blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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 | | 07/23/2008 8:10 PM |
| The ceiling is too low to give you mountain shots today, but it is now official: Snow has moved down the mountains, including the Chugach Range behind Anchorage. That event was so unusual that it made the news. In all my years in the interior, I have never seen this happen in July. I believe this to be the coldest summer since I first moved into this area in 1976.
The view below is a test shot with my new Canon camera. Indeed it does take better, clearer shots. It should. It was too cold for me to be motivated to work on the model railroad today. The taking of this one picture is as close as I got.
Note the flags blowing. It has been windy and somewhat wet most of the day.
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flatracker
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Dunlap, TN
Foreman
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| | 07/24/2008 5:32 AM |
| You're absolutely right! It's in the details. Any layout I've been to, I am ALWAYS imprssed with the details more than anything else. The engines and what they are pulling are very interesting and some have added very impressive weathering and modifications BUT, once you have seen several dozens of each, it becomes the details of structures and areas of towns, etc. that interest me.
Of course one enjoys flawless running trains, which everyone works hard to ensure, and the different types of consists are neat as heck, but maybe I'm more of a modeler than anything else, so pay more attention to all the hard work to make it look realistic.
Those last shots you posted are just what I mean! VERY nice! The last one of the dome car late in the evening is IMPRESSIVE! Thanks for the neat shots.
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Bob Martin | |
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John J
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Conductor
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| | 07/24/2008 6:14 AM |
| You posted a pic of a Tourbus group. Where do most of your patrons come from? Local Gentry? Or Tourbuses? What are they Touring other than your fine establishment?
Do our run the place all by your self or do you have help? | |
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/24/2008 11:42 AM |
| Posted By flatracker on 07/24/2008 5:32 AM
You're absolutely right! It's in the details. Any layout I've been to, I am ALWAYS imprssed with the details more than anything else. The engines and what they are pulling are very interesting and some have added very impressive weathering and modifications BUT, once you have seen several dozens of each, it becomes the details of structures and areas of towns, etc. that interest me. Of course one enjoys flawless running trains, which everyone works hard to ensure, and the different types of consists are neat as heck, but maybe I'm more of a modeler than anything else, so pay more attention to all the hard work to make it look realistic. Those last shots you posted are just what I mean! VERY nice! The last one of the dome car late in the evening is IMPRESSIVE! Thanks for the neat shots.
I started the original layout in 1998 when I laid the first track in the bar intending to display historic structures that no longer existed using a long-defunct railroad as the means of tying it all together. My emphasis has usually been with the structures first. The last two years have seen more effort placed on the operation of the railroad lines themselves. That is a necessary element of the overall scheme. It has also taken a lot more time than I would have thought.
I went into this hobby thinking I could just put some pre-formed track together, set a locomotive and some cars on it and it would work. Well, it did for a short time. Then I built more complex lines and began planning an outdoor expansion. It has taken hundreds of hours to make all that work right--most of the time !
Now I am going back where I started: to the structures and their details, which, I guess, makes me as well more of a modeler than a railroader. That in itself is every bit as time consuming, if not more so, than operation and maintenance of the track and the locomotives and cars. The Kennecott model, for example, now requires some major work in some areas. I will be doing some re-engineering on some of the structures based on years of experience with extreme temperature changes. We have a temperature differential here of approximately 150 degrees, although this year the range has only been 120 degrees. Nevertheless, that can place a lot of stress on the structures, especially the larger ones.Â
Meanwhile I continue to add details to the new model, which is an absolute delight to work on. It can never be complete in the way that some of the notable smaller scale models have been developed, but nevertheless, because of its large scale, those details I add are even more impressive. Meanwhile I continue to peruse MLS for new ideas. It has been enormously helpful.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/24/2008 2:51 PM |
| And in today's news . . .
The coldest summer ever? You might be looking at it, weather folks say.
Right now the so-called summer of '08 is on pace to produce the fewest days ever recorded in which the temperature in Anchorage managed to reach 65 degrees.
That unhappy record was set in 1970, when we only made it to the 65-degree mark, which many Alaskans consider a nice temperature, 16 days out of 365.
This year, however -- with the summer more than half over -- there have been only seven 65-degree days so far. And that's with just a month of potential "balmy" days remaining and the forecast looking gloomy.
National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Albanese, a storm warning coordinator for Alaska, says the outlook is for Anchorage to remain cool and cloudy through the rest of July. . .
enlargement of above picture:
The high temp yesterday was in the mid-40s. This is still July ! Today's forecast calls for the same, although it might rise into the low fifties ! Above: "termination dust" July 24th on the Chugach Range as seen from Anchorage.
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flatracker
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Dunlap, TN
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/25/2008 11:41 AM |
| | Meanwhile I have heard that the snow reached the tree line at nearby Kennecott-dropping down to 4,000 feet. It was 34 at McCarthy in the late afternoon. | |
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ThinkerT
Alaska
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| | 07/25/2008 6:44 PM |
| | Well...Kennecott is right next to a lingering remnant of the ice sheet that once covered much of western north america... | | | |
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/25/2008 7:12 PM |
| Posted By ThinkerT on 07/25/2008 6:44 PM
Well...Kennecott is right next to a lingering remnant of the ice sheet that once covered much of western north america...
Sure it is. The Kennicott Glacier is five miles wide at that point BUT . . . It is rare for snow to even start coming down those mountains--the Bonanza Ridge--until about mid-September. Even then the snow rarely reaches the tree line until later.  | |
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ThinkerT
Alaska
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| | 07/26/2008 5:08 PM |
| | Well...I do remember a year or two where the snow was down for good in the last week or so of September. If it happens this year though, those cats are going to be steamed.... | | | |
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/26/2008 7:07 PM |
| Posted By ThinkerT on 07/26/2008 5:08 PM
Well...I do remember a year or two where the snow was down for good in the last week or so of September. If it happens this year though, those cats are going to be steamed....
The way the weather has been lately, it's beginning to look as if the only thing that will end the cold rain will be the cold snow. Â | |
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/29/2008 5:35 PM |
| Three Views of the East Loop:
Today is the first day in about a week that it has been worthwhile to go outside and use a camera. We have had so much rain that the upper valley has had flood warnings. But today I finally got to make use of my new Canon Rebel. It is of a much higher resolution than my earlier one and takes shots without noticeable delay. I am quite pleased with the results, although carrying it around is much more of an issue due to its size and the fact that I am now carrying two and sometimes three lenses.
In any case, I shot these views of my east loop from the roof of my van. This section of track now operates almost flawlessly.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/29/2008 6:07 PM |
| These shots show the fireweed that appears everywhere in interior Alaska this time of year, as seen in front of the Cicely model structure. As with most of my posts, these pictures and the ones in the previous post can be enlarged by clicking onto the picture.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/29/2008 6:17 PM |
| Kennecott and the water fountain: I don't really have a garden railroad, but I do have some great plants, mostly in the fountain area near the Kennecott model. Given the climate zone, it is not practical, in my opinion, to attempt to build a garden railway as you know them stateside.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/29/2008 6:50 PM |
| Here is my first view of Mt Drum, taken from the east end of my property. As the clouds finally begin to clear it is obvious that the snow level has dropped considerably.Â
I have a much more powerful lens for this new camera, but the adapter has not yet arrived. I can hardly wait. (click).
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/29/2008 7:22 PM |
| Shortly after I took these pictures of Mt Drum, the clouds moved back in.
This one was taken from my porch.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/31/2008 2:21 PM |
| Phase II railroad yard:
No such yard exists on my new line. After running several relatively long consists along the line seen here, it became increasingly apparent that the sidings I built into the layout are insufficient to handle the rolling stock I have accumulated for this line.
After looking at Marty's new covered parking area, I realized I should consider something along the same lines--a large structure that will cover several parallel lines intended to park long consists. Except that I will not be building any kind of structure at all. Instead my plan is to use the existing Cicely model structure and construct a lower parking level.
This proposed rail yard can best be accessed by inserting a junction somewhere near the east loop. With a new switch I can then run a parallel line that drops in elevation while the mainline above it is gaining elevation as it heads west toward Cicely and the CRD on the west end.
Here you can see a compressed profile showing how the new line would extend from a point near the east loop--probably just west of the loop switch--following the mainline at a lower level, then entering the loco yard immediately below the model town of Cicely.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/31/2008 2:28 PM |
| The new proposed rail yard would have to be at 2 1/2 to 3 feet below the model town in order to clear the TGI supports while still allowing sufficient working room. However, the length of the proposed access line should be sufficient to enable such a drop, considering that it is already about half the way there by the time the rail line had reached its end.
One possible yard configuration would be this one consisting of four parallel lines the merge into a loop that would return the consists to the east loop and thus back to the mainline.
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blackburn49
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Copper Center, Alaska
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| | 07/31/2008 3:47 PM |
| | I believe the inclusion of this proposed railroad yard in 2009 or 2010 will qualify my layout as operations-friendly. It is amazing the amount of track that is required to achieve that. | |
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ThinkerT
Alaska
Foreman
Posts:203
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| | 07/31/2008 7:23 PM |
| Don't build something that will give you a concussion...especially trying to reach that loco that derailed or stalled for no apparent reason in the section you can't reach without getting on bended knee. (like we hav'nt had that happen). Not recommending against it, just saying to remember Murphy's law when laying down the track. (that said, the cats will be exstatic).
At times this has gotten me so irked I've been tempted to rip out all the tables over two or three feet wide (I have a couple that are better than six foot across where they hit the wall) and just go with a shelf type deal. I still might. And yes, I have access hatches. | | | |
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