Good evening from a wet 33°F Southern Ohio,
This is the last night shift for this month. Two months of dayshift before another set of nights.
On the way to work there was a large derailment just north of Lucasville and it had all four lanes of the highway blocked for a couple of hours. No chemical tank cars involved but 10 grain cars derailed. I heard of the blocked road and detoured around the area to get to work.
Depending on the temperatures we may get rain, sleet, snow or any combination. We’ll see what the night brings.
I was toying with what transformer to use on the layout. I was thinking about a 30B with the cool deadman handles and voltmeters, but I pulled out a 22090 I have and have not used. I like it. 350 watts, two controllers that work the same direction, and I came to find out that when you take the speed controller to stop, there is still ~ 4 volts that keeps the reverse unit from acting. If you want to reverse there is a directional switch which takes to track voltage to zero and allows the reverse unit to cycle. This would operate the two loops and all the accessories with no problem.
Question; Some of the white lettering on the transformer has worn off. I was thinking of using a white paint pen to restore the white lettering. Do any of you have an idea? Maybe a rub on
Still cleaning up the AF track and if the weather is crappy this weekend I should get some of the AF track down. The 3 rail is working without error with the Marx units.
Kev - I had Gabriel clean up branches last weekend and now it cannot tell it. There were a lot of branches in the yard and a few trees up in the hills came down but do not need to be cut up at this time.
Banks - Seems like every plumbing job involves at least three trips to the hardware store.
Well need to check on some testing the guys are working on.
May God bless you and your families
Jim
Hello there,
30s and breezy again today. 1 to 3 expected overnight .
Counted 14 deer on the hill just before dark, probably a couple more in the fence row. Unusual to see that many. Usually 3 or 4.
Nephew finally brought his code reader and checked my Tahoe. Original anti theft module is definitely bad. The junk yard one although for the same year isn't compatible with the ECM program. (Wouldn't it be nice to have a set of points and a carburetor) He suggested instead of buying a $150 anti theft module we have the ECM reprogrammed to not need it for $200. That avoids all the issues that could have fried the anti theft. It's on the way.
Best get to sleep.
Prayers for those in need
Banks, Proud member of the OTTS TCA 12-67310
Good evening all,
Semi-quiet day at work. Went to see Alita tonight. Lots of action. Already setting up for sequel. I hope everyone has a good day.
Keep on training,
Mike C. from Indiana
Evening folks!
Been very busy last few days. Holy hoo-ha - it did not get out of the mid 30's today, and way below normal cold for beginning of next week.
Fife - as always, great suggestions - much better than filling the basement with helium and removing the posts.
Still trying to get new eyeglasses. The lens grinders have lost the ability to make anything other than simple reading glasses for Walmart. On the 5th try to get my bifocals right. Picked them up this afternoon for a test run as they put a chip in the right lens fitting them into the new frames. As the chip is not bad we decided I would try them out before reordering. So far so good, maybe we finally got it this time!
Watching a building show where they are steaming some wood to bend it. I tried that years ago using a pvc pipe and a camp stove to generate some steam. Nothing doing. In frustration I threw the wood into the pool. Twenty minutes later bent it no problem. Had to sand it a bit after it dried due to raised grain. Think I would have had to do that even if the steamer had worked.
Regards, Roy
Joined 1-21-2011 TCA 13-68614
Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL.
Morning. Home from Human Services Board. Makes a long day with that early morning meeting.
64 and sunny.
Solution for Amtrak and VA, fire all the heads and start over.
Later.
God bless TCA 05-58541 Benefactor Member of the NRA, Member of the American Legion, Retired Boss Hog of Roseyville , KC&D Qualified
Haven't stopped in for a few days. Really just getting through some final details on the latest 53' white box build. Truck leaves next Tuesday with some of the latest technolgy in the business.
I'm ready for York and a weekend of trains. Put my Lionel pre-order in. I had to order the scale Polar Express passenger cars. They go fast and are hard to find. Also ordered a couple of engines that I not planned on ordering but put my money where my mouth was about the J and whistle smoke.
Trying to update my avatar since 2020
MartyE and Kodi the Husky Dog! ( 3/31/90-9/28/04 ) www.MartyE.com My O Gauge Web Page and Home of Kodiak Junction!
quick check before I crash.
near 40 with sun and a breeze today, snohio is slowly melting. Did some house stuff this AM. Spent a couple of hours this Pm replacing the bathroom faucet. It did not go well.
Night all.
Long day that was much busier than anticipated but ended well. Weather was ok for walk. Rested at home. I hope everyone has a good day.
V8Vega This is the 1st Febuary ever that it never reached 70 in downtown LA. The Coast Starlight that was stuck in the Cascades was there 36 hours. They towed it back and the 183 passengers got a refund and have to find another way to get to LA.
This is the 1st Febuary ever that it never reached 70 in downtown LA.
The Coast Starlight that was stuck in the Cascades was there 36 hours. They towed it back and the 183 passengers got a refund and have to find another way to get to LA.
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
Morning. RAIN again. At least not snowing.
Got a Human Services employee retirement. Longtime DR. so will attend.
Hate to say, Buckeye is right on beams and taking out posts. We removed a whole load bearing wall where the windows and outer dining room wall was. Now a walk thru to den. No sturcture damage. I have done expansions with beams and sandwiched plywood between two boards and made it stronger. I do think Fifey's suggestion is better than mine [using a chainsaw].
Have a good one.
FYI, In the past I put together a design for a homeowner where we pulled a jack post out of the basement such that he could have a room big enough for a pool table. We welded a piece of plate steel to the bottom flange of the WF support beam to increase the section modulus, Sx, of the beam. Remember σ = M/Sx This increased the carrying capacity and kept the vertical deflection in check. On the floor above was a grand piano. There was never a crack in the drywall.
Buckeye - so you have removed a column and installed a sky hook sometime in the past to hold the celing up........
Progress on the Ky property we purchased last December. Got the driveway culvert permit approved and the culvert ordered. If we are really lucky, it might even get installed yet this week.
All for now.
Good idea, Fifedog! Good day at work. Good day for walk. Watched an Indiana Railroad video on....something. Not sure if it was Netflix or Amazon Prime. Don't know, don't care. I hope everyone has a good day.
Monolithic towers...Hmmm....
Queensgate Yard - Cincinnati OH
Kingsport TN - Clinchfield
"Corn City" - Deshler, OH (throw in the diamond for cool operation)
Gest St Tower - Cincinnati (neat pagoda look)
Why stick to a yard tower? Why not turn a column into a blast furnace, like the one at Cleveland Flats? By the time it's surrounded by all the support buildings, cranes, scaffolding, etc you may think it was the greatest obstacle ever. Think of all the different freight cars that need to be switched in and out.
Could you not turn one of the columns into the Eifel Tower?
Kings Island Amusement Park. By the time you've placed in rides and lights, the column could be all lit up for night affects. Those grandkids would love that, I bet.
Fife is GENIOUS!!!
Why does Fifedog have the only practical solution? I was thinking of turning the post in the yard area into a BOW RR tower much like we see at North Platte,NE.
When I was just a my kiddo junior engineer, I did something similiar for a Monsanto plant near St. Louis.
Now, you see why I use L-girder construction on my layouts. It strong and does not waste a bunch of wood. The 1x2 flange increases the carrying capacity of the 1x6 by increasing the section modulus.
The next time I teach a class in strength of materials, you are all invited to register. Next time on Fun with Flags we will discuss the l/r ratios.
Morning. 61 and sunny. Babysitting Grandpets.
Kev - good catch. Sorry 'bout that.....yes, anjdevil2 is correct
Not much last night, took the Princess to Staples for a new computer for work, $630 later she's set for her Zoom interview. Much going on in her career, very happy things are rolling right along for her.
Surveyed the layout for a bit last night just getting feel for what's next. I'm pretty sure the Atlas O is going in place of the inner Fastrack loop. A trip to Trains and Things next Saturday is on tap.
Not much else. Check back later ...
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
Buckeye - Woof, support columns. I'm all about encorporating residential "neccessities" into layout designs. On my last layout, remember I turned the sump-pump return pipe into a smoke stack for the power plant. Thinking along those lines, (using clock positioning) why not turn the 6 column into a grain silo, creating an industry centered aroung it. Even paint the top portion in a red/white check patern (ala Purina), and put small LEDs on it so low flying aircraft don't strike it. The 12 column could become part of an ore dock (I love the W&LE), again providing another industry (perhaps taconite pellets). I would also be tempted in making this a peninsula, foregoing the thin peninsula at 9. As for the 6 yard, I would try moving it to the 3 position, giving myself another 5 feet of yard track, and put in some runaround tracks, instead of stub ending.
Weather here has been a roller coaster lately with snow, rain, ice and temperatures ranging from 60 degrees to 12 degrees.
Been busy with the robotics team lately. The school system canceled several days of school during the last couple of months due to weather - enough days that put the robotics team in a time bind to get the robot built and de-bugged by the stop build date which was last Tuesday. We got the copmetition robot together and sealed in its impound bag with 20 minutes to spare before the deadline. Unfortunately, it still has some bugs and not all of the systems are working as smothly as we'd like. We are working with the practice robot to work through the issues. This means we will need to update the competition robot during practice time at our first competition next week.
Buckeye - just remove those troublesome columns and replace them with skyhooks to hold the celing up from the other side.
Nothing newsworthy on the train front, though.
Hello there, to say it was windy here today is an understatement. Got this pic today asking if it was mine
Not much else going on other than shopping for new bathroom stuff.
Phish.......never got peeps at Tractor supply. I usually get them from a hatchery
Sleep is calling.
Prayers for those in need.
We have had 2 decent days with some sun! 50's/60's for this week and then a big front Sat takes us to 40's/30's next week. March???
Been busy repairing stuff. My DCS 384E repair went sour. After several tries to fix the boards I gave up and put replacement boards in it. Would convert to TMCC/ERR but I need a std ga DCS loco for testing DCS on layouts. Also fixed a DCS remote we ended up with as a donation. Opened it up (not easy) and found it must have been dropped pretty badly (even though the case appears pristine). The RF transceiver sub-board has sheared one of its connectors. The microphone has also been sheared off its board. Was able to rebuild the RF board connector and did not care about the microphone. Got it to function properly, but it took a good part of a day. Also repaired an isolated rail detector board (sold by Gunrunner John over on the other forum) that I blew a circuit trace off of Trying to trigger a pre-war gateman. Had tested the gateman prior but after connecting it to the isolated rail detector a short developed and the rail detector board acted as a fuse. Took the gateman apart and found the insulation on the wire to the light bulb in the base had deteriorated and after some handling shorted to the base. So I rewired it. All good now.
Buckeye - what columns. Just remove them!
SP Ray - prayers my friend!
MikeC - my son is training for a half marathon in April, his first. Glad things as work improved!
Banks - not sure about York this spring. Must be something going on in the DC area the week of York (York is a week early this spring) as return fares from DC are sky high. If I go it will be a last minute decision.
The plan looks a little different in this view. I wished there was away to post the simulation. It is a long way around. The tracks can be moved easily to miss the post.
Another good day. Solved one problem from Friday. Had a nice walk in sunny weather. Work had a nice "Good job done" meeting for those of us who worked on a project. Very rare. In fact, first time I ever participated in such an event. Finally found out Pippa Mann will be driving an AJ Foyt prepared car for the Indy 500. Barring any catastrophic event, she should make the show easily and possibly have a good finish. In anyone here is in LCCA, check out the new archived information. Super fanatastic. I hope everyone has a good day.
Rich I went to "anjdevil" on youtube and
Then thought to try "anjdevil2",,much better.
That attic layout is cool. The attic is like the one we had our layout in as kids upstairs in our grandpa's house.
Good afternoon.....qucikie like Rob sez....
Wind supposed to ease up tomorrow after 6, been howling since about 930 last night. 30F tomorrow and a windchill a -20F - Sunny and Bright now...
Spent the weekend in the train attic, and we have a layout!!
Check out YouTube (anjdevil) 7 updates and some videos from the famous (INFAMOUS) CTT Coffee Pot Car Swap......
The XGF is exactly that now, she has deleted her Facebook account and will no longer contact me....so I have more time to do what I want with no drama attached.
Phish - I have a Marx 999, love it, love it, love it. Ran it last month.
SP-Ray - Condolences - 2 years? Doesn't seem that long ago, I'm sure your heart tells you different. Glad you went out to see the Jazz Band.
Afternoon All!
A quick pass through while I'm on my "break". I took an admin day to work from home. I'm writing my team's performance reviews. Ugh.... They never get any easier.
The wind seems to have died down. Another than a few branches and a few old shingles on the garage, the wind didn't do too much.
Kev - Like Brent said the Pampered Chef one is nice, but pricey. Frankly, we use it more for nachos than pizza. I couldn't even tell you last time we used it for pizza. To me, it's cheaper and faster to just pick up the phone.....
Buckeye - You were a civil engineer, weren't you? I'm sure you'll come up something!
Have a good one and prayers.
Rob
Good afternoon from sunny 42°F Southern Ohio,
Starting night shift later today so winding down for a nap before the kids get home from school. I ran the sweeper, per bride’s request and cleaned toilets. On the layout the outer three rail has the regular power supply in place. Cleaned more AF track to start getting it down. I went to the feed store and got dog food chicken food and deer corn, about 300# all together. Was going to get some chick starter but I wasn’t sure if the chicks will be medicated or not, so I wait and get the starter when I get the chicks.
Banks – I'm getting the chicks from Tractor Supply. The ones at Rural King were really picked over when I went to get them last week, and TS is getting theirs this week and I’ll get them a day or so after they come in and before getting picked over. You wait a day or so because the delivery stress the chicks and the weaker ones die in a day or so.
Buckeye – If it is the columns, truss them outboard away from the track. Just kidding.
Kev – Our temps have not been too bad this year. The ground has not even frozen.
Buckeye, I dont see any problem, that a simple "column notch" and a "column tunnel" wouldn't resolve.
Don
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