Ohayō,
It was cold and clear this morning, but the high will be in the low-50s. I completed my first run of the New Year this morning and first in about two weeks as I was enjoying the Christmas/New Year break. I only ran three miles so I can ease back into it. It’s almost my lunch break, but I haven’t done much work this morning as I’ve been watching the championship game. Fortunately, I am caught up on my work and my boss is easy-going. With the way the game is going now, I may not have any interest in it after halftime as it looks like Alabama is going to rout the Irish.
Brent – I am always impressed with my wife’s ability to not lose her mind and be awake when I come home from work since she home schools our three kids who are 11, 9, and 2.
Jack – A cold day in this part of Japan right now is upper-20s, low-30’s when I wake up. The midday highs have been in the upper-40s, low-50s which is not cold to me. I will be happy if the temp drops another 15 degrees or so. Thanks for the encouragement Jack. I will be finished in May and I cannot wait.
Jeffrey – I’m glad you’re feeling better today.
Happy Birthday Bo!
Sayonara,
Joe
anjdevil2 Monday.... Will my one and only Proto1 equipt Wanderer is officially dead. Needs 2 boards per the Train Doctor here, here, I may ravage it for parts...unless I can find the boards. I have tried the reset (yep I have the chip!) and nothing. The light is pretty shiny however.....Mike's trash house is right. At least Lionel is backward compatible....
Monday....
Will my one and only Proto1 equipt Wanderer is officially dead. Needs 2 boards per the Train Doctor here, here, I may ravage it for parts...unless I can find the boards. I have tried the reset (yep I have the chip!) and nothing. The light is pretty shiny however.....Mike's trash house is right. At least Lionel is backward compatible....
You could always contact ERR and convert it to tmcc
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Oh, hey guys....
Happy Birthday, Bo!!
SubBob - yeah they are electric flip lights and work well, so far....
Jack - Not enough money for the Challenger in the near or medium distant future - which sucks...
Will my one and only Proto1 equipt Wanderer is officially dead. Needs 2 boards per the Train Doctor here, I may ravage it for parts...unless I can find the boards. I have tried the reset (yep I have the chip!) and nothing. The light is pretty shiny however.....Mike's trash house is right. At least Lionel is backward compatible....
Did score a WHOLE BUNCH of trains and cabeese that need repair for the princely sum of $10. 2 N5c porthole caboose and a couple of other cabeese to assemble. Well worth the money and also have an Atlas flat with Plastic wheels, which I'm pretty sure I can convert to Lionel.
I really shouldn't have gone, though, the crud kicked my buns...very winded and struggle to get back to the car. hate that..... I may have a dr. visit soon...
Charlie - nice FRED...looks great!
I'll be going to my LHS to put a deposit on a NJ Transit work train set. Saturday....
If I missed any other questions, sorry...quick post, just need to get back to bed. Work beckons again on the morrow.....Oh DougM, NICE launcher.....
I am the monster in your head...And I thought you'd learn by now, It seems you haven't yet.I am the venom in your skin --- Breaking Benjamin
We had bright sun all day and with temps in the 30s got some snow melt. The ground is still covered but there was visible progress. No breaking news today, I helped granny some but only when called upon. It's best to stay out of her way. Banilla is ready for the thingy crew. Happy Birthday Bo
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
Bo
Evening all not a lot going on today. Off next 2 days ( my Saturday and Sunday this week.)
I won a shell oil car on ebay back around the 30th of DEC well first it got misdelievered then for some strange reason it has gone thru the system here in Columbia. like 3 more times then it was finally sent back towards the original sender but talk to P.O. and it looks like they should be able to catch it at the centerville, GA. P.O. and have it returned back to me. I think this train car in past 2 weeks has logged more miles than some train actually do in two weeks
I got my tpc-300 in tonight so will hook it up tomorrow and play with it to make sure all is working fine with it. Some of my conventional engines I don't want to convert to tmcc but would like to be able to run them with the cab1 ( post war engines and some I just don't think its worth putting the money into them and of coarse my Lionel back to classics set. ) So until I get the ones I want converted I will now have a way to run them with the cab1.
Figured out my taxes for this past year but can't file until the 18th 1 they don't have the forms needed and 2 IRS isn't accepting them till then.
Good Afternoon.
Just got back home from an early morning day at the office...report writing away..and finding weird things in various files....
And we had all kinds of sun!!...once the dull dull cloud left us....around 3pm......hopefully we will get to share in the sunshine...and not have to wait until late in the day for our share...
Got supper going ...have to go...have a good one!!
Any argument carried far enough will end up in Semantics--Hartz's law of rhetoric Emerald. Leemer and Southern The route of the Sceptre Express Barry
I just started my blog site...more stuff to come...
http://modeltrainswithmusic.blogspot.ca/
Laz57,Jeffrey and V8Vega thanks for the Birthday wishes.
V8Vega, your right about the good health. I retired when I did so I could still enjoy it. I know it will not always be this way.
Laz, Kevin reminded me of the meaning of "smoke pole", but you say it really just refers to a "flintlock" weapon. I have a 54 Cal. Hawken that uses percussion caps. It's been some years since I've used it. Can't say I've ever fired a flintlock. Probably alot of fun to shoot.
Got with a company up in Michigan, Train Electrics LLC and ordered the relays to activate the signal bridges I received for a birthday present. Bo
Visit my website Bo's Trains at http://www.bostrains.com
The F3 New Haven now has Post War power trucks. Boy she runs nice.
The basement walls are painted where the layout addition is going so now on to the bench work.
The crud is giving me a beating. Think I will nap before wifey gets home.
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Good afternoon all,
IIABSDISEI with temps in the 30s. Work has been relatively quiet today. Drive in was foggy. Traffic was light. Submmbob, glad to hear Nader did not succeed with Volkswagen. That was a good summary of the Corvair history. Good concept. Not the best execution. GM tried again with the Fiero and messed that one up as well. Finally had a winner with the Saturn Solistice and the Pontiac version but then phased out those product lines withouth moving the sports car to either Buick or Chevy. Go figure. Maybe the Miata is a success because the market is only big enough for one of them. TBIL and I can drive. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
<Prairetype, glad yesterday was a success. If I understand the post correctly,what group were you operating with? Railhead 53>
Railhead53: The group is the Kansas City Garden Railroad Society, which is set up in an outlet mall in Olathe (The Great Mall of the Great Plains), Kansas. The layouts occupy two (approx.) 5000 square foot stores that flank one of the main entrances. This is a real attention getter, as customers enter with a massive model train presence on their right and left.
Prairietype Screams From A Mall: Yesterday's work on the Lionel Train With No Name Layout was successful, even with unexpected electrical problems with one of the three KW's used for power. The third KW, which has sat as a back up did not work as well, so I installed our ZW for main power to the upper two loops, and moved the working KW to be the primary yard and interchange transformer. We will endeavor to get the KW's back on line, but I will keep the ZW in place for the time being and se how this works. The primary upper loop power has actually been handled by two verable RW's that worked so well that I kind of doubt my decision to use the ZW, but it seems ok. Keeping 50-60 year old Lionel postwar operating is a little bit of a challenge, but at least it is generally repairable with basic tools, on-site, and with little expense. So much of what we have there has be A Hanes store closed in the mall and gave about 10 Hanes hosiery display cases which have compartmented tray drawers that will now do duty as storage for accessories, cars, parts and Lionel paraphenalia. This was a good windfall. I took my restored 2026 to the layout yesterday to let it stretch its legs; talk about a smooth running little champ, this 60 year old ran like a champion.
Screams From A Mall:
Yesterday's work on the Lionel Train With No Name Layout was successful, even with unexpected electrical problems with one of the three KW's used for power. The third KW, which has sat as a back up did not work as well, so I installed our ZW for main power to the upper two loops, and moved the working KW to be the primary yard and interchange transformer.
We will endeavor to get the KW's back on line, but I will keep the ZW in place for the time being and se how this works. The primary upper loop power has actually been handled by two verable RW's that worked so well that I kind of doubt my decision to use the ZW, but it seems ok.
Keeping 50-60 year old Lionel postwar operating is a little bit of a challenge, but at least it is generally repairable with basic tools, on-site, and with little expense. So much of what we have there has be
A Hanes store closed in the mall and gave about 10 Hanes hosiery display cases which have compartmented tray drawers that will now do duty as storage for accessories, cars, parts and Lionel paraphenalia. This was a good windfall.
I took my restored 2026 to the layout yesterday to let it stretch its legs; talk about a smooth running little champ, this 60 year old ran like a champion.
Wish we had a layout like that here in Towanda, however, I don't see one like it anytime in the foreseeable future. Don't have the funds to start a train club here either.
However, I do plan on having a Lionel Dealer type layout when I'm out on my own, so I guess I can live without a Lionel layout right now.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad, the Route of the Black Diamond Express, John Wilkes and Maple Leaf.
-Jake, modeling the Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna.
Kevin/Chief, thanks for the birthday wishes!
Kevin, I think your right about the term "smoke pole", I have a black powder rifle, but it's been a long time since I've heard that terminology. For that matter, it's been a long time since I've used the rifle, many years. Use to deer hunt with it. Got a couple of deer. Seems like a long time ago.
Chief, I installed a lead track for my small yard and had to used a left hand switch to attach to the yard ladder. I had to trim (cut some of the plastic roadbed away so that the left hand switch could butt up against the right hand switch. This leads me to believe that MTH did not design the switch for my particular application, but can see no reason why it would not work. It seemed to be working just fine until this past weekend while running the trains I began to smell something. Ran upstairs to check on things and later found the smell to be coming from the left hand switch. It had stopped working and when I checked it I found that the red wires and the thin trace they were soldered to had melted. It essentially fried the switch and I believe it is likely unserviceable. I have a replacement, but before I install it what to see if I can figure out what happened. Here is a photo showing the damage done.
And another photo showing the application on the layout. As you can see the left hand switch has been removed. I'm trying to get an idea of what happened and what I can do to avoid this happening again when I install a replacement switch.
A fella on another forum advised me that he has had similar problems with some of his MTH switches and that he was able to successfully use solder to create a replacement trace. He did not have a short answer for what caused the problem. Any help would be appreciated. Bo
Happy birthday Bo.
Dr. Frankendiesel aka Scott Running BearSpace Mouse for president!15 year veteran fire fighterCollector of Apple //e'sRunning Bear EnterprisesHistory Channel Club life member.beatus homo qui invenit sapientiam
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BO!!!!!!
and you need about OL MILs to wash it down.
Hope you get something with flanged wheels.
PS
Smoke Pole is the Indians language for Flintlock Muzzleloader. All that black powder does make alot of smoke hence da name.
laz57
Happy Birthday Bo. Missed it on the original "read".
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Well I'm feeling somewhat better than I did this morning. Seems my eyes are quite dilated though. I took a look outside a little while ago and felt like my eyes were going to get burned out. It's a bright sunny day. Too bad the temperature is only 47. It's a nice day otherwise.
railhead53 Good morning all! Woke up this morning and the sun was up and it seemed like any other day except today I turned 60! I feel the same. Still a pup in my own mind, ready for anything! Well, pretty much anything! Are there any guys on the Pot with electrical/electronics expertise. If so I would like to try to understand what happened to cause the switch to fry. I am concerned the application I used the switch in may very well have contributed to what happened, but I am stumped. Our Proton collector Bob AKA Submmbob is good with all things Corvair and Electric. He has helped me out on several projects. Laz57, ok I'm stumped. If you don't mind me asking, what/who is the Smoke Pole? = Black powder rifle. I think. lionroar88, I've been ther with that clogged up drain thing and have said the same thing to myself, how do they do it? All I have to say is Yes me two at least twice a year. When the daughter was still at home every month. Gee Chief, when I was in the service I only had a little used VW bug and later a pretty well worn out 4 cylinder Datson. I guess I just wasn't the sporty type. The squirrels and predators are probably appreciating the respite, but I do hope you get to feeling better soon! I will shoot Chief's share till he gets better. Well before I sign off to go get something to eat before going to work on the railtroad I wanted to share that Mary gave a birthday gift as she headed out the door to work. It was an MTH O scale Pennsy Signal Bridge. I'm delighted. I have to confess when she asked if there was anything I would like for my BD, I gave her a couple ideas. I also mentioned a German Chocolate cake! Have a great day everybody! Bo
Good morning all! Woke up this morning and the sun was up and it seemed like any other day except today I turned 60! I feel the same. Still a pup in my own mind, ready for anything! Well, pretty much anything!
Are there any guys on the Pot with electrical/electronics expertise. If so I would like to try to understand what happened to cause the switch to fry. I am concerned the application I used the switch in may very well have contributed to what happened, but I am stumped. Our Proton collector Bob AKA Submmbob is good with all things Corvair and Electric. He has helped me out on several projects.
Laz57, ok I'm stumped. If you don't mind me asking, what/who is the Smoke Pole? = Black powder rifle. I think.
lionroar88, I've been ther with that clogged up drain thing and have said the same thing to myself, how do they do it? All I have to say is Yes me two at least twice a year. When the daughter was still at home every month.
Gee Chief, when I was in the service I only had a little used VW bug and later a pretty well worn out 4 cylinder Datson. I guess I just wasn't the sporty type. The squirrels and predators are probably appreciating the respite, but I do hope you get to feeling better soon! I will shoot Chief's share till he gets better.
Well before I sign off to go get something to eat before going to work on the railtroad I wanted to share that Mary gave a birthday gift as she headed out the door to work. It was an MTH O scale Pennsy Signal Bridge. I'm delighted. I have to confess when she asked if there was anything I would like for my BD, I gave her a couple ideas. I also mentioned a German Chocolate cake! Have a great day everybody! Bo
Bo, Happy 60th. been there and done that last year. We are just kids, Ask SJ.
I went to Menarrds this morning and got another gallon of waterproof paint for the basement walls and have been painting since. I had to do that before we install the layout addition. I still feel like I have been hit by a truck so I am just taking my time. Heck I got plenty. My step grandfather always told me "Kevin, don't ever finish all of your projects because then you will not have anything to do"
Well done with lunch so I had better get back to it.
Later.
Bo, what did the switch do? I know how to fix a few of the Realtrax switch problems. They are a problem. I keep spares just for such. Also don't permanently mount them. You will find yourself removing them. They also are a problem with shorting if engines go through them too slow. I have about 40 of them now. Gapping between the control rails is mainly the problem. Control rails will slip and close the gap. This makes the switch think a car is on the rail and will not switch to the other turnout. Switch will then shut down. When gap is fixed, switch will go back to work [usually].
Doug M, you need to patent that.
Chuck, I feel your pain. I use MTH Realtrax and over the weekend I had my first switch burnout. Bummer, but I do have a replacement. Are there any guys on the Pot with electrical/electronics expertise. If so I would like to try to understand what happened to cause the switch to fry. I am concerned the application I used the switch in may very well have contributed to what happened, but I am stumped.
Laz57, ok I'm stumped. If you don't mind me asking, what/who is the Smoke Pole? I'm glad there were no pile ups on the layout. I'm sure the train crews and any passengers probably felt the same way.
lionroar88, I've been ther with that clogged up drain thing and have said the same thing to myself, how do they do it? All I have to say is
RockIsland52, so far are snow fall for this area has been below average. I think it has been unseasonably warm. To the point I am kinda missing the snow on the ground. I have to confess though that I really didn't feel that way when I had to get out in it everyday! Yeah, 9 DWI's is not good. I agree that fella needs some help, but IMHO the public has also got to be protected from the risk he poses when drives under the influence.
Jeffrey, you've got to be careful, especially when you know your not feeling well.
Gee Chief, when I was in the service I only had a little used VW bug and later a pretty well worn out 4 cylinder Datson. I guess I just wasn't the sporty type. The squirrels and predators are probably appreciating the respite, but I do hope you get to feeling better soon!
cnw1995, I never would have thought of making an electric paper-airplane launcher. Pretty neat though! I guess I'm just stuck in the old ways, but when I think about it, as I get older I suspect it won't be as easy to launch those paper airplanes using the old arm. Really though, neat idea and looking at the photos, you do good work!
Prairetype, glad yesterday was a success. If I understand the post correctly,what group were you operating with?
S.J., sorry to hear about the cable problems. I gave up altogether on cable and now just rely on Netflix. Although I thouoght I would miss it, I haven't. I use to live in Cass City and Caro, Michigan when I was very young. Michigan was and I am sure still is a beautiful state. Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast reminds me I forgot to have breakfast. Now I am hungry!
jeffrey-wimberly RockIsland52Told her she's worse than a shedding dog, observation not well received. I can just see your next project. Redecorating the doghouse for the impending arrival of it's new tenant.
RockIsland52Told her she's worse than a shedding dog, observation not well received.
Jeffrey......you just have to know exactly where the edge of the cliff is, and then avoid it. My wife knows very well what causes these bathroom drain issues, what she could do to mitigate or eliminate them (but won't), and chooses to just turn matters over to the maintenance crew (me). She calls it MW (men's work).
I just read DougM's comment on his kitchen drain. If you saw what gets shoved (or poured) down into my garbage disposal and drain in the kitchen, you would be asking yourself how it is even remotely possible that the drain works for more than a few weeks at a stretch without service.
Jack
IF IT WON'T COME LOOSE BY TAPPING ON IT, DON'T TRY TO FORCE IT. USE A BIGGER HAMMER.
We have 34 degrees with bright sun. Yeah.
I am not sure what today will bring but I'm ready for it. I do know I will stay out of granny's way as the post holiday cleaning will begin very soon. Big problems with WOW cable, all of lower Michigan customers are ready to switch company's. Every night during prime time we get checker boarding and freeze frames. I finally got a call through and it seems they don't have a clue as to what is wrong. They have their best people trying to find the problem. Looks like they need some new best people. Yes they adjusted my bill but I would prefer the good service we use to have..Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast...S.J.
MichRR714 submmbob I did see a lot of Michigan road names though. Michigan railroads, represented on a Michigan club layout, in a Michigan city, in Michigan,...I don't know...could be construed as an advertisement LOL We tried to make make fast runbys so the Michigan road names were blurred, hoping the video would not be deleted this time...:)
submmbob I did see a lot of Michigan road names though. Michigan railroads, represented on a Michigan club layout, in a Michigan city, in Michigan,...I don't know...could be construed as an advertisement
LOL
Thanks, Jack, that reminds me to clear out my bride's sink trap. Thank goodness for PVC pipe that I can take apart and put together each month...
Doug Murphy 'We few, we happy few, we band of brothers...' Henry V.
lionroar88Mornin' Fellas.........While Christina was napping yesterday I finally had time to investigate why TheQ's vanity drain wasn't draining... all I can say is if any one knows a plumber you should ask them how in the hecht they can do their job! That was DISGUSTING!!!!! There was so much hair in the drain, and other stuff that congeeled into this putrid clump of nastiness that it filled the entire down tube below the drain plug and half of the trap! Liquid Plumber was no match for this clog!!!
Brent.....memories for a lifetime. No, not the slow drain/drain clog part of the story.
Re drains, I have the exact same issue in my house. My wife should be bald. Her hair winds up all over the place including the drains. Coat hanger, forceps, and tweezers to pull out of the drains what I can. Then the coat hanger to push further down the line what I can't pull out. A complete flushing with a lot of water. Then I use the Liquid Plumber and let it sit overnight, flush the next morning.
Right before Christmas the wifey informs me (again) the drains in the/her bathroom sink and the shower are running too slowly. So she goes out shopping and I set to work. I put all of the retrieved residue in the small bathroom trash can on purpose. When said wife comes home, she looks in the trash and gets this horrified look on her face. "Where did that all come from??? Yuk!!!" "It came from whence it always comes from, dear. Your head. And your added hairspray (glue) keeps it nicely congealed."
Don't get me started on the vacuum cleaner beater bar and bearings, or the Christmas trains running on the living room floor. Blonde hair wound tight as a drum everywhere you least want it to be. Told her she's worse than a shedding dog, observation not well received.
Aloha. Sunny and cold this morning in Chicago. No moisture on the horizon. Great TARDIS ride with the SJ, Brutus and Charlie last night. Glad I caught it. Charlie, thanks for sharing the video. SJ, your Burlington F units are nifty. Looking forward to the BIg Game tonight. Long time (28 years I think) for Notre Dame since they were relevant. I'll record it since I have a church meeting tonight (timing!). Thanks for the Corvair history, Bob. I loved that car but definitely was influenced by the Nader propaganda. Kev / Jack, I think the behavior issue with visiting kids works even for us uncles. The little ones who come over behave for me but when their folks are over, they are terrible. We never allowed that to happen with our youngsters especially when they were guests. Brent, as a veteran of many years of being Mr. Mom, you get used to it. The big (hopefully upcoming soon for you) shock was going from wrangling one to two kids. Here are a few shots of the electric paper-airplane launcher. I got the various parts at Hobby Lobby - the motors are a bit too powerful... you put the paper airplane in the slot and the spinning wheels pick it up and shoot it out at a billion scale miles and hour. We're experimenting with heavier cardstock! I am appreciative of the electric help from you guys for helping me know how to wire it up. Took a while...the long screw with the suction cup in the front keeps shaking itself loose. the suction cups are over-kill I guess.
Good morning. It's 36° with 100% humidity. It'll be sunny with a high of 55°.I feel a bit better today but still not up to doing anything on the layout without wrecking something in the process. Seems like a good movie watching day.
Morning all. Dr. this afternoon. Still taking meds. Really nice and sunny and warm. Suppose to get to 70 degrees by weekend. Me sick and got lots of apts so no hunting [squirrels and predators] for a few.
Maybe get some Box time in.
Corvairs, folks did not know how to drive them and they did not know how to air up the tires. 18 PSI in the front [no weight in the front as engine in the back] and 32 in the back. Drive up to a station [had full service back then], attendant would put 32 psi in front tires. Vehicle would over steer and cause wrecks.
I loved mine. Had my first one when I was single and then in serrvice in FL. Monza with 4 one barrel carbs. Unbelievable performance. After returning home from service, had as many as 4 at one time. Drove one to work for years. Excellent gas mileage.
Charlie a.k.a. MichiganRailRoad714 (Charter Member TTC)
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