The pot of coffee is always on [even after 2 years have passed]. Come on in. Sweet ice tea too.

[laz 57]

Sorry guys did not check in today had to go to MOM's house to check on her. They Hazleton, Pa. had big ice storm over the past few days about 1 inch plus of ice over everything. MOM is ok and power is on, about 20,000 without power in NE pa.
SPANKYBIRD your backyard looks like everyones in Hazletons pretty but dangerous. Lots of power lines down. Lots of tree split in two.
Hey BUCKEYE just imagine if your daughter had to move you, she would need a semi to get all the train stuff out. Not to mention the layout itself that's another big rig.
DOUG sounds like a real neat ride to work at least it gives you lots of idears for the layout. My ride is 11 miles to the school and all I see is sheep, bah,bah.
Hey CHIEF whats with the BPS is this an epidemic or what since Harrisburg Pa. got one they are sprouting up like weeds?
See yous guys on Sunday Photo Fun sponsered by our own SPANKYBIRD.
Good night!
Laz 57

[TurboOne]

Hi guys, Chargers lost, so on to the trains. Two loop indoors, its too cold for the garage again. Take care and have a warm night.

Hi early Tim, how are you doing, who is older ?????? I am 45. and you Tim

Tim( new one)

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by pigseyes

Hi Question for Buckeye or anyone else. I have 5 track loops. One Tmcc(full voltage) 2 loops tmcc, track control with Powermasters, and 2 loops conventional. I am looking at an older MTH (proto 1) will I be able to access its features on the 2 loops controlled by the Powermasters? What I want to access is Sound, Horn.,and Whistle. Using the Cab 1 Remote. Am I on the right track? Dont want to buy more hardware just to access the Engine sound, horn, whistle, etc. I have some MTH Railking stuff and the Cab 1 works great on the bells, whistles. Thanks............The Original Tim, not to be confused with San Diego Tim

Tim, since I don't have that type of MTH equipment, I really don't want to tell you something that I am not 100% sure of. Spankybird, will know the answer because he has all the toys.

Now you can see why I always use Buckeye instead of Frank so that you guys don't get me and the Chief confused.[:D]

[spankybird]

Good Morning all,

NE Ohio is quite 31 deg this morning. The weather man says Chief is going to send us some 60 deg weather by Wed, I will wait and see if Chief is true to his word.

Pigseye – I believe the powermaster will do what you want.

All be safe
tom

[ChiefEagles]

Cold Yankee weather here. Only 44 and only getting to 60 today. BURR. Back to 70 tomorrow. [:p] Got sinus infection so bad my upper teeth hurt. Must be bad if wife offers to take me to boat show today and I say "No". First one missed in 12 years. She probably offered knowing I would not go [she has only been to the first one I went to and said, "No more".]. Hope all have a good one and God bless all.

[laz 57]

CHIEF sorry to here about your sinus infection. At least your teeth are hurting , when your hair starts to hurt then thats when it gets real bad. Take care and hope you well. A good shot of Rock and Rye helps sometimes.
Laz 57

[Buckeye Riveter]

First of all Chief, take care of the sinus infection. I believe if it hasn't already, it can cause brain damage such that you begin to believe you are living in cold and snowy Ohio.[:)]

[ChiefEagles]

You are right, Buckeye. No one in their right mind would live in OHIO. [}:)] Staying ina dn running trains. Hey, could be that Mega Steam smoke fluid Tom talked me into using. HUMMM Blame it on Tom. [;)]

[Jim Duda]

I've been blaming EVERYTHING on Tom ever since he convinced me to marry and have kids! What Trenholm needs to do is come up with a smoke scent that replicates the smell of Big Bass spawning beds, or a Springtime scent, or the Scent of a Woman...

[Anonymous]

Thanks Spankybird..
Tim to Tim ...............much older..51
Idahoing ( that is powdered Ohio) and 16 balmy degrees........Tim

[ben10ben]

Hello Folks,
The temperature's been hovering somewhere in the 40 to 50s for the past couple of days, although they're saying snow for next weekend. Looks like no days off school probably, though.

Chief, hope that you feel better. Can't say that I've ever had a sinus infection that bad, although I have had some pretty bad ones.

Headed off to another flea market this afternoon. Once again, trains are at the top of the list, along with a metal fingerwheeled WE 500.

Hope that you all have a good remainder of the day.

[ChiefEagles]

Now the wife will fuss when she gets home. That Polar Express smoked up the train room and will get downstairs for the blood hound to sniff. Guess I will ahv to shoot Jimbo a video with my camera so he can see how much smoke comes out of that thing. Makes a Postwar go hide in the corner. Could not get the photos to show how much comes out the sides of the engine too. Carpet too light.

[TurboOne]

Hey Tim, it warmed up to 16 today, better get the swimsuit out.

Jim, if you could make smoke the "scent of a woman" you would be a multimillionaire, but what does a Duda smell like ???

Ben, good luck on the flea market.

Buckeye, I see carnival items on your pics. Are the O scale ? Are they motorized ? I see what looks to be an IHC sky wheel, how does it perform ?

Thanks all, have a great day, chest cough is better, but doing lots of vitamins to make it totally gone.

Tim

[Jim Duda]

QUOTE: Jim, if you could make smoke the "scent of a woman" you would be a multimillionaire, but what does a Duda smell like ???

Ooooooh-aaaaaah! Somewhere between a p'offed skunk+Chanel No. 5+rotting fish+bat excrement+fresh cut grass...

Now you know why millions of TexASS folks are movin' up into the snow belt...!

[ChiefEagles]

Jimbo, you are going to get us all fried by the "boss". [;)] Tom's best friend is up to his old games. [;)] Wife is home and not a word about train smoke. Guess she has gotten use to it. [:)] Now, if I could just catch my nose before it reaches Texas [runs all the time].

[Buckeye Riveter]

The Carnival items were at Oglebay Park's layout

Oglebay Park Train Show

[wrmcclellan]

Hello all,

Too bad Green Bay lost. Favre just can't avoid the interceptions. Would have liked to see them make it up another notch.

Chief - get well. Sounds like you put yourself backwards - nose runs and feet smell [:)].

Got to leave early tomorrow for Phoenix/Mesa AZ for business. Will be gone all week and then when I return - leave immediately for Corpus Christi for a Scout campout on the USS Lexington. So it may be a while before I post.

Have a great week all!

Regards,
Roy

[ChiefEagles]

Safe trips Roy and God bless. Good night all.

[Jim Duda]

Roy - my son and I will be in Phoenix, Thursday afternoon - Sunday at the Speedworld racing complex (I think it's in Happy Valley). We're racing the R/C airplanes - if you can, stop by and say Hi.

[wrmcclellan]

Hi Jim,

If that is off 60 between Surprise and Wittmann, that puts it about an hour away from where I will be at in Mesa.

Unfortunately my Mesa meetings go from 8 am until 6 or 7 and then dinners. If something changes I will give it a try. I depart Phoenix first thing Friday so I can get back and pack for the Scout trip.

Sorry I am probably going to miss the opportunity. It sounds like a lot more fun than what I am going to be doing.

Thanks for the invite.

Regards,
Roy

[ben10ben]

Evening folks.

I did find some trains, but passed on all of them. All were reasonably priced, but not really what I was looking for.

Also no metal fingerwheel 500 sets, although I did look long and hard. I did come across a metal-shelled 302 for $35, which was very, very, very tempting. Metal shelled ones are hard to find anyway, and this one looked to be in decent shape. This one, though, never had had a dial installed, so I decided to pass. Had there been a dial present for the same price, it would have been an easy decision, as a dial 302 with a metal shell in good condition is worth quite a bit.

Hope that you all have a good day tomorrow!

[TurboOne]

Ben tough luck shopping, but you came back with your money. Something good happened.

Jim, good thing the wind doesn't blow west to CA. [bow]

Roy, have a safe trip. [angel]

Hey ya all I am feeling better so I am going out to the freezing garage and clean some track. Building a new loop for my gandy dancer. If the rain ever stops, will be changing the old 4 x 8 to 6 x 10 but trying to figure out how to do that with two 4 x 8s. I do have extra 4 x4 as well. Any Ideas.

Tim

[daan]

Hi guys,
We still have sunshine and wind. Nothing spectacular... My doughter came back from her holidays at her grandma's and now the computer is occupied again.. Of course I'll have my share back when she has chat to all of her friends and schoolmate's, but that takes a while with a 15 year old[:D][:D].
Back to w--k this afternoon. Everything will be running again, and my holidays are over with that. Take care.

[Anonymous]

Well, Im home from scholl today... Sick, Coughing up blood [xx(][:(!]

chris

[Buckeye Riveter]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Lehigh Valley Railroad

Well, Im home from scholl today... Sick, Coughing up blood [xx(][:(!]

chris

GO TO THE DOCTOR

[laz 57]

CHRIS, like BUCKEYE says get to the doctor, nothing to mess with.

Suppose to get some of that NC weather this week high in the 60s, we'll see?
Hope all is well with everyone.
Laz57

[cnw1995]

Supposed to 'ice' tonight. I have to set out some stuff tonight for the Salvation army to pick up tomorrow - finally convinced my wife to give away some of the furniture we've been storing for a decade.

I successfully installed my Lionel mainline color signal last night. I just ended up putting it on a part of the loop where I could watch the colors change as the train went by. It's really neat. I did something dumb with my 153C contactor - the wire I 'plugged' into it kept getting cut off by the squeeze-down pincers that hold it in so I tried to "help" it with a needle-nose pliers. Bad idea. It snapped off. But I just wrapped everything in a sliver of duct tape. That's not bad for a temp fix, is it? It doesn't get hot - I was just wondering if I created a fire hazard.

The whistle on the Girard station works - it must have some sort of fan inside - I just tested it last night - it whirrs up and then you hear a whoooo sound. I would like to hook it up to the same 153C as the semaphore but it doesn't work - maybe not enough juice flows through it and I'm afraid of frying the semaphore. I'm also musing about how I messed up my 'blocks' that control my two long sidings. I used an Atlas Selector and following the instructions in the latest Kalmbach layout book to set up 4 blocks. But then I got the bright idea to add a fifth block using an Altas Connector - using the same wire scheme - and it doesn't work - or rather it's always 'on' - I can't turn it off. So I have to stare at it somemore. I'm also trying to re-do my crossing flashers (they are a cheap pair from Model Power.) I attached the wires from both lamps to the common and outer rail and insulated the outer rail into a block but they come on and off in relation to how I move the throttle on the transformer. They get real bright and flash really fast when I power up the train and turn off when I turn shut down the transformer. I thought they would only go on when the train enters that block - I must be doing something wrong. Anyway, as you might guess, I enjoyed some time working on the layout this weekend. I love winter for that...

Hope you're feeling better, Chris. As others have noted, coughing blood is v. serious. Speaking of serious, Chief, how is your sinus infection? Jim, do you have any photos of your R/C airplane racing? I have watched some of these A/C fly at a local park. How does the racing work? Against a clock or other planes? A friend of mine is building a plane in his basement - it's so big I can't imagine how he'll get it out. R/C cars and planes are v. big in hobby stores out here.

I almost forgot - I successfully fit an oval of my son's HO track in the middle of the layout too. I had to extend or widen the oval a bit and I got the idea to get the tinsnips and cut off one of my ancient pieces of track to use it. It worked, I cut off a few inches, worked the connections with a needle-nose pliers (my most useful tool ever), added a few track pins and jammed it all together. I gave me just enough space to fit. Now I have to extend the wiring for the DC powerpack so it can reach. I'm almost out of wire...

[ChiefEagles]

Chris, hope it is only sinuses and not lungs. Go to Dr. Calling one today myself.

Doug M., When you start, you go all the way. WOW. Glad you are having fun.

Speaking of Doug and Turbo, left bank getting bashed with rains still. Hope all is OK.

Foggy and highs only getting to the mid 60's today. Sorry guys, no 70's today. [;)]

Have a good day and God bless all.

[Jim Duda]

Doug - here's a quick description of an airplane pylon race...let's say you are the pilot. You stand between two pylons, about 15 ft. high, and they are 100 feet apart. Your airplane is on the ground with the engine screaming at 24,000 - 25,000 RPM, being held by your "caller", and it is facing the #1 pylon which is 606 feet upwind. There are 3 other planes besides yours on the starting grid...all waiting for the starter's flag to drop.

When the flag drops, your caller releases your plane and it takes off for the #1 pylon. When it is even with it, the pylon judge that is assigned to your plane activates a high intensity light which is mounted on the #1 pylon (606 feet away) to signify you can turn left and head back to you so you can fly around those two other pylons you're standing between. Obviously if you wait for the light to come on and then start your turn you will be hundreds of feet beyond the pylon and you'll lose time. So it's the depth perception of the caller and the timing that takes years of practice. A good caller will know your reaction time and tell you to turn BEFORE you reach the pylon so the apogee of your turn is JUST BARELY past the pylon. The FIRST PLANE to complete 10 LAPS wins. I think the record is 60 seconds for 10 laps. All must use the same fuel which is supplied by the contest director...15% nitro, 67% methanol alcohol, and 18% oil. Engines are .4 cu. in. and develop over 3 hp. Prop is carbon fiber 7.4 in. diameter, 8 in. pitch. If you do the math, if there was no "slippage", each revolution of the prop moves it ahead 8 in. So at 26,000 rpm X 8 in. = 208,000 inches in a minute. / 12 = 17,333 ft per minute / 5280 = 3.28 miles per minute X 60 = 196 MPH.

The actual speed in the class of plane that you see below is 180 - 190 actual MPH. We use a police radar gun to test different props and engine settings.

I'll let you all know how we fare in Phoenix this weekend...What's cool is the airplane racing course is just 1/4 mile away from the Speedworld NHRA drag way. You think model airplane engines are loud...!!!

[ChiefEagles]

WOW, glad that was a quick description. [;)] Hey, wife is back at work. Go play trains and smoke up the house. [:D]