Notes on Building a Triangular Helix
| September 8, 2012 | Posted by ranulf@fairetomidland.com under Uncategorized |
Laying out a helix as a triangle is not all that difficult, but it’s a little bit more involved than an oval. I laid mine out using simple geometry tools. I started out by figuring what radius I wanted to use, and how long I wanted my straight sections to be. Once I had an…
In Case Anyone Thinks Railroads Aren’t Still Relevant
| August 16, 2012 | Prototype |
A good online friend/blogging colleague of mine, Randy Tinseth posted a neat snapshot of a railcar that is a bit special in itself and very special and important to Boeing Aircraft, as it actually forms part of the production line for Boeing’s highly popular 777 airliner. While the ‘rest of the US” is struggling through…
An Old Favorite New Again
| January 23, 2012 | Projects |
Or, Overhaul and DCC Installation in a Life-Like BL2….. I’ve had this locomotive since I was a teenager. I’m pretty sure it’s something I wheedled my mother into buying for me, and it was my favorite engine for a long time. I’ve since bought many other locomotives, and even acquired new favorites. But with a history…
What is a Short Line, Anyway?
| July 15, 2010 | Prototype |
We just started this blog and already I notice a lot of searches wind up here because of the phrase “Short Line”. In railroad terms, this really doesn’t refer to the length of trackage a railroad owns, but it is a term that signifies a railroad that has less revenue per year than a “Class…
A dirt-simple 2 position light signal
| July 1, 2010 | Projects |
This is a nifty little circuit I came up with the other day while playing with a transistor, trying to puzzle out how it can work as an inverter. This circuit looks to be very useful as it can run 2 lights from one output, such as from a logic gate or I/O interface. One…
So who is this guy, anyway????
| June 27, 2010 | Posted by ranulf@fairetomidland.com under People |
Hello and welcome to my blog, FairetoMidland.com. My name’s Ian, although I’m better known as ranulf on www.nscale.net and a couple other forums. I don’t really have time to keep up with more than one forum though, so nscalenet is where I spend most of my forum time. I’m a model railroader, avid reader of…
How to Decide Where the Track Goes
| April 1, 2010 | Posted by TOM under Planning |
This is a sample article. It will soon be replaced When you start to build model railroad track plans you need to think about your ultimate goal. You can design and build so many track layouts but it’s important to understand where you are headed. If you don’t have a clear idea in mind then…
Scale, Gauge, Size — Basics
| April 1, 2010 | Posted by TOM under Planning |
This is a sample article. It will soon be replaced If you are new to the model train hobby, you may feel a bit confused about the terms “gauge” and “scale” and find it difficult to differentiate between these two different terms. In part, this is because both of these terms relate to the size…
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