I had a break from my hobby, and now I came back and realized that I have a lot of old unfinished works, so now I am cleaning the garage and just make plans
I started a resin kit once, didn't like the fit and finish of it. My real joy is fixing models. I once made Z bracing for a wood kit type boxcar that I bought to fix, strandard shapes did not fit so I made my own out of wood, luckily I only needed a few small sections.
I have that loco disease! Don't want to get treated for it either lol. I've been switching over to acquiring Boston and Maine models, from doing PRR for years, and first won an auction for a P2K BL2 in B&M and it was DOA. I fixed the wiring but it needs work on the gearboxes. I don't think the gears are split, so I'll keep seeing what needs to be done. Just doesn't seem like the gears are seated and meshing right. It will be a good model to practice repair work on.
Yesterday I worked a bit on a Funaro and Camerlengo PRR H25 hopper kit. I had put off doing anywork on it for months as it's a lot more work than my usual plastic kits, but with resin kits I find if I sit and work on it a bit, make some progress and go at it before I get tired of it, I'll gladly come back to finishing it soon enough. I like building resin kits here and there as I love the satisfaction and more personal feel of a model I built and painted myself as well as added numerous details to enhance the model to my liking. I'll post pics as I get it closer to being done.
Alvie
Building switches from scratch.
Working on putting in a sealed mine portal on the club layout
(My Model Railroad, My Rules)
These are the opinions of an under 35 , from the east end of, and modeling, the same section of the Wheeling and Lake Erie railway. As well as a freelanced road (Austinville and Dynamite City railroad).
I have that locomotive disease as well. I just purchased an Alco C415 shell from CMR just because I have alwys liked the engine in that it is unique. I will be using it as one of the switcvhers in my steel mill.
I have too many engines too, since I moved over to DCC I have bought about 10, 6 with sound. I should have bought more Bachmann S4's sound value when they were only $60.
You have the buying locomotive addiction Simon, so do I and it's a progressive disease You also seem to work at TF speed. At least you're laying your track. I've had mine since last Fall and still procrastinating but finding other things on the layout to do.
You like your scenes don't you David? I like them too, Nice!
I've been working all day installing arch trim on my Viaduct bridge. Tedious and I needed a break. The keystones looked like crap, so I pried them out and made some new ones.
TF
I am painting some figures etc.
Here is Margaret Griffiths and her daughter Sally.
David
To the world you are someone. To someone you are the world
I cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought
I also suffer from the "buying locomotives" addiction, so I am re-motoring and adding decoders to engines these days. I have managed to control my addiction these last few years by establishing a list of must-haves and focussing on them. This meant that I stopped buying diesel engines (no offense) and have limited my purchases to HO scale .
I am also doing some final preparations before tackling scenery. These last few days, I have built some plastic bases on which my buildings will sit - I decided that all my structures would rely strictly on gravity for maintenance purposes. The only exception will be my turntable. My track is pretty much as reliable as it can get - I don't get derailments anymore and I am satisfied with the locations of the uncouplers.
I also caught myself assembling a shake-the-box reefer kit the other night. Just for fun.
Simon
Right now I am in the middle of laying track and wiring. I only have one of my 4 towns complete, and I started around the first of the year. Part of the problem was that I decided to solder feeders to the bottom of the rail instead of on the side (in N scale, even #22 wire can look out of place). So that means a lot of measuring and planning where the wires will drop before I can lay down the track. Hopefully I can have this part finished by the end of the summer. We'll see...
Scott
richhotrainAre the B units dummies?
No, all my Stewart/Kato F Units are powered.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
SeeYou190 richhotrain The problem is much more pronounced with ABBA consists than AB consists. I have one ABA set of F3s. It is really too long for my planned layout. I will probably run it as an AA. An ABBA set would be extremely unsightly. -Kevin
richhotrain The problem is much more pronounced with ABBA consists than AB consists.
I have one ABA set of F3s. It is really too long for my planned layout. I will probably run it as an AA. An ABBA set would be extremely unsightly.
Rich
Alton Junction
What I am doing now is starting to do basic folage around my port area. Painted the track in the area and then added some diferent colors of ties to the siding, then added tufts on the siding and added a Walthers bumping post. I have used these bumping posts before but never needed to glue them down so I CA this one down, hope it works as in this case it realy stops the cars from hitting the floor which happend when I built the siding as I instaled a control swith upside down by accident and two cars went flying. These were well done Gould flat now cars (now Tichy) but I got lots of repair peices so no problem but it was a pain. Today I will try to do the ground cover Martin Welberg style. Never did his way before but like his stuff so decided I could copy his style via his videos, we shall see, the brushes have been soaking over night, we will also see if the ones I bought are correct.
richhotrainThe problem is much more pronounced with ABBA consists than AB consists.
When I started several years ago, I thought I wanted some dummy units for the look. I thought I would be able to buy some real cheap.
I found that there were almost none for sale in N scale.
Now I'm glad I didn't. I have some powered A and B, and I'm glad because of the pulling power. The only issue is the money.
York1 John
I have never been a fan of dummy units, even way back in the day when they were common.
Sheldon
SeeYou190 richhotrain Those 4 unpowered dummy B units were not my chosen preference, but at the time it was the only way that the manufacturer offered them. That is why I never purchased a Stewart FTA/FTB set. The FTB did not come powered. I do not have any dummies, and decided not to buy. But now I am now sure that it would have been fine givien my space limitations on train length. -Kevin
richhotrain Those 4 unpowered dummy B units were not my chosen preference, but at the time it was the only way that the manufacturer offered them.
That is why I never purchased a Stewart FTA/FTB set. The FTB did not come powered. I do not have any dummies, and decided not to buy. But now I am now sure that it would have been fine givien my space limitations on train length.
richhotrainThose 4 unpowered dummy B units were not my chosen preference, but at the time it was the only way that the manufacturer offered them.
Those 4 unpowered dummy B units were not my chosen preference, but at the time it was the only way that the manufacturer offered them.
Two of the four were F7B units produced as part of a BLI Blueline ABBA consist.
The other two were part of my now infamous Proto 2000 PAB consists.
richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL Yes, how can you count a bunch of B units as "locomotives", not like you are going to pull a train with one of them by itself. True enough and, also, 4 of those B units are dummy locos, so only 19 of those 23 locos that I mentioned are actually powered. Rich
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Yes, how can you count a bunch of B units as "locomotives", not like you are going to pull a train with one of them by itself.
Yes, how can you count a bunch of B units as "locomotives", not like you are going to pull a train with one of them by itself.
True enough and, also, 4 of those B units are dummy locos, so only 19 of those 23 locos that I mentioned are actually powered.
Wow, I do have to admit all my B units are powered, but again, the grades and the train lengths pretty much require it.
richhotrain ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales. I largely stopped buying locomotives a while ago. I have a fair number if you count every unit of 1950's diesel lashups as a separate loco....... I think the actual count is 145 right now. But on the diesel side that is ABBA sets of EMD F units, ALCO FA/FB units, "groups" of EMD GP7's. etc. I actually pretty much think of an ABA, ABB or ABBA set as one "locomotive". That means I only have about 100 locos....... ahh, that makes sense. Using that approach, i only have 23 locos, not 41. The majority of my locos are in passenger consists, AA, AB, ABBA. Rich
ATLANTIC CENTRAL richhotrain At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales. I largely stopped buying locomotives a while ago. I have a fair number if you count every unit of 1950's diesel lashups as a separate loco....... I think the actual count is 145 right now. But on the diesel side that is ABBA sets of EMD F units, ALCO FA/FB units, "groups" of EMD GP7's. etc. I actually pretty much think of an ABA, ABB or ABBA set as one "locomotive". That means I only have about 100 locos.......
richhotrain At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales.
At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales.
I largely stopped buying locomotives a while ago. I have a fair number if you count every unit of 1950's diesel lashups as a separate loco.......
I think the actual count is 145 right now. But on the diesel side that is ABBA sets of EMD F units, ALCO FA/FB units, "groups" of EMD GP7's. etc. I actually pretty much think of an ABA, ABB or ABBA set as one "locomotive". That means I only have about 100 locos.......
ahh, that makes sense. Using that approach, i only have 23 locos, not 41. The majority of my locos are in passenger consists, AA, AB, ABBA.
And most of my mainline steam is double or tripple headed too, so take the number of steam locos and cut it in half.
I do have a few more locos than I need for all the assignments, but not by all that many.
But again, I'm pretty much done.
doctorwayneNo (locomotive) soup for you!!!
Oh darn! I like greasy food!!
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
Kevin, those are very nice.
I have two BLI heavy Mikes, that now have Delta trailing trucks from Athearn Genesis Pacifics and Bachmann long haul tenders.
Before paint:
The rest of my Mikado fleet is 5 of these, freelanced from Bachmann 2-8-4's, also before paint:
Mikados (7), Consolidations (5) and Mountains (7) are the primary steam power here on the ATLANTIC CENTRAL.
And are also represented by B&O, C&O and WM versions.
richhotrain hon30critter micktropolis I need to stop adding motive power to the roster that need decoders before I get more decoders installed! Hi micktropolis, We share some common goals and challenges. Just like you, I am trying desparately to stop buying more locomotives. Unfortunately eBay is too tempting. This is not a criticism of the above discussion, but it does highlight the disease that plagues many of us - - buying more and more locomotives. I plead guilty myself, although I have now started a journey to slim down my roster, and it has been ongoing for some down now. At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales. Why do we do this? I have a fairly large a layout, and I can rationalize the presence of each locomotive on the layout. But, it is impossible to run all of those locomotives. Rich
hon30critter micktropolis I need to stop adding motive power to the roster that need decoders before I get more decoders installed! Hi micktropolis, We share some common goals and challenges. Just like you, I am trying desparately to stop buying more locomotives. Unfortunately eBay is too tempting.
micktropolis I need to stop adding motive power to the roster that need decoders before I get more decoders installed!
Hi micktropolis,
We share some common goals and challenges. Just like you, I am trying desparately to stop buying more locomotives. Unfortunately eBay is too tempting.
This is not a criticism of the above discussion, but it does highlight the disease that plagues many of us - - buying more and more locomotives. I plead guilty myself, although I have now started a journey to slim down my roster, and it has been ongoing for some down now.
Why do we do this? I have a fairly large a layout, and I can rationalize the presence of each locomotive on the layout. But, it is impossible to run all of those locomotives.
That may sound like a lot unless you have looked at the track plan for my new layout which will stage nearly 30 trains, most 35 to 45 cars long.
It will take 3 or 4 first generation diesels to pull those trains up my 2% grades.
As well as double and tripple head steam for similar trains. So do that math, 30 trains, average three powered units per train, that uses 2/3rds of the roster right there.
Then you need switchers, backup power for operating session power changes, etc.
I have short list of "would like to have" locos, no more than 5-8 pieces on that list in my head.
And, I will not be selling any off and "upgrading" them.
Very happy that I am nearly done "acquiring" locomotives, and rolling stock is also nearly at the max needed for the layout.
Planning and shopping for structures now. Have a "stock" of structures from previous layouts, and a stock of unbuilt kits, but I will need more......
Getting the work bench set back up, and getting the basement ready for the layout...... as fast as free time will allow.
richhotrainThis is not a criticism of the above discussion, but it does highlight the disease that plagues many of us - - buying more and more locomotives.
I have stopped buying locomotives. I have enough steam to fill the 18 stall roundhouse and 2 stall enginehouse. I have enough diesels for every staging track.
There are just 5 special locomotives on my "to buy" list, and they are all uncommon/rare brass models. They might very well never get purchased.
My one weakness is Sunset USRA Heavy Mikados. I have two, and that is really all I need. However, long ago I decided thhis would be the "standard" SGRR steam locomotive, and it should be the most common type.
I will never have a layout big enough to benefit from a fleet of standard steam locomotives, so I need to resist the urge to buy more.
hon30critter...The 'disease' as you describe it is very addictive. In the past I have been totally guilty of imagining that I am modeling just because I am buying more stuff. I am trying desperately to break that habit....
No (locomotive) soup for you!!!
Wayne
richhotrainThis is not a criticism of the above discussion, but it does highlight the disease that plagues many of us - - buying more and more locomotives. I plead guilty myself, although I have now started a journey to slim down my roster, and it has been ongoing for some down now. At one time I had over 70 locomotives, and that seems to be a relatively low number compared to the number of locomotives that some have on their roster. I have now cut back to 41 locomotives with a few more planned sales. Why do we do this? I have a fairly large a layout, and I can rationalize the presence of each locomotive on the layout. But, it is impossible to run all of those locomotives. Rich
Hi Rich,
You are absolutely correct! The 'disease' as you describe it is very addictive. In the past I have been totally guilty of imagining that I am modeling just because I am buying more stuff. I am trying desperately to break that habit. I still search eBay regularly but I only buy stuff that is really rare and is special to my heart.