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On February 10th we uploaded our first video, Welcome to the Tiadaghton Valley Railroad & Coal Company, to YouTube. This marks our official entry into the word of Vlogging and YouTube. Check out the channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVJMoICFWw9Muse6xm8moiQ and if you like what you see please subscribe! 
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For Christmas and my birthday, on December 27th, I received, among other things, cash and gift cards. I purchased some other "gifts" with some cash I got from selling some excess model train items; we'll start there... Stuff Purchased with Cash from Selling Excess Model Train Items... Banta Modelworks HOn3 Sargents Roundhouse on the D&RGW, 3 stall kit purchased from eBay Flexifile Touch-N-Flow Plastic Solvent System and Work Base  Monroe Modelworks AIM Weathering Powders Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner for acrylic paints and Atlas Brush Company paint brushes Badger Patriot 105 Airbrush and Airbrush holder for Painting and Weathering Badger In-Line Water Trap and Braided Airbrush Hose with Quick Disconnect  Harbor Fright Airbrush Compessor Stuff Purchased with Christmas and Birthday Cash and Gift Cards... Athearn Ford Model A Sport Coupes and Delivery Sedan and Tru-Color CNJ Freight Car Red and Grimy Black Paint for the Banta Modelworks Sargents Roundhouse  3 Add-On Stalls for the Banta Modelworks Sargents Roundhouse  Kitwood Hill Models HOn3 65ft Durango Turntable Kit with Motor Vallejo Table Top Paint Holder, Corner Module and Micro-Mark Brush Set for Weathering Powders Stay tuned as we assemble and review these items!
Well, I , with the help of my dad, was finally able to get the spare bedroom/layout room cleaned up and organized enough to measure and come up with a plan. Below are measurements and pictures of the available space...  We will be using AnyRail; a free* easy to use model railroad design software. Check back for a finalized plan!
*Free to create layouts with up to 50 sections of track Well, my wife and I finally settled in to our new place and it's time for an update! I recently purchased a new in the box revised version of the MDC/Roundhouse outside frame 2-8-0. This version was updated in January of 1998 and is slightly different than the original, pre-1998, version. Differences include...
I already have an original pre-1998 version of the loco with the NWSL re-gear set installed and a can motor to install. I'm thinking of, if possible, combining the two kits to have the nickel silver drivers and wheels and make it easier to lower the boiler on the frame to make it look more like a D&RGW C-21 otherwise I will need to think up another way. Check out the page titled "Assembling the Revised Roundhouse HOn3 OSF 2-8-0" page for tips and techniques on assembling a smooth running model you will be proud of in the end! To be continued.... The Brand New kit and components as arrived!
I purchased an NWSL can motor to re-power the loco as well as a 3-D printed boiler lowering cylinder saddle off of Shapeways to lower the boiler. Click here to purchase the boiler lowering saddle off of Shapeways!  Well...I got lucky tonight. (get your minds out of the gutter, that's not what I'm referring to) I was scrolling through eBay searching for HOn3 and I came across a listing for HOn3 MDC 2-8-0 parts and, what do you know, it had the crankpin "caps" (circled in red in the picture on the right) that I lost and have been looking for replacements ever since) in it as well as other parts like the boiler, cab, smokestacks, cranks, sideframe overlays, headlights, etc. I can also use some of these parts as well. Luck be a lady! Well, my wife was informed at the end of May/beginning of June that her teaching contract would not be renewed for next year. now what...time to move...again. This will obviously put a damper on any physical progress on the layout as I will need to re-evaluate available space at the new place, which we still don't know where that will be since she hasn't found a new job yet, and come up with a new design; which I still have yet to come up with design for the apartment layout.
By 1913, with an increase in traffic, longer trains, and heavier steel freight cars, the railroad needed a more powerful locomotive to pull the longer and heavier freight trains; and in 1916 decided to purchase Number One Hundred and Three, a Baldwin built outside frame 2-8-0 from the Crystal River Railroad. Upon arrival it was re-pained and re-numbered as Tiadaghton Valley Number Six.  I don't care for the design of the cranks/counterweights with the crankpin that relies on the little "caps" to hold the siderods on. The connection between the main pin and the main rod is fine as is. I would like to have cranks/counterweights made that are the same as the MDC ones with the flat key area to match the flat keyed area on the axle ends but made of a strong durable metal that you can tap and thread a crankpin in that has a thread in in to use a hex head screw to hold the siderods on. I'm in the process of checking if this can be done as, I personally, think it would save headaches down the road. In the meantme we'll all just have to deal with the "caps."  I've got the MDC C-21/25 all broken down into different sections for soda blasting, lowering the boiler, prep for detail work, and repainting. While removing the drivers then the main rods I launched the tiny little "caps" that push on to the end of the crankpins and hold the main rods in place. I put out a request on www.groups.io/g/hon3 to see if anyone had any spares but no luck. However, a member on that group said he had designed some for 3D printing and offered to send some to me to try out and report back on how they worked! Nickel plating... Among the discussion on www.groups.io/g/hon3 the topic of brass wheels, like used on this model, came up and it was pointed out that brass picks up and holds dirt very quickly which is a problem for DCC and Sound as it interferes with the electrical pickup which can cause you DCC equipped locos to lose power; especially with the way this model is designed to pickup power from the rails...The right side of the loco only picks up power from the right rail while the left side of the tender only picks up power from the left rail unlike today's more modern all wheel electrical pickup models... It was suggested that the wheels should be nickel silver as that does not pickup and hold the dirt as quick as the brass. I tried to find a set of nickel silver driers for this model but struck out again so I decided I will try to nickel plate them myself. I will also be nickel plating all the rods as well as the crosshead guide because I just can't stand the look of brass rods! A quick search on Google came up with he following website... www.instructables.com/id/High-Quality-and-safe-Nickel-Plating and from there I went shopping online and purchased the following items.. 1: 1" x 6" nickel stock...$17.16 1: 2 AA battery holder...$3.69 1: Set of 4 alligator clips...$4.59 1: 8 oz. bottle of nickel plating solution...$26.55 1: Box Nitrile work gloves Now I just need to wire up some leads for the battery pack and alligator clips, get some Nitrile gloves, and some pennies to test out this process!
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