#37 November Status Report

November 2, 2009

This month we continue the tour of recent changes to the EnterTRAINment Junction layout in the Modern Period.

As you exit the tunnel from Oakmore, a new scene unfolds in the meadow of the “Balloon Area.”  Since neither the balloons nor the method of hanging and animating have been produced yet, the empty meadow cried for some content.  Equestrians seemed like a way to add that content as well as providing some apparent action, even though they haven’t been animated (Figure 1).

 

 
Figure 1.  The Equestrians

 

Around the corner, past the Hell’s Gate Bridge, on the left side of the aisle, is a new plastics factory built by Ray Hughes (Figure 2), with the usual outstanding detail characteristic of Ray’s modeling (Figure 3).

 

 
Figure 2  The Plastics Factory

 

 

 

 
Figure 3.  Plastics Factory Detail

 

On the right side of the aisle just past the arch bridge is the large rock cliff, with its overhang and the elk on top.  It’s a perfect location for base jumpers, so Jack Wilson and I made a couple of them (Figure 4).  One of them is a bit bolder, he’s still diving, even though he’s lower than the one with the parachute already open.  Hope his ‘chute works fast!

 
Figure 4.  The Base Jumpers

 

The water tower on the back side of the modern yard needed a label.  Adding a label to the side that faced the aisle was straightforward, but the back side, being visible in the mirror, needed some special attention that you wouldn’t find in ordinary lettering.  As you can see in Figure 5, it does show correctly in the mirror.

 
Figure 5.  The Water Tank

 

In May of this year, we installed a locomotive servicing shed,  built by Mike Barnhard,  for the area adjacent to the Modern Yard.  Since then, we’ve removed it, modified it with lighting, and reinstalled it. (Figure 6).  We also added some people, painted for us by Jim Pugh.  Other details added were the two sand towers.

 

 
Figure 6.  Modern Engine Servicing Shed

 

Finally, the container cranes in the intermodal area have been animated.  On one, the gantry is stationary, picking up the container and moving it to the side from train car to trailer and back.  The other, the one closest to the aisle, not only moves the containers up, down, and side to side, but the gantry also moves along its rails to align the container with rail car or trailer which are not directly next to each other (Figure 7).  The container moves between the blue rail car and the trailer with the red tractor.  Hats off to the animation team for another job well done.

 
Figure 7.   One of the Animated Container Cranes

 

 

This ends the current tour, but already there are more changes in the areas we’ve already covered in the previous articles.  So, there are a lot more things to show you.  We’ll start to look at some of those next time.

 

© 2009 Tom Bartsch

MVGRS Big Train Project Coordinator