# Christmas runs at Mark's



## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

These photos are from runs over the last several days at my house....more pictures to come....

First, some pictures from today. Dwight, Henner, David, and Joel all showed up for some great running. Unfortunately my camera didn't come out until latter in the day. Henner supervises the junior engineers: 










David's new toy: 










which winds up leading an unusual double head: 










while a small crowd gathers:


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Earlier in the week, a certain unidentified Steamaholic just couldn't wait for better weather to pull his new coaches:










his only complaint was the rain was not to scale.....










my son's BAGARS teapot the same day 










And in slightly less humid conditions, two K's pull freight:


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## Dave F (Jan 2, 2008)

Wow.. Great pics.. Looks like a great way to spend a holiday afternoon.. what fun.


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Many of the runs have been at night, including Christmas Eve....however capturing the lights has been problematic, especially since I've been to busy/lazy to bring out the tripod. In addition to the Christmas lights on the house and track, all the (model) buildings have interior and Christmas lights, engines have headlights, my Christmas passenger cars are lit, and the breakman at the end of the Christmas train holds a working lantern...I'll keep trying to get some better photos...


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

You guys are having waaaaay too much fun! Thanks for the pics.


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

For reference, here are links to other threads with pictures from this years holiday runs at my place: 

Video of double headed K's

Steamup party on the 13th 

Early run by Dwight


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Mark Scrivener on 12/26/2008 10:31 PM
These photos are from runs over the last several days at my house....more pictures to come....

First, some pictures from today. Dwight, Henner, David, and Joel all showed up for some great running. Unfortunately my camera didn't come out until latter in the day. Henner supervises the junior engineers: 








Mark,
Apart from supervising the younger engineers I also ran my Betsy (Saddle tank in progress):










Regards


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Thanks Henner. My camera duties were delinquent earlier in the day and I missed many fine locomotives. The rivet detail on the saddle tank and the end buffers are looking very nice.


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## rkapuaala (Jan 3, 2008)

Henner, 
That is a great little engine. I see you've used what looks like the standard accucraft Ruby cylinders again!


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

See my builder's log









 http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/11/postid/6923/view/topic/Default.aspx


Regards


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Mark,
Great photo's! Wish I was closer and could have stopped by. 

Thanks for all the advice earlier in the month with my front yard layout questions. All ran well. Better than any of the 2 previous years. And I have ideas already, of course, to make it better NEXT year. A few more evenings of running trains in the front yard before it comes down till next Christmas.

Happy New Year,
Paul H.


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Hey Paul, 

Glad to hear you had fun with the holiday layout. Please take some more pictures before taking it down and post them. I may have to borrow your building idea for part of my layout next year! 

BTW - to keep this thread complete, here is some video of the Berk on the holiday layout today - http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/forumid/11/postid/70928/view/topic/Default.aspx


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## hans911 (Jan 9, 2008)

Mark, 

Great video. By the way I posted a few pictures of my simple front yard loop over on another thread. 
Here it is if you'd like to see a few pictures. 

http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...rumid/15/postid/68067/view/topic/Default.aspx 

Happy New Year. 
Paul H.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Mark,

I like the Christmas lights on your passenger cars (like this section I copied from your photo).










I haven't seen "miniature" Christmas lights in the local stores (i.e. Target, WalMart, Sears, etc.) Were do you get them? Are they battery powered? Are they LED?
I'd like to try something similar for my passenger cars next year (actually this year since it is 2009 already).









HAPPY NEW YEAR!







[/b]


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi Don, 

My wife picked them up at Michael's. They run on 2 AA's (3V) and all the lights are parallel LEDs, so you could cut the string shorter if needed. I'm told they are available in white too. For the run with Joel's cars we simply placed the battery box on one of the end platforms and wrapped the lights around the roof vents to hold them in place - no tape, glue or modifications to lights or car. A single string covered 2 cars. On my buildings I have used some of these lights as exterior Christmas lights. The battery box is removed and power supplied by a transformer. The lights are glued to the roof line with CA. 

Looking forward to see what you do with them next year! 

Happy New Year! 

Mark


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## c nelson (Dec 18, 2008)

could we get a post featuring the tea pot? 

thanks 
cale


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Hi Cale,

I was hoping to take some video of the teapot today, but it has been raining all day. Better weather is forecast tomorrow and my son and I plan to run his teapot.









Mark and Caelan


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

OK, here it is, the final photos of the 2008 holiday runs, including Cale's requested tea pot photos, videos.....

First the teapot... 



Caelan (my son) built the wood frame for this loco completely unsupervised when he was 7. I discovered him sitting on the garage floor during a steamup one afternoon with a small hand saw, a pile of scrap lumber, and some wood glue. When I inquired what he was building he said "a steam train". So, I drug out the Midwest stationary engine kit and helped him with the metal bits. The wood and weathering were all done without any assistance from dad. Three years later (and a boiler fire or two) she looks and runs great.










Here she pulls a work train build from Ozark kits - a shop car and an oil car. 









And as promised, a video of the teapot in operation:


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Finally,

The Polar Express makes one last freight run and disappears into the great white north until Christmas 2009.....


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Mark
You must be very satisfied having stuck with the Berk and finally achieve the performance level that makes this engine not only attractive but impressive in motion.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Mark,

Very nice video effect running the camcorder on the flat car on the parallel track. Now I've got to ask you, going back to the first photo where you started this thread, what is that track on the grass by the curb? It looks like track for a camera dolly from a Hollywood movie set. Is there a feature film in the works?


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Feature film? I love it!

The track on the grass in the first picture was built by David Wegmuller and is a dual gauge track. The inner gauge is 45mm and the outer is 5.25" or something close to that (perhaps David will clarify). The track was built to enable ridding behind a live steamer. I did a quick check of David's site and couldn't find any pictures of someone riding behind a live steamer, but here is a pic from 2007 of Joel getting his K-28 ready with the ride on car in position.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Mark,

Is the K-28 powerful enough to pull the ride-on car with the Panavision camera and the feature film camera man?


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

Here's the last video from Mark's Holiday runs It's fairly large - a little over 3 minutes and about 12MB, but worth it I think. It consists of Mark's K-27 and Joel's K-28 (not double-headed) hauling Joel's new AMS passenger train. Mark gets demerits for coupling at speed. hehehe



Click image to play video.


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

I really love watching your videos! Were the trucks on those J&S coaches stock from Accucraft or re-worked with ball-bearings?

Thanks again for posting.


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## Joel779 (Jan 2, 2008)

At the time this video was shot, the coaches were rolling on stock Accucraft trucks. They have since been upgraded with Phil's Narrow Gauge BB sets. Well worth the effort as my 4-4-0 now has no problem pulling all 4 coaches.

Thanks for the video Dwight, but I think it was me driving the '28 into the back end of the J&S coach..


Joel


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

Thanks Joel. I have a couple of coaches that I need Phil to do for me.


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

but I think it was me driving the '28 into the back end of the J&S coach..
Yeah Joel, I think you're right. Apologies to Mark and thirty lashes with a wet noodle for you! hehehe 
I really love watching your videos!
Glad you enjoy them Gary.  I enjoy making them. I had more, but could never properly get them off the camera... bad DVD. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/sad.gif


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## Mark Scrivener (Jan 7, 2008)

Thanks for posting Dwight - but as noted above, Joel gets all the credit (and demerits). All my K-27 does in this video is sit on the siding while I fiddle with it. But now that we have the video evidence, I can mail Joel a citation for unsafe yard practices. ;-)


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## Dwight Ennis (Jan 2, 2008)

But now that we have the video evidence, I can mail Joel a citation for unsafe yard practices.
I want 50% of the take!


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