Should'a, Would'a, Could'a...

[cwclark]

I have been building a new layout since last March...(it's been a year now and i'm further along than i expected)...anyway, in the scheme of things, one of the items I've decided to get up to par is all my rolling stock working well before doing the scenery...i've been replacing a lot of the old stock trucks with better ones (I can't believe all the toy and off brand cars I own..mostly old tyco, bachmann, and lifelike, and then there were a couple from a company called "playart"?..must'a picked those ones up at a garage sale or something)...to make a long story short, back in my infancy days in this hobby, I could'a, should'a, would'a bought a KADEE coupler hose pliers but nooooo!..I just snipped the ends of my hoses with a pair of dikes so they wouldn't get caught up on turnout frogs and the like...well, I finally started to use magnetic uncouplers and now I'm going to have to change out my entire fleet of cars with new KADEE couplers because they don't work with the magnetic uncoupler with the hose ends snipped off..it's gonna cost me big bucks to replace them all, so the moral to this story is to not fudge on speciality tools needed in this hobby...you'll be sorry later......some tools i wish i had in the beggining are: NMRA gauge, pin vise with bits, rotory tool & bits, Kadee coupler height gauge Kadee coupler hose pliers, Kadee sprig pick, small files, tweezers, air brush rig, soldering gun, hobby knife, razor saw, jig saw, sprue cutter, and an assortment of different size needle nose pliers & dikes...it makes things a lot easier if you have the right tools for this hobby before you start...just some advice for the new guys on the block....Chuck

[Anonymous]

A very good point Chuck. I suppose most of us don't buy special tools until we figured out life would be much eaiser with them. Not to mention the quality of our work.

[SpaceMouse]

Last month I bought $175 worth of EZ Track turnouts that I've hacked the wire ends off and filed smooth for keeping the trains on the tracks. I've now decided to scrap the 4x8 layout completely, give Hogwarts a little more space.

I learned a lot from the experieince though.

[howmus]

Should have and could have
Are words we don't use,
They tend to depress us
And give us the blues!

I also wish I could go back an undo some of the decisions that I made over the years with my layout. It sure would have saved me a lot of time and frustration. But, that is all part of the hobby too. When I think of all I have learned about the railroads and the hobby over the years I really have no regrets over the "misteaks" I made because it was through the bad decisions as well as the good that I learned.

Enjoy Your new layout and your trains!

[selector]

Mouse, what, exactly, do you mean by filing the ends of the turnouts smooth? I have the turnouts for the wider radii turns (i.e.- non-18" or less) and they don't seem as good as the 18-incher stuff that I got with my Christmas gift Bradford Exchange Thomas Kinkaid On30 set. Some of the point heels are lower than the adjoining rails, so there is a bit of a bump...is that what you mean? In some instances, the points pivots are rocky, and the point tips are too high.

[NZRMac]

Chuck I for one would like to see some progress photos of your year old layout!!

We hear about what's happening and can only imagine!!

Ken.

[Don Gibson]

CHUCK:

Those KD's with the "hoses snipped off" are still usefull. They do everything except uncouple over a magnet. Use them on cars you normally run together (passenger) or in 'set's.

QUOTE: "!..I just snipped the ends of my hoses with a pair of dikes so they wouldn't get caught up on turnout frogs and the like...well, I finally started to use magnetic uncouplers and now I'm going to have to change out my entire fleet of cars with new KADEE couplers because they don't work with the magnetic uncoupler with the hose ends snipped off..

They still will couple. (Real railroads uncoupled by hand).There's a 'swizle stick' uncoupler in your future.

[Bikerdad]

One fine thing about Shoulda, woulda, couldas is sharing them. That way others can learn from you're lessons.

In your case, unless you trimmed the pin flush, you should be able to extract it, either by snagging it with a fine nose plier, or possibly pushing it through from the other side using a straightened pin with the same cross section as the snipped pin. I don't do HO, so I'm basing my speculative suggestion on the Micro-Trains couplers, which are, to the best of my knowledge, miniaturized versions of the classic Kadees. If you can do this, then you can save a fair amount of moolah by simply buying replacement pins.

Yeah, specialty tools are a great boon. Not even the sour taste of money spent on the occasional tool that promises more than it delivers offsets the joy and efficiency of using a tool that does its task better than anything else available.

[cwclark]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Don Gibson

CHUCK:

Those KD's with the "hoses snipped off" are still usefull. They do everything except uncouple over a magnet. Use them on cars you normally run together (passenger) or in 'set's.

They still will couple. (Real railroads uncoupled by hand).There's a 'swizle stick' uncoupler in your future.

I did leave some of them alone on a lot of the cars, i have a set of tank cars, cattle cars, covered and uncovered hoppers, and gondola's that will never separate...I use a small jeweler's screwdriver to act as a brakeman "pin puller"...i've just about replaced the rest of them..got about 50 more cars to do and i'm through...I've already changed out about 100 cars...also, been installing kato and athearn trucks..it makes all the difference in the world....a lot of the cars had those old wheel sets that had the coupler mounted to the truck..I body mounted the couplers years ago but only cut off the coupler housing from these old trucks..now i'm throwing out the old trucks, drilling out the body and glueing in a 3/8" piece of styrene tubing and then glueing in a 1/8" piece of styrene tubing into the 3/8" piece...then I tap out the 1/8" piece with a 2-56 tap and install a new truck held in place with a 2-56 screw....works great and the cars don't lean or sway..Chuck

[cwclark]

QUOTE: Originally posted by NZRMac

Chuck I for one would like to see some progress photos of your year old layout!!

We hear about what's happening and can only imagine!!

Ken.

http://community.webshots.com/user/bayouman1 click the pictures called "trains"

[soumodeler]

Should'a replaced that turnout before I finished the rest of the track.
Would'a got that curve bigger than 15" if I had been a bit smarter in the thinking area[D)]
Could'a did a little better job on the landforms and trees, but I didn't- thats why I have a much better layout now![:D]

soumodeler
-----------------
The Southern Serves the South!
http://www.trainweb.org/mgr

[MidlandPacific]

I just finished wiring my layout: 21 electrically-separate blocks controlled by dual-pole, dual-throw toggles that I purchased at Home Depot for about $5 apiece.

Got this month's copy of MR and saw an ad for electrical equipment - toggles for less than half the price........the lesson to be learned here is that you really DON'T need toggle switches that will work with high-voltage, high-amperage currents for a DC model railroad........