Good morning, Joe. It is too early for spirits, so I will just have coffee.
I have been lazy about the computer lately. Sorry about not checking in. We have been trying to develop operations on our layout. The staging yard is started and we are working on the sawmill area. Larry has been turning out the structures lately. One of these days, I will post some photos.'
Sue
Anything is possible if you do not know what you are talking about.
Coffee and a bowl of fresh mixed fruit, Joe. Thanks. I've learned that the secret to eating healthy isn't to derprive yourself, but rather to find a substitute that tastes as good as what you're giving up.
Well, the 90s have moved out here. Of course, we get both the heat and the humidity, so it's oppressive. Even Penny doesn't want to be outside working in the garden. But, the trainroom has AC, the basement workshop stays reasonably cool, at least for a couple of days, and the honey-do's have become honey-done's, so this warm stuff is perfect weather for working on the layout. Mostly scenery over the weekend, finishing up that warehouse flat. I had to remove some Phase 1 scenery to get the tracks over to Phase 2, and I'm now getting around to covering up the unsightly pink scars.
Among this week's booty was a Walthers Trainline caboose. I've got a number of Milwaukee bay-window cabeese, but those didn't come into use until the 1950s, and I needed something for the 30s as well. When I opened the box, I could see the difference between this one and the "platinum line" ones on my layout. Few details, not even window glazing. It's got metal wheels and it runs fine, though, so it went right to the shop for windows and weathering. It looks a lot better now.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Ho, Joe. Olde Frothingslosh for the house.
It finally happened. A cat in a dusty khaftan, smelling strongly of camel sweat, came to my door and handed me a rag-wrapped package. Inside? My long-backordered Round Tuit!
Translation - predicted temperatures of less than 90 for the first time since Summer Solstice, just in time for the two days without a forum. Now, which pile of debris do I have to move to find my stick rail and file? I already know where the tie stock is...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Well, it's a little like Alice's Restaurant. You can get anything you want, excepting Alice, of course. Try an Adelaide Lager from Australia, for example. It's got a kick like a kangaroo, but a very smooth and creamy taste. I'm partial to Strumpet IPA, which is only brewed in the town of Moose Bay on my layout.
Wa-a-al, Ken, Joe, here, can serve up any brew known to God, man or an international catalog. As for chicken...
Joe, I'll have an order of Filipino chicken to go with my San Miguel. And see what my friend, here, would like. And, by the way, that nigiri-zushi you served last night was ichiban...
So, Ken, what's your pleasure? Would you rather have ?Arroz con pollo? Or Quit di oh paht? Of course, the Buffalo wings are excellent, if a bit mundane...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - eating anything edible from anywhere)
What is the differences between Elliot's Dinner and the Beer Barn? Flo at the dinner just served me a Milwaukee Best Light. You all so cannot not order Chicken *** there, you have to for Chicken Knockers. Anything else I am missing?
Cuda Ken
I hate Rust
Mister Beasley, how did you guess I'd look in to see what brought the Barn back onto the front page?
Fact of the matter is, my father was a Yankees fan - which influenced my cheering for the Dodgers. Then I dated the daughter of the Giants' ticket manager... (Imagine sitting in a box seat at Ebbetts Field with all the Giants' front office folks - and NOT being able to cheer for the team I was supporting. To add insult to injury, it was one of Sandy Koufax's superior performances. Lynn knew - but she never told...)
Well, the mercury finally crawled back down out of the hole in the ceiling, so I managed a little time in the layout space. Most of it was spent cleaning up some of the mess left from the re-plumbing job. Next on the agenda, a re-think of some electrical circuits controlling the frog, stop sections and indicators of a spring switch. The original scheme for controlling the relays didn't pack enough voltage to throw them reliably. Once I sort that out I can get on with tracklaying, after which my passenger consists will have a proper home in the netherworld. Providing them a 'planned to be visible' destination is a little farther down the time stream.
At least most of my physical problems seem to have retreated to some distant place. I sincerely hope they'll stay there.
Well, tomorrow will come whether or not I'm ready - so I'd better get some rest. See ya.
Ah, the swamp critters have arrived. I goofed when I ordered a batch of beavers, moose, seagulls and tree stumps from Musket Miniatures. I fat-fingered the Zip Code, and instead of 01730 my order went to 91730, Rancho Cucamunga, California. Now, if you'd asked me 2 weeks ago, I would have thought that Rancho Cucamunga was something they made up for a Saturday Night Live skit, but now I've got new respect for the place, since they forwarded my package and it arrived unscathed. Thanks to the unknown team out there. It's appreciated, really.
I've had a few Grrr moments lately. I had a short which I would have sworn was in a turnout, but it turned out to be an apparently defective crossing track, and my beloved 0-6-0 just plain stopped working. I discussed the 0-6-0 problem with Gerry at Maine Trains, and he suggested I bring it in. He spent a good half-hour playing with the engine on his programming track, and finally got it working. No charge. I bought my Model Railroading calendar for 2011 right then and there.
So, back to scenery and such. I picked up a Walthers Trainline Milwaukee caboose. It was pretty spartan, but for the price it was an acceptable model. It got about 2 runs around the layout, and then I took it apart for weathering. It lacked window glazing, too, but a day in the shop added years to it's age.
I've got a couple of scenes restored after chopping them up to get track through them for the addition, but the next big thing is probably the swamp. I'm particularly happy with the tree stumps and beavers, so I'll have to tackle painting them while doing some other gouging and painting to create their habitat.
I've been working on a warehouse flat for the back of the layout behind the car float terminal at Mooseport. One of the finishing touches is some graffiti, using the name of the baseball team that us Red Sox fans love to hate, and a verb that describes adequate performance by a vacuum cleaner. Chuck, I know we hail from roughly the same place. I was a Dodger fan, seeing my first game at Ebbet's Field, then a Mets fan and now a Sox fan. I hope you don't cheer for the pinstripe crowd. If you do, well, "Nyaahhh!"
Our daughter Annie came home the other day with a tattoo. She's 19, so we give her a lot of freedom, and I can't say she's disappointed us. Anyway, it's a modest decoration on the back of her shoulder, nothing that's going to show in a job interview. We've always encouraged her skiing, and she chose a pair of black diamonds, indicative of an Expert slope. I had to smile.
Ooops, replying to myself again. Coffee and a bowl of cornflakes with fresh raspberries, Joe. Thanks.
Yes, fresh raspberries. Ours are in. I think they're late this year because it's been so hot and dry. We've had no significant rain since June, when it rained all the time. It looks like we'll be at least damp this week, though.
I got most of my booty at the LHS on Saturday. Those little Miniatronics signs are still on order, but other than that I had everything I expected. Usually, Gerry puts stuff on a shelf out back for the special orders, but this time he had a whole box just for my orders. I've got the wall lamps mounted on the station wall. Now I need to route the wires and glue the structure back together. The 0-6-0T runs OK, but it has very little clearance, and I find it drags over guard rails on bridges. I think I can shave it down a bit without sacrificing structural integrity.
Did anyone else see the article in this month's MR about Les Lewis's trolley layout in Connecticut? It's a beautiful layout, both from a railroading and scenery point of view. The detailed interiors are exquisite. I did notice that this 1930s-1940s layout had an office of Merrill, Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, which set off an alarm in my head. My dad worked there, and I remember when they changed the name, replacing the original "Beane" with "Smith." I figured out how to e-mail Mr. Lewis and point out this discrepancy, apologizing for being a nit-picker. He thanked me for pointing out even this minor historical inaccuracy, and today there was a picture of the re-flagged building, with Mr. Beane's name on the sign.
Hi everyone. A round of Strumpets (or whatever) for the crowd, Joe.
Lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, I guess. My trainroom / family room has been under siege by teenagers lately. It's got the best AC in the house, and the big TV, so I'm trying to avoid the dramas of teen angst and spending more time at the computer, or down in the workroom.
3 more days and I get to pick up all the stuff I've reserved at my LHS. There are a couple of wall lamps I need to complete the station, and (hopefully) some lit-up faux-neon signs for some of the local businesses. Then, there's the 0-6-0 tank engine, which will serve the car float terminal at Mooseport.
Glad to hear that your plumbing upheaval is over, Chuck. It's never fun to have an invading army of tradesmen in your home, but it sounds like you've actually come out of it a bit ahead, at least in terms of workspace. The floor of my workroom is a mess, with clutter everywhere, but I learned my lesson on that. If I clean it up, within a few days SWMBO will fill it with "our stuff" from a shelf or closet somewhere, which will then be taken over by "her stuff." So, I suffer with the clutter.
This is a shot of the Moose Mills building, built with DPM modular sections:
I still have to put the sign on top and add scenery. I don't think I've got all the windows glazed yet, either. To the right of the picture is "undefined" territory of the layout, though, so I may wait on finishing off this area until I figure out what I'll be doing there.
Speaking of moose, though, I just ordered a couple from Musket Miniatures, along with tree stumps and beavers for the swamp. I realized that model railroaders may be the only people who actually take care to plan a swamp.
Howdy, Joe. Awfully quiet here. Wonder where everyone is.
Well, the re-plumb job is done and things are slowly (operative word!) getting back to what passes for normal. The upheval resulted in a slight improvement to the stowage plan in my office/workshop. I actually have a few square feet of worktop that aren't encumbered by accumulated junque. (Can't help wondering how long that will last...)
The temperature has been into the century digits for quite a while, with no relief in sight, so getting things moving in the layout space hasn't made much progress. The rails have been vacuumed, and trains are running. I still have to do some relocating and additional cleanup before construction can resume.
My resident gourmet cook has the lasagna ready. See ya.
Ah, yes, election-year politics. Here in Nevada, if they declared a sales tax holiday the state and most of the cities would declare bankruptcy the following business day. As for the other hi-jinks... I don't want to get this post deleted or the thread locked, so I'll bite my tongue.
For some time I have been procrastinating about doing any permanent construction in Pagoda Corner, even though I've had the steel stud loop built and most of the other work at least mocked up. Well, Friday there was a 'final pre-work walkthrough' for my re-plumbing job. Turns out that the contractor needs access to the wall in that corner! As is, all I had to do was to move a few things that weren't screwed in place or otherwise secured. If I had actually built subgrade and roadbed and laid track on three different levels... (Whew! Dodged that bullet!)
Have to get up in the pre-dawn darkness to be ready for the scheduled 6 AM arrival of the plumbers, so I'm off to bed...
Chuck (Waiting to get back to modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Almost August. The other day, I awoke and opened the window, and for the first time in a long time breathed air that excited me. It felt like fall, cool and dry, maybe with some hint of falling leaves. After the hot July we've had, it was a sniff for sore nostrils. This morning I got up without air conditioning, and wished I didn't even leave the fan on last night. Too cool late at night now. But, after lunch I took a bike ride, the first time on my road bike this year. I thought of the Tour de France as I watched my pedals move rhythmically above the smooth pavement. We went from rainy to brutal heat in one weak this year, and I've been hiding inside in the AC ever since.
Back to trains. I've been working on structures again, after laying the track and tweaking it into operability. The first one is Moose Mills, a DPM modular concoction, only two-sided as it sits diagonally against the wall. This is something I've wanted and planned for a while. It's got a covered loading dock and a two-story main building. I built an interior for it, as I was able to put in a big window and some lights. After that, I started bashing Walthers "YMCA Bunkhouse" into a railroad station. I've got the basic structure done, but I decided after looking at it with the lights on inside that it needs interior wall detail. I'll be scanning in the walls, creating an interior and then printing it to attach inside. I think I'll use some 1/4-inch dowels for columns, to give the walls a third dimension.
I tweaked some CVs, too. The IHC Mikado came out pretty well, with some weathering and a Tsunami. Once again, I've gone out and spent more for a decoder than for the engine itself. This was the Tsunami that acted up, and had to return to it's home in Durango. The replacement, I'm happy to report, runs and sounds great. I played a bit with momentum and now I'm much happier with the engine.
Our benevolent state government has passed the bill for a sales-tax-free weekend in mid-August. I planned on it, ordering a pile of stuff and letting it stack up at my LHS. It is, after all, an election year. No way these self-serving yokels would pass up a chance to pucker up for the voters' collective behinds. So, two weeks from tonight I'll have a few new structure kits, a bunch of assorted detail parts and even a new engine, a Bachmann 0-6-0 destined for duty at the car float terminal in Mooseport.
Happy Friday, one and all. Coffee and a bowl of fresh mixed fruit, please.
Chuck, I feel your pain. We've been through all manner of construction nightmares over the years. A few years back, we found a contractor who is really, really sensitive to the needs of the people he's working for. When we had the bathroom off the master bedroom redone, he made sure that his team was as non-intrusive as possible, and they made next to no mess outside of the construction area itself. He was a real pro with "just in time" scheduling of all the workers and supplies, so we didn't have one of those "dead weeks" where the water was shut off but no work was being done. We opted to do the final painting ourselves, and I found myself ("ourselves" meant me, I found out) being more careful and exacting than usual, because I wanted to continue the "tradition of craftsmanship" that everyone else had displayed.
I've still got a few trackwork issues, most notably that flaky Atlas turnout which has become unreliable again, but it's mostly done and I'm on to early scenery work. I'm putting together a structure with DPM modules, the first time I've tried that. We hopefully have a "sales tax holiday" coming up in Massachusetts in a few weeks, so I placed an order with my LHS for a number of structures. I've always liked Walthers's "Merchants Row 2" kit, the one with the corner turret, so I worked that into the plan.
You may recall the saga of the missing trolley wheel. One problem is actually getting to the tracks, even with liftoffs. Several of these liftoffs have illuminated structures and street lights on them, so there's considerable effort involved in disconnecting the wires before pulling the scenery apart. While cleaning up my workroom in preparation for starting work on structures, I came across a bunch of multi-conductor plugs and jacks I'd bought to simplify this process. So, last night I clipped 6 wires and removed the "Penny Lane" liftoff above the subway station of the same name. And there, between the platforms was, well, nothing. The wheel is still hiding somewhere. Oh, well, it's going to brutally hot again this weekend, and working in those cool subway tunnels should be just the thing.
Good morning, all. Joe, coffee and a waffle for me, thanks.
Sue, the nice thing about rolling my own specialwork (aside from the cost) is that I don't have to wait for deliveries. I have a fair collection of available rail (damaged flex, train set NS 18-inch radius sectional and some odd stick rail purchased in Tokyo in the 1960's) so I'm always good to go when the spirit moves me. (Of course, I DO have to wait for switch machines...)
Mister Beasley, in the best of all possible worlds the plumbers would only have to access my office. In the real world, they also get to tear up a corner of the living room (back yard hose bib), the dining room (to access the back of the kitchen sink), the railroad room (water heater) and have pass-thru access of the Master Bedroom to get into the Master Bath. The front bedroom (guest room/junk storage) is the only room in the house and garage that will remain totally untouched. Apropos of which, I just realized that the corner of the living room immediately inside that hose bib has a large cabinet which will have to be moved, plus a Tiffany lamp and all of my wife's accumulated exercise and horticultural 'stuff.' Ugh.
As for testing new track, my 'designated derailment tester' is currently in a cassette. As soon as the blue flags come off any newly-laid track the cars, under 0-5-0 power, get rolled the length of it (plus a temporary two yard unsecured flex track extension.) Then, as soon as power is available, I do the same thing with my two touchy locomotives - at twice track speed, push as well as pull, loco on both 'up' and 'down' end of the train. Any detected hiccups are fixed NOW! Track that has been tested in that manner is good to go (unless I've done something un-swift like laying it with insufficient expansion gaps.)
Since I stuck my oar into the, "What the US should learn from France..." HSR thread, it's always on my list of recent posts (just like the, "More signs for your layout," thread.) What the US should REALLY learn is that this is NOT France (or Japan,) where distances are measured in hundreds of kilometers, not thousands of miles, and train travel didn't shrivel down to subsidized commuters and three times a week 'service' to the heart of nowhere. HSR is fine, where there is a supporting infrastructure of local and regional connectors on convenient schedules. In the wide open spaces it doesn't make any sense at all. Yet people insist on talking coast-to-coast service... (I'd love to see it. I'd also love to see steam come back, and USS Texas put to sea...)
Well, today is trash day - and I just got conscripted to gather it up and get it out. See ya.
Good morning, although it's almost afternoon here. I looked with great pleasure at the radar map, and saw a line of heavy weather approaching. It should finally cool down from the hot stuff we've had for the past week and a half. Whew!
Sue, glad to see progress is being made. I've been much more systematic about my track-laying and wiring this time. That two week "dead zone" when my LHS was closed actually helped. Instead of rushing ahead and laying more track, I was forced to do the control panel instead. So, now I can throw the turnouts remotely and actually run some trains. It's leading to better trackwork overall, because I can find problems more quickly by running trains than by using gauges.
The problem with Mike's Pizza (wheels on the Mikado) were not what I thought at all. I pulled out the turnout where I was seeing all the derailments, and found out that it had a minor manufacturing defect. It's an Atlas, and the tab on one of the point rails had been pushed too far into its clip on the throwbar, closing the gap for the wheels. The point rails would still go all the way over, thanks to the overthrow on the switch machine. So, I corrected the angle of the tab and used a Dremel to expand the hole where it clipped in ever so slightly, and now the trains all run over it like a charm.
Chuck, I was thinking that it's better to have construction disrupt your office than pretty much anywhere else. You don't want your trainroom torn up, certainly, but you don't want those plumbers in your kitchen or bedroom, either.
Sue, I'm having fun with all my new track. At one point, I think you were the one who asked if my staging yard might also be an active switching yard. That did get me thinking, and I realized that it may end up being a little of both.
Now, I'm back to thinking about scenery. I've been measuring spaces and gathering dimensions of structures. I was talking with Gerry at my LHS about the (hopefully) upcoming tax-free weekend next month. The state legislature is talking about having a two-day sales tax moratorium, so I'm planning to order a pile of stuff and pick it all up that day. It is an election year, after all, and I'm sure our honest incumbents will see the virtue of bribing the voters in an election year. In the meantime, I've got a bunch of DPM modular sections, and I'm going to put together some trackside industries out of them.
Well, the AC should have cooled off the trainroom by now, and the darkening skies outside tell me that it's time to roll down the porch umbrellas and bring in the cushions.
Good morning, Joe. Coffee to break loose the cobwebs, please.
Things have been so busy here. We have another order of turnouts coming next week. That should give us enough to get all three lines into the large staging yard. We have three lines coming into the staging so it could be complicated. Last weekend we got the track down for runaround at the grain elevator. Wiring comes next.
MisterBeasley Good morning. A sake for Chuck. Make it a double, Joe. I hear there's big trouble in the Sumo world. Say it ain't so, Ozeki, say it ain't so
Good morning. A sake for Chuck. Make it a double, Joe. I hear there's big trouble in the Sumo world. Say it ain't so, Ozeki, say it ain't so
Well, unfortunately, it IS so - and not just Kotomitsuki! A dozen of the lesser lights, including a few with big followings, have been suspended. Since they will NOT be replaced in the upper division (the suspensions range from one to three tournaments) the tournament will be rather abbreviated. Add that NHK will NOT be carrying it live - no good reason to devote 2 broadcast hours to a one hour show. Guess I'll be able to sleep at normal hours this month.
As for Kotomitsuki, he got to hear The Donald's favorite words; "You're FIRED!!!" Now we can add his name to the Pete Rose - point shavers - Black Sox list. As the song says, "Hit the road, Jack, and don' come back no mo'."
Ironic little juxtaposition on my list of threads, noticed when I first entered the site:
My initial reaction was, "Say WHAT?" After I picked myself up off the floor, that is. (Just for the record, I doubt it. Which one I doubt is left as an exercise for the student.)
Well the inspector came - and the demolition crew will be here on August Second, chisels and crowbars in hand. As Murphy would have it, in order to access the plumbing fixtures in the bathrooms they will have to de-skin my home office/workshop. Originally intended to be the smallest bedroom, it sits between the two plumbing walls that serve the fixtures. On top of that, the main house feed is the same lousy stuff, and I have to pay my own money to replace that. Some lawyer forgot to include it in the list of defects to be repaired at contractor expense...
A side note - the inspector was a gentleman named Tsutsui. He got a kick out of the fact that I'm modeling what I do, especially when he noticed the Katakana symbols that are part of the reporting marks on my freight cars.
The Boss wants me to accompany her to the grocery store, so I'm outta here.
See ya.
Good morning. A sake for Chuck. Make it a double, Joe. I hear there's big trouble in the Sumo world. Say it ain't so, Ozeki, say it ain't so!
After closing the loop, I spent a day or so just running trains. I had a lot of fun putting two trains on the main line in opposite directions, having meets halfway through every loop. One of the design criteria for Phase 2 was a passing siding located halfway around the loop from the other passing siding on Phase 1, so I could do just this. I got it close to right, but the "back leg" is a bit longer than the front one, so I do have to play with the speed of one train or the other to keep them in sync.
I've got a number of F7As and one F7B. I put sound into the dummy B unit a while back. After thinking about it, I swapped the shell for the dummy F7A, and added headlights. Now, I can run the ABA consist, with only one powered unit, and have lights at both ends. Anyway, it was fun to work on something besides track for a change.
'Evening, Joe. Howdy, Mister Beasley. I'll take you up on that Harpoon, thanks.
Well, the annual reenactment of the Battle of Gettysburg is going on outside - sporadic now, but the intensity will rise as the gloom deepens. Then the big casinos will contribute their cannonade...
It got into the 90s here - at about 0830 this morning. Unfortunately, it didn't stop there. Now that the sun is below the horizon the temperature has dropped out of the century numbers, but it won't hit the predicted mid-70s low until 0-dark-hundred tomorrow.
The pizza-cutter driver flanges can be turned down, with the loco on its side, drivers turning. Just be very gentle with the file (one big enough to control, not a little bitty jeweler's file) and have the nozzle of the (operating) shop-vac where it can suck up the filings before they get into anything important. Granted that an LL 0-4-0T isn't a Mike, but I trimmed one down to RP-25 dimensions in about 15 minutes. The fun part may be finding wheel sets to replace the pilot, trailing wheel and tender sets.
I have a way to go before I'll be able to railfan while something simply orbits. For one thing, a currently free-standing table will have to grow a connection to the around-the-wall trackage and become a peninsula wide enough for the turnback at that end of the dogbone...
Just to add to the chaos, this week I have to host a plumbing inspection. Seems that the contractor who built this subdivision used substandard pipe - in SOME of the houses (including that of my next door neighbor.) Hopefully, I'll be lucky enough to have copper and not Ky-Tek, but I won't know until Wednesday night. Unfortunately, win or lose, layout construction and operation will be on hold until the inspection and its aftermath are over. The good news is that the cost will be borne by the builder, thanks to a class-action lawsuit that was decided in the homeowners' favor.
Once the plumbing issue is settled, I'll be free to indulge in another surge of construction. I'm looking forward to it.
Gotta run. See ya...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - eventually)
Looks like it's a slow Fourth here, too. Everyone out of town? Well, Harpoon IPAs for anyone who walks in, anyway.
Hot here in the Northeast. It got up to 90 today, and it's supposed to be that way all week. So, I'll put on the AC once it gets too warm in the trainroom. There's a mixed blessing of having the trains in a "habitable" part of the house. On the one hand, the rest of the family sometimes wants to use the family room, like now when Annie, home from college, is rotting her mind in front of the TV. Tomorrow, though, I'll be able to work on the layout while at the same time rotting my mind in front of the TV. Of course, I really should say that the Tour de France is far better fare than the normal teenagers-and-vampires stuff that passes for drama these days.
Late last night, I closed the loop on Phase 2 of the layout. All at once, I could just sit there and railfan as trains run all the way around, or I could play loop-to-loop as the auto-reversers at each end of the layout did their thing, or I could run two trains in opposite directions, timing them so they would meet at the strategically-placed passing sidings at opposite ends.
That IHC Mikado has been giving me fits. Last night, it wouldn't run in forward. The motor was turning, but it was clear there was some kind of gearing issue. I took it apart, and found nothing obviously wrong. Without the shell it was fine. So, I carefully put it back together, taking care to re-route the headlight wires which might have been interfering. After I got it together again, it ran just fine. However, it's not happy with some of my new trackwork, in places where even fussy old Mr. Hudson cruises over without a quibble. I took a look at what's happening, and it looks like there are some spots on the Atlas code 83 turnouts that the pizza-cutter wheels of the Mike just don't like. So, I'll have to give them some thought.
Well, the long weekend is 2/3 over. It's been a productive one for me, and I hope it's been great for all of you.
Gee, it's already well past Beer Thirty. Drafts all around, and a plate of those nachos with the cool guacamole. Thanks.
Nothing like a vacation to catch up on things that need to be done. No, I'm not on vacation, but my LHS is. So, it's been over two weeks without getting anything I needed. A bit of a problem, since I really need another electromagnet uncoupler before I can glue down the track above it. But, there are always other less appealing projects. In my case, the control panel needed to get built, populated and wired. I'm happy to say that between last weekend and this one, mission accomplished. I'm still short a couple of pushbuttons for the uncouplers, and one of my toggles turned out to be faulty, and I need to add another turnout that wasn't in the plan, but I can now throw every turnout on the layout once again without reaching.
I once again avoided chain saw duty. Ours died a couple of years back, a victim of the ethanol-in-the-gasoline nonsense that nobody warned us about. The new one should deal with this, they said, but it's still in its original box. Instead, the light duty stuff is getting done with a bow saw. I can finish most of these small jobs in less time than it will take to get the chain saw up and running. Besides, then I can avoid those "while you've got the chain saw out...." jobs. And, I can have a beer or 3 when using a bow saw, something I avoid with serious power tools.
The IHC Mikado is now sitting on the programming track. Again, the Railroad makes works for idle hands. I bought this thing last fall, and installed a Tsunami which turned out to be faulty. They replaced it after a while, but by the time I got it back I was going full speed on tracklaying, so the Mikado got side-tracked. This one seems OK so far, but it needs to be tested on the programming track before it's ready for a run on the main.
Good morning, Joe. Coffee, please put it on Rob's tab. He will be good for it. We will see who drops in today.
We have actually had some sun. Today we plan to cut wood early before it gets too warm. ( In the 70's. HaHa)
Chuck, I assume that your layout is not in the house if it gets that warm. If ours was not in the house, I would not be as active.
Rob, I am not sure about weither Peco has a turnout for that type of track. DCC makes more sense to me when wiring. The only issue would be the decoder installation. That would be expensive and take some time.
Well, I should go sharpen my chainsaw.
Tall glass of lemon water, please.
***Sue, I take it then you are using electrofrogs switches (rather than insulfrogs) with DCC, yes??? Might pick up one Peco switch to experiment with how it lines up with Kato Unitrack. IF I add DCC, it will be for 1/2 the layout, while the other half (separate main line, etc) will remain DC, Almost all my locos are DC and I'm not about to try changing them all over.
Cheers! Rob
Hi, everybody. Joe, Kirin, dozo.
Sue, I only hand-lay specialwork. All my newer flex is Atlas. Once I surface out of the netherworld a lot of it will be Code 83 on concrete ties. Somebody, somewhere, might hand-lay concrete tie track in HO or some close equivalent - but that person isn't pounding THIS keyboard.
Temperature in the layout room was WA-AY over 75 degrees this afternoon. We may get 274 days when the temperature reaches 75, but on quite a few it only gets that low for a few minutes just before sunrise.
I think my problems with the Mikasa yard throat can be traced directly to failure (on my part) to anticipate the effects of elevated temperature. I installed and adjusted the switch machine linkages in climate controlled space, and everything was fine. Add 20 degrees of heat - normal in the layout space, and headed for worse - and things bind up like nobody's business. Well, three operating switch machines and a temporary fix with a toggle switch and I can still use three (of four) staging tracks and the main thoroughfare crossover. I hope to get the other three machines installed (topside, where I can get at them for adjustment when necessary) by the end of the week.
The damaged machine should be salvageable. All I have to do is re-wind the damaged coil. Only the wire was cut - the main frame and armature are undamaged. Since I have a spool of enameled wire of appropriate size left over from another magnet-winding experiment...
And on that note, I'll fade into the night. See ya,
Chuck (Modeling the netherworld under Central Japan in September, 1964)
I will have a Strumpet's, Joe. It was in the 70's today. On the news tonight, they said that we have had 274 days since it was over 75 degrees.
Chuck, Thanks for the suggestion to hadlay the track. Larry did it on his trestle. We might if we ever start a 3rd layout, but for now we will use atlas flex track.
'Evening, everybody. I'll take you up on that Strumpet, Mister Beasley. Wonder how long it'll be before Joe can get some samples of Spacemouse's Bear Wiz.
My turnouts are definitely Made in USA - but the rail comes from everywhere and the ties come from South America. Don't know where the spikes came from (my oldest were bought in Japan a LONG time ago.)
I notice Sue hasn't commented on my suggestion to try hand laying. Hope I haven't scared her off...
Murphy paid me a visit, and now I have TWO more switch machines to move to the top of the Mikasa yard throat domino. I got a little careless pushing a drill through from the top, and scored a direct hit on the reverse coil of the one switch machine (of five) that was functioning as designed. Bummer!
Mister Beasley, I 'massage' every length of (Atlas 16.5mm gauge) flex so that it will take, and hold, whatever curvature the track plan calls for. One length, tightened down to 350mm radius, has held that curvature for a year now (and will almost certainly continue to hold it until I finally assemble that >600> degree helix and anchor it permanently some time in the future.) The reason is simple. I don't expect latex caulk to absorb shear force, so side and end thrust is unacceptable.
One trick I have used to keep railheads of different geometries aligned is to solder a 3/4 inch length of soft copper wire to the outside of the rail web just below the deeper rail head, with no solder on the center 1/4 inch. A little judicious tweaking with long-nose pliers gets the top inside angle of the two railheads lined up Shims can be inserted under the ties if necessary to relieve vertical shear.
Well, the candles have been lit and I can smell the spaghetti sauce. See ya...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - Gremlins and Murphy willing)
Joe, I will have a Strumpets with onion rings.
Rob, The Peco turnout is ever-so-slightly smaller than the Atlas track. Larry has been using the code 100 rail joiners from our previous layout. With a little tweeking, and paint, they seem to work fine on the code 83. We like them because they work without the ground throws.( If you are lazy or tight on funds)
Glad to see so much activity here at the Beer Barn. It is probably helping Joe's bottom line.
Hello Beer Barn Patrons.
Happy first day of summer. I recall working in Alaska in June years ago and it was not very dark on June 21st.
How are the burgers here? Nothing is as good as a good bar burger. I bet a Stumpets with a burger and onion rings would be really good.
Regarding turnouts, my HO layout has a mix of code 100 by Atlas, Peco, and Shinohara. There are many of them, and I have purchased some second hand on Ebay or train shows. Saves money, and most can be repaired if needed. I used to prefer Atlas when they were made in USA, but they are now Chinese products.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Ugh. Monday. So little time on the weekends, even the highly productive ones. Strumpet IPAs all around , Joe. As they say, nothing goes down like a Strumpet...
Rob, I've got a number of Peco turnouts on my HO layout. I use mostly Atlas flex track, and there are a couple of spots where I've had a lot of trouble keeping the rails aligned. In my case, it's partly because the cross-section of the rails is different, so the Peco rail joiners are too small, and the Atlas ones too big. I end up using Atlas, but that leads to play in the joint. Where possible, I solder the connection on the bench, before it even sees roadbed. Another trick that has worked is to use a short section of sectional track, so the additional stress of twisting flex isn't present.
The control panel is almost fully populated, missing only a couple of pushbuttons for the uncouplers, which I also don't have. I took a drive up to another hobby shop on Sunday. They are a "hobby shop," not a train shop, but they have a lot of shelf space devoted to HO and N. Still, I looked over their extensive selection of Cornerstone structures at full MSRP, and came away with a small bag of Evergreen strips and a Mini-Metals truck, significantly marked down because it wasn't one of their newer releases. It's still warm, so I'm about to go route some power to the panel so I can begin connecting the turnouts. But sure, one more for the road....