June 7, 2023
Unloaded barge
Replacing wheels
3D printer items

John enlisted GP38 #2001 to clear freight cars off the barge and bring them into Anchorage for possible wheel exchange. This video shows the consist passing just east of Portage depot.

Five of these freight cars used the narrow tread width wheels and John replaced them with .110 inch ones. Anyone need 68 lightly used 33" .088" tread width wheels?

Grant (John's 14-year-old geocaching buddy) has a 3D printer. He created an HO scale Shetland Sheepdog (Max) for Terry's cabin area. He also created these geocaching ammo cans for hiding in LJ and Leigh's Maple Leaf cemetery.
Terry's cabin
Terry's cabin
Terry's cabin

John cut a second layer of green board to provide structure and depth to the first layer in the area of Terry's cabin. Rick is shown putting down a layer of white glue on the first layer.

Next, Rick puts John's second layer in place.

Finally, water jugs and other heavy items are put on top to press the two layers together.
Reducing #3015's plow
Turnout tuning
Coupler replacement

The bottom of the plow on GP40 #3015 was striking the double crossover and derailing. Rick took it home and filed off a small section for proper clearance.

Three of the Whittier turnouts (main, barge track 1 and barge track 2) were not opening fully. Rick did a bit of fine tuning and used F7A #1500 along with two hoppers to confirm all turnouts now function correctly.

One of the Difco dump cars experienced a broken coupler. Rick replaced the offending coupler and the unit was placed back in service.
Cardboard blackout
Rick's camera consist

Light from the window was coming in underneath the layout. This looked funky when videotaping on the GoPro train. Rick cut a piece of cardboard to size, painted it black and installed it.

Video: Rick ran his video car consist through the tunnel to test the cardboard blackout. Shown here is the train returning to Anchorage after a successful mission.

 

 

June 14, 2023
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Video from last week: Rick runs his black and gold GP40 with flashing ditch lights.

Video from last week: Rick's custom built video flat car with LED headlights.

Video from last week: A run through tunnel before the window black out cardboard was added.
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Video from last week: A run through tunnel (with LED headlights) after the window black out cardboard was added. It is apparent we need to add an additional section above it to block even more light.

John worked on Terry's cabin foam board. The pond area was removed. He also filed and sanded the curved area between the two foam boards.

Next, John added Sculptamold in the gap between the two foam boards.
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Rick ran a freight train consist and found one of the knuckles (jaw) on a hopper was short and caused pull-aparts. He replaced the coupler which solved the problem.

Video: The freight consist passes through TwentyMile.

Video: Rick ran a consist of refrigerator cars and hoppers. The refrigeration cars have longer gear boxes and these are causing derailments. Stay tuned for a possible fix.

 

 

Feel free to contact me at john@alaskarails.org
Page created 9/4/17 and last updated 6/15
/23