Home

Working the Float

More HD Video of Operation

While at the Train Show I didn’t get a chance to make any video of the layout running, I was quite busy for every minute of all three days. To make up for the missing train show video I promised to shoot, I made this one up last evening.

This is a bit HD video of operation on the Bronx Terminal, focusing on the process of unloading a carfloat following prototype practice. The fully loaded three track carfloat holds about 17 cars, two rows of 6 cars on the outer rails, and 5 down the centre (depending on car size). To unload a float, three cars are pulled off of one of the outer tracks, these three cars are then coupled onto the cars on the opposite outer track. All nine cars are pulled and stored into the adjacent yard. The final three cars from the first track are pulled and coupled onto the cars of the centre track, these 8 are then stored. This keeps the float balanced when loading or unloading and reduces stress on the floatbridge.

Occasionally idler cars were used at the Bronx Terminal, but not always. The main use for idler cars wasn’t to keep the locomotive off the float, it was to aid in visual clearance and safety. It was not uncommon to drive the loco’s onto the floats at the Bronx Terminal, as I do here.

The loco was re-worked at the train show by the guys at Tony’s Train Exchange. Lew White installed a new High Bass speaker, which improved the sound of the engine dramatically, the speaker that was in there initially was very tinny sounding, the new one is very clear. Josh Shedaker tweaked the sound samples in the QSI Revolution decoder in the loco and improved its operational abilities with some modifications in the CV’s. It now has white LED lights in it, before they were green. They are also very bright and operate correctly.

At some of the major train shows, Tony’s Train Exchange sets up a workbench where you can have a decoder installed in your loco right there at the show, its a great service as the work performed is top notch, done by professionals.

Enjoy!

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 07-27-2009 | 10:07 AM
Posted in: 2009 NMRA Train Show - Hartford | CNJ 1000 Boxcab | Latest Posts | Operation | Video | Comments (18)

Video from NMRA Convention in Hartford, CT

July 6-12, 2009

I shot a bit of video while at the convention, but not as much as I thought I would. At these type of shows there is always so much going on that it is difficult to focus on shooting video. Much of what was shot was shot by others.

The video above shows the layout on display in the contest room at the convention center, as well as Tom Griffith’s award winning scratchbuilt Howe truss float bridge.

Some video of the Modeling with the Masters clinic that Clark Kooning and I hosted on Wednesday is included. 28 modelers built turnouts, which was lots of fun for all.

We moved the layout down to the train show on Thursday by lifting it onto some flatbed carts and rolling it into the massive car elevator in the convention center. The train show was 3 floors below the contest room, thank god for that elevator. That went smooth, there is some shots of us setting up the booth before the show.

While at the show Josh Shedaker from Tony’s Train Exchange was kind enough to offer to “tweak” the sound in QSI decoder in my CNJ Boxcab. While there I had Lew White rework the decoder installation and change the LED’s to white. He also swapped out the speaker to one of their new High Bass versions. The difference in the sound quality was amazing! That I did get some video of…

I am still working through the pictures taken at the show and in New York City, and hope to get them posted here shortly.

Enjoy!

-T.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 07-24-2009 | 04:07 PM
Posted in: 2009 NMRA Train Show - Hartford | CNJ 1000 Boxcab | Latest Posts | Video | Comments (1)

CNJ 1000 Switching at the Bronx Terminal

Full Length Video
honestly….

I was going to wait until the start of the Train Show on Friday to post some video of the layout operating but figured why wait. Today I will be dismantling the layout, packing it up and stuffing it into the van. We leave tomorrow morning. I suspect I would not get time to do it otherwise so I decided to post it now.

I shot this video last evening so it is very current. It is the boxcab switching the freight house and loading some cars onto the carfloat.

Youtube has a tendency of making model railroad videos look jerky when they play. The boxcab is a very smooth operating engine, any jerky motion is in the video. Youtube also has a tendency of making cars derail, but I got lucky on this video.

If you really want to see it running, stop by the Train Show next weekend! If it doesn’t fall out of the van, it will be set up and running there.

-T.

This is the most recent construction related post.

Check back soon for an update! In the meantime, the category links to the right are full of interesting content.

First time here? Click here to start at the beginning of the Bronx Terminal project.

About the Author:

I'm your host, Tim Warris, a product developer in Port Dover, Ontario. Since March of 2007 I have been documenting the construction of the former CNJ Bronx Terminal in HO scale. For my day job, I design track building tools for Fast Tracks, a small company I own and operate. Fast Tracks makes it fast and easy to hand lay your own trackwork. Stop by our website to learn more!

Posted by: Tim | 07-04-2009 | 08:07 AM
Posted in: 2009 NMRA Train Show - Hartford | CNJ 1000 Boxcab | Latest Posts | Track Construction | Video | Comments (11)

« Previous Entries