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Meridian Speedway BLOG

Locomotive Display Shelf Project - Part 1

8/30/2016

1 Comment

 

Display Case Construction - Design and Acquisition

As if I do not have enough open projects, I have decided to build a display case to mount on a wall of the man cave for my growing locomotive fleet.  It just is not satisfying to have a fleet of locomotives in boxes, I want to see them!

Some thought went into the design.  I decided that I wanted the shelves to be two-tiered.  I used some half-inch thick pieces of wood to experiment with spacing.  The final verdict: each back shelf would sit 1 1/2 inch above the front shelf.  These shelves would be three inches wide and the main shelves would be six inches wide.​
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There will then be three-and-a-half inches between the top of each recessed three-inch shelf and the bottom of the next six-inch shelf.

To Home Depot I went to purchase lumber.  I got two 4'x8' sheets of half-inch thick Birch plywood.  I had them rip them into pieces of the following dimensions:

1 piece - 48"x49" - this will be the back of the case
11 pieces - 48"x6" - these are the outer frame and the 6" shelf inserts
8 pieces - 48"x3" - these are the recessed shelves
This was the same type of wood I had purchased for the decking of my railroad.  Previously I had no issues with this wood warping.  Therefore I was surprised to see all of the pieces cut from one of the sheets of plywood warp considerably within a couple of days of purchase.

A bit dismayed I searched for some solutions on-line, most of which involved wetting the wood and placing significant weight on it while it dried. These methods really did not interest me.

I purchased various metal clamps and four sturdy 3' x 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" pieces of Poplar.

Three of the pieces of Poplar I kept hole to clamp each shelf to during installation to keep them straight. The fourth piece of poplar I cut up into various lengths to used as spacers between the shelves.
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As expected, the cuts from Home Depot created some rough edges that would need to be sanded.  A three-pack of fine grit sanding pads from the paint department did the trick!
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The 48"x49" dimension of the back piece was chosen so that all of the remaining pieces could be made from 48" strips of wood.  By making the display case 49" wide, the outer vertical pieces, 1/2 inch wide, would leave 48" in-between that all of the shelves would fit into.
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lWith enough clamps and the Poplar braces the warped strips of wood were easy to corner and connect.  First I test fit and clamped the wood pieces together.  Once clamped properly, I traced the outline of the shelf onto the back piece.  After removing the clamped piece I would drill pilot holes in the outline on the back board to guide screw installation.

Then I applied a healthy bead of wood glue to the outlined area and re-installed the shelf, clamping it securely in place.  Once satisfied with the position of the piece being added, I drilled into each shelf using the pilot holes as guides and then screwed them in place.

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More to come...

​Chris
1 Comment

IC SD70 Test Run on MCIS - Posted on YouTube

8/23/2016

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IC 1021 and IC 1025 Make Their Debut

It has been awhile since I uploaded a model railroad video to YouTube.  Recently my new IC SD70s were delivered to Greg McComas' Michigan Interstate (MCIS) for a test run.  The locomotives performed very well!

This break-in run was recorded for YouTube upload.  I decided to immerse the viewer with the sights and sounds of these models, so I chose a random montage format with multiple runby scenes.  The video is linked below:
With regards to detail, paint, prime mover sound, and motor control these locomotives score very high marks!  The epic fails are the Athearn standard light bulbs and the extremely poor Tsunami horn files.  Both of these locomotives are equipped with Nathan P-5 horns and the decoders were set to the P-5 recording.  The sound is nothing like the LokSound P-5 unfortunately.

Despite these flaws the overall effect is outstanding.  I plan to add the other two numbers to the fleet in short order.

There are a number of videos on YouTube of the prototypes, mostly in the post-CN time period.  A few are linked below to provide some perspective:
Below is the shot used for the YouTube Thumbnail in my video:
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Chris
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IC SD70 1025 Joins the Fleet

8/13/2016

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New Equipment Delivered 08-13-2016

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The Meridian Speedway took delivery of a second Athearn Genesis IC SD70 today.  IC 1025 now joins the IC 1021!  Beautiful locomotives...  I now have an IC CONSIST!

Walthers Proto 54' 23,000 gallon Funnel-Flow tank car UTLX 641541 was also received today.  
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Chris
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IC SD70 1021 Arrives on Property

8/3/2016

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New Equipment Delivered - 8-3-2016

Today I took delivery of my first new Illinois Central "Death Star" painted locomotive: Athearn Genesis SD70 IC 1021!  Of course there are plenty of opportunities for me to script Illinois Central power in Vicksburg, MS on my proto-freelanced HO scale railroad.  Those of us interested in modelling late IC power are in luck as many models are coming out.  Athearn Genesis has just released four road numbers of IC SD70's and has four numbers of GP38-2's in the works.  Athearn RTR will be releasing three number of IC SD40-2s as well.  And...if/when the InterMountain GP10's come out, that will be another four road numbers available.  

This will be a total of 15 unique Illinois Central locomotive models that will be available in the very near future!  So there is no time to waste to start tackling this fleet...

The model of IC 1021 received today is factory equipped with a Tsunami Soundtraxx sound decoder.
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One freight car was part of this order as well.  I picked up Walthers Proto 54' 23,000 gallon funnel flow tank car UTLX 14850.  This car is from the Walthers latest release.
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Chris
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Mississippi Central Railroad - by Bobby J. Garraway

8/1/2016

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New Essay Added to the Meridian Speedway Library

This essay was found on-line on the late Bobby J. Garraway's Blog.  This particular post was dated Monday, September 19, 2011.  Records indicate that Bobby J. Garraway was born on November 2, 1930 and passed away on Sunday, April 28, 2013.  This is a wonderful first-hand account of a classy Mississippi Railroad that is now long-gone. 
Mississippi Central Railroad - by Bobby J. Garraway
Mr. Garraway published additional essays on his blog that may be of interest to you.  The button below will take you to his main blog page:
Bobby J. Garraway's Blog
Respectfully,

​Chris

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© Christopher M. Palmieri - 1st Publish 12-10-2014
  • Home Page
    • What's New
    • Recommended Links
    • About Me
    • Contact
  • NT&0/T&GN Story
    • Story Variables
    • NT&O & T&GN Are Born
    • The Mexico Connection
  • Prototype Inspiration
  • Library
    • Library - Selected Reading
    • Photo Essays by CMP
    • My Models on YouTube Library
    • Prototype Video Library
    • Prototype Equipment Photo Index
    • Operating Sessions
    • Valuation Library
  • Model Railroad
    • Company Officers
    • Franchise Opportunities
    • Railroads in Network
  • Operations
    • Safety ? Logo
    • MAPS
    • Business Units
    • Train Symbols >
      • T&GN/NT&O Train Symbol Methodology >
        • TGN-NTO MBU-Domestic Symbols
        • TGN-NTO MBU-Mexico Symbols
        • TGN-NTO Local Symbols
        • TGN-NTO Yard Job Symbols
        • TGN-NTO Cycle Train Symbols
        • TGN-NTO Intermodal Train Symbols
        • TGN-NTO Rock Train Symbols
      • Y&MV Train Symbols
    • Equipment Rosters
    • Timetables >
      • GM&O Southern Division Time Table No. 11
  • Models
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    • Locomotive Consists
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      • Paint Scheme Art
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