Just returned to the office from my work roadtrip to Stillwater. Stopped by the Hobby Lobby and picked up a couple Woodland Scenics products that were on clearance. However, the potentially biggest bargain could be the Lionel Fastrack Grade Crossing with Gates and Flasher (6-12062) I picked up for only $14.95. It lists for $159.99! It did have a note on it stating the gates were not going up and down, but I'm hoping that might be an easy fix. If not, I paid a small price to have the flashers and bells.
Fife - What did you think of the fireman's helment cake?
Time to wrap up some work.
Joe
Good evening all. Daughter wanted to go to "Steak-N-Shake" for dinner, so when bride came home, we headed out there. Had a nice Peanut Butter Cup milk shake It was tasty! Made some more plaster rock castings with kids and got the October CTT, so it has been a good day.Jon, son took his violin to school and played before his class....did well. His new one has a black finish on it and the kids think it is "cool".
Joe, the flatcars with auto normally are $32.95 and on clearance, they are $19.77. I have seen them go lower on train items as time goes on, but you risk having someone else purchase from under you. Regarding them selling off the O-gauge items, not sure if that is the case, or just rolling over items. About a year ago, they sold off a lot of Lionel and brought in Atlas items. I have been picking up a number of scenic items lately on clearance. Also got some people to populate the pike. Regarding best deals, I once got one of the operating oil pumps that normally sell for $59.99 for $9.99. I think it was mismarked.
Well, I had better join the family fun. Hope each of you have a great night.Dennis
TCA#09-63805
Sunny and low 90's today.
Fife - medical grade duct tapt A.K.A. Steri Strips. Believe me, when it is done being used, one does not want to re use it! We do have some large band aid type dressings left over 4"x8" and 4"x10", Probably a good thing 'cause I own a chain saw, a table saw, a circular saw, etc.
All for now.
Good Evening
A big storm just north of us this evening. I think Charlie may have got ponded. I got the grass cut this morning, by afternoon it was 86. Banilla is ready, beacon is humming so Brutus come on by...S.J.
"IT's GOOD TO BE THE KING",by Mel Brooks
Charter Member- Tardis Train Crew (TTC) - Detroit3railers- Detroit Historical society Glancy Modular trains- Charter member BTTS
sir james II think Charlie may have got ponded.
SJ a very close call. Tornado passed just to the northeast of 53 and 59. I was finishing the last two strips of the lawn when the siren blew.
Charlie a.k.a. MichiganRailRoad714 (Charter Member TTC)
Good evening all,
A late night soccer report. I went to the high school boys' game tonight. Varsity played absolutely horribly and lost 4-1. Midfield repeatedly failed to get back on defense, leaving four defenders to hold six or seven offensive players. JV game was different story as they won 3-0. Every team has an off night and hopefully they got this one out of their systems. Went to the YMCA afterward. Good progress today was made on improving a weekly process. When all is done, life will be much better. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Dennis - The Hobby Lobby I went to today had the Atlas rolling stock still at full price, but the Lionel ones were marked down to $20 or less. I did not buy any since they are all NYC road names. I also bought that Fastrack piece. The Walthers items are marked down nicely as well; a couple of weeks ago I got a crossing gate for only $10, which is normally $30 or more.
I just got in from my 7y/o son's first batting practice against a pitching machine. He did very well and the coach wants him to play in a tournament next week with her team. My son is very excited, and he has a practice with his new team this Sunday.
Earlier I hooked up the Fastrack item I purchased this morning. The bell and flashing lights work fine, but the gates are not moving; they are remaining down. There were no instructions in the box so I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but I think the problem is there is no break in the insulated rail. That is causing the bell, lights, and gates to continuously function as if the train was coming. I'm not sure if this item was supposed to come with a special piece or if somehow the insulated rail was not cut when being manufactured. Any thoughts?
I need to clean myself up and relax with the wife for a while.
Good night,
Joe there should be two small sections of track with the crossing gate. These are the insulated block tracks (6-12060). If you do not have them then that is what you need - two 5" insulated tracks. They will have only one rail cut and the cut rails on both cut rails need to be in alignment. To make the issolated section longer you need to turn the FasTrack over and remove the straps that connect the two outer rails, or cut them carefully with a dremel, or get sections of Accessory Activator Extender (6-12027).
Great looking layout, Jim! We like my son's Wii, but don't play it much. He's been running me off from my Xbox too. I think I haven't played on it in 2 weeks. Bill (8n) - glad your wife is doing so much better, prayers continue. Lots of good posts today, prayers for all in need.
Playing around with rrtracks again, figuring out a new layout. Did grocery shopping tonight after work and looks like I"ll be doing some burgers and dogs on the grill tomorrow night or Saturday night. My daughter also has a birthday coming up - she wants a personal dvd player, but she wants one that plays blurays - yikes!
Gotta go, Tardis is ready and it's getting late!
RIP Chewy - best dog I ever had.
hey brent and joe...is the new fastrack as nice as it looks? it reminds me of the marklin system. i wish lionel would make a simple working catenary system like marklin incorporated into their track system, for those of us who like electrics. navyjack
Sorry guys have not been on in a week.Took the family to the Washington County Fair this weekend.My little guy was fastinated with with the truck pulls.The girls loved the animals.I mostly play with my PSP but do like the Wii bowling.Jim check out the Christmas game has a neat elf bowling game on it.Tamer than the one that was around a few years ago for the pc.OT tonight so back to work.Have a great friday.
Good night. Fell asleep with new CTT in hand. No indication of bad magazine, just tired.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Good morning all,
IIABSDISEI with temps in the 90s. See last post for soccer updates. IRL races at Infineon this weekend. Last road course race of the season. I had the regular fare on the dining car. TBIL anytime. I hope everyone has a good day.
Good Morning from Blueberryhill....
It is a cloudy 72 degrees. Going up to 88 today.
Today is an easy day. I have a few chores to do and then I will spend some time at PT. Legs are a little stiff today. Need a good, slow workout. Not much else going on.
Dining car is here for the usual breakfast.
Buckeye.....TGIF
Y'all have a great Friday.
Chuck
navyjack hey brent and joe...is the new fastrack as nice as it looks? it reminds me of the marklin system. i wish lionel would make a simple working catenary system like marklin incorporated into their track system, for those of us who like electrics. navyjack
Morning all!
Had a bit of respite from the heat yesterday with some scattered T-Storms. But it is coming back this weekend with a vengence - 104 Sunday, 100 today. Should fall to 98 by Monday. Need to dig out some sweaters!
Local TCA show this weekend. Got my stuff to sell all ready to go.
Navyjack - I sent you an e-mail.
Have a great day all!
Regards, Roy
Aloha all. TGIF! Hope the day finds you well. Noticeably darker at 0-dark-thirty when I get up. Rats - means winters coming. But that's good for train time. Have to drop by Hobby Lobby to see if anything's left - they usually just had overpriced scenic items and HO. A productive day yesterday - fixed a tire, got them rotated, renewed the kids' passports, power-washed the garbage bin to bid adieu to the maggots, and even worked. .
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
Good Morning
Overcast and near 70, I don't think it's suppose to rain until tomorrow.
Friday is our eat out day so we will be doing that but otherwise I'll just see what comes along.
S.J.
Mornin' - Whoa, wait a minute. Woodland Scenics on clearance...? Don't recall ever hearing that phrase. One trend I have noticed at YORK is that our "friends" at Scenic Express keep prices pretty high on little plastic thing-a-ma-bobs.
Sorry, rant over.
Mornin' boys. Mornin' English. Sunny & 84 already in the Mid-Atlantic region. Gotta do the lawn for company tomorrow at 3 .
Demay - Thought the fire helmet was classy.
green97probePat, Here are some pics. It is only 4x8, but it seems larger. I am happy with it now that I lowered it about 5". Despite it nearly falling on me while I was laying under it installing the shorter legs, I like it. These pics don't capture the height from the bottom level and it appears to be higher than what it really is when viewed in person. Because my camera only has a display and no viewfinder, it is tough for me to capture it as I actually see it.
Pat,
Here are some pics. It is only 4x8, but it seems larger. I am happy with it now that I lowered it about 5". Despite it nearly falling on me while I was laying under it installing the shorter legs, I like it. These pics don't capture the height from the bottom level and it appears to be higher than what it really is when viewed in person. Because my camera only has a display and no viewfinder, it is tough for me to capture it as I actually see it.
Jim, I see you actually have three levels. I think I need to lower my upper level, as you did. Pictures below. I was experimenting with the high level (see the Thomas circle at far end), so I could easily reach in to the middle of the layout. The trolley track will continue into a mountain eventually.
Poor pictures I know. Any suggestions from anyone would be welcomed.
Pat
RFD-TV --- Rural America's most important network!
88 - Thanks for the info. I thought it was missing something. And I did not realize the isolated track allows you to isolate any of the rails. I have been using the 1 3/8" or 1 3/4" pieces for blocking since they have the center rail cut. I think someone initially purchased this item to steal the block sections instead of buying them on their own, and then returned it without the block sections and stated it did not work. I doubt the Hobby Lobby folks check the contents when it was returned. Even with me buying new block sections, I will have saved a great amount for this item.
Navyjack - I think Fastrack is great. It is easy to connect and disconnect (even my 7y/o son can do it without breaking it), and is easy to wire; no soldering. That is huge for someone like me with no electrical skills. The only downside is its cost. The remote switches are very expensive, which is why mine are all manual at the moment. I think it looks good and will save me the time and expense of ballasting.
Fife - I'm not sure if Woodland Scenics is specifically cutting their prices; the Hobby Lobby had them discounted to clear their inventory of older WS items. The newer WS items were still regular prices; however, the Hobby Lobby 40% off coupon will make buying them much easier.
I echo everyone's TGIF comments. I am hoping to wrap things up at work early so I can take the wife and kids out for an afternoon gelatto.
More later,
Picture quality.
I just discovered if you click the bar above my pictures posted earlier, it is much clearer. To bad they don't post that way.
Lawson Farms - You have a good looking, nicely sceniced layout. Unless you are modeling West Mifflin and Kennywood (Pittsburgh), I think your towns would be better served by linking them with your trolley line, and using Thomas & Co to circle your carnival area.
Looks good.
Fife,
Didn't know that you were familar with West Mifflin/Kennywood. Did you ever see Rick Sebak's Kennywood documentary. BTW, get those stocks ready...
Joe,
When you get a chance, check out Wii Accidents Montage on YouTube.
Brutus,
I haven't been on the 360 as much since I got the PS3 and Wii, although the Wii isn't in the same league as the 360/PS3.
Harold,
I thought about getting another PSP the other day, then getting the Wii later. After I sold my PSP to Game Stop, I fell like someone stole it from me and I miss it somewhat.
Navyjack,
I have an oval of Fastrack from a set breakup, and if it wasn't $4.80 a section, I'd switch to it. Looks great and performs great.
I've been working on the layout today. I also won another AF 740 Handcar on ebay. My parents picked up a rough 740 at Toy Town as well, but they said that the owner told them that the boxed one went out the door last week. Sounds fishy to me and I've got the feeling they may not be telling me something.
The look on Anne or Clairabelle's face in the first and second picture takes on a whole new meaning!!!! Yowsers, please don't derail Thomas! Please! nice layout Pat. If you used the elevated trestles you would have a nice trolley line to link your towns as Fife mentioned.
fifedogLawson Farms - You have a good looking, nicely sceniced layout. Unless you are modeling West Mifflin and Kennywood (Pittsburgh), I think your towns would be better served by linking them with your trolley line, and using Thomas & Co to circle your carnival area.
Fifedog
Excellent suggestions! Thomas would definitely go with the carnival. The trolley could be on a second, much lower, second level. Must give this serious thought.
Enjoy your yard party tomorrow. Wish I could have made it.
pat great layout. thanks for the pictures. could not be any better. the way i see it your layout is exactly the way you want it to be and that is as it should be. i like all your farm implements and bachmann bldgs. navyjack
@#%^& Just typed a post and site dropped it.
Afternoon all. Busy day. Dr's apt early and then meeting with Legislative Staff Member. Took him to lunch [I paid]. Do not know if going to lake house. Wifey says yes, well no, well maybe so. Pizzed off at work. If not for her Birthday, I'd be gone and she could go where ever.
I guess Buckeye, Jackrocks, Shake and Bake and a few others do not love us anymore. They don't post.
Later.
TGIF
Celebrating 18 years on the CTT Forum.
Buckeye Riveter......... OTTS Charter Member, a Roseyville Raider and a member of the CTT Forum since 2004..
Jelloway Creek, OH - ELV 1,100 - Home of the Baltimore, Ohio & Wabash RR
TCA 09-64284
Lawson - The cool thing about trolleys (and today's modern light rail for that matter) is that they aren't confined to the gradient and wider curvature of their freight cousins. Our own Baltimore and Annapolis line zig-zagged up-and-over roads, tracks, etc. The tighter, the better.
Well, what I meant...
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