MyAustinBlogg.com: (toy train tips, tricks and chicks)

[FJ and G]

thanks, guys. I'll be up to see you, John, on April 8 (Saturday). (need directions)

[jefelectric]

Good job Dave, where is your next trip planned?

[cnw1995]

I've seen those trolley buses at the Illinois Railway Museum - in fact. their calendar for 06 features a meet between one and a PCC at 50th Ave (Cicero). Only ridden them at the museums. Those are real 'trolleys' - not the internal-combustion-engined ones... I'm referring to the tourist gimmick of tricking out a bus with a fake trolley body. They have 'em from here (Chicago) to Hilton Head...

[Anonymous]

Looks like Jim's in a mid '60's Corvette! That'll help ya get more chicks in 2006.

Chief reminded me about the capitol building in Little Rock. If I remember correctly the good people of that town burried a time capsual under the steps of that building in 1957....to be opened 50 years later. Appearantly inside is a whole 1957 Plymouth. Guess we'll find out for sure next year.

Bruce Webster

[FJ and G]

Well, this will likely be my last blogg update (sigh of relief heard). I want to thank Austonians Jim Duda (2 photos below) for assisting me with remote control toy trains; Bob Nelson, for the wonderful visit and Ed Welten, for taking time out to have dinner with me at the famous Gillthreads restaurant, along with his lovely wife.

Good luck, Ed on your layout planning. Your diagram looks hard to improve on except that I’d make a double turnaround going across the room by launching a wye from each side of the shelves on the 2 sides of the room. Also, I wouldn’t rule out going 3 or even 4 levels in the future (one level could even be the floor).

Wanted to include a shot of the Texas capital in Austin. I think it is also depicted on the Texas dollar bills and the Texas Constitution.

Lastly, if you will indulge me with my fetish of taking photos of rails. These are of the decrepit Austin UP line I mentioned earlier, and on an apparently unused spur (1 is of the 4th St line in downtown). I believe UP is planning to fix the line up with proceeds from UP toy train fees. #9786;

[jefelectric]

Hi Dave, I just checked out your Austin Blogg. Took me a while to read it at one time. I enjoyed it and found a lot of usefull and interesting information. Anxious to see the rest of it.

[lionelsoni]

Dave, its the International and Great Northern that I mentioned above. It became the Missouri Pacific, then the Union Pacific. Great Northern Boulevard (on the east side of the tracks) is no highway, but just a two-lane city street. It's a good place to watch trains on the Sneed passing siding.

The IGN has nothing to do with the similarly-named railroad that is now part of the BNSF. Likewise, our Colorado River has nothing to do with the one in the Grand Canyon. Ours got its name by mistake when it was confused with the neaby Brazos River. The Brazos is muddy ("colorado") and the Colorado has many branches ("brazos").

The rapid transit ("light rail") will run only on the AUAR. There is supposed to be an elevated track built at McNeil so that they won't have to wait at the diamond like the AUAR does.

[FJ and G]

Thanks for that link, Paul he has some O gauge stuff coming up too, I see; perhaps some live steam for my birthday next week?

The rubber tired trolleys are OK with the overhead wires. I'm talking about the fake ones with internal combustion engines. And to boot, Austin advertises its trolley service.

BTW, it took me 2 hours to get from South Austin to North Austin. The place is a traffic nightmare! I asked residents about it and they said Austin is a major truck artery and there's not much of a beltway for them to detour around the city.

[Jumijo]

We still have those buses here in Boston, Paul. Trollies with overheads as well.

Jim

[pbjwilson]

Doug,
Do you remember the buses in Chicago that ran on the overhead electric lines. I think they used them into the late sixties, maybe early seventies?

Dave,
Thought of you when I saw this one. For when you go vintage steam outside.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Bing-Gauge-1-MR-Live-Steam-Loco-Tender-2-2-0-1900-VG_W0QQitemZ6045473462QQcategoryZ487QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[cnw1995]

Chicago has a growing number of fake trolleys - used for tourist transport. I was aghast the other day when one went by our conference room window and my co-worker comments indicated they thought trolleys had always run on rubber tires. It made me ponder the end of real trolleys in Chicago was probably 50 years ago.

[FJ and G]

On the plus side, Austin is weird. (There are some T shirts, as Jim is well aware, on display for public viewing on 6th street that could not be printed on this forum, as there are kiddies here)

On the downside, rail commuting is pretty much nonexistant and traffic is about as bad as D.C. and L.A., and the cost of living is said to be the highest in Texas.

But, the plus side more than makes up for the downside.[:D][:D][:D]

---------------------------

Ed Welten and Bob Nelson explained to me that on the west side, there's the MoPac highway. I took that highway on the way to visit them and noticed a RR track in the medium. They explained that the highway was named for the railroad (which is now UP). West of that, I was told there's another highway called the Great Northern, named for a railroad in Austin with that name and something else in that name (Great Northern "XXX").

There are lots of trolleys but they all are those fake cheesy ones that are basically buses.

[cnw1995]

Austin sounds like a fun place! Would the rapid transit cars run on the AUAR along with the UP?

[Jim Duda]

[lionelsoni]

The Texas state capitol building was deliberately made 15 feet taller than the US capitol. It has a railroad connection. The Austin and Northwestern Railroad, originally narrow gauge, was built from Austin to Burnet in 1882 to carry the pink granite for the building. Some granite was lost in derailments and can still be seen here and there along the track.

The railroad is now standard gauge and is called the Austin Area Terminal Railroad (AUAR). It is planned to run railcars on it in a few years as the start of a rapid transit system. It was later crossed by the International and Great Northern at McNeil, now in the northwest corner of Austin. The IGN became MP and now UP. McNeil is MN in the UP train codes. It is the best place in Austin to watch trains, not only because of the extra traffic from two railroads, but also because you can see the UP block signals in both directions, there is a miniature semaphore that tells you whether there is a train within two blocks either way, and there is a hotbox detector a short distance to the south. There is also a general store and post office.

There was a project to replace the badly deteriorated zinc mail-order statue on top of the capitol dome several years ago. (There is no record of what it is supposed to represent; but it came to be called the "Goddess of Liberty" in the modern news stories.) They lifted it off easily with a helicopter, made a copy, and put the original in a museum. When it came time to put the replacement back on the dome, large crowds watched as the helicopter tried and tried to fit the hollow statue over the vertical I beam, and failed. Later a Louisiana National Guard helicopter and crew came in and put it on in one try. Very humiliating for Texas.

[FJ and G]

Chief,

Was planning to put that up on Monday. Actually did take some pictures of it. Looks like the US capitol. Little Rock's also looks like that. Would be interesting to see how many state capitol buildings resemble the nation's capitol.

[ChiefEagles]

Great shot Dave. Only thing is, no Capital building. I did not get a chance to shoot it but saw it in the evening with the lights. That is a great sight.

[FJ and G]

The water in Austin’s town lake near Barton Spring is so clear you can see the bottom. Here’s a view taken from Barton Springs Road. Also, there are plenty of bass in the lake if you enjoy fishing.

Many of Austin’s houses have some really lush landscape, like this one shown here. Where I live in Virginia, the Homeowners Association would put a quick stop to that kind of vegetation, as neighbors would be up in arms.

Unlike 99% of train buffs, I happen to like the tracks more than the trains and find serenity in viewing them and the industries, topography and landscape that they pass through so I’m including a couple shots here from Austin. Perhaps that is why I’m drawn to garden railroading, where the landscape can include 100 pound boulders, real streams, etc., with an occasional train to keep things exciting. Maybe it’s the fact of growing up along a shortline with 1 or 2 trains a day and lots of nice scenery.

Most of us in model railroading have particular strengths and weaknesses. One of my weaknesses is lack of organization (as well as lack of electronics knowledge). It was thus a joy to spend a couple hours at Bob’s house, learning a bit about electronics and seeing how he has organized and designed the layout and workspace. He has done so much in just an 11X19’ space that it is mindblowing.

Wanted to share a really cool tool organizer that I really need to look into doing for my mess in the basement. Bob’s taken these wire trays, added a wood base in each, and keeps all of his tools organized for very easy retrieval (much easier than toolboxes). For example, one tray will contain wrenches and another screwdrivers. Not pictured, but on the other side of the room he has another organizing system for small parts that are tiny labeled pull-out trays.

Since Bob uses a shelf layout, it allows him to store all of his books and tools under the layout and the center of the room is roomy enough to fit several people comfortably so they’re not bumping into each other. A very wise usage of space.

As mentioned, in addition to the el line, there’s a double-tracked mainline with reversing loops on one of the sides and a yard on the other. I asked Bob about that very very long yellow UP passenger train, as I was curious if he just ran it in circles around the room. He told me “no”, he also runs it through the reversing loops. He then proceeded to run that very long train through the 027 reversing loop without any derailments or stringlining of the cars. It was a sight to behold. Good thing he bought that train before UP slapped fees on UP-logo models!

Also, I thought I’d get in a shot of Bob looking perplexed. Why would he look that way? He’s got so many choices of trains to run he doesn’t know which one to run next! Actually, I’ve seen layouts with a lot more trains than his and a lot more expensive gear, but for Bob, it’s not about buying the most expensive stuff or having the most trains, it’s all about having fun and doing it all yourself. He doesn’t plan on purchasing anything new right now. There’s so much, after all, to do with what he’s got. And, perhaps some more electronic tweeks to make here or there.

I’ll try to wrap this blogg up next week, so having a nice weekend…

[underworld]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jaabat

I have a question, Dave.

Was Austin Powers named after Austin, Texas, or was Austin, Texas named after Austin Healey?

Jim

17!!! [:p]

underworldimage

aka The Violet

[:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

[1688torpedo]

Looks like Bob needs a 1688 Torpedo to complete his collection there.[;)][:)]

[cnw1995]

That's the one, Dave. Found mine in the university's Barnes and Noble.

[Anonymous]

Great thread Dave. Bob has redefined Electrical Engineers[;)].

I haven't been to Texas in awhile--but whatever happened to Pearl Beer? Used to wash down beef brisket with Pearl.
Spent a lot of time in Lubbock [used tons of West Texas cotton to make Denim] and San Antonio [family].

Dewey[aka Leonard]

[lionelsoni]

Jim, that's quite a compliment! Thanks. Actually, the guy next-door is selling his house...;-)

I'm afraid I do have a weakness for passenger trains. It's silly to have a classification yard choked up with them. I do have one intermodal train at least in there right now.

By the way, your current tree topic almost makes me want to build scenery. They look fantastic!

[Jumijo]

David,

I'd pay to have Bob as a neighbor! Great photos! I see Bob like passenger cars.

Jim

[FJ and G]

Bob’s colorful trains fit perfectly with the very colorful decor of Austin. You can go down a street and see houses painted in every color of the rainbow. Here are just a few. I don’t know what inspires all the wild and crazy colors; could it be consumption of psychedelic mushrooms?

Austin usually doesn’t get much rainfall, but when they do it pours. Thus, landscapers frequently incorporate dry streams into their designs, one of which is shown here at Austin airport. The idea actually inspired me to do a similar feature outside in my O gauge garden layout, which I’m still building.

Bob’s eclectic collection of trains includes modern, post-war and pre-war. He’s got all the bases covered. Shown here is a pre-war green electric boxcab tooling around the layout. The prewars seems to start out pretty quickly and runs like a rabbit being chased by a beagle.

These photos will enable you see his nifty shelf construction better than the previous ones posted. Note on the bottom right side of one of the photos the L-brackets. In the lowest shelf, the bracket is an upright L-bracket and the higher shelves use inverted L-brackets. In that same photo you can see some of Bob’s REA cars that I mentioned earlier.

The narrow shelf height allows Bob to make maximum usage of storage space for books and parts. But we’ll discuss that in a later blogg.

In another crooked photo you can see the entryway door into Bob’s 11x19 trainroom. He has a double-track liftout section but is replacing that with the contents of 2 very large boxes under the layout which contain 2 Lionel(?) bascule bridges. Bob was gonna just use one bridge and widen it for 2 tracks, but realized it would save construction time to actually use 2 bascule bridges side by side. The pilings will need to be sliced and merged together, however, to allow the 2 structures to move in closer to each other. We’ll be looking for photos of this progress with much anticipation.

Bob’s wall of trains is there more for running than display. IOW, he’s an operator, and each train gets a pretty good workout. And, if there’s a maintenance problem, Bob’s RIP maintenance crew gets things up and running in a jiffy.

I failed to mention that Bob works in electronics. He said that toy trains got him interested in electronics as a kid, which launched his hobby and career. Most of us would love to have a neighbor like Bob, who can advise when problems come up. But the forum is the next best thing!

[dwiemer]

Thanks Dave and Q,
Please keep the information coming. What I don't use in the near future, I will just use to educate myself. I am working on "the plan" and most, if not all, of the information is relevent. Thanks again, Dennis

[FJ and G]

Doug,

No, but thanks, I'll go hunt one down.

Wasn't that the magazine that offers (or offered) free issues over the Internet?

Their site indicates that they're "renovating"

[cnw1995]

David, did you see the April-May issue of O Scale Magazine? It has an article by a guy whose O scale layout uses battery-powered (Aristo-craft) engines

[lionelsoni]

I got this from Chip Jackson:

"I see from pics. on one of your posts that you have what looks to be 2" white metal benchwork legs.
"I have some similar that I ordered off of e*** and they are wobbly. I can see a bolt in yours at the top. Is this something that you added yourself? Are your legs sturdy?
"I thought I got a "good deal" - 4 legs for $35 + shipping, but now I am trying to stiffen them up."

Dave described the legs pretty well, I thought; but I will give it another shot here:

The legs are homemade from 1 1/2-inch schedule-40 PVC pipe, which actually has an outside diameter of 1.9 inches. There is a 1/2 x 2-inch bolt through the pipe and through the eye of a 1/2 x 1/4 x whatever-inch eyebolt. The bolt has two nuts on it, inside the pipe, to hold it in place and to center the eyebolt. The tail of the eyebolt goes through a 1/4-inch hole in the plywood and is held on with a washer and nut on top of the layout. When you tighten up the nut, the connection becomes perfectly rigid.

My legs are too long (44.5 inches) for the diameter of the pipe I used. The table would sway just from the flexing of the legs if it were not braced against the walls. (It is not actually fastened to the walls, as Dave imagined, but pushed against them on all sides with little rubber bumpers.) For a freestanding layout of that height, I would use larger pipe, although the size I used would be fine for a lower layout.

If I should ever get more into scenery, I would put a bush or something over the nuts to hide them.