GMT, I'm just cleaning off the tracks...
New Haven I-5 wrote:Hey Heartland Division CB&Q, I thought that 4-8-4 is/was under restoration?
Hello to NH I5....... The "Dixie" 4-8-4 may have been restored for display in recent years. The paint appeared to be in good condition, and I saw no rust on the engine. The rain shed is also in good condition, and doing it's job while I was there. Feel free to visit "the diner" often, too.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
in a large SANTA FE mug, please & thank you!
***Sue, both our model RR projects are on hold presently. With so much going on right now we're just trying to survive.
***Hoople, you are having WAY too much fun there.
Off to unload the square bales. Rob
Afternoon, Janie - I think I'll have a nice bowl of beef stew,
a Dr. Pepper,
and a chocolate yogurt concrete for dessert, please.
Thanks, JR!
CN Charlie - you better watch out there, with your wife taking that cooking class, you'll end up gaining a lot of weight from all her goodies! It's been a while, but I do recall that sound of rubber on ice (or hard-packed snow, sometimes). We've just been fortunate to not have to hear it lately here.
Nick (Nittany), you should look at some of Iain Rice's layouts (for example, the Roque Bluffs layout that was in MR in late 2003 throught April 2004) - he's designed several switching layouts that fit on the top of a bookcase (about 7 or 8' wide and 18" to 24" deep). That you could possibly fit into a college room. Of course, keeping any roommates away from it might be more difficult, but...
JR - you want to tidy up such a lovely and messy industrial switching alley as that? That looks very nice, but a little clutter, some pieces of loose newspapers, etc. would look even better.
Mitch, and everyone else who's been posting to that thread - those weathered car posts look great! I haven't started on weathering at all yet. I need to get more cars put together so I have a variety to try things out on. Good to hear about your parents' progress, too, Mitch.
Jeff, I think there's a Murphy's Law about forgetting the camera being in proportion to how many great locos and cars will be going by the area where you're visiting... I like your rooftop shot of the layout, too.
PC, nothing wrong with your son's sales skills, from the sound of his pizza tally so far (and it's probably going to end up a lot higher than that!). Good to hear your CFO's mobility (and health) has been improving. So after this next surgery and her recuperation, will you be able to keep up with her dancing?
Rob, just give your wife some hugs from us. Good to hear you tracked down some bales for your critters. Will keep things your way in my prayers. I'm guessing that no news is good news (on your wife's parents and how they've been doing)? Hope so, anyway.
to the Diner, New Haven I-5! C'mon back as often as you like/can.
We've had a misty rain off and on today. Enough to be a nuisance with the car wipers when I was out earlier... I'm a bit 'peeved' with the finance company that's handling my car loan. I was supposed to send in my first payment on the 11th - but they haven't sent me any paperwork, account number, or where to send it(!)..... I called the dealer today and said I realized it wasn't the dealer's fault, but that I was NOT happy with the finance company's lack of communication. [rant][rant][rant]...
Went by LHS earlier and bought another sheet of board & batten (Evergreen styrene), and a MR layout book (more for the structure ideas and other information than the plan). It's the "HO Railroad From Start to Finish" one, Cripple Creek layout. It includes the Con-Cor (formerly Revell) operating gravel dump (which I had eons ago...), and that got me curious. Found a couple of hobby shops online that have the hopper cars for it, but not the gravel dump itself. No luck on eBay, either. Oh, Ryan - what's the name of the LHS near you in SC? I think one of the sites that has the cars was the same as the one you mentioned.
Better get going, if I'm going to get more done on the Bowser covered hopper kit. That, or I could practice up for becoming an ORF and take a "practice nap"...
Everyone take care of yourselves and stay warm (except for Ed, who needs to stay cool...).
Blessings,
Jim in Cape Girardeau
PC Pizza for dinner anyone?
I'm really enjoying seeing photos of JR's city scenes. Outstanding!Mitch.... it's good to learn that your Mom and Dad doing better.
***Jim, Thanks! Actually, the news here is about 90% bad, so I don't bother posting about it. The 10% that is good is that we found hay for another week.
Rob
Cederstrand wrote: ***Hoople, you are having WAY too much fun there.
Oh am I...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=vmeZy2z4AO8
PLOW!!!
Mark
Tonight: A chance of rain after 4am. Increasing clouds, with a low around 27. South wind between 6 and 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%.Sunday: Occasional rain, mainly between 9am and 3pm. High near 49. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 14 mph increasing to between 20 and 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Sunday Night: Rain likely before 3am, then a chance of rain and snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 32. Breezy, with a south wind between 24 and 28 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Presidents' Day: A chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Breezy, with a west wind between 17 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%.Monday Night: Snow showers likely. Cloudy, with a low around 18. Breezy, with a west wind between 16 and 26 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%.
If I hurry tomorrow I can do some bench work for the layout.
GMT, the signs for your drug store went out in todays mail.
Had our first robin here spring must be close!
Lee
BM1 Lee Soule USCG (ret) L.S.&W Railroad Serving the Lower Great Lakes
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
Paul W. Beverung wrote:Nick it's good to have you back. So you are going for your pilots license? Have you considered the Army? I went into the Army for flight training and became a Warrent Officer and rotory wing aviator. I've never regreted it. I spent 7 years flying helicopters and still hold my commercial license. Unfortunately I can no longer pass the flight physical. With a college education you would be a shoe in.
Army! And spend a life time of ridicule by friends and family? A year ago last week, I was relaxing at sunny Naval Air Station Pensacola, helping a friend of mine find a house to live in while in API. Enjoying the sights and sounds of dozens of trainers overhead, the awesome museum, and that really cute Luftwaffe girl across the isle on the flight from Atlanta! That is to say, my allegiance would be to the Navy. I did consider OCS briefly, very briefly, but alas my vision isn't up to snuff for the military to pay for my flying around. My friend tells me that I'd have loved doing it and that I'd have fit in pretty good with the average Navy aviator, apparently. So to make up for my inability to actually be there, she wears a Penn State patch on her flight suit for me (I'm one of those college alums that fell into the alumni cult, you know the kind).
Also whoever pointed out Iain Rice's trackplans, I thank in advance. I will check out his work and see what to make of it.
Good Evening gang,
Hi Zoe, one of those chocolate cement parfays and green tea tonight thanks.
A friend of mine just sent this e-mail that is about a stunt that was pulled off at Grand Central Station in New York. Pretty well done, Take a look
http://www.gadling.com/2008/02/01/best-prank-ever-stopping-time-at-grand-central-station/
Sure hope that rough weather passes all our good buddies in the big "T" and "LA" Get your rubber boots ready Jeff.......
I'll touch base tomorrow from work, but right now I want to get down to the "Wobbly" and get some more hard shell done.
Keep smiling, It looks good on ya all.
Johnboy out..................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Good Evening Coffee Clubbers,
Another beautiful day down here in Paradise, even if it needed help from the a/c to seem that way. Got up to around 85º or so this afternoon, but cooled off a bit towards evening. No storms down here. You might almost call it "balmy" outside.
Bay steps, baby steps. Today I painted more ties. Hopefully tomorrow I will complete tie painting in this small section. Then it's on to trying to paint the rails, with the track already installed and basic scenery in place. Yup, that's going to be interesting.
CN Charlie: She's been taking a cooking course here run by a French chef conducted in the kitchen of his restaurant.
btw, for those interested, here's a link to info on Louis Riel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Riel
JR - layout is looking good, especially that industrial section.
Nick / Nittany - welcome back. Think I missed saying that.
Luke / New Haven I-5 - welcome to the Coffee Shop / Diner.
That's about it for this evening.
Hasta mañana,
Ed
Well I lost another post. That's two in the last couple of minutes. I don't know what is going on.
No MRRing even though the weather was perfect for it. Mary Ann and I took a nape instead. Actually she started it and I joined in.
I'm going to post this before anything else goes wrong.
Good Night All
Good evening Diners: Quite a productive afternoon, repairing things on one of the troublesome turnouts. Not only was there the continuity question, but also one side of the turnout motor solenoid wasn't firing. So it was a matter of taking up the turnout (the one just on the layout where the interchange fiddle yard fits, so it was easier than most). The AMI highway had to be cut and peeled back a bit to get the motor out, and the track road bed peeled a bit on either side. The surgery looked like this, once the turnout was off the motor, (and the roadbed cleaned up somewhat). The motor fault was a broken wire, as I had expected, here it's been fixed. The continuity problem was only on one side of the turnout. I scraped off the paint, soldered a short length of stranded thin wire to each section of the closure rail, and the stock rail. Here's the fix. Then I filed, sanded, burnished and polished the turnout where the repair had been made.
Next, the turnout was re-mounted on the motor. This is the beauty of the Peco system, the switch machine motors just clip on below the turnout. The turnout and motor then had to be tested, and that went well. Then, the whole unit had to be worked back into the hole below the track, and onto the roadbed exactly as it had been. Getting the Peco insulated joiners to slide on to the Atlas Flex track is never fun. This is a weakness of the Peco turnouts if used with some-one else's track. That done, and the rough edges of the wound closed, it was train test time. . Everything worked well there. So I cleaned up the work site, made some sawdust/glue mix to redo the road shoulder, and re-ballasted the track. In this last shot I'm spraying the water/alcohol mix. The late afternoon sun was just right, so I tried to get a shot of the spray. As you see, it's very fine, and no blobs! Almost ghost like!
See, Nick, your posts are just fine for length!
NH I-5...don't recall seeing you around...so, steam era, but what else can you tell us about your mrr? I've gone modern era, diesel only, in N Scale. (Does that make me dead?)
Johnboy: That was eerie! I was trying to think what ordinance they could be charged with breaking!
Must get to bed. all, and God Bless. Prayers for all in need of healing (Mrs. Rob), comfort and peace.
"There are always alternatives, Captain" - Spock.
Hi, Janie - just stopping by briefly tonight. Nah, thanks but I'll be heading out pretty soon anyway.
Here's a further version of my future layout ideas (this one in 9 X 11 size room):
Rob, sorry to hear about the proportions on how things are going, but good that you can choose to focus on the good stuff. will continue.
NittanyLion:Also whoever pointed out Iain Rice's trackplans, I thank in advance. I will check out his work and see what to make of it.
Nick, that would be me, but if you can't find Rice's articles in MR immediately, in the meantime, check your LHS for Rice's "Small, Smart & Practical Track Plans" (Kalmbach) book. While that book does have some spare-room sized layout plans (which likely would be too big for your needs), Rice does have some examples of his top o' the bookshelves sized ones. That book has a bookshelf layout from which I adapted the part my current track plan has (the rectangular area in the center top of my plan above). Rice also talks in that book about 'modular' (swappable) industries, where you can have more than one industry that fits in a certain space(s) on your layout. So you could swap out a team track for a small junkyard, for... Worth a look for you, if only for some good starting ideas! And as DerJohn pointed out, several of us (including myself and him) post at least as long of a post as you did. So not to worry about going too long, I'd say.
Johnboy, good phrase there!
'bout time for me to mosey on home. Jeff and others with some nasty weather predicted tonight or in the next couple of days, stay safe and dry.
Blessings and prayers,
Jim in (rainy) Cape Girardeau
So, is this Der's layout or from one of Hooples "plow videos"...Sorry, couldn't resist guys.
***Johnboy, enjoyed that "prank" video and passed it on to my siblings. That was excellent.
Take care & good night all. Rob
Bill Tidler Jr.
Near a cornfield in Indiana...
Good morning all,
Der, is that a brass turnout?
I think we will be getting some of Jeff's weather up here.
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH CENTRAL
OHIO...NORTHEAST OHIO...NORTHWEST OHIO AND NORTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA.
PERIODS OF RAIN...SOME OF IT HEAVY...ARE EXPECTED TODAY AND
TONIGHT. SOME LOCATIONS COULD SEE UP TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH
OF RAINFALL. THIS WILL CAUSE RAPID RISES IN AREA STREAMS AND
RIVERS. THEN...A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION
SUNDAY NIGHT. SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS BEHIND THE FRONT WILL BE
GUSTY AND COULD APPROACH WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA. THE RAIN WILL
Hey all Any body heard from Inch lately. I sent him a package and was wondering if he got it and notice he hasn't been in again for a while.
Not to much happening here if the weather would clear up and stay warm (50 to 60) on a day I'm foo instead of rain or 30 to 40 I would get this deck of mine fixed. I have the money just need to get the items and do it. tired of walking across a sloping deck lol.
Hope all doing fine and prayers out to those who need them.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
Diners: I'll have a JR Regular, please, and an oatmeal cookie or two, thanks.
Lee:
Rob:
CapeJim: I thought that the top of your plan looked like a switching layout!...On the mine at the right hand edge...is there enough space beyond it (north) to provide a stub and switch so that a loco could run around behind cars it's pushed into the loading bays? That way, although it would run reversed, at least it would head the loaded train out of the mine and (presumably) down the grade onto the main, once it had cleared the switchback. That would ensure no run-away loaded cars escaping onto the mainline
I'm off to hunt for more glitches and gremlins.
der5997 wrote: Lee: Der, is that a brass turnout?...Here's the thing; and I've been wanting to ask Jeff about this but keep forgetting. It's nickel silver, but when you sandpaper ns track, the rubbing on the sandpaper looks brass coloured, and the track, when polished has that look too. At any rate that's what I'm finding with N Scale track and switches. I'm presuming the same is true for HO track, as I can't see them making track of different metals in the smaller scales. (HO code 83 is after all just about the same size as N Scale code 80, and N code 40 is, I think Z scale )...so Jeff, are you finding the same when you GLEAM your track?
Some nickel silver alloys, especially those containing high proportions of zinc, are stainless (corrosion-resistant). Nickel silver alloys are commonly named by listing their percentages of copper and nickel, thus "nickel silver 55-18" would contain 55% copper, 18% nickel, and 27% other elements, most probably entirely zinc. A two-element alloy may be named for its nickel content alone, thus NS-12 is 88% copper and 12% nickel. Here's the link to the Wikipedia page if you want to know more. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickel_silver
in a SOUTHERN mug, please & thank you!
Finished chores and watching the storm front move in. Only a wind advisory with this one.
Have a good day all. Rob
Coffee, please, Chloe.
Rob, Sorry to hear that you didn't get more than a weeks feed. I think we might have enough to last the winter. The farmer that we buy from said to check in a month or so. We can have more if we need it.
The sun is coming out so we might go for a motorcycle ride.
Later, Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Jeff:
You shouldn't use ANY abbrasive type cleaning elements on your track. This creates gouges that dirt and grease can hide in and further breaks down the amount of electrical contact that your locos will have. The most abbrasive thing I use on my track is a piece of sheet cork and a soft clean cloth.
Here's what you said in that thread
I used the Gleam process last June (6/18/06) and haven't had any problem keeping my track clean. Sometimes dusting it a little if the layout hasn't been used in some time but other than that I haven't had to clean it again. On 6/18/07 it will be a year since I Gleamed my track. This is no fluke. As a control I didn't Gleam a small inner loop. I have to clean this inner loop at least once a week to keep it operational, I Gleamed the main lines and they stay operational no matter how much or how little I run the trains and I've been known to run them for hours on end. If I have any problem, it's usually dust from the air conditioner, which blows right across the tracks. A simple light wipe with a dry cloth takes care of this in just a matter of seconds. This process really works.
I agree with what you say about the gouges, but the GLEAM method overcomes that in two ways, as I see it, and that's why I like it. One, the "rough" sandpaper is 600 grit, which in itsself is pretty fine, followed by a (in my case) 1500 grit to smooth out the gouges of the 600. Then, and this is the key step, I think, the railhead is burnished with a metal harder than the rail, Stainless Steel. As I understand the method, this pushes the nickel silver into any remianing troughs (or gouges) smoothing the whole surface to a uniform shine. That is followed by the final steps of paste polish (Mothers Mag and Aluminum in my case), buffing, and wiping with paper or cloth.
If nickel silver contains copper, that explains the colour on the sandpapers and the final look of thetrack Lee was noticing.
Thanks for all those photos, BTW.
Der, the initial sanding in the GLEAM process is to scour the railheads. That's followed up by the second sanding with the extra fine sand paper to smooth it out. Then the burnishing with the stainless steel closes up any remianing gouges in the tops of the rails. You can feel the roughness of the railheads when the stainless steel passes over them the first couple of times. After that they feel smooth and the more you burnish it, the smoother the track feels. Even I could feel the difference, and that's saying something. After that point no abrasive material has any business being on the track. I GLEAMed my track back in 06 and nothing abrasive has touched it since. Just a peice of cork and a clean dry cloth. The treatment with the polish leaves a conductive film that retards corrosion, thereby greatly extending the periods between cleanings. Even then, the cleaning is a quick affair involving a quick wipe-down with a dry cloth. You can't beat that with a stick.
BTW, glad you like the photos. Here's three more.
I'm not worried about the light showing under the structure on the left. It's on the backside of the structure and can't be seen from the front of the layout.
Good evening everyone....
Gleam, eh, Der John...... hmmmmmmm. you ever hear of a Brite Boy?
Progress continues on my layout. The scenery in the section I'm working on is starting to look how I want it.
My wonderful, caring 'better half" has a great din-din in the oven. She has the best recipe for rock cornish hens, and yep, that's what's cookin' .... mmm...mmm...mmm..
Happy Model Railroading!
Evening Gang:
Gary the bright boys are an abrasive that I'm trying to stop using. I've also had to use 600 grit sandpaper. I usually use a bit of light oil with the sandpaper to ease the abrasiveness and leave a smother surface. I have tried the gleam method and do like it. When the layout is at it's final height I'll gleam all the track. For the metal application I use quaters. I have them on hand and when they are worn too much I spend them,( on MRR stuff of course). It's nice to have the government provide some MRRing supplies.
I finally go tto the basement today. I finalised the track plan for the Clark Gardens layout and layout the back drop and access for the work area in the middle. Next I'll ink the plan and start on the second phase above the first. I started looking for detail stuff, the fun part.
Tomorrow John and a friend are coming over early and we are going to haul dirt to the area that I'm trying to level out some. Micheal is bring his dump trailer so we'll have two of them going with myself doing the loading. It should go pretty fast. John thinks that we'll finish tomorrow but I doubt it. There's alot of dirt to move.
I'm going to head out. Mary Ann is getting supper so I'd better not be late. There are too many critters that would like to get her cooking.
Hi everybody! Janie,just a cold Ole Smothie,thanks!
JEFF: I, for one , CAN'T THANK YOU ENOUGH for the gleem method!! It works!! I used Blue Magic as the polishing agent and wasted ALOT of old cork, but it was worth it!Also used an 11/2 "steel washer as the burnisher. Works GREAT!You are absolutely correct, a quick wipe occasionally with a scrap of bath towel and THAT IS IT. No Brite Boy , even after ballasting, just cork and towel. I AM a believer.
SUE: It actually got up to 30f here today and the Mrs. pulled the covers off the Bikes, wanted to start'm up!! Daytona today, Spring can't be far off!!
Built four more car card boxes today ,found the cars that go with the cards and actually ran a local with the car cards, It was fun!!It's been a while since I did that!
Guys, if you haven't yet ,give the Gleam thing a try. I see the thread is back on the forum.
Prayers and Hope to those that need'm!!
Terry
Terry in NW Wisconsin
Queenbogey715 is my Youtube channel
Another beautiful day down here in Paradise, although I spent most of it inside in the air conditioning. Up around 90º by mid-afternoon. The a/c is working hard just to keep the upstairs comfortable.
Lunch was great today. Nothing fancy, but some good boiled shrimp and a plate of stone crab claws. Yum. Our local fish vendor brought them by around noon.
I did continue with the tie painting today. Didn't finish, but at least I continued to work on it.
derJohn - nice repair job. I'm thinking I may have to retrofit some small jumpers on a couple of my switches too.
CG Jim: Rice also talks in that book about 'modular' (swappable) industries, where you can have more than one industry that fits in a certain space(s) on your layout. So you could swap out a team track for a small junkyard, for...
RT: Any body heard from Inch lately.
That's about it from down here.