NTS&B 2012 Christmas Present installed

On the NTS&B, the economy is so good that towns just spring up overnight.  Actually, Kathy got me a Lemax Kringles Air Field for Christmas.  It is a blimp with a sleigh under it, and rotates on a wire hook.  I did not have a place on the layout for it that she liked, so decided to add an extension to the new upper loop and build a town around it.  The airfield is so tall, I had to drop the extension down 2 inches so it would clear the ceiling.

The LED Christmas tree is also a Lemax.  The tree and blimp are supposed to run off 4.5V DC, but the tree was so bright I ended up running them off a 2.5 V DC adapter. The houses are all LEDS and run off the same supply. The street lights are $1 Store 3V DC specials.  They were too bright also,  so I ran them 2 in series, and also off the 2.5 adapter.  Using the LEDs kept the current low enough so 1 adapter is supplying all of the devices

NTS&B New overhead loop bridge plans A through C

 I finally got some time to work on the new ceiling loop bridge.  The original attempt (plan a below) was a little too plain for my liking, so I came up with the idea to add an arch after seeing a foot bridge of similar design.  I wanted a fairly low arch since the bridge is supposed to be low to the water and has many supports.  My first attempt for the risers (plan b below) was using the vinyl cord that is used to string beads.  The cord was too 'sticky', and could not be adjusted easily.  This ended up making the arch way to flat.   The final idea (plan c below) was to use 1/8 inch dowels for the risers, which I believe worked quite nicely.  The bridge is now complete, but I still want to put a scene underneath it.



Plan C-Bridge with Arch and dowel risers

Plan B-Bridge with Arch and Vinyl Cord

Plan A - Plain Bridge