Tuning #10: the point of no return

Oh, boy, what am I doing? I’ve decided that #10 wants more weight. If Pembroke were flat as a pool table, I could probably get away with it the way it is. However, I wound up building the station tracks on a slight grade, as the prototype was. The unfortunate result is that this little […]

4-4-0 Engine truck designs

You can tell I’m getting excited about a project when I start planning for it before the previous project is even complete. Oh, this will make it difficult to keep momentum on the turntable. This weekend we were over to Nanaimo for dinner with family, and so, I couldn’t really make progress on the turntable […]

Blackout Modelling

We had a good old blow this evening, which made cycling across the Lions Gate Bridge very interesting indeed and also knocked the power out. My Christmas project, which is consuming most of my spare time these days and seriously hampering progress on the layout, requires a computer and Internet. So, I took some […]

Shoulda measured the turntable before adding details!

This week marked a return to modelling – something I feel I’ve been lacking for the past few years as I’ve been renovating the basement and building a layout in it. There was that little bit back in the spring when I had to build the cosmetic girders for the turntable, and now, this week, […]

Roundhouse doors may be too close for magnets

It’s been a rainy weekend here in Vancouver – at last! The kids and I spent a lazy afternoon raking through the Lego. They’re working on some very inventive cars, and I’m plugging away at mocking up the mechanism for the roundhouse doors. I foolishly went out into yesterday’s storm to get some magnets at Lee […]

Roundhouse pits should be oversize in baseboards

What was I thinking when I routed out the inspections pits in the baseboard? I made them just slightly over 4′ wide, which is the correct width. However, I left almost no space for a veneer of any sort. The result was that I was forced into making concrete pits with .010″ thick walls. Following […]

Driving roundhouse doors magnetically takes more metal than expected

I arrived home this evening to find the Boy had taken a stab at working up the roundhouse door mechanism in Lego. Like all the people on my team at work, he had very high-level instructions, and as with them, he exceeded my expectations. I’m sure there are more bevel gears in his collection, and […]

Another Idea for Roundhouse Doors

My friend Mark Dance has been coming up with all sorts of ideas for mechanisms for Pembroke lately. This week, he sketched an alternative mechanism for opening and closing the roundhouse doors. I’ve reproduced his sketch here, along with my usual ruminations. Mark’s idea is to use Lego bevel gears on a shaft that can […]

Soft Pastels for a Fun Mockup

I’m a little exhausted by the whole turntable gear fiasco. So, I thought I would relax this evening by mocking up the roundhouse. I’m going to want a mockup to experiment with the doors, soon anyway, and I was originally thinking of only mocking up the front wall. However, I needed a break, and so, […]

More Thoughts on Roundhouse Doors

I’ve been pondering the roundhouse doors for a couple of days. Earlier this year, I came up with the idea to drive the doors with magnets beneath the layout. However, the tangle of rods and levers beneath the baseboard was hard to visualize. So today, I thought I would sketch it out. It still […]