Update August 2013

Well, the summer has come and gone and yet still nothing has been completed

on the NSPRR. Fortunately though the NSLW has been able to complete some projects over the duration of the summer.   We've been able to work on a Super Chief set for a friend of mine, refurbishing a set of old Tyco passenger cars as well as an A-B-A of Tyco Santa Fe F7s, of which we are finishing up the last A unit, Santa Fe 4015.  Also for another friend of mine, we are nearing completion on a fictional Union Pacific Auxiliary Tool Car to accompany his Union Pacific Veranda Turbine. The inspiration for this car came from UP 9336 which is a Tool Car that serves UP 844 and 3985 and presumably in the future, 4014 as well. The car was rebuilt and repainted from an old UP reefer and will be dedicated when it is delivered. The tank for the Gurley has currently been set aside in light of a new fleet upgrade to Kadee #158 scale couplers, of which ATSF Mechanical Reefer 55360 is the first to receive as well as weathering. Also since the last update, the NSP locomotive roster has revived a new comer in form of Southern Pacific GP38-2 4837, delivered from Athearn this past June with Tsunami Sound, a first for any NSP locomotive.  With 4837 now in service along side 3851, 3507 has now been disassembled to begin its rebuild, joining the long line of pending projects.  Well, that's going to do it for this update, but to end it, here's a photo taken from the NSLW's Shops of (front to back) ATSF 55360, UP 200713, and ATSF 4015.

Update April 2013

So spring is well under way and the weather is starting to warm up outside. There hasn't been much progress on the railroad as I have been fairly busy with other things. As you may or may not have noticed, the NS&PRR now has it's own website (nsprr.webs.com) in addition to the Blogspot (nsprr.blogspot.com). My plan is to have about one to two updates per month and I will post to both websites to keep all the information up to date. Also with this new website, I'm moving all my other railroad related projects to the North Shore Locomotive Works, which will be a fictional "division" of the NSPRR. You can find updates for these projects under NSLW on the NSPRR website. So far on the railroad, the number one priority of finishing the tank for #3 remains. The remaining two side walls need to be fabricated and test fitted before assembly. I have also continued to work on the depot that has been an ongoing project. I do not know where it will go on the layout yet but I know it will be used since I like the look and it will also pay homage to my first railroad, the Grand Valley Western. I'm hoping that I can have the next update out some time in early May, and hopefully with some progress.

Update 4/9/13

Well nothing really new has happened as of late. Life had kept me fairly busy recently and I haven't had much time for my railroad projects. I have weathered a Shell 40' Tank Car and my childhood Santa Fe 50' Reefer. Also I have continued painting my depot that I may use for the main station on the NS&PRR. I plan to continue working on 7395 and 2307 as well.

New Ho Additions-2/19/13

Hi everyone, so as of now, I have decided to add on updates on my Ho scale trains as well the On30 stuff.  This past few weeks has been pretty busy, but I have managed to aquire some new equipment. First off is an Athearn 50' ATSF "Santa Fe All The Way" Boxcar.  Second is perhaps the most exciting addition, which is an Athearn Genesis Southern Pacific GP9R, #3851. I recently installed a "temporary" DCC decoder in there until a new ESU Loksound 4.0 can be fitted in.  Overall the engine is fairly nice, but it is a pain to install DCC decoders since there is very little clearance on the inside.  Also, the handrails are on the fragile side but other than that it is a very nice solid model, an 8.5 out of 10 in my books. There hasn't been anything new on 2307 or 7395 yet, which I have yet to do more work on. 

Update-1/20/2013

Well, here's a new brief update on my progress so far.  I did recieve the Forney and it is a beautiful model.  I decided to start with the tank in the back since the Gurley's tank has higher sides and also a flared edge that is not on the Bachmann model.  I traced out templates out of a sheet of paper and test fitted them to the engine.  This past weekend, I finally cut the first side of the tank out of styrene and it looks good so far.  The new tank's demension will be a little off since the original drawings for the Gurley are for a 36" guage, not 30" guage.  I also swapped out the outside frame pilot truck for an inside frame one.   On a side note, my HO collection has also received attention.  I currently have two projects in the work, Southern Pacific GP40-2 #7395 as she appeared in 1989 and Santa Fe GP38u 2307 as she appeared in 1993.  Both engines are going to be kitbashed from Bachmann GP40s, one from my childhood Santa Fe 6067 engine and the latter from a Bachman DCC Equipped #3507.  So far, I have removed all the plastic light bars from the 7395 in order to remove all the paint to get an empty shell to work with for detailing.  As for the 2307, I'm in the process of removing the numberboards on the long hood since it appears that the ATSF GP38s were delievered without them.  Hopefully I get some more work done on this long weekend and I will have some photos up on my Flickr shortly.

Update-1/1/13

          Aloha!  Well it seems that 2013 has come, and it has also brought a LONG overdue layout update.  First off, the North Shore and Pacific has aquired a Bachmann ON30 Baldwin 2-4-4T Forney that will be delivered shortly.  The engine itself will undergo a few modifications to resemble Disneyland Railroad #3 "Fred Gurley": and then will be placed into service as NS&P #3.  Secondly, phase 1 of the North Shore and Pacific Railroad is approaching the final stages of planning and will hopefully be under construction shortly.  This first module is 12" by 39" and will contain a station and some small other details that will be finalized later.  The station itself is a Design Preservation Models #5187 Woodland Station kit that was recycled from my old Woodland Scenics Grand Valley layout.  Even though it is a HO structure, from what I have measured, a six foot tall person in O scale could comfortable walk through the doors and look out the windows of the building.  I'm going to kitbash the depot itself to fit in better with the layout, but presently I don't have any specific plans for it.  With the mainline looping around the layout and running behind the station again, I had to put in a viewblock to seperate the two scenes.  However given the nature of trying to keep the whole module at a 12" width, I was left with about an inch between the back of the depot and the mainline. I have decided to make a "wall" of plants and bushes that will be underneath a canopy of Palm trees.  At "night" I plan to light this vegetation up with lighting to give it nice effect. With this being my first railroad that I have designed on my own, this first module will be the "guinea pig module" that I can experiment with and try things out on. I'm planning on trying out some "special" effects that will make the module come to life.  These effects that I'm planning are some semaphores that will add some animation and then trying out the Dreamplayer to add to the ambience with the sound of Hawaiian music, birds chirping, people milling about in the depot, etc.  I know this is very hard to visualize and I'm working on a sketch that will hopefully be up soon.  Mahalo for following along.