Latest Project?

My fleet of New York Cross Harbor Railroad locomotives. I plan on modeling bush terminal, I dont have the layout built (or started) still trying to figure out a track plan for i dont have a great deal of space. Atleast I have my locomotive situation handled.



#22


#25


#59 and #22

How is that QSI titan? I want to hear one in person. I have never been a fan of QSI as their first decoders had alot of issues and all sounded the same (F unit under water). The revolution sounds different but still sounds like all of the sound files were manufactured in a windowless room. Their idea of a turbo EMD prime mover sounds more like jet engine turbine train to me! Somehow though, they do have the most incredible horn sounds of all the sound decoders though.

ApproachMedium wrote:How is that QSI titan? I want to hear one in person. I have never been a fan of QSI as their first decoders had alot of issues and all sounded the same (F unit under water). The revolution sounds different but still sounds like all of the sound files were manufactured in a windowless room. Their idea of a turbo EMD prime mover sounds more like jet engine turbine train to me! Somehow though, they do have the most incredible horn sounds of all the sound decoders though.

I felt that I noticed a difference from the Quantum Revolution-U in terms of sound clarity. My ear could distinguish many different sounds compared to the older decoders in which it sounded all jumbled together.

I'm sure QSI's sound engineer will be at the Springfield Show in 2012. He and I went back and forth trying to get the right sound for the Amtrak K5LA horn. The Titan appears to be a good step in the right direction in terms of hardware. It's possible that they may re-vamp some sound sets and make improvements to take advantage of the Titan's full capabilities.

I seem to recall that the equipment they started out with or their processing equipment has been upgraded earlier this year or late in 2010.

Ill have to take a look. The Revolution didn't have too bad of reproduction quality, it was the sound sets that I did not care for. I had a similar issue with LokSound. While they tend to have the correct sound files now with the prototype sound, and the reproduction is excellent, the problem with their stuff is the behaviors of the sounds are very unrealistic. Like when you cut the throttle off the motor sound instantly dies and goes to idle. A real locomotive engine takes a bit to drop to idle as its a huge machine turning at 950RPM at full speed (EMD) or 1,200RPM (GE).

One feature that would be really awesome I would love to see Tsunami and QSI provide is for GE modern FDL-16 to have an HEP option. This would set the prime mover to Notch 6/890 RPM and leave it set there till it is deactivated. That would provide the correct sound on one unit for HEP operation. Something that could be set with a reed switch or combination of functions. Also a similar feature for F40s to lock them in to full RPM notch 8 for HEP mode would be cool also, give you the true screamer effect!

Even though it's break, I've had very little modeling time, but I have found some time to work on my scratchbuilt overpass:

rscott417 wrote:My fleet of New York Cross Harbor Railroad locomotives. I plan on modeling bush terminal, I dont have the layout built (or started) still trying to figure out a track plan for i dont have a great deal of space. Atleast I have my locomotive situation handled.

Awesome! Where did you get the Cross Harbor decals? Your engines look great, looks like you've started on a couple of structures, too. What's your plan so far?

Otto, I can't take the credit for the decals. I found someone on ebay from L.I. who does custom painting, he had a nych engine listed but I lost the bid so I messaged him and sent him the locomotives that I attempted to paint myself but came out horrible . Right now he's installing dcc and sound decoder for me. I don't have any of the layout built yet im still working on the track plan, but I started with some buildings, freight cars and built the Brooklyn III tug.

Started decaling my Amtrak Exhibit train

Sleeping car Pacific Bend



Store Car:

I recently completed my latest project. And you couldn't tell it from looking at it.

My model railroad uses very conventional wiring. DC, block system. Common rail wiring. All turnouts remote-control. My common rail bus follows the main line around under the benchwork, with feeders linked to the bus with suitcase connectors. All other wiring consists of leads from the controls to barrier strips, wires connecting to other barrier strips, and leads running from the second set of barrier strips to the track or switch machines. There are, of course, more wires connecting the power supplies to the turnout and block controls.

In all, I have about 600 wire connection points. They consisted of stripped wire ends hooked under the screws on the barrier strips. I was experiencing poor performance due to weak or open circuits at these connections. To correct the problem, I purchased a whole lot of telephone fork-type spade connectors from Radio Shack. Installing these on all my wire ends solved the problem.

When using these terminals on Atlas electrical components, I discovered the forked ends were a little too wide. For these, I clamped them in my bench vise and narrowed each side with a sanding drum chucked in my Dremel Tool.

Les

I had to rip up my switch, it was no bueno



Getting a new one next week.

Tore down my unfinished layout as I could never settle on a proper operational flow for it. Settled on a more modular style. A 10x11x2' U shape based on the former Boston & Maine line in town. It's set in the late 60's early 70's so its a step back from my current setting of the late 90's Early 00's. Quite a bit of switching, especially the Uniroyal tire plant that was the driving force of the city for years. Also have a small yard. Sadly, I had to condense a lot of the line, but I have room to eventually expand.

Working on a NYSW SD60 and Conrail U34CH 1776 Bicentennial unit. Just got the decals today.

worked on weathering a series on baggage and express cars for an Amtrak 13 Mail train as well as weathering up some flat cars for a BN train 3, the Pacific Zip

AMTK1007 wrote:worked on weathering a series on baggage and express cars for an Amtrak 13 Mail train as well as weathering up some flat cars for a BN train 3, the Pacific Zip

When did Amtrak end the Mail Trains?

I'm still working on my overpass. Progress is slow, since I'm only working as time allows, but progress is progress...