ScaleTrains BNSF ES44C4

I got one of the new ScxaleTrains ES44s. I was especially interested in the new lighting feature that incorporates both ground lights and walkway lights. These turn out to be a bit of a gimmick, especially since they're normally visible only at night or in low light, while most model railroad operations take place with the room lights on. Here's the full loco:

ScaleTrains didn't update its user documentation to cover the new lightong feature. It turns out that, with the numberboards, the walkway and ground lights turn on automatically with the engine startup function, F8, and you can't turn them off unless you mute the engine, also with F8. Having the numberboards always on is less than optimal, as by at least some railroads' rules, the numberboards should be lit only on the control loco in the consist. To turn off the numberboards in this loco, you need to mute the sound.

I got into a discussion on a Facebook group, and one professional railroader said he'd been trained to leave the walkway lights on permanently, since crews change any time of day or night, and if you're boarding the loco at 10 PM, it's good to have the walkway lights on. But the walkway lights aren't normally visible in daylight anyhow. Here are shots of the walkway lights on the model:

There is also a walkway light above the step on the ngineer's side walkway, which is visible lit in the top photo in this post.

As far as I can tell, the ground lights don't work on my model. Frankly, this is mostly a gimmick, and it's not worth risking shipping damage by returning the loco to ScaleTrains.

ScaleTrains implements by default an annoying ESU feature, "delay on start". This keeps the loco from moving on speed step 1 until the engine revs up. No other sound decoders do this, and it makes consissting and speed matching difficult. You can disable this feature by setting CV 124 to 16.

I had to get this from a Facebook group. ScaleTrains support still hasn't answered my question about it. So there are some minor glitches with these locos, but the basic model looks like a BNSF ES44, which are common as dirt around here.

Progress At Malabar

Last fall I ordered a Yorke Industrial Engine House kit from Dr Ben. This is definitely one of the more elaborate craftsman kits I've done, but I completed it this month and installed it in Malabar:

I'm now thinking about moving the Rusty Rail Shay junk pile casting from behind the Manhattan Transfer roundouse to a position in front of the Yorke engine house in Malabar:

It's more visible and more consistent with the surrounding scenery here. I'll need to update some of the paint and weathering to bring out more of the details. I also added another Rusty Rail junk pile beside the road into town, this one a derelict truck:

Here are a couple other current shots of the area:

More Scenery Progress

I was able to make more progress addingWoodland Scenics Clump Foliage to the rock castings on the cliff face at CP Drains. Again looking at train videos from the eastern US, there are a fair number of scenesd like this. Here's one at the tunnel on CSX at Harpers Ferry:

This is one of the scenes that loosely inspired me. Here's the current progress:

CP Drains is named for the lowest point on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid. CP Drains is also the lowest point on my layout. You can see the drains in the photo above for which this area is also named.

It suddenly occurred to me last week -- I don't know why it took me so long -- that the way to attach the clump foliage to the near-vertical surfaces is spray adhesive. Gorilla Spray Adhesive works extremely well.

Back To The San Joaquin Valley

Last week I made it back to the Ssn Joaquin Valley after nearly a year. Poking around, I found a few quirky things. A new sign at the San Joaquin Valley Railroad's headquarters in Exeter:

I took a quick trip to the SJVRR's Oil City branch just north of Bakersfield. Not much to see. This is the Tricor Refinery at the end of the line:

I also had alook at the SJVR's line from Exeter to Fresno via Reedley. I found this very traditional industry at Ivanhoe:

The SJVR serves a good many prosperous industries, but very few are single trackside facilities like this one. More often, they're very large, highly secure, fenced off, and hard to photograph.

The prize for quirky this trip goes to a strange facility made from old shipping containers along the UP main line at Famoso.

This seems to load material into trucks that's delivered in old wood chip cars:

Nearby was a new-looking Shuttlewagon at Western Milling in Famoso:

Back To Some Scenery Work

Over the past week, I worked on several wiring and DCC projects, and it was starting to stress me out. So I realized I had a fair amount of scenery materials on hand and several projects I hadn't worked on for several months, so I turned to some lower-stress scenery work. The photo above is a key area I need to finish, where I've built out some rock and hillside formations that hide a sewer pipe.

I have a lot of Norfolk Southern, Clinchfield, Norfolk and Western, and CSX videos showing Appalachian scenery, and I've been watching them to get inspiration for how to scenic this area. The tunnel portal, which I think is from Pre Size, actually looks more like Norfolk and Western/NS portals than I'd thought.

I've always liked John Allen's advice that taking photos of your work helps you improve.

The ballast here is pretty beat up. It's s 25 year old Woodland Scenics, made from crushed walnut shells. This deteriorates and fades over time. It's also been through various disasters ranging from major rewiring to leaking pipes, and I need to redo it with Arizona Rock & Mineral. I also need to add dirt, vegetation, rocks, and so forth below the track in the foreground, and farther to the rear, I need to keep inserting foliage clusters in the rock faces and actual trees higher up and farther into the background.

Depending on how things go, I'll post progress photos.