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AZL SD45
Apr 21, 2018 12:39:05 GMT -5
via mobile
cwrr likes this
Post by atw on Apr 21, 2018 12:39:05 GMT -5
[/quote]Used to see the N&W highhood SD45's alot in the early 80's, all the way up here in the Seattle area on the UP, usually running with UP's SD45's. [/quote][ Guess they were really serious about the „& Western“ LOL Thanks for that nugget, I had no idea the good old N&W traveled from sea to shining sea - sort of.
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Post by atw on Apr 20, 2018 15:18:22 GMT -5
The SD45 is a great runner, and I was hoping for a N&W high nose release to go with my Southern and NS SD45s, but I'm guessing / hoping this just means those N&W units will be available in, well, 2+ years ...
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Post by atw on Mar 2, 2018 12:03:34 GMT -5
To quote Paul Simon: everything looks better in black and white - and that goes for ES44ACs as well 😊
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Post by atw on Jun 15, 2017 16:15:54 GMT -5
[/quote]I've heard about containers washing ashore and people looting them of four-wheelers, etc.
[/quote]
That's how I get all my Z scale stuff ... 😉
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Post by atw on Feb 24, 2017 16:20:12 GMT -5
Thanks again to everybody who shared their experience and advice on this. I went ahead and ordered some super-elevated 270mm and 245mm radius curves and was finally able to do some test running today with some bethgons and an SD70ACe + SD70M up front and well I can simply confirm that it was smooth sailing all the way. I have yet to run trains on track which is actually fixed down (Rokuhan curved track does has a pronounced tendency to "curl upwards" on the inside when placed down loose, and the super-elevated curves are no exception) but I don't expect to see any problems. Transition into the curves is pretty much "automatic", the adjoining piece of regular straight track just needs some shimming to support it as it comes down to level. The visual impact really hits home when you look at the curve at "eye level", i.e. as you would be doing trackside - the way those locos and hoppers lean into the curve looks just like the real thing. cheerZ Adrian
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Post by atw on Feb 13, 2017 15:34:49 GMT -5
Thanks everybody for the interesting and encouraging input - I went ahead and ordered a semi-circle each of 270mm and 245mm radius superelevated curves and plan to do some testing with my specific train formations, but I'm pretty confident from hearing about your experiences and thoughts that I'll go ahead and use them on the layout. I'll also experiment a bit with easements on straight track leading into the curves - I'll let you know how things go, though that might take a few weeks... it's a slow train a-comin' cheerZ Adrian
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Post by atw on Feb 11, 2017 11:07:04 GMT -5
I am about to lay a 180 degrees level double track curve with Rokuhan's 245mm and 270mm radius track and was wondering if anybody has any experience using their super elevated track pieces?
The amount of cant (super elevation) is indicated by Rokuhan as being 5.5 degrees, and depending on which of their promotional pictures you look at appears to be quite okay or frightfully steep, so it's kind of hard to judge.
I will not be running Japanese bullet trains, but rather the antithesis of high speed rail operations, coal drags of 20+ bethgon hoppers with two six-axle AZL locos up front, so I plan to run these rather s-l-o-w-l-y.
I guess the bottom line of my question is - is the cosmetic visual appearance of Rokuhan's superelevated track offset by operational risks such as trains falling off the track? I might also want to run the odd double stack train, so the center of gravity of the train creeps up even higher.
Any practical experience anybody?
cheerZ
Adrian
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Post by atw on Aug 27, 2016 16:12:21 GMT -5
Well, I don't mean to rub salt into your collective wounds, but fellas it's so easy - happiness is modelling a railroad called CSX But to get back to your idea, Mark - I too think it would be great to have a "tentative product announcement" thread which would be "closed" and hence wouldn't bounce off in all kinds of directions (like this one has too, in a way, I guess). And getting back to that topic - are a few more GP38-2s still in the pipeline somewhere down the road? The G&W was a great idea, and some dealers seem to have sold out of several road numbers and even a few railroads. But then given the constant flow of awesome new models I would be the first to understand if the GP38-2s got pushed back. cheerZ Adrian
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Post by atw on Aug 20, 2016 13:40:04 GMT -5
Thanks Rob for that shoutout - and to everybody for the kind comments. Summer is always a slow time for my modelling, and I'm a bit behind with updating the website, but I guess you can all just about see where I'm heading... funny enough, my extremely narrow modules (6"/15cm) seem to have an amazing "wow factor" with folks who have never run a model train in their life - to them, Z Scale is simply unbelievable happy modelling everybody Adrian
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Post by atw on Mar 26, 2016 4:51:30 GMT -5
Dave Based on my experience and fairly extensive testing when Rokuhan launched the 120mm radius track, I'd say you can't expect reliable running from Geeps (both AZL and MTL) on a radius below 145mm. IMHO the 120mm is just a nice idea.
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Post by atw on Feb 25, 2016 17:19:41 GMT -5
floodlight tower? air traffic beacons? gentlemen, you have me slightly confused, because whenever I read "searchlight signal" something like this pops up in my mind... They have an interesting history, too, dating back to 1914. And oh yes I definitely think we need some "out of the box" models of those. Though I have to say the Shapeway offering looks good, I might give those a try.
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Post by atw on Feb 21, 2016 9:38:23 GMT -5
Burlington Interesting questions, though I think you're really opening up a discussion on modelling philosophies more than just simple accessories. Quite obviously there is no modelling scale like Z that offers the potential and the possibility to model a landscape (be it urban or nature) in its full scale dimensions. The question however (and it's one of my favourites) is whether or not that is the actual reason why modellers go for Z. My impression is - probably only a minority. The "problem" of course is that, as you say, even fairly modest facilities of any kind will take up a substantial amount of space if modelled faithfully in 1:220. But even more importantly IMHO might be the fact that most of us have been reading about "selective compression" and "staging" and "forced perspective" from the big guns in the hobby for decades, so most of us are probably not truly conditioned to thinking that way. But even though I am a member of the 6" width module gang (for the simple reason that I get the "more trains" from expanding the lateral dimensions rather than the depth of a scene) I totally agree with you - it would be nice to have more of those almost generic brick buildings, plus those post-1950s too. And if a manufacturer decides to go with your full scale approach that would suit me fine too - I'd just chop it up into two buildings, no harm done. Adrian
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Post by atw on Feb 16, 2016 15:57:28 GMT -5
I done told y'all before y'all was doin' a great job but well pin my tail and call me a donkey that Southern high-nose EMD SD45's a possum on the stump, sure just dills my pickles!
In other words: thanks guys, that high-nose Southern SD45 is simply aaaaaawesome!
cheerZ Adrian
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Post by atw on Feb 16, 2016 13:02:03 GMT -5
Mark, The model in my picture is from Bandai so I guess it's actually a Japanese monster made in China... I wonder if those "cheap imports" carried some evil tattoos too, back in those days? Adrian
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Post by atw on Feb 14, 2016 13:52:34 GMT -5
For some reason I imagine a 1:220 scale Godzilla with a "DCC" tattoo stomping through a perfect Japanese Z scale layout. Rob... it's happening !! I can't be sure about the tattoo though, I just took this snapshot and made a dash for it... cheerZ Adrian
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