Any Train Simulator/model railroading geeks here?

[Kerbinchaser]

*Sigh* Today my 80 dollar Conrail SD50 from Atlas went smashing off my table.  

My brother was running it, and it derailed, but instead of shutting the power down, he accidentally kept the power ON, so when he put the drive wheels BACK on the track, it shot off. So far, the only damage is the front plow coming off and some broken handrails, but... Man, did that give me a heart attack. *whew!*

[Geonovast]

7 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

*Sigh* Today my 80 dollar Conrail SD50 from Atlas went smashing off my table.  

My brother was running it, and it derailed, but instead of shutting the power down, he accidentally kept the power ON, so when he put the drive wheels BACK on the track, it shot off. So far, the only damage is the front plow coming off and some broken handrails, but... Man, did that give me a heart attack. *whew!*

Revert to launch?

[Green Baron]

More special transport, car set "Windmill":

I have the electronics running. Now to a little woodwork. And i found a model making shop that sells train stuff, fortunately on the neighbour island. *phew* :-)

[Kerbinchaser]

1 hour ago, Geonovast said:

Revert to launch?

I wish. 

13 minutes ago, Green Baron said:

More special transport, car set "Windmill":

I have the electronics running. Now to a little woodwork. And i found a model making shop that sells train stuff, fortunately on the neighbour island. *phew* :-)

Duuuuuude. 

[Green Baron]

On 27.1.2018 at 7:53 AM, Shpaget said:

No. It's in Zagreb, Croatia. It's not nearly as huge as MiWuLa (they are a class of their own), but you'd need to sit in a car and drive for a few hours to get to a bigger one.

We have about 1050 m of track in a roughly 75 m² of layout, with another 200-ish m² in preparation, which will bump our place on the list of the largest layouts in Europe quite a bit.

We still have quite a bit of work to do.

http://www.backo.hr/en/

The rocrail tip was was good ! It works, though with a trick i mentioned already (giving write access to /dev/ttyUSB0). This must be done after the control unit is plugged in and switched on, before the program is started and isn't mentioned in the installation hints.

This is beautiful railroad you guys are doing !

Edited January 29, 2018 by Green Baron

[Shpaget]

Glad you got it to work.

Thanks.

Anyway, today we (the guys working on the layout) connected some dots. Rod Stewart is coming to Zagreb and he has a concert on Friday. The thing is, he's apparently a model train geek as well and has a huge layout of his own. Not only that but remarkably he models while on tours. Long story short, we started the process of contacting him, via the concert organizers, to visit us.

No reply yet, but I'm kind of excited.

If he does come, he'll be the second music related famous person to come. We've already had Michael Schønwandt when he had a concert in Zagreb. He Googled "model trains in Zagreb" and found us. Apparently he liked it, since he came twice in two days.

Fingers crossed.

[Green Baron]

Man, indeed, so i read, Sir Rod Stewart is a model raidroader. That is really cool :-)

[Dfthu]

So you know how Boeing transports 737 fuselages to Seattle by rail? Has anyone made something like that?

[linuxgurugamer]

24 minutes ago, Dfthu said:

So you know how Boeing transports 737 fuselages to Seattle by rail? Has anyone made something like that?

You mean like this:

[Dfthu]

Just now, linuxgurugamer said:

You mean like this:

Yea like that

[Chel]

Why didn't I discover this thread earlier! By model railroading, is LEGO model railroading acceptable? 

My LEGO railway, featuring my Saturn-V set. I filmed this while displaying it at a model train show.

10 hours ago, Geonovast said:

Revert to launch?

*Spam F5 and F9*

[Mrcarrot]

Well.... somewhere around here I have a machine with Trainz 2006.... if that counts?

[Dfthu]

Oh wait I found it

https://imgur.com/a/YNs1D

[MrChumley]

I like trains too.

I had a HO scale table setup when I was a kid, I never got into making scenes, but I loved switching the tracks around, and making them drive all around the room.

I also like the train simming too. I mostly play Open TransportationTycoon Deluxe (OTTD).  It's free and open source.  I like all the mods for it too I use FIRS mod that adds complexity to the supply chains.  I have a map of N. America with a bunch of cities and FIRS industries I can share if anyone is interested.

[Kerbinchaser]

On 1/29/2018 at 2:36 PM, Shpaget said:

Glad you got it to work.

Thanks.

Anyway, today we (the guys working on the layout) connected some dots. Rod Stewart is coming to Zagreb and he has a concert on Friday. The thing is, he's apparently a model train geek as well and has a huge layout of his own. Not only that but remarkably he models while on tours. Long story short, we started the process of contacting him, via the concert organizers, to visit us.

No reply yet, but I'm kind of excited.

If he does come, he'll be the second music related famous person to come. We've already had Michael Schønwandt when he had a concert in Zagreb. He Googled "model trains in Zagreb" and found us. Apparently he liked it, since he came twice in two days.

Fingers crossed.

ROD STEWART??? Dude, that guy's layout is INSANE! His layout is bigger than a freaking tennis court. 

That will be an amazing experience. Good luck if he comes.  

 

On 1/29/2018 at 8:43 PM, Dfthu said:

So you know how Boeing transports 737 fuselages to Seattle by rail? Has anyone made something like that?

Yup. I have. Pictures required! 

 

Virtual 737s! S:

15 hours ago, Mrcarrot said:

Well.... somewhere around here I have a machine with Trainz 2006.... if that counts?

EEEAUUUGH. No no, jk jk. But here's a pic from T:ANE: 

Spoiler

^ that's from my freelanced Navada sub on Trainz a New Era.

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Lo Var Lachland

[Chel]

I forgot about this little thing! https://photos.app.goo.gl/BRvhSyVHsw4aLirG3

My little freight train MOC that I built over the holidays

[Kerbinchaser]

2 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

I forgot about this little thing! https://photos.app.goo.gl/BRvhSyVHsw4aLirG3

My little freight train MOC that I built over the holidays

Dude, I forgot about that cutie!  

Here's a hopper I made once: 

http://www.moc-pages.com/moc.php/403668

 

[kapteenipirk]

I have been a big train buff for as long as i can remember, and i remember reading model train magazines when i was 7-8 years old dreaming about getting my own model train layout.

I only had to wait like 10 years before i found by accident that there is actually a model train shop here in Finland, though the sad thing is that it's over 100 km away from me.

There is also another one, but it's like 300 km away, so i wont even bother.

 

Sadly due to weather constraints, my HO scale layout is in winter storage right now, and i just have a temporary setup running on my floor.

This is because instead of living in a big house where i at one point had 3 rooms for my self, me and my parents now live in an apartment building, and the only place where i can put my full layout is the huge balcony, witch tough it has walls and windows isn't "sealed" so it gets freezing cold during winter.

I was also worried about excessive moisture during the more rainy seasons.

 

My own collection actually includes 3 separate tracks.

I have my main layout witch has digital control, and all the other cool toys. It's comprised of mainly PIKO and Roco stuff.

I originally had and outer and inner track that where connected at two different points with a couple sidings, but now that i have more room, it just has a single large main track with a bunch of sidings and a couple garages.

Here's a picture of it from when it was situated in the basement of my old house.

 

 And here's a bunch of closeups of some of the trains.

Spoiler

First off we have the passenger train witch got a new dedicated locomotive and a driving carriage after that pick of the layout was taken.

Oh, and i also put in some close couplers in place of the "loop" ones in order to give the passengers a chance to change cars without an added leap of faith.

The locomotive is actually of the same  type that the Finnish VR (Valtion Rautatie) uses.

 

The locomotive you saw pulling the passenger train was this.

Tough this is not mine, as my one is currently under maintenance in Tampere, because the flat-flex that goes from the main circuit-board witch in the middle cab area to the digital-decoder connector witch is inside the pivoting nose, had cracked on the inside, witch caused the train to "jitter" and die constantly.

The E89, or the "Crocodile engine" as it was more commonly known, has been one of my all time favorites for as long as i can remember, so when i saw they had one on sale, i just had to get it.

 

These days i use the crocodile to pull this (you-know, cause military green or whatever).

My overly long "military train", where the only real military part is the couple of Roco minitanks cars witch are carrying the Man-10T and the M113/M577, and of-cource the Leopard 2A5 tank that in real life would most likely turn that long flatcar into a banana (the original cargo of the long flatcar where a couple of trucks).

The rest is just some random flatcars with "military colored" vehicles and random boxes on them, with the addition of mail and baggage cars that are supposed to serve as a sort of mobile-HQ/supply train for the military.

I kinda want to customize the mail-cars and the baggage car (4-axle ones) with some military style camo, and by adding some extra bits to one of the mail-cars to make it look more like a radio-car. And i could always add some German army decals as there's bound to be some left overs from all those models ive built.

 

Another one of my favorite trains is the crane-train witch i taught id never find here in Finland, but luckily i did, and even more luckily, i was able to find the crew car that goes with it the next time i visited.

As you can probably guess, the two knobs on the side are used to control the elevation of the jib and one of the three hooks, they can be pulled out.

At one point i made my own lifting ropes for lifting cars and other stuff, but those are gone now.

 

If you wanna see close ups of more of my collection, just ask, as i  have quite a few freight cars around and there is also the rest of my locomotives.

The 6-axle BR 232, the 4-axle BR 290, the VT 12 diesel multiple-unit, and the ICE 3 bullet-train

 

Oh, there is one more fun little toy that i have, it's one of those Roco cleaning-vans that rubs away dirt as you pull along,

Like this one, but just in a different color.

 

The second track that i have is a manual track in witch i can run my old but gold LIMA trains witch can't be digitalized...well, unless your an ambassador of electronics.

I also like to call it the toy train track as it's really just for playing around with.

Spoiler

From all the trains that i have, for some reason i love that dog-nose train the most, even tough it has given me a LOT of problems in the past, I guess it's all that love that ive put into it trying to get it to run smoothly and consitently (witch i accomplished btw) that has made me care for it.

I guess it's kinda like in TopGear, they star their specials with just another car, but they leave with a mate that they care for.

 

My third track is the Murica (Bachmann) track. I bought a starter-set while we where on our one week stay in New York. I had to ship it in a shoe-box full of toilet-paper because the original box was too big to fit in any of our suit-cases.

I just had to get one of those American style freight locomotives for my collection.

Because i live in Finland i also had to later order a transformer for the transformer to avoid BBQ'ing the train with our EU outlets.

Spoiler

The steam engine i bought here in Finland, used of-course.

I also bought some extra freight-cars to give the train some more stuff to pull.

 

At one point i wanted to get my self a Hornby Pendolino train, so that then i could say that i own a Europian, American and a British layout.

Plus, i really like some of the British train designs, my all time favorite being the ill fated APT (Advanced Passenger Train)

Spoiler

 

I have had many other forms train-sets in the past, but my favorite alongside this one has to be my Lego trains witch i sadly had to give away alongside most of my other Lego stuff because they simply wouldn't fit anywhere in our new much smaller apartment.

Here's a couple picks i found in my phone.

Spoiler

This American style train MOC with it's A and B unit is probably still my favorite of all the many train MOC's that i made back then.

 

Another one that i happen to have a pic of, is my crazy super experimental jet boosted train, or whatever it was supposed to be.

It looks a little thrown together, but that's mainly because i only had so many part's at my disposal (all my part's came from set's).

It's very crazy looking if nothing else.

 

[Chel]

@kapteenipirk Very interesting. Hope the weather clears up and you can get to the shop!

[kapteenipirk]

11 minutes ago, The_Cat_In_Space said:

@kapteenipirk Very interesting. Hope the weather clears up and you can get to the shop!

Thanks . Just have to wait maby 2-3 months and im good to go with setting up the full layout again.

[Kerbinchaser]

@kapteenipirk

 

Do I see the pedant symbol on the passenger train? 0_o 

Eagle and globe. Huh. 

[kapteenipirk]

6 minutes ago, Lo Var Lachland said:

@kapteenipirk

 

Do I see the pedant symbol on the passenger train? 0_o 

Eagle and globe. Huh. 

The Crocodile engines where built in Switzerland long before WW2 (first ones where made in 1919, aka a year after WWI ended), so yes, the particular engine was most likely captured by the Germans at one point in the war, thus it carries the censored version of the symbol of the Third Reich.

[Norcalplanner]

I am a moderate train enthusiast, having had both O and HO layouts when I was younger. In the last decade, I've only done a few things on the computer, mainly Sid Meiers Railroads. (Side bar rant - where are the freaking tenders?!?)

However, I pale in comparison to my father, who is now in his 70s. I give you five words....

Customized G Scale Live Steam.

[adsii1970]

I've found my next modeling project:

[Green Baron]

So did it. H0 DC.

I just cleared out 5 * 4m and sketched a table of 5 * 1.6m as a base plate. Will go to the carpenter on Monday to get the material.

Just because i realised i am too old to skid across the floor on my knees.

 

Oh, the 2. ... Sir Rod Steward in Zagreb ... how are things @Shpaget ?

Edited February 2, 2018 by Green Baron