The Coffee Shop (a place to chat) Est. 2004

[TurboOne]

Good morning all, hope everyone is ready for a great week.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work I go.

Take care all,

Hello Grubby, forgot to do that earlier.

Tim

[siberianmo]

Good morning all - hope this particular week doesn't have five Mondays in it. Some do![tdn]

Been taking in the gab going on these past several days - kept quiet - just sippin' and listenin' ........

Got quite a bit done with the Polar Express shelf system. The "run" is completed - about 20 ft by 5 ft oval, using Lionel's new FasTrack. From what I've experienced thus far, I like it - easy to work with and for my purposes, once installed - that's where it remains.

The "Night Sky" wallpaper has been put in place on just about half the run. My wife did the wallpapering - I did the cutting for the cardboard backing ..... nothing like team work![:D]

Here are a few photo's to keep you posted on the progress ... (click to enlarge)









==============================================

Hope you all have a fine emergence into Spring! My lawn care products tell me that it is time to "pre-emerge" - well, from the looks of the "cute little yellow flowers" poking up all around the south forty - they have emerged! Gotta get going - things to do.

See ya now and then ..........

Tom in Chesterfield, MO (Siberianmo)

[twhite]

Slept in--that dinner at the brewery with the Monks last night DID go on--! Holy Crackers, can those guys toss away Porters! I found an Austrian Lager that was DEE-LICIOUS, and had a Brat sandwich and kettle fries. Wonderful to find such a neat pub here in SacTomato, smack dab in the Central Valley.

Steve: OMYGAW, talk about CATS! I humbly doff my new moniker to Jon and those six felines of his--but Pushkin looks suspiciously like my Lowell. Egad the boy went and had himself CLONED!

Greg: Congratulations on your acceptance in Boy's State. Yes, we have it out here, in SunnyCal, and it's a great organization. One of our local Catholic High Schools--Jesuit--always has a strong showing every year. Congrats also on the Chicago trip--a lot of our Boy's State members spend quite a bit of time with the State Senate here in the Capitol (now if we could only get our State Senate to LISTEN to some of these young men---!).

Ken: LIKE the paint job--the orange kind of reminds me of the old B&LE when they first dieselized and (sob, sob!) retired their big 2-10-4's. Nice job. Are you going to go with the black top-border? Just curious.

Tom (SiberianMo): What a GORGEOUS train, that Polar Express! And it looks great against that background. I haven't seen a locomotive with that much 'personality' in years!

Philnrunt: Yes, PROFESSIONAL CHOIRSTERS. No, I didnt' make it up. I've worked with them for years, and these type of people eat up difficult choral works like it was a good steak! My admiration for them is just boundless! Pound out their part on the piano just once, and it's imprinted in their memory for life--God bless 'em.

Well, we have a 'break' in our Spring Weather out here (dumped like crazy, last night) until the next round of storms, so I'm out to the garage to FINALLY install that viaduct. If I'm still alive by dinner, I'll try and post some photos on my website. Spooky's all upset because I've forbidden her to shred any more furnace filter for a while, and Lowell's after me to plant at least SOME catnip in the Tahoe National Forest (despite the threat of Government raids). Wiley doesn't really care--he's still not the brightest light in the harbor around here. Just barks occasionally. His coat has lightened up since he's come to live with me--it's turned blond. Is that some kind of portent?
Anyway, off to the big, long, curved Microscale Viaduct. It LOOKS as if it'll handle my Yellowstones. Hmmm----?

Later, gents,
Cat Tom [:P][:P][:P]

[trolleyboy]

Good morning everybody. I'm just poping in quickley before I head off to work. Si the shelf looks really really good with the backdrop.The wallpaper is a really nice effect[tup].We had a bit o snow last night so hopefully that'll keep our little yellow flowers's heads from poping up for a wee bit longer.[:p] Ken That's a really nice job on the homemade stripes as well.[bow]Had you grabbed a set of the CN stripes they would only have served as a template anyway as they are on off white/grey colour.I know what you mean about track laying as well. I'm not an overly huge fan as well.[V][:(]I'm probably just at the track layers apprentice level myself.(a subpar one at that). Fergie It is to bad that there isn't some better trolley models out there(affordable ones anyway) MTS makes nice brass ones but they are a long way out of my price range and operationally they aren't always the best. It's good that you have some good memories of the TTC lines. Likley if you make it back our way and hit the museum we probably have some of the cars you remember. well i've gotta run. I'll pop back in tonight. later all. Rob

[grayfox1119]

Good afternoon everone....who am I talking to Zoe, it's only you and I in here!!!

Cloudy day today, 41 degrees, the slow snow melt continues, and no more snowstorms forecasted.

Der John: The slide-away is an interesting option as opposed to swing down or lift out. I have not considered that, but I will now. I can use photo diodes to control the power circuit, so that when the module is pushed away, it would cut the power to that district thus eliminate seeing a 2-6-6-2 hit the big plunge followed by the weeping and gnashing of teeth!![xx(][:(][:(!]

Bob: If you are looking for piano hinges, Home Dpot has a wide selection in their hardware section. All lengths and widths.

Cat Tom or Ca Tom: I know what you mean by the reading of the Passion. I am a lector, and I have been doing this reading as Narrator for the past few years.

Ga Tom: Hey Tom, have the strawberries come out yet? I hate those over-fed things that we have in the stores up north lately. They are huge, look good, but no sweet taste. I think they are on steroids!!

Ok, back to the train room, hanging the door today. Gee...if I could design a method to swing the door off it's hinges in "Y" direction to "X" direction, I could mount an "N" gauge layout!!! What do think Ed ?????

[JPowell]

Afternoon all -
Just got a 'date' invite from the wife for a night of S*X! WOOOOHOOO. Of course, I had to ask her what has gotten her into the 'mood'.... Maybe this break that we've had for the past couple of weeks is doing us good. I won't know that answer for another 2 weeks as her and the kid go on vacation to Melbourne Wednesday for 10 days.
So, everyone - step up and place your drink orders (both kinds are available...hard and soft, caffinated and non as well!) w/ Chloe.... My tab, Chloe, should be fully paid up. If not, let me know and we'll 'Charge' it up.!
JP

[JPowell]

OOPS! I did it (TOPS) again! Drink up Men!

Chloe - Appetizers are on me as well, if anyone should ask!

JP

[Anonymous]

Afternoon all. Zoe/Chloe, I'll have a cold DP.

siberianmo, I really like those pics. Very cool, indeed.[8D][tup]

KenLarsen, the scheme looks even better in real paint. I can hardly wait to see it finished. Keep up the good work.

I want to say [#welcome] to doctorg, GMTRacing, Grubby, and all the others. I apologize if you thought I was ignoring y'all.

QUOTE: by JPowell: Afternoon all -
Just got a 'date' invite from the wife for a night of S*X! WOOOOHOOO....

That's a little more information then I needed to hear. Thank you very much.[:D]

'til later

[der5997]

Goodafternoon everyone: I Chinese Green Tea please Zoe.

Northern Phil: If e-z is pronounced easy, why isn’t craze just written craz? [%-)]
Of course crazy Canucks pronounce e-z as ezed unless brainwashed by cultural influences from south of the border.[(-D]

QUOTE: And don't feel bad, i have Sprint with all of it's millions of dollars, and everytime it rains or blows here, my phone goes to all static. Lots of repair calls, no remedy.

Phil, check out the grounding on the line. The original installs down our road were difficult because of a lack of grounding sites. Also, our neighbours lost many electronic items (2 modems, a printer, and a fax come readilly to mind) in a T storm because the line hadn't been grounded properly.

TrolleyRob:

QUOTE: John I'd be interested in knowing how you made your movable section(s) as they would seem to be easier to make.

The roll away module is a ¾ inch ply slab mounted on the casters that came with one of the two sets of storage drawers now mounted inside the unit.
On the slab are four legs that hold up another similar slab.
On this upper slab are mounted short legs (3-4 inches) that hold up the third, smaller slab (in my case ½ inch ply). On this uppermost slab is built the layout that crosses your door. On the suggestion of my niece’s husband, a physicist who works for the UK gov., I have engineered the shape of this portion so that it is more or less a blunt wedge. The edges of the “fixed” layout are so tapered that the roll away fits into the gap securely.
All the electrical wiring is carried in the space between the two upper slabs. One reason for the size of the gap between them is the size of the old-style computer connectors I was able to use for getting the power across the doorway to the rest of the layout. This requirement has to do with the particular geometry of my train room, and my unwillingness to have wires strung along the top and sides of the door casing. You may not have this situation, and indeed may require no electrics if you rely on rail joiners for power transfer, and don’t need lights or other effects on you module. If there are specific questions this description and the photos at www,railimages.com/gallery/johnwood don’t answer, let me know.
***: I am, as I type, uploading photos of the lift-up section I had in Spruce Grove. In my haste, I did not correct the size of these before posting. So, they may be a bit big here. The railimages dialogue box said it was re-sizing them.
I’ve left notes on the site about the offset needed for the hinges, as it was a lift-up, not a drop down.










I hope these help.

Grubby, I see Ed has come through with the goods again [tup]
trainboard and railimages are, I think, OZ productions, so your electrons won't have to travel as far as ours for you to join up[(-D]
Must move on
TTFN.
Just checked on the post, and I see I missed the bottom third of the last page [banghead]
siberianmo, great train! the night backdrop suits it well too [tup]

***: Now I've put up all those pics of the lift-up, you want a roll away! [sigh][(-D]

QUOTE: thus eliminate seeing a 2-6-6-2 hit the big plunge followed by the weeping and gnashing of teeth!!

Check out the black wire retainer clip at the end of track in the middle pic. It's there, "just in case"[:-^]

JP, enjoy! [swg]

TrolleyRob

QUOTE: It's good that you have some good memories of the TTC lines.

Mainly how clean there were compared to the tube[O:] Long story about that sometime the shop's empty and you've got 1/2 an hour [;)]

I'm gone again.

[Anonymous]

Evening all

Now awaiting delivery of my latest ebay purchase, and wish I could afford to buy another 2 items from the same seller - hoping they'll be one of those ones that goes around a few times, as I have basically no spare funds until April 11th! Then I'll be in full aquisitive mode though (have a lot of LGB buying planned), so I suspect the post office will do pretty well...

siberianmo, that Polar Express is very cool, and I like your installation of it - have considered doing something similar in the past but was put off by having to look up all the time (we have 8ft ceilings and doors that are a good 6ft+) so the layout would need binoculars to see. Nice work!

Bye for now

[JimRCGMO]

Good afternoon, Der John and JCtrain. Zoe, I'll have one of Ed's OJ's on JP's tab.[:)]

GA Tom:

QUOTE:

If the weather holds good the to-do list will be transfered outside for a bit. It's time to get the fertilizer put out and spread some seed and wheat straw.

So, that would be different from being here in the Shop, spreading the fertilizer like we do sometimes?[;)] Yep, sure sign of spring - the garden departments in the (general/discount) stores start opening their outside areas and putting all the greenery, bags of fertilizer, etc. That and spring training, right Ed? Haven't heard about those red socks in a while.[:)]

Hey, trainwreck(Greg) - congrats on Boys State![tup] Don't know about many other states, but Missouri has Boys State (or is that PC anymore?[;)]).
Sounds like you had fun in Texas, and have been making progress on detailing your diesels. Blood blisters are NOT fun. Hope yours eases off and heals up before you get more wear and tear on it.

DoctorG, congrats on finishing (surviving?) the quarter. Enjoy your break from the studying (and a chance to work on your MRR)! Looking forward to hearing about/seeing your rolling stock/engines.

Ken, your striped diesel looks great - looking forward to hear more about your non-pink diesel.[}:)] And tell us about doing home-grown decals, by the way.

So CatTom, do you think Wiley's former owner died his roots to hide his, uh, blondness? Could explain his mental acuity (or lack of).[;)] But I don't know about the catnip in the forest - might have a Catzilla attack after that, levelling whole sections of catnip forest.[:)]

Well, JP, maybe there might be some hope after all (whatever the reason). Maybe... a lot of things might be reason(s). All I'm going to say on that.

Siberianmo, the Polar extension with the background and all looks *very* nicely done![tup]

John, your pics look like you've been making good progress. Is that one toward the middle of the pics your Timesaver town? Like it! Also looks like you've been cleaning up or something. At least, it looks some neater than your earlier pics on your site.[:)]

Matt, sounds like you'll have some more fun ahead, once your purchases arrive.[;)] What'd you buy this time?

About time for a late lunch for me. Hope to check out possible vehicle over dinner break tonight. Any and all prayers for that appreciated.

Blessings on your afternoon,

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[Anonymous]

Jim, this time it was an LGB RhB (Swiss Metre Gauge) boxcar - less than half RRP due to it being unboxed and in need of new couplings and a (cosmetic) axle bearing - shouldn't be too pricey assuming I can find somewhere that can order them. I think the reference number is 43810 - this would make it one of their "LGB Extra" models that are usually hard to come by, so well worth the effort. The RhB models look expensive until you see the detail, then you realise why they average £10 more than the other cars!

[steveblackledge]

Hi All, how is everyone doing today, great i hope,

KEN LARSON, the loco will look very good when it's done, took a good look at your site and the Iron Belt, the whole thing will be superb. I will be happy if my little empire turn's out half as good as yours. I am going to make some steel mill structures but only as backdrop buildings due to space constraints.

CAT TOM, those cats are taking over the model railroad world, have you any pics of the tree's yet[:P]

[Anonymous]

Chloe, a Perrier please....

Wow, there's a full house tonight, all the tables are full...guess I'll just remain standing and walk around to say hello...

Cat-Tom:

QUOTE: Originally posted by twhite
Ken: LIKE the paint job--the orange kind of reminds me of the old B&LE when they first dieselized and (sob, sob!) retired their big 2-10-4's. Nice job. Are you going to go with the black top-border? Just curious.

Absolutely! [:)] Interesting you should mention B&LE – that is yet another road using orange diesels with black trim, along with the Milwaukee Road. Both have highly attractive schemes – I just want to avoid having mine mistaken for either one.

QUOTE: Originally posted by trolleyboy
Ken That's a really nice job on the homemade stripes as well. [bow] Had you grabbed a set of the CN stripes they would only have served as a template anyway as they are on off white/grey colour.

Thanx Rob, good to know my decal work wasn’t an unnecessary time waster…[:D]

QUOTE: trolleyboy (continued)
I know what you mean about track laying as well. I'm not an overly huge fan as well. [V][:(] I'm probably just at the track layers apprentice level myself.(a subpar one at that).

Just part of the ‘price of membership’ I guess…
. . .

Tom-In-Chesterfield [a.k.a. siberianmo], that is one heluva good-lookin’ consist, that Polar Express! I don’t think any photos could ever do it justice – it cries out to be viewed in ‘real time.’ So when’s the next Open House gonna be? [;)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JPowell
Just got a 'date' invite from the wife for a night of. . .

JP, That is great news, hope everything will turn out well!

Grubby – I don’t believe I’ve officially [#welcome] ‘d you to this place yet, so have a cold one on me! I remember you needed some guidance on posting images online, if nobody has helped you with that by tomorrow, ‘nudge’ me and I’ll see what I can do.

Lil’Rob -

QUOTE: Originally posted by LilRob1974
KenLarsen, the scheme looks even better in real paint. I can hardly wait to see it finished. Keep up the good work.

Appreciate the positives! Of course, this project is causing me to neglect my chores (benchwork and tracklaying) [:I]…

Cape-Jim –

QUOTE: Originally posted by JimRCGMO
Ken, your striped diesel looks great . . . And tell us about doing home-grown decals, by the way.

Thanx for your continuing ‘support’…I actually shot some digi-pics of the decal creation process, I’ll post them [along with explanatory text] as a separate thread sometime within the next day or two.
. . .
DerJohn - I like what you did with that lift-away track section, I'll be needing something similar for my layout - that is, IF I can ever get that far along...!
. . .

QUOTE: Originally posted by steveblackledge
KEN LARSON, the loco will look very good when it's done, took a good look at your site and the Iron Belt, the whole thing will be superb. I will be happy if my little empire turn's out half as good as yours…

Hi Steve, great to hear from you! So you viewed a little ‘blast from my past’, eh? I attempted to preserve the old steel mill trackwork on its homasote beds, but after 5 years in my storage shed, it resembles what us Yanks call a “Super Fund” site – hopelessly polluted and desolate[:(]… but perhaps with a bit of tender-loving care [and a lot of hard work] I can restore it.

QUOTE: steveblackledge (continued)
…I am going to make some steel mill structures but only as backdrop buildings due to space constraints.

Do you have Dean Freytag’s book titled, “The History, Making and Modeling of Steel”? He has some good examples of ‘skin-deep’ mill structures in there. (Unfortunately the book is out of print, but an occasional copy turns up on eBay.)

. . .
It’s time for me to go… again! Adios!

[Anonymous]

Lately when I run my Athearn GP50, it dies and I have to push it to get it to go ON FULL SPEED. It's like the track is bad. I have cleaned the track in those areas and it still does this. The locomotive runs very fast on the track sections it doesn't die on. I have 2 just-about-worthless AHM locomotives, SD40s, and they run like Katos compared to my Athearn. The problem is I have no idea what to do. Anything would be helpful. Thanks
[8][:(][X-)][%-)][sigh]

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: bnsf6733: Lately when I run my Athearn GP50, it dies and I have to push it to get it to go ON FULL SPEED. It's like the track is bad. I have cleaned the track in those areas and it still does this.

Well the first thing that would come to mind is, have you also cleaned all the loco wheels? If they've picked up a load of dirt you'll have the same problem as dirty track (although not always in the same place).

Regards

Ed

[JimRCGMO]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf6733

Lately when I run my Athearn GP50, it dies and I have to push it to get it to go ON FULL SPEED. It's like the track is bad. I have cleaned the track in those areas and it still does this. The locomotive runs very fast on the track sections it doesn't die on. I have 2 just-about-worthless AHM locomotives, SD40s, and they run like Katos compared to my Athearn. The problem is I have no idea what to do. Anything would be helpful. Thanks
[8][:(][X-)][%-)][sigh]

bnsf6733, is your GP50 always stalling on the same sections of track? If so, is that section a turnout or a straight/curved track piece? If it's a turnout, there can be power problems (especially if it's on a reversing loop or reversing wye) sometimes. If it's a 'regular' section of track, there could be bad power contacts/joiners between it and the adjacent sections. Other may be able to pinpoint the problem more exactly for you. Hope that helps (HTH).

Jim in Cape Girardeau

[grayfox1119]

Good evening gents....Monday night, bowling night, three more weeks left, we slipped from 1st place to 3rd, but only by 4 points, 6 of the 8 temas are all bunched up, it's anyones game at this point..

Jim: I agree with you on the problem that bnsf6733 is having...that being a connector. I had the same problem with the Christmas Village display that I set up this past holiday season. The loco ran fine for 3/4 of the run then died. If I pushed it beyond the stop point it ran again. The problem was a rail connector. It looked fine too, but the voltmeter said differently. I piched the connector tighter and problem was solved.

Der John: Thanks for the pics, the jury is still out on how I am going to build across the opening. I am still in good shape to slide under on a stool, but that could change down the road. I could hinge up, so layout would be out of the way, I could have a lift out which would work fine also, or of course the rollout. Now if I wanted to get fancy, I could have a powered bridge that lifts up out of the way also.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by JimRCGMO

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf6733

Lately when I run my Athearn GP50, it dies and I have to push it to get it to go ON FULL SPEED. It's like the track is bad. I have cleaned the track in those areas and it still does this. The locomotive runs very fast on the track sections it doesn't die on. I have 2 just-about-worthless AHM locomotives, SD40s, and they run like Katos compared to my Athearn. The problem is I have no idea what to do. Anything would be helpful. Thanks
[8][:(][X-)][%-)][sigh]

bnsf6733, is your GP50 always stalling on the same sections of track? If so, is that section a turnout or a straight/curved track piece? If it's a turnout, there can be power problems (especially if it's on a reversing loop or reversing wye) sometimes. If it's a 'regular' section of track, there could be bad power contacts/joiners between it and the adjacent sections. Other may be able to pinpoint the problem more exactly for you. Hope that helps (HTH).

Jim in Cape Girardeau

Ya, It stalls in the same sections of track both curved and straight. The wheels are clean.

[Anonymous]

SiberianMo: Nice pics of the layout. Yup, time to get that chemical down, its a little to late for glyphosates in Oklahoma, but a little Grazon P+D (that's a 24D) and some Prowl or Surflan (pre-emerges) is a good mix to use this time of year. Probably a shot of surfactant always helps too.

JimRCGMo: Yeah, the name should still be correct, as they also have a Girl's State program.

The AT&L has been busy doing nothing lately, or at least it appears that way, as the same set of cars comes and goes from Calumet nearly on a daily basis, and they now have one less loco on the headend since they dropped the switcher off somewhere. It is interesting to watch them operate and wonder what they are doing when they move the locos and the cars around to random places on random days burning large amounts of random fuel (okay, so its all diesel fuel, but that sounded better didn't it?)

Ken: Looks really good, that's even our schools colors!!

Matt: This may seem like an odd question, but does your keyboard have a pound sign instead of a $ sign on it? Just wondering.

Made a little oopsy earlier, I cleaned all the nasty gunk out of the swithcer's gearbox, and thought I'd try the motor itself before I put the driveshafts back on, sounds simple right? Testing it was, and I found that the motor was the noise source so I took it apart to oil the shaft on the ends, everything was going well,and I had it out of the loco anyway so i put it back together and went over the the transformer and hooked the motor up to run it, and the overload light came on. So I figured the shaft wasn't straight enough so I adjusted the end panel and freed it up enough that the motor turned freely, and tried it again on the transformer, this time there wasn't an overload light, but the motor still didn't run, and this odd little puff of smoke was coming out. So it came apart once again, and I found that while putting it together I didn't get the brushes aligned quite right, and it blowed up. Not exactly exploded, but the brushes arced long enough to melt into the end panel and burn their faces up so they still aren't usable. One of these days I'll get it right, It'll nearly be a new loco by that time though.

Better get goin'
Greg

[der5997]

Good evening everyone: (I was alone when I came in, but don’t know what the situation is now) Chloë, I’ll have a hot cocoa, and please use the Splenda ™. I’m now trying to avoid anything with Aspartame™ since reading an article about it. If anyone is interested, and that may be ay of the diabetics in here, just email me, and I’ll forward you a copy. It’s a real head’s up. That goes for anyone with kids, and grandkids too, ADD and AHD or just regular. This is serious stuff.

Kris has come down with a cold, but on the bright side, had a “congratulations” from her Dr. today. He had called her in to talk about the results of her latest blood tests. He hadn’t really read her report. When he said “From the look of these figures, I think I may have to put you onto a medication for your cholesterol” she replied, “That’s what you said last time”. Then he looked again. Her cholesterol had come down a full % point! He backtracked then and said he was very impressed. None of his cholesterol patients has been able to do that before. [yeah][^]

CapeJim:

QUOTE: John, your pics look like you've been making good progress. Is that one toward the middle of the pics your Timesaver town? Like it! Also looks like you've been cleaning up or something. At least, it looks some neater than your earlier pics on your site

Remember what I said about smoke and mirrors? The photos I put up today are of my Spruce Grove Alberta layout dismantled in 1998. As for neatness, well, I’m not sure I’d care to comment as Fergie has the rights to the MESS.[:D]

Ken:

QUOTE: DerJohn - I like what you did with that lift-away track section, I'll be needing something similar for my layout –

Thanks, be sure to plan the anchor for the far end of the section well. I used rods that were put into holes in the lift section, down into the support the section came to rest on. Not pretty, but solid. I never got around to putting scenery on that part of the layout (close, but no groundcovah![:D]), so I hadn’t to worry about what the rods “were”, so to speak. The wire retainer that stopped trains over-running the end of track when the lift section was raised went into the holes for those rods in the support.

bnsf6733 :

QUOTE: It's like the track is bad…I have cleaned the track in those areas and it still does this. The locomotive runs very fast on the track sections it doesn't die on...I have 2 just-about-worthless AHM locomotives, SD40s, and they run like Katos compared to my Athearn.

Do the SD 40s run on the “bad” sections as well as they do on the regular track? If not, then I would suspect the power feeders to the bad sections. I guessed the wheels of the Athern are clean since it goes like a B-O-O-H on regular track. My [2c]

***:

QUOTE: I could have a powered bridge that lifts up out of the way also.

Awesome, and think of the things a decoder could make it do!

I’m very impressed with the way you chaps report installing decoders in locos as if it was like flicking a light switch. Are you talking about drop ins, or can you really custom fit and hard wire them that easily? I’d like to know how you do it.

Well, it’s getting on, had better say goodnight, and God Bless.

[Fergmiester]

Not much to report this evening except got some complex ballasting done. [xx(] Oh well it's only the third time for this section and hopefully the last.

Nice pics John!

Anyway that's it for me tonight!

OH Greg! Man I feel for you more then you know. Hopefully you can source a new motor quickly and on the cheap!

BNSF: You may want to check your joiners. Are the tracks soldered together? Is your wiring solid? Check your track for power drops. I had a loose wire the other day, which was one of those intermittent problems. Took me awhile to isolate it as some locos worked others didn't. Coincidence, unfortunately yes! A loose wire in the engine can also be the culprit.

Later Gents
Fergie

[Paul W. Beverung]

Hi Everyone;

Greg; I ‘m 7 miles east of Weatherford at Annetta. That’s 3 miles south of the little airport. I wi***hat you had let me know that you were in the area. I’m sure that we could have arranged for a meeting.

Well I gotta go. I’ll see you all tomorrow.

Paul

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by LilRob1974

... I want to say [#welcome] to doctorg, GMTRacing, Grubby, and all the others. I apologize if you thought I was ignoring y'all.

QUOTE: by JPowell: Afternoon all -
Just got a 'date' invite from the wife for a night of S*X! WOOOOHOOO....

That's a little more information then I needed to hear. Thank you very much.[:D]

'til later

My feelings also

Trollyrob:
The "door" or bookcase that John has, is very well done. So well in fact that he doesn't even use rail joiners to align the track, and remember he's in Nearly invisable.

John:
Would you send me that lit on sweet and low? E-mail me at [e-mail]
About the decoders - after the first one and all of the sweating that goes with it (worrying about making a mistake), the second one is a lot easier and the third is a piece of cake.

Turbo/Tim:
Did you notice that Bergie got rid of Parkerlengend or Biggiesmalls today? I wish he'd gotten rid of him Friday night!

***:
I have a 36" drop-down and it works good since my layout is at least 42" off the floor. I can go in standing up and then put it up, or I can crawl under, right now that's not so bad on the knees.

I spent alot of time tonight - cleaning. Boy what a good day.

Ya'll have a blessed night and remember SANTA FE ALL THE WAY
Bob

[Anonymous]

Sure wish I was home playing with trains, instead of 15 miles offshore, bouncing around like a spastic monkey on a pogo stick!, dragging 200 feet of rusty iron!
Run'em around the layout one time for me, people.

[twhite]

Evening all--just got in from a day of Viaduct building--whoo!! As usual, planned everything so that I had to redo it--I HATE being right-brained!! Got the viaduct slung over the Deer Creek divide, then found out that the double-track main underneath was NOT where it was supposed to be in relation to the curve in the Viaduct--had to construct a tunnel for the main, which means that the Viaduct is almost split in two--so clever little fellow that I am, I started tearing my parts box apart for some concrete bridge supports--oh Heck, it's on the website, if anyone wants to see what it's looking like right now. Only thing, when you get on the website, it's not in the New Extension Album, it's in the Second Album, because I can't figure out how to transfer the photos from one album to the other right now, and I'm tired and cranky.

Steve: If you get to the album, I've got some photos of the furnace-filter trees (mainly Fir instead of pine, since I'm modeling a near-timberline elevation).

Greg: My sympathies to you, friend. I've burned out my share of motors in my time, the first one was in a big brass Yellowstone--was I an unhappy camper about THAT one! You should be able to find a replacement pretty easily, though. Check A-Line motors, they have them for almost all models and brands--you might find one that just pops right in.

Jim: No matter how 'cute' Lowell makes, the catnip is staying in the back yard and out of the forest. Catzilla is right! And no, I don't think Wiley's former owner dyed him. But it's pretty obvious that she never introduced him to much book-larnin'. But then he's only two, so maybe he's just a slow, SLOWWWWW learner. One plus, he's actually started to try 'meowing' lately. It doesn't sound very pretty, but it's a start, chuckle-chuckle!

Well, time to hit RFDTV, "Trains and Locomotives" is about to start, and after that, there's an hour special called "I Love Toy Trains", so it sounds like a double-whammy tonight. Yesterday, they had a program about Frank Ellison's Delta Lines and a BEAUTIFUL O-gauge system based on it. Man, if I had the room-------
Enough! Have a great night, see you guys in the morning. Oh, Zoe, if you're getting tired of grinding that Vienna Roast every morning, I'll just go regular, okay? Tuna Blintz for Spooky, though (I know, I know, it smells up the grill).
Later, gents
Tom

[:P][:P][:P]

[twhite]

Oboy, I started a new page, so coffee's on me in the morning, gang. And Captain Turk, I'll run my first Yellowstone over the new viaduct tomorrow morning in your honor. OVER, hopefully, not THROUGH!
Cat Tom [:P]

[grayfox1119]

Evening gents, alone in the coffee shop tonight, just got back from bowling, we split 4 and 4 against the 1st place team and we were a man short with the flu, our anchor man no less, so were fortunate.

Bob: 42" to duck under is not bad,. I can still do this OK, but I may still opt to having a removable/ swing away/ drop down. The wife is handy at helping me with scenery, but she will not appreciate a duck under, so I really think I have to have a gate of some sort. This will be interesting because at this end of the room, I can actually have the layout 60" wide because I can get at both sides. I got either have a roll away or a drop down with a 5' piano hinge. I don't want a 5' lift out section, that gets too hard to handle.
See you in the mornin gents, Fergie, don't forget to put the 1st pot on when you get here at 5.

[trolleyboy]

Good evening folks looks like I've got the place to myself again. Oh well (I do shower you know guys)[;)][(-D][(-D]. Bnsf If all your track conections and wiring is solid i'd check to see that you don't maybe have a loose wire conection inside the loco itself.If you've got a loose feeder it would likley act the way your describing. Also does your loco still have the metal pick up bar accross the top of the motor? If so possibly removeing this and hardwiring the pick-ups may clear this problem up as well HTH Der John I think you've convinced me. Your roll away or something like it looks to be my best option. I'll beable to get a bit more layout in that way as well so that's always a good thing.Og coarse that means more wiring and track laying[banghead][sigh] trainwreck D'oh that's all I can say about your motor.If it was me I'd give LL a call and see if they will send you a new one. The part number is listed in their instruction books. Who knows they may even replace it as a warrenty job not likely but possible. At least if you get another of their motors you know it will fit in the chassis properly. Good luck. Well I think that wraps it up for this evening. talk to you all soon. Rob

[TurboOne]

Good evening all, it was awesome here in SoCal today. 72 or so most of the day, blue skys. Lets you remember why we put up with all the CA garbage.

I am so tired after spending the day at Sea World, and the night working that a small smoothie and I am off to bed.

SiberMO...awesome pics great layout with O up top and HO on the bottom.

Teffy, good to hear from you here, we will have to chat this weekend, I call this time.
I did like Als work on the graveyard. Looked good.

John of the great white north, how are things ?

Gotta crash, should be fired up for tomorrow. Gonna run the Cab forward for about 5 minutes, then go to bed.

Take care all

Tim