Standard Parts

As I’m working on a 3D model of a freight car, there are some parts that lend themselves to reuse. Brakes, stake pockets and pipe fittings are natural candidates for standardization. So, I’ve established an OnShape document of some standard parts that I can import and use on any other car I might design. John […]

Coal Car Progress

For one reason or another, I’ve been absent from the railroad room quite a bit these past few months. This makes progress on physical projects difficult, but virtual projects can continue. The coal car, which I’m almost ashamed to say has been on my desktop for a year, is nearing completion. In thirty years of […]

Cattle Pen Fencing

Following last month’s experiment with the stupidly fine wire, I’ve gone on to refine the technique and produce enough wire fencing to keep any future cattle shipments enclosed long enough to get them aboard the stock cars. It’s still remarkably difficult to work with this material that I can barely see and that seems to […]

Stupidly Fine Wire

It is better to leave a detail off than to make it too heavy or over-scale. Typical line fences, such as the one at the edge of the pasture, or the fencing for the cattle pens, are a mesh of wires no more than 1.5 mm in diameter. That’s less than .02 mm in HO […]

Cattle Pen Top Rail

The Canadian Government Railways stock pen drawing on which I based the cattle chutes shows wire fences with a single rail around the top. I like the lightness of the wire fences because they don’t detract from the herd behind. However, I’m concerned that an enclosure that small would require a rail the cattle can […]

Craftsman’s Corner 2024

By all accounts his weekend’s Vancouver Train Expo was a roaring success. It was perfect train show weather – raining enough to keep people focused indoors, but not so awful that they wouldn’t go out – and the ticket sales reflected that opportunity. Over at the Craftsman’s Corner, we had a steady stream of visitors […]

Mock Cattle Chutes

We’re coming up on Vancouver Train Expo, and once again I’ll be parked behind the table at Craftsman’s corner for half a day. I need a project to bring, and so, I started developing plans for the cattle pens, of which Pembroke had two. I couldn’t find any prototype plans amongst my own resources, so […]

Installing the Water Tower

Even if DCC promises that you need only two wires for your whole layout, of course they are going to be in the way. I had made a cut-out in the water tower base to avoid moving the bus wires. However, there was no way to steer clear of the wire for my under-layout desk […]

Water tower mechanism in action

My goal when designing the controls for Pembroke has been to simulate the actions of real railroaders, but smaller and lighter. Real railroading is heavy, dangerous work, after all! When it comes to the Pembroke water tower, this means there is, of course, no button. Almost nothing had a button in 1905, except for the […]

Water Tower Electronics Installed

With the last gremlin exorcised from the electronics project board, I’ve turned the workbench back to physical mode. During testing, I found that the limit switch was not in fact making contact with the linear actuator. I considered hacking it, but it was easier to tweak the design of the bracket and print a fresh […]