CLOSED////////The Coffee Pot is still on and over 3 years. Here we gather as friends with trains.

[A&Y Ry]

Mawning!

Sunny and cool---our overnight low of 27 was equal to Bluberry Hills' high today in SE Ohio. No precip until Thursday when the dreaded freezing rain is predicted. Hopefully it warms up some and just rains. Off to cardiac rehab this morning to aggravate the "torture" Nurses. [Lisa-n-N.C. a RN will get on my case for saying that].

Got to replace traction tires on MTH N&W "J"---may let Jeff at Train Loft do it. Meanwhile Williams "J" [with TM/RS] is toting the 7 car N&W Powhattan on track #3, sharing with and trying to catch MTH Ps-4 {TM/RS] and 9 car Southern Crescent.

Craftsman Table Saws. My 10" Craftsman out at the farm shop[now a son's place] may be ready for retirement or backup status since I see a slight wobble beginning to show in the blade. Indicates that the mandrel sleeve bearing needs replacing [again]. A friend and Sears employee bought the saw for me in Spring 1956 for $120 at the Sears Mail Order Warehouse employee's store. The 1-1/2 HP[ball bearing] motor has been rewired once and the centrifiical start/run switch has been replaced twice. I mounted two extensions each side [with angle iron support braces] to enable 30" rip capacity.

I have bought a couple of improved fences and rails for it over the years and the last one cost almost twice as much as the saw itself in '56. While in college, at night, a friend and I built a zillion Formica covered sewing machine table tops and consoles for Blue Bell maker of Wrangler Jeans [now VF Corp]. So, it has ripped a lot of 3/4" plywood over the years.

I have a Penn State 4" mini-table saw that has been handy for kit bashing projects over the years. It needs a new motor and blades but my kitbashing days are about over. This is one where you really need to pay attention to the position of your fingers when ripping scale 2x4s,etc.

 

[csxt30]

The tunnel portal specs are huge, John. The openings are 8" from the table top, and 7.25" from the top of the rails. He must plan on hauling real watermelons!!

Jim 

Yep, Jim !! Those are big alright, but he must be planning on running Triple Stack container trains & really increse revenue !!

Thanks, John 

[Jumijo]

The tunnel portal specs are huge, John. The openings are 8" from the table top, and 7.25" from the top of the rails. He must plan on hauling real watermelons!!

Jim 

[csxt30]

Good Morning Everyone !!  Not much going on here today, just waiting for the 16 inches of snow to start falling between today & tomorrow morning they say. I can't wait !!

Well, hope we hear from Reggie soon & hope all is well.

Maybe today I will try to light up my new signal bridge !!

Hope every one has a nice day & The Chief's portals turn out nice !! Of course I know they will be Masterpieces when Jim gets done with them !!

Thanks, John

[fifedog]

Mornin' boys.  Any word from Reggie?

jaabat - make sure those tunnels can fit a scale sized NAWTHERN steam engine.  Did you notice the Chief is displaying his missile again...

[Blueberryhill RR]

Good Morning from Blueberryhill....

It is a cold 23 degrees. Going up to only 27 today with a few more snow showers. Looks like winter is here. January is almost over.

Today, I will do a few things around the house, this morning, and work in the train room this afternoon. Need to make some more benchwork for the back room and hook up the 4 switches for the 2 reverse loops. Once that's done, I can consentrate on the bridge installations. This will take time to finish. But, it's a fun job.

looks like a full Dining Car today. Lots of goodies. Time for breakfast.

Y'all have a great Tuesday.

Chuck

[cheapclassics]

Good morning all,

It is cloudy, snowy, cold and miserable in SE Indiana with temps in the teens again today.  It goes along with my mood.  I was a little bit hungry last night so I had a bagel around 9:30.  About 2:30 this morning, it woke me up saying I should not do those things!  I slept upright in my chair until I had to get up this morning.  I probably should have taken  a sick day, but I got a lot of work I need to get done today.  Before all that happened, I did get to run the 8E last night, and I went to the YMCA for some treadmill work.  Lucas had his girlfriend over for a while last night as well.  I am going to try to post some pictures this evening.  I will send the dining car to "Points East" with a full load as I did not eat much this morning.  I hope everyone, including me, has a good day, especially reggie and his family.

Keep on training,

Mike C. from Indiana

[laz 57]

HI GIZ,

  17 and cold here to get some snow today and then a bunch of friday.

Any news from REGGIE?  Hope all is well?  Probably out looking for pink bubblegum cigars?

Ran trains last nite, all ran good.  Painted up a Hi cube box car and added another CHICAGO BEARS decals to it looks real good.  Painted the sides navy blue, top and side were orange so it looks like their colors.

All have agood one.

laz57

[Jumijo]

Good morning from New England!

I hope we hear from Reggie soon with an update on his wee little baby.

We ran lots of trains last night. Also shot some videos of them running around the layout.

After I put the kids to bed, I worked on a tunnel portal project for the Chief. Huge portals for his monster trains! As for the design, I make it up as I go along. The smaller of the 2 has all the stonework scribed. Tonight I will cut it out and begin painting it. Fun little project!

Valentine's Day is coming. Don't forget your better half! You know, the one who puts up with you running trains, buying trains, talking about trains, . . .

Have a great day, everyone! Time for some apple pie!!!

Jim 

[ChiefEagles]

Good night all.  Weather is warming now and the coldest tonight may have already come.  Then another bout of cold Thursday and into Friday.  Wish you Yanks would keep your cold up Nawth.  Did some train stuff today.  Painted some of the framing and legs with the brown paint I got from Lowes.  $9 for a gallon of their top of the line house paint.  Brown that was screwed up and customer did not want.  Fine with me.  Will make good dirt color.  Put brown cardboard liner in tunnels.  Some New England Yank is making me some custom portals.  Bed time.  God bless all. 

[Wes Whitmore]

You just never know how long it's going to take.  My wife was in labor for 72 hours...mainly because they tried to slow down the contractions to give Jack as many hours as they could to grow before he came out.  He was 7 weeks early.  Everything was fine!

Wes

[jefelectric]

Hi guys,

No trains today.  Been busy with other things. 

Still no news from Reggie.

Very COLD here & windy.

Take care,

[Brutus]

Hope Reggie and his family are all present and accounted for soon!  John B - hope your day is going a little better, these things come in threes: like Tequilla - 1 Tequilla, 2 Tequilla, 3 Tequilla, Floor!    Brent - good luck on the house!  Howdy all the rest and thanks for all the help and info.  Well, my latest buy on ebay showed up - derrick car.  It was from a breakdown - I guess the same one that I got that flatcar from (diff sellers though).  :( Plastic trucks.  I don't like them at all.  I'll avoid cars like this in the future.  Maybe I'll find some replacement diecast trucks and fix these in a couple weeks.  It will be surgery, though, because these plastic trucks are attached permanently.  Also got my stuff from ttender!  Great deal and I just mailed the check this morning!

[Buckeye Riveter]

Anyone hear from Reggie?  He should be a father by now.

[Hogjaw]

THANKS CHIEF FOR HOLDING US TOGETHER!

HOG

[Wes Whitmore]

I called and signed up after your first post.  6-8 weeks.  Oh well.  It's on sale this week.

I have an air compressor plumbed in my workshop and my basement already, as well as a three way switch so I can turn it on in either location.  That's pretty nice. 

I have a nice old Craftsman saw with a $200 fence to get rid of now. 

Wes

[Nick12DMC]

Hi All, You can't beat Sears Craftsman gear. My Dad's got one of their routers. They used to make stuff for the UK market so its 230V. Sad that Sears will no longer ship abroad. My Mum used to get the catalogues when I was a kid. They had it right when they called them "Wishbooks" Lots of cool stuff that we had not seen in the UK at the time like snowblowers for garden tractors! That's where I first saw a Lionel Train. Just took about 20 years to get one

We wanted to visit a Sears when we were in Florida last year but didn't get the chance, Us guys wanted to go to see the tool section! "House of Chainsaws"  as my Mum calls it. LOL

 

John B, "I think I'll go and photograph a pub (on the inside)." I like the cut of your jib Sir! Hope to have a Pint (or Two) with you if you come to the LCC UK show at Ilkley. Hope Tuesday is a better day.

 

Nick

 

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

Just a quick check in during lunch.  The house hunting seems to be working for you.  Hope you find what you want.

Cold (18) and windy.  Told the guys to be careful on outside rounds today. 

Later

Jim

The above is also referred to as a 'drive-by posting'...

Thanks for the support! 

Don't drive too slow on slippery roads during a wind storm... can be hazardous to your health!

Brent

[Anonymous]

Thanks Brent - good luck on the house - I modified the original post and got them in after all! Its a scruffy couple of shots, a before and after of FasTrack with the enter rail replaced with a copper wire and a second shot from a different angle, so you can see how it sort of 'disappears' from above.

This is remarkably quick and easy to do once you've figured it out and I should probably lose the end connectors for an even better look but then I'd have to put in jumpers at every rail end and that would be a pain. It still connects to the regular track and its been run for several hours and is holding up well.

If you are very careful there is enough room under the end pieces to accept both the regular pin and the wire, just flatten it and insert then solder, the rest is held by CYA glue to the plastic tabs. Once figured out its a ten minute job though I wouldnt do it on all my track, I might for a showpiece or two, maybe a 30" straight closest to the viewer, I haven't tried curves or more tricky yet, a switch, though it shouldnt be all that hard to do.

IF Lionel wanted to they could easily get the production process altered to make a sort of neo Super O without changing the molds. Its remarkable how good it looks, better than the pictures suggest. 

 

Thor,
That does look nice!  Would be even better if the center rail supports were painted black to 'blend in' with the ties (since they line up perfectly with the ties they would really disappear!

Curves and switches would be difficult... but doable with loads of patience (insert note - Brent is very lacking in this category at the moment)...

Brent

[John Bakeer]

Hope everyone had a good weekend.

Monday started well, decided to fit some new light switches (6). 1. Multitester kaput! 2. Emergency/work light kaput! 3. screws for securing new switches 5mm short! 4. Job stopped pending a trip to Maplins and the Cartridge shop, yep, printer dried up on me. New audio card won't download updates/drivers, says it can't find ActiveX controller, I have the latest version via Microsoft automatic update wotsit. Dear Lady is poorly with some kind of chest infection and my catarh won't go away. Wasn't it Hank Crummit made a record many years ago called 'Life Gets Tedious' or summink! 

 
Tuesday has to be better. Forecast is fine, gentle breeze and 12C. I think I'll go and photograph a pub (on the inside).

[Jumijo]

Smoke em if ya got em, Chief!

[ChiefEagles]

Wes, you are not a member unless you have a card.  You will get special catalogs for each sale.  Call Sears Customer Service and tell them you want to join.  Will save you big $$$.  Table saws on sale but not the portable.  Lots of compressor on sale as well as sanders and etc.

Cough, cough and the exhaust fan is on.  With a few mods, older Lionel and Atlas diesels will smoke.  New ones seem to do OK.

 

[Sturgeon-Phish]

Hi all,

Just a quick check in during lunch.  The house hunting seems to be working for you.  Hope you find what you want.

Cold (18) and windy.  Told the guys to be careful on outside rounds today. 

Later

Jim

[laz 57]

DOUG,

  Forgot to tell you I picked up a Lionel third avenue trolley over the weekend.  Works great and the LED in the front when lights are out looks very real. A little pricy at 54 bucks.

laz57

[Anonymous]

Good morning all.

Though probably of little interest to anyone but me, I am happy to announce that my recently purchased PW 627 44-tonner is FINALLY in proper operating condition and gracing my layout. The engine is MUCH happier with 0-27 MPC-era rolling stock from my childhood, though (featherweight stuff).

This aesthetically maligned engine is quite cool speeding around the layout - sort of a bright red Speed Racer effect. My Dreyfus Hudson with NYC heavyweight varnish sits on the main line and regards the 627's antics with either an indulgent or disapproving look; I remain uncertain as to which.

[cnw1995]

Roy, the axle itself is 'dropping down' out of one of its holes.  I'll try to call Bowser too.

Just got off the phone with them. After musing about a fix, they asked me to send it back and they'd fix or replace it.

[thor]

Thanks Brent - good luck on the house - I modified the original post and got them in after all! Its a scruffy couple of shots, a before and after of FasTrack with the enter rail replaced with a copper wire and a second shot from a different angle, so you can see how it sort of 'disappears' from above.

This is remarkably quick and easy to do once you've figured it out and I should probably lose the end connectors for an even better look but then I'd have to put in jumpers at every rail end and that would be a pain. It still connects to the regular track and its been run for several hours and is holding up well.

If you are very careful there is enough room under the end pieces to accept both the regular pin and the wire, just flatten it and insert then solder, the rest is held by CYA glue to the plastic tabs. Once figured out its a ten minute job though I wouldnt do it on all my track, I might for a showpiece or two, maybe a 30" straight closest to the viewer, I haven't tried curves or more tricky yet, a switch, though it shouldnt be all that hard to do.

IF Lionel wanted to they could easily get the production process altered to make a sort of neo Super O without changing the molds. Its remarkable how good it looks, better than the pictures suggest. 

 

[Anonymous]

Thor,
You can not do that because this system would have no idea where the picture is located (hosted from).  You would need to have the image hosted on a webpage so the server (CTT) knows how to reference the image for it to be displayed in the web browser (IE, Firefox, etc).

Hope this helps...

Brent

[Anonymous]

Laz,
Brand new!  We are getting it at an incredible discount because it is a foreclosure... it has never been lived in either (I don't know the specifics on the situation but it is very strange)... it appears the sellers are both men...

Don,
LOL!  Yep!  4 Bedrooms, Study/or 5th BR, 3 FBs, Large Gourmet Kitchen (no granite counters), large morning room off the kitchen, two story family room, large dining room, huge master suite (two person tub and shower), 3 car garage...

Talk about being at the right place at the right time!

[wrmcclellan]

Doug,

Is the white plastic gear slipping on the axle or is the axle on which the gear is mounted slipping sideways in the frame? I agree that you should call Bowser first to see what they have to say.

Cold and cloudy here - high might hit 50 but temps dropping and highs may be low 40's for much of this week - some flurries/sleet predicted Tues night into Wed.

Have a great day all!