Today was the day I began work on my first Model Railroad. I have an entire room all to myself, as long as I leave a pathway to one of the doors and leave room for Centipede, an arcade game which can't find any other home in the house.
After drawing up several paper versions of the plans and a version using Adobe Photoshop, I finally bought some track planning software called "Anyrail".
The result, after 4 renditions5 renditions 6 renditions, was this: http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...7/layout-2.jpg
The lighter the shade of grey, the higher up the section is. With the exception, of course, of the doors, conveniently labeled "Door".
(Yes, I borrowed the name "Bohan" from Grand Theft Auto.)
Last night I went down to the Home Depot and bought some wood. Today was the first full day of construction, and I managed to get 1/4 of the benchwork completed.
What the layout looked like around 4 PM. Also, what the room itself looks like.
What it looked like when I stopped construction at 7:30 PM. I basically took 3 1x2s, then bolted them on top of a 1x4. Since each beam was only 5 feet, and I need 16 feet, I cut one of the beams in half and spliced them together to get 2 15-foot sections. I'll have to add on another foot later, but I'm happy with this for now.
I now have to make legs before laying down several wood beams that match the width of the different sections of the layout. After that I have to buy some plywood and lay that down on top. From there, I can purchase some track and begin construction on the actual railroad.
While the only engine I currently have is a Union Pacific switcher (a gift from my Grandfather, an avid "trainfan" and Model Railroader since the 1950's), I'm planning to model the Santa Fe railroad as it was beginning its merger into the BNSF railroad company (2001-2003 era). As such, a mix of Santa Fe and BNSF locomotives will be found on the layout.
As for the projected cost, the track alone should cost around $1753, a pretty penny. As such, I'll only buy more track when I need it.
Pictures will be added as the layout expands.
Stats:
Scale: HO (1:87, I believe)
Railroad: Santa Fe/BNSF
Benchwork Height: 42"
Layout Length: 16'
Layout Width: 6'-9'
Maximum Grade: 2.5%
Minimum Curve Radius: 24"
Maximum Height above benchwork: 9"
Total Track Length: 369.41 ft
E: 3/20/09:
Placed an order today.
Bought 3 Santa Fe Hopper Cars and a BNSF Caboose (Yes, I KNOW they don't exist IRL, so sue me. How else will I know if any of my cars came uncoupled?). Both are going to go into the Coal Mine, which is probably one of the first areas to get constructed.
E: 3/27/09:
Still no traincars.
Legs go up, I thought I grabbed a shot of the beams I used to secure it (and the brace I used to tie the bottom legs together), but I didn't. I'll have to get one when I can.
Using 2 doors to plan my layout, changing them out with some plywood later. I stuck a model of the Walt Disney World steam engine on the old, non-functional track for fun.
4/1/09:
Yesterday I mapped out the plywood I got for cutting and began to show off my new cars:
Chances are, you probably didn't get any of that.
Any number like 3" or 4" means how high that section of wood will be above the board.
Any area with a percent, like 2.5%, means that that area is going to be a slope to the different levels.
Any higher number, like 30" or 32" or 28" is going to be the radius of my curves.
And, finally, any lines which are crossed through are areas which I screwed up my measurements on or just didn't look right in general, and they tell me NOT TO CUT THERE. I put a lot so that way it might penetrate my thick skull. :P
Among the cooler things I found was a railroad crossing where the gates automatically lifted to allow a train through. It's going to need to be repainted though.
Today, I finally cut my plywood and began putting my hills together. Also, I used 2 wires I found and a couple clothespins as a ghetto way of getting power to my currently 1-track yard-long layout.
(Don't focus on the Pepsi bottle, focus on the fact that the TRACK is higher!)
(About the graffiti: The house I'm moving in to was previously rented out by a tenant who was... Not happy about leaving. She hadn't paid her rent in 2 years, had everything in a different name, and was generally exploiting the system in every way possible so she could live large without spending a lot. We currently are pursuing a lawsuit against her for damages to the house, and the fact that bills for things which are in one of her alias names are constantly showing up to the door are ensuring that she might face some legal fines as well.)
5/7/09:
Long time, no new pics.
Also:
Centipede Arcade game I HAVE to have in there (going to need to cut that wood):
Random Santa Fe Passenger cars I found in a box in my shed:
10/21/09:
12/6/09:
Some recent news:
I was at what essentially amounts to a model train swap meet in the Ontario Convention Center (in Ontario, CA, the convention center is just a few blocks from my house, actually), from which I acquired 2 new engines: a Santa Fe Dash 8 (the red engine in the video above) and a Santa Fe GP-50 to complement my OTHER Santa Fe SD-40. The GP-50/SD-40 team will eventually be used for light freight duty and switching coal cars at the coal yard; the Dash 8 will be used for heavy jobs like pulling coal or container trains. And yes, I WILL repaint some of the train cars and make them TF2 colors with "Red" and "Blu" on them, just because I'm cool like that. Look at the TF2 train prefabs in Hammer to see what I'm talking about.
Since my last update, I have been working on the technical side of things. This means working out the bugs and working with electricity. Lots of working with electricity. Electricity is fun for your body and for your soul. Electricity loves you.
And I didn't forget pictures.
NEW TRAINZZZZZ:
(GAAAAAH INSTRUCTIONS)
AND TINY PARTS TO WORK WITH :gonk:
Train car loaded with nails for trackwork on-the-go = :iamafag:
And let's take a look under the hood:
Every little bit of track is now wired up and ready to go. The train now has very little issues getting to any place on the entire layout; although the switch to the coal yard needs to be replaced (it causes a shitload of derailments).
2/22/10:
I'm ripping out all the older tracks and replacing them with some better tracks better suited for the (somewhat) new technology behind the trains:
My trains are now in the digital age. I'm using a VERY old DCC (Digital Command Control) controller now, meaning that I can run more than one train at once, play sounds from each engine, remotely uncouple cars, and hook my trainboard directly into a computer. The top picture is the controller itself (a relic from the early 2000s, the newer ones are VERY expensive and can do MUCH more), the bottom picture is the specialized programming track.
I also got a new engine for Christmas:
And, finally, a look at the new layout. I haven't ripped out ALL of the old tracks yet; I need about 35 more switches to completely replace all my switching yards. The only old tracks which will stay are the ones which are supported by pylons, as the new tracks aren't designed for those pylons and thus I would have to buy some more.
The black things in the tracks are little uncouplers which can uncouple cars for me. I have 3 on the tracks, but I also have 3 more to place.
6/13/10:
Mann Co., working on contract for Builders League United, LLC, and Reliable Excavation and Demolition, LLC, announces rail service to Well.
Okay, so maybe the buildings aren't there yet (no scenery has been placed, and I need to get off my ass and scratch-build it), but it will be Well eventually. I plan to make little RED and BLU figures and place them around the tracks. My ultimate goal is to place a speaker inside the building hooked up to a computer which is playing a loop of an Arena_Well match.
As I was pressed for space, this Well is a conglomerate of Arena_Well and CP_Well, meaning that it has about as many tracks as Arena_Well (CP_Well has 9 tracks and 2 waterways, Arena_Well has 7 tracks and 0 waterways.
As I was out of space for switches, this Well has 5 tracks and 2 waterways), the waterways of CP_Well, and a cut-down spawn building from Arena_Well, to save space for the nearby main lines and yard.
Moving on.
New engine (and some new cars) are in service. The red Santa Fe Dash 8 I was showing off had a bit of a motor malfunction, causing it to become a brick. I took the motor out entirely (you can see it on the flatcar in the Well pic), turning the Dash 8 into a dummy to be pushed around by other units. All of my plastic supports have been demolished; they were flimsy and just unsafe in general. The bottom level is complete (except for the yard and diesel shop) and needs a double pull, double throw switch to become operational and prevent a short.
New engine:
New engine pushing dummy Dash 8:
(Mostly) complete bottom level (north end):
(Mostly) complete bottom level (south end):
Mann Co., working on contract for Builders League United, LLC, and Reliable Excavation and Demolition, LLC, is currently working on completing rail service to Badlands and Freight. Freight is estimated to be completed this summer, Valve Time. Badlands is estimated to be completed before Christmas, Valve Time.
E: For those curious as to the loads of those cars:
Car 1: Track cleaner (rides below the boxcar, makes track nice and clean)
Car 2: Screws
Car 3: Nails
Car 4: Coal
Car 5: Former load of coal (I got gypped.)
Car 6: Bent screws
Car 7: Industrial-strength magnet (for picking up spilled loads of preceding cars)
Car 8: Caboose
March 19th, 2009, 12:33 AM
paladin
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I had an HO set up on a 4'x12' table when i was younger. I spent hours on it. Good luck.
March 19th, 2009, 02:41 AM
n00b1n8R
Re: Building a Model Railroad
This is relevant to my interests (the terrain more than the trains though).
March 19th, 2009, 03:56 AM
SnaFuBAR
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I had an HO scale set when I was a kid. There was nowhere for me to keep it constructed, so I'd set it all up differently every time. How are you going to sculpt the terrain? With styrofoam and acetone?
March 19th, 2009, 04:09 AM
n00b1n8R
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Have you got any plans on how you'd go about deconstructing it when you move out?
Also, I'm interested in how you'd use acetone to shape styrofoam?
Most methods I read involve high density foam, hot wire cutters and sand paper.
March 19th, 2009, 04:10 AM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Oh man, I always wanted to do this as a kid. I had trains out the ears, but the only one that ran under its own power was an HO Hornby, a little red one... the rest were mixed scales. I had a lot of mismatched N track and some HO track, but never enough to build a serious setup with, just little loops and things and run my toys about on flat cars. The bitter irony is that for nearly a year, we lived in a ridiculously huge mansion and I had 11 bedrooms to myself :(
e/ it melts it, if I recall correctly
March 19th, 2009, 04:23 AM
SnaFuBAR
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Well,n00b, acetone breaks down styrofoam. iirc you can splash it, drizzle it, or use it in a spray bottle to get different effects.
March 19th, 2009, 04:26 AM
n00b1n8R
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Ah, figures I probably wouldn't have heard of it then (I'm more interested in wargame terrain, so realism (especially natural features) is more of a luxury then a necessity).
March 19th, 2009, 05:47 AM
RobertGraham
Re: Building a Model Railroad
You took my fucking dream as a kid :smith:
March 19th, 2009, 06:13 AM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by n00b1n8R
Ah, figures I probably wouldn't have heard of it then (I'm more interested in wargame terrain, so realism (especially natural features) is more of a luxury then a necessity).
Why not have both?
All-out war in a rail marshalling yard. Awesome.
March 19th, 2009, 06:25 AM
n00b1n8R
Re: Building a Model Railroad
It's a matter of practicality.
You're playing a game with miniatures. Gently rolling hills aren't an option since top heavy models will easily fall on their ass (potentially breaking something). You can't have nice dense forests as that makes placing mini's a bitch. It all comes to balance, and since the terrain is made to play games, on, practicality always comes first.
The real art in wargames terrain comes from getting that ballance just right (beutiful terrain that is still practical to play on)
That, and people are generally more interested in investing time into playing the game over modeling pretty terrain to play on.
March 19th, 2009, 08:01 AM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnaFuBAR
I had an HO scale set when I was a kid. There was nowhere for me to keep it constructed, so I'd set it all up differently every time. How are you going to sculpt the terrain? With styrofoam and acetone?
Exactly.
And as for the mountains, I've found that paper mache works wonders. Looks real, too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rossmum
Why not have both?
All-out war in a rail marshalling yard. Awesome.
You know, I actually saw a layout which had a war going on all over it at a train show last weekend. There were tanks everywhere, and one cool thing they added was an airplane which came out of a cloud and divebombed a group of soldiers (complete with sound effects) before going back into the cloud.
All the trains were carrying war supplies, too. It was pretty neat to see.
March 19th, 2009, 08:25 AM
Reaper Man
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Oh god, I've always wanted to do this D: I too had a train set when I was a kid. It was a nice mini one, and I built a table with some basic hills and a bridge on it, where it ran.
March 19th, 2009, 09:34 AM
Limited
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I had an OO set when I was younger, Dad and I built a few, never finished them though, time was an issue you see.
Man, I've always loved those things, though never got to play around with them. :(
I'm actually really interested to see where you'll go with this.
March 19th, 2009, 11:16 AM
Sever
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I've seen one that depicts a bunch of civilians and civil srvants engaging in less-than-pristine activities. It was humorously awesome. There were robberies, murders, sexual acts and vandalism going on in a formerly picturesque small town. It even had police beatings!
March 19th, 2009, 12:05 PM
Varmint260
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Man... I had a 5'x10' plywood table set up with HO-scale track about 6-8 years ago. Still have all the parts but I have no place to set them up. Had a dozen cars, three locomotives (Canadian National locomotives and Canadian Pacific Rail tug) and a ton of Hot Wheels running around the thing. Sure, the HO scale and the Hot Wheels don't exactly match up... at all... but DAMN it was fun. Hope you have tons of fun with this... and ignore my obvious jealous looks for not having a room to build this stuff in for myself :(
March 19th, 2009, 12:10 PM
teh lag
Re: Building a Model Railroad
My childhood dream :'(
Good luck with this. I can't wait to see it done.
March 19th, 2009, 12:18 PM
Joshflighter
Re: Building a Model Railroad
All boys first start off wanting to make a train set, and then when they grow up... they want guns... Aha. :p
Anyways, I had a train set once, my brothers spent hundreds of dollars.. Then we had to move.. and it was all destroyed. :(
I would love to see this go further though. :p
March 19th, 2009, 06:20 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
*Sigh*
Construction on the legs will have to wait until Monday or so, when I can borrow my friend's saw and get a nice, straight cut (Don't want to have a wobbly table).
On the bright side, my order of track just went in ($100 to get started), and should ship from New Jersey in 3-4 business days.
March 19th, 2009, 06:34 PM
Rob Oplawar
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Dude, I have always wanted to do that. I used to be really into trains as a kid, and still love them, as a matter of fact. I was really into steam locomotives (nowadays anything steam powered gets me going).
I like seeing your work on the benchwork. It looks like you know what you're doing. :) Please do keep updating this thread, I want to see how it goes. Good luck, and of course, enjoy!
March 19th, 2009, 07:23 PM
StankBacon
Re: Building a Model Railroad
good luck man, i have a pretty sweet old locomotive that used to be my grandfathers... it didn't work for years but i opened her up and fixed it... its attention to detail is awesome.
i never had a complex track system tho, only some turns and switch tracks on the floor.
i also had a n scale train set before (i think it was n) thing was tiny lol, but it burnt out from overuse :p
March 19th, 2009, 07:37 PM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Oplawar
Dude, I have always wanted to do that. I used to be really into trains as a kid, and still love them, as a matter of fact. I was really into steam locomotives (nowadays anything steam powered gets me going).
I like seeing your work on the benchwork. It looks like you know what you're doing. :) Please do keep updating this thread, I want to see how it goes. Good luck, and of course, enjoy!
I love mechanical things, especially if they're steam-powered. We used to go to all the steam fairs in England, those owned.
e/
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fear1337
All boys first start off wanting to make a train set, and then when they grow up... they want guns... Aha. :p
Anyways, I had a train set once, my brothers spent hundreds of dollars.. Then we had to move.. and it was all destroyed. :(
I would love to see this go further though. :p
I get my No.4 Mk.I Lee-Enfield soon, but I still want a massive trainset. And a Spitfire. :smith:
March 20th, 2009, 07:12 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Placed another order today.
Bought 3 Santa Fe Hopper Cars and a BNSF Caboose (Yes, I KNOW they don't exist IRL, so sue me. How else will I know if any of my cars came uncoupled?).
If I ever go to Germany (and I plan to at some point or another), I have to check this place out.
HOLY.
FUCKING.
SHIT.
E: Also, my track came today via FedEx. I didn't know FedEx even delivered on Sundays, but I guess they do.
Can't do much with it yet, of course! I don't have any plywood laid down...
March 23rd, 2009, 02:57 AM
StankBacon
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has a very impressive scale city as well.
Oh man. Me and my dad still have a ton of track that we bought for doing a project just like this. We used styrofoam, big thick 1", for a base. We were going to do a coal mine type set up where the train would run through the mine and a town.
However we never finished it because we had to move...so we ripped it all apart, saved the track, train, and the bridge for a little while..until I smashed it. Looks like your on the right track with this though, have fun.
If I ever go to Germany (and I plan to at some point or another), I have to check this place out.
Wow, just.. WOW.
March 23rd, 2009, 07:30 AM
sevlag
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I remember my old train set, a loop with two switches that made the oval shorter or longer, then I got some old beat up tracks from a cousin and turned it into a LARGER oval (no creativity as a kid, I swear) but model train sets are a wonderful thing from simple ovals to those elaborate setups that utilize insulator plugs to close the flow of electricity to a section or sections of track (like a roundhouse or a siding where the locomotive is kept)
good luck my friend...
wow...just wow, awesome find from germany...
March 23rd, 2009, 08:27 AM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by sevlag
those elaborate setups that utilize insulator plugs to close the flow of electricity to a section or sections of track (like a roundhouse or a siding where the locomotive is kept)
Oh man. I remember when I was visiting a friend down at Lane Cove a few weeks after we moved out here from the UK, and we were playing with his Lego trainset. I think he's a few years older than me; at the time I was either seven or just turned eight. I wanted to build sidings, but he said if it was anything other than a closed circuit the trains wouldn't run onto the open-ended section of track... young Ross wasn't having any of this, and after a few seconds of searching, came back with an inch-thick stack of bare wire coathangers and butted them up against the open end. The train ran right off the siding http://sa.tweek.us/emots/images/emot-unsmith.gif
Electric trainsets - learning about electricity and circuits, the fun way.
FYI, I'm making this layout at a house I'm moving in to, previously owned by my grandparents. As such, I can only go over there to do some work on it when time allows, and I'm not devoting any resources to moving things, fixing some things up, or hanging out with my girlfriend (who currently lives separately from me, though I would like her to move in :P).
March 27th, 2009, 04:35 AM
SnaFuBAR
Re: Building a Model Railroad
hurry up or i'll kill you.
this owns.
hurry the fuck up.
March 27th, 2009, 03:00 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Here, whoever wants to contribute to the layout, go pick something for me to add to it from here.
When I can, I'll buy whatever you guys pick out and add it to the layout.
Oh, and I'll post pics of it.
Just keep it manageable, ok?
March 27th, 2009, 11:11 PM
Hotrod
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnaFuBAR
hurry up or i'll kill you.
this owns.
hurry the fuck up.
Agreed, why aren't you done yet? You should be done by now. Why aren't you working on this at this instant? Do you really think that life is more important than this? What the hell are you thinking? Get to work!
In all seriousness, that track looks like it's gonna be epic.
March 28th, 2009, 03:10 PM
Dwood
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hotrod
Agreed, why aren't you done yet? You should be done by now. Why aren't you working on this at this instant? Do you really think that life is more important than this? What the hell are you thinking? Get to work!
The world can't know the truth to this statement!!!
I would +rep everyone in this thread if I had enough rep to do so.
March 28th, 2009, 09:33 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I don't have a camera on hand ATM, but imagine those doors, but with plywood instead of doors. And awesomer track. Yeah.
New update for the plans, courtesy of my shitty laptop. http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/q...7/layout-2.jpg
Thme keyboard's broken on thmis laptop\. If I didn't constantly chmangve my type, hmittingv backspace a lot, it would look like thmis\. In thme tihme it took me to type thmis, I hmad to hmit OK for egvery cohmhma, and I hmad to close the "searchm" box for egvery "c"\.
March 28th, 2009, 09:44 PM
Joshflighter
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Awsome. :-3
March 30th, 2009, 01:39 AM
Jay2644
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Cool stuff brah.
My grandpa's an avid trainfan himself, he prefers Union Pacific over BNSF, though.
March 30th, 2009, 01:53 AM
StankBacon
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dark Side
I
Thme keyboard's broken on thmis laptop\. If I didn't constantly chmangve my type, hmittingv backspace a lot, it would look like thmis\. In thme tihme it took me to type thmis, I hmad to hmit OK for egvery cohmhma, and I hmad to close the "searchm" box for egvery "c"\.
LOL
April 2nd, 2009, 12:53 AM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Well... It was a rather... Interesting experience getting to this thread.
You already seem to have a few locomotives, but it is absolutely necessary that you get your hands on a steamer of a massive nature. (I would suggest a Big Boy but they're mega expensive heh).
The future of the universe depends on it.
April 7th, 2009, 07:00 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Yeah, I was going to put a few Steamers on there anyway, hence the Roundhouse. I'm just going to say that the coal mine never switched to diesel or something like that.
April 7th, 2009, 07:07 PM
thehoodedsmack
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Hmm... This thread is making me want to do a Combine Trainyard sorta thing...
April 7th, 2009, 07:09 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Good luck finding 1:87 scale combines. =P
April 7th, 2009, 07:10 PM
thehoodedsmack
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Crush my dreams why don't you... <: (
April 7th, 2009, 07:13 PM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by thehoodedsmack
Hmm... This thread is making me want to do a Combine Trainyard sorta thing...
YES.
You have no idea how badly I want to see that.
April 7th, 2009, 07:13 PM
Sever
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Meh, just find normal combat figurines of that scale and paint them - you'll have to retouch basically everything else anyway, so it shouldn't be that hard.
April 7th, 2009, 07:25 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
*Sigh*
I'll break out the paint and stick some Combine shit somewhere...
April 7th, 2009, 07:26 PM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Make a Depot.
:haw:
April 7th, 2009, 07:35 PM
Limited
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Oh snap, its Americanized....Not bad just, different..
April 7th, 2009, 07:41 PM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Limited
Oh snap, its Americanized....Not bad just, different..
Oh and have somebody holding a brick with the force next to a seasore puzzle.
Well, at least his spelling isn't Australianised.
Seriously, n00b1: SEE. SAW. It's not that hard, lol.
Now gimmie combine-five _@/
April 7th, 2009, 10:46 PM
n00b1n8R
Re: Building a Model Railroad
\@_
April 13th, 2009, 11:13 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Anyone have a picture of the exterior of Black Mesa? I need to take a look at the building to discover how I'm going to do this... I found this, but that's not really much help.
I might be able to pull this off... Take out the Propane Plant and put in Black Mesa, and have it ship out tank cars full of god-knows-what, so let's just say Radioactive goop, which is required for the fast food restaurants in Bohan.
April 13th, 2009, 11:17 PM
CSFLOYD
Re: Building a Model Railroad
k
April 13th, 2009, 11:50 PM
Syuusuke
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I used to love model railroads this as a kid, good stuff man, gooood stufff.
April 13th, 2009, 11:53 PM
Cortexian
Re: Building a Model Railroad
My grandfather had a really nice train set complete with artificial buildings/scenery/mountain with spiraling tunnel. It was really awesome to play with as a kid, but he just recently took it all down and sold most of it off. I think most of it was HO scale too... I'll see if there's any left and post pics, you can probably have it for cheap if you pay shipping.
April 14th, 2009, 04:40 AM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by English Mobster
Anyone have a picture of the exterior of Black Mesa? I need to take a look at the building to discover how I'm going to do this... I found this, but that's not really much help.
I might be able to pull this off... Take out the Propane Plant and put in Black Mesa, and have it ship out tank cars full of god-knows-what, so let's just say Radioactive goop, which is required for the fast food restaurants in Bohan.
oh god no i just had a far superior idea,
AIR EXCHANGE
that is all
April 14th, 2009, 07:30 AM
Bodzilla
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by rossmum
oh god no i just had a far superior idea,
AIR EXCHANGE
that is all
what is it with you and fapping about anything that gets airborne.
combine stays.
April 14th, 2009, 07:45 AM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by ßðÐŻÍ££å
what is it with you and fapping about anything that gets airborne.
combine stays.
oh my, you retard
the air exchange is combine, from the beta days. exchanges our air for nasty shit the slugs breathe
April 14th, 2009, 03:50 PM
Bodzilla
Re: Building a Model Railroad
:smithicide:
April 14th, 2009, 04:29 PM
Jean-Luc
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Quote:
Originally Posted by rossmum
oh my, you retard
the air exchange is combine, from the beta days. exchanges our air for nasty shit the slugs breathe
With the amount that you reference IL2, trust me, I don't think we were expecting "air exchange" to be a HL2 beta reference :p
April 14th, 2009, 07:35 PM
rossmum
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Well it is. It's in Raising the Bar and if anyone has the "Russian" version of HL2, it's one of the (albeit unfinished) levels. It was chopped in favour of Nova Prospekt but even judging from the tiny glimpses in aforementioned "Russian" version, it would've been bloody impressive in terms of level design.
April 15th, 2009, 04:37 AM
Bodzilla
Re: Building a Model Railroad
theres moar halfe life 2?
this changes everything. god dam i love that game.
I used to do this kind of stuff when I was like 10. looks like you just have a giant mess, nice mess
October 22nd, 2009, 12:11 AM
Cojafoji
Re: Building a Model Railroad
That shit is awesome. Had my fathers O scale trains when i was a kid, and a couple miniature trains. Wish we still had them, but times got tough for the family etc.
October 22nd, 2009, 12:13 AM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I LIKE my mess. :saddowns:
I was going to clean it up before I took the picture, but I got too fucking lazy and made trains go around in circles instead. :iamafag:
October 22nd, 2009, 05:13 PM
Alwin Roth
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I just sold 3 boxes full of railroad tracks at my garage sale,
I want them back now :(
October 22nd, 2009, 05:39 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
You may have track, but do you have TRAINS? :p
October 23rd, 2009, 03:50 PM
Cortexian
Re: Building a Model Railroad
You going to actually build it up with scenery and stuff? People who make tracks that are as nice as yours and then leave them like that with no scenery automatically fail.
October 23rd, 2009, 05:03 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Scenery is going to be added, of course. :p
Right now I'm getting the bare bones of the layout down. I've been wiring up the "dead spots" on the track so the trains will run smoothly.
I've actually managed to get both yards online and working as of ~5 minutes ago.
October 24th, 2009, 04:53 AM
OmegaDragon
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I hope that AT-AT is part of the final scenery that would be kickass.
October 24th, 2009, 06:46 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
It will be.
October 24th, 2009, 07:09 PM
Sel
Re: Building a Model Railroad
You have the most fucking awful writing I've ever seen.
I mean honestly, I haven't written that badly since I was 12.
Nice railroad though.
October 24th, 2009, 07:44 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Yeah, my handwriting is horrible.
December 7th, 2009, 12:18 AM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Oh, hello there.
Some recent news:
I was at what essentially amounts to a model train swap meet in the Ontario Convention Center (in Ontario, CA, the convention center is just a few blocks from my house, actually), from which I acquired 2 new engines: a Santa Fe Dash 8 (the red engine in the video above) and a Santa Fe GP-50 to complement my OTHER Santa Fe SD-40. The GP-50/SD-40 team will eventually be used for light freight duty and switching coal cars at the coal yard; the Dash 8 will be used for heavy jobs like pulling coal or container trains. And yes, I WILL repaint some of the train cars and make them TF2 colors with "Red" and "Blu" on them, just because I'm cool like that. Look at the TF2 train prefabs in Hammer to see what I'm talking about.
Since my last update, I have been working on the technical side of things. This means working out the bugs and working with electricity. Lots of working with electricity. Electricity is fun for your body and for your soul. Electricity loves you.
that thing looks like it is booking something fierce
hella fast
also nice train
December 7th, 2009, 12:39 AM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
I think that was only at perhaps 50% power, maximum. I've pushed it up to 75% before, but that particular engine I haven't tried to go any higher, speed-wise. I'd imagine the top speed would be twice what you see in the video.
E: I just did the math. In the video, the train is moving at about 60 scale MPH (that's .7 IRL MPH). The top speed for that particular engine would be 120 scale MPH. Not bad, for a Dash 8.
December 7th, 2009, 06:15 PM
Varmint260
Re: Building a Model Railroad
God damn, I really want to go dig out my old HO scale set and see what I have now. Too bad I have no place to set it up.
December 8th, 2009, 04:59 PM
English Mobster
Re: Building a Model Railroad
Playing with toy trains = manliest hobby ever.
Nearly cut my finger off earlier, I've met many people who have actually lost a digit.
:ohdear:
