Test Running on the New Track Video

Chris soldered the track together last night so we had a quick test run. Power Pack is a Zthek and it really does allow the locomotive to crawl along the 9" or so diameter track. You might notice the deciduous trees to the left of the yellow half timbered house, which are new since yesterday. I love making trees!

Enjoy the video

Beverly, Nice! You're making great progess. Trees and buildings fit in well together. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Looks great, nice job!

Nice job Beverly. Great to see it running, now I MUST get one of those engines for my switching yard. It's your fault! At least that's what I told the wife. hehe. I can't wait to see it when it is finished, it has such appeal.

Thank you all for your kind words

I showed a quick edit of the video to Chris last night and he giggled like a schoolgirl as he watched the locomotive go round and round on my computer. I think he's surprised by his reaction to how much he now likes our little train. I'm so happy that he's involved with this new endeavor. I mean, he's a big guy computer nerd and for him to have the giggle response is quite endearing

My 3 1/2 year old granddaughter visited this morning and I had to show her the train. She was here one day when I was making evergreen trees and I told her I was going to put a train inside the cake cover. She went off and played, but came back awhile later and gazed into the cake cover. Maybe she was wondering how I was going to get a train in there. So this morning I told her the train was ready to be looked at. She climbed up on the window seat next to the train and watched it go around and around and around. I slowed it down and sped it up and she kept on watching it go around and around. It's so gratifying when those closest to me enjoy the work I'm doing. I get such a kick out of watching their reactions.


Terry,

I've seen 0-6-0 and 2-6-0 tank locomotives on eBay. They shouldn't be too hard to find. I don't know if Americans had these locomotives because I didn't research American tanks. Here is good resource for looking up Marklin items in your quest to find a tank for your yard.

Great video! Your granddaughter is right, that small layout has a very enchanting element to it.

Bev,

Have Jim put a video up showing how he or Loren make their trees.

Beverly, Click on Videos above. Go to Page 10. There you will find Loren's movie on how to make trees. He taught me and it's worked out pretty well. Cheers, Jim CCRR:)

Jim,

I've seen Loren's video, but thank you for bringing it to my attention again. I just watched it and wonder how I am going to overcome my dislike of power tools. Unlike a lot of men, I seldom use power tools. I do most of my woodworking by hand, or give the job over to Chris

For our second larger layout, I'll keep Loren's method in mind. It costs only $0.35 per Heki tree when purchased in a 100 lot, plus my time, some paint, glue, and the Woodland Scenics fine grassy stuff. I understand that it's pretty inexpensive to make Lorne's trees and I'll have to weigh the pros and cons of buying/altering or making from scratch.

The deciduous trees are made of foam shaped by tearing away bits at a time until it looks sort of tree shaped. I have lots of thin pieces of natural tree branch tips that make the trunks, so I think I'm going to work on getting a slightly lighter looking deciduous tree.

Or, maybe not. I truly admire the realistic trees and other landscaping features that people do. I'm not sure what kind of artist I'll be with my Z layouts. This is a really important question. Do I go for super realism or do I go for what I currently can do - which is okay, but it's not the artistry that many have achieved. I think as I ask more questions and learn by trial and error that I will find my way through this fundamental issue. I am limited by time constraints as I have another larger hobby that is being neglected because of our new interest in Z trains, though Chris and I might attend the local train show each autumn.

Beverly,
"To tree or not to tree.......that is the question".....comment overheard by one bear as he chased the park ranger through the woods.

Gotta ask, is that a picture of you and your parakeet or someone else?

Loren

Loren,

The photo is of me in my late teens or very early 20s with my budgie. My recollection is that that bird lived to 12 years old, though that does seem to be a very long time and she might have lived to only 10 years. I've aged a bit in the last 30+ years, though

Bev,
Remember we are supposed to be like steak, cheese and fine wine. That called improving with age.....

Nice! However, the loco still seems a little bit jerky, with dragsterlike accelerations and slowdowns like a F14 landing on an aircraft carrier... Is this a Youtube (d)effect?

Dom

Loadmaster,

Oh, yeah. I'm definitely improving with age


Dom,

The video is actually one cut played twice. When the locomotive comes around the third time, if you watch closely, it seems to start moving quite abruptly. That's where the join of the two cuts are. Other than that, the motion might be jerky because it really was our first few runnings of the locomotive on that newly soldered track with a new power pack. It could also be the way YouTube was performing the time you watched it. Watch it again and make sure it loads properly to make sure you're seeing what's meant to be seen.

Hi Beverly.

I tried looking at the video but all I got was a 404 (page not found).

Best wishes,
Chris.

Chris,

I just tried the link and it's working now. Try it again.