this was a test run to see how much power it would take to negotiate the various grades (2%-2.5%) on my layout pulling a 30 car manifest. all the motive power i am using are katos equipped with digitrax decoders. the first test was with just the 2 SD40-2's with no success. i was surprised that the 2 SD40's couldn't pull the first grade out of the yard which is a 2.2% grade. i don't have any of my rolling stock wieghted to offical standards & some cars are equipped with metal wheels & others with plastic wheels. these could be factors of why the SD40-s couldn't do the job.  i added a dash 9 to the consist.& it made a big difference. i used speed step 8 from the 128 scale. i'm not sure why it stalled near the end of the vid because it stalled right over the feeder wires for that section
  your comments & input are welcome
thanks for watching
vinny...aka..bnsf6951
www.bnsf6951.blogspot.com 

down hill test run

testing my new samsung galaxy III phones video feature. i thought since all my vids are of trains going up the hill, i would video one going down hill.

UPDATE & YESY RUN ON MY PEAVINE SUB

after 7 months of construction , i finally decided to cover up the plywood prarie. arizonas landscape comsist of cactus, palm trees, palos verde trees & bushes.the palm trees i bought through ebay from a chinese company called "we honest", the cactus were also another ebay find. they are made by pegasus models. both the palm trees & cactus looked very toy like so i repainted them to a more prototypical color. the palos verde trees where made by a friend of mine. his name is bob lacey & he lve in tehachapi, ca. i sent him pics of the trees & he made a very close representation of  them for me. i am vertically challanged so i made the left & right mountains removeble so that could work on the to add more color, ground cover, trees & vegitation
  the motive power in the video are a pair of kato SD40-2 snoots. both are equippied with digitrax decoders

enjoy the vid & if you are in the need for trees, give bob a shout at trains56@yahoo.com
 
vinny

SOME NEW STUFF FOR MY PEAVINE SUB

here are some more scratch builds for my layout
first up is the check in & check out conopy for my intermodal yard.
vertical stantion are evergreen "I" beams. they are way out of scale but, it's what i had laying aroundso thats what i used  so thats what i used.

i used a method i saw posted on you tube by Eric Hall. it's simple but very nice results.first i painted the roof with beige paint then i sprinkled woodland scenic fine buff ballast on. after i dries, shake off the access ballast.

next up are the bridge piers & abutments for the "Hassyampa River" i started with evergreen sheet styrene .020"measured and cut my pieces out


next i painted them with aged concrete. because there will be lots of concrete on this layout, i brought a sample of the color to home depot & had them color match the aged concrete

test fitting the bridges on the bench


test fit on the layout

different views




next the mountains will get there plaster covering....to be continued !!!


painting has begun, my friend Beth Conlin, volunteered her services





starting to look better





ground cover added


when completed this scene will represent the Hassyampa river near Wikenburg AZ

another view...water is next on the list

 

overall view of this area...vegetation will be added at a later date.
my friend bob lacey is building prototypical trees for me....to be continued