Rochelle Intermodal – N Scale Railroad » 2015

Turntable weathering & testing

Peter Borcherds December 30th, 2015

I hope you’ve all had a great Christmas! I’ve been out in the layout room working on the layout, doing some scenery. In addition I’ve weathered my Peco turntable and have installed the motor, in preparation for installation in my loco facility…which I haven’t designed yet! But I thought I would get it ready in the meantime.

Here is the finished weathered turntable (well, almost finished, still have to add the handrails)

I have also installed the motor – this motor I bought from Locomotech (based in West Sussex) – brilliant slow-motion motors, with a very smooth gearbox. It is also very cleverly designed as it mounts vertically under the turntable, rather than to the side, like most other motors. This helps counterbalance the turntable.

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Here is a short 10 sec video showing it in action:

That is all for now. I’ll hopefully have a longer layout update video out soon – keep an eye out for updates. Have a great New Year!

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So…why is the Metra train passing Rochelle?

Peter Borcherds December 23rd, 2015

So…why is the Metra train passing Rochelle? Well, while doing research for new industries in Rochelle (S. Caron Road to be exact), I found this company…Nippon Sharyo…who have a manufacturing plant in Rochelle for…Metra (Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corporation), VRE (Virginia Railway Express) and NICTD (Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District) bi-Level Passenger Cars and EMU’s…! So, the perfect excuse for a lovely Kato Metra set (well, might get another 3-car set for the factory as well)…watch this space for more info!