a pattern/mould - which we did with the first one - put two pieces of Rod on the track between the out and inner rails. Take a second piece and put it upside down on top of them and zip tie the tracks together to maintain the shape while the acrylic cools/hardens.
1.14.19
Well, itās been a while. But there was Christmas, followed by a solom New Yearās Eve due to a family illness, closely followed by the sad and unfortunate passing of Sheriās brother at far to young an age. 52...
Thatās in the past now and time to get going. Iāve spent a few days prepping boards - the black ones between the horizontal arcrylic of the hanger and the track. Those have a layer of cork on them to help dampen the track noise.
In addition, Iāve been centring ALL the boards Iāve put up thus far on their respective horizontal and fastening the track to them. As opposed to the very few I did for Christmas Eve. The Christmas tree is gone so Iām back in the corner.
If you look at previous posts there is no arcrylic between the bell hangers mounted on the ceiling near the corner due to the curve in the track. So there are two in that corner I need to complete. That will be an experiment in heating and shaping the rod to follow the curve of the track. Hopefully in the next few days.
Then there are four similar over the theatre seating, and of course Sheri needs to make the tunnel entrance look like a proper tunnel entrance.
All what I call ātrimā work which admittedly Iām not great at doing.
Once that ātrimmingā is done Iāll move on to completing more track. Trying to discipline myself by saying āno more track laying until the earlier trim work is done!!!
All For Now,
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
12.24.18
Well, it is, Christmas Eve.
Iāve been done the honey do list for a while now. However I had a few things on the āCharlie wants to do listā to complete before I sat down to post this long overdue blog.
The train is far from from complete, but itās a hobby after all. So it will never be done in the true sense of the word ācompleteā.
I believe I said in my very first post that I hoped to have it up in running in some shape or for for Christmas Eve didnāt I?
Merry Christmas Everyone
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
The real photographer has arrived šš»
ā¤ļø JD
12.7.18
A little progress the last few days - and a lot of prep work to move forward with. The next week should be productive.
A more impressive view - I think - it also shows the progress if you know what your looking for š.
The short vertical acrylic pieces on the outsides of the hangers werenāt there last time.
Busy weekend ahead so not likely much done until the first of the week. Hopefully more progress to show soon!!!
Other than Lionel uses three rails this pic makes me think of a Bob Seeger song from 1980 (Yeah Iām old enough to know that. ) Song was āLong Twin Silver Lineā - about - you guessed it - A train line.
All for now,
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
12.2.18
Well, so much for āa couple days reprieveā and good thing I stayed āon trackā as it where. š
Good news is the Christmas Tree fits. Thought the tree may hide the tunnel hole but it doesnāt, so weāll have to get creative before Christmas Eve (which Iām really pumped about - love that nite) Have a few ideas so all should be good.
Spent the day consolidating my āspreadā as Sheri calls it. I tend to spread all over the house, as I have now, whenever I tackle a project. But Iām out of the TV area, which encompasses the tree corner, so all is good. AND I fixed the bar stools with lock washers so the seats shouldnāt come loose anymore!!
Planning is done so I should be able to progress at a faster rate, but as I said earlier I do have other obligations. That and I want to maintain this as a hobby, not a chore.
Speaking of obligations, we have one tonight which is why the tree is not entirely up. Might get finished when we get home. Time will tell.
All for now.
Charlie
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
12.1.18
Well, itās 8PM Saturday and I made it!!! Out of Mrs Santaās tree corner.
Some trim work to do, but enough done that I can clear out of the corner and XMAS eve guests will be able to get a real idea of what weāre doing. I had an idea LOL but I dont have the fore vision that Sheri does, but now I see where weāre going.
Some of you may recall our backyard landscaping project. Sheri saw the finished project the first time they turned a shovel and every day thereafter to completion. Me, I didnāt see it until they were almost done.
The pics below show the last couple days progress. From finishing the hangers to a single track to dual tracks. Also a short video of a car rolling on the track - under finger power. I gave it a shoveš. A ways off from power yet.
Apparently there will be a real photagher in our house next weekend so maybe get some better quality pics, but Iām sure you get the drift of it.
All for now,
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
11.29.18
Well, Itās coming, there is actually more done than this. This is just a teaser. Jenn got a preview and is worried if it will interfere with the Christmas Tree. Weāre reasonably confident it wonāt. Worse case scenario we move the red forward a couple inches.
Sqeems I have a reprieve on the timeline - Mrās Santa is behind on decorations so I may have a day or two grace. None the less, The end of day Saturday deadline is quite achieveable I think and I want to maintain that. Donāt want anybody thinking this is like Waterloo Regions LRT project !!
Iāve come to the conclusion that my acrylic challenges are more a case of a less than tight production spec. And the rod varies in diameter. Iām running about a 50/50 fit, no fit ratio. What doesnāt fit sometimes just takes a slight grinding, other pieces its a pretty significant part. None the less Iām winning.
I doubt much will happen tomorrow as I have a line on some firewood and I want to get that while the getting is good as they say. Might be enough to get me through two years maybe more. And then of course itās date night - my nite to gorge myself on red meat since Sheri doesnāt feed me much of that.
But Saturday is all mine as Sheri is doing Xmas house tours in Niagara with her mom and Jenn. So hopefully more pics Saturday with some track up!!!
All for now.
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
11.26.18
WOOHOO!!!! It may not look like much but its the most physical progress in quite some time and will help get me out of Mrs. Santaās Christmas Tree corner by end of day Saturday so she can start setting the tree up then. I get an extra day as Sheri and Marge are doing Christmas house tours in Niagara with Jenn.
Up till now its been a lot brainstorming with Sheri on layout and measuring to make sure things will fit as planned. Thereās an old carpenters saying āmeasure twice cut onceā. Well I cant begin to count the number of times and measurements I have made!!
Below is the beginning of the ceiling mounts in the tree corner and a rough idea of the layout - currently on the floor š
Once I make this post itās off to cut acrylic rod to finish the mounts. Wish me luck with that challenge.
All for now,
Charlie
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
11.23.18
So we're back from ten days in Aruba - our favourite Caribbean island by far. We'll be back there again!!
Lots of time in the sun and on the beach - between reading and beers šŗš to think about what I'm doing.
I have to "get out" of the corner I'm working in 7 days from now so Mrs Santa can set her tree up so I've doing a lot of planning and strategy to accomplish that. Kind of a funky corner with lots of critical measurements but I think I've got it figured. Good thing I married a mathematician!!!! Just need to get some focused time from Sheri to verify my measurements. That time of year, Xmas get togethers etc. But I'm told I should be able to get some time on Sunday.
In the mean time I have enough prep work along with a trip to a train shop outside Fergus with Steven - 2Bintrains.com - so he can explain to Sheri what I want from there for Christmas.
All for now.
Chief Engineer
Mannheim Central Railway
Hoping to be able to post some definitive progress pictures in 7 or 8 days